Sixteen
Misprint sat huddled on the roof. Her legs were pressed tight to her chest, and her face was tearless, but wracked with pain.
Strictly speaking, students weren't allowed to set foot on the rooftop. Apparently there had been some tragedy twenty years ago, when some ungodly little Catholic consumed a bottle of alcohol and toppled off the roof to his death. That's why the regulation had been imposed. And she supposed it was a good thing, considering they had Shade and Misprint running around the school, completely crazy.
Well, at least Shade. To a certain extent.
Misprint had lost that spark she had that allowed her to do those crazy things. She hadn't worn rainbow socks in what seemed like forever, and spiking her hair just didn't seem that big a deal any more. She didn't care what she looked like, didn't care what people thought, only wallowed in this pool of self pity and depression, a spiral that sucked her downwards.
Spot. She thought suddenly, with a venom coursing through her veins that she had never felt before. Stay away from me. I don't care where you are, or what you're planning. But stay the hell away from me.
"Hey kid."
The words were cold, like some sinister demon bent on someone's downfall. Jack didn't know how right he was in his assumptions. He spun around, stake raised, and his stomach contracted horribly as his hazel eyes met the sea green ones.
"Conlon." He murmured through gritted teeth. Spot eyed the stake with the air of someone confronting a very large, very intimidating animal.
"I just came to talk." Spot said, his eyes trained on the weapon. Jack raised his eyebrows, cynical.
"To talk?"
"To talk." Spot confirmed, his hand shooting out and, before Jack could pull away, his fingers wrapping around the other end of the stake. Taking advantage of Jack being caught unawares, for once, he twisted the stake out of his hand and threw it behind him. Jack winced as a few splinters dug into his hand, and quickly hid the pain. But Spot could smell it. However he, for once, chose not to comment. He wouldn't have got very far, anyways. The minute Jack realised he was defenceless, his fist shot forwards and hit Spot square in the face.
Spot moved to strike back, but stilled himself just in time, sternly reminding his animal instincts that he couldn't hurt the boy. Shade, for one, would have his ass. He wasn't an idiot. When his messengers came back with the news of his men being found, the meat burned right off their bones, he knew enough not to try and mess with her. And if he hurt Jack, he wouldn't be all that better off in Misprint's books at all.
Not that he was exactly in the top ten anyways.
But his reason was clear. He had to get the word to Misprint. She was in danger. And he knew she'd tear him apart if he set foot in the dorm. This was the only way to do it without finding Shade who was, no doubt, immersed in her little Christmas Party.
"Whassa matter?" Jack spat, hitting him again. Spot's head snapped to the side, a lock of hair falling over his cheek bone. "Ain'tcha gonna take a swing at me?"
"I already told you why I was here." Spot said through gritted teeth, tasting some of his own blood in his mouth.
"Somehow, I don't believe you." Jack replied, pulling back a fist to hit him again. But as he swung forwards, Spot reached out and wrapped his hand in his own long fingers.
"You gotta tell Misprint something for me." He said, his eyes trained on Jack's, seeking trust, at least temporary. Jack wrinkled his nose.
"What? That you won't be able to meet her tomorrow night?"
"Jack…"
"That you hope she likes it rough?"
"Jack…"
"Or maybe you're in the market for a new switch blade?"
Spot had to curl his fingers into fists to stop from knocking the boy out then and there.
"No." He hissed. "She's in danger."
"Only from you."
"Not from…" He was about to contradict him, when he paused, remembering the way she had screamed when he had dug the knife into her lower back a few nights ago. The hesitation was long enough for Jack to swerve his free hand forwards and grab onto Spot's neck.
Spot had taken enough. It was hard enough trying to get the slayer to understand without resorting to violence, but his vampiric instincts were going crazy with not being able to hit back. He curled his fists so hard that the fingernails bit into the skin and caused small crescents of cold blood to pool along his palm.
"I said I wanted to talk…" He whispered, feeling his throat close as Jack squeezed his hand shut. Jack raised his eyebrows carelessly.
