A Night To Remember : monster AU
When she had asked what it was they should do with the twenty four hours they had to be locked up in this house, this really had not been what she had in mind.
The moment the words had left her lips she had known it was a bad idea, Talos expression spelling nothing but trouble for Renu and her friend. She had made to correct her error, her lisp parting to offer a suggestion of Video games, telling stories, sparing, hell, even fucking drinking and get so high she couldn’t see the ground anymore seemed far better than whatever Talos had planned.
However, Talos was more than just a rebel around her school, he was a menace, a terror to all those around him He was able to round them all up in the room in something under twenty minutes, Lautner coming in with a bottle of rum that Renu actually took a swig from as it was passed around, The taller, gorgeous girl setting a dazzling smile right on her as Renu drank the rum, causing the smaller to choke and sputter as Launers best friend Dolton laughed and swatted her back. Remmy had glued herself back to Surreal’s side, the brunettes hands tracing patterns over the other girls skin as she pressed herself to her. Surreal was hardly ever away from her best friend’s side, though it wasn’t as if Renu and any room to talk. Talos looked pleased with himself, and if she wasn’t already annoyed and slightly hesitant about whatever it was he wanted to do, she might have appreciated how easily he had herded this particular group of people in a room together. Everyone here was either known as rude and crass or they were violent and far to willing to spill a lot of blood for a little gain, with the exception of her own girl, Her Koy.
Her perfect little princess.
“Well, We’re here, what the hell do we do now?”
Talos beamed at Surreal as she spoke up again, before he lifted his hands slightly. Everyone seemed to freeze what they were doing to look at him, the sound of the news still playing behind them as Koy’s father watched from a few rooms away. It seemed to settle strange haze over it, bubbling laughter starting under their throats as they watched him and grinned. Talos passed Surreal a bottle, something detached herself from Remmy to reach for.
Remmy’s voice was a low tide, a rumble of danger in the distance that matched the flash to her eyes. Remmy was … a Firecracker. She was a wild flame, untamed by anyone or anything. Here yes were dangerous, long lashed and enough to pull in anyone she wanted. Surreal seemed to never notice the tones of demand in the voice, or she thrived under it, because the brunette only smiled and held out
“Glad you asked. First, I suggest breaking into that liquor Cabinet over there - “ He pointed, but Renu felt her stark defence rising in her throat. The words spilled out before she could control them, seeming to take a life of their own. The liquor cabinet was a favorite of Mrs. Davis, and if there was so much as a scratch on it, she would take it out on them. She wasn’t exactly a terrifying woman, but her nagging Koy wasn’t exactly something Renu liked to see.
“That’s Koy’s moms, She’d kill you if you touch it.”
“Hey. Chill, it’s Fine. It’s Liberaitio, she can’t punish us for it.” Renu could only stare as she watched Talos grin, and she wanted to punch him. Talos was a charming kid, she could give him that. When he really wanted to be, Talos could charm a lot of people, but all the charm in the world wasn’t enough to save him from Renu’s temper.
She felt herself move, starting to get up and to handle him when Koy’s hand found her skin, her fingers wrapping around her arm as she pulled her closer. Renu turned her gaze, startled at the sudden touch, watching as Koy’s eyes lit up with the prospect of games. She didn’t even seem to hear the part about her mom’s antique cabinet.
“That’s so Flawed. You realize that right?” She finally settled on, her glare turning to him. But he was done listening to her anyway.
“ANYWAY, Considering we’re going to be locked in this house for twenty four hours, I say we just make a game out of it.”
“Games? What Kind of games?” Koy chipped from beside her, her head tilting and the black haired girl feeling her body press more deftly into her side.
“Drinking games, of course!”
He looked so proud of himself, his smile wide and his eyes bright at he looked around the room. Adding the word drinking to the idea had seemed to make the idea far more suitable, as Lautner grinned, her hands falling to rest in the pockets as she took him in. There was a light to her eyes, a flash that may have been nothing at all, before she look at Dolton who only shrugged. Korin was glued to Talos’s hip and she looked more then happy to go along with his plan. There was a moment before Remmy spoke up, a lick of the fame she was so known for in her tone as she cast a scoff into the air.
“Games. Your Big suggestion is games?” There was a disbelief in her voice, something almost a laugh but not as nice. Talos turned to her, cocking an eyebrow at the malices blond, before he shook his head, the smile never wavering as he tsk and wagged his finger at her.
“Yes, Games. Why not? What else are we gonna do here? I’m not sitting around being bored off my ass when I got a free day off school just worrying.”
She didn’t say anything. Remmy’s lips pulled slightly but her expression betrayed nothing as she stared Talos down. Remmy was stubborn, ands he was cruel and vicious. She had no doubt that Remmy could do some real damage if she wanted to, and Maybe Talos felt it too, because he looked away and started in on the rules.
So now Renu found herself creeping down the hallways of Koy’s Home, having a better advantage against the others because she had been here so many times. She crept along the hardwood floors, cloth clad feet not making a sound. She moved, heading straight for the one place everyone seemed to forget about in Koy’s house, the secret little hideaways her and Koy had claimed as clubhouses when they were little.
All the lights had been turned off, everything cast into pitch black nothing as she tried to strain her eyes and see. She was still getting used to it when she heard it, the start of something terrible as metal clawed in on itself somewhere, metal on metal squeaking as she felt the house rumble with power. Something was here, something was happening right outside.
Every dark fear that had run across her mind suddenly slammed into her again. She shook as she felt the ripe fear rip through her, every inch of her body tense and hot, like she was scalded by the sudden heat the panic in her lungs had brought her.
