Chapter Five

Chapter Five! xD

Chapter Five: Home, Love and New People.

I slumped down on my comfy black sofa, a cup of tea in my hands and relaxed back into the soft material.  It was good to be home, even if it was raining outside right now.  I’d missed this place, and especially my tabby cat, Scampers, who was currently curled up in his basket next to the radiator, fast asleep.  I smiled and looked around my little living room.  I lived in a one bedroom apartment, and it didn’t cost much, even though I got paid for my Demon Hunter duties.  In the past I’d taken up jobs like a coffee shop worker, or a sales person, but they hadn’t lasted long.  I hadn’t gone in much, preferring to train.  I sipped my tea as I looked.  I liked my little home, it was the perfect size for me and Scampers.  The walls were all cream and the floors was made of wood.  The sofa was on the south wall, next to the door leading to my bedroom.  There was a door on the other side of the room that led out into the hallway.  There was a kitchen on the west wall; it was small and very clean.  I hated untidy kitchens.  My TV wasn’t big, but it wasn’t small either.  It sat of a wooden stand, with a DVD player underneath. 

I didn’t really spent much in my apartment, I was always at the centre, training.  I only came back because of Scampers.  Otherwise I’d spend all day, every day training or going on missions.  Sometimes I liked staying in all day, or just not training, it gave me time to think.  It gave me time to ask myself why I was doing it.  Sometimes I’d grab my laptop and search the internet for unusual sightings and murders, seeing if they were the work of Demon’s or not.  Some usually were.  I’ve alerted the Centre to a few Demon problems in the past, and I always will do.  I thought about the future the most when I had time to myself, wondering what I’d be like in fifteen years.  Would I still be doing this? Training my a*s off every day?  Or would I have found my parents killers by then? The future was unclear for me, but one thing I did know: I’d still be a Demon Hunter.

Even before my parents death I said I was going to be a Demon Hunter ‘til the day I die.  Most Demon Hunters are.  Some break away from major duties to have children, or just to chill out and have some sort of a normal life.  Most Demon Hunters are killed in action before their bodies can give out on them.  My parents were an example.  My dad was only 29 when he died, and my mum had been nearly thirty.  Her birthday was two weeks and two days after mine, and eleven days before my brothers.  When they died, on mum’s birthday, I went to her grave and sat there for the whole day, just crying.  I took my brother with me, and someone came with me.  They left after two hours, saying my brother was hungry, I didn’t go with them, I told them I wasn’t hungry.  This had been true at the time.  I felt sick, sick to the fact that it was my mum’s birthday and she’s dead. 

Dad’s birthday was the same, although it wasn’t as close to mine, my brother’s or my mothers.  Mine and mum’s birthday were in February, mine on the fifth, and my mum’s on the 21^st.  My brother’s was on the fifth of March.  Dad’s birthday was in June, on the seventeenth.  And I did exactly the same on his birthday as I did on mums.  I went and sat with their grave all day.  They had been buried together, dad on top of mum.  Their headstone was made of white marble and had “Steven and Amanda Jones, loving parents and great friends. They will be dearly missed.  R.I.P” engraved in gold on it.  I can still remember tracing their names with my finger tips, the marble cold under my touch.

My brother was laid to rest right next to him, with a similar head stones, but his was engraved, “Jonathan Jones, dear brother and loving son, he will be dearly missed.  R.I.P.”  I sometimes wondered what would go on my headstone: “Ayre Jones, loving daughter and great friend, she pushed herself too hard, but now she is at rest, we will miss her.  R.I.P” or something like that.  Personally, I didn’t care, they could put, “Ayre Jones, worlds biggest s**t!” on my headstone and I wouldn’t care.  As long as I was with my family, I didn’t care whether I died. 

