“A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are.”
– Unknown
Alice laughed as Danton wiggled his dark eyebrows, his breath warm against her cheek as he tried for the sixth time that night to flirt with her.
“Mon petite sorcière, you wound me, non? Just one bite.” He emphasised his growing fangs while gesturing to his hips.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Rose chuckled as she pushed him away hard enough to spill her cocktail. “Which fang are we talking about D?”
“Don’t be jaloux my pussy cat, there’s more than enough of this vampire to go around,” he grinned.
“Wow, I feel so special,” Alice said dryly before she shook her head. She had no interest in Danton and his ‘fangs,’ he was her tutor and fellow Paladin. “Besides, I don’t think I’m your blood type.”
“Female is his blood type,” Rose giggled as she sipped her drink.
Alice would have blamed the amount of alcohol Danton had consumed, which was pretty much most of the open bar. Except, she found out pretty quickly, that he was always that confident. Besides, Vampires couldn’t get drunk, their metabolism working through the alcohol too fast. Rose, on the other hand was happily drinking, her eyes slightly glazed.
“TO ALICE!” Rose cheered for what felt like the hundredth time. “How does it feel to be qualified, kid?”
“Kid?”
Kid my fucking arse, she joked to herself. She hadn’t been a kid in a long time.
“Don’t worry my little sorcière, I don’t see you as a kid.”
Rose shot Danton a warning glare before she turned her attention back to Alice. “So how does it feel to be a Paladin?”
“It feels like I have traded in getting my arse handed to me by you guys, to getting my arse handed to me by criminals,” Alice replied with a grin. It had taken her years of training to get her license, a flimsy piece of card that allowed her to track and detail Breed, also known as everyone not one hundred percent human, by any means necessary. Being a witch, she was specialised in hunting down other magic users who practiced the darker arts, but she was also able to hunt vampires, shifters and the occasional Fae.
She couldn’t wait.
It was something she had always wanted, Dread, her parental guardian and the Commissioner of the Supernatural Intelligence Bureau telling her stories as a child. She knew he was proud, even if his face never showed it. To be fair, his face never really changed from being constantly pissed off.
A commotion in the corner caught her attention, a green beer bottle smashing to the floor followed by a flamboyant cheer. Sam, her best friend and roommate was snogging a man before changing to the woman beside him. His open public display of affections didn’t bother her, he was a shifter, his leopard craving a physical connection. What bothered her was how unsteady he was on his feet, a bottle hanging limply from his hand as he was physically pulled between the two people.
Sam didn’t drink.
He needed complete control, wouldn’t put himself in a position where someone could take advantage. From what she could see he clearly wasn’t.
“Hey Alice, are you listening?” Danton nudged her.
She turned back to her new colleagues. “I’m sorry, what?”
“We were discussing the upcoming contract. You’re going to be partnered with me for a while.”
“Oh, yeah, no, I haven’t looked at the paperwork yet.” Alice felt her heart flutter, the sense of urgency confusing as she tried desperately to listen to the conversation.
Sam was famous for his sexual exploits, swapping partners almost daily was something she was used to. But something was wrong, her gut clenched as she turned back to where she last saw him.
“Excuse me,” she said absently as she made her way over to the woman, sweeping her gaze across the crowd. She just had to check, make sure he was okay.
They were at the Fox and Stars, the closest pub to the graduation ceremony. A beautiful, old building that had original period features throughout. Handmade wooden tables and chairs were scattered across the floor, opposite the oversized bar that adorned hundreds of different craft beers. The gated fire crackled as soft music created a relaxing atmosphere, even through the loud ruckus of all her colleagues who had swarmed the small pub. Much to the regular’s annoyance.
Michael, someone she instantly decided was an arsehole five-minutes after meeting him while training, was loudly gloating his achievements to the woman Sam had been snogging, her expression less than impressed.
‘So you see love, I got the highest grade in arcane,” he smirked as he leant on his arm, his red curtain of hair covering his face partially. “One of the best if I do say so myself.”
Lie.
“I believe even the Commissioner said I was the best trainee ever.”
Another lie, Alice mused. Dread would never have said anything so positive. She usually went by a series of grunts to decipher his mood.
“Excuse me,” Alice interrupted, much to the instant relief of the woman. “Have you seen Sam? Wild eyes, tall, exceedingly long blonde hair? You just had your tongue down his throat?”
“Alice, can you not see I’m talking to this beautiful woman?” Michael tutted, tugging at his green floral shirt in annoyance. “You’re so fucking rude.”
She ignored him. “So, where did he go?”
“Oh, he went with James out the back door,” she sighed, disappointed.
“Thank you,” she nodded before pushing past everyone towards the back. The emergency exit was on the latch, the bright green neon sign flashing. When the alarm didn’t go off she pushed it further, stepping into the alley.
The unpleasant smell of old rubbish assaulted her nose instantly, the reason evident as she turned a corner as three industrial sized dustbins were pressed against the brick, Sam and the man known as James standing opposite.
She wasn’t silent, the heels Sam forced her to wear making annoying clicking sounds on the hard cobbles as she was forced to move closer, the waning crescent moon barely illuminated the dark space.
A snarl caught her attention, the noise captured in a kiss as Sam was aggressively pushed back into the brick wall.
The belligerence was uncomfortable, even as James wrapped Sam’s waist length hair in one fist and unbuttoned his shirt with the other.
She even heard a sick sigh of delight when James noticed the silver scars that decorated Sam’s chest become visible, physical reminders of his past.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
She wanted to stop them, knew her best friend wasn’t himself but she forced herself to stop. She wasn’t his mum, couldn’t decide what was best for him. Yet, she couldn’t look away, acid at the back of her tongue as she still felt something was wrong.
