Hey you guys...
So, I came up with another side story about Charley and Vinnie.
I truly love to write about them, plus I sometimes need some change to keep my creativity flowing, to stop myself from getting tunnel vision.
For those who wonder about my other two stories; not to worry, I'm still working on them as well.
It's just that I have much less time to write than I had before and so, the updates take a bit longer than you're used to.
I mean, assuming that you guys are even waiting for an update in the first place, hehe.
Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here.
Anyway, a new story means disclaimers.
Here we go.
- I do not own the Biker Mice From Mars.
- English isn't my first language, so I'm sure there will be mistakes, though I'm doing the best I can.
- Constructive criticism is welcome, burning me to the ground, however, is not.
This is a (short) story about forbidden love.
It has nothing to do with the original storyline of the series, I came up with something else.
Or at least about how the guys meet Charley.
I can only hope you guys will like it.
If not, that's okay too.
I'm gonna stop talking now and let you guys read the chapter to decide for yourself, hehe.
Feel free to leave a review once you're done, always very much appreciated and till next time!
Later!
'Somewhere I belong'
"Once upon a time, an angel and a devil fell in love.
It was never supposed to happen, but it did.
After all, we can't control who we love.
We crave what we can't have.
There's a certain charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable.
And so we love anyway.
Unconditionally and irrevocably."
Chapter 1
It was a late Thursday night in Chicago, Illinois.
The sun was already gone for hours, taking its warmth and light with it.
It was an act of betrayal in its worst form because now the inhabitants were completely at the mercy of the cold and lonely night.
And there wasn't much mercy hiding in the shadows.
The moon did an attempt to shine down on them, as if it tried to tell them that even darkness had its beauty.
That without darkness, there couldn't be light either, but clouds worked directly against it, blocking the soothing light and thereby making the city even more sinister.
Because sinister it was.
Especially at this kind of hour.
The wind howled through the dark and deserted streets, trying to get a grip on something, if only to have control or to create chaos.
But with everybody sitting safely in their homes, close to the fireplace to replace the warmth of the now absent sun, there wasn't really something to control or create.
Yet, the wind didn't give up.
It just blew its merry way, like it always did.
A lonely figure came around the corner, bravely facing the storm, showing that the world was rather unequally distributed because not everyone had a warm place to be at night.
Or a family to surround them with love and affection.
No, like this lonely figure, there were so many people out there who were on their own, fighting to survive the darkness that came with loneliness.
Desperately yearning for a place to belong, but at the same time, they did everything within their power to keep everyone at distance.
Some would call them inconsistent, but in reality, they weren't.
They were simply scared.
Scared to be abandoned.
Perhaps one could even call them stubborn, for they were convinced that if no one cared for them, they couldn't be left alone either.
After all, you simply can't miss something you don't have.
You can't feel something that isn't there.
You can't love someone who doesn't exist.
And so, they remained on their own, fighting their own battles, trusting nobody but themselves.
Yes, it was a lonely existence.
But familiar, too.
Safe.
Or well, that's what they believed.
Or maybe what they wanted to believe.
But the world wasn't just unfair, it was a dangerous place as well, especially for those who were lonely.
It made them an easy target for people who were up to no good.
People who took advantage of the lone wolves.
Using the safe and all so familiar feeling against them to get what they wanted, for there was no one who protected the lone wolves and so, the profiteers had a clear path.
But despite being scared, loners were brave people.
The constant threat that hung above their sophisticated head didn't stop them from leaving their home.
It didn't stop them from living, if only on their own terms.
And living in fear wasn't one of those terms.
This also applied to the lonely figure that just came around the corner, keeping her jacket tightly wrapped around her skinny but well-shaped body to stop the wind from getting a grip on her.
To stop it from taking over control.
She just bravely continued her way, leaning a bit forward into the wind with her head down and her green eyes narrowed to protect them against the cold.
Charley 'Charlene' Davidson was one of those people who was lonely.
Who didn't have a warm and comforting home.
She did, however, have a home.
A roof over her head.
But nothing more than that.
It wasn't warm and least of all comforting.
But it was her home.
And she was fine with it.
She was even fine with being out here, all alone, in a part of the city that seemed to be forgotten.
Perhaps even given up.
It was like a blind spot.
Like it wasn't there.
A place without hope.
And where there's no hope, there's nothing.
No love.
No warmth.
No boundaries.
The people here lived by their own rules.
It was that fact specifically which made it a dangerous place.