I heard the music that was playing from my sound system which my iPod was in my bedroom.  The TV was off, it was raining outside and starting to go dark.  My thoughts drifted to Ash as I sipped my drink.  I hadn’t seen him since I’d gotten back to New York.  I guessed he was still in Cumbria.  I sighed and stood up again.  I poured the rest of my tea " which wasn’t much " into the silver sink in my kitchen and headed into my bedroom.  I grabbed my iPod out my dock and shoved the head phones in before I tossed it onto the large, four poster bed that sat against the west wall of my room.  My closet was massive, and part of the room.  It was originally a place where you could store things, but I had a lot of clothes, so I’d decided to turn it into a closet.  I walked in and turned on the light.  On two racks on each side of the narrow space were tops and pants, there was a chest of drawers at the end where underwear was.  And there were two shoe racks underneath each rail of clothes containing my shoes.

I pulled down some old, loose black jeans and a thin, black, skin tight t-shirt and then pulled some underwear from the drawers.  I got changed in there, it was big enough.  I was going for a run, hence the iPod.  I always ran with my iPod, it kept me from getting bored, and I could listen to the songs, and not my own thoughts.  I grabbed some old trainers from one of the racks and pulled them onto my feet.  I headed out the closet, turning the light off as I went.  I closed the door and grabbed my iPod again, slipping it into my pocket and inserting my ear phones.  I grabbed my keys off the kitchen counter where I’d left them and headed for the door.  I turned off the lights so save my electricity bills from hitting sky high and headed out the door.  I closed and locked it before heading down the corridor, my trainers making light thuds on the titled floor.  I pulled my iPod out as I reached the lift and pressed the button, it lit up under my finger tip. 

I turned my attention back to my iPod and put on my favourite playlist.  It had several bands on it, my favourite being Paramore.  Decode came on as the lift arrived.  I stepped in and started jogging on the spot to warm myself up before I started to run properly.  I didn’t like lifts usually, but the music distracted me.  I hated lifts, I really did.  Even if I go down them at least once a day.  They were death traps!  I mean, come on!  A little metal box suspended over a thirty foot drop by a few cables! What could be more dangerous?!  I quickly got out the lift when it came to the ground floor, passing a couple that seemed to be undressing and heading towards the lift at the same time.  I resisted the urge to giggle and left them too it, heading outside into the slight drizzle that was coming down.  I’d grabbed a jacket on the way out and slipped it on.  It was long, black and had a big hood.  I pulled the hood up so it covered my face and began to run, taking it slow at first before speeding up.  I ran towards Central Park, and ran through the gates.  The park was empty, apart from the stray homeless person that was lying on the benches or under the trees, fast asleep.  I ran past them, not even caring about them.  I listened to my music, ignoring the world around me and the rain that splattered my coat. 

The rain picked up after about ten minutes, and I was half way round the park.  I ran past a metal bin and then stopped.  What?!  I looked back at the bin and frowned, I swore I’d seen something behind it.  I pulled one ear phone out and listened.  All I could hear was the rain hitting the leaves on the trees around me and the ground.  I was breathing a little heavily from the run.  My breath misted as I breathed out and rose up in front of my face.  I glanced around, my hand slowly making its way to my hip where my dagger was.  I’d had it strapped to my hip all day, never going anywhere without it.  I’d been attacked once before by a Werewolf in my home when I hadn’t had it on me.  I’d killed the werewolf just in time, but after then I’d always kept my dagger on me.  The only time I took it off was when I had a shower, I even slept with it under my pillow just in case.  Demon’s and strike any time they want to, could be in the day, could be in the dead of night.  They didn’t care about human times, as long as they got their meal or whatever, they’d openly attack someone in broad daylight. 

I heard a snap of a twig as my hand closed around the hilt of my dagger.  I slowly drew it out its sheath, making sure I didn’t make any noise at all to alert my presence to whatever was out there.  If it was human, they’d just think I went to drastic proportions to keep myself safe, but if it was a Demon, they’d know I was a Demon Hunter, and would try to kill me.  Not that I couldn’t take them on.  I let my hand drop a little, so the dagger’s blade was pressed against the side of my thigh.  I could feel the slightly warmed blade pressing into my damp trouser leg and against my cool skin.  I scanned the area again.

