Angels with Even Filthier Souls [Chapter One]

Ok, I told myself. I can do this…Oh, shoot, I can’t do this. Ah….! Breathe. I walked down the road where Jack and I had spent our last moments together, smelled the sweet scented air we’d always smelled when we were younger. God I missed him.

Jeeze I was the Animator why was I so jumpy. I’d carved a name for myself in the vampire world, why did this frighten me so much. I’d killed the master vampire, but why did seeing Jack again scare the heck out of me.

As I walked closer to his house I could hear the thump of music, and the loud obnoxious voices that seemed to escalate in my sensitive ears.

Jack had always been a partier, I guess college just made him…well, more. God! He was in college, last year of college so I’d heard. Twenty four…wow! I was stuck in a twenty year old body for eternity. I held my hand out palm up and cupped the moonlight in my palm for reassurance. That was the reason I loved the moon, the never ending change, but it was always there, somewhere in the sky, behind a cloud, right in the open, but it was always there no matter what.

I took air deep into my lungs tasting the scents on my tongue. I didn’t need to breathe, but it was a natural reaction. I didn’t need to feel but I did anyway. I didn’t need to be here now, but somehow I did. The front door of Jack’s door opened and a tall masculine figure stepped out. He had strong upper shoulders, from what my night vision could show me. His eyes appeared to be dark grey; his hair a dirty blonde…Shoot was that—could that be…Jack? I watched as the man rolled his head back and appeared to sniff the air.

Then I smelled it. The undoutable smell of wolf, and fae. I always new that Jack hadn’t been human, but this just seemed to confirm it even more.

Silently I stepped off the far side walk and walked towards the house. My emerald green backless dress shifted around me and my strappy gold sandals glinted in the moonlight. I knew I’d changed, I thought as I stepped closer to the house, my hands twisting together. But it was amazing how much Jack looked to have changed.

I must have been walking to slow because suddenly he moved away from the darkness and walked back toward his house, his muscular body moving lithely as he stepped back into the house and shut the door.

Telling myself to control my emotions I walked faster towards the house, slightly too fast, my inhuman speed getting me to the door in a millisecond. I didn’t knock just stepped inside. The music was louder inside. My sensitive ears picking up every sound, my nose smelling every scent, including the smell of death. Someone had died in this house.

Then I remembered I had died in this house. I had pulled myself away from Ben after I’d stabbed myself to Jacks house. He hadn’t been here. I’d pulled myself to the door, opened it, and dragged myself inside, but he had been gone. Then I’d blacked out, but when I’d woken, I’d been in a large red and white room, with a woman standing above me…Then I’d known my old life was gone.

I walked silently on my feet, ignoring the growls, and snarls that came around the room at my entry, my only focus on finding Jack. I walked towards the stairs, my memory reminding me that Jacks room had been up the stairs. When I reached the landing I turned to the right, sliding past over glamored fae women and into Jacks bedroom. The eerie silence in here startled me. It was deadly, so thick with tension you could cut it with a knife. I heard the running water in the bathroom, and walked towards the window to wait.

I stared out at the night, my vamp vision, looking out at the distance, seeking something to hold on to, remember. Nothing came back to me; there were no memories here past the pain of Ben’s attack, and the heart break of Jacks absence.

I heard the door open behind me and turned around. Jack hadn’t noticed me, his focus currently on the towel he was wiping his face down with.

God he smelled good. Like lemon and mint. Always like lemon and mint.

"Hello Jack," I finally said, but my voice was so quiet I didn’t even know if he’d heard me.

Apparently he had because his head whipped up, dark eyes focusing on my face, which was semi, shaded by the gloom of the night. He must have felt the recognition because he dropped the towel to the floor and stood there, hands at his side face full of pain.

But instead of the welcoming I’d hoped for he leaped at me with such force that he crashed us into the wall, causing it to cave in on us.
"Vampire," He snarled at me. "Disgusting little vampire." Then his nails shredded into my skin and his fierce jaw lashed down into my throat.

Buzz...Buzz...Buzz...Buzz...

I jumped up startled from my sleep, my dead heart feeling as if it were pounding out of my chest.

"Shut up!" I snarled at my internal awake system.

Sundown, I thought, what a great time of day. Silently I slipped out of my sheets and pulled on my clothes from the night previously. Silently, and mindlessly I completed my daily routines…but I felt empty…I needed to go to Jack’s house. There could be no other way to put these night mares to rest unless I saw him in person.

Dang it I was going to see him tonight. No one was going to stop me. I’d put this off for far too long. Four years…Holy cow had it really been four years since I’d last seen Jack?

Ripping off my old clothes I ran to my closet and pulled out my egg plant colored dress, my silver flats, and my long chained, silver pocket watch. I rushed out of my closet my long black and bright blue, streaked hair waving out behind me.

