Shade's Loss

by Christina Worrell

  As dark as it was now most humans would not see him and if they did they would only run in fear and maybe report they had seen a large black cat. He would be long gone before the authorities showed up.

  Up ahead he scented the beast that was trying to make a break for a city alley.

  Lykan’s were generally weaker than vampires depending on their age. Damon was sure he was still faster and used that speed to vault onto the beast’s back sending his claws deep into the flesh above the ribs and thighs and ripping downwards trying to do as much damage as he could before the creature turned on him. He clawed and shredded as he sunk his fangs past the collar bone. Their blood was not palatable but it sufficed his hunger and helped drain the werewolf more quickly. He had seconds to do as much damage as possible.

  The fur slowed the impact but his claws were sharp enough to penetrate. His claws sliced the thigh muscle and surrounding tissues. Blood splattered everything around them which was nearly invisible on his black fur.

  The beast reared, fighting like a wild bull twisting and trying to remove the wild cat only to find himself down in such a short time. Damon had fought with the best of his rank and knew the tricks of the trade. The werewolf, now angered, wasn’t giving up without inflicting some kind of damage.

  He fell heavily on top of Damon. He twisted and reached back with his own fangs to rip at the panther’s back. The gash was almost a foot across and gaping several inches, showing muscle and bone. He laughed at the cat as he received the death blow.

  He lay there half under the insane but now dead werewolf and breathed. One more was gone from this world. One more that would have infected innocent women and children, one less monster like his self from this dark world.

  He had given the girl and her brother their justice.

  Damon slowly pulled himself free, one paw at a time, and crawled several feet away before he collapsed. He needed blood and he needed it now, he refused to take it from an innocent in this condition when he could drain them dry. He had not received wounds this bad though in many, many years.

  He had to hurry back to the girl who was alone with a newborn werewolf.

  He tried to stand, to shake himself, spraying blood everywhere most of which was his. Many moments must have passed by for when he woke it was nearly dawn. The cleaners would incinerate him too if they thought him beyond simple repair. A burden to themselves…

  Just as the sun was peeking through the trees he managed to drag himself into the small park ranger building where Shade was below and alone with her brother and down the stairs. Damon sealed the doors with the last of his energy. He collapsed on the stairs until he saw Shade’s neck in her brother’s deadly grip, still clearly human. He smelled her blood from where he lay in a mangled heap. It gave him the motivation he needed to save her.

  Damon sprang onto the table and looked deep into the young man’s eyes… There was no doubt he was lost. Damon bit into the man’s neck drinking just enough to sate his thirst so he would not jump the girl. He heard her body hit the stone floor and after a minute he rolled down to her careful to avoid landing on her.

  The brother was fighting for his freedom above them. Blood from the wound on the newborns neck dripped down to the floor beside them. He heard the distinct and repetitive plop as each drop hit the floor and tried to ignore it while he checked the girl.

  She was still conscious. Tears stained her pretty face, bruises marred the tiny neck, and blood soaked her shirt where the young man had bitten her. Using his paw he moved the dark t-shirt and peered at the ugly wound. It was not a turning bite, only a gash, it had to be something else. It was self-inflicted somehow or from one of the steel cuffs.

  He glanced up and found that the newborn had tried to rip his left cuff free from the table and nearly broken it. The silver cuff was twisted and the sharp shrapnel coated in blood, the girls apparently.

  The brother was now changing before their eyes and shrieked at his confinement while he attempted to free himself. Human or not the cuffs would hold him. Moments later he succumbed to the blood loss and was unconscious.

  Damon struggled to turn over so he was even with her and able to inspect her wound more clearly. Darkness was at the edge of his vision but he had to tend to the tiny mortal girl. The wound would eventually heal in time but her blood would help him and she needed it cleaned.

  He carefully licked the still oozing gash clean and laid his head on her chest, unable to do more. He was a Daywalker and therefore did not need the healing sleep of his brethren but by doing so he healed faster and in this case time was precious.

  Wounds like his though could knock him out cold if he went too long without replenishing the lost blood. Hers and her brothers was not enough to keep him awake. He had to heal, which meant leaving her to her own vices. It was safer for her too if he slept the worst of the injuries away.

  Shade looked at the mysterious cat half lying on her, unable to comprehend its meaning of existence in her shock. The last few hours were beyond her brains ability to understand. It simply shut down casting her into numb emptiness. She lay under the warm beast, grateful it was not turning on her too like the one that had gone after her brother, and fell into shock. Her body began to shake uncontrollably and whimpers escaped unintentionally.

  Shade was use to life taking the most important things away from her but this was too much. How much would she sacrifice in one lifetime?

