Cyrus
-
I haven’t seen Emersyn since sociology class this morning, and trust me, I’ve been looking. The entire day, I’ve scanned the faces of every student in every class, hoping to see her again. I can’t get her out of my fucking head, or stop thinking about ways I could make her laugh or blush. She’s beautiful, and from what I saw in her eyes, the most innocent, yet sad, human I have ever met. I want to know why her aura is so fucked up. What could possibly be going on with her? Does she know something about why we’re here?
Before our parents died, they gave us to Father Martin to raise and protect, but he also saw purpose and hope in us. He kept us safe, but he also taught us the ways of the world. He explained our heritage, and the prophesy he thought we were a part of. He taught us how to fight and kill evil.
So, when a colleague of his called him a month ago, concerned about the activity surrounding this campus, it was apparent this was a mission for us. With the amount of unsolved cases, Father Martin is convinced it’s demonic, and I have to agree with him. If we don’t start figuring shit out, there’s no telling what will happen to others. I have to stay focused...we have to stay focused.
Walking in the front door of our house, I find Joey pouring over a bunch of old books. “What are those?”
She doesn’t even look up as her finger runs along the text. “Books.”
“I know that, smartass. What are the books about?”
She finishes scribbling something in her notebook, then raises her head. “The human mind.”
I snort. “Sounds thrilling.”
She whips her pen at me, nailing me right between the eyes. Damn, she has great aim, and I can’t help but smirk at her as I rub my forehead.
“I’m hoping to learn more about how to pick through people’s thoughts, especially with so many in one place. It’s easy with a few people around, but I’m finding it a little difficult to single out just one when I need to. There are just too many voices, so I’m looking for anything that can give me some insight as to how to do it.”
“That makes sense.” I lift one of the smaller books and flip through the pages. “So, what have you found?”
“Not one fucking thing,” she sighs.
I’m not surprised. Our powers aren’t exactly common. I highly doubt we’re going to find them explained in any old, dusty textbook written by humans.
"Did you have any luck today by chance?”
Joey looks nervous for a brief moment before the look is gone. "No, not from anyone in particular. I was only able to hear snippets of thoughts from the students around me in class, but I just couldn't lock one down enough to get more. It’s so frustrating."
For some reason, I feel like she's not telling me everything, but I decide to leave it. I'm not sharing everything either. Fuck, we shouldn't do this. We need to be together on everything, but it’s not like I can reach into her mind and read her thoughts, not like she can to me at any given time. I’m going to have to be careful around her now, that’s for sure.
“Okay. Well, did you learn anything else today?”
“Well, um...remember that guy from the office? The one with the dark eyes?”
Watching her carefully, I nod.
“I met him today at the library, and then again in class.” She doesn’t offer anything else, so I prod her.
“And...” What the hell is her problem? This is huge! Is he following her? If so, I'll fucking kill him, human or not. Anyone fucks with Jo, they're dead.
“And nothing. I met him. He’s an arrogant ass, but I think he may be harmless.”
“You think? Joey, you can’t just fucking think it. You have to know for sure before we dismiss this fucking clown. And what's with you acting like it's not a big deal? He may not be a demon, but he's sure as hell hiding something.” I’m getting the impression that she’s protecting this guy.
She flings her hands up in the air. “Well, I don’t know for sure. He was just a cocky asshole, but when an even cockier asshole wouldn’t leave me alone, he stepped in and got him away from me.”
That has me pausing. “Since when do you need protection from anyone, asshole or not?”
Joey’s lips press into a thin white line as she glares at me. “I didn’t need his fucking protection, Cy. He just gave it, okay. And what does it matter? We can still look into him, but I think he’s just an asshole, not a demon or murderer.”
“What about the girl? The one from the office? Did you learn anything from her file?”
“Other than she’s a perfect student and a good little Catholic girl, not a damn thing.”
I consider telling her about meeting Emersyn, and the strange aura that surrounded her, but I don’t want to hear Joey’s opinion. She wouldn’t see her innocence as clearly as I do. Something strange is definitely going on there, but I’ll look into that myself, without her help. If I need her, I’ll let her know then.
“So, what now?” I look around at all the books she has spread out on the table.
“Now, we party!” She pulls a piece of paper from the stack and holds it out to me.
I look at the flyer and grin. Oh yes, now we party.
“This is the last fucking time I take fashion advice from you, Cy,” Joey grumbles as we walk up the sidewalk to the fraternity house.
I stifle a laugh. “Oh, come on, Jo! You look fine.”