Renu’s heart was in her throat, her eyes widening as she turned around to look down the long hallway that opened up to the foyer. She had a clear view of the front door, the hinges almost shattering against themselves as something beyond strong ripped at the front door with no regard for the people behind it. There was the sound of voices, something dark, manly, a kin to the growls of a hellhound itself. She felt the wall against her back, the only time she had realized that she was moving or inching back away from it
The metal finally snapped off, and then, there was silence again, where all she could hear, all she could feel was her own heart hammering in her chest.
The sound of a light rapt on the door was more startling than gunfire, Renu jumping and her breath coming in short little pants as her hands clenched against the ground. Her nails trailed over the wood, wide, red eyes locked on the door as she watched the shadows dance behind it, watched as the figures started to spear.
The voice had started up again, and now Renu could hear the footsteps of those in the house with her. Her heart pounded as she felt hands move to her, Talos’s face coming into view as he shook her shoulder and tried to speak. Renu could see it, could feel his hands as he tried to get her to look at him, but she couldn’t hear him, the loud rapid knocking filling her mind. It was all she could hear, all she could think of as it mingled with the heavy beat of her own heart, the memory of her final days.
The monsters were here, the monsters were going to kill them.
The whys would never even matter. Maybe that was the part that was messing with her the most. The whys would never matter, because everything was legal in these twenty four hours. Humans were not excluded, and so everyone often took the opportunity to be inhuman as possible. Anything that happened on Liberato was not investigated.
“Korin, I’m gonna need to to get Koy to help you find a good hiding spot or an exit.”
Talos’s voice finally started coming through, but he had long since given up trying to talk to her. His dark brown eyes were now locked on Korin, who Koy had attached to, her blue eyes wide with fear, her eyes watery, her body shaking.
And everything seemed to float away.
Koy was scared. The thought replaced the sound of knocking, the thought pulsing in her mind. Koy was scared, and as her best friend, Renu was the one who was supposed to protect her.
The sight of it was enough to pull Renu straight from her mind. The strong lightning of protective need surged in her, clearing her mind, making her shift and stand as Talos turned toward her. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, and her gaze flicked back toward the door.
“There no Running from monsters. You know that, Lionheart.”
She had to swallow around the fear, the worry, the terror in her blood. Renu moved, crouching as she moved her body behind the wall so she could peek around the corner, just in time for more knocks, more urgent this time, faster, harder.
The voice sounded out suddenly, viciously. There was a loud screeching sound, and a reverberating bang that resounded with the sound of metal crunching under something else. Renu jumped, hopping around to stare at the door, heartbeat wild and loud and painful.
“That sounded like…. Xion? Xion is that you?”
Renu wanted to slap her. Everyone knew you didn’t call out to possible killers, and here she was, standing from the group as she heard the voice pause they heard her shout out toward him. Lautner’s hand was braced against the all, her fingers curling as Renu watched her gaze lock on the door. Her body was shaking, a look she had never seen before on Launter’s face as she waited, watched the door for an answer.
“What do you want?” Renu called out to them, her hand moving to play with the handles that was slapped to her body. She knew, there was a vague, very vague possibility of it being humans, people that she could handle, but with the way she heard that metal rip and fall, she knew there had to be something else to this.
“Who are you!? And what do you want?”
It was off, something about this place was off. Her skin felt like it was crawling, the goosebumps lingering for much too long. There was a deep gutted wrenching feeling as she stood from the small tripod. Her fingers were already moving to pack up, her motions slow and steady though she could feel rise of sheer terror run through her veins. This place felt like a portal to hell. And she meant that in the worst way possible. Not that it seemed like it could be good thing with her word choices.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood as she felt warmth radiate over her back, bare skin tingled in it’s presence. There was a solitary moments where she felt herself freeze in her steps. Her fingers locking over the metal tripod she was stuffing back into her backpack. Goosebumps rose over her pale skin as she shifted forcefully, pulling her arm back to her side, her fingers balling into a tight fist as they rubbed against the bare skin of her thigh. There was someone there. There was someone behind her. Whatever it was, it was evil. Intent on its plans to hurt her.
The words were whispered out, low, almost hummed as she moved to push forward through the place again, this time choosing her own little hall.
Maybe she was overacting. Her mind making the situation seem a lot worse than she was thinking. Sure. It was quiet. Sure, it felt like she could practically feel another person beside her. She could hear the shallow breaths, even the moments that they hitched she could make out. Quite well. But she could also hear the faint clicking of hallways, the soft groans of metal, all which could have been something else all together in her head. It was not real, these sorts of things always had explanation behind them. Even on those stupid ghost shows her parents liked to watch there was something always behind the ‘entity’. There was no way she was going to let some ‘paranormal’ bullshit pull her out of her element. She was on live after all.
“Alright guys, from the map that Tex printed for us it looks like i’m going into theeeee… duh duh duh duuuuuh… Psych wing. Whoooo, doesn’t that seem like a fun time?”
Just by her tone alone she could hear the sarcasm dripping from her words like venom, her eyes and head tilted to take in the double doors that laid in front of her. Rusted metal underneath chipped paint. Dents and broken glass shifted loudly as she let the door come screeching open. Pale fingers brushed over the walkie talkie that was latched securely to her hip, almost preparing for something as she moved down the length of the hall. The first one was short, the few doors that she had decided to open were all the same, each of them holding a rotting mattress and a dresser or even a cabinet. One after one, after one. They were all the same. They all held the same secret. Nothing she couldn’t have guessed.
She took a moment, trying to shake off the strange warmth that was creeping through her, passing along her skin. Her eyes going to and old bulletin board. One that still held memos and small business cards. Though most of the paper seemed to be withering away much like the rest of the place around her. Her fingers came up to lip under one slip of paper, trying to get a better shot of the ones lying underneath it.
