by Tara Brown
Peter’s face grew distorted as his head shivered and shook.
His rage was bringing out the beast literally he would not be human within seconds.
I leapt forward not even worrying about whether I was seen or not as I touched Peters quivering shoulder softly and smiled momentarily down at the small child on the couch who peaked up at me from under his moms bleeding arm. He smiled through the tears when his eyes met mine and the little boy knew everything would be okay again or for the first time in a long time. I watched as lips formed the word, “Angel”.
I winked quickly removing Peter and myself from the house before I was seen by anyone beyond the small child. Outside in the alley Peter tried to fight me but once I let my hands have what they wanted he was frozen. I sucked him dry in seconds before anyone would see. I left his body on the ground outside of the apartment.
Peter’s body would remain in human form long enough for the medical examiner to rule it a heart attack. The decay of a monster was really very different then a human though, they literally decayed to ash. I wondered what I would decay into if I were able to die. It was the one thing I envied in them, all of them could be killed by me but what could ever take me from this existence? I left my pain in the alley with his.
I was back on the street again in an instant as I walked down the road feeling a slight bit of adrenaline. Monsters gave me a better soul separation high than innocents, they were just so hard to find. I looked down at my boots clicking on the street wondering what it was about them that made my feel sexy. I had contemplated this over and over many times in my life. Boots made me feel sexy and it was a mystery beyond everything else in my life as to why. There was strength in a pair of boots almost like a super power. I had started wearing them when I first came to the city. My sister had always worn them. I blocked that thought out of my mind, I wasn’t that girl anymore. I didn’t have a sister anymore.
I smiled to myself feeling good about my night, knowing I had made a difference. I didn’t think about the soul I had taken, the life that left the body. I didn’t think once the choice was made. I had decided I was a warrior for the innocent and that being a demon didn’t have to involve sucking good people dry. I decided it was time someone defended the innocent from the evil and it was better to be known for killing out of control monsters than innocent people. Luckily it had turned out I wasn’t alone in my pursuit and had actually found people I belonged with.
The subway ride was exactly the sort of mindless activity I craved until the group of men a few seats away started to harass the pretty waitress near me. I waited as always for them to show a sign of goodness. I tried to not interfere in regular human life but I wasn’t going sit by and let a waitress entertain a group of men against her will in the subway tunnels either. Instead of being good humans and letting the joke slide they decided to go the other way. They went further and further with it until they had worked each other up and there was no turning back.
“I think she’s a slut boys, I think she wants something from us.” One gentlemanly man spoke above the noise of the train as he groped his groin smiling at the helpless woman. He stood up rubbing himself grotesquely on her shoulder as I sat shaking keeping my head down, she had tried to pull away while the filthy pervert held onto her tightly. He stood hovering over her like she was his next meal.
“Oh she’s hot, you’re hot baby.” Another of the superior males muttered as the girl tried to stand up he pushed her back down into her seat. They hovered over her like vultures awaiting the departure of the other animals before beginning their feast. His actions caused my upper lip to lift on the right side slightly. He wanted to do things I could never permit. I had forbidden myself from hurting regular humans unless they were putting another human in danger.
“L-l-leave me alone.” The pretty girl begged looking around the train for aid from anyone. As per the usual the fine patrons of the subway kept their eyes to their hands showing no sign of interfering in the pain she would certainly become victim to. I could feel their good intentions being stifled by the fear they felt toward the group of men. I knew that they had made up their minds that they would dial 911 for the girl as soon as the men grabbed her and dragged her into the tunnels. That was what good Samaritans did. Suddenly as if answering my prayer a huge man dressed as a construction worker stood up, he was a beast. He stood looking menacingly at the small group of men. “Leave her be.”
His voice was gruff, “Come with me.” He put a hand out, shaking slightly as he reached for her.
The waitress-looking lady stood quickly running away from the men who stood beside her, rushing to the arm of the man her savior. She clutched her bag and refused to look behind her at the pack of wolves. The big man pulled her along the train and through the door to the next car. The men screamed obscenities and challenges of brute strength to the happy couple that left the train car. It was easy to be strong when you had several men guarding your back.
I smiled knowing the waitress and the construction worker would probably fall in love because of his bravery. He had saved her and she would forever remember that through thick and thin. I loved happy endings. I knew that they could get off the subway and never speak to each other again but I liked to imagine the best since my world was the worst.
I smiled seeing the fiends eyeball me now that their prey had been taken so brutishly from them.
“How unfair boys, no one to play with now.” I taunted wickedly.
Eyebrows raised, confidence such as this was challenging to men who did their preying on women in packs. They instantly smelled, no wreaked of insecurities. Suddenly not so certain of this young pretty girl sitting all alone as I looked them straight in the eyes asking for trouble. I smiled, “Well I guess no one wants to play with me.” I stretched a long lean leg out almost flaunting my F-me boots as I batted my eyelashes at the more hideous looking one amongst them, the one who had enjoyed dry humping the waitresses shoulder. He disgusted me. Generally I didn’t judge humans but this one was extra special.
The ugly slightly brave or foolish man stood challenging me back, “You stupid bitch. You looking for trouble?”
His dirty demeanor made me smiled harder, “Stupid am I well what say we step outside gentlemen when the train stops. Then perhaps we shall see exactly who is stupid, your little rabble of filth or me.” I stood long and lean in my super woman boots feeling the world vibrating under my foot or perhaps it was the train. I didn’t even flinch as my long blond hair flowed around my back like a cape making me invincible; I stared down the pack of dogs.
The ugly man waved his arms in the air dismissively and nodded to his friends, “That’s a crazy bitch. We don’t like crazy bitch’s.”