  CHAPTER TWO

  When Damon awoke a few hours later he looked into the most stunning eyes he had ever seen, smoky purple with long black lashes. Her make-up, now smeared by tears, enhanced her delicate beauty, her lips forming a silent o of confusion.

  “I… I… don’t know… what you are but you’re crushing me,” she whispered. Shade’s stutters and fear moved him emotionally, something that had not happened for many years. He was a loner and he liked it that way.

  Damon put weight on his front paws and shifted away from her. He looked back at her astonished face.

  “You understood me didn’t you?” she asked eyes full of wonder.

  Damon nodded before he rested his head on his massive front paws.

  “You are so beautiful…” she began, inching closer to him undisturbed by the fact he was a dangerous being.

  Damon chose to take that as a compliment. He couldn’t decide if he should change back into his human form or wait. He might frighten her.

  If only he would get with the time and order blood. Damon knew it was confidential but it was beneath him. He would not depend on any other creature. The service sent over donors who were witches, faeries, and other creatures. Or they could provide shipped blood contained any way he wanted. Faeries were so rare now though, especially the dark ones. He had never met a dark elf or faerie, which of course were nearly the same things.

  It was at that moment he heard her heart beating. Fluttering was a better term. She slowly stood up and wandered around. She avoided her brother’s still form obviously and found a small closet. She borrowed a black t-shirt to change out of her bloody sweater.

  He glimpsed her small firm breasts and flat stomach before he thought to turn his head. She was a child, at least compared to him. Deep down he wasn’t sure he believed that, or at least anymore. Her body betrayed her flourishing womanhood.

  Shade walked up the steps holding her side, checking the door.

  “Wow, he must have locked me in with his freak sized cat,” he heard her mutter. It stung his manhood slightly when she said the last part, which he would not take as a compliment. Apparently he was beautiful but too large.

  He was undecided as to whether he should show her that he was Damon. He twisted trying to see his wound as she came downstairs. It was beginning to heal.

  Shade looked around the room from one corner to the next. There was not much to be found other than the panther.

  When she saw the wound she immediately went to the feline.

  “Oh,” she cried as she slid to her knees at his side, not even
concerned that the vicious animal would harm her. Why should she be? The cat had saved her life…by knocking her out of her brother’s grasp and drinking blood from him. Her changing brother…

  The last thought made her pause. She had seen that Damon was right. Her loving, thoughtful, reliable brother had tried to kill her. Not before he told her he was sorry and that he loved her no matter what. Pain etched its way into her heart again replacing the more than welcome numbness.

  Tears swam in her eyes, blurring her vision. She stood up and went to get her blood-stained sweater. Looking to the left, the part of the room she had avoided she spotted a sink behind the awful table. Sobs began to wail up as she stumbled through the darkened room to wet the cloth and then went back to the cat.

  Damon watched her with quiet interest. An ancient part of him wished to comfort her. The beast in him saw her vulnerability and wanted the hunt to begin. He shut that part of himself off. He observed her warily as she cleaned the drying blood gently from his black fur. When he moved it ripped the new scabs causing it to bleed further. Her thorough thoughtfulness reminded him of someone he lost a long time ago. Her tears dropped and mixed with the wet blood on his back combining within him reminding him of her blood that he had drunk from her wound. The wound he needed to check on. He allowed her careful ministrations, something no one else had cared to do in hundreds of years, almost his entire immortal existence. Something he had not allowed others to do even had they wanted to.

  She was quickly growing on him as the current era would say. He sat up facing her as she kneeled facing him. He moved towards her slowly so he would not startle her and laid his head on her shaking shoulder, using the paw he didn’t have any weight on to pull her into him. It was the best he could do under the current circumstances. In the past he would have traded any victims he found to other vampires or to Gideon. He had never regretted that but now with her he knew he could never do that. She was his…

  Shade was unsure at first as to what the marvelous and intelligent cat wanted but as a tear fell to its shoulder once more it dawned on her and with that thought she whimpered. She had lost everyone and now they would send her back to the group home. She refused to do that, she would run away again but this time it wouldn’t be to her brother. He was some weird creature now. That started fresh tears until she curled up to the warm beast and cuddled the best she could, to sleep the worst of the horror off. Her last thought was deep down she knew she was stronger than this and she would show the world.

  Damon had never allowed anyone to get this close that he could remember. Men shuddered at his glare, beasts fell at his touch, and even the oldest of the dark ones respected and feared him. Yet this slip of a girl, no woman he corrected himself, managed to not only bring him to his knees but somehow get past his shields. Strong shields that he had erected from the very beginning. Other women had tried to get close, a few he respectfully used and left in his past. His Masters mate had tried many times to be a sister to him or friend but his walls were impenetrable. He used his paw to move her hair gently out of her face, careful of his claws.

  She sighed quietly puckering her lips and using an arm to pull herself closer in her sleep.

