Chapter Eight

Chapter eight, guys, knock you're self out, well, don't... but you get what I mean.

Chapter Eight: Surprise Visits and Demands

I caught the knife thrown at me from behind and twirled it around in the palm of my hand before throwing it back.   I ducked as someone took a swing at my head and swept my leg through theirs, knocking them off their feet.  They landed with a groan on the floor and scowled up at me.  I smirked at my friend and turned to punch another person in the jaw hard, not fully meaning to do it with such force.  A whistle blew and I halted in mid-punch and turned to the entrance of the training room to see Jackie and my Boss stood there.  I groaned, I’d been found out.  D****t!

It had been a week and a half since my crash, and I’d been sneaking into the Training Centre to get some training in for the past three days.  My stitches had survived the extensive training I’d been putting them through.  The bruises up and down my body were beginning to fade, a good sign for me.  I’d managed to keep my secret training a secret, until now. My Boss was going to kill me, he already looked like he wanted to yell at me.  I sighed and stood up straight out of my fighting stance and helped the guys I’d been training with up off the floor.

“Sorry for that punch,” I told Mark, the guy I’d clocked in the jaw.

Mark  shrugged, his long black hair a mess, his dark eyes showing little pain.  His body was clad in black, and a special vest was strapped to his chest, so any punches anyone aimed at his stomach or chest couldn’t kill him or break anything, well, not unless you hit it hard, as in inhuman hard.  I looked back at my Boss and Jackie and sighed before heading over to them.

My Boss, Justin Melee, was about thirty-five, and really strict.  As I walked up to him, he folded his arms over his chest and scowled at me.  Justin was, in some ways, like a father to me.  he’d seen me through my training as a child and always kept an eye on me encase I did myself too much damage, but he was still my boss, and never treated me specially.  I scowled at his face in return, his dark hair falling over his eyes, his bright green eyes watching me walk over to them.  Jackie bit her lip next to them, both of them dressed the same as the people I’d been fighting.  I guessed they’d both been training when word had gotten around that I was here.  Jackie’s hair was tied up, the same as mine.  I pulled my out of the bun I’d put it in as I walked, letting my hair drape around my neck, tickling the skin there. 

Jackie looked at the floor as I came to a stop in front of them, breathing slightly heavy and a bit sweaty.  We’d been fighting for twenty minutes before the Boss had shown up.   The deal is: You fight for half an hour, and then take a rest for twenty minutes, you could do this however many times you wanted in a day, just as long as you rested.  Truth is, when I trained on my own against a dummy, I always trained for an hour solid without resting, only stopping occasionally to take a sip of water.  I picked up my water bottle from near the door and sipped it as I looked at my Boss’ face.

“Ayre, what are you doing here?” Justin demanded.  “You’re meant to be resting.  You’re only two weeks into your holiday, you shouldn’t be here.”

I sighed as I replaced the cap on my bottle, dumping it at the doorway again.

“I feel better now,” I told him.  “I can skip the rest of my holiday and come back.  No pain at all, I’m fine.”

“You’re not, and I’m ordering you to go home and not return here for another four weeks.”

Jackie bit her lip harder, looking up at me.

“I can’t do that, sir,” I told Justin.  “I’m bored at home and you need me.”

“For the moment being we can survive without you,” Justin told me sternly.  “Now go home! Before I suspend you for three months for disobeying orders.”

“Fine,” I huffed, annoyed now.  but I’d rather have four weeks off then three months, then I really would go crazy.  “Let me shower first and I’ll be outta your hair.”

I grabbed my water bottle on my way out and shoved past Jackie and Justin, leaving them standing there.  I rounded a corner, walking down the cold, deserted corridor of the Training Centre.  The white marble floor underneath my sneakers making little thuds on the floor as I walked.  I saw five doors on my way past, each one leading to a training room, a place where people could fight, the shooting and weapons training rooms were in a different building.  I barged through two, white double doors into the woman’s changing room and bathroom.  I stormed over to my locker and yanked it open.  I pulled my top off and shoved it into the locker before pulling my towel out and wrapping it around me as I pulled off my trousers and underwear. 

I grabbed my shower stuff and headed into the open showers.  There were five shower heads on two wall, each wall facing each other.  It was out of sight of the door encase any man came in and tried to sneak a peek at anyone in the shower.  I turned on the spray and stood under it, letting the warm water relax my body.  I sighed and walked the water come rushing out the showers. 

I spent ten minutes in the shower, just relaxing and cleaning myself off from my fighting.  When I finished, I stepped out and grabbed my large, white fluffy towel before wrapping it around me, keeping the warmth of the water on my skin.  I padded over to my locker and yanked it open before pulling out some clothes and underwear.  It didn’t take me long to get dressed.  I pulled on my trainers and stood up, pulling my hair back into a pony tail, keeping it out of my face.  I sighed and grabbed my bag, chucking it over my shoulder before heading out the locker room.  There was nobody about, it was getting late I guessed, lately, I’d lost track of time.  I’d be doing something early in the morning and next thing I knew it would be close to half ten at night.  I’d been here all day, which didn’t surprise me or anyone else one little bit. 