Pain shot through my head, but no-one had hit me.  I dropped to my knees and held my head as I screamed at the pain.  It felt like someone had whacked me round the head with a metal pole.  I screamed again as the pictures came.  I knew what was happening, I was having a vision.  They always struck me when I wasn’t expecting them, and the pain was immense, sometimes it knocked me out, other times it gave me a headache for hours, which refused to go until it wanted to, not matter how many painkillers I took.  The pictures flew by fast and I could barely focus on them.  Ash was in them all, and so was I, which was weird, because I never saw my future, only other people’s futures. 

My powers must be getting stronger, I realised with dread, so I’m not losing them, they’re getting stronger.  I tried to focus on the pictures.  I saw myself slapping Ash, and then I was fighting a vampire that was trying to get to Ash " why was I doing that? " and then the pictures stopped moving, it settled on one that made my blood run cold.  Me…. dead on the ground, Ash holding my head, cradling it.  Blood was coming out of a wound in my stomach, and a trickled of it came from my mouth, and I could see Ash’s glowing blood red, trying to resist the blood, my blood, on the floor.  I was pale, really pale, paler than usual, my whole body was limp.  I could see Ash’s lips moving, probably saying my name, or talking to someone outside the vision, but I could only see us two, me dead, and him… practically crying! Why was he crying?!

I snapped back to reality and then heard a voice saying my name, and cold, wet arms around me, pulling me into standing, but they had to keep me up, my knees were weak, and refused to stiffen to keep me up.  I looked at who was pulling me up and saw Ash, a worried look on his face, water pouring down his face, damn he looked even cute then!  It was raining still, I barely took notice of the dark clothing he was wearing.  I heard a clatter of metal as my dagger slipped out of my hand and landed on the floor, bouncing a little before settling near our feet.  I looked at his face, my tears joining the water running down my face, instantly turning cold as it mixed with the freezing rain.  I swallowed, my throat felt swollen and sore and thick.

“I’m going to die,” I muttered, shutting Ash up.  He’d been asking me if I was okay ever since he’d dragged me off the floor, and was still holding me up so I didn’t collapse back onto the wet ground.

When I said this, rage flashed across his face, almost too fast for me to see, but I just managed to see it before it disappeared off his face.  He put a hand to my face and looked into my eyes, I looked into those red eyes, they were dimmer today, a sign that he needed to feed soon, or he would end up starving and then when he did feed, he wouldn’t be able to stop until he felt full.

“What, Ayre?” he whispered, I barely heard him over the rain, which had picked up and was hitting the pavement with a little splats each second.

“I’ve just seen myself dead,” I whispered back, choking back tears, my voice sounded funny from crying, sort of thick and mumbled.

“How?” Ash asked, still looking concerned, his hand still on my face.  I couldn’t tell the difference between the cold rain and his cool hand at the moment, but I guessed they were the same temperature.

“I…. can see the future,” I muttered, “and I’ve just seen myself dead.”

I know I’ve wanted to die, to be back with my family, from a young age, but I’d always thought that I’d die of old age, and in the vision, I looked… young, must’ve been only a year older than I was now, so that meant I would be killed, maybe by the person I had been protecting Ash from.  And why had I protected Ash?  He was a vampire, he didn’t need someone to fight his battles.  I buried my face in his shoulder, a new wave of tears rolling down my cheek, me unable to blink them back before they came, like I could most of the time.  Ash stroked my hair as we stood in the rain, me crying, him shushing me, trying to get me to calm down.  I could hear my iPod still playing, the low beats of the songs coming from the small ear buds, my breathing was still a little too fast from my run, and Ash’s cool skin wasn’t helping the fact that I was cold from the rain, but I didn’t give a s**t.

I’d just seen my own death!  I was allowed to feel like s**t!