  Damon sighed and asked whatever higher being that had granted him life why him? Why her? There had been so much pain in her brilliant eyes.

  He must have drifted off again because when he woke next he found it was dusk and Shade was moving, trying to sit up. He quickly pounced towards the stairs after she was sitting up and looking at him. He changed back to his human form upstairs and headed back down to gather her and get her to a safer location so he could finish the business before him.

  “Your cat was very reassuring. Why did you lock me in? Am I being held prisoner now that I have seen stuff?”

  Shade had seen enough movies to know that he would not let her go. She had to figure out if he was a good guy or bad.

  Her questions would have gone on had he let them. He simply picked her up with a startled yelp on her end and grabbed a dark bag in a shadowed corner of the room. He then ran up the stairs again and out into the starry night. He would take her to his home and explain some things to her. He asked her where she lived and headed that way immediately.

  When they reached the public who would wonder why he was carrying the girl he set her down and let her lead. Damon held her hand so she wouldn’t run off making him chase her and causing a scene. Unknown to him she did not have anywhere to go. He, as sad as it sounded, was her only lifeline at the moment.

  Once they were inside, he made her sit down on the old brown couch. He ordered his thoughts. Spoken words of this day and age were different, as a tracker he spoke only when necessary. Generally his looks and fake smile got him what he needed. Once more he would have to convey something to a mortal who knew nothing of his ways. Make her understand in her shock and pain.

  He sighed and reflected on how to explain while she patiently looked at her lap. She was grieving for her loss, it was plain.

  “You are not a prisoner, little one. You have seen highly classified things as your people call it. I cannot let you phone the police and report what you seen, that would be bad for my people, but those people would also lock you up. I cannot let you go either with only a promise from you. Humans cannot cope with this and in time will tell someone. I have seen it many times. Pack your things, as little as possible and you will stay with me. It is not my rule but I enforce it,” he explained gently and slowly.

  Shade didn’t know what to say. On one hand it solved her problem but on the other it left her with a potential maniac. Well that was a little harsh he did save her life after all, and tried to save her brother.

  “What will happen to my brother?” she asked quietly. Shade was on the edge of the couch staring at the floor. It was obvious she knew the answer and feared asking it.

  “I… have to end his evil… wrong existence.” He barely stopped his self but she caught it nonetheless.

  “You are a heartless son of a bitch. My brother, the only person in my world I have left just became a monster and tried to eat me… you are… callous.” Shade jumped up and stood there accusing him with her shining eyes.

  “I am truly sorry, cher. My job has not been to coddle young ones but to end the monsters existence that caused all of this. It is true, I am… correction have been known to be callous and heartless, it is my job. I would take pain from you if I could. It is not possible so, please, gather your things. We must be far from here by dawn.” His voice, accent was lulling but the words were stilted. She wondered where his home was and why he had been in the ranger’s station at the park.

  His reminding her of her brother and their now empty trailer had Shade’s tears starting once more, she knew he was right though, and so she moved zombie-like to her room. She found her back pack, emptied it of books, and her parent’s duffle and filled them with everything she couldn’t bear to leave behind. Shade thought of school and how she would no longer be going. There was not anyone she was leaving behind that she would truly miss but still it was her life.

  She changed into her black jeans and heavy metal band shirt leaving the black shirt she had borrowed and her bloodied skirt on her floor, donned varied jewelry, and stuffed her pockets with all her stashed money. After saying goodbye to her room of ten years she went to Mikhail’s room. Fresh tears bloomed in her eyes threatening to spill with the hundreds of others that now were on the collar of Damon’s shirt lying on the floor.

  She was leaving her life behind to start an adventure that could lead to either her death or something close.

  Memories of her parents and brother were here. She had been raised elsewhere but this was her brother’s trailer. The pictures and decorations her mother had added to make it homey was something she had no choice but to leave behind.

  Pain ripped through her and she crumpled to the floor. She would never be coming back, of that she was sure.

  Shade found the last of her strength and forcefully
pushed herself to stand and finish packing. Without a look back at her room she moved to the next room.

  She slipped her brothers black, leather duster on and stuffed his jewelry and frameless pictures into her bags. She also took all the money he had hidden as well as a dagger he had on the wall. She slid it into her pants, threw the back pack on her shoulders, and with eyes full of tears started back to the living room. She trailed her fingers along Mikhail’s dresser next to a framed picture of the family. She could not bear to leave it behind so she took the picture from the frame and stashed it along with the rest in her bag. She put the frame back on the dresser.

  She slowly made her way back to the living room to face the man who was now her only hope.

  Damon, she now noticed, had ice blue eyes the same as his cat… that she had not seen since his arrival, odd maybe a coincidence. He took her duffle bag and her hand as he led the way out her door. He turned before she could get a better look at him.