“It’s pretty wild that there is still papers in tact here, i mean, look. It still has the signature from doctors and nurses.”
She tried to sound as calm as possible, her words spoken softly into the small mic strapped to her chest. But she could feel that presence again.That warmth, it felt like it was hovering over her. Trying its hardest to envelop her into itself. A shiver ran up the length of her spine, her body shifted, trying to remain calm.
‘There’s no on there. There’s no one there. There’s no-…. One,… there?’
She turned towards the open door behind her, to where she could hear the soft shift of debris along the floor. She could hear the glass picking up as feet lifted off of the dirty floor. She could hear someone or something moving around just feet away from her. Her heartbeat picked up, a boulder settling in her throat while she chose to move forward. She chose to move past the door and the strange sounds emanating from it. It would be a lie if she said that her pass was not brisk. Faster than usual just by a step or two.
She wasn’t six steps away from the door when she heard it and saw it right from her own peripheral. And her body almost dropped, her hand catching onto the rotting wallpaper instead as the door slammed itself shut. Her eyes widened on the door, looking from the top to the bottom, the glass frame that had been originally sitting in it the middle long gone now. And what she had expected to find behind the door was the same as the others a bed and furniture alike. Instead she saw,… open windows.
Her hand moved over her pounding heart while she straightened her shaking knees. Her thumb soothing over the pale flesh. If only to comfort herself. She should have ran, she knew that. She should have taken off down the hallway screaming into the walkie talkie as she did so. But no. Instead she found herself creeping forward, her hand moving out to push the door open just that much more to slide on through.
“Tell me that didn’t scare any of you and i’ll tell you i know a liar.”
Her voice wavered but still she managed to let out a chuckle, her hands flicked over the button for her flashlight, pointing towards the open windows first.
“It was probably just the window. It’s a pretty windy night. The doors can’t be that secure. Not after so many years.”
The room was wide, and long. Books lining the walls of what had to have been an office at one point. The floor was littered with papers, old antique chairs sat in front of a strong oak desk, all covered in thick layers of dust. The lam seemed small for the desk, the space around it too much to look of any sort of importance. Her fingers came to the back of one the plush chairs, the tips of her fingers pressing into the cushion for a moment before shifting back into the books that seemed to decorate the room. All medical books, research and diagnosis books. Things that held no real interest to her, but they seemed comfortable in their rotting home.
“You know I can take this over for you.”
The voice made her jump, her attention having been focused solely on the paperwork that spilled like a endless ocean out in front of her. Honestly, the paperwork was always one of the hardest parts of her job. It Was endless, always something new to write or sign or date or cross examine. There was always one more thing to write, one more thing to do, and honestly if it went for the fact she was in sore need of a mind numbing exercise, she might have kissed Janie when she offered to take the load.
“No, No,” she shook her head, long blond hair pulled up in a ponytail to keep the fly away strands of her forever messy hair out of her face. She shifted, looking up to blink owlishly at the aging attendant who looked down at her with a look of soft covered pity and affection. Her hand clenched the pen as she watched that look pass over her, knowing full well that Janie had heard absolutely everything in the break room and was now trying to make her feel better in her own motherly way.
“You look like you could use the sleep time more than me. Go one, I’ll take care of it.”
She smiled, ignoring the pang in her chest.
She was getting used to looks like that. The cashier at the gas station had looked at her that way to just a few nights ago, and so had Xhex when Iggy had spent the the night over at her house. Iggy was getting…. Really sick of that look.
The fact of the matter was, News traveled fast in a hospital. Really,what did you expect nurses to really do all day. Between saving people’s lives and delivering medicines and making sure they didn’t get an even worse rep for taking a failure, but there was times, late at night when people were drinking their fifth cup of coffee and bored out of their mind in the few times they had any sort of down time, and so gossip was a hot commodity. She had gotten similar treatment before, years before when she had stood in front of cameras and recited the night that her whole life had been turned upside down, the local celebrity for all of a year before her name, and her mother’s, faded into the pages of history.
Liberato was more than a holiday to her. It Was the anniversary of her parents death, the day she watched as her family was taken from her, ruined, brutalized with wicked abandon. Everyone she had ever loved had died that night, every family member. She could remember the monster who had done it, could remember his face as he writhed and rejoiced in their suffering, humiliation, pleas for mercy. He could remember her mother’s screams, her bags, and the monsters laugh, the monster’ s touch.
They had looked at her like this too. They had seen a broken little girl, they saw her tragedy. None of them had ever seen her. It had been all around her, the then fourteen year old Iggy unable to really understand it. She didn’t seem to understand that those eyes were the ones judging her, the one that didn’t understand what had really happened all those years ago. Iggy herself had never fully recovered from that night, a part of her still that scared girl that could do nothing.
God she was so tired of crying.
“Okay. Thanks Janie. I’ll buy Lunch, Okay?”
Iggy smiled and waved as she turned around, her mind full with just what she should get Janie as her thank you lunch. It wasn’t a small pile of paper she had, considering today was Liberato and so there is no new incoming patients after the alarms had sounded. Iggy had grabbed a lot of paperwork because she had the free time now, and honestly, for Iggy to have an absent mind was far too dangerous right now.
Which was why she had been avoiding exactly this.
With her mind free of the random flood of information from the files she had been going through, the names and dates and diagnoses she had been reading. Her mind was free, free to drag back up one solid every changing fact she had been trying to forget.
It had been exactly forty two hours, fourteen minutes and twenty six seconds since she had last talked to Rhev, and honestly, Iggy was starting to feel it.
