A night on the town
A LMI fan fiction based off of Gk's Pittsburg which is in turn based off of Lee Kyle's LMI2
Thanks to you both for making this a possibility. Additional thanks to Mishrashade for help in proof reading and brainstorming. Also big thanks to Gk for editing and proof reading.
July 20, 1989
Owen lightly traced his tattoo while waiting in the darkness. Even though he couldn't see his arm it was easy for him, he had done this many times.
He had finally gotten around to adding the fangs he thought about way back in juvie. He had done it himself just like last time, had laughed when Alvirez had suggested having a "professional" do it.
"But then it wouldn't be my ink. It would be someone else's on my body."
His goal was to become good enough at tattooing to ink his beloved's face above the name. It was a activity that had taken a back seat for a while, like so many other things had. But he was happy he had finally found some time for it.
Just as Owen finished tracing the inked Y, he heard them. Footsteps. Two sets, approaching from the right.
His hand rested on the handle of his revolver safely concealed in his dark green jacket. Taking a few steps deeper into the shadows of the alleyway, Owen quieted his breathing and listened.
He could hear voices now, two men, but couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
Laughter. The men were laughing about something or other.
From the irregular and almost haphazard sound of their footfalls Owen could assume that they were drunk, perhaps heading home after a night at a local bar.
He shifted position in the alley so he could see out into the street but remain fairly hidden in the shadows.
The illumination from the street lights made it easy to spot the men when they passed. They were on the opposite side of the street, visibly drunk as Owen had predicted, talking about something, a tv show perhaps? If they were unlucky they would end up being eaten by the monster he was currently hunting.
"And then Jerry *hic* Jerry says, "you can't over die, you can't over dry!""
More laughter.
On the bright side, if an attack happened in Owen's presence the beast would most likely be killed and many lives saved. So at least their deaths wouldn't be for nothing. That was worth something, right?
Owen shook his head, physically removing that line of thinking from his mind.
He silently scanned the roof tops and windows across from him.
Like many of the monsters he and Alvirez had hunted back in the early days, all signs pointed to this one being almost all beast and no humanity. More than likely it had been recently turned and the person within was too weak to stop the beast from going on bloodlust fueled killing sprees. "Class B" or "Beast-like class", as Alvirez had (so originally) dubbed them, were fairly predictable as far as vampires go, which in turn made them easier to hunt.
It wouldn't be unlike a Class B to simply swoop down from one of the windows or roof of the buildings and eat both of them before either knew what had transpired.
But nothing happened.
The men continued walking, supporting each other and laughing the whole way. They were now exiting Owen's line of sight, continuing to his left.
But when they had passed in front of Owen, a boy had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The boy couldn't be much older than a early teenager. Half of his face was covered in some sort of bandage. He had apparently been standing in the alley opposite of Owen and was now walking into the dim illumination of the street lights.
As Owen watched, the boy fell, started writhing on the sidewalk and screaming in agony.
Owen considered the situation.
Was the boy on drugs? An escaped mental patient? Perhaps he was a newly infected, in need of Owen's gift of peace.
Owen moved forward out of the shadows onto the sidewalk, his hand still resting on his revolver.
"Are you ok?"
But before he can take another step he suddenly feels like he is in a dream. His eyes close as he feels small arms lightly wrap around his neck.
Owen awakens in his tent with a start, a bit confused. He collects himself and checks his watch.
Abby would be waking up soon, best get ready.
Tonight he wants to go over the relationship book that Alvriez suggested. It might provide some further insight to the mystery that is his girlfriend.
He grabs the book from its spot next to his sleeping bag and exits his tent into the growing darkness of the forest.
He stretches and looks over at Abby's tent and is surprised to see that it is empty.
After straining his ears he can hear her humming a familiar tune from the direction of the nearby stream.
He smiles at hearing the tune. He had come to love the sound. It was a fairly upbeat tune that she hummed seemingly whenever she was happy.
She had just come back from feeding the day before so that might explain it.
Whenever he asked her about the tune or were she heard it from, however, she would shut down and not discuss it anymore, like so many other topics.
He sits down and closed his eyes, listening to her.
After a few minutes he hears the humming getting closer, and he opens his eyes. And instantly regrets it.
Abby walks towards him, smiling and humming her upbeat tune. However Owen can clearly make out several bullet wounds and the dark red blood oozing from all of them. Bullet wounds he would cause at a later time; bullet wounds that would forever haunt him. He could see one of them appears to go right through her heart.
Owen is paralyzed by what he sees, but Abby continues walking toward him as if nothing is wrong.
Once she is within arm's reach she stops humming, hugs him.
"Hey"
Owen is unable to reply.
Abby gently kisses his lips, then whispers into his ear in a low tone.
"It was not your fault Owen."
She then takes a few steps back from Owen, still lightly humming as she bursts into flames.
Owens eyes snapped open, once again finding himself standing on the sidewalk bathed in the pale illumination of the streetlight. One of his hands flew to his neck where he thought the small arms had touched him, but felt nothing but the silver chain around his neck.
He then looked across the street at the bandaged boy, however he was gone as well.
Was he losing it? Or was the boy never there to begin with?
He tried to relax as he removed his other hand from his jacket. His thoughts once again started to drift toward Abby. He reached into his shirt and pulled the glass vial that hung from his neck on a silver chain. Alvirez had given it to him on his 16th birthday. It was small, blue, teardrop shaped, filled with Abby's ashes and the engagement ring with a cork at the bottem.
He slowly turned it over with his fingers, lost in memory. The sea of grey tumbling over and over as it is turned in his hand. The ring shone brightly in the illumination of the streetlight, brilliantly contrasting the darkness that surrounded it.
Just then he heard a strikingly familiar tune coming from down the street.
His eyes widen as he recognized the song as Abby's happy humming tune.
Over the next few moments Owen almost found himself in a trance as he focused on the song and lyrics, doing his best to memorize them.
The person carrying the boom box continue on their way down the street and the music slowly fades.
Owen opened his eyes and he realized a single tear was rolling down his cheek as he thought about all the good times he and Abby had in New York.
Just then he felt his pager vibrate softly at his side. He collected himself and checked it.
It read: Come to corner of 2nd & Maple. We have work to do. - Alvirez
Owen returned the pager to its place and started walking, steeling himself for the battle to come.
He found himself strangely at peace, feeling more at ease then he had in quite some time.
As he continued to walk towards his destination, he started singing to himself in a low voice.
"And I knew you'd be the kinda girl I'd love to spend my time with, from the minute that we met I think we knew..."