This is a story about a Devourer of Souls, an Angel of Death, a Wraith - and his little witch-in-training. Do not be alarmed - this is not a self-insert (yeah, bullshit), and this is not taking place in a town where I live (Also bullshit). And so, without further adieu... I give you "Further Tales of Raziel and Amanda".
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Chapter 1 - "Dirty Laundry"
Raziel was picking bits of dirt from his talons as Amanda began packing away clothes to be taken by the vampires to the laundry mat. It closed at 9, but the sun set later than it did in July and most of the vampires were old enough to stand a little prenight sunlight. It was late October, and Amanda had been living with the vampires for a week. She'd been calling up everyone the vampires knew of, witches, anthropologists, under the pseudonym, Stormrose.
She emptied the pockets of her jeans and pulled out a dollar. Her face brightened, the tiredness in her face momentarily obliterated. "Hey. Maybe this time we can go with them and visit the store. I want to get a soda. But maybe they'll recognize me too easily..."
Raziel looked over, his eyes ablaze as the candle light bounced off of them. "A promising idea, but you're right. You'll be recognized right away. I went out yesterday. You are missed in your hometown."
Amanda slowly put her pants into the basket. Her eyes were clouded with tears. "I miss mom. But I must let go!" She clenched her fists. "It's... so hard... god damn it. Not knowing if I'll ever see her again. And yet..."
The silence dropped between them like a stone until Raziel very slightly moved to face her in his leather chair.
"Nevermind," she went on, stuffing a last shirt into the bunch. Her back was to him, blocking his view, and she knew he hadn't been watching her so she put in personal things as well. She closed the basket lid and turned around. "Catch!"
Her legs felt like rubber at first, but she bunched her muscles, and jumped at Raziel. He stood up in time to catch her, forced to sit down hard as her momentum drove him back. His eyes flashed with anger and bemusement. "What was that all about?"
"Just wanted to see if you'd do it! Oh my god, that was thrilling! We've got to try that in the woods. I'll jump from a tree and--"
"You will break your arm or leg or your neck, because I refuse to involve myself in your cheap thrills." Raziel stood up again and set her firmly on her feet, his talons on her shoulders. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Besides, I don't see how jumping out of trees will help me get home."
Amanda looked up at him, blinking innocently. "Oh... oh, please! You're so wound up in Nosgoth, it's like you can't allow yourself to have fun! How often does a pre-adult like me get to grab a stranger like you out of your world, and have fun with it?"
"I'm not an it," he muttered.
"I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about the situation. This is an opportunity to cut loose once in awhile. Do you know what cut loose means?"
Raziel considered the question. He had an idea what she meant, judging by how the conversation had gone so far. But he wasn't so sure he wanted to agree with her. If he didn't, she'd most likely get angry like she usually did whenever things did not necessarily go her way. She was already that comfortable with him to show him her darker side. Not without some understanding, he let it slide... only until she began getting nasty.
"What do you want me to, exactly?" he relented with a sigh.
She adopted a pouting face. Then she turned and rummaged through her clean clothes. "Oh, Darius?"
The vampire didn't come right away. But eventually he drifted into her bedroom with a lecherous grin on his young, pale white face. He gave her a fanged smile and leaned in the doorway, wearing a long, black leather jacket with too many zippers and pockets. His wavy dark hair, aside from his penetrating vampire eyes, was enough to give Amanda the creeps.
"What took you so long?"
"I was on the telephone," he replied coolly. "What is it you require?"
"I want to come with you to town. And then, if you don't mind, I'd like me and Raziel to go to the mall and hang out. And I don't want you hovering over us all the time. I want to have a good time, and Raziel does, too!"
"I do not--" Raziel snapped, but Amanda gave him a look. "I suppose I do," he sighed, giving Amanda his best snarling face.
- - - -
Raziel wore tight, worn jeans around his legs. His turtleneck accentuated his very finely chiseled body, down to his waist, where his jeans did the rest of the job for him. He wore a long, black jacket about mid-calf length. His dark brown boots, large but not necessarily ugly, covered his give-away taloned feet. Then, to complete the strange look, a pair of green-tinted shades to hide his unearthly yellow eyes, which often began to glow at random intervals of high emotion.
He turned around and watched Amanda walk out in a pair of warm, thick stretch flares, a studded black belt, her jacket, and a beanie. She looked at Raziel, whose gaze burned from behind his tinted shades. "Ooh. Look at me again like that and I may not be able to help myself." She sauntered up to him, bumped him with her hip. He caught her shoulders and leaned close, giving her a chaste little kiss on the corner of her mouth. Her cheeks colored instantly. "Raziel!"
"Yes?"
"You...you kissed me!" She lifted her hand to touch the spot where his lips had touched. He merely laughed at her.
