The young blonde was peculiar, that was certain. Everyone of the seemingly endless households to take her in sent her away. The reasons varied, but there were many commonalities. She'd steal salt from the kitchen or garage and sprinkle it across doors and windows. She'd buy (or steal) spray paint and paint pentagrams on the ceilings, and on rare occasions the floor. She'd whisper in latin and flick water in the face of any who approached her. If the lights so much as flickered she'd search for iron, and many houses suspected her of carrying weapons, though none could prove it. She'd pick fights, and most worrisome of all come home late at night covered in blood. She'd never say who's blood. Just take off the clothing and, depending on the amount of blood, wash them out or burn them. It was never a surprise when the social worker came calling, telling the blonde it was time to move on.
A soft knock at the door made the blonde look up from the book opened in her lap. She narrowed her pale blue eyes at the door in suspicion. They flicked up to the ceiling where a pentagram was painted in red spray paint, insuring it was still intact.
"Come in." The blonde said shortly, closing the leather bound notebook she held and setting it off to the side. The door opened slowly, revealing the only constant person in the blonde's life. Ms. Autumn Bennet was the social worker who had the unfortunate luck of getting the blonde's case. She had dark curly hair that she usually left down around her rounded face. Her eyes were a hazel color that more often looked green than anything else. She had pale skin that was almost as covered in freckles as the blonde's own. She was fairly young, just out of college in the blonde's knowledge.
"Tempest." Ms. Bennet began, stepping into the room. Her eyes flicked up to the ceiling as an afterthought. She let out an unsurprised sigh seeing the pentagram.
"Constantine." The blonde corrected. She had always hated her first name, even more now that her parents were dead. She could only think of the way her parents would shorten her name every time they addressed her. Or how her younger brother had struggled to say her name for years, calling her 'Emp' most of the time.
"Constantine." Ms. Bennet began once again. She gave another sigh, looking at Constantine in pity. "I'm sure you know what me being here means." She said softly. Her voice was almost always soft. Constantine was yet to hear her raise her voice.
"Time for me to pack my bags and get out?" Constantine guessed half heartedly. She leaned back against the headboard of the bed. She raised her eyebrows expectantly.
"I wouldn't word it that way." Ms. Bennet said reluctantly. She was attempting to smile but failing on a grand scale. It amused Constantine. "But the Baker's feel you'd be better off somewhere else." Constantine laughed bitterly.
"Yeah, a mental ward." She said sarcastically. She stood up from her bed and crossed the room to the closet, ignoring the look she was getting from her social worker. Constantine grabbed a dark green duffle bag from the floor and tossed it to the bed. The bag was filled with clothes and books, and a flash of silver that might have been a flask. "Good thing I didn't bother unpacking."
"Well, let's get going." Ms. Bennet said with a tight frown. She was holding her tongue about something, but Constantine didn't care enough to discover what.
Ms. Bennet's small Ford was one of the only things Constantine saw on a regular basis, and she hated it. It was a newer model, lacking a lot of the style the classics had. Constantine had a lot of respect for Ford, her dad had driven a Mustang her entire life. But she thought the new models needed a lot of work. Even worse, Ms. Bennet's ford was the same silver every other of the same model seemed to be.
Constantine sat in the front seat, her head leaned up against the window. The leather bound book she had been reading was unopened in her lap, and she wouldn't dare open it in front of Ms. Bennet. She absent mindedly watched the world pass by out the window.
"What's that you were reading?" Ms. Bennet asked. Constantine grinned softly to herself, Ms. Bennet could never stand silent car rides.
"My mom's journal." Constantine replied. She ran her hand over the familiar leather. The only thing she really had left of her mother, besides her wedding band she wore on a chain around her neck. Ms. Bennet nodded but didn't speak, pursing her lips together. She had more to say, probably something about Constantine. The young blonde rolled her eyes. "Spit it out." Constantine said with a sigh.
"Are you even trying?" Ms. Bennet asked. Constantine narrowed her eyes turning her attention fully to Ms. Bennet.
"What?" She asked in confusion. She was trying to do a lot of things, Ms. Bennet had to be a little more specific.