 

I didn’t even realise we’d moved ‘til Ash asked me where my house keys were.  I pulled my face from his shoulder and saw he’d picked me up in a sort of bridal hold, and was standing outside my apartment door.  At the back of my mind, I wondered faintly how he knew where I lived, but most of my brain was concentrating on finding my keys, which were in my back pocket.  I pulled them out and before I could even attempt to unlock the door, Ash took the keys off me and pushed them into the lock and turning, still managing to keep hold of me in his arms.  He let us into my apartment before kicking the door shut behind him.  He set me down on my sofa and pulled my tear stained face up to look at him.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his brow creasing with concern.

I ran my fingers over the line it cause when he did that, he shivered a little and the line disappeared under my finger tips.  I dropped my hand to my side and nodded, knowing that on the inside, I wasn’t okay.  I was a wreck.  He saw through my lie and pulled me into another hug.  I buried my face into his shoulder again and let a new wave of tears crashed down on me.  Little sobbing noises escaped my throat and then we were sat on the sofa, me on Ash’s lap, his mouth at my ear telling me everything was okay, that it would be alright.  I nodded a few times and clutched onto his shirt.  I hadn’t cried like this in a while, and it felt good to let it.  I wasn’t crying just because of the vision anymore, I was crying about everything that had happened to me, all the deaths I’d given and witnessed, my parents and brother dying, my crappy life!  I stained Ash’s t-shirt with my tears, but he didn’t seem to mind, and I couldn’t stop. 

It felt like we sat there for hours, Ash still whispering in my ear, me still crying into his shoulder, ruining his t-shirt, and his hands stroking my hair and back.  I had no idea what time it was but I was exhausted from all the crying.  I didn’t know when, but I ended up falling asleep on him, and the next thing I knew I was lying on my back in my bed, the sun streaming through my window, but from the wrong angle.  I looked at the window again, the sun was in the west of the sky!  It was nearly night again.  I groaned and rolled over to my back was too the sun, and buried my face in my pillow.  I heard my curtains close and looked at them again, only to find Ash looking at me, worry covering his face.  I smiled weakly at him and sat up, rubbing my sore and swollen eyes. 

He didn’t change the look at his face, in fact, the indent between his eyebrows got deeper, but he still managed to look cute, even though he looked like he was in pain, maybe he was.  He might be thirsty, and even though I was a Demon Hunter, I was still human, with lovely smelling human blood running through my veins.  It might be killing him to stand there, watching me sleep, inhaling my scent with every breath he took in.  But why?  Why hadn’t he killed me yet?  Why did he feel the need to follow me? Why did he save me from that vampire in Cumbria?  So many questions I wanted answering, and normally, if I had a question, one way or another, I got it answered, but I had no idea how to get the answers out of him.  How could you force a vampire to reveal secrets to a human, especially a Demon Hunter, their natural enemies?

The look on his face changed, it changed into something I’d only ever seen on other people’s faces, and then I realised why he’d saved me, why he’d gone to so much trouble to keep me alive, why he had jeopardised himself and me?  The look was all that told me why, even when I hadn’t even asked him the questions.  My heart swelled as I looked back, something that had never happened to me before, I’d never felt like this.  And I defiantly wasn’t expecting me to feel like this towards a vampire, my arch enemy, the same sort of creature that had killed my brother and my parents.

He was looking at me with such love on his face, I was sure it mirrored my own expression.

Hang on, I didn’t even know this person, it was just a vampire that had saved my life and was now stalking me, but it felt different, like I’d known him for years, like we were old friends that realised they loved each other more than just friends.  I bit my lip as he slowly walked over to me, what was he going to do? His eyes were pure blackness by now.  He kneeled down at the edge of my bed and placed his cool hand on my cheek, I closed my eyes slowly as his touch sent tingles down my spine.  I opened then again to see his face close to mine, the tips of our noses brushing.  Was he going to kiss me? I hoped so.  He looked like he was. His lips parted a little bit and I could feel his cool breath wash over my face, causing a shiver to run down my spine.  He leaned forwards as my lips parted slightly, waiting for his.