"Would you like another?" His eyes flashed again as he tipped his glasses down his nose.
She turned her cheek to him with a smile. "Yes, please."
Darius led the way outside while Amanda and Raziel took turns carrying the basket of clothes down to the road, where the car was waiting for them. They piled inside. Amanda stared out the tinted windows, leaning across Raziel's lap, while he idly stroked her back for no reason other than to have something to do. Raziel wasn't... exactly nervous inside the car. He'd gone through time and space portals, and hurtling along at speeds he could not achieve alone over ground didn't phase him much at all.
When they reached the mainstreet, Amanda pressed her face against the cold glass in order to stare out the window toward her apartment. She twisted away, shivering and holding her face in her hands. They stopped just a little ways down the street, not even 20 yards, from the laundry mat.
Raziel opened the door (after struggling to find the handle), and stood outside. "Aren't you coming?"
"If I see that apartment, I'm not going to be able to go back," she said softly. Raziel leaned down, removing his shades and tossing them on the seat. He reached his hand in to her. Outside, the twilight made the whole world look blue. She slipped across the seat, quickly moving the shades out of her way, and stood up on the street. She shivered from the cold that bit at her cheeks. She pulled the basket from the trunket and took it inside, where Darius took care of the rest.
As if by unspoken word, Raziel and Amand crossed the street and walked together alone down the street, past the pharmacy store and the Chinese restaurant and down past three pubs, a bar called the General's Gate. They went to the park, walking side-by-side.
She wondered if the slow pace aggravated him. She glanced up at him. His pale, sharp features seemed undisturbed; indeed, maybe they looked a little happier than usual. His eyes beheld everything with a sort of quiet wonder and acceptance, from the perfectly square garbage bins built into the ground.
"Wish it would snow," she said quietly, smiling. "While we were out here..."
"I can imagine," he said. The lights throughout the swelling park area began to seem more brighter as the sun drifted farther away, the overcast sky blotting out the sight of the moon. He pointed to a covered wooden bridge that crossed the river. "What's that?"
"Oh... People call it the kissing bridge. Folks write their names together on it with knives or pencils or pens. Isn't it beautiful?" She walked along a bit faster, jaunted up the short space and disappeared into the bridge.
There was a flourescent light hanging above them. By the time Raziel had run into the bridge, Amanda had managed to climb halfway up the walls of the bridge toward the dusty, cobwebbed rafters. She couldn't quite make the rest of the climb, because she was very scared of heights she wasn't familiar with, and because the rafter was too far away to grab.
Raziel looked up at her, blinking against the flourescent light. "What do you think you're trying to accomplish?"
"I don't want to hear it," she mumbled, hanging from the wall, staring down at him. "I just want to get down now."
"Well, jump. I'll catch you."
"Are you crazy?"
"Does it not seem the very same thing as jumping out of a tree? You got yourself up there. Now you must come down." He stood closer to her and held out his arms. "Jump."
Amanda reluctantly pushed off and let go. She tumbled down and landed roughly in his arms. He quickly set her down. He looked annoyed. Amanda turned away. "Why d'you flirt with me all the time?"
"I don't flirt. It's my natural sexual allure as a soul-eating monster of doom," he shrugged his shoulders, but she saw his dark lips curve into a smirk. She punched him in the arm, then grabbed him, dragging him outside the bridge.
"Quick, before I start kissing you on the Kissing Bridge!" she laughed, stumbling outside and collapsing onto a bench. She took off her beanie, and raked her hands through her short hair.
"Oh my god, look, it's him!" a voice cried. Amanda shot straight up, clenching the little hat over her head, trying to hide her face. But it wasn't her the voices were interested in.
About three or four girls latched onto Raziel out of nowhere. He froze right in place, suddenly finding himself captive to a bunch of giggling, crazy women.
"God, he's so hot! I can't believe we've got him!" "This is so amazing! Feel his arm, it's so hard!" "Who cares? I get to feel his--"
"BACK OFF! Amanda screamed, lunging at the bunch of girls. She roared at them to the best of her ability, scaring even herself. She pulled at their arms, snarling and carrying on. Some of the girls let go.
"Freak!"
"Raziel, run! Watch out, I've got rabies!"
"You've had babies...?"
"No, rabies, retard! Run away!"
Before Raziel could ask exactly what she meant by rabies, the girls slowly walked away, talking amongst themselves and cursing Amanda behind her back. She dusted off her hands, then said something under her breath. One of the girls screeched, "My nose!" and all of them started hurrying even faster.
"What did you do?" Raziel asked, looking suspiciously over his shoulder at the girls when they began to walk back to the laundry mat.
"Gave her a bloody nose. C'mon, we've lingered too long."