When I got outside, I breathed in the cool, night air and smiled a little.  Darkness, one of my favourite things.  You can hide in the dark, you can’t hide in the sun, it always showed where you were.  But, it was harder to find Demon’s in the dark then in the light, that’s why most Demon Hunters preferred to hunt in pure daylight, so they could track the Demon’s wherever they went.  And vampires were easier to kill in the daylight because they were all asleep and tucked away into dark places.  Not all vampires sleep in coffins, some do, just for the fun of it, but most found them uncomfortable, like Ash.

Over the past week or so, me and Ash had talked, and talked a lot.  We’d asked questions about each other and had told each other about our pasts in our last talk, the night before.  Ash didn’t go into find detail about his past, saying that he couldn’t remember much from his human life.  He’d told me that be probably didn’t want to remember, that maybe the reason why he couldn’t remember was he didn’t want to remember.   Well, that’s what I thought, Ash went quiet after talking about his past and asked loads of questions about mine.   He’d started with the basics:  who are your parents?  Where did you grow up?  Did you have any pets?  What made you become a Demon Hunter?  Then he’d gotten to the more complicated questions when I’d told him about my parents death:  How did they die?  Who killed them?  When did they die?

When I mentioned Damian, he turned to stone, and didn’t move for several moments, just staring at me.  I looked at his face, biting my lip, wondering what was going on in his head.  But before I could ask, he’d stood up, said it had to go and walked out my apartment.  I had watched him go with a confused look on his face.  Was it possible that Ash knew Damian?  Well, that was possible, every sort of Demon around knew who Damian was, and loads claimed to have met him, when in fact only a hand full of people had met him.  But why would Ash get like that at just the thought of him?

I sighed as I headed for my ‘temporary’ car.  My usual car was a wreck and beyond repairing.  That annoyed me, I loved that car, it was like a best friend to me, which may be sort of sad, but I don’t care.  That car had gotten me out of some sticky situations in the past and now it was being sold for scrap metal.  I sighed and climbed into my small, blue Golf.  It was a good car, but I missed my car.  I started the engine and pulled out of my parking spot before I got into anymore trouble.  One of the good things about this car, no-one knew I was driving it, meaning no-one knew I was here.   I pulled out onto the road and accelerated.  You’d think after a car crash I’d go by the normal speed, nope!  I easily cleared the speed limit in a matter of minutes as I shot down the road.  Maybe I’d go for a run instead, or I could just watch the TV or read something.  I sighed and sat back in my seat, my seatbelt already clipped into place.  I wasn’t going to make the same mistakes twice, I’ve learnt what that could do. 

It didn’t take me long to get home.  I parked up outside and headed into my apartment and straight into the kitchen.  I chucked my keys onto the counter and went straight to my fridge.  I opened it and pulled out a can of Coke, it wasn’t good for my teeth, I know, but I wanted some.  I knocked the door shut with my hip as I popped open my can.  I looked round my little kitchen before heading into my living room.  I collapsed onto the sofa and sighed.  What was I going to do now?  I had nothing to do.  I might go food shopping, I needed to.  I barely had anything in the cupboards.  

A knock at my door made me jump.  I groaned and climbed off the couch, putting my can of Coke on the floor so my hands were free.  I walked across the carpet to the front door and slid the chain off before opening it.

“Hel-ASH!”

Ash was stood in front of me, no t-shirt, soaking wet and covered in blood.  there were gashes all over his torso and arms.  One of his swords was in his left hand whilst the other was in the sheath on his back.  his hand was on my doorframe, keeping himself up.  He gasped a little and pitched forwards, he would have knocked me to the ground if I hadn’t grabbed him under the arms, feeling the cool blood rub onto my arms and clothes and neck.  He tried to steady himself, but stumbled.  I kicked the door shut and dragged him to the couch, forcing him into sitting.  I quickly looked at the cuts, they were healing, but they were deep, and because of the blood loss, they weren’t healing as fast as they should do.  I ran into my kitchen and yanked open cupboards, leaving my finger marks in blood on the handles and wood.  I found a first aid kit and ran back into the living room.  The best I could do was clean the wounds, until….

I shook my head at the thought and ran back into the kitchen to grab some paper towels and a bowl of warm water.  I could smell the beans that I’d been cooking, but I wasn’t hungry anymore.  I took the water and paper towels back into the living room and set them down at Ash’s feet.  He was paler than usual, not a good sign.  I tucked my hair behind my ear, brushing blood onto my cheek and in my hair.  I couldn’t give a s**t at this moment in time, Ash was possibly dying on me.  I grabbed some paper towels and dunked them in the warm water, mixing the blood on my hands with the water, turning it pink.  I started to wash the blood off the gashes, Ash’s torso jerked each time the paper touched the wounds.  Soon, the skin around the wounds and the wounds itself were clean, they weren’t bleeding badly anymore, but I had to hold paper towels to the wounds to stop the blood coming out. I  looked at his face to see him watching me.