"Then that's a stupid way to die, Conlon." He shrugged. He pulled his fist back a final time. Spot snapped, lifted his leg and shot it into Jack's stomach, making him loosen his grip and bend over, clutching his middle.
Jack's vision swam. He hadn't been expecting that. Spot was one of the most evil vampires in history, why did Jack keep underestimating his ability to cheat? Why did he always think he was better than that? He gulped in a huge breath of air and tried to stop the horrible pain in his stomach, but could only look up as Spot swung one of his fists down to break his neck.
Moving quickly, he dove forwards and reached his hand out. His fingers clenched around something hard and circular…the stake! He felt the power radiate in his hand, and flipped onto his back just as Spot dove onto him.
Spot caught sight of the weapon in his hand, and grabbed it just as he fell on top of the slayer, breathing a gasp of relief. If he hadn't seen it, he wouldn't be there any more. A pile of ashes. He scowled, and tried to twist it out of his enemy's hand again, but Jack's grip was tight, and his eyes determined.
"Stay away from Misprint." Jack hissed. Spot growled, and wrapped his hand around Jack's throat. He didn't understand. He didn't understand why Spot had to keep going to Misprint, or why things had never changed. Even though he wanted them to. But it was impossible to explain. How do you explain vampiric urges to a mortal?
"You gotta tell her." Spot tried again. The threat of Slade and his minions had been growing constantly in his mind, and when he had taken care of Stephen, it had been enough to clue him in that Misprint was in danger. His insides were still blazed with hurt whenever he thought of what he'd done, but it was too late to turn back time.
"Tell her what?"
"About Slade!" Spot said, putting pressure on his hand, causing Jack to go pale and choke, gasping for air. "Tell her, will ya?"
Jack, however, had gone silent at the mention of the name. He didn't know if Spot was aware the slayers were on top of their war, and wasn't eager to reveal any information about Dutchy, Bumlets, or even Chaos's knowledge on such matters. But Spot's hand on his throat was very demanding, not to mention just the slightest bit threatening. However, his lips remained firmly shut. "Tell her!" Spot yelled. "You gotta! For her own safety!"
"Tell her yourself." Jack spat. "You see each other often enough!"
"For once in your life swallow your fucking pride!" Spot hissed, drawing his face closer. "God…do you want her dead or something?"
He noticed, with a slight feeling of satisfaction, that Jack's face had gone an ashen grey. Even though no words of a positive nature were going to travel through his lips, he wouldn't have been able to do so anyways. He felt his throat throb under Spot's fingers, and tried to call him off, but the words got stuck before they reached his mouth.
"You don't gotta talk." Spot smirked, enjoying the suffering his enemy was going through. "Just nod. Yes, or no?"
Jack tried to shake him off, but the vampire was too strong. Finally, he shut his eyes and nodded "yes". He'd tell her. Just let go.
Spot's smirk elevated into a grin and he removed his hand. Jack inhaled a deep gulp of air, and the flesh colour slowly returned to his face, along with a red tinge in his cheek bones.
"Now listen." Spot said quickly, but before he could finish, Jack sat up and knocked his head into his.
Spot fell backwards in a blinding flash of pain and stumbled onto the concrete. Jack tightened the stake in his hands, dove forwards, and plunged it into Spot's flesh.
Spot could barely believe it when it first happened. A slow tingling pain in his shoulder took place, like it had been hit with a dart, or a pin. Suddenly, without warning, it erupted into a fire that exploded around the stake, as a cool current of blood flowed from the wound and drenched his shirt. He cried out, throwing his head back, catching a glimpse of the evening stars before his head hit the pavement and he all but blacked out.
What felt like hours later, he opened his eyes. It hadn't been a long time, two seconds at the most. He glanced down at the stake, imbedded in his shoulder, when he realised, with a surge of panicky relief, he was alive.
It hadn't touched his heart.