Placing her hand on my arm, she gives me a rough shove. “My fucking tits are hanging out!”
“Look, Father Martin told us we have to fit in, and now you look like all the other girls here. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal? What’s the big deal?” she growls. “You know what? Never fucking mind. You're just lucky I wasn’t able to pack my normal arsenal of weapons, or you wouldn't be laughing right now. Let’s just do this and see what we can get out of it.”
Rolling my eyes, I nod, glad she isn’t going to complain anymore. I’m even happier that she doesn't have more weapons on her. I know she has at least one though; she's never without at least a small knife or throwing stars. Where she puts them, I don't want to know. Fuck, maybe having her dress like this was a bad idea. Every dick there is going to be all over her, but it’s too late now. I’ll just beat some ass if I have to.
We enter the house together and are immediately offered red cups filled with nasty smelling beer. I’ve never had beer before, but one sniff makes me happy I haven’t. The house is packed full of people. Everyone is in pairs or groups, bobbing along to the loud music. Totally out of my element, I look to Joey, hoping she has an idea.
She raises her brows and rolls her eyes. “Since we’re here, let’s get to work. I say we split up, mingle a bit, and listen in on as many conversations as possible. There are a lot of people here, so hopefully somebody’s going to know something.” She takes a sip of her beer, looking like she’s here to party. If she thinks it tastes nasty, she doesn’t show it.
I agree and look around the room. I don’t know where the fuck to start. There are way too many people here. Turning to Joey to suggest maybe we move through the room together until we figure out a better plan, I see her melting into the crowd, clearly not as uncomfortable as I am. I watch the people she passes. Nobody here looks suspicious, but appearances can be deceiving.
There are girls everywhere. Hot, drunk, scantily clad women, showing way more skin than Joey’s showing, which has me feeling a little better about her outfit.
Being nineteen, I can appreciate their appeal, but watching them does nothing for me. All I can think about are those beautiful green eyes from this morning. I can’t get Emersyn out of my head.
I wander around the frat house for over an hour, and the only thing I’ve learned is that I hate fucking drunk people. I’ve been stepped on, bumped into, and soaked up an enormous amount of beer with my shirt. I’m ready to get the fuck out of here, but I haven’t seen Joey once.
Making my way upstairs, I pass several couples jamming their tongues down each other’s throats, and hands shoved inside clothing. Uncomfortable, I keep walking until I reach the top floor. The huge house has an upstairs wing that consists of one long hallway with ten doors. One by one, I check inside, hoping to find my sister.
Just as I’m about to open the third door, a scream pierces the air from farther down the hall. I run, my heart suddenly pounding out of my chest. When I reach the door, I try the knob, not surprised to find it locked. I can hear a woman’s muffled cries, in what sounds like a struggle.
Using all my weight, I throw my shoulder into it, causing the doorjamb to splinter and the door to fly open. On the bed lies blonde number one from this morning’s sociology class. She has tears and mascara streaming down her face, and her lip is split wide open. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a shadowy figure fleeing out a side door. I take off in that direction, hoping to catch the fucker, but the blonde’s sharp cry has me stopping. Fuck, I need to make sure she’s all right.
Rushing up to the side of the bed, I visually look her over for any other injuries, aside from the obvious, but I find none. My heart pounds and I can feel the hot flush of anger wash over me. But, seeing no other wounds, I lean forward and look into her eyes. “What happened? Who did this to you?”
She stares at me, eyes wide as she shakes her head. Rushing towards the door once more, it takes me into a small bathroom, but there’s another door that leads to the hallway that’s been left open. He’s long gone now. Motherfucker.
Taking a deep breath, I try to calm my nerves enough that I can reach out to Joey. “Joey?”
She answers immediately. “Jesus. This is like texting, only better, don’t ya think?”
I look back into the bedroom where the blonde girl is crying. “I need you to get your ass upstairs. We got something.”
“Be right there.”
Moving back to the bed, I reach out to wipe away her tears, but drop my hand when she flinches. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m not going to hurt you.” She turns her head away as more tears spill down the side of her face.
-
Joey
-
As soon as I hear Cyrus say he needs help, I take off towards the stairs. I don’t know what to expect, but if he’s asking for backup, I know it’s big. I make it up about three stairs when a body blocks my path to my brother and whatever the fuck is going on upstairs. Who I find, standing there in dark clothing, has me livid.
“Miss me, baby?”
I don’t have time for this shit. “Get out of my way, Val,” I explode, barely containing my frustration as I try to sidestep him.
