Prologue: New Blood
A sudden lurch jerked Andy Welkins awake. Her head throbbed, her mouth was dry and her wrists uncomfortably rubbed against something scratchy. She peered around her in the darkness, blinking slowly. She felt like she was about to puke.
A flash of bright light outside the area she was in allowed her to see that she was in some sort of van, or the back of one anyways.
What's going on? Andy wondered, her mind foggy. She moved up onto her knees and attempted to get to her feet, but crashed to the floor, her face smashed against the metal floor of the van. The vehicle lurched again, causing her to smash her head into the back doors of the van.
Tears welled up in her eyes from the pain, and blood dripped down her nose, yet she didn't really feel the pain.
I've been drugged, Andy realized. She rolled onto her back, and glanced down. Her feet were bound together with thick coils of rope; upon moving her arms and hands, she found that they were bound as well, this time behind her back.
I've got to get out of here! Panic flared up in her chest at that single thought. She struggled against the ropes binding her, but she couldn't free herself.
Andy tilted her head to the side and wiped the blood running down her face from her nose and forehead against her shoulder, leaving streaks of crimson blood on her jacket.
What happened? Andy thought groggily, I was at Amber's party for her twentieth birthday and then I went outside . . .
She shook her head; she couldn't remember what had happened after she had went outside of her friend's house, or even why she had went outside in the first place.
She slid against the side of the van interior when the vehicle suddenly stopped. She lifted her head and squinted at the bright light that suddenly lit up the back of the van. A moment later it lowered so that the beam was resting on her legs, allowing Andy to see her kidnapper for the first time.
It was a man; skinny, messy brown hair that looked like it had been trimmed in places but not others, a pointed nose, a face with the scruffy beginnings of a beard and mustache, and dark blue eyes that mirrored Andy's own, only with a far more intense look in them.
He had a hand gun in the hand that wasn't holding the flashlight.
"Out," he barked, his voice hoarse from disuse.
The icy claws of terror clutched at Andy as she slowly scooted herself to the very edge of the flooring in the back of the van. The man put his gun away, hidden now in his purple jacket. He reached out and grabbed Andy by the back of her shirt and pulled up, dragging her out of the van.
For a terrifying split second, her feet hovered several inches above the ground, a terrible pressure at her throat then her feet touched the ground as the man sat her down. He held her arm with an iron like grip, supporting Andy until she was able to stand on her own, her stomach wrenching unhappily.
Andy and the strange man were standing in a back ally of some sort, near the backs of several shops and restaurants, away from prying eyes. Overhead, there were was no moon, only the stars shone.
He's going to kill me, Andy closed her eyes, tears slipping down the sides of her face. I won't get to see any of my friends again, won't be able to ever have children and teach them to cook, or bake cookies and cakes for them. Her lip trembled. I won't ever even get the chance to open my own bakery, she thought miserably.
She felt pressure on her back, silently knowing that this was the moment her life would end.
"Eeek!" she mumbled through a gag in alarm as the man picked her up princess style in his arms, his flashlight dangling from his belt.
He silently carried her through the back ally, his footsteps echoing softly on the pavement. Andy wriggled in his grasp; he was bony and from where she was pressed up against his chest and some of his lower abdomen, it felt like he was missing a rib or two.
Who is this guy! A zombie!? Andy nervously glanced up at his face. He had deep sunken eyes, several scars running along the side of his jaw where his lower jaw hinged, another scar split the middle of his face in two, while several more claimed the side of his head and his forehead, all things she hadn't noticed before.
He stopped, his body swaying forward in an unsettling way for a moment, then he seemed to regain his balance.
"So you did bring one," a low, feminine voice purred happily.
Andy looked over to see a small statured woman around twenty-one, twenty two years old with short blonde hair that barely reached past her ears, and had dark green eyes. She was leaning against an open doorway at the back of a restaurant. When she saw Andy staring at her with wide fearful blue eyes, she smiled, showing all her pearly white teeth.
"Give me what I want first, like we agreed," Andy's kidnapper rasped, his voice strained, though when she looked back up at him, there was a desperate gleam in his dark blue eyes.
The woman gracefully swept down the steps from the back door and came over to them in quick, graceful bounds.