Because there was only rule;
'There are no rules.'
But Charley wasn't easily frightened.
She was used to being on her own, used to ignore the craving for a place to belong.
Used to having no one around her to protect her.
She protected herself, as she was accustomed to do ever since her parents died when she was only twelve years old.
And the fact that she might be in danger by walking alone in this ghostly part of the city didn't really occur to her.
Because even though this neighborhood was forgotten and hopeless, it was still her home.
A gust of wind pulled off the hood of her jacket, revealing a head of auburn-colored hair that was tied up in a messy ponytail.
A bit annoyed, Charley reached out her hands to pull it back over her head, almost feeling naked without the safe and warm feeling the hood gave her.
As she was doing that, her greenish eyes were drawn to a flyer on the wall of a building at her right and she shook her head in disbelief when her gaze wandered over the bold word 'Wanted'.
It was written in red, like they always did in those old western movies, to draw the attention of those who walked by.
And clearly, it worked because she was looking at it as we speak, despite that she knew it all by heart, for the entire city was littered with them, even this part.
Especially this part.
Three black silhouettes of a head with each a white question mark in it were displayed below the red letters, each standing for the subjects of the poster, but even that wasn't the dumbest part of it all.
No, these credits went to the text below.
'Wanted: group of vigilantes.
Number: (possibly) three.
Description: unknown.
Security risk rating: alpha nine nine / armed and extremely dangerous.
Recommended course of action: do not approach. All information is to be forwarded to the Chicago Police Department or call 911 by immediate danger.'
Charley chuckled softly, still shaking her head.
Vigilantes.
As if they were living in some sort of comic.
A cartoon.
Ridiculous.
Still, it had a hold on the entire city.
It was the talk of the day for months already.
No matter where she went, the people of Chicago were talking about these three mystical vigilantes.
Speculating about it.
In the grocery store.
At the barber's.
At the flower shop.
At the gas station.
Everywhere.
Even the police went along with it, which was beyond crazy.
One of the main reasons why this part of the city was kind of doomed was because the police looked the other way.
They were simply never here.
Up until now, that is.
Apparently, three mysterious individuals who took over the job they were supposed to be doing was a bridge too far all of a sudden.
No, let us not forget that even though they had given up on the people who lived in the ghetto of Chicago, it still wasn't intended to take matters into your own hands.
The fact that they left the people no other choice, that their absence forced people to stand up for themselves because no one else did was suddenly conveniently forgotten.
And now they pretended to be the heroes this town needed so badly.
Right.
It was hypocritical.
It was infuriating.
It was a fantasy.
Like a fairy tale.
Charley didn't believe in fairy tales.
There was no such thing as a happy ending.
Therefore, she didn't believe this story either.
It just sounded too good to be true.
Whoever came up with this and spread the rumor was creative, she had to give him or her that.
Creative to come up with a story about three strangers that sneaked out of their very well hidden secret hideout at night to fight crime like they were Batman himself.
As if there were people out there who actually cared.
Ha.
It was a joke, that's what it was.
And the people of Chicago fell for it with eyes open.
Even the government did, for fuck sake.
But not her.
No.
She didn't buy it, at all.
Perhaps that was because she was always one step behind hope.
There was no hope.
Only life.
And life sucked.
With or without heroes.
End of story.
With her head now safely covered with the hood again, Charley lowered her eyes and focused her attention back on the wet street.
The wind went through every small opening in her jacket, no matter how hard she tried to keep it windproof and she shivered as she wrapped it even tighter around herself.
Damn, it's cold.
Home.
She was so close.
Only two blocks away.
The flyer already forgotten, she quickened her pace, like a horse that smelled its stable.
Knowing it was close.
Her house.
Her lonely yet safe place.
Unfortunately, the universe seemed to have other plans for her.
Perhaps it wanted to punish her for shutting everyone out.
Or perhaps it just wanted to help her.
To finally find a place where she belonged.
Or perhaps it was just purely coincidental that the man was there.
Standing in a dark alley, searching for prey.
Perhaps she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
But she was there.
And so was he.
And when his empty eyes landed on her, her fate was sealed.
Her mind completely blank again, Charley put her hands in the pockets of her jacket, the fingers of her right hand already enclosing the keys of her house.
She wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, not anymore, she just wanted to go home, to take a bath before she would crawl under her cold blankets for yet another lonely night.
Like she did every night.
But, as it turned out, not tonight.