Really, It wasn’t so long of a time. Hell, Iggy had worked shifts longer than that, and in the grand scheme of things, it didn’t seem to be any significant amount of time for anything, so she found it strange that forty two hours could completely turn her life upside down. She felt a chill run along her body, making her shiver as she walked down the quiet halls of the hospital, everything, strangely enough, quiet in her ward. Though it was late at night as well as the national Holiday of the damned, so there was no incoming patients, and all her patients were solidly stable. It was a reprieve from the usual chaos, and Iggy marveled at the quiet.
Until the printer rang out and startled her, a cough in another room followed by the phone ringing and the smooth voice that answered it.
Well, As quiet as it would ever be, she mused, and turned the corner to try and find the nurses lounge so she might catch a couple hours of sleep before her night rounds began. Iggy moved easily, a light step in her movements as she checked the wall labels. The quiet sunk into her, letting loose all the thoughts that had been clogging up her mind, her mind absently humming as she looked for the number. She could relax.
But relaxing meant lowering her guard.
She slowed as she neared the door, her body slowly starting to sag as her will to hold herself together slipped, and she felt the sting forming behind her eyes, the sharpness in her lungs. There was something brewing in her chest, already making her breath short and her heart to hammer painfully against her ribs, her eyes widening as the smile side form her face. Her hand lifted, grabbing at the front of her scrubs as she pushed open the door, slamming it shut behind her and locking the door.
Thankfully, there was no one else here on Libertario, so there was no witness to the tears that fell down pink pale cheeks, the sobs quickly building as the barriers she placed against her thoughts fell, one by one. She had managed to push it off, kept her mind busy, but now? Now that she was alone in this room with only a few bunk beds lined up on either side of the wall with a tiny nightstand and an outlet to charge your phone, Iggy broke under the pressure that was building in her chest. It was in her skin, her muscles, her bones, it was digging down, ingraining itself in her veins, her heart, her soul. She felt it as it crawled, ripping its way through her to pull at every organ she had. It ached, pulsed with a horror she didn’t want to face.
Forty Two Hours. Two days. Two whole days without Rhev, and already Iggy felt like she was going to shatter.
Rhev was her anchor, the thing that kept her stable and safe and sure when everything around her was shit. She had dealt with her fair share of betrayals, her fair share of heartbreaks, and she had done, what she had thought was a good job mending her life after each one, but she had been wrong. Everything had slid into place, whole and new and bright again, when Rhev had become her boyfriend.
They had been dating for a year, had been good friends long before even that. She had known him toward the end of her medical school and it had been pure coincidence they had been hired at the same hospital. They worked together well, getting to know one another over late night shifts and quick coffee dates in the stairwells of the building. The year they had been dating, Iggy couldn’t have been happier, her heart swelling with the thought of him being hers, the thought of spending her life with him. He was there for her, though her dark times when she had cried into his shoulder, soothed her when her emotions threatened to overtake her.
Her back bumped against the heavy wood of the door, the low thump reverberating through her body as she slid down the length of it. The sobs were spilling freely now, the tears and snot running down her face as the gasps and hiccups began, his name the only word playing through her mind.
And this time, he wasn’t here to sooth her when night fell and the tears came, when she hugged the throw pillow on her borrowed pull out bed and sobbed his name against the fabric, tears drying as she finally fell into fitful slumbers that played with nightmares. Her dreams were full of him, and oftentimes she woke herself with the little whimpers that spilled past her as her mind filled with his eyes. He wasn’t here to sooth her like he had always done.
And it was her own fault.
His absence hit her more harshly then losing her own arm. At least with her arm, there might have been a way to get used to it. She would have grown into it, maybe become youtube famous for learning to do everything with her toes. At least that was physical. Iggy didn’t know how to handle losing Rhev.
Everything seemed to be…. Louder. Bright, just that little bit more irritating against her mind. She hadn’t been able to sleep, the sounds of traffic just outside the window of Xhex’s apartment enough to ensure her nerves were fried come morning, and she had to work on the most dangerous night of the month right after she had ran out on someone who she couldn’t imagine life without.
But how was she supposed to act when he had told her he was the very thing she feared the most?
Iggy was scared of monsters. Point. Blank. Period. Every Liberatio she hid away from the world so that she didn’t have to see them, she had distanced herself from anything monstrous. Anytime she ran into one she could feel the nausea pick up, the fear pulse in her chest as she tried to hide her fear, her eyes flashing with long ago pain and memories that wouldn’t leave her alone.
She had lost everything to monsters. She had learned, the hard way, to never get tangled with monsters. It was only by miracle that she was still alive, but the horrors of the night, losing her home, her house, her family, stayed with her. The terror had settled itself to her memory of monsters, that night playing out in vivid memory when she thought of them. She had carried the baggage of the night with her like a mantle, a burden she could not let go. She had struggled, fought, had worked her way into being able to forget about it as she worked, but she couldn’t stop the memories. The monsters had left her bloody and nearly dead, and through sheer luck she had been found, had been saved. Monsters had done this to her, they were evil being, beings who only wished to hurt her. She had been so sure, so positive in that thought that she had never seen the warning signs until it was too late.
When she had found out he was a monster, she had turned and ran, hadn’t let him get much more than that in, as the panic had started to set in. Her knee jerk reaction had been to run, and she had followed through with her instinct and booked it straight to Xhex’s apartment, not even taking with her any clothes or shoes or things she would need, instead sobbing on her best friends door as she begged her to let her stay.
The man she loved was a monster, and she hadn’t talked to him in two days. She didn’t know which one killed her more.
Iggy pulled out her phone, rubbing her shirt over her face in an effort to try and clean herself up. It did nothing useful, and instead Iggy just gave it up, moving to pull herself onto one of the bunkbeds and face the wall with her phone in her hands. She set her alarms, before pulling up the text box, her thumb hovering over Rhev’s name in her phone, her eyes welling once again.
She chose Xhex’s name instead.