He ripped it out from his flesh and tossed it across the street, hearing something clatter. Jack was looking livid with rage. What was he mad about? He was the one who had gone back on the truce. He wasn't the one who had almost died.
Spot glanced down and realised that he was decorating the pavement. It was a dark muddy brown colour, the colour of blood in the gloom of evening. He could feel the energy seeping out of him, like water from a punctured tea cup. He groaned and plastered his hand against the wound, feeling the stolen blood immerse his fingers and trickle down his arm.
"That's it." Jack snapped, swooping down and pinning the boy. He couldn't believe it. For ten years he had been tracking Spot, and had been trying to dust him. After all this time, he finally thought he had, and the job was over. He had felt a huge weight lift from his shoulders as his enemy fell backwards onto the pavement.
Only to find out that his aim needed improvement.
He reached into his pocket, and his fingers felt the cool metal of the cross that he always carried around with him, even though he wasn't the most devout of Catholics. It came in handy for other purposes.
"Jackie…wait…" Spot groaned, feeling the stars spin over top of him. He needed blood, and he needed it right away. "Just tell her that Slade is…"
"I ain't your messenger boy." Jack said coolly, fingering the cross and then shifting his eyes to Spot's face. With a final smirk of farewell, he shoved it forwards towards his forehead.
It hit the pavement.
Jack furrowed his brows and realised he was sitting on cobblestone. He felt something erupt in his brain and was about to spin around when his head was wrenched aside and two fangs sunken deep into his neck.
He cried out, his scream echoing up and down the alley way as they carved deeper into his flesh, releasing the blood from its hold. Spot's one hand was on Jack's forehead, the other on his shoulder, stretching his neck open. He had promised not to hurt Jack in their "reunion", but he was so thirsty. He hadn't planned on the sudden loss of blood on his part, nor the fight, even though he should have.
But things just turned out that way.
Stop, something whispered in his head, as Jack stiffened, realising with a sinking despair, he was too drained to fight back. You're taking too much out of him. But Spot didn't care. Jack deserved it. He had it coming for ten years.
Jack felt his veins empty and was amazed he could still feel. Maybe it was the slayer in him that was still fighting for life, but the boy had given up long ago. He slowly sank forwards, Spot still feeding off his neck, his eyes flickering open and closed.
He hadn't done it. His entire mission, the entire reason he had accepted the position of slayer, the entire ten years...he had lost. Spot won.
The vampire suddenly wrenched his head away with a cry and let Jack flop forwards onto the pavement, nothing more than a limp doll with vague traces of life still lingering among the corners of his mind. He wiped the stains from his lips with the back of his arm and let out a breath of relief. The wound near his shoulder was healing quickly, and he found himself bent over, hands on knees, trying to control the sudden power he had just obtained.
He had forgotten what the blood of a slayer tasted like. He raised his head, lips parted slightly and still stained, staring at Jack, face first on the cobblestone.
"See you 'round, kid." He whispered, the blood still wet on his lips. Realising what he had just done, he turned and stumbled away, feeling like the ground was trying to pull him downwards, trying to swallow him up as easily as he had swallowed Jack's life.
The words he had just heard reverberated in his mind, the words that had caused him to suddenly stop drinking, to try and leave Jack with whatever life he had left. If there was any. Spot. Stay away from me. I don't care where you are, or what you're planning. But stay the hell away from me. Misprint. He shook his head and continued walking away.
"Spot." The word came out as a croak, almost inaudible. Spot twisted his head around and saw Jack slowly, his body aching, roll himself over and lift his head slightly. The wound on his neck shone, almost glowed, in the pale moonlight. "Wait…"
Spot shook his head and turned around, but the image hit him so hard he almost fell. Hazel eyes. Hazel eyes in the moonlight…staring, filled with tears. They shifted to smaller ones, that held the colour of dried blood in the irises, before disappearing completely.
