Written In Black

Pain dove through me, my whole body was sore, my head ached. I strained to open my eyes, I woke up back in my bedroom, except I wasn’t alone; Peter, Sean, Scarlett, and another man, one I had not recognized stood before me, staring, bewildered.

“So this is her?” The man asked.

“Toughest in the group.” Sean spoke, Peter cleared his throat.

“That is, she is a wonderful girl, you know what had become of her.”

“Indeed,” the man nodded, and made his way over to me gracefully, he placed his hand on my arm, but immediately I pulled back, “Stay away from me!”

“My dear what are you--”

“Don’t, touch me! Stop!”

“Jay--” Peter started.

“What the hell is going on?” I pointed to his hand.

I shivered all throughout my body, the man resembled the creature that had put me to sleep, his hand had the same rough cold feeling, indented with scars.

“She’s in shock,” Daniel whispered to Peter.

“Jay, right?” he smiled and moved closer to me.

I kept my hands tucked underneath my blanket.

“Don’t be frightened, what you feel,” he put his hand up, “is just a disguise, from the demon, all of the demons that get in my way, it is like a shield, I am not a monster.

"Look,” he waved his hand over his body and showed it to me, “it is a spell, if you will, so that the demons won’t detect me, so they think I am one of them. Feel.” he placed his hand in front of me.

I looked to Peter, he had a look of sureness on his face, anxiously, I reached for his hand and placed my fingertips on his knuckles, I gasped, I had never felt smoother hands in my entire life, they were almost too smooth, I let out a light chuckle, and reached for the rest of his hand, gathering it with both of my hands, feeling every inch of his hand, I didn’t know why I was acting this way, I guess I was just glad to feel something normal again.

“What--happened?”

“Ah, finally, the point we’ve all wanted to come to, if you would come with us, there is something we’d all wish to discuss with you.”

I sat up slowly, still adjusting myself, “Where are we going?”

“Our facility.”

I gave a worried look and glanced back at Peter, “Don’t worry, I can see by the look of your expression your worried about Peter, but we’re all aligned, the ones we don’t make contact with, well; those are the ones you need to watch out for.”

“I didn’t catch your name.”

He turned to me, “Daniel, nice to finally meet you Jay.”

“Likewise.”

I got up, everyone left the room, but Peter stayed.

“So where is the facility?”

“It is pretty far from where we are, although it shouldn’t take long for you.” he smiled, but I could tell there was sadness hidden behind it.

“You’re going too?” I asked as I pulled on my jeans and black tee and converse.

He nodded, “I may be aligned with these people, but when they ask to take you to their facility, that’s when they cross the line, that’s when I step in.”

“They won’t hurt me Peter.”

He chuckled, “You don’t know the temper of these people, one word will get them riled up, I am going with you, that’s all there is to it.”

Peter laced his fingers through mine as we made our way outside.

“Ready?” Daniel asked.

I shook my head, “So where are we headed?”

Daniel spoke up, “Just follow Sean and Scarlett and I, we will be there shortly.”

“Peter, will you be joining us?” Daniel added.

“I’ll be there.” Peter stepped back and placed his hands behind his back, was he waiting for me to leave first?

“Are you going to go?” he just stood their like a statue.

He nodded, “I will.”

Scarlett nudged my shoulder, “How about you come with me.” it seemed like a second before we were gone, and away from sight of Peter.

“Why didn’t Peter leave with the rest of us?” I asked Scarlett.

She gazed at me hesitantly, then spoke, “Peter didn’t tell you?”

I shook my head, “Tell me what?”

Scarlett spoke, “A vampire can’t see an angel’s wings, once glance, and its ashes to ashes and dust to dust for us vamps.”

A bit of a hole plunged into my stomach, so I couldn’t see Peters wings, “Why?”

Scarlett spoke again, “It’s a bit complicated, but just think of it like this, what’s dead wouldn’t be able to withstand the holiness of the holy, you get what I mean?”

I nodded, “I think so.”

Then I spoke again. “I’m...dead?” I tried to swallow that but it didn’t go down.

Scarlett sighed, “Technically. We all are. It’s what comes with being a vampire, eternally damnation,” Scarlett waved her hands, “or at least that is what my church preached back in the good ole days.”

“Do you really believe that, that we’re all damned?”

She stopped for a moment, “I’d like to believe something better will wait for us in the great beyond, there is always hope when good deeds are made, after all, where there is a will there is a way.” Scarlett smiled, though I could tell fear coward not too far behind.

We made our way to the facility and then not a moment later Scarlett halted me to a stop when I noticed, we were in front of a large old storage building.

“This is the facility?” I gazed up to an old abandoned gray building a little bit taller then my school, the sign was faded and the windows were all boarded up by large planks of wood.

Daniel shrugged, “May not seem like much on the outside, but just take a step inside and you’ll see what I mean.” he smiled.