She placed the phone down, her mind whirling as she pulled the covers over her shoulder.
She couldn’t just ignore this. She couldn’t just never talk to Rhev again. He was a monster, a creature bent on the destruction and torture of humankind, the beings that had blood spilling over their claws. He was the very thing that made her shake and shiver, hyperventilate and panic as she worried and feared for her life. He was exactly what the last monster had been like, charming, lovable, dependable, but at the same time, nothing like them at all.
But She owed this more than silence. She owed him more then running away.
But this? This was all she knew how to do.
He could hear her. He could hear the light hum of Renu’s voice along his sense and he could not help but to allow himself a moment. He needed it, needed the moment to let everything sink into place. His eyes shutting at the pure joy that was elicited just by the sound of her. God, she was an absolute angel. Her words nothing less than a symphony to his senses. He could feel himself lighting up practically as his entire being recognized exactly who he was dealing with. His other half, the other part of him. The only person who would ever be able to make him feel whole, the only person who ever be able to actually make him whole again. It was a fluttering feeling. Happy and light as it wafted over him, his heart stumbling just that bit before picking up pace again. He would never find another, not in this life and not in the next.
There was only Renu. And soon she would realize for her, there was only Rhoe. Her present and future. The only person she would be able to think about if this night went any sort of way he planned.
Tanned fingers found their ways to his belt loops as he arched his back, stretching lightly as he listened to the words that were wisping back and forth between the couple of teenage girls that were in the house. She was concerned, worried about the outcome of a situation she had no control in whatsoever. But there she was, his girl moving through, trying to figure out what was what and what could possibly be done though,… the outcome could not be more blaring even if it was screaming into their faces.
Xion moved, his body straightening as his name was called out, but his eyes shifted from the door to Jeht, who only shook his head no. The only reaction it seemed that Xion needed to cross his arms over his chest and hush up. Though, admittedly there was a sneer to his lips. His green eyes pulling back to the door as his eyebrows furrowed in slight agitation. Or longing, who knew with the Newports.
Rhoe strained to listen to her, to her heart, the small breath she was taking to calm herself. He listened and imagined those soft lips parting to let out the trembling breaths that were wracking her body. Rhoe let his forehead rest against the cold of the door as he braced himself on either side of the threshold, his own breath living him in one long sigh. The smile that cracked over his lips was riddled with intent, a cock to it that he just really could not hide as he spoke to them openly.
“Ladies, and gent. You really don’t want us to have to break the door down. Let’s try this a little more calmly, shall we?”
There was a pause, the people inside seemed caught, in a sort of stand still in the home before he heard it. The first sign of some sort of something going on in the home. Their only barrier between themselves and the ‘monsters’ lurking outdoors was the thin wooden door. He sighed heavily once more as his head shook. They were really going to make this difficult it seemed. He could hear their little hearts race as he shifted outside the door again. His own eyes turning to face Grey for a moment. Even his best friend seemed to accept what it was very rapidly boiling down to. Rhoe let his hand rapt against the door one last time before pushing his hand back into his wool covered pocket.
“Come on girls… Renu? Koy… Koy we both know that everything will go a lot smoother if you just opened the door. Don’t you want your friends to be safe? The friendlier you are to me the nicer this can all go down.”
There it was again, the little hum of words buzzing behind the door again as Renu spoke again, this time her soft words only meant for Koy to hear. And vise versa. It seemed to stifle for a while, the air growing thicker as the two girls tried to calm their beating hearts. He could hear Renu gaining some sort of control over the rhythm in her chest, could hear letting slow breaths blow through pursed lips. And he could feel that bout of pride locking into him again, climbing though his blood.
Of course his girl would know how to act during one of the most stressful events of her life, at least as far as he knew. Of course Renu would be the one who was able to handle the large load that the group of boys was trying to dish out all at once. She was a tiny little thing, but she could handle so much. She could withstand more than any human he had ever caught up before.
The word slipped out of his lips calmly, maybe a little bit more calm than he should have. He needed to sound intimidating right? He needed to try at least invoking some sort of reaction from these girls. The next bout he would come around, turn the words into a testament as he spoke of the true power that they held in this very dire situation.
The words came out stern, not a yell quite yet, but enough to show the flare of temper that he was ready to induce if the girls made him go through with this silly little game they wanted to play with him. His fingers brushed against each of his fingertips rubbing away the annoyance that was steadily trying to un its way through his veins.
“Don’t make me get to three. Come on now. COME ON!”
It took a second, a long one before he heard an audible click. The door slowly unlocking. His eyes followed the door knob as it turned, the golden metal unlatching as the handle was pulled forward. It wasn’t who he was expecting and he could physically feel his face drop as watery blue eyes stared up at him rather than the red ones he longed for. It wasn’t drastically, his lips only pulling into a smile that seemed somewhat too soft of an expression for his face to actually handle. The girl would own a small little part in his heart for the rest of her days alone, her best friends one and her one’s best friend. And to top that she seemed to be the only one to listen.
He spoke softly as that little head appeared from around the corner, her eyes shifting to see each of the individuals she could note behind the door before lifting back up to him. He tried to see past her, tried to see into the home behind her if only to see the dark head of hair he had come over for in the first place. And there seemed to be no one. Not that he could see at least. They had ran, probably hiding. Honestly, a smart move if he had not already known who was all in the home.
He moved his hand, quickly, catching the door right as she went to slam it into him. Instead he pressed forward, forcing the door open to the empty foyer of the little brunettes house.
“Did you guys decide to spend liberatio here after all?”