"Are you trying to settle in, give yourself a new home?" Ms. Bennet elaborated. Constantine frowned and returned attention back to the outside world. Of course the one thing she brought up was the one thing she wasn't trying to do.
"I don't want a new home. I want my old one." Constantine said coldly. Ms. Bennet sighed and glanced at the young blonde beside her for a second before returning her attention to the road. Constantine looked too old for a thirteen year old, like the weight of the world was resting on her shoulders. But what had made her seem that way was beyond Ms. Bennet.
"I know, and I wish you didn't need a new home." Ms. Bennet said softly. She paused for a moment to let her words sink in. She hated seeing kids going through such hard lives. But that was why she did her job, to make things better. "You know, I've been looking into your family." she said. Constantine immediately turned her attention back to Ms. Bennet.
"And." She asked a little too hopefully for her own liking.
"Well, your father has family that's all in Britain, second and third cousins mostly. No direct family." Ms. Bennet said. Constantine frowned and dismissed the information. It was no use to her, even if they were part of her family's business.
"And what about my Mom?" Constantine pressed.
"Your mother had three younger siblings. Two brothers and a sister. Their parents died a long time ago." Ms. Bennet said. Constantine rolled her eyes. She knew this, she had seen plenty of family pictures, though she had only met one of her uncles.
"So where are her siblings?" Constantine demanded. Ms. Bennet sent her a shocked look, obviously not expecting the response she had gotten.
"Your Aunt Nicole lived mostly off the map, she died about 8 years ago according to most sources. It was due to a particularly difficult childbirth of twins. The kids father took them and vanished without a trace. It's like he didn't even exist. Your Uncle Toby was significantly easier to find. He lived in Ann Arbor, with his wife and three boys. But unfortunately he passed rather recently and his boys are missing. Your Uncle Jacob, practically doesn't exist. No record of him anywhere." Ms. Bennet explained. Constantine rolled her eyes.
"Of course." She muttered, once again regretting belonging to the type of family she did. She brushed back her bangs looking back out the window with a glare. "Where are we going anyway?" Constantine asked, looking for a change in the subject.
"My place." Ms. Bennet answered. Constantine looked at her in surprise. The dark haired woman didn't look at her, just kept her gaze on the road.
"Isn't there a rule against that?" Constantine asked. Ms. Bennet nodded.
"Usually." She confirmed. "But I can't find a home willing to take you. I talked to my supervisor and we decided you'd stay with me for a few days. Only until I can find a family." Constantine snorted, attempting to hold in a laugh.
"Good luck. Everyone in the state has probably heard of my bad habits." Constantine said. Ms. Bennet let out yet another sigh, which wasn't surprising to Constantine. She managed to draw a lot of those from her social worker.
"I'm sure we can fix those habits." Ms. Bennet said softly. Constantine tilted her head to the side in confusion. Ms. Bennet had never shown any intention of changing her unfortunate habits. Why on earth was she bringing it up?
"What are you saying?" Constantine asked warily.
"I'm saying if you'd just talk to your psychiatrist-" Ms. Bennet began, only to be cut off by Constantine. Constantine clenched her fist in frustration.
"My psychiatrist thinks I'm crazy!" She objected angrily. Her eyes were tearing up. Constantine quickly wiped her eyes before Ms. Bennet could notice. It wasn't successful, as Ms. Bennet glanced over in time to see her brush the tears away.
"You've talked to your psychiatrist about these habits?" Ms. Bennet asked. Constantine nodded, blinking back her tears of frustration. Ms. Bennet pressed her lips together into a tight frown. "And what did they say?" She asked. Constantine looked away.
"That I was really sick and needed help. I obviously was suffering from some childhood trauma my parents caused and it was playing into the schizophrenia." Constantine said bitterly. She laughed to herself. She was actually supposed to be on a mood stabilizer along with her antipsychotic, but she didn't know what had happened to the pill bottle. Nor did she actually care.
"What did you tell them?" Ms. Bennet asked curiously. It was the first she was hearing of this at all.
"To fuck off." Constantine replied blandly. Ms. Bennet gave a heavy sigh, not exactly surprised. It would be too much to hope that she had actually been civil with her doctor.