My phone rang, and I jumped away from him, outraged that whoever was calling.  I looked at his face as my phone rang, he had that look still on his face, but his hand had dropped from my cheek.  His eyes told me that he was also disappointed that the person calling me had interrupted our near-kiss.  He then looked sad. 

“I better go,” he said in a low tone that made him sound…. dangerous.

He disappeared then, and my bedroom door was left open.  I wondered why he had to go, was it because he’d nearly kissed his arch enemy? Or that he was thirsty and closed to a human being? I’d have to ask him next time I saw him, if I saw him again that was.  I sighed at my lost and closed my eyes, collapsing back onto the pillows.  What was I doing?! Falling in love with a vampire?! I was sure to lose my title now!  Dear God, if anyone found out, I’d be given the sack.  I wouldn’t be a Demon Hunter anymore.  I opened my eyes again as my phone broke through the haze that was in my head.  It was ringing a second time now.  I groaned and sat up again, searching for my phone.  It was on the bedside table next to me, the little screen was lit up, telling me Jackie was calling me.  I flipped it open and held it to my ear.

“Hello,” I said, my voice thick with sleep, I hadn’t said a word since I’d woken up.

“Ayre!” Jackie said, she sounded worried.  “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?! In fact, screw that; get to the Training centre now!”

“Why?” I asked groggily, rubbing my tired eyes.

“We’ve found a Lost Demon Hunter,” Jackie told me, I could hear people talking in the background.

I was instantly awake.  Demon Hunters loved it when we found Lost Demon Hunters, it meant our number grew, meaning more people to take on the Demon’s out there, to kill them, but it meant that there would be another person training, and sometimes they asked me to teach them the basics.  Then they went into extensive training, like I’d been doing for years.  Because they weren’t trained throughout their childhood years, they have a lot of pressure put on them to train harder and get everything right.  I felt sort for the new person.

“Who is it?” I asked, climbing out of bed and starting to get dressed into clean clothes. 

“A guy, David Brown,” Jackie told me, I could hear excitement in her voice.  “He’s really hot! And I mean really!”

I laughed.  Jackie didn’t need an excuse to think boys were hot.  She loved to look at the hot boys and sometimes date them.  I pulled a long-sleeved, black top over my head and balanced the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I did the fly and button up on my jeans. 

“You think all men are hot,” I told her, grinning. 

“No, I mean this man is practically smoking he’s that hot!” Jackie told me.

I rolled my eyes and pulled on my trainers, my phone still wedged between the side of my face and my shoulder.  I headed into the living room and grabbed my keys and purse, stuffing them both into my pockets before grabbing my black leather jacket and pulled it on. I held the phone to my ear using my hand this time.

“I’m on my way now,” I told Jackie, heading out my apartment and locking the door behind me.  “No doubt they’ll want me to go over the basics with him before they start the extensive training.”

“That’s the reason why I’ve been calling all god damn night!” Jackie told me as I headed towards the lift.  “You’ve got to see him! And if you don’t make a move on him, that boy will be mine!”

I laughed as I stepped into the lift.  Jackie was determined to get me a boyfriend.  She thought that maybe if I had something " or someone " to live for, I’d let up on myself, stop training so much, and maybe chill out once and a while instead of going on mission after mission.  She’d been trying to pair me up with other Demon Hunters for months now, but she’d only succeeded once, and we’d dated, but then he’d been killed by a Werewolf. 

“I’m not going to make a move,” I told her as I headed out my building, going towards my car. 

My car looked bulky.  It was a Range Rover Sport, in black, with tinted windows so no-one could see in.  I unlocked it with my key and climbed into the driver’s seat.  I turned the engine on and threw it into gear.

“I’ll be there soon,” I told Jackie cutting off her protesting that I wasn’t making an effort to find a boyfriend.  “Bye.”