Her heart was thumping away, her flesh had risen from the goosebumps, her limbs shaking just that slight bit and her eyes were clearly watering from the fear he could hear ebbing away in her. But there she stood, trying to act brave. Trying to save friends that were already doomed. The little one who owned the dragon’s very soul. He wanted to stay sweet, wanted to keep her safe just for Grey and so he didn’t let her words bother him. Did not let the blatant lies deceive him. Instead he shifted again, smile still abundant on his lips.
“We are going to find them all Koy. No point in hiding them. Tell us where they are, and you can walk out of here on your own two feet.”
“I can’t tell you if i don’t know who you are talking about silly.”
She was a fearless little thing.
The discovery only made Saho’s heart stutter in his chest. He felt his hand move, lifting to claw with elongated nails that scrapped at his skin,at the fabric just above his heart, feeling the dull ache that bloomed over him at the sight of her brushing off the terror that had flashed in her eyes for just that brief, beautiful second. She tried to be so strong.
It was absolutely adorable
She had pushed it off easily though Much to Saho’s Disappointment. Instead looking straight through so she could see open windows that lined the walls. She was quick on her feet, something he marveled at as she shifted over papers and books and furniture in the abandoned office, her gaze moving over secrets she didn’t even realize were so dangerous, secrets and pages that had long since been left here to rot and disintegrate with the mysteries that lingered in these halls. It was os close to being gone, and he watched her as she looked around with a renewed interest, the explorer in her sparking to life under the dust and rubble.
He wanted to see those eyes light up with every emotion, wanted to be the reason why her eyes lit up light that just that once. He was half tempted to realize his illusionary magic, ready to let loose the shadows that now shifted along his skin in an effort to keep him hidden from her sight so that he might enjoy it just that little bit longer. He wanted her to look at him, wanted that ruby stare locked on his, but as much as his wants screamed for dominance as they clawed and fought against the chains that forever seemed to bond to him, shrugged and demanded freedom he could not give…. Even when he wanted to.
He wanted to watch at the world spun itself in her eyes, wanted to watch the light flash in her irises so that he could see the brilliance that was Vendetta. He watched her as she walked around the room, her curiosity radiating off her in waves as restless hands brushed old tomes, books of medicine far past Humans at the times and fires and notes she read but could not figure out. Saho couldn’t explain it, couldn’t tell you what it was that was different or had changed by there was something starting to spill into his veins, gold icor that created a heating flow that burning just under his skin, a pool of it building in his gut. He felt like he was on the verge of something, and whatever it was he was so very near, he wanted it, dearly, desperately. Whatever it was practically lined his veins, and he knew, without question, Vendetta was the key to it all.
He heard her speak out loud, to the people watching at home that didn’t have the bravery that Vendetta did. She spoke for them, her lips pressing to make the voice he so longed to hear, and Saho moved, shifted, allowing the shadows to cling to him like a second skin. He moved forward, careful to step quietly as he could as he realized that she could still hear him as he walked down the halls behind her, his cheeks flushing slightly at the little mess up. He had been so wrapped up with the slight power he had gained that he had forgotten that he wasn’t exactly the best monster.
There was no denying that Saho was powerful; He had strength in spades, had speed that could outmatch more than a few of the demons he knew. He was a demon with royalty running through his veins, had a legacy that demanded the best out of him, and Saho did everything he could to meet that expectation.
But he fell short every time.
Saho had strength and speed, but that was just about the end of any sort of monster like qualities he had. Saho couldn’t deny that the legacy that held itself over his head was more like a guillotine with a timer, One that was dangerously close to being up. He didn’t have the powers his father did, he didn’t have the abilities he liked to claim he did. Saho was barely even able to call himself a monster with any sort of conscious, considering he had a hard time entering and staying in his monster form in the first place. It would seem…. Saho Dhouti of the great Dhouti line of demons was nothing more than a half baked monster with less power in his whole body then his father held in a single touch.
But he gained one thing from his family, the one and only ability that had been left to him when the genepool shorted him.
Her image would be forever engraved into his mind, the memory of night spent alongside her unconscious mind more than real, they were exquisite. She was so much more then she lead others on the internet to believe, and he knew it through the sheer luck of having her running through his mind any time she managed to catch a little bit of sleep. She rested her his eyes, and if he was lucky he might have passed out that night, her voice on his headphones lulling him into the abyss that never wanted to accept him. Her voice was the anchor, the bridge that built itself out of his fantasies and languid thoughts of how she might react to a smile or a laugh., the bridge built that let him run straight to her dreams.
He’d have spent eternity in there if only for the comforts she offered without hesitation.
They only held meaning to him though. She could not remember these night, simply another dream in a long line that she could not remember, but he had learned, so much about her, learned so much about what she was like and what she loved and wanted. He called it dates but his friends…. Would just have called it research.
Saho couldn’t deny that maybe, a part of that was true. He didn’t know how he kept finding his way back to her dreams, perhaps by the draw he felt to her? But it really didn’t matter, considering he took every advantage he could get over the one million other people vying for Vendetta’s attention.
He really wished that was an understatement.
Saho moved, taking careful steps as she paced around the room. His eyes drifted, trailed over the walls as he found the door that must have lead to the second part of this office. He lifted his hand, his gesture not the snappishly, quick on as before. He walked as he sent his shadows out, He could feel his fingers crack as he clenched them, before flexing and allowing them to move. The door drifted open silently, the grave of a walking dead man. He breathed as he stepped out of her eyesight. He breathed, trying to calm his racing heart as he pressed himself onto the wall, out of her sight. He hesitated a moment, his mind screaming at him that ehw as making a mistake, before he allowed the shadows to pull away from him, to shift and shiver as they protested. He breathed freely, his heart hammering. Before he sighed, trying to calm himself before he pushed off the wall.
His voice was calm, despite the warnings in his mind. Saho finally moved, stepped out from behind the door so that he could walk through the shadows, walking along them to hide some of his features.