He steps with me, blocking my path once more. “Ah, don’t be like that, baby.”
God! What is this guy’s problem? I move forward, ready to just plow right through him, but he misinterprets my move, or maybe he doesn’t, and uses it to his advantage. Snaking his arms around my waist, he pulls my body closer, his lips puckering as he lunges for my face as he attempts to kiss me. My skin crawls as I curl my lip and pull away, leaving his lips to miss their target, landing sloppily on my neck. He doesn’t let that little detail stop him though. His lips latch on as he sucks my exposed skin deep and runs his hands down by back, squeezing my ass painfully.
Fuck it. I’m done playing nice. Pushing him away with a little more force than needed, Val’s lips disconnect as he falls backwards, catching himself just before he lands on his ass.
“You bitch!” he seethes. I watch with raised brows as he pulls his arm back and lets loose with a brutal smack. It’s hard enough that my head whips to the side, and I immediately taste blood in my mouth. My pal Val doesn’t know that I can withstand much more force than that.
Turning my head back towards him slowly, I smile. He looks furious and ready to hit me again, not seeming affected at all by what he just did. Guess hitting girls is no big thing for this piece of shit.
The party rages around us, and nobody seems to even notice what just happened, but no matter how bad I want to, I can’t kick his ass right now.
Intending to put him verbally in his place, I open my mouth to rip him a new asshole, but Cyrus yelling in my mind snaps me back to what’s really important, and it’s not this shitbag in front of me.
Joey, hurry the fuck up. We’ve got problems!
Forgetting Val, for now, I shove past him to get to my brother. I make it up two stairs before Val grabs my arm and tries to yank me back. I’m done with this shit. Using the momentum, I curl my hand into a tight fist and whip around, landing a hard punch directly to his face. I feel his nose break from the force, and blood sprays us both. I don’t stick around. I jump away from his sobbing form as I make my way up the stairs, the sounds of his loud crying following me as I go. Nailed ya, you fucker.
Sensing my brother in the farthest room, I rush down the hall and shove open the door to find him kneeling beside a bed, soothing a woman who is sitting there crying with a busted lip.
“What the fuck?” I say, more to myself, but as soon as Cyrus hears me, he turns his head to answer and stops dead in his tracks when he sees me.
“What the fuck is right! What happened to you?” I feel the anger and concern coming off of him, but we don’t have time for me to explain, or for him to worry about me right now.
I took care of it.
“Hey. What’s your name, honey?” I ask her in a quiet, soothing voice.
“Vicki,” she answers through her busted lip.
“Hi, Vicki. My name is Joey. Why don’t we go into the bathroom so I can take a look at you...is that okay?” I ask. She nods, so I help her up and walk with her until we’re enclosed inside the room.
After cleaning her up in the bathroom, I check her over for any other wounds. Her clothes are a little stretched out, probably from someone trying to rip them off during her struggle, and her neck is a little red from possible choke marks. But other than that, she’s okay. Heading back out into the bedroom where Cyrus is waiting, I help her sit on the bed and kneel down in front of her.
“Vicki? Can you tell us who did this to you?”
She squeezes her eyes closed and tears fall from her eyes. “I don’t know...I’ve never seen him before. He was here at the party and we started talking. He seemed nice, and was really good looking.” She shakes her head and takes a deep breath before meeting my eyes. “I don’t remember coming up here. I don’t remember anything other than talking to him in the kitchen. When he smacked me in the mouth, it’s like he woke me up from a daze, you know?” Her body trembles as she tries to keep from sobbing.
I look to my brother. "I'm going to take her home. Why don’t you stay here and look for that friend of yours?” He knows what I mean. He needs to stay behind to look for the guy who did this, and we need to find out if he’s human or something more. The fact that he got Vicki up here without her being aware of it tells me that we’re most certainly dealing with a demon.
“No,” she cries. “I don’t want to go home. I need to go to the police and tell them what happened.”
“Honey, I think you should go home and rest. Then, tomorrow, we can go to the police.” I insist, hoping she’ll agree.
“Maybe I should take you both, that way you can go home too,” Cyrus interrupts, probably still worried about what happened to me, but he shouldn’t. I took care of it and I’m fine. We need to get Vicki home so we can be sure she’s safe while we hunt this fucker down.
Before I can answer him, Vicki yells, “NO!”
Cyrus and I both gape at her in shock. Her body trembles and her face is full of fear, her eyes locked on Cyrus. Is she afraid of him?
“I won’t hurt you,” Cy says, shock clear in his voice.
