Finally, after what had seemed like it was never ending, my shift was over and I was waiting outside of the restaurant for Yasmin. She rushed out a couple of moments later, her red hair loose and messy. I didn't give her time to say hello as I rushed to speak.
"So we're meeting outside of ZeroSum at 9pm okay? She nodded and checked her watch. I felt bad for dragging Yasmin to the club with me, but I didn't want to go alone, and I had to be there no matter what.
We said our goodbyes and Yasmin took a cab home while I walked. The sun was already setting as I walked along. The sky was like the bright orange glow of a candle before it's about to go out. The air was chilly now, making my cheeks cold as it brushed past. On my way home I rejoiced the fact that I was Friday. I didn't work Saturdays or Sundays so I could get a lot of studying in on Saturday and on Sunday I would just do a whole lot of nothing-at-all. Then I suddenly remembered I had to fill in for Melissa tomorrow night, and my mood dropped instantly. When I got to my apartment block I punched in the four-digit code and went inside. I opened my mailbox and sifted through my mail.
"Crap, crap, crap" I said to myself flicking through advertisements. I stopped at a letter from St. Francis hospital. It was for my yearly checkup from them. I'd had to have that yearly checkup every year for the past five years. The three years before that had been quarterly checkups. I thought back to why I'd had to have those checkups. To the fatal car accident that left me parentless and with a deadly brain injury. Then the recovery that shouldn't of happened.
"How you doing Ava?" I spun around to find my landlord, Kevin, stood on the stairwell behind me that led up to the first floor. I grimaced when I saw him. He was wearing a dirty black vest, which his beer belly hung out of. He had shorts on that hung just above his bulging knees, and was wearing flip flops. His feet were nearly brown and I found myself wondering when the last time he bathed was. He was eyeing me up and down.
"Hi, Kevin" I said with no interest at all. I closed my mailbox and headed up the stairs. As I came close to him my stomach wrenched. The smell of weed and sweat coming off him was almost enough to answer my question about bathing, and nearly bring me to my knees. "I'll have your rent by the end of the week" I said quietly. Not waiting for him to answer, I ran up the flights of stairs to my floor. Unlocked my door and slammed it shut behind me. I couldn't express how much I hated that man. But I couldn't think about that now. I went to my tiny kitchen and popped a frozen dinner in the microwave oven and turned the television on in the living room while I waited. There was an infomercial on about a new weight machine. The man using it was so buff it looked like his muscles were going to pop right out of his skin. He was wearing a blue muscle top and tight black shorts. I found myself laughing at how ridiculous he looked, although the woman that was watching him exercise seemed more than impressed, to the point where she looked like she was about to jump his bones. The oven dinged and I sat down on one of the couches with my frozen dinner. I put on an old episode of Project Runway. I'd watched this episode before with Beth. We were laughing at some of the terrible dresses on there. I remembered how Beth had said one looked like 'a big fluffy cloud'. I sighed and turned the television back off, a sudden wave of woe coming over me. I finished the rest of my frozen dinner in silence and went to my bedroom. I looked at the clock, it was 5.15pm. I picked up my books off of the floor and hopped on my bed, I had better get a couple of hours of studying in before I went to ZeroSum. I opened one of the books and started to read.
When I next looked at the clock it was 7.30pm. I'd been studying for ages. I got up, stretched and walked to the bathroom. Turning the shower on, I undressed and slipped under the water. I leaned back against the shower wall and wondered about what would happen tonight, if anything would happen at all. I imagined myself at ZeroSum. I imagined the mysterious and sexy man from my dream walking over to me, the crowd becoming one huge blur surrounding us. I imagined him pushing me up against a wall and doing everything to me that he does in my dream, and so much more. I imagined him pulling me close against his huge body, running his big hands up my arched back, his breath coming down in hot waves over my neck. I imagined the feel of his hand gently running over my bare stomach as he slid his hand up the front of my shirt. His other hand sliding further down my back until it rested on my bottom, drawing me as close towards him as our bodies would allow. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling his face into mine as I locked lips with him. The kiss felt like a dream within a dream, so tender my heart almost stopped. I pulled back and looked into his gleaming diamond eyes. They were so intense, so beautiful, and so perfect. I wanted him bad. By the way he was looking at me, he wanted me too. His eyes traced my body, landing on my neck. He licked his lips and opened his mouth to reveal those pearl white fangs, they were elongated as he brought his mouth above my neck, the hunger in his eyes getting stronger, and he brought his fangs down to my neck, piercing my –
The feel of the water turning freezing cold snapped me back to reality, I screamed like a little girl and jumped out of the shower. Shivering, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around me and ran back to my bedroom. It was 8.15pm on the clock. Shit, I'd been in the shower for forty-five minutes? I cursed as I walked over to the wardrobe to get my outfit for tonight; I already knew what I was going to wear, I'd been deciding the whole day at work. I pulled out a black lace corset top that I'd only worn once since I'd bought it, and some low waist tight black jeans. I laid them on the bed and turned to the mirror, looking at my hair. I didn't have time to do anything to it so I just blow dried it and left it as it was. One thing I loved about my hair was that it was thick and it looked nice without even having to try too hard. I pulled on the corset top which still fit fine thank god, considering I'd bought it nearly six months ago and had had many Banana Twinkie study nights since then, and pulled on the jeans, which I had to admit were feeling a little tight around the waistband. Plus I had to breath in to get them to button up, looked like I wouldn't be sitting down much tonight. After contemplating what shoes to wear, I found a pair of velvet black wedges at the back of my wardrobe, they were Yasmins. She'd left them here a while ago and hadn't asked for them back. I slipped them on, it was a good job me and her had pretty much the same feet size, I thought to myself, tying the laces at the top of them. I did a quick twirl in my mirror, and feeling satisfied with the way I looked, I grabbed my purse, phone and keys off the coffee table in my living room, and headed for ZeroSum.