He did not forget she was live casting all of these.
He was almost happy about it.
“Do You realize how much danger you are in?”
It had been so quiet. Everything had been completely silent, the only clue that the world around her had even been happening was the life just out of her reach. The scattering of insects and small creatures. The call of birds right outside the window. But they all seemed to to disappear in an instant. Everything growing in its silence. All life scurrying away from this room specifically. It was like the room itself had become devoid of life, incapable of letting anything escape from the clutches that it hid away under a cleverly placed disguise. One that had drawn her in, and she had been so willing. Until this very moment.
And if she was going to be honest, it made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Vendetta as a strong girl, her will rock solid but fuck sake something was just rubbing her all sorts of wrong tonight.
Nothing she was not used to already. Walking straight into the mouth of hell in most places that she had entered but this place, this place felt different. For a moment she forgot her camera was even on, that thousands of people were even watching her. For a just the shortest second she forgot all about the other girls that were also drifting about the building, her only thought rising to a self protection instinct. Something later to be explained easily. She did not want to be here. It was dangerous, this place was dangerous. The longer she stood in one place the more she felt it, like a second layer over her skin.
Palpable enough she could almost wipe it off.
It had never been like this. Even some of the most ‘haunted’ places in Cedar pines didn’t seem to touch the level of pure creep that this hospital did. Maybe it was spirits? Or just the general fear that went along with this night? She had no clue but in the moment all she wanted to do was bolt, to find her way back down those halls, around those corners and back through that small crack in the foundation. This terrible fear was almost too much for her, it was almost enough to have her doing just that. She was getting the hell outta dodge, or at last out of this room. And fast
She went to turn, to make action out of her thoughts, to get as far away as possible from the little room that seemed to loom around her. She felt her hair whip at her skin as she yanked around only to gasp, her feet fumbling to catch their balance as multicolored eyes stared her down. It failed though, her ass hit the ground hard, her hands sliding out to try to catch some sort of break from the fall. As bad as it felt she couldn’t concentrate on the ache that bloomed over her, instead she felt a sheer panic rip through her. The eyes of a demon locked on her, she felt weak, almost helpless under that gaze. Her heart screamed, pounded away in her chest. But those eyes never faltered, only glinted with some unread emotion. One she could not quite catch on to but her she was just terrified.
There was no other word for the feeling welling up in her. Terror. It reigned through her blood. Claimed ownership of her mind almost as strong as the frantic need to get away.
She had seen well enough, wide eyes scanning over this person. She had seen well enough to tell herself that she could not win a fight with this one. He was big, bigger than she had ever really see a person get. His muscles moved along him fluidly, even under the dark suit. Sure, there were some details she could not get a good look at but it was enough that in that one moment of fear she knew she should not be anywhere near him. And it damn sure was not the night to be making new ‘friends’. But he as something else, something altogether devilish, and if she wasn’t going to beat him in strength she damned sure was going to try and beat him in speed.
“Fuck,.. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Fuck!”
Her feet slide out from under her, quick hands helped as a push off the dirty floor, and she sprang forwards, darting straight for the door.
The minutes ticked away, screaming at him as he watched the second hand tick on the clock. The sound resonated, clicking along in the back of his mind, inside of every thought running through him. Each tick another second closer to the beginning of this hell night. Though the alarm had rung out a couple minutes earlier. This was still a night that Rhev for one had never intended on attending to begin with. One that he would rather have not been participating in at all. That if it had been like the other years he would have found himself on the couch, or bed with Iggy in his arms. Her soft hands running over him to draw out a purr from his chest. A comfort that she was hidden away from the mess that this night was known to bring. Tucked away with just him. Protecting her from the slights that world around her might have brought onto her.
But here he was, sitting on a hospital bunk, watching his light haired friend pace the length of the linoleum floor. The habit only unfurling something dark in his chest, a pain that he had been steadily trying to get rid of. A gap in his very being that he knew for a fact should not have been there. A gap that Iggy had decided to rip out of him.
Rhev watched Kai pace over the floor, heard each squeak from his shoes. His eyes followed Kai’s thumb as he brought it to his parted lips, he watched as those teeth dug into his fingertips. Another habit the man seemed incapable of letting go. Who was he to say anything? The man every right to it, his own reason for being here tonight seemed to affect him just the same. Kai was pent up, right along with Rhev, locked in a room until Capture told them where exactly they were headed. Both men held their phones tightly but only Rhev had the screen on, tilted so that he could read over the last few desperate messages he had sent out. All of them were left on read except for the last few.
Tanned fingers taped over the new message bar. Hesitating for just a second, trying to convince himself that this would end up for the best. Trying to convince himself that everything he was doing was for the bubbly little blonde hat he knew he could not allow to leave his side. She was trying to pull away from him, leaving him lost and abandoned in a world without hr. He had no choice now. This was what it had to come to. This was what he had to do, there was no backing out.
And yet he could still feel the discomfort curling in his gut, the nausea rising through him as he saw the little notification bar pop into the top of his screen, Captures name in big bold letters. He didn’t read it yet, instead he typed out the message, staring at it for a moment before Kai blurted out, his words ripping Rhev straight out of his thoughts.
“Well,… are you going to walk out there?”
He wasn’t being snarky, or even mean. He looked genuinely confused on why exactly it was that Rhev had not jumped up and out of his seat at the text message. And it made his eyebrows furrowed as he threw the look up to the man who was now looming over him. Nothing uncommon for Kai, the man had a thing for being the person looked up to and Rhev had never been the type to tear someone’s dreams down. But unlike usual Rhev could feel the tension coiling in him as he stood, phone still in hand.
“The point of a break room is to take a break, Kai. What are you even doing here?”