"Tempest." Ms. Bennet began. Constantine put up her hand to stop Ms. Bennet from speaking. It wouldn't be anything she hadn't heard before. Be civil, they're only trying to help, blah, blah, blah.
"Listen, I don't want to talk about it." Constantine said simply. Ms. Bennet sighed heavily but didn't argue. Constantine put her hand down and looked back to her social worker warily. "How's James doing?" She asked.
Ms. Bennet sighed. Constantine wasn't supposed to know anything about her brother's whereabouts. Not while the investigation was still going on. Constantine had been accused of killing her parents and nearly killing her brother. Her brother, James, had been moved out of state for safety reasons. Claiming Constantine might go after the only witness. The only thing they had to go off of was James' words, she didn't mean to.
"I'm really not supposed to tell you." Ms. Bennet began. "But, I hear he's doing great. The family who took him in, the Novak's, are looking to adopt him." She continued. Constantine smiled a little and nodded, looking back out the window again.
It wasn't too long later that they arrived at Ms. Bennet's home. She lived in a two story home not far off from a cemetery. It wasn't that large of a house but Constantine wasn't bothered by that. The area looked like it was quiet enough, but it probably had its fair share of trouble. The road the house was on wasn't that busy, which was another advantage.
Constantine was given the guest room on the second floor. It had easy access to the roof from the window which was an advantage. There was only one window, which was perfectly fine with Constantine. That meant she only had to set up two salt lines. Constantine fished around in her bag, finding the salt container and spray paint. Ms. Bennet watched from the doorway as Constantine sprinkled salt across the window.
"What do these protect you from?" Ms. Bennet asked. She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe. Constantine glanced at her, debating on answering truthfully or making up some lie.
"Salt keeps away spirits and demons, they can't cross over the line." Constantine explained, deciding to tell the truth. The chances were that Ms. Bennet would just brush her off as crazy, so it wasn't that harmful. She wouldn't believe her. "The pentagram is called a devil's trap. If a demon steps into it, they can't get out or use any of their abilities." She continued throwing her duffle bag into the closet before looking for a chair to be able to reach the ceiling.
"So why's the devil's trap on the ceiling?" Ms. Bennet asked. Constantine smirked as she shook up the spray paint bottle.
"Smarter demons can always blow away salt. But they never seem to look up, no matter how smart." She said with a grin. Ms. Bennet laughed a little and shook her head. She turned away to leave Constantine to her own devices.
Constantine spent more than a few days with Ms. Bennet. It was clear after the first week as Constantine had predicted, no family in their right mind would take her. And none out of their right minds stepped up. Several attempts were made to contact Constantine's British family, but none came through. But Constantine didn't mind for once. Ms. Bennet didn't ask too many questions about what she was doing. Didn't question the water in her face after coming home from work, or the very obvious bullet holes that were appearing around her house. She didn't question Constantine coming home late at night with several cuts and bruises. She must have just learned she'd never get a satisfactory answer even if she asked.
But all good things had to come to an end.
Constantine sat up on the roof outside of her window, having cleared a spot in the light snow. Her eyes looked up to the sky, searching the stars that shone down upon her looking for the constellations her mother had taught her. She used the color of the stars to remember where each constellation began. She remembered her mother telling her every star was an angel watching over them. The stars color was the color of the angels wings.
"It's a little cold to be out here without a jacket." Constantine turned at the sound of Ms. Bennet's voice. Ms. Bennet climbed out the window with a blanket over her shoulders. Her curly hair was pulled back from her face. She sat beside the blonde teenager, throwing the blanket over her shoulders as well. Constantine gratefully accepted the warmth. She had realized she had been getting cold.
"What can I say, I'm a winter baby." Constantine said with a grin. Ms. Bennet returned the grin before letting her eyes shift to the sky. She smiled softly, her hazel eyes locked onto one star in particular.
"You know, when I was younger my mom used to tell me every star was a person praying. The glow was the angels listening." Ms. Bennet said, still smiling. She did that sometimes. Told Constantine how growing up was for her, hoping Constantine would tell her something about how she grew up. Constantine smiled, leaning her head against Ms. Bennet's shoulder.