“Wait!” I can’t believe I forgot about this.

“What is it?” Sean asked.

“My mom, she’ll kill me when she finds out I’m gone!” I never texted her, never called to tell her I’d be gone, she would be worried sick.

“Already taken care of.” Scarlett spoke with confidence.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“I told her you were spending the night at my house, and we had to finish another assignment.” she winked.

“But I’m grounded I--”

“I also told her that the teacher himself personally asked if this was finished, because you were his top student.”

“And she bought it?”

“Every word.” I gave an astonishing look.

“Alright,” I shrugged, “let’s go.”

We stepped inside when a large man, with dark eyes and a cold face blocked me from entering.

“I’m gonna need some identification.” He crossed his arms, giving me a dark look.

“Ease down Frank, she’s with us.” Daniel walked up beside me, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“What about him?” he pointed to Peter.

“Listen man, you’re new here, but maybe you haven’t heard, we’ve been aligned with this guy for centuries now, he’s good.” Frank nodded and let us in.

“Now Jay, we’d like you to show us some of your--tricks, if you will.”

“What?”

Sean spoke up, “You notice it too Jay, the things you can do, they are unordinary to our kind, and by seeing how they work, might just help us.”

“Help you how?”

“To defeat the one thing that is a threat to us.” Daniel whispered.

I led my eyes back to Peter, whose hands and arms were tensed, Scarlett looked at me strange, in fact, it seemed everyone had been holding back.

“What do I have to do?”

“What you can do,” he brought out two men, holding something large and cloaked, Peter made his way quickly to me, hiding me behind him, “Over my dead body.”

“Relax, it’s tamed, if it goes too far, we will instruct it to stop.”

Now I understood what this was. They wanted me to kill another demon.

I rested my hand on Peter’s shoulder, “Peter, I can do it, I did it before.”

“And you passed out, you were nearly killed.” he replied in a stronger voice.

I shrugged, “It was my first time, this time I’ll be ready.”

“Jay I wont let you, not when it’s too risky.”

“You have to let me Peter.”

He sighed, realizing there was no changing my mind, “Once things get out of hand, I won’t spare another moment of you being in that position.” I nodded and made my way closer to the captivated demon.

“Alright Jay, we will instruct it to attack you, just as the last one did, and you must try and destroy it, now, if you can’t handle it, we will make sure to stop it, understood?”

“Yes.” I nodded nervously, now after I’d said it, I hadn’t felt so confident, last time I fought one of these, I had saw all the souls it had killed, I had grinded my mind into his, seeing all the tragic deaths.

“Is everything alright?”

I shook it off and prepared myself, “Yep.”

They released the chains and cloak, the demon came jolting toward me; it moved so quickly it frightened me to watch, but I stood my ground.

When it reached my presence I turned quickly jumping onto it’s back, just as I had with the other, then unwillingly; I dug my fingers into its skull, crushing the very core, I felt its body turn to ash, staining my fingers into a charcoal black, I brushed it off my clothes, trying my hardest to ignore the death smell that came from it.

While I was still wrapped up in my charcoal fingers, I realized, something was different this time, I hadn’t seen any scary flashing images, nothing, all that occurred, was this demon crumbling to dust as I crushed its skull.

I looked up to notice just about everyone shocked with disbelief.

“How did you--” Daniel stuttered, I stepped closer concerned, but he stepped back, and stumbled, landing on the floor, his gaze still met mine.

“Did I do something wrong?” I felt a hand grab mine, it was Peters.

“Jay.” his voice reached out to mine.

Scarlett came up to me, “No one, has ever seen a single vampire kill a demon.”

I took a step back, “What?”

“There’s nothing wrong with you, but what you have is an extraordinary gift, one no vampire has ever held.”

“This time it was different though.”

Peter looked at me with concern, “What are you talking about?”

I turned, looking away from everyone’s gaze, “When I killed the last one; I had seen it’s memories, this time I didn’t”

“What did you see?” Sean asked.

I didn’t want to tell him anymore then I wanted to think about it, “Doesn’t matter, I just wondered why I hadn’t seen it this time.”

“Are we done here?” Peter asked.

“Not quite…” Daniel made his way to me, still being cautious.

“Sean told me about your gift,” he held out his hand, “Will you read me?”

I gulped, “And…”

“And that will be it, you will be free to go.”

I looked back at Peter, still unsure of this, and hesitantly reached for Daniel’s hand, receiving another jolting pain that coursed through my body, but it was over before I could shed a tear, then images showed up in front of me, I saw a young boy playing with a dog, the boy’s mother came outside telling them supper was ready soon. I let go before I could see anything else.

“Well, what did you see?”

I looked up at him, “Your mother.”

“What, what did you see?” Daniel gave an uneasy look, but I could see hope fill his eyes, and a small hint of sadness.