At 9.15 I was waiting in the cold outside ZeroSum for Yasmin. She'd called my cell on the way to ZeroSum saying she was going to be late. So there I was stood alone. I looked over to the long line waiting to go into ZeroSum; some of the men in the line were looking at me, wanting looks on their faces. I rolled my eyes and looked away, wishing I'd worn a jacket. I was used to getting looks from men, I was a decent looking woman, but tonight it was cold and I felt naked. As I was considering whether or not to run home and grab a jacket or not, Yasmin arrived in front of me, getting out of a cab. She was wearing a short grey strapless dress that barely covered her bottom, brown tights and black high heels with studded diamonds all over them. She had her usual locket on, plus some black beads. Her long red hair hung past her shoulders. She smiled at me as she reached me. She had a brown jacket hanging from her arm. I cursed again wishing I had of brought one.
"Sorry I'm late" She said as we joined the line. Men around us couldn't take their eyes off us. It seemed to annoy her as much as it did me as she rolled her eyes at me. She looked me up and down a couple of times "You look great!"
"Thanks. I hope you don't mind, I used your shoes"
"Not at all, they look great on you!" I thanked her and then rubbed my arms. She handed her jacket to me. "Here, I'm not cold anyway"
"Thanks" I said sliding it on my shoulders. I was a bit bigger than Yasmin so it was a tight fit, but I didn't complain, it wasn't like anything else I was wearing was a perfect fit anyway, remembering my ordeal trying to get into the jeans.
As we got closer to the entrance my heart started beating hard in my chest. My breathing was getting harder too. I was totally and utterly nervous. Yasmin had obviously realized this too.
"Is something wrong?" She asked me looking at me with a worried look.
"I'm just cold" I lied not making eye contact with her. This was a mistake.
"Wait here" She said running off to the front of the line. I peeked out to see what she was doing. She was talking to the bouncer. By the way she was smiling I could tell she had her flirty face on. Oh crap I thought to myself as she ran back with a big smile on her face. "Come on" She said taking my hand and pulling me forward. When we reached the huge bouncer, he nodded and opened the door for us. The music from the club poured out, screaming in my ears. My heart started beating even faster as Yasmin went in, pulling me behind her. The club was full to the brim of people dancing. As I entered the club, the mixed smell of smoke, drugs, sweat and too many people attacked my nose as I inhaled. The neon lasers lit up the whole dance floor, revealing what must have been over two hundred people, all squashed together dancing like there was no tomorrow. The music was so loud I could feel the vibrations rush up my skin, compressing my lungs. As my eyes adjusted to the imminent darkness, Yasmin dragged me through the crowd, along some sort of sticky like floor. My shoes were getting stuck every step, like I was walking on duct tape. Finally, after a lot of pushing and shoving, we managed to secure two seats at the bar. Sitting down, the bartender came straight over to us and asked us what we wanted.
"Spritzer" Yasmin shouted over the noise winking at the bartender. He smiled at her and turned to me.
"I'll have a Grey Goose, please" I also had to shout to be heard. he nodded and went to make our drinks. I took Yasmin's jacket off, suddenly hot now we were in the club. I looked out over the crowd, hoping to spot someone I recognized, but with no such luck. The people on the dance floor all looked the same too me, even though they varied in race and hair color. They blended together, under-dressed women and the men they were grinding against. Then, across the dance floor in the shadows, I noticed someone I actually recognized. The female security guard was standing in the dark, leaning back against the wall, barely noticeable. The one who had helped me out that one time, when the drunken man had tried to attack me. The one with the men's haircut and the muscles. She was staring off into the distance, towards the VIP area. I got a warm feeling when I looked at her, and realized I had never thanked her for helping me. Our drinks came back and I took a sip, tugging Yasmin's arm. I had to tug at her a few times because she was busy flirting with the bartender but eventually turned to look at me.