"My mom told me every star was an angel. The color of the star matched the angels wings." Constantine said softly. Ms. Bennet looked down at her in confusion. Most people did when she mentioned the color of the stars, or asked if others heard the whispers.
"The color?" Ms. Bennet asked. Constantine nodded. Instead of explaining she pointed to a star in Orion.
"That star is violet." She said. She pointed to another star, not far away. "That one's blue, and right next to it is a black star. No one else can see the black stars." Constantine lowered her arm slowly, keeping her eyes fixed on the black star. She was silent, waiting for Ms. Bennet to react.
"Wow." Ms. Bennet said with a wonder filled voice. Her eyes stayed on the sky, trying to find a star of a different color. They all looked the same to her. Bright white glows of fire burning thousands upon thousands of miles away.
"Does that make you think I'm crazy?" Constantine asked softly, glancing to her social worker. Ms. Bennet looked down at her, meeting her eyes calmly.
"No." Ms. Bennet said calmly. "It makes me think you're special." She said, looking back to the stars.
They sat quietly for a few minutes, keeping their eyes on the stars and their thoughts far away. It was peaceful, something that Constantine wasn't used to. But she was enjoying it. Maybe she could get used to it.
Ms. Bennet sighed and stood, leaving the blanket draped over Constantine's shoulders.
"Don't stay out here too long, okay?" She said before climbing back in the window. Constantine nodded, but didn't really hear her. Constantine was too busy listening to the soft whispers only she could hear. She hadn't taken her medication that day, which was the only reason she heard the voices today.
Constantine spent at least another hour out on the roof. She got lost in the starry sky. She counted under breath, the blue stars, then the violet, then the red, then white. Most were various shades of white. White like snow and white like clouds. Her favorite of the white stars was really silver, but it faded to white as it got farther from the center. She liked gold stars too, but there weren't very many of them. But the rarest kind were her favorite. The black stars. There was only one black star in the sky that night. A small meek star that was hardly shining. It hid behind the glow of a bright blue star.
"It's ok, I see you." Constantine whispered softly to the star. She had always talked to the stars. Sometimes it seemed like the stars were the only ones who would listen to her. No one wanted to believe a child who heard voices and had 'hallucinations'.
Constantine was dragged out of her thoughts by the sound of glass shattering. It sounded close, like it was somewhere in the house. Constantine got to her feet, slowly going back towards the window. There were a few moments of silence that almost lulled her back into a sense of security. The peace was broken by a scream that could only belong to Ms. Bennet.
Constantine slipped into the window as quickly as she could, leaving the blanket forgotten on the roof. She searched her room, trying to find the best weapon she could. She stopped her search short when she heard another scream, settling for a large knife she had hidden behind her desk. She didn't know what she was dealing with, but chances were a knife wouldn't do much. She couldn't remember if the knife was silver or not, but she hoped it was.
Constantine rushed down the stairs into the living room. She slowed as she reached the bottom, looking for any sign of what made Ms. Bennet scream. She saw the glass from the front window scattered across the floor, looking like a thick layer of frost spread across the floor. A cold wind blew in the window, moving the curtains gently. Constantine tensed at every little move the curtains made. She skirted around the glass carefully, going towards the kitchen where a light was turned on. Constantine heard a soft whimper, confirming the guess that the attacker was in there with their victim.
Inside the kitchen door Constantine stopped to take in the room. Her eyes immediately went to the man pinning Ms. Bennet to the floor. His teeth were sunk into her neck, draining the blood from her body making her lose all color in her skin. The attacker had dark unkempt hair and deathly pale skin. Almost like he was a corpse walking. Constantine suspected he might have been. She swore she had seen this vamp before. In the nest her parents had rescued her from.
Constantine shook the fear from her mind and picked a vase up off the counter beside her. She threw the vase at the man, shattering it upon impact. The man slowly detached himself from Ms. Bennet, looking at Constantine the way she suspected a cat looked at a mouse that wandered into it's lair. His brown eyes were bloodshot and watched Constantine lazily. Like he didn't know if she was worth his time, wandering her body from her feet to her eyes. Constantine quirked an eyebrow with a calm look.
