It was a dark night as the shadows danced around the flickering street lights in the dark, gloomy unforgiving alleyway. The only sound was that of the breezy wind, and that of her trainers as she walked briskly through that deadly place.

Her pale blue jeans were tight around her thighs but came off in a bootleg style around her ankles, the ends were frayed and ripped and gave looked like they had been well used. Her black T-shirt came down to her hips and was fairly low cut without showing too much cleavage. The jumper that she wore was also black but cut and ripped in many places. Her hair was long brown with many red streaks that looked like blood rippled in the breeze, her hazel eyes were cautious as they swept the shadows. Her hand was hovering over her holster that contained two pistols, a dagger, and a sword.

There was a scuffle from the shadows on the other side of the road. She instinctively drew her sword and crouched down, ready to pounce. She searched the surroundings. A man stepped out of the shadows into the light of one of the flickering lamp posts.

'put that away girl!,'he commanded. She did so.' now why are you here?'

' I need a bit of help, and some weapons.' she pulled back the side of her jumper to show a wound that stretched from her bottom rib's to her hip.

' what the hell happened to you? anyway it looks like you've got all the weapons you need.' she sighed and covered the wound again.

' it was a dagger. I was in another fight yesterday with some guy who thought that if he could take down me then he could take anyone. He came off worse than me' she smiled ' so can you help me or not?'

' i's patch you up but I don't know about weapons.'

' thanks bill. So what made you move here? This place is a dump.' she started to walk towards him, still looking about herself.

Bill had slipped back into the shadows again but this time his silhouette was still visible. As she reached the middle of the road a midnight black mark1 escort came speeding down the ally straight towards her. She looked towards the oncoming car but was blinded by the headlights and after a matter of seconds she collided with the bonnet, bounced off the windscreen, and rolled over the roof before landing on her side on the cold hard ground. The driver slammed on the brakes and a few people got out to run towards her. Bill got there first.

' Jess! Jessica! can you hear me?' he was panic stricken

' shouldn't we take her inside?' one of the older boys asked, he tried to hide the horror in his voice with calm as he watched the pool of blood creep out from under her leg where her sword usually hung.

'yeah, yeah that could be an idea. So who's strongest?' he asked nervously.

' that'll probably be me.' was the answer that came as a large built kid pushed his way through he crowd. He looked about eighteen and he wore dark jeans, a grey T-shirt and a leather jacket. He bent down gently picking Jessica up in one movement and followed Bill inside a house not far away.

.

.

.

About an hour and a half later Jessica sat up in the bed and immediately cried in pain. Bill came hobbling through the door closely followed by a man she didn't recognise.

' ah great, your awake. I've stitched up your side and your leg, as well as bandaging up your back but your lucky to be alive.'he informed and scolded.

' thanks Bill, I really owe you this time,' her attention drifted back to the unknown man. ' who's this?'

' the names Christopher, Chris preferably.' he added, his accent was something from the country and he looked like a muscular blacksmith though he couldn't be much older than nineteen.

' nice to meet you Chris, I'm Jessica but I much prefer jess. Now why are you here?' the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

'Ah well, you see...I was the...umm.. driver of the car...and I...errrr...wanted to know if you were okay?' he gave an apologetic smile which she returned. It was only then that she realised she was wearing a dress.

' Bill where's my stuff? and why am I wearing a dress?' she demanded

' your clothed are in the wash after I had to sew them up, your "friends" are in the wardrobe. Plus I thought you could take a break from your missions.' he said this all quite cheerfully which resulted in a very dirty look from Jess.

'Help me up!' she commanded looking from bill to Chris. 'Help me up, please!' Bill ignored her but Chris came round and to the bedside, putting his arm under hers he pulled her to her feet. When she was firmly on the ground her left leg screamed in pain but she was able to ignore that. She creaked open the door to the wardrobe and saw her holster with her sword, two pistols, a dagger, four grenades, and rifle ammunition. Next to the holster was a self-loading rifle and a bow with at-least fifteen arrows.

'do you like them? My friends that were in the car all put money towards getting them.'

' I love them, but why did you bother?'

'well we did run you over with my car, and we thought we might as well give you something to say we're sorry.' he gave a smile that went un-noticed.

'how badly have I damage the car?' the last thing she needed was insurance fees.

'dented bonnet, smashes windscreen, you came off worse.' it was long time since that had happened, she hardly ever came off worse.

'That's comforting.' she replied sarcastically as she bent down to open the drawers under the wardrobe.'Bill? Did your daughter own anything but skirts, dresses,'she pulled out a blouse 'and whatever the hell this is?'

'its all in the drawers.' he answered after a short laugh.

She stood up and gasped in pain, Chris went to help but she shoved him away. Putting one hand on her hip she limped over to the drawers and bent down with he back howling in pain. She racked through the clothes and pulled out black jogging bottoms and a grey sports top. She got up and turned around.

'a little privacy please?' Bill and Chris left the room as she walked over to the window to close the curtains. Looking out of the window she spotted a man in a black suite walking over to the front door. She left the curtains open and hauled off the dress and throwing it in a pile on the bed. She threw on the change she had found, she put one off the pistols and a dagger under the waist of the joggers and covered them with the top. She grabbed her sword on her way out the door.

Jumping the banisters of the stairs she almost fell when she landed but instead she squealed. Chris came strolling through from the kitchen to help her up but she pushed him into a nearby cupboard under the stairs and locked it. Approaching the front door she kept the chain on but opened it just a little.

'Friend or foe?' she demanded

'I'm a friend little girl, don't worry I'm here to see Christopher.'

'I'm heavily armed so tell the truth!'she warned

'Just let me in Jessica. I'm here for one of your friends, actually you killed his car so I know he's here.'

'I'll let you see him but not without me.' how did this stranger know her name?

'It's the only chance I'm going to get isn't it?'

'definitely'

'fine, I'll see him...and you.' his voice was untrustworthy but she let him in anyway.

'second door on the left.' she said, avoiding eye contact.

'thank-you so much dear.' he walked into the room he was told. As soon as he was out of sight she spun round and unlocked the cupboard door.

'What the hell was that for?' he demanded whispering

' your a mortal, it was protection.' she informed, also whispering.

'I'm a what? What kind of world do you live in?'Chris raged.

'look no time to explain. Can we please get this over with?' she asked, avoiding his question.

'Fine, lets go.'

they walked into the lounge. The brown leather sofas sat around the 36" T.V and there were many shelves filled with ornaments and pictures from many years ago. Jess walked in first and Chris followed.