Once she reached them, the woman crouched down so that she was on Andy's eye level. "Don't be afraid," she cooed, "It will only sting for a moment, and then everything will be alright again."
Andy felt the man holding her stiffen suddenly, his muscles tense. He took a step back from the strange woman, apparently having not liked what the woman said.
The woman stood up and laughed suddenly, a happy sound that didn't belong with what was happening. "For me anyways . . ."
She pulled out a folded piece of paper from the pocket of her bright yellowish gold dress and gently placed it in the breast pocket of the man's purple jacket.
"There as promised," she sang in her soft, lilting voice. She folded her arms across her chest and looked expectantly at the man holding Andy. "Now give me what I want."
"Go ahead then. I will hold her still." The man replied in his raspy voice. He set Andy down on her feet and stood in front of her, holding her arms in an iron like grip, keeping her from moving.
Andy's heart pounded wildly in her chest. I have to get away, I have to! She screamed silently as more tears dripped down her face, mixing with the blood from her facial injuries.
The woman moved around to stand at Andy's side; she took out a small metal bracelet from her dress pocket with glowing blue and green lights on it. She leaned over and place it around one of Andy's wrists, then once the bracelet snapped shut, the woman pulled out an identical bracelet, this one with a red button on it, and snapped it onto her own wrist.
"Soon I will be free," the woman murmured; the index finger of her other hand hovering above the red button.
The man holding Andy still snorted, clearly he didn't agree with the woman, but other than that small noise, he did nothing.
The woman pressed the button and both women screamed out in pain.
Lightening hot, the pain turned to agony as Andy writhed in the man's grasp. Her vision blurred, the world spinning violently around her, and her stomach threatened to reject the last food Andy had eaten. Her feet went numb first, then her legs, lower abdomen and finally her chest. Andy's kidnapper was now the only thing holding her up, the pain of his long fingers digging into her arm no longer there.
Andy's head rolled back and everything went black . . .
The man felt the stranger's body suddenly go limp after the transaction was complete. He dropped the girl, and her body fell to the ground, lifeless.
He raised an eyebrow. Well, he thought in grim amusement, that little girl from the pizzeria finally got the pizzeria. He felt a small amount of remorse trickle into his chest, but he ignored it, remembering the night he had been forced to hide in that old rabbit suit to avoid the girl and her friends' attempts to murder him.
It had been an accident, he remembered himself pleading to the four young fifteen year olds, I didn't know it was her.
He turned his attention to the blonde haired woman, she was moving a little, her breathing harsh. He went over to her and crouched down, using his thumb to gently pry her left eye open. Her irises were blue just like the kidnapped girl's eyes had been.
So the transaction had worked, he thought, his brow furrowed in anger, their spirits had switched bodies. He looked over his shoulder at the body of the dead girl he had kidnapped, of course now it was the body that the woman he had made a deal with's.
Well, I still have a little time, he thought wryly. The man moved his arms under the blonde haired girl, now hosting the spirit of the girl who's actual body lay behind him in the ally, and picked her up. He cradled her against his chest for a moment, wishing he himself could be free as his "business associate" had said. But he had work to do first.
He carried the girl into the back room of the pizzeria which was actually a private party room that hosted Pirate Cove and its sole occupant.
The man glanced warily around, not wanting to run into any of the dead girl's friends, or the night guard that matter. From what he could hear in the back, the perminant occupants of the pizzeria seemed to be entertained by their slaughtering of the night guard, so he was in the clear, at least for now.
He set the girl down on the black and white tiled floor, and kneeled beside her. He leaned over and gave her forehead a very whiskery kiss, whispering, "I'm sorry that this is curse is now yours, but they will help you. You are one of them now." He paused then added in an even softer whisper, "You are one of us now."
He stood and silently left the pizzeria, making sure to shut and lock the back door behind him before he went through the ally to his van, leaving the body of the other woman to be found the next morning in the ally.
XOXOXOXO
Just in case you guys are confused about what happened in this chapter, Andy and the "strange girl" switched bodies because of the bracelets and after the body switch thing was complete the "strange girl" died in Andy's body while Andy is alive in the "strange girl's" body.
Anyways, hope you guys will all like this story.