"I'll be right back" I shouted over the noise. I had to repeat it for her twice before she heard me; eventually she nodded and turned her attention back to the bartender. Slowly but surely, I made my way along the duct-tape-like floor, pushing through the hordes of bodies moving in time to the beat. I nearly got pushed over multiple times, but I eventually made it over to the other side of the dance floor. The security guard was still staring into the VIP area as I walked up to her. She didn't look at me until I was stood right in front of her. She looked me up and down in an unimpressed fashion and I immediately felt intimidated. I think anyone would feel intimated if they came into close contact with this woman, even a man. Maybe it was because I'd never been this close to her before, but I hadn't noticed how huge she really was.
"What?" she said in a harsh way which should have been worded what the hell do you want? Suddenly I had no idea what to say to her. I must have been stood there in silence for a stupid amount of time. "Like the view?" She asked in what I couldn't tell was either a sarcastic or a casual tone.
"Pardon?" I asked not sure how to answer that.
"I said" she began, bringing her back up off the wall. "Do you like the view?" She towered over me.
"No!" I blurted out then instantly regretted it, a 6 foot something female security guard with the muscles of a man was not someone I wanted to piss off. "I mean yes, of course" I seriously had a case of verbal diarrhea right now. She scoffed at me and leant back against the wall, looking over to the VIP section again. I was about to take a glance at what she was looking at when she spoke up.
"Sorry, I don't do chicks" She stated while not taking her eyes off the VIP. I had no idea what to make of that.
"Excuse me?" I said utterly confused.
"I'm not a lesbian"
"Neither am I!" I said astonished at her accusation. She looked back at me.
"What do you want then?"
"You don't remember me do you?" When she didn't answer me I assumed she didn't. "It's nothing big but, about a month ago you helped me out when a guy tried to attack me. You were throwing him out of your club and he grabbed me and starting being rough with me. You saved me" I sounded lame saying she saved me, but before I could correct myself a hint of recognition sparked in her eyes.
"That was you?" She asked. I nodded sheepishly.
"Thank you" When she nodded at me I instantly felt relaxed. Her eyes moved back to the VIP section and I followed her gaze this time. "What are you looking at?" She didn't answer but instead she backed off the wall again.
"To apologize for the trouble one of our VIP members caused you, feel free to spend the night in the VIP section, free drinks on me" I didn't know what to say. I felt like a school girl that had just gotten her first A on a test. No idea what to do or say other than to just stand in place blushing. Then I remembered.
"I came with a friend, can she join me?"
"Sure, just give the name Xhex to the bouncers by the VIP, they'll let you straight in"
"Thank you" I said as she walked past me, heading to the VIP area. I pushed my way back through the dance floor to the bar, not bothering to apologize to the people who cursed at me for shoving them. When I reached the bar Yasmin was playing with the locket around her neck, the bartender was busy serving other people. I tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped up, nearly jumping out of her skin entirely.
"Sorry for startling you" I said close to her ear so I didn't have to shout as loud. She shook her head, taking a sip from her drink. I sat down opposite her and started smiling.
"What?" She shouted, smiling too.
"I got us into VIP!" I shouted so loud a few people looked at us. Yasmin went wide eyed. It was hard to tell but I was pretty sure a little squeal left her mouth.
"How did you manage that?" I shook my head at her and grabbed her arm, pulling her through the dance floor and over to the VIP ropes. Two bouncers were stood there. All black with ear pieces, they reminded me of the Men in Black and I was half expecting a couple of aliens to come crashing through the ceiling. I gave them Xhex's name and they let us straight through. The VIP section was a lot more spacious than the main part of the club. There were six booths, three on each side. There were two empty booths and we slid into the far right one. A waitress wearing short shorts and a short checkered shirt came up to us, taking our orders. We ordered the same as we did at the bar and she went off to go and get our drinks. I heard laughter coming from the booth opposite us and I glanced over. Three men were sat there a girl in between each of them. One of the men had red curly hair. He was wearing a blue Abercrombie & Fitch motif t-shirt and dark blue shaded jeans. He looked uncomfortable as one of the girls had her hands on his chest and was leaning up and whispering into his ear. His fake laugh kept echoing around the VIP section, as clear a fake as the laugh was, the girl seemed appeased by this. The man in the middle had short dark brown hair. He had an utterly bored expression on his face as he ignored the girl who was talking to him; he was staring towards two bouncers that were guarding a door. Just as I glanced at the door Xhex walked out and propped herself against a wall. She started staring back at the man in the booth. I got an odd feeling they knew each other pretty well. I looked at the last guy, he had his face buried in a girl's neck, and his brown hair was all I could see. Yasmin nudged me with her arm.
