The rain fell upon the streets of London. It was one of those many days in England when rain fell without stop. The night sky lit up with a sheet of brilliant electricity. The pedestrians hurrying back and fourth across the night. Umbrellas were raised and people wore bright yellow slickers.
"Damn this bloody rain" muttered Bennett Thomas as he slipped in a puddle. It was 1:00 in the morning. His mother would be furious. He lived all the way in Paddington and he was smack dab in the middle of Greater London. The teenager strode through the crowds of people. His mother would think that he had been out hanging with whores and other kinds of street filth. Well, he had been, but he didn't want her to figure that out. A drunken man bumped into him, and he threw him off with a snarl. Bennett continued down a side street. "I can make better time this way" he said. He passed an alley and was going to move on, when a voice called to him.
"Hello? Anyone out there?"
Bennett stopped and looked around. He couldn't see anyone. The streetlights had died in this area and it was dark. "Who is it?" he snapped, smoothing his blond hair aside. "Who's playing pranks?"
To his surprise, a face appeared in the alleyway. It was a girl of about seventeen or sixteen. She had long brown hair which flowed down her back. She was wearing a black tank top with a bronze skull and cross bones necklace. Her black jeans blended in with the darkness, as did the low cut black chucks she wore. "I'm not playing a prank, sir" she said. "I need some help."
By her accent (or lack thereof) she sounded like an American. The weirder thing was that she was wearing such odd clothes for a rainstorm…and yet she didn't look cold or wet.
"I'm in a bit of a hurry" Bennett said.
"But I really need it" the girl said. She didn't move from her spot in the alley.
"Who the bloody Hell are you anyway?" he snapped.
"Jeydan Dennis" she responded. She had an interesting face, he noticed as he approached. Her skin was very pale and her eyes were ice blue. Her thin lips looked soft and pink. Suddenly he felt a bit of an attraction to her. Then he shook his head. He had forced various prostitutes to commit strange and repulsive sexual acts, but he liked to think that he was an upstanding sort of man. He was eighteen and was going to be nineteen in three days. He wasn't going to have relations with some seventeen year old. Especially one he didn't know. His common sense began to come in. What if she had friends? What if it was a plan to rob him and take all his money? He began to notice something else. The girl seemed to emit a kind of dank odor…like something left too long in a closet…or a coffin.
But the other feelings were stronger.
"My name is Bennett Thomas" he said, his sneakers squishing in the puddles of water on the sidewalk. He walked up to the beginning of the alley. Now he could smell her again…and it was not a smell of coffins he smelled. It was the smell of hot biscuits and cream, and French crepes. Things he had adored as a child.
"Nice to meet you, Bennett" said Jayden. She grinned. "Now, if you could help me?"
"What do you mean...?" Jayden's hand grasped his wrist tightly, her slender fingers digging into his skin. Bennett said as he looked at Jayden again.
And saw the girl's face change.
Bennett Thomas began to scream then, but it was too late because no one heard him. No one at all.
"Thank you Bennett" the thing in the alley grinned, revealing a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Each tooth was a long point and had a reflective surface. They knashed up and down in hungry anticipation. The burning red eyes focused in on Bennett and he felt his bladder let go. He jerked and struggled, screaming all the while.
"Oh, you'll like it Bennett" the thing said. "It's only scary if you struggle...and you won't be doing that, will you?" its teeth ripped into his throat, tearing out his windpipe. There was a flaring sheet of pain...and Bennett Thomas knew no more.