He brushed the hair off his face and turned around, stalking back towards where Jack was laying, almost dead, face raised to the moonlight. He dropped to his knees beside him and raised his wrist to his own mouth, where he slashed a long gash in it with his tooth. He sucked the blood off the fang. This was a mistake. He swore out loud and held his wrist to Jacks mouth.
"You better pay me back for this, Jack." He murmured, gritting his teeth.
He felt the blood leave his wrist, and slowly surrendered himself to what he knew was going to be hell.
"She's dead?" Slade snapped. "Yvonne is dead? She was one of our best fighters!"
"Not no more." Rip said evenly, enjoying the fact that for once, his master was still fighting to regain control of the hints of feelings that vampires still possessed, while he had already mastered his own. "Ice took care of her."
"One of Spots?" Slade asked bitterly, dearly wishing he could plant a stake in his enemies heart right there and then.
"It wasn't just some random one offa the street." Rip replied, hands shoved in pockets. Slade stared at the stake he held in his hands and clenched it so hard he felt as though he could turn it into sawdust simple with the power of his hand and hatred.
"Get over to the school." He hissed through pointed teeth. "Or send someone else. Just get rid of Misprint."
No matter how loud the music blared, no one outside of their own dorm could hear it.
That's what Specs had told Shade, after he had borrowed some of Gemini's powers to cast a simple spell, and she had loved it. The idea of complete freedom where volume was concerned was a likeable one indeed, and she enjoyed the fact that Mrs. Mayen couldn't hear anything suspicious.
The whole "gang" was there. Chaos was looking a little out of the ordinary in a white tank top with the letters "NYC" scrolled on, instead of the usual blackblackblack. Blink and Mush were present, but then again, how could they not be? Mush and Mondie where dancing freely in the middle of the dorm, while Blink was collapsed in the bean bag chair, Gemini leaning against his chest, his arms wrapped around her. Specs and Dutchy were having a quiet (and it had to be quite inconspicuous, considering Racetrack didn't know about vampires) conversation on slaying tactics, while Bumlets chatted easily with Chaos, as though they were brother and sister, as they wanted most to believe. Racetrack was sitting across the room from Chaos, a pop can in his hand, wishing that he was Bumlets, whom she seemed so free with. Shade had long since abandoned the tank top and jeans she had used to organise things with, and had donned the crazy Santa Claus dress.
The only two that were missing were Misprint and Jack. Misprint had obviously (and quite loudly) excused herself from the festivities, but where she was, no one knew. It was safe to assume that she didn't want to spend time in her own dorm, in case Spot would drop by, but where else she would go, no one was quite sure.
Jack was easy to guess. Out slaying. He was careful about his job, even though he resented authority, because it was the only thing that mattered to him.
Shade did wish that he would take a little time off. For heavens sakes, it was Christmas. And the fact that Gemini and Blink were exchanging soft kisses, and Mondie and Mush were just being too cute for words, was rather depressing.
Racetrack raised his gaze from the top of the coke can long enough to glance up at Chaos, who was barely looking his way. Feeling his gaze with extremely sharpened senses, her green eyes flicked over and burned into his coffee coloured ones. He grinned slightly, then quickly looked away. There was no sense in even trying, the fact that he was three or four years older did not bode well with the word "Relationship."
Nevertheless, acting before his brain could rebel, as Bumlets got up to join Specs and Dutchy, he went and discreetly took his place.
Chaos glanced over at him again, and her eyes flashed slight panic. But she remained as cool as ever. She leaned back, suddenly aware that her tank top was much too revealing. In truth of all truths, it wasn't in the slightest, but it was a stretch from the usual tee shirts. But Shade had to go and insist that she dress up.
This was dressing up.
It was no secret that Racetrack had a crush on her. Her feelings remained her own, but she felt uncomfortable whenever he was near in the awkward, teenage way she hated.
"Heya Chaos." Racetrack submitted, making an effort to sound normal, but failing miserably as his voice came out too enthusiastic. She gave him a glance that made him want to shrivel inside himself.