I put the phone down and threw it onto the seat next to me.  I buckled myself in and set off, driving quicker than anyone else.  I always drove quick, it got me to places quicker, only problem was I was always getting chased by the cops because of my speeding.  I glanced out the window when I was stuck in traffic lights and sighed when I spotted a family.  They were sat inside a café, the dad was holding a little girl who looked about four or so on his lap, they were both laughing. The mother was watching them, feeding a little baby from a bottle.  I swallowed back tears.  I wondered if I could ever have that, even though I made no effort with boyfriends, I’d love to have someone who told me they loved me every day, to have children with, to live with.  Someone who could turn all the anger inside me into love.

My thoughts turned to Ash when I thought about that. He loved me and… I loved him.  I had no idea why, I barely knew the guy, but he was cute, sympathetic, lovely, caring and…. loving.  I shook my head and threw the car in gear as the lights changed.  Even if we did end up dating or whatever vampires did, it would ruin the both of us.  He’d lose his title and so would I.  I wondered what his title was, maybe he was chief of fighting or something.  He certainly looked like a good fighter.  I wonder what he’d be like against me.  I grinned at the thought and drove on, still thinking.  If I did end up getting with Ash, what then? If we were found out, we’d be stripped of who we are, and not to mention we’d lose our friends.  The vampires were like Demon Hunters is some ways, but with them, if you fell in love with any human " Demon Hunter or Non-Demon Hunter " you were falling in love with your prey, the things that made it so you can survive.  And Ash might even be killed for falling in love with me, depends how high he is on the chain.  The higher you are on the chain, the worse the punishment is what vampires were like.

I shook my head, Ash might not even be in love with me yet, and I might not be in love with him.  I might just think that I’m in love with him because he looked at me like that, in a way that no other person had looked at me before.  He might have been thinking of his mate, or someone who he did love.  I felt a stab of jealousy when I thought of that and then shook it off.  I couldn’t be in love with Ash, it was against who I am, who I’ve been all my life.  It goes against what I’ve been training myself for.  I sighed as I neared the Training centre, picking up speed on a road that was empty apart from my car and two others. 

Maybe this whole thing with Ash was a big mistake.  But I just couldn’t bring myself to think of telling him that I wasn’t interested. I breathed in deeply and watched the road, resisting the urge to cry at the thought of telling Ash that I never wanted to see him again.  What was I turning into?!  I was crying over the fact that I might lose someone that wasn’t even mine, and that was my enemy?!  I blinked back the tears and pulled into the Training centre car park.  I parked next to an old green car, the green fading a little.  I glanced at the Training centre building and sighed. 

The training centre was made up of seven buildings, all acting as different things.  The car park was next to the building where Demon Hunters ate.  There was a large crowd around the doors.  Jackie must have seen my car pull up because she came racing out of the crowd just as I climbed out.

“Ayre!” she said.  “He’s in there, and they’re only letting certain people in, and you’re one of them! They want you to talk to him before setting him up with the basics.  Go and get him!”

She grinned at me and I rolled my eyes.  No way was I going to get involved in that way with this bloke.  Never.  I walked with her through the crowd, well, we pushed through the crowd, people - mostly women - were trying to peer through the small windows at the man inside.  This building was only one storey, and made of red bricks, with several small windows on the outside.  When the guards guarding the doors saw her they let her through.  Jackie gave her a thumbs up and a cheeky grin as I went into the dining hall.  The floors were made of wood, and the walls were painted a dull colour, white.  There were about two dozen tables that could seat six at a time.  David was sat at the far end, near the food hatches that you got your food from.  He was sat on his own, probably for the privacy, someone would have explained what he was by now to him.  He’d want some time alone to collect his thoughts.  David looked up from his tray of half eaten food, having heard the door open and close, and his eyes locked on mine.

I gasped when I saw his face.

Author's Note

Don't judge me! Please!

Reviews

[Coyote Poetry]

I like this chapter. You gave the reader many things. Action, surprise guest and friends trying to set her up. A very strong chapter. Your book is getting stronger and better with every chapter.
Coyote