"I'm going to the bathroom" she said getting up from our booth. As she walked past the booth with the men sat inside, I noticed the one who had his face buried in the girls neck, snap his head up to look at Yasmin as she walked past. She noticed him too and stopped dead for a couple of seconds, before looking back at me and carrying on to the bathroom in a hurry. Then the man in the booth turned his head and locked eyes with me. His eyes were full of hunger and desire. They beamed at me and I could see that he had one blue eye and one green eye. I looked down to my drink that the waitress had brought over to us a couple of minutes ago. When I looked back up he was gone. For some reason I was instantly worried about Yasmin. I was about to get up and check on her when a man walked past my booth. I froze in place looking at the back of his head. He had black curly hair. I thought back to my dream. 'The kind you'd love to run your hands through while you pulled him close and kissed him like there was no tomorrow'. My heart stopped dead in my chest. I found myself willing him to turn around so much I thought my brain would explode. He stopped inches away from my table and took out a big wad of cash from his leather jacket pocket. Counting it quickly, he slipped it back into his pocket and kept walking. He walked over to the two huge bouncers guarding a door that must have led to some kind of office. One of the bouncers spoke into his watch, and then a couple of seconds later he opened the door. The curly haired guy went in, the door shutting behind him. I didn't take my eyes off the door the whole time he was in there. I didn't even notice Yasmin slip back into the booth until she slid up right next to me. I turned to face her; she looked flushed as she played with the locket around her neck.
"Are you alright?" I asked her. When she didn't answer I touched her shoulder, she flinched.
"Huh?" She asked me.
"Are you alright?" I asked again. She nodded and then proceeded to down her drink, then call the waitress over and order another. I looked over to the booth opposite us. The man with the mismatched eyes was sitting there again, staring over at us. No not us, Yasmin. I felt like if I had a pair of scissors I could have cut the tension between them. I was about to ask Yasmin what the hell had happened while she was in the bathroom when the office door that was guarded by the two bouncers opened. The mysterious man walked out and –
My heart stopped. I could see his face. His hair that was longer in the front than it was in the back. His adorable yet manly goatee, the alarming tattoos around his eyes. Oh, those eyes! Those beautiful diamond eyes. He was just as perfect as he was in my dream. But his expression wasn't the same. He had a sad expression on his face, one that made me want to go over to him and hold him close. I had to hold the table hard to stop myself from doing anything. He walked over to the booth opposite us and put his hands on the table, talking to the three men there, and the girls shimmied out of the booth and headed out of the VIP section. The man who was looking at Yasmin had looked up to speak to him, looking back at us every few seconds. The man from my dreams finished talking to them and started to head for the corridor that led to the bathrooms, as the man who was sat in the booth opposite us got up. He was walking towards us and Yasmin started fidgeting next to me. I looked over to the man from my dreams that was walking away and before I knew what I was doing I got up with such speed that the table wobbled so hard if it could have fallen over it would have. The man walking towards us stopped in his tracks, obviously wondering whether to continue to come over or sit back down.
"What's wrong?" Yasmin asked also now alarmed at the way I had just gotten up.
"I'll be back" I said to her and slid out the booth, walking past the guy from the opposite booth. I hurried to the corridor with the bathrooms and saw the man from my dreams was walking past the bathrooms and to the end of the corridor to a fire exit. I followed him at a distance, making sure he didn't notice me. He pushed open the fire exit and walked out into the night. I waited for a few seconds before proceeding to the exit and also pushing it open. The night air was a lot colder now than it had been earlier, and I wished I'd brought Yasmin's jacket with me. I walked out shutting the door behind me. I was in an alley, by the side of the club. The same one I'd been attacked in by that drunken guy. I immediately looked around for the man from my dreams. He wasn't in the alley, but since one end of the alley was a dead end, there was only way he could have gone. I ran down the other end of the alley and came out, the front of ZeroSum to my left. The line was still full, people shouting shoving each other. A few wolf whistles were directed my way but I ignored them. I looked to my right and spotted my dream man, which I had decided I would call him. He was walking down the street a few metres away from me. I began to follow him, keeping my footsteps as quiet as possible and almost cursing when they were loud. My dream man didn't seem to notice though. I took his profile in from behind as I followed him. He was huge, just like in my dreams. He had a leather biker jacket on, stretched over his large shoulders. Leather pants which were tucked into huge black boots. He moved with such a stride, confident and dangerous at the same time. I was intimated from just walking behind him, but that didn't stop me. I wanted to see those eyes again. I loved those captivating eyes, that goatee, those tattoos. I must have been following him for about two minutes when he turned right and headed into an alley. I got to the alley a few seconds later and slowly peeked around to see what –
What the hell. The alley was empty. The only thing in it was a big black dumpster right at the end. I walked down the alley to the other end. It was a dead end. But I'd definitely saw him walk down here. I looked behind the dumpster, nothing. I put my hands on the wall and pushed as if the wall would move and reveal some sort of secret passage where he had gone, but no such luck. I was baffled. Where the hell had he vanished too? I looked up to see if he could have climbed over a wall, but the alley was surrounded by huge buildings, not even someone of his size could have jumped over them. I must have been standing there for a good five minutes wondering what had happened, when I gave up. For some stupid reason I felt tears come to my eyes. I'd finally met the man from my dreams. The man I always knew in some way was more than just a dream, more like a vision. But now he was gone, I'd blown it. Wiping the tears away and feeling like a complete idiot, I turned around to go back down the alley and stopped dead. My dream man was stood not five feet away from me. I could see him clearly. Every speck of his face stood out in intricate detail. My heart pounded as he looked at me with those gleaming eyes. But the expression on his face was not the one from my dream, or the club. He didn't look happy, or sad, he looked pissed off.