“Ash, what happened?” I demanded, running my eyes over his body and then my couch, stained with blood.

“I… got into a fight,” he breathed, grinning weakly.  “Let’s just say…. I didn’t exactly win.”

I rolled my eyes and checked the wounds, they had stopped healing, he didn’t have enough blood in his system for his body to heal properly.  I swallowed loudly as Ash looked down at the gashes.

“Oh, s**t,” he muttered.  “I knew I should have gone hunting last night.”

I laughed weakly.

“But yet, you decided to stay with me,” I said, grinning as I pressed against the wounds.  “You need blood.”

“I can’t… hunt like this,” he said, “I’m too weak.”

“You need blood to heal properly,” I stated, raising my voice a little. 

“I can’t hunt, Ayre,” Ash said. 

I sat on the couch next to him and put my hand on his face.  Fire shot thought my body where my skin touched his, it had been like that ever since our first and only kiss.  I made him look at me, those piercing black eyes locked onto my mind and I took a deep breath in before leaning my head back.

“Take some from me,” I said.

I didn’t usually do this, like give blood to vampires, but I couldn’t stand the thought of Ash dying.  I was in….  I couldn’t even bring myself to think it, it was wrong, and goes against everything I know, but I couldn’t help it.  It was easy to give into desire.  I felt him stiffen under my hands and knew what he was going to say.  I was one hundred percent that he felt the same way towards me as I felt towards him. 

“No, Ayre,” he said sternly.

I leaned my head forwards so I was looking at his face.

“You cant hunt in this state,” I told him, “and I just can’t go out there and get a random human, they might put up a fight!  You don’t need to take much, just a little.”

“No!”

“Look, Ash, I don’t want to lose you, and if that means giving a little blood, I don’t mind.  When I was younger, I used to give blood, I’ll just be like that.”

He looked at my face with dark eyes.  Those same eyes travelled to my neck, now  covered by my bloody hair.

“Just don’t kill me,” I whispered as I pushed my hair back and leaned over him, my hands gripping the couch.  I’d been bit before, and it hurt like hell. 

I felt his hand slip behind my neck, gently pulling me closer as he strained to push himself up.  I felt a pair of cool, wet lips touch my neck and closed my eyes.  His lips were setting my skin alight, I was sure he’d be able to feel the heat that should have been admitting from me right now.

“I’d never kill you,” he whispered against my skin, his cool breath rushing across my fiery skin. 

I swallowed loudly, just where his lips were.  I felt him smile as he slowly kissed his way to the side of my neck.  I gripped the couch, bracing myself.

“Relax,” he whispered.  “It hurts more if you’re tense.”

I mentally nodded for him, knowing that he’d be able to faintly hear my thoughts.  I relaxed as best as I could and realised my grip on the couch a little, still bracing myself.

I felt a sharp sting as his razor sharp fangs sunk into the pale skin on my neck.

I gasped a little, but the pain quickly faded and was replaced by something else, the last thing I’d ever expect to replace pain in any way.  Pleasure rushed through my body as I felt his sharp fangs pull out of my neck and placed his lips over the two little puncture marks.  I gasped again when he started to suck.  I squeezed my eyes at the pleasure that rushed through my body.  It wasn’t the same pleasure you get with sex, it was the sort of pleasure that I got from helping the one I…. I mentally shook my head as my skin ignited again, and not just where his skin touched mine, the fire was everywhere.  He groaned against my neck, probably because of the taste.  His other arm wrapped around my waist, his other hand stayed on the back of my skin, setting the skin there on fire.  He pulled my onto his lap with newfound strength and I didn’t protest.  My legs sat either side of his as he crushed me to his body, making the fire hotter.  His hand on my neck pulled my hair that moved into his face out the way and kept it there, exposing my neck.  I was starting to feel dizzy as I let my head roll back. 

I heard him groan again and then suck harder, it still didn’t hurt.  Not that I cared, the pleasure that was rushing through my body was amazing, and the fire just added to it.  I knew that if he kept drinking, he would kill me, but I couldn’t care, this pleasure was like nothing else I’d ever felt.  I was ready to die for it.  When my vision started to get blurry, I felt his lips leave my neck and he groaned again, looking at my face as my head rolled forwards.  My blood stained his lips.  I smiled weakly and let my head fall forwards on his chest.  I looked down in time to see the gashes disappear.  He lifted my head up to look at my face as my eyes started to close.  I saw his lips move but I didn’t hear anything.  He’d taken too much blood.  I let my eyes close as a small smile appeared on my lips.  My skin was still on fire, but the pleasure had disappeared, which made me sad.  I felt myself drifting off and I faintly wondered if I was going to wake up.

But I was out before I got my answer.

Author's Note

Don't shoot me at how rubbish this is! :)