"God, I feel like a train wreck."

Nny reached inside the maroon shower (partially so the blood stains wouldn't show XP) curtains and twisted the rusty metal knobs until warm water poured out of the shower head. He turned back to face the crooked yellowish mirror over the sink. He caught a flash of blue out of his peripheral vision, but immediately averted his eyes from seeing his reflection head on.

"I'm afraid to see..?" he thought to himself, peeling off his sopping wet shirt that stuck to his skin with rainwater. He knew that he had gotten thinner over the past few weeks, but never really addressed the problem. His ribs jutted out, stretching his porcelain skin as he raised his arms. He grimaced, running a hand over his protruding hip bone, all the way up to his accented collarbone.

"I'm eating food, but I'm getting thinner...? Makes no sense." He shook his head, kicking off his pants.

The mist from the shower clouded the mirror and windows in a matter of seconds, making the room harder to breathe in. Despite this, Nny shivered with goosebumps appearing all over his body. The mirror now only displayed an abstract version of his appearance, only smudged colors and soft shapes. Slowly, he wiped a thin area of condensation away from the mirror, only so much that he could see a portion of his left eye. Tears pricked his eyes, threatening to overflow. He wiped them away, then forced himself closer to the mirror.

The color of his eyes always confused him. They were a dull, slate grey with no variation or tint of a different color. He had never seen anyone else with them, but then again he never allowed himself to get close enough to find out. He let out a heavy sigh, then tore himself away from the reflection.

"She most definitely did not have them." He said aloud, lathering up his hair.

"Shut u-" He abruptly stopped scrubbing his hair, realizing that it wasn't Reverend Meat's voice that said that, but his own. Shocked, he forced himself into the scalding shower. He let out a small yelp as the water trailed down his body, eventually making it numb.

"Why can't my mind be numbed this fast?" He complained.

The small window in the bathroom was at the height of his head inside the shower. He glanced outside at the gloomy night. Droplets of water ran down the grooved glass, making small streaks that he could see out of. The headlights of a swerving car blinded him momentarily, coming down the street at a dangerous speed, then stopped on the curb.

"What the…"

He heard shouts coming from the scene as the car doors slammed hard. He couldn't make out any conversation, only blind anger.

"Oh, great. Just when I think I can actually have a relaxing moment." He made an effort to wash the excess soap off his body before looking out of the window again.

Two people were standing near the car, yelling at the top of their voices. The girl had wild, curly hair that sat in tangles at her shoulders. The guy she was yelling at had neck length dark, cropped hair that stuck to his skin in the rain.

"Get over here! You little…I'm not done!"

"No-stop it!! I mean it, stay away from me!" She turned to run down the street, but the guy grabbed her by the hair and pulled her back with force.

"Get the fuck off me!!" She yelled again, kicking and punching him in the process.

"Motherfucking kids." Nny cursed, running out of the bathroom to get some clothes.

"I said GET OFF!" She screamed over again, collapsing on the ground. The guy snickered evilly, seeming to be proud of the scene they were making.

"It seems that you have disrupted my shower." Nny bursted out of his house and walked coolly towards the couple.

"Fuck off, this doesn't concern you." The guy spat. Stray hairs hung in his face. The girl was still in his grasp, catching her breath from yelling so much. Her wide eyes looked Nny over with curiosity.

"It concerns me when I can't even hear my own fucking thoughts." He retorted, revealing a long, nasty looking scythe from behind his back. The two stared at him, there thoughts still not registering.

"Hey man, cool it-"

Nny swung the scythe towards the man, slicing through the flesh of his stomach in one swoop. He doubled over in pain, his face contorted in shock.

"W-what the hell?!?" He fell to the ground, clutching his wound.

The girl screamed, slapping her hands to her mouth in horror. Nny cringed at the high-pitched wail, grabbing her in one hand, and the man in the other. He had fainted from the sight of his own blood, so he was dragged alongside, leaving a thick trail of blood on the sidewalk.

"Let me GO! Shit! Why does this always happen to me!??"

Nny swung her over his shoulder, trying to ignore her kicks and screams.

"Why can't I just-" She didn't finish her thought before letting out a broken sob, then lying limp over Nny's shoulder. Shivers went down his spine. His intention was not to have her relaxed all over his body, but to have her under control as she kicked and punched.

He desperately wanted to shake her so she would at least start kicking, but he ran down into his basement instead.

First, he chained the guy to the wall in one of his shackles that he once chained Dillon to months before.

"What's wrong? Don't feel like yelling anymore?" He taunted the man.

"Unnn..you faggot…" He spat back, blood dripping down his chin.

Nny turned his attention to the girl, lifting her hands to the cuffs on the wall near the guy. She was still limp, but her eyes were open, focusing on nothing in particular.