"Why are you following me?" His voice nearly knocked me to my knees. I had to hold the wall to keep myself upright. It was just like my dream only a million times better. It was low and husky, and full of desire. It engulfed me, surrounded me and played in my head over and over. Oh how I wanted him to talk again. Just so I could hear the sweet sound of his voice once more. Just once more and I'd be happy. His skin looked so smooth I wanted to touch it, and before I knew what I was doing, I took my hand off the wall and reached out too his face. Bad idea, my legs couldn't support my body and my knees buckled. But before I could fall, my dream man grabbed my arm, pulling me back up. He pulled me around to his side and pushed me face first against the wall, pushing my arm up behind me. He didn't push me hard enough to hurt me, but I still gasped as he pushed himself into me, his huge body pressing me against the wall. He leant down to my ear.
"Let's try this again shall we?" He loosened his grip on my arm and spun me around to face him pushing my back against the wall "Why are you following me?" His face was so close to mine I could see everything perfectly. His top lip was raised in a snarl and I could see his long white fangs. Like my body was working by itself, my free arm lifted itself and my hand went to his mouth, brushing down his extra-long canines. He must have then realized what his mouth actually looked like because he grabbed my arm with his free hand and pushed it against the wall. His expression became even more pissed.
"Why the FUCK are you following me female?" His voice came out in a growl. I had a feeling that if I didn't answer he would just get even more agitated. But when I opened my mouth, nothing came out. I felt my eyes start watering again, out of utter disbelief that this person was stood in front of me. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and tell him how happy I was to see him. This person that I'd just met, I felt like I'd known him for years. A tear rolled down my cheek and he immediately let go of one of my arms. I wiped the tear away vigorously, but more followed.
"Shit" He said letting go of me completely. I looked into his eyes. There was a hint of guilt in them. He rubbed the back of his head with his hand and I realized that his left hand had a black glove on it but his right hand did not. "I'm sorry" He said holding his hands up as if to calm me. But the fact that he was apologizing just made me feel even stupider.
"I'm sorry" I managed to breathe out the words when the hysteria had stopped. "I didn't mean to follow you. I just-" I looked up at him but he wasn't looking at me. He was looking towards the entrance of the alley with a hard narrowed stare. I followed his gaze and saw what he saw. Two large men were stood at the entrance. They had pale blonde hair and very pale skin, almost the color of milk. One of them had something in his hand but I couldn't quite see what it was. They started to move towards us and I gasped as I realized what he was carrying. It was a god damned gun. Out of sheer fright I gripped the man from my dreams by his arm and started pulling him towards the end of the alley, suddenly fearful for his life. Not that it helped, it was a dead end. My back touched the wall at the end of the alley. We had nowhere to go, and the two large men were closing in fast. Then it all happened so fast. My dream man pushed me behind the dumpster and pounded down the alley at the two men. I heard a lot of thumping noises, like they were fist fighting, a loud bang, which I assumed was the gun going off, then a howl of pain; it was my dream man's voice. Without thinking I ran out into the open alley. My dream man was clutching his right arm. The pale haired man with the gun was on the floor, a big slash across his throat, some kind of black substance was oozing out of him. My dream man was facing off with the other pale haired man. They started fighting; kicking and punching each other. In one move my dream man threw the pale haired man over his shoulder and he landed with a thud a few feet from where I was stood. He was still with his eyes closed. I inched closer to him, trying to move around him to get to my dream man, when his eyes shot open. I let out a yelp as he grabbed my leg, making me trip over my own feet. I fell to the floor with a thud, the pale haired man still looking at me with a murderous expression on his face. A big boot came down hard on the man's face, crushing it. I looked up as my dream man took his foot off the man's face. The pale haired man let go of my leg and I scrambled to my feet.
"Are you alright?" My dream man asked. I looked over at him; he was still clutching his arm. Without thinking I reached out and took his arm. There was blood, a lot of it. Trickling down his hand and dripping to the floor.