"Hi Race." She said shortly, returning her gaze to Mondie and Mush. Mondie's hair band was firm in place, considering Racetrack had yet to be let on to the abnormalities his friends concealed.
"You gonna dance?" Racetrack asked hopefully. She shook her head, and took a long swig of rootbeer.
"Of course not." She said shortly, afraid to meet his eyes. "You know me."
"Yeah. I guess." He shrugged. Usually Racetrack was able to come up with something funny in a few seconds, but his mind was completely blank now. He struggled, but luckily Shade interrupted the awkward conversation.
"Presents!" She declared, unceremoniously dragging a large undecorated garbage bag out of the closet. Mondie, Mush, Blink, and Gemini let out loud cheers of glee, while the slayers allowed a smirk, bar Chaos, who looked, at least, a little happier about the current situation. Specs adjusted his glasses and reluctantly joined the quickly forming circle, plopping down, cross legged, next to Racetrack, who was definitely worse for money.
Shade was the only one who had gone out of the way to get presents. The rest had formed good intentions, but had never exactly manifested them considering the way the holiday season was quickly turning out.
She did a quick spin in the center of the circle, then plunged a hand into the bag. With a grin, she pulled out the first one and read the label.
"Mondie!" She grinned. Mondie grinned and clapped her hands. None expected Shade to be serious about this, chances were the presents would be something they'd never use in the future. Shade tossed a box wrapped in cheap brown paper (as all the others were) to her friend, who grabbed it, then quickly straightened her hair band, throwing an edgy glance over at Racetrack, who raised an eyebrow at the behaviour. Then, she quickly tore a line down the center, ripping it open. Mush raised his eyes. Her fingernails had gotten sharp and were resembling claws in a very humanesque manner. He swallowed nervously and straightened his collar.
She pushed the box open, let her eyes adjust to what was inside, then suddenly fell backwards, bursting out in laughter. Mush furrowed his brows and leaned over, then let out a grin. Shade was smiling rather evilly.
"What is it?" Gemini asked impatiently, poking Mush in the side. Still wearing the lopsided grin, he pulled out a light pink coloured tank top depicting a girl with long brown hair, a delicately turned chin, bright blue eyes, with whiskers and pink cat ears. Inscribed over her head in long curly writing were the words "Sex Kitten."
"Shade!" Blink groaned, as Gemini let out a giggle. Chaos raised an eyebrow while Dutchy, Bumlets, Racetrack, and Specs smiled in spite of themselves.
Mondie hastily fixed her hair band and reappeared in sight, still giggling giddily. Mush handed her the tank top and she pulled it on over her long black shirt.
"A'right, quiet down! Quiet down!" Shade yelled, reaching back into the bag. Her fingers wrapped around another, and she yanked it out. The label read "Dutchy and Bumlets."
"You two." She smirked, tossing it to Bumlets who deftly caught it. He shrugged, then pulled it open.
Lying there were two exquisitely carved stakes, sharpened to a pencil point, shining. One had "B" carved into it, and the other "D", along with crescent moons at the end.
"Cool!" Dutchy nodded, picking it up and gripping it in his hands.
"What are those?" Racetrack asked, raising an eyebrow. "Stakes or something?"
"Yeah. We play vampire hunter." Bumlets grinned as he and Dutchy shared a knowing look. To dissolve the tension, Shade quickly found another present.
"This one's for Blink." She said, her eyes lighting up in a way that clearly meant no good. Blink reluctantly disentangled Gemini from his arms so he could catch the present as Shade tossed it to him. Gemini glanced up and suddenly realised she had a present coming too. She ripped it open and, eyes lighting up, pulled up a silver pentagram on a chain.
"It's beautiful!" She exclaimed giddily, tossing the paper aside. Specs smirked in spite of himself, as he caught sight of dark purple amethysts positioned in every point.
"It's to help you with your studies." Shade explained, as Gemini slid over her head and Blink opened his own present. His brows furrowed in perplexity as he realised what was inside.