“Oh you know, just enjoying the view.”
Sarcasm leaked from his very pores as he nodded to the steel covered windows. His arms coming to cross over his chest as he stared down Rhev. But he only shuffled, letting one hand come up t run through brunette locks that only fell right back into place. His own nervous habit he supposed.
“Okay, stupid question, I get it… I’m going.”
He was nervous, not the watching a scary movie type of nervous. He felt it boiling, like it would take his entire body in this flame if he didn’t do something and soon. She was the only thing that could sooth him, Iggy was the on person he would kneel to if she so choose. She could do what she wanted with him, her needs, her wants, anything she could ever imagine for he would provide. The only thing he asked in return was she remained at his side. And so far, she was not doing so well with that part of the deal.
His moved to bring the phone back up, his fingers moving to pull up the screen to her name once again. The words he had wrote still sat in the message box unsent. For some reason though he had said the words time and time again to her, expressed any possible way he knew how just the way he felt about her, those words seemed so hard to send. If only because he knew what was about to happen if everything didn’t go down smoothly. He knew what was about to occur if she didn’t at least give him the chance to explain.
The pull was already too much for him to handle, too much for him to let go of. He couldn’t just let it end here. She meant to too much to him. And so his finger pressed against the send arrow, watching as the messaged delivered.
Brown eyes flickered over the blonde, offering a little smile before he nodded, his legs moving through the open door.
She looked absolutely adorable running for her life.
Saho watched Her as she tensed,watched her as her body froze for all of a single moment, one second where he could take her into his heart desire. He drank her in, eyes moving over her form as she whipped around, the white of her hair falling around her like a halo. In the moonlight, Vendetta was more radiant than any being that had ever graced this earth, than anything he had ever seen. He loved to see the fear in peoples eyes, had seen it, time and time again and watching that darkness over take their light as he drained them of their lives was something he thought could never be topped. It was his favorite view, one that left him breathless and in awe every time…
But it all changed when she entered his life. Everything had changed when Saho had earned the name Vendetta Daniels.
He watched her, took her gaze and captured it with his as he drank her in. This was the woman who had haunted his waking moments, the woman whose mind called him as her voice tethered him to this plane. She had let him, tie and time again but she could not remember, could not recall it like he could. His memory was clear, it was vivid and he could recall every instance he spent with her in perfect clarity. She was radiant in dreams, but even the window of dreams held a veil that showed Vendetta’s true beauty, her true fear.
For a singular moment, as her gaze reached his, he could see the height of her fear, the true extent of the cold dread that had coiled in her gut. She radiated it, radianted an energy a vibration of something more than he could grasp, one that slid along his skin, heady and heavy, like the touch of a lover along his inked skin.
She wore the fear he gave her like a gift and Saho felt his heart skip in the cage of his ribs, felt his breath catch behind elongated fangs and burning urges.
She was more breathtaking then any act of wonder could ever be.
Then the moment was gone, and Saho watched her as she all but jumped back, away from him and the shadows that shifted around him. She stumbled, tripping over herself in her effort to get away. He watched her as she fell, her body landing hard on the concrete and her hands slamming against ragged concrete and rusty structure. Saho gasped as he watched, his body tensing, though it was more than seeing her get hurt that made his chest squeeze.
He had felt it as her body slammed into the concrete. He had felt the pain radiating from his hands, had paused as the unselillicieted gasp slipped through his lips, his eyes widening as he lifted his hands to see his palms, fingers moving to trace over the smooth skin where pain radiates like a thousand shards of glass.
He could feel her. She was under his skin, in his blood. Her pain was his to bear his to sooth as it came to her. Saho’s eyes snapped up, falling to her form as she made a wild dash for the door, the pure and intense fear written on her features making her absolutely glow.
“There’s No use running.”
Hs words came out rushed, hissing as he Turned slightly. Hs body fell back into the shadows, slipping back into the cover that they offered as he moved along the ground. His movements were silent, nothing more then the shift of the contents of this room to mark his movements. His hand slammed against the door, his lips pulling into a smile as he leaned to tower over her.
Saho purred the words, practically cooed them as he shifted back into a more tangible form. He could feel it, the shift along his skin, the wave of skales that rippled over him, something more than human. She couldn’t see it., not in the shadows, not with his powers playing along his skin to keep him mostly hidden. He supposed it wouldn’t matter though….
“It’s not very nice Vendetta…” Saho breathed out as he moved, allowing her body to tumble past him and fall into the hallways with a gasp. He felt it, the heavy hammer of her heart, the sid of her already ragged palms against the floor. He knew exactly what it meant, what it meant to feel pain with there was no wound. Every Hellhound knew it…
The realization of it should have been more mind blowing. Saho had never imagined he would ever find his one, had never imagined that he would ever be granted such a gift. He had always assumed he would be left having to tolerate someone or he would live the rest of his days in this weird romantic absence, that he would live and die in the battlefield. He had never imagined that anyone would be his one, but if anyone was going to be, Saho was immensely glad it was her. In hindsight it made sense, as he had quickly grown obsessed with her, interested in everything she did despite it not being his usual thing. Saho hated vlogs, heated video about people and the dumb things they did, but with her, somehow he found himself watching her days and wishing that he simply had more. It seemed to fit that vendetta was his one, and the pain and aches that radiated through her that she seemed not to notice.
She was absolutely terrified… but she needed a healthy little dose of fear to show her there was far worse things out there than him.
“Running away from such a big fan…”
Saho pulled out his phone, the glow radinging his smile as he heard her gasps and pants through the low volume on his phone.
Vendetta Daniels is now live.
“It’s almost insulting…” He muttered as he watched the video, the video she seemed to have forgotten she had on.
“Where are you going to run, love?”