"Oh god, you're bleeding" My voice was cracked. The thought of my dream man being hurt was unbearable. "We should get you to a hospital or something" I tried to pull him but he wouldn't move. He shook his head and took out his phone. He started to call someone and after a few seconds they answered.
"Butch? Yeah. An alley off Trade Street about two minutes' walk from the club. Okay" He hung up and looked back to me. He looked me up and down as if surveying for injuries, when he saw I had none he led me out of the alley onto the street.
"What about those men?" I asked looking back to the two bodies on the floor. "Are they dead?"
"No, not yet" I should have been worried about the fact that he'd say not yet, but I was just relieved he was okay. "Stay here" He said and walked back into the alley. I didn't know what he was doing in there but I was going to do as he said and stay outside, I knew that much for sure. Somehow I think he knew that too. I leaned against the cold bricks of the building behind me and slid down, my feet suddenly hurting. I yelped leaped back off the wall when my back scraped against something sharp. I turned around to see what it was that had attacked me. A long piece of wood with a nail on the end was leaning against the wall, nail facing outwards.
"Jesus" I said rubbing the small of my back. I turned the wood around so the nail was facing the building. I leant back against it and glanced to my right and froze in place. Another pale man was just walking into the alley. He hadn't noticed me, but he'd definitely noticed my dream man, and what were probably his buddies on the floor. I ran to the entrance of the alley just in time to see the pale man reach down and pick up the gun that the other man had dropped. The man was still alive, gurgling, black liquid coming out of his throat still. I was about to scream out to my dream man to watch out, who was kneeling over one of the men, facing away, when I stopped myself just short. If I yelled out my dream man would turn around and the pale man would definitely shoot him. Without thinking I grabbed the piece of wood with the nail in and ran up to the pale man. It was heavy, and I had a hard time lifting it above my head. The pale man must have heard me because he turned just as I swung the piece of wood, hitting him square in the face. The nail went straight into the pale haired man's forehead, making a huge cracking sound and snapping the stick in half at the strong impact. The same black liquid spurted out of the man's head as he fell to the floor. I dropped the half of the stick I was holding and looked at my shaken hands. I'd just killed someone with these hands. I'd just murdered a person in cold blood, and the worst part was that I felt no regret. I looked up to my dream man. He was still kneeling over the other pale man, but he was looking right at me. He got up and walked over to me, when he reached me he put his hand on my shoulder.
"Don't feel bad, they aren't human" That's right, I thought to myself. What human bled black blood? But then I thought back to my dream man and his extra-long pearly whites.
"But neither are you, right?" He looked at me as if surprised at how calm I was, but didn't answer me. I too, was surprised at how calm I was right now. "What are they?" I asked, my eyes moving to the one I'd hit in the head with the nailed wood. He was still alive, his chest moving up and down, black blood oozing everywhere.
"They're called Lessers" My dream man said, kneeling over the one I'd hurt. He went through his pockets and pulled out a wallet and a cell phone. He read out the details of the man's driver's license, which had been tucked inside the wallet. The man's name was Jonathon O'Connor.
"Lessers?" I repeated "What are they?"
"They used to be human" He got up and the lesser on the floor started to gurgle, more of the black blood squirting out of his mouth. "But then they sold their soul, and became undead"
"Sold their soul? To who?" He didn't answer so I didn't press on that subject. "Why is he still alive?"
"There's only two ways to kill a lesser" He unzipped the leather jacket to reveal a chest holster. On the holster were two crisscrossed black daggers. They were etched with some kind of symbol. They looked heavy as he took one out and flipped it around in his hands a couple of times. "One way is a stab to the heart with something steel" He put the dagger back in the holster and zipped the leather jacket back up.
"What's the other way?" I asked intrigued by the way he was openly telling me this stuff. I assumed that he wouldn't tell people this stuff often; it seemed like something he would try to keep secret. Which I understood having a secret of my own. He shook his head and scoffed, something telling me he was scoffing to himself more than me, like he just realized he was telling a total stranger something that wasn't supposed to be told.
"I don't even know why I'm telling you all of this" He said still shaking his head. That confirmed that he didn't tell people about this stuff often, if at all. "But since you're not going to remember any of it, what's the harm?" I was confused by that statement. But before I could speak he did. "The other way to kill a lesser is-"
He stopped talking when a pair of car headlights beamed down the alley. A black Escalade stopped at the entrance of the alley and the driver side door opened. Thinking it might be more of those lesser things that he had mentioned, I inched closer to my dream man until our bodies were touching. I looked up at him but he didn't seem worried or angry, he had a small smile on his face. He raised his hand in a sort of waving gesture and I looked back to see the man who got out of the car. He looked way too familiar, and as he got closer and I saw him properly I did a double take when I realized who he was. It was the cop, Butch, who had visited Beth on a regular basis. He was wearing similar clothing to my dream man; leather trousers, shitkickers and a large leather biker jacket. I was willing to bet that he had on the same chest holster with the same daggers in as my dream man had. He walked up to my dream man and they clasped hands and gave each other a very masculine hug. He pulled away and looked at me, frowning a little as if trying to place where he'd seen me, before giving up and turning back to my dream man.