"Looking for something Drac?" She asked, arrogance that she didn't really have in her voice. The vampire turned and jumped at Constantine, hissing loudly. Constantine ducked to the side, sliding easily on the tile floor. The vampire seemed unprepared for the tile and slid to the ground. Constantine turned quickly and brought the knife down on the vampires neck. The knife cut through flesh easily, splattering blood onto the wall and floor. Constantine dropped the knife and turned to Ms. Bennet, ignoring the dead body. She took a towel from a drawer and pressed it against Ms. Bennet's neck. Luckily it seemed to be bleeding very little for a neck injury. Constantine decided to take that as a good sign rather than a bad one.
"Please don't bleed out." Constantine pleaded, as if it was something Ms. Bennet could control in her hardly conscious state. "Now's probably not the time, but I told you so. Don't die before I can clean up my mess." Constantine said. She stood up quickly and turned to the body. She had two choices. Leave the dead body and let Ms. Bennet try to explain to the police where it came from. Or she could get rid of it and let everyone think she was the one to attack Ms. Bennet, as this was the same manner her parents died.
Constantine decided as amusing as it would be to watch she couldn't leave a dead vampire for the police to find. She grabbed the arm of the vampire with one hand and grabbed the head with the other. She dragged the vampire out of the house to the graveyard across the street. She had never been so grateful for it's presence before. Even more she was grateful for the convenient open graves prepped for a funeral the next day. She threw the body into the grave and covered it up as quickly as she could.
Constantine returned to the house and went straight to the kitchen. She grabbed a phone before crouching beside Ms. Bennet and checking for a pulse. By some miracle she still had a pulse. Constantine stood dialing 911, looking around the kitchen for any of her belongings. She collected two knives and a handgun from the kitchen while the phone rang.
"911, what's your emergency?" A woman's voice asked from through the phone. She was calm, like Constantine knew she had to be working where she did,
"There's been a break in at 1209 Woodmere St. I think the homeowner might have been attacked. There was a scream." Constantine said, as she went through the lower floor. She found another two knives, three flasks of holy water, one of whiskey, and at least three different protection amulets. It was unusual for her belongings to scatter that far, but she had been here for much longer than normal.
"Alright, police are enroute." The woman said calmly, Constantine heard sharp clicks of a keyboard as she spoke. "Can I have your name?" The woman asked. Constantine laughed as she got upstairs to her room, having collected at least the majority of her things. She dumped her things onto her bed going to her closet.
"Nope." Constantine answered, hanging up the phone and throwing the phone onto the bed. She grabbed her duffel bag and began throwing things in there in no specific pattern. As soon as the bag was filled she closed it up. She grabbed her leather jacket and slipped it on. She scribbled a note to Ms. Bennet quickly, her ears straining to hear the sirens before it was too late. After finishing the note she hid it under her mattress to make it less likely the police would find it.
Constantine was halfway down the street when the sirens blared past her, going to her old home. Constantine glanced back over her shoulder, but kept walking. She hoped they had gotten there in time. She would hate for Ms. Bennet to die because of this. It wasn't her fight. Constantine looked forward again with a bitter laugh.
"So much for angels watching out for us, huh mom?" Constantine asked, looking up to the stars for an answer. The stars didn't offer one. Constantine shook her head before continuing on her path to nowhere.
Dear Ms. Bennet,
I'm going to make this simple on both of us and tell you what happened. You were attacked by a vampire and I killed it. Due to my previous encounters with vamps, I'm leaving and you will probably never see me again. I'm sorry that this is how you had to find out my childhood. This was a kinda normal event. Well monster hunting, not monsters breaking into my house.
All the things I told you about monsters was true. And if you really need me, know that's what I'll be doing. Hunting them just like my parents did. Sorry it's not the normal type of things you hoped for me. Normal has never really been in the equation for me. I know too much and have seen too much. Then there's the whole hearing and seeing things thing, but that's another.
Thanks for everything you've ever done for me. I owe you a lot. Sorry this is how we part.
Tempest Constantine