"This ain't for me, is it?"
"In a way." Shade said mysteriously. Blink gave her a confused look, then pulled it out. A long, and rather skimpy, it must be said, piece of lingerie unfolded and hung from between his fingertips.
"It's lingerie." Blink said in confusion. Gemini glanced over and raised her eyebrows as her eyes caught on the tag.
"In my size!" She said accusingly to Shade, who was already digging back into the bag.
"Enjoy!" she said quickly, pulling out two more. One she tossed to Specs, who caught it deftly, and the other to Mush.
Specs pulled off the brown paper revealing a familiar yellow cover. He rolled his eyes and shot her glare as the cover adjusted.
Dating for Dummies.
Shade was avoiding his eyes as she looked over at Mush. He opened his own present, then shut his eyes in what was either bliss or acute mortification.
Mondie leaned over and then flushed.
"Shade!" She accused, as she saw exactly what it was.
"Yes?"
"That's…"
"Tasty?"
"Chocolate body paint!" Mush exclaimed, pulling out a silkily decorated bottle. Shade nodded happily. Mondie groaned and shut her eyes, while Mush tried to hide an amused grin, even though his face was bright red.
There were four packages left, and Chaos found herself a little anxious as Shade tossed her one. She wasn't eager to make a fool of herself, and hoped Shade remembered how quickly she could blow up.
She opened it, kind of eager, hoping it would be a stake like Dutchy's or Bumlets, which were awesome, to say the least. But as the paper came off, she realised, with a rather disgusted feeling inside of her, it was far from such a thing.
It was an adorably purple teddy bear.
She raised an eyebrow.
"I really need one of these." She said, raising her eyes to Shade, who rolled her own dark ones.
"Look on the back." She instructed. Chaos raised both her eyebrows, then flipped it over, and her face visibly brightened as she saw what was sewn sloppily onto the back. She ripped it off, and studied it in her hand.
It was an exquisitely carved cross, silver, with a pentigram in the center, the points stretching out into intricate, beautiful designs all up and down the branches. At the very top, there was an engraved "C". Chaos tested the weight in her hands, and looked up with a faint twitch of her lips.
"Thanks."
"No problem." She shrugged. She reached in and pulled out the next package. "Jack" was written on it in her slanted script.
Her face fell slightly. In the humour of the past few minutes, she had forgotten that he wasn't present. Now it kind of hurt that he was absent. Before she could let it get to her, she shoved it back into the bag and pulled out the next one, with a sudden devilish grin. "Now. Racetrack's present."
"Great. What is it?" Racetrack rolled his eyes. "A swim suit calender?"
"I was thinking of that at first." Shade admitted, with a slight grin as Racetrack gazed at her cynically. "But I thought you might like this better." She tossed the package to him.
He caught it. It was definitely the smallest of all of them. He gave her an inquiring look, but her expression didn't shift, she made a gesture to open it up and get it over with.
She thought of Misprints present sitting at the bottom, along with Jacks. Hurriedly, she tossed them aside.
Racetrack slowly pulled off the wrapping, and realised, his cheeks flaming slightly, it was something lacy. And black. He rolled his eyes as he pulled out a lacy bra.
"Real funny Shade." He said, as everyone laughed a little. Chaos, however, was staring at Shade as though she had just murdered her friends. She turned her gaze to the bra, and, it must be said, her cheeks flamed. Maybe with embarrassment, maybe with anger, maybe with some deadly combination of both.
"That's mine!" She yelled. Racetrack's eyes widened, and he meant to drop it on the floor, but he was frozen as she stalked towards him and ripped it from his hand. She turned to Shade and glared. "What the hell is that all about?"
"It was just a joke, Chaos."
"I don't believe this!" She growled. She stuffed the bra into her jeans pocket and stormed out of the room.
Chaos's face burned as she slammed the door behind her and pressed her forehead against the cool wood. She was too angry to consider being stealthy, and too embarrassed to show her face again.