I didn’t want to walk, so taking pity on myself I traced to Jacks home, like in the dream, people streamed out of the house. Music pounded like thunder, and voices shouted to be heard over the music. I hesitated at the edge of the far sidewalk, my body roaring at me to go back to the house.

I couldn’t do it. I had to be here, do this one thing. I needed to see Jack.

Feeling like I was walking on air, I strode towards the entrance of his house, my body pulsing, my non living heart feeling like it was beating wildly in my chest. Not needed breaths panted in and out of my body.

I kept walking, even though everything inside of me was screaming to run away, I kept walking. I reached the front door, still no sign of Jack, opened it and stepped inside. Instantly the pounding rap music screeched in my ears and I ground my teeth together in silent protest.

"Baby!" A fae man yelled to my right. Turning I looked at the snow white man, and snarled in disgust. "What ever," He said walking away instantly. Murmurs began moving throughout the crowd, the word ‘Vampire’ filling the sentences in the conversation then, ‘The Animator," along with it. It still surprised me how people of the fae, and Were could detect me almost immediately.

Lithely I walked through the crowd, sliding between small openings, not dancing with the music, unable to find a rhythm. Jack! I thought miserably, where are you?! There were too many people, to much magic pulsing in on my body’s system. Suddenly fury over took me and I pushed my fearsome power out of my system and through the crowd, fury coated it like sugar, menace reeked over everyone like liquid ice.

Everyone was dead silent.

They parted easily allowing me to walk through the opening like the parting of the Red Sea. Dramatics, I sighed. They always did come in handy. Silently, like in my dream, I trudged up the steps; my body throbbing with the need to feed suddenly came over me reminding me that I hadn’t fed. I reached the landing and turned right opposite of in my dream, reminding me that dreams weren’t always true.

A low vicious feminine growl came from behind me.

I felt the air shift behind me as the woman lunged, jaws snapping, and went in for the attack.

I dodged easily, her body sailing past mine, and then tripped her feet out from under her, causing her to fall flat on her back. She leaped up at me again, but this time I grabbed her throat, my nails digging in sharply as I held her above the floor, then I shoved her sharply into the wall pinning her there, watching as she struggled, finding no way to escape.

She snarled, and continued to snap at the hand that was cutting off her oxygen, until she fell still from the loss of air. I dropped her to the floor, not really caring how she landed, whether she was hurt or not. I just wanted to kill her, but I held back, my body on the verge of total destruction, the thin line barely showing but I held on.

Suddenly, I felt a fierce presence behind me. Right away I knew who it was. Turning slowly I lifted my eyes, to those of my best friends…Well ex-best friend.

"Jack Fulton," I said slowly.
"Animator," He said carelessly, seeming to shrug the name off his shoulders. Didn’t he know who I was? "What is your need of me? Why have you come here, harming others?"
"I-I…" I stopped trying to think, what to say, how to phrase what I would say.
"You…?" He persisted.
"I always new those ten minutes would haunt me," I said looking back into his eyes. Had I changed so much from my human state, to my vampire state? I must have because no recognition flashed in his eyes. "I also new Ben would some how bite me in my ass. Oops," I said quickly. "There went a dollar." Silently I turned away from him and walked back towards the stairs. "Sorry for disturbing you." I said quietly. "I thought I needed to see you to lessen the pain. Obviously you’ve been fine since my death."

I walked down the stairs, feeling the air behind me stir, waiting for him to say my name. Recognize me. Anything! God! The furious pounding inside my body was beginning to be too much. I walked through the still silent crowd, hearing the whispers I always heard.

I stepped outside, the cool air fresh on my skin. I walked towards the far side walk and sat down on the curb. Jack, I thought, how could I have thought you couldn’t live without me?

"Animator," Jacks muscular voice came from beside me. I lifted my head up to see him standing not two feet from me. How had moved so fast? Why hadn’t I heard it?
"Jack," I said standing up.
"Who are you to take the form of my love?" He asked me.
"Wh-?" I didn’t finish my sentence, because suddenly cold steel bit into my chest and I was gasping for air. "J-Jack…?" I said, my senses slipping into darkness, but my mind was fighting off the end.

Distantly I heard a roar, and then strong arms were around me. "Jack," I whispered.

"Monty? Oh God! I’m sorry, I didn’t know," I felt his hands caressing my head, his arms lifting me off the ground.
"Burks!" I heard him snap. "Find something to fix her now!"
"J-J-Jack," I whispered the darkness closing in.
"Baby…" Then that was it, darkness took over my senses shutting down my system.

The last thing I heard was the distant sound of a roar as my body went slack in Jacks arms.