“You were playing with your dog, and your mom came out to tell you dinner was ready.”

He smiled, “You saw her?”

I nodded, “Where is she now?”

He wiped up a tear from his face, “Gone now…but whatever the sort, we now have a stronger ally.”

“Well, now that this is all taken care of…” Peter spoke.

“Yes Peter, you and Jay may go.”

We made our way outside, I was about to take off when I felt a hand grip my arm.

“I want to drive you.” he held his arm out in front of me, keeping me from leaving.

“Ok.” I said, a little uneasy with myself.

I saw a motorcycle parked in the front, which was strange considering there had not been one when I got here in the first place.

He started up the engine, “We’re going for a little ride.”

“That sounds--reassuring.”

He chuckled, “Trust me for once.”

I sighed, “Fine, guess I could give it a go.”

When we stopped, it was too dark out to see, but then my eyes adjusted and I realized, we were back at my house.

“Was there a point to this ride?” suddenly, when the words came out it sounded more offensive than I thought.

“You don’t like me driving you?”

“It’s not--I mean--ugh” I let out a large sigh, and made my way to the front porch, sitting down.

I buried my face in my hands letting out all of my pain and grief, “Is something wrong with me?”

“Why would you ask that?” Peter leaned on the railing, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

I shook my head, “Because it doesn’t make sense, none of this makes any sense at all, Peter, I know you’re hiding things from me, and I can’t help but feel like the odd one out, I want you to know you can trust me, with anything, because you can. Whatever it is, I can take it.”

He drew in closer, clutching his hands in mine, “I do trust you Jay, with all my heart,” he sighed, “But you’re just not ready to hear it--”

“Please, just tell me, so I don’t go crazy, did I…know you, before, in, another life?” Hearing myself asking this gave me a chill.

He let out a wide sigh, pacing back and forth on the porch, “Yes…you did.” his head fell down, I could tell he’d felt ashamed.

His words came to me like a punch in the stomach. But then all these thoughts raced through my mind, of Peter, and myself, this was all possible; all real?

I felt a whole plunge in my chest, “So I…reincarnate?” The words sputtered out of my mouth, and my lips quivered, never before had I heard, such a horrifying truth.

He shook his head, “This is your first time, but I really thought I had lost you…This is why you need to listen to me Jay, this is why I need you to be careful. I can’t lose you again, it was hard enough losing you the last time, I can’t do it again.” I could tell in his voice, that this was a sealed promise to a letter, a letter of which was my life, my unfortunate lack of existence, a life of one I had been burdened with, that some crazy maniac was out for me, and yet I had no clue as to why I was being searched for.

He stepped off the porch, brushing his hands through his hair, then kneeled down, clasping his hands together, he stared off into the open road, “But things are different; you’re back, and you’re under my protection, no one, will lay a finger on you.”

“Well, I’m glad you told me.” There wasn’t more that I could say, everything was jumbled up in my mind.

I had reincarnated? This was far from crazy, and the part that scared me the most, was that I knew it was true. Everything that had happened, with my change, finding out the truth about Peter, about my…past life, it was all true, every word, and I had nothing to do that would make it say otherwise.

“So, the real reason I wanted to drive you…” he looked away for a moment.

“I want to be honest with you Jay, no matter what, so…after all of this is over, after everything’s settled down, I’ll be willing to let you in.”

“Seriously?” I gaped.

“Seriously.” he teased.

I couldn’t help but smile for the rest of the time he was there. Peter got up, making his way back to his motorcycle, “Oh, and Jay,”

I looked back at him, still all wound up in what exactly just took place, “I’ll be ready to pick you at at nine sharp.” he smiled, then drove away.

I stood there for a moment, then it hit me! The dance, the dance was tomorrow, that had to be what he was talking about.

I remember when Peter told me he didn’t want to go to the dance, he said it wasn’t his thing, before I just thought it was because he was shy, or was bad with people, and now I knew why; after everything that has been going on, I wouldn’t want to go. Now I felt like I understood Peter in a way, I just hoped that soon, I’d be able to make a little more of myself, and my past, which would (I thought) help me figure out just what the hell all of this meant…

“Get up.”

I opened my eyes to find Peter hovered over me, “What’s going on?” I rubbed my eyes, trying to adjust to the light. I checked the clock, it was five a.m.

“Get dressed.”

“Peter, what are you--”

“Now!” he prompted. I looked into his eyes to find they were no longer the barky shade of brown, but instead a frightening pitch black color that filled his entire eyes.

“Peter…” I started.

He rushed over to me, yanking my sleeve making me fall to the floor, suddenly I got scared, I cowered towards the edge of the bed.

“Peter, please--”

He pulled out a long thick blade from behind him, then swinging it right to my face.

“Peter, stop!!” I shut my eyes trying to avoid this horrid image, and hoped it would end…