The small light from the bulb hanging overhead gave way to the blue and black splotches on her face and arms. He peered closer at her lowered face. She breathed out and lifted her gaze, staring right back at him. Forgetting his current circumstance, he temporarily examined her deep eyes.

"Hey…I'm talkin' to you…" The man slurred.

The girl shivered at his voice. Nny snapped out of the weird trance and once again faced the guy.

"Shut up, not another word from you." He ordered, turning to walk up the stairs.

"And my name's not faggot, it's Johnny." He said through his teeth.

"Hi Daniel! What's up?" Devi picked up the phone on the couch.

"Yes, I'm ready. Are you?"

Devi had spent the last hour getting dressed and ready. The people performing were good in her opinion, and she had dressed appropriately for the occasion.

"Okay, I'll be right down." She hung up the phone and checked herself in the mirror one last time. She had on a lacey white knee-length dress with a light purple corset with black laces. Her platform cargo boots went up to her knees, leaving a small amount of fishnet covered skin exposed. A small black bow was tightly wound around her neck, complementing her cropped hair, which she had just put platinum chunks into.

She dabbled a little more gold eyeshadow on, bringing out her emerald eyes even more.

"There, perfect." She smiled, then turned to walk out of her apartment building.

Daniel was waiting outside on the sidewalk, finishing a cigarette.

"You're dressed up as well? Great!" Devi said happily, coming out from behind him, noticing his tall boots and fishnet cloth over his bright orange shirt. He turned to face her, his bright green hair glistening in the twilight.

"How do I look?" She bowed in front of him.

"Amazing as usual." He smiled back, stepping on his cigarette.

"Let's go! It's only around the block, but it's almost started." She squealed, taking his hand.

Devi had made herself in a good mood for tonight, hoping that would keep the bad things away, including her re-occuring dream. She had been looking forward to this for quite some time, and was hoping for the best.

"So how's life for you these days?" Daniel sighed, looking up at the sky.

"Fine…okay. A few setbacks here and there, but who doesn't have those?"

"Hmm, what kind of setbacks are you talking about?" He looked over to her, flashing his innocent smile.

"Just…people problems, I suppose. What do you think re-occuring dreams mean?" She asked promptly.

"If something's re-occuring, there's a reason for it. In this case, maybe your conscience is trying to tell you something. Or some other force is interfering."

"Yeah, I sorta guessed that."

"Why? What's the dream about?"

Devi looked in the stores they passed, unsure of how to answer. About an ex-boyfriend? True, but not something you typically want to mention so quickly. An ex-friend? No, that just sounds catty…or like you killed the person or something drastic like that. (Close to it)

"I haven't seen someone in a long time. We used to be good friends, but something drastic happened and I haven't seen him in months. I'm afraid to see how they're doing, or if they're doing well."

Daniel thought for a moment, not pressing for any specific gender.

"What's holding you back from contacting this person?"

"Um, well, things ended on a rather harsh note. I'm not comfortable with stating how, but it made me justifiably afraid to go near this person."

"Fear. That's what's holding you back. Get over that and you no longer have a problem."

Devi watched her feet move back and forth across the pavement.

"It's not that simple. What if I-"

"No what ifs. Just do it. What ifs are just fears of what will happen if things don't go your way, which ill ultimately keep you back."

"Yeah…I guess that's true." She grabbed his hand.

"Um, the place is down there." She pointed to the stair that led to a lower level of a club. There were neon lights everywhere, even inside.

"So who's playing?" He asked.

"Well, a few bands before Emilie Autumn, but I'm not that excited for them."

She drifted over to the table of merchandise after getting through the doors.

"Look! There she is." She steered Daniel towards Emilie, grinning eagerly.

"I've never heard of her, but okay." He followed.

Devi talked to Emilie about her CD tracks, or nothing in particular before other fans broke in.

"Are you her lover, boy?" Captain Maggot, one of Emilie's Bloody Crumpets cooed, pointing to Daniel.

"Oh, I wouldn't say-"

"Yes, he's my boyfriend." Devi assured, grabbing onto his arm.

"Lucky one, you are." She laughed manically before disappearing backstage with Emilie.

All the fans gradually joined the crowd near the small stage, awaiting the show.

"Come on! It's gonna start." Devi hurried Daniel to the front as the lights started to dim.

Nny walked swiftly down the dark street, cursing himself. It was already 9:00pm, and the show was supposed to start at 8:00pm.

"So much fucking traffic…and on the day I actually brought my car."

He ran down the stairs of the club, his long trench coat trailing behind him. Although he never would admit it, he to had dressed for the occasion. More makeup on than usual, a long black and cream striped shirt, his usual steel-toed boots, and a small black top hat that he never wore. Small, dark spikes of gelled hair stuck out around his face, making him look even more edgy.