"Who's the girl?" He asked glancing back at me then down the alley to the three men on the floor.
"No one" My dream man replied in a negligent kind of way, as if I were redundant to the situation. This annoyed me greatly, as not five minutes ago I'd just saved his ass. I cut in before either one of them could speak again.
"You don't remember me?" I asked Butch. He looked at me with that same expression, trying to place me again. He clicked his fingers and pointed at me when he realized.
"You're the girl who lives in Beth's old apartment building" He seemed proud of himself for remembering.
"You know Beth?" My dream man asked. I nodded; surprised that he also knew her.
"We were friends, sort of, before she moved"
"Your name is…" Butch cut in but soon trailed off, none the less realizing he had never known my name to begin with.
"Ava Morgan" I said saving him the trouble. I looked over to my dream man. He was looking at me with such intensity in his eyes. I felt my heart beat so fast I thought it would pop out of my chest at any moment.
"Ava" Butch repeated as if in approval. "So why is she here V?" He asked turning back to my dream man. V? I thought to myself. Was his name V?
"Is that your name?" I asked him. He didn't answer me though.
"She followed me. Then we got ambushed by lessers. She nailed one, literally" He said pointing to the lesser closest to us, with the nailed wood in his head. Butch nodded again in approval.
"He was going to shoot you" I mumbled, eyes on the floor. I felt my cheeks get hot. Butch laughed.
"Protected by a girl, V?" He laughed again and V punched Butch in the chest, which Butch returned.
"Go do your thing then" V said to him and Butch walked over to the lesser closest to us. He took a few deep breaths before slowly kneeling down and readying himself. He looked back up to us and V nodded. Butch turned back towards the lesser and locked eyes with him. The lesser's eyes bulged as Butch opened his mouth and-
I gasped and stumbled back a few steps, but V caught me. A dark cloud of smoke like stuff was traveling from the lesser to Butch's mouth. It was like he was inhaling him or something.
"No running now" V said, still holding me. Not that I'd had any intention of running, this was all so surreal to me, I didn't know what to do other than stand where I was. "Wouldn't be good for you to run off with everything that's happened tonight in your memory" He tapped my forehead. I looked over at Butch just in time to see the lesser beneath him collapse into ash. He did that with the next two lessers and when he was finished he looked like death as he hobbled back over to V and me. He was about to fall over and I reached out to catch him, but V caught him before I did. Letting Butch rest on him, V pulled the black glove off his left hand. Wow, I thought to myself. It was glowing. It looked so beautiful. It had similar tattoos on it to his eye. In a way it looked dangerous. But god, I wanted to touch that glowing hand. I had to grip my hands behind my back and lean against the alley wall to stop myself reaching out. V unzipped Butch's jacket, and I was right. Butch had two sharp black daggers, the same symbol on them that V's had.
"Lift your top up cop" V said to him and Butch complied, lifting up the black top he wore underneath the chest holster. I clasped my hand over my mouth to stop from making any sound when I saw what was under Butch's top. A huge black scar ran right the way down his stomach. It looked so painful and infectious, that when V went to put his precious glowing hand near that thing I almost screamed in protest.
"What are you doing?!" I asked trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, but failing miserably.
"Shut up" V said as his hand only hovered an inch away from Butch's disgusting stomach.
"Wait!" I said coming off the wall. I was prepared to drag V away from Butch, but the way V looked at me made me stop. His glare was full of hate. My dream man didn't like me, at all. I didn't blame him though. I'd caused him nothing but trouble tonight. I'd followed him like a stalker, gotten him ambushed, gotten him shot once and nearly shot again, not that the shot wound seemed to be bothering him at all. I leaned back against the wall and V concentrated on Butch again. As he put his hand on Butch's stomach, his hand glowed brighter than before, also illuminating the scar on butch. Butch put his hand over V's and then V wrapped his arms around Butch, their touching bodies both starting to glow. I felt a huge pang of jealousy stretch its way through my whole body, watching my dream man with his arms around someone else; even it was a man, felt like a stab in the chest. I had to look away, partly because the brightness was hurting my eyes, but mainly because I couldn't watch them any longer. This went on for a few minutes, although it felt like a few hours. But it came to an end when I heard Butch exhale in relief and I looked back towards them. He looked just as he had when I first saw him come into the alley. V looked alright too, thank god. He was slipping his glove back on his left hand. They were looking at each other, an awkward tension filling the air between them. I looked back and forth and between them a couple of times, before Butch spoke.
"So, what about her?" He said nodding over to me. V looked at me and the sighed as he started walking over to me.