They smiled nervously nodding amongst their small circle speaking in a low rumble. They continued their name-calling but agreed amongst them that I wasn’t pretty enough for their attentions. I walked over to the door and with my back to them I watched in the window beside me. They conspired against me weakly and I decided they were far to beneath my efforts. It dawned on me that it was very possible they were the victims of compulsion and that would never do for me to take them on if that were the case. It would not be fair, to them and the Roses had rules against that sort of thing.
I walked off the train noticing the cool breeze in the air and the familiar smell of burned incense, a dark smell, musty and old like the soul the smell belonged to. It was winter and the smell of decay but in a romantic hue instead of the decomposition it truly was. Looking around without seeing anything or anyone I smiled feeling the true challenge of the night. I broke into a run that made me laugh. I loved the click of my high-healed boots on the concrete as I sprinted up the stairs past the old courthouse. My lungs pushed for air as my leg muscles flexed strenuously. My heartbeat was faster than I’d heard it be in months and my bright blond hair flew behind me like a cape. I pumped my arms harder pushing myself running, fleeing for the safety of my home. The guards put there would stop them, the
hounds of the darkness.
I saw the street sign as I heard their feet catching me and their breath nipping at my ears. I ran faster pushing harder but they too were fast. They had been made strong just as I had been. I felt the guards grab me in time, just as one of the filthy dogs leapt at me. I burst in a coughing laugh recovering from the excursion as I bent over feeling the muscles in my legs contracting, “You filthy pups. You almost had me. Good job lads, very excellent work. I won’t forget that foot race for sometime. Trying to trick me into battle with the little boys on the train must have actually required both of your brain cells. Maybe next time I’ll wear bigger heels and give you a chance.” I waved goodnight to the shadows pacing in the background behind the wall of guards.
“Oh we’ll have you princess. We’ll taste your dark blood soon.” A dark and frankly daunting voice rode the wind above me. I pulled my sweater around myself as I curtsied, “The sun always wins lads and the north wind always loses. Goodnight my fair princes.” My heart seemed to be making a desperate attempt to slow itself down as I waved once again to the figures mulling around the road beyond me.
I walked up to the old house at the end of the road and opened the unlocked front door. In a city as busy as Portland I had always told her she should lock the door but the old bat couldn’t be bothered, she knew nothing in its right mind would ever attempt her front door. Except me but I wasn’t in my right mind and we both knew that.
She sat in the old rocking chair looking millions of years old smiling, “Taunting your brothers again?” She cackled as only an old witch could.
I nodded, “Yeah. I cant help myself, a girls gotta eat, you know?”
Lydia smiled her old lady smile, “You could have some fruit like a normal girl. Maybe a steak.”
I made a face, “Ewwww Lydia you know I’m a vegetarian. Steak, yuck.”
She laughed again as I walked to my bedroom.
I lay back on my bed reliving the instant I pulled the soul from Peter and imagined the freedom he felt. I imagined he flew away like a bird to discover whatever his imagination could muster. He had been a man before he became a monster and with his death the man was truly free of the monster. I knew I had made the right choice, he had made the mistake of being with that woman and her kids. He would never have been able to control himself. I knew I was justifying my actions but I needed to. For slightly longer than one of my slow heartbeats I envied him letting a single tear drop from my left eye onto the bed. I looked over at the window and wondered where Shane was at that exact moment? I smiled and blew him a kiss.
The dream was the same every time, the city stunk of decay and ruin all around me and people were crying in agony searching for their loved ones. A disaster had hit and destroyed it all in a moment. I searched for the one I’d missed, the one who snuck through our system and had made the mess of it all. I looked everyway but through all the pain and suffering all I saw was his face, Shane’s. He stood so near to me, breathing me in. I wanted to touch him so badly. My dad’s hands reached out to me in the way the man on the subway had done, a knight in shining armor to save me by pulling me away from Shane. I stuck my out to take his hand. I looked back at Shane and realized my dad was sticking his hand out to save Shane and not me at all. I stepped closer to the Shane smiling at him as my mom screamed in torture and the world shattered into a million pieces but I felt the warmth and realness of his face so close to mine. I knew then I had caused the disaster, again.
“Aimee you have to wake up before something in all of this becomes a reality, don’t show them your fear baby girl,” the soft voice I knew so well, it was my mom who whispered to me.
I woke startled feeling my own embrace and the glisten of the beads of sweat that soaked me. I had fallen asleep in my clothes again. I sat upright for a moment pulling my sweater off feeling the night air brush me softly. I looked around dazed expecting to see someone, as I had been certain voices had woken me. Perhaps it had been my mom finally trying to talk to me. Something about the dream always haunted me. I wished it would go away but at least it allowed me to see his face, all their faces.
I rolled on my back as I slipped off my jeans and pulled the blankets around me. The enveloping darkness was a warm comfort inside my bed.
I fell back to sleep dreaming of him again but this time instead floated staring at my parents’ smiles. I was unable to touch the ground and unable to fly. I sat in limbo watching them waving to me while they sat on a swing with Shane.
The End, or rather the beginning…
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Tara Brown is a geographical transplant victim originally from the West Coast of Canada surviving the East Coast by writing. In between her time as a mom, wife and the intense crossfit workouts with the girls she writes young adult fantasy and is guilty of a few romance novels. She has also started a series of children's novels. The second novel in The Devils Roses series is due to be released in the early spring of 2012.
Connect with Me Online:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TaraBrown22
My Blog: http://TaraBrown22.blogspot.com/
Also by Tara Brown
Bane - Book #2 of The Devils Roses
Hyde - Book #3 of The Devils Roses