The body lay still on the lawn of the estate as the toddler crawled
through the bushes. It was summer and the sun was shining high in the sky
and the little girl was chasing a butterfly through the bushes and tall
grass. A woman walked out of the large manor and saw the unmoving form
lying in the grass. "Gwen!" the woman screamed running to find the toddler.
She looked at her daughter, so innocent and yet so dangerous. "Gwen what
have you done?" the woman demanded. Mrs. Raiden loved her daughter dearly
but she was dangerous, she'd killed another gardener. Of course Gwen didn't
understand that, she was merely a toddler. Her mother didn't know what to
do or say. Her daughter was dangerous and as Gwen approached her to give
her a hug, she backed away frightened.
Gwen jolted awake and sat up in bed. It was the dream again, she
couldn't escape it, what she had done and continued to do whenever she had
skin to skin contact with anyone. Isolated, Gwen was truly isolated, which
was okay with her job choice. She was a thief, a professional thief, highly
specialized and she did what she did and tried not to have any feelings
about it. All her life people had told her that she was a freak. She'd been
struck by lightning 14 times in her life because she attracted it. She
often thought of her previous encounter with Angel and his little friends.
She'd killed the one she called Denzel. She'd brought him back but still,
she'd killed him.
Miami was sure a hot place, but she had to get out of LA, with the
Beast running wild and all the nasties in LA she had to get the hell out of
there and Miami had seemed like a good place. Slipping out of bed and
discarding her red silk pajamas unto the floor of the hotel room and went
into the bathroom and turned on the light. She ran the water and pulled the
drain up as she grabbed some bubble bath and squeezed it into the water and
got inside. She was trying to relax, after that dream that she'd had, she
needed to relax. She took a deep breath and poured herself some champagne
and sipped it. It had been awhile since she'd spoken to her parents and she
wondered how they were.
She lay in the tub under the bubbles sipping the champagne, she often
wondered why she couldn't be like everyone else, she could never have
contact with anyone which was why so often she thought about the kiss that
she had shared with Angel, that was the first real contact that she'd had.
Angel was a vampire and she'd made his heartbeat with her electro-shocking
and then they'd kissed. 23 years and that was the closest contact she'd
ever had to anyone. But it didn't do well to dwell in the past, Gwen knew
so she pushed the images out of her mind to enjoy her bath. She finished
her glass of champagne and got out of the bath and dried off.
She wrapped her red robe around her and walked back into the bedroom,
and opened up the drawer and pulled out a red leather catsuit with black
gloves. She pinned her hair back and looked in the mirror. She sighed and
cracked her neck, it was time to hit the streets and find the life in this
city, of course she couldn't actually touch anyone but it made her feel
better to be around people, especially people that didn't know her. She
would watch them, and dance by herself and drink. If someone got too close,
she'd get out of there. She went down to the hotel lobby where she saw
people in love kissing and holding each other. She shook her head and
walked out of the hotel and to her mustang convertible and got in the
driver's side and started it up. She turned on the radio and "Crawling" by
Linkin Park played loudly as she drove down the robe looking for the
hottest club.
Finally finding one she liked, Gwen pulled into the parking lot and
stopped the car. She got out and looked around. She walked up to the club
door and smiled at the bouncer. She flashed her ID, and walked into the
club. The music wasn't her taste, but she didn't mind. She watched the
people dancing and drinking and having a good time. She smiled as she took
a seat at the bar and watched the people and the happy couples, and turned
her head away. It made her sad that she couldn't be with anyone and it was
somewhat torturous to watch people be with other people but it comforted
her.
A man approached from behind Gwen and spun her barstool around. She
looked up at him. "Can I help you?" she asked the man. He looked rather
dangerous but that wasn't a problem for Gwen, she was more dangerous than
most men.
"Look honey, I was just wondering if you wanted to dance?" the man
asked her smiling. "The name's DJ, I own this club and let me tell you, you
are the hottest thing between heaven and hell and well I have an opening
for a dancer and you look like a good candidate." He looked Gwen over once
more and nodded. "A very good candidate, the pay is great honey." He told
her.
Dance, this man wanted Gwen to dance. She took a sip of her martini
and smirked at him. "I'm not taking my clothes off for a bunch of horny
retards" she told him pleasantly. She was a thief, not a stripper. She
shook her head and smirked at him. He was funny, much more amusing than
most people back home.
"No you misunderstand me Princess" DJ began, "First of all, this
isn't a strip bar dollface." He said to her as he looked at her. He pointed
to the corners and to the stage. There were dancers in cages in the corners
and dancers on the stage. "You could join them and never ever have to worry
about money or anything else ever again." He promised. He was no saint
though, he found young girls and manipulated them into doing exactly what
he wanted and then they became mindless slaves who only danced with no mind
of their own and he wanted to add her to his collection.
She glared at him. How dare he insult her like that. Gwen didn't need
money or to be taken care of, she could do that easily enough herself. She
finished her drink and shook her head at him. She wasn't interested.
Suddenly she began to feel dizzy and she fell off the barstool and looked
up, the room was spinning. The last thing she saw was DJ before the
darkness claimed her.
When Gwen woke up, it was much later. She didn't know how much later,
she was in a cage chained to a wall and there were other girls there too.
She'd been drugged, if only she could get her gloves off she could melt the
chains. She was still feeling dizzy and her head hurt. "What's going on?"
she asked the girls around her that were chained up too.
"DJ needs dancers" all of the girls said in a monotonous voice. It
was as if they had no mind at all. That didn't sit well with Gwen, she was
not going to become a mindless drone, she refused.
"No what DJ needs is his head examined." Gwen said pulling on the
chains. She was not joining this little club. She yanked as hard as she
could but the chains would not budge. She looked around, there didn't seem
to be any guards. She had to get out of there, she would die before she
became part of this mindless dance troupe. She swung her legs up to the
window above her and pulled on the chains finally yanking them off. She
dropped back down to the floor and looked at the other girls. Should she
help them too? No, Gwen had to get out of there and their minds were
already gone. She took off her gloves off and melted the bars and slipped
out. She was greeted by DJ who had been watching her the whole time.
"What the hell are you?" DJ asked looking at her. They never escaped,
he never let them. She'd melted the bars like they were nothing. DJ knew
that he had to kill her and he pointed the gun at her. It was a shame that
he would have to kill her, she was cute.
"I'm a freak" Gwen answered and grabbed the gun with her ungloved
hand, melting it and sending DJ flying into the wall as well. He wasn't
dead, it had only been a little shock. Gwen took off running for the stairs
and she was gone in an instant. She went out to her car and got in and
drove away. She drove back to the hotel and packed her things and drove to
the airport.
"Ticket to Los Angeles, please" Gwen told the woman at the ticket
booth. She grabbed her ticket and headed to the plane. It was just
boarding. She got on the plane and went to sit in the back and grabbed a
magazine, it was time to go home. She relaxed against the seat and flipped
through the magazine as the plane took off. She drifted off to sleep and
when she awoke they were flying over Los Angeles, the plane landed and Gwen
got out and made her way home. She yawned and took the several flights of
stairs up to her gorgeous penthouse apartment and set her stuff down and
walked into the bedroom. She collapsed on the bed and didn't move for a
long while, what a time she had had in Miami. She hoped that she would get
another job soon, she was getting restless.