No, tonight was going to be a night she would never forget.
One night was all it took to change her life forever.
It was almost as easy as the snap of a finger.
A finger attached to a greedy hand.
Out of nowhere, that same hand came out of the dark, grabbing her right arm in a tight grip.
Before she could process what was happening, she got pulled into the dark alley and she let out a shriek in surprise when she got pushed up against the wall with brute force.
The back of her head hit the cold stone and a sharp pain made her squeeze her eyes for a moment.
It was then that she vaguely heard a click coming from somewhere below.
It was a sound she couldn't place, in fact, she couldn't place anything, for she was completely disoriented, having no clue what was happening to her.
It was probably the scariest feeling she had ever experienced in her short yet turbulent life.
To have absolutely no control.
She did know one thing, though.
She was in trouble.
Big time.
Something wet trickled down her neck, something warm, too.
Something that could only be blood.
Still a bit dazed, she tried to raise her hand, to reach out to the back of her head, but she soon noticed that she couldn't move.
Or well, she couldn't move her hands, to be specific.
Her eyes flew open, but all she saw was a dark blur.
A shiver ran down her spine when a penetrating scent filled her nose, a scent that smelled a lot like alcohol.
She hated alcohol.
It was poison.
It made good people do bad things.
What in the world was going on here?
Luckily, after blinking a few times, her vision became sharp again and the black blur slowly transformed into the face of a man.
The first thing that hit her was that his face was so close to hers that she could almost count every hair in his wild beard.
Why was he so close?
Did he not know that he shouldn't be this close?
There was such a thing as personal space, although it was very clear that this man didn't care about personal space.
In fact, he didn't care about anything.
She stared straight into his brown eyes and her heartbeat increased when she saw that there was nothing there.
Nothing but nothingness.
Completely empty.
Burned out.
Dead.
"Let me go", Charley breathed as she tried to free her hands, but much to her shock -and surprise-, they were cuffed.
With handcuffs.
Great.
Just great.
Well, it explained the clicking sound she had heard, but that didn't help her right now.
She looked up again, only to see the most terrifying smile she had ever seen before.
Like mentioned before, as a lonely wolf, she wasn't easily frightened.
But this man scared her to death.
It wasn't just the smile.
It was his whole face that told her he had nothing to lose.
Nothing to gain either.
He was just… there.
His body was just a shell.
An empty shell, his spirit long gone.
She doubled her efforts to push him away, but he didn't move an inch.
He was like a rock.
Or a tree.
Deeply rooted.
And the panic now grabbed her by the throat.
Because his eyes lowered.
His hand reached out to her.
He was going to touch her.
Oh my God.
She couldn't think straight.
Not with him being this close.
And so, there was only one thing to do.
Follow her instinct.
After taking a deep breath, she opened her mouth again, all ready to scream her head off, to cry for help, but the feeling of something cold that got pressed against her throat made her stop.
A knife.
He had a knife.
"If you make a sound I'll cut your tongue out, you filthy whore", the man warned her before his face came even closer to hers.
His breath was disgusting, sickening even and Charley reflexively turned her head in an attempt to escape from the horrible smell.
To escape from whatever he was planning to do, although she had a pretty good hunch.
And she wasn't going to like it.
Oh no.
Not at all.
As she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, she saw how he closed his eyes.
How he buried his nose in her wet hair.
Since he was pressing his body against hers, she felt how he took a deep breath.
How his muscles tightened when her scent filled his nose.
How ready he was for what he was about to do to her.
Jesus.
How could she have been so stupid?
A sudden and unannounced tear left her right eye and rolled down her cheek, tickling her skin as she cursed herself for being this careless.
For tempting fate by walking around at night, all alone, in this part of the city that came close to hell.
Perhaps it was hell.
If not, it soon would be.
A sigh came out of her mouth as she braced herself, as far as a woman could brace herself for what was to come.
For being violated.
For being broken.
And all by this man.
This man, this lonely and lost man who carried a stain of cruelty with him.
He was hopeless.
He was dangerous.
And he had her.
God, he had her…
A hand, that same hand that came out of the dark only seconds ago, went under her coat, along with the cold wind.
There were about a thousand things she could do or at least try and yet, she did nothing.
She just stood there.
Completely frozen.
But that didn't take long.
The moment she felt his hand reaching into her bra, it was as if someone slapped her in the face.
No.
There was no way that she was going to let this happen.
To let him do this to her.
Even worse, to just stand there and do nothing.