She could understand how some might find that funny. But she didn't. She felt her anger boil up inside of her and stalked off to her room to get a stake. She had to go kill something.
"You sure this is it?" Edge asked, staring up at the imposing brick monument. He was always a little tense whenever they entered the vicinity of a Catholic Building. Rex turned and gave him a look.
"I'm sure. You too scared to go in?"
"I just have this bad feeling." Edge muttered under his breath. He was one of Slade's weaker minions, and Rex was resigned to the fact that Rip had made him bring the half fledgling along. He was much too, well, edgy for Rex's comfort. But who was he to disagree with Rip?
Besides, their assignment was easy enough. Misprint, so they heard, was weak. All Spot's "pets" were weak. It was just a fact, just the way things worked. Probably had no experience with vampires besides the sexual kind, which might not have been a bad thing, Rex realised with a grin. But they had strict orders. No funny business. Just kill her. Brutally. Make it look horrible. Then get the hell back to the lair before Spot unleashes all hell.
The old woman at the desk was easy enough to slip past. Her senses were dulled by age and severity, and by sneaking past the desk with foot falls so quiet not even they themselves could sense them, they were in.
Edge was fiddling with the razor in his pocket nervously, as Rex rolled his eyes and led the way. They could sense her presence up on the roof, and couldn't afford to delay as they slowly slipped up the stair case.
Misprint was unaware of such hostility. The only thing on her mind was Stephen. She had never fallen in love with him, as many of the girls in her classes predicted, but she had loved him, nonetheless. He had even replaced Shade, as she had always gone to him so he could heal her, and talk.
And now he was gone.
Spot, too, was a current topic. She thought of his cool blue eyes and a surge of hatred lit her veins.
Gemini's amethysts began to glow.
She suddenly looked up and she and Specs shared a knowing look. Before anyone could comment on the sudden new qualities of her necklace, she disengaged herself from Blinks arms and, regretfully his kisses, and jumped up. Moving quickly, she cut across the floor, right through Mondie and Mush who were trying to get a dance going again, and out the door, snapping it behind her with a slam.
The rest of the teenagers looked up with alarm. Specs was flipping through the "Dating for Dummy's" book, mostly to amuse Shade.
"She'll be back." He said knowingly.
Gemini's powers were undeniable. True, Specs had taken away her immediate powers, the powers that allowed things to occur the minute she said them, or even thought of them.
But there was true powers in her blood that not even he could take away. No one could take them away. She had possessed them all her life, and Winter Solstice had only strengthened them.
She had felt this particular surge of hatred from above her, and suddenly there was an image in her mind of Misprint, sitting cold and alone, staring out at the city, full of malevolence. She hadn't even bothered to question why she was there.
She had just taken off.
She and Misprint had never got to know each other all that well, so it seemed rather strange to her that she was the one up to comfort her, instead of Shade. But it seemed Shade had been edgy at the mention of Misprint that night, and reluctant to talk about her.
The job fell to Gemini.
She took to the stairs.
Chaos turned the corner and literally ran into a pair of vampires.
She nearly fell backwards but regained her balance when she saw them, and realised immediately what they were. She was built with an automatic slaying sense, and she could tell when someone wasn't exactly human.
One of them had dark brown hair and skin the colour of roasted marshmallows. An odd comparison for a vampire, but accurate. The other was pale and slant eyed, fiddling in his partners wake.
"Vampires." She said wisely, throwing in a tiny twitch of her lips. "My night just got better."
Rex furrowed his brows. This girl was acting strange. She obviously knew more than a run of the mill Catholic school girl did. And at the last comment, he knew enough.
Figures they'd get sent to murder a girl who schooled with a slayer.
Acting quickly, he summoned his energy and disappeared. Chaos raised her eyebrows, then shrugged. Before Edge could collect his wits quick enough to disappear as well, Chaos had punched the stake through his heart, and had dusted him.
"One down." She shrugged. She turned and tried to rationalise her thought, wondering where the other one could be.