Vicki swallows and takes another deep breath, looking Cy up and down warily. Her face changes then, looking maybe a little embarrassed. “I—I know. It’s just, I’d feel more comfortable with her. I know you helped me, and I really do appreciate it, I do, but after what just happened, I don’t feel all that comfortable around any man. It’s not just you. I’m sorry, I’m not making any sense.” She blows out a long breath. “I’d just feel better if Joey walked me home—I mean, to the police station. I want to go there first. Could you please take me?” she asks with desperation.
I can’t let her go to the police. Not wanting to mess with her more than she’s already been messed with, I focus on her and tell her what she needs to do.
You already went to the police station. They said they would check it out, and they would call you with any new updates or questions. There is no need for you to go back or to call them again.
At first, I’m not sure if it’s going to work, afraid she’s too far gone, but she seems to shake her head and looks at me sheepishly. “I’m sorry. I forgot we already talked with the police. So, could you take me home now? Please?”
Nodding my head, I move to lead her out of the room. “Come on, honey. Let’s get you home.” She follows me willingly. Turning back, I pin my eyes on Cyrus.
Find this fucker.
It takes us twenty minutes to walk back to her dorm. After doing a quick sweep inside her room to make sure no one is hiding, I leave her and head back outside.
I still don’t know what to make of what happened tonight. It’s possible that a human did this, but then again, the reason we’re here mimics human behavior too, or it could. It’s the carvings and presentation of the bodies that are the most suspicious. I still want to find who did this to her, human or not, and make sure it never happens again. If he is human, he’ll wish he never did such a thing when I’m through with him.
When I think about taking this aggression out on a human, even if they deserve it as Val did, I can’t help but think that it’s wrong. I know it’s wrong. Shit, Father Martin spent the last nineteen years drilling into us that we should only use our powers on demons, or our lethal weapons anyway. He said that if a human was in the wrong, we should let the law handle it. That’s what they are there for. It’s their job to hunt down and punish the humans, and it’s our job to take care of the problems that are supernatural. But that doesn’t stop me from wanting to punish the person who caused harm to that girl. That fucker deserves it, and I would definitely teach him a lesson the law wouldn’t.
Thinking it would be a good idea to take a look around to make sure everything is okay before heading home, I make my way around the building. Nothing looks out of place, and I haven’t seen anyone around that doesn’t look like they belong. So, with my job done, I make my way back towards the front of the building, only to see something out of the corner of my eye.
I stop to scan the area and see that it’s not something, but someone hiding in the shadows of the trees, off to the side of the building. It looks like they’re watching the front door, or maybe a specific room? It’s hard to tell from where I’m standing, but I know they’re not supposed to be here since they’re obviously hiding. Maybe it’s the fucker that roughed Vicki up. God, I hope so. I’ve been itching to have a fight with a moving target.
Making my way closer, I make sure that I stay in the shadows and remain very quiet. Even though I know I could take whoever is out there, I don’t want to let on to my presence, at least not yet.
When I’m a few feet behind them, I decide first to reach into their mind. Maybe that will give me a better idea of who they are and what they’re doing here.
Letting out a quiet breath, I concentrate on the person in front of me, who I now see is a man, and clear my mind as much as possible.
At first, I don’t hear anything, not even tones or choppy thoughts. But just when I’m about to give up and go about this the hard way, I finally hear something, and I instantly recognize who the thoughts belong to. Merrick.
Where the fuck is she? She should be here by now.
Who the hell is he waiting for, and why? He can’t be the guy who did that to Vicki, because for one, I already dropped her off. If it was him, he’d know she was home already. Second, she’s on the other side of the building, so if he was watching for her, he wouldn’t be over here.
I need to find her. Zearron will be pissed if he finds out I’ve lost her.
Who the hell is Zearron? And who the hell is the girl he’s looking for? But more importantly, why? I swear I didn’t get any evil vibes from him, but now I feel like I should rethink my earlier reservations. Could he be the one raping and killing women? Even if he’s doing it for this Zearron, he’s still doing it, which means he needs to be stopped.
I should head home and tell Cy what I’ve found out, but dammit! It doesn’t feel right. He can’t be the evil we’re here for, but he’s up to something, and I’m going to find out exactly what it is.
Suddenly, laughter permeates the air. Off to the right, a small group of girls, loaded down with armloads of books, come walking up the sidewalk. I watch them from a distance as they make their way towards the dormitory, unable to hear their conversation. Once they’re safely inside, I turn back towards the tree, ready to find out once and for all what Merrick is up to–but he’s gone.