“Sam?” she whispered, unable to stop the sound escaping.
He looked over at her, eyes glazed with no recognition. The crash of glass smashing made her jump, her tension on edge as her eyes settled on the used syringe that had just been thrown.
“SAM?” she shouted this time, unable to stand there any longer. When she reached him she pulled James away, tugging at Sam’s sleeves to check for any puncture marks. “What have you done?”
“Alice?” he murmured as he blinked down at her. “What...”
“Hey, bitch, do you fucking mind?” James sneered, his fingers bruising her shoulder before he violently yanked her back. “We’re a little busy here.”
When he turned into the light she saw the pearl of blood on the inside of his arm, as well as evidence of past use.
Alice tried to keep bile down, the thought Sam was poisoning himself... Her Tinkerbell burst into existence with a flourish of sparkle, a small ball of blue arcane that lazily floated around her head. Normally she would have concentrated, tried to absorb the embarrassing physical manifestation of her extreme emotions away, but instead she left it there, her pain too raw.
“I said, back the fuck off.” James went to hit her again, her hand already coming up to catch his. With a twist of the wrist she had his arm pinned behind his back, a little more pressure and she could break it.
“I think you need to leave,” she snarled at him, pushing a little more on his joint.
“Fucking...” he panted in pain. “WHORE!”
“Don’t speak to her like that,” Sam finally said, his voice clear but quiet. “I think you should leave.”
“WHAT?”
Alice released James, let him fall to the floor as she felt rain start to drop from the sky. She didn’t help him up when he scrambled to his feet, his face furious.
“If I see you again I will arrest you for possession.” She didn’t have that power, but he didn’t know that. “Do I make myself clear, dick weasel?”
James left without looking back, exited the mouth of the alley and into the empty high street.
“Baby girl, I...”
Alice ignored him as she checked his arms again, searching carefully for any puncture wounds.
“Did you?” Her voice broke, the words coming out in a cry.
Sam said nothing when he finally looked at her, his amber eyes crystal clear but sad. He wasn’t as drunk as she originally thought, he was in pain.
How did she miss it? They had been inseparable since children, their personal traumas bonding them on a level neither of them could understand. They had an agreement they would tell each other everything, that’s how it worked. When her nightmares called she sought him out for help, yet she could clearly see the darkness in his expression.
Sam had been hiding his true pain.
Or she has been too ignorant to see it.
She couldn’t stop the tears from burning down her face, her voice wet when she spoke. “Sam?”
“I didn’t do it, I promise.” He closed his eyes, his knees giving out until he crashed to the floor. “I can’t do it anymore,” he said on a pained whisper.
“Huh? What do you mean?” She came to her knees too, ignoring the fact her dress was half in a puddle. It didn’t matter, nothing mattered other that Sam. He was her other half, her soul mate. He kept her darkness at bay when the monsters came howling night after night. She thought she did the same for him.
When he opened his eyes, they were the same startling amber, but she knew his leopard prowled behind those unusual irises. His eyes, another example of his abuse, permanent eyes of a predator.
“You’re so strong, nothing like me.”
“Don’t say that,” she cried as she reached for him, pushing their foreheads together in an affection his beast would understand. “I’m strong because of you, I do everything because of you.” Tears poured down her face, mixing in with the rain as it became heavier around them. She couldn’t even feel the cold.
“You don’t need me, you have your new job, your...”
“ENOUGH!” she shouted at him, her voice echoing through the alley. “You’re supposed to talk to me, so I can make it better again.”
“I don’t know if you can.” His voice cracked as his own tears fell down his cheeks. “It’s becoming so hard.”
“Listen to me,” she said as he pulled away. “No, you listen to me Samion Murphy. You are my sunlight in a world of darkness,” she repeated the words they were made to say to each other as children in the support group.
“As you are my starlight,” he finished for her.
“You have overcome so much, beaten the monster that lurks in your memories better than I ever could.”
He was her hero, the one she looked for when she was afraid of the dark. Her nightmares haunting her for more than a decade, dreams she didn’t understand. He did more for her with his friendship than several professionals could.
“Your father is nothing but dust, he can never hurt you again.”
Sam growled, the noise from deep within his chest. She knew his leopard was listening, wouldn’t let the human side of him wallow in such self-harm.
“Do you remember when we first met?”
“You were six, sitting on this chair with your legs swinging. You looked like a doll,” he smiled, the emotion not reaching his eyes. “Your hair was matted...” He reached for a blond strand, not as light as his own but the same as her mother’s. He curled it around his finger. “I think you growled at me when I sat beside you.”
Alice laughed, even though she knew she wouldn’t have growled, she wouldn’t have made a noise. She was a complete mute, a black hole of emotions that wouldn’t acknowledge anything. It made Dread worried when he became her legal guardian, thought she would simply fall asleep and never wake up, dying of a broken heart.
“You brought me back from the edge. You used to have these one-sided conversations, talking with such animation as if I was actually replying.”
“You were replying, baby girl. Your face has always been easy to read.” He started to chuckle, brushing his tears with the back of his palm before he did the same to hers. “I eventually got you to speak.”
It had taken weeks of persistence, but she finally answered when he tugged on her hair. That’s all it took for her to speak, a boy several years older, with eyes just as haunted as hers to ask her how she plaited her hair. It was something she learnt from her mum, a happy memory.
“You are my heart Sam, don’t let the darkness win. That was your advice.” It was what he whispered to her when they first met, something that took a six-year-olds mind weeks to understand. “I love you.”
Sam stood, pulling her up with him as lightening cracked against the darkness of the sky. “Love you too, baby girl.”