"Tckets." The big, burly man grunted at the door. Nny handed him the piece of paper that Emilie had given him earlier.

"This aint a ticket." He said, staring at Nny.

"Look, Emilie told me to get her if there were any problems-"

"This piece of shit aint a ticket, little man. I'm not letting you in without one."

Nny rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I knew this would happen, so I came prepared." He said, taking out a small can that looked like pepper spray.

He jammed it into the guy's mouth and twisted it. A light mist was released, causing the man to fall to the ground.

"It could have been messier, but I didn't want to cause much of a hassle for Emilie. So thank her."

Nny dived into the sweaty crowd of people, trying to reach the front of the stage.

"She better be good after all this…" He said, avoiding contact a much as possible.

People chattered about the previous bands loudly, then went silent as the stage lights went dark.

"EMILIE!!" Someone yelled to the stage. When the lights came back on, she stood in the center with a violin in her hand, smiling broadly.

The sound coming from the instrument sounded more like an electric guitar as she played and danced across the stage, her Bloody Crumpets balancing on stilts and juggling fire. The dark harpsichord rang in the background.

As the song finished, people screamed with approval, clapping energetically.

The stage went dark again, the only light shining on Emilie. She sang a slong, sinister sounding song, her Crumpets once again appearing around her.

Nny propped his arms up onto the side of the stage and watched her with interest, listening to her vengeful lyrics, her intensity dripping from every word.

Everyone was silent from that number on, watching her choreographed show with respect, only laughing and joking when she did. And when some asshole yelled a crude remark out to her, she easily responded with an intense threat.

"And now, my dearies, it's time for me to retire." She sighed dramatically, waving herself with a feathered fan. Athe crowd booed, but clapped all the same. She bowed deeply, kissing a few of the audience members. He smiled weakly in her direction, still a bit shaken from her explosive performance. She glanced over and winked playfully at him before the lights went out.

The constant chatter started up again, signaling the end of her performance.

Nny shoved his way over to the merchandise table, looking at her CDs. The least he could do was support her.

"I'll take one of these." He handed the money to Veronica, the Crumpet with the long dark hair.

"Oh, are you Johnny?"

"Uh, yes…" He said nervously.

"Emilie told me to give it to you for free." She smiled, nodding in her direction. Nny saw her in the back talking to one of the managers of the club. She smiled at him, pointing to the CD in his hand.

"We only performed tracks 1, 4, and 10 tonight, but she said to give it to you."

Nny thanked her then wedged through the crowd of people dancing to the techno beats of Ayria.

"My favorite." Daniel said, reaching to the large glass of a cocktail on the bar counter.

"The music, or the drink?" Devi asked.

"Both." He gulped down the drink, then swung her out into the dancing people.

"Wait! What am I supposed to do with this?!" She yelled over the music.

"Drink it, of course!!" He answered, pointing to her cocktail. She shrugged, then followed his lead by gulping it down twice as fast.

Daniel pulled her closer, placing his hands on her hips as they swayed slowly to the beat. She laughed, moving her head to the back of his neck.

They danced with more passion, letting the music dictate their next moves. He moved closer, nuzzling the back of her neck. She breathed in, letting him lead their next action. She craned her neck, allowing him to have more space to play.

Nny had to get through the crowd to get to the opposite side of the room where the door was. In his opinion, this singer was crap compared to Emilie. Drunk women rubbed up against him, trying to lure him into the crowd. He pulled away quickly before it could go any further.

"You don't even know my fucking name!!" He yelled to a woman in the crowd that had tried to force him into a sloppy kiss.

In the confusion of it all, he bumped into the back of another guy.

"Hey, watch it asshole!!" The guy yelled in Nny's face. A flash of purple was visible in his arms. She looked over at the commotion and did a double take.

Her eyes went wide with fear, despite the strong liquor in her system. Her jaw dropped, speechless.

Nny, backed up, bumping into more people.

"Shit!! SHIT!!" He yelled, slamming into the door and falling into the lobby. It was much cooler in there, and free from lustful drunkards.

Running his hands through his hair, he caught sight of the body he once got so close to…too close to. The flattering dress flew out in every direction as she swung her hips, Her purple hair stuck to her sweaty face, making her look more erotic.

"No…why did I come? Of all the places, WHY?" He ran up the stairs and out into the cold November night.

Devi had been so close to him, he couldn't bear it. He had promised he wouldn't go near her again, and he intended on keeping that promise. Out of all the places in the city…she was there with another guy, and he should be happy for her, right? Not cursing up a storm and denying the reason why.

Adding up all these factors in his head, he could not abolish the intense emotion he felt in the lobby looking through at her. In those few moments, in the sway of her hips, by the influence of his lust and her domineering power, he had never felt so passionately attracted to someone in his life.