Like a helpless sheep.
She wasn't helpless.
Nor was she a sheep.
She was Charley Davidson.
A fighter.
Like a wolf.
A lonely wolf.
Clenching her teeth, she raised her left leg and kneed him straight in the balls.
A puffing sound left his mouth as he bent over with his face twisted in a mask of pain and Charley immediately took advantage of his discomfort.
She raised her still cuffed hands and in one smooth movement, she pushed the man away with all her strength.
Since he was so overwhelmed by the pain in his crotch, he wasn't prepared and so, he stumbled backward with the knife still in his hand.
His brown eyes grew big as his body toppled over and for a moment, it looked like he was going to fall.
Maybe he would.
Maybe he wouldn't.
But she didn't wait to find out.
No, she pushed herself off the wall and started running towards the street.
The sound of her shoes stomping on the wet floor echoed through the alley like a heartbeat.
She needed to get to the street.
Or even more to the point: to the street lights.
Everything was better in the light.
It was the darkness that held things, bad things.
Like this man.
Light.
She needed light.
By the looks of things, she was going to make it.
Her heart made a little victory dance, fluttering in her chest like a butterfly that took its first flight.
There even appeared a smile on her face, not because she was amused, no, simply because she was relieved.
Relieved that she had escaped such a defile and disgraceful act.
And she promised herself right here, right now that this was the last time she walked these empty and sinister streets alone.
This was the last time she tried to save money by going on foot instead of taking a cab as every self-respecting American did.
This was the last time she left her bike at home because it was raining.
Oh, yes.
She had learned her lesson.
Some things should not be stirred.
Some things were meant to stay in the dark.
Some things were too dangerous to face alone.
Obviously.
But little did she know.
She hadn't learned anything yet.
She wasn't going to escape destiny.
No one ever really could.
As she took the last few steps, her tied hands already reaching out to the light, something heavy suddenly knocked her down from behind.
There was no time to prepare.
No time to break her fall.
She tried, though.
But it was still her head that hit the cold and wet asphalt before the rest of her body did and tears jumped in her eyes when she felt the skin on her forehead burst open like a rotten tomato.
"You bitch! You're gonna regret that…", the man growled in her ear, but despite that she almost squinted from the pain in her head, Charley wasn't ready to give up yet.
She would never give up.
Never.
With a little effort, she managed to stretch her arms and as her fingers clawed in the asphalt, she tried to crawl towards the street, breaking every nail she had while she was at it, but the pain was nothing compared to the pain in her head.
And what was worse, she noticed that her sight already started to blur again, telling her that she was close to fainting.
Too close.
It was this fact that gave her the strength to keep fighting, for she knew that if she would faint, she was lost.
A goner.
Goddammit, she was so close…
Why was he doing this to her?
Why didn't he just leave her alone?
Don't give up.
But before she could make any progress that was worth mentioning, a hand grabbed her hair and pulled back her head.
Something snapped in her neck and she let out a scream in pain, making the man even angrier.
"Shut up!", he snapped at her as he tried to drag her back into the alley without getting completely off of her, but now she had found her voice again, she didn't plan on shutting up.
If he wanted her to be quiet, he had to kill her first.
"No! Let me go!", she cried, trying everything within her power to oppose him, but he was just too strong.
And with her hands cuffed and her head foggy, the man had more than just a greater advantage.
The knife.
Where was the knife?
"No…"
Was it just her, or was it getting darker?
Was the sound of his heavy breathing getting softer?
Was it getting colder?
Oh, God.
She was about to lose consciousness, she could feel it.
Her body was failing on her at the worst time.
Why now?
"No, please, stop…", she mumbled as her eyelids grew heavy, but suddenly, another scent made it to her nose.
Not just that, it almost caressed her nostrils, an experience she never had before.
It was a scent she did not know and so, she couldn't name it.
But it was beyond delicious.
Almost… magical.
It tickled her nose from the inside, giving her the right stimulus to stay awake, which technically shouldn't even be possible.
But it happened anyway.
And she was more than grateful that it did.
Unfortunately, the man on top of her was still holding her hair and the pain in her neck now started to overrule the pain in her head.
It also overruled her sense of smell and the scent slowly faded to the background, so was her consciousness.
Her green eyes started to roll back in her head, but again, something brought her back.
And this time, it was a voice.
A melodic voice, with a lovely raw edge.
"Say there, citizen. Why don't you leave the lady alone?"