"We'll just erase her memory"
"She's seen a lot tonight, will she be okay?" V shook his head, not making eye contact to me he came closer, until he was right in front of me.
"No, she will be lucky if she doesn't go insane, every time she sees a lesser or just a pale man in general" Butch cursed loud. He was looking at me with a sad expression on his face, which made me worry.
"Shit, V" He rubbed his head "She's Beth's good friend man, I don't want her going insane-"
"We have too" Was all V said and he turned to me "I'll do everything I can to make sure this doesn't affect you long-term" I had no idea what was actually going on.
"What are you going to do to me?" I asked my whole body starting to shake.
"Erase your memory" He replied "You won't remember anything from tonight"
"Nothing at all?"
"No, nothing. If you're smart you'll have dreams about this night, you won't know what they mean. You might start to have small recollections but will get an instant migraine every time you try to remember-"
"No" I cut him off mid-sentence. There was no way I was going to let him erase my memory. I'd just met him, and now I was going to forget him? No way. I started to back away when I bumped into something hard. I spun around to find Butch standing right behind me. I tried to walk around him but he grabbed my arm, not allowing me to go anywhere. I pulled and pulled to try and get away from him but I couldn't escape his strong grip. I tried biting him on the hand but he just cursed and with one tug, pulled me over to him and gripped both of my hands behind my back, flipping me to face V, who was right in front of me now. I struggled as much as I could, making it as difficult as possible for him to do what he was about to do, but it didn't make a difference. Butch gripped me harder, holding me in place, and I gave up and hung my head. Butch's grip softened and it seemed like he was just holding me out of comfort more than anything else.
"It'll be okay" He said quietly into my ear. But it wasn't okay, not in the slightest. I wanted to run away and lock away my memories of tonight in a small box, a box they couldn't get into. Then it started. I knew it had because I felt my mind getting cloudy. Everything that had happened tonight was becoming a blur. I started wondering if any of it had actually happened, or whether it had all been a dream. Confusion was seeping into my thoughts, slapping away all my efforts to keep the memories in my head. For some reason I found myself thinking back to the time when I was eight years old. It was the day when my parents had taken me to the carnival. The carnival came to our city once a year and they had never taken me before. My parents weren't the most affectionate or fun parents, they never liked to do anything with me. I remembered my dad calling me to his study and telling me to get dressed. The car ride had been silent as they always were, with only the sound of the music on the radio playing, while my dad tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, completely out of time, and my mom flipped the pages of a book she would have taken out of the glove compartment. I had no idea where I was being taken until we had come to the entrance of Grover Park and I saw the huge tip of the main tent. It was the first time I'd been to a carnival and I remembered everything about it. The loud excitable screams of the other children running around like headless chickens. The sound of the kettle corn popping had sounded like mini fireworks going off. Gun shots and bells were going off at different stalls, where people were trying their luck on the games. Every stall had its own music, which conflicted with the music from the stalls opposite. The smells of the different foods around the carnival mixed together. That day had been a hot one. I remembered how my mom had taken me into the women's restrooms and covered me with sunscreen. When she was finished she'd done something that I'd never seen her do before. She smiled at me. At first it was just a little, the corners of her mouth turning up only slightly. But then her smile grew and her pale green eyes seemed to light up. The moment had only lasted a few seconds before the smile faded and she rose to her feet, returning to her normal self, but I'd always remembered that smile. It was the first and last time she'd smiled at me.
Suddenly everything changed and I wasn't remembering the carnival anymore. This was a different memory. I was in my parents' car again. But I wasn't eight anymore, I was fifteen. We were on the freeway. My father was angry because I'd gotten bad grades in school that semester. I remembered him scolding me and lecturing me about how I'd never get a good job if I carried on that way and I'd end up on the streets living as a beggar. I remembered my mother sat reading a book as usual, an uncaring look on her face, not giving any insight into the conversation. I felt tears come to my eyes as I pleaded him to stop scolding me and promising I'd do better, but that just made him angrier. His was voice rising, bitter words spewing out of his mouth. I remembered suddenly getting angry myself and telling him to shut up, before covering my ears with my hands. It didn't help; I could still hear that voice of his as loud as thunder. I remembered feeling him grab my arm to pull my hand from my ear. My mother had cut in then, telling him to watch the road. Then the most horrifying thing happened. A coach coming the opposite way lost control. It came swerving towards us, unable to stop; it was going to hit us. My mother started screaming my father's name as it hurdled closer to us. My father let go of me and tried desperately to steer the car out the way, but it was too late. The coach hit us. It hit us with such force that the car started rolling over and over until we hit the barrier of the freeway, but that didn't stop us from tumbling over the side and falling to the ground below. The car hit the ground with a force that crushed it hard. Thankfully we were all still okay, and we would have been okay too, if the coach hadn't come hurdling off the side of the freeway above us, and landing right on top of our car. Suddenly, I felt like I was being electrocuted.