Chapter 1

The story begins! Tanner meets the mysterious Beth when disaster strikes. Demons send their first warning to the girl. Life or death?

"A warrior is free to be a hero and pull of daring do and the soldier is irrespinsible if he does it."

- C. J. Cherryh

 

Winter is coming.

Words that no-one wanted to hear. Yet, there Tanner was, listening to the old drunken man tell him it was around the corner. It annoyed him, when they spoke as if they knew everything, because they didn’t know every god damn thing. That was the frank truth. But, they continued to be ‘all-knowing’ anyway. It was obvious the winter was coming. The fall had been with them for 3 months, which meant winter would be twice as long. It always was. In a way, they were lucky this time. Apparently, before Tanner had been born, there had been a deathly winter that killed over half of the population of the world. Most of which were on the streets or living in dingy apartments. Like himself.

With a roll of his eyes, Tanner skulled the other half of his beer and stood up. He stretched out and gave a farewell nod to the old man. Just as he turned to leave the aged fellow grabbed onto his shirt. The black pits of his eyes drilled into Tanner’s chocolate brown ones. There was a silent warning that was sent to Tanner.

“I’m telling you, boy,” he said with earnest, “It’s coming,”

Tanner nodded his head, “And I’m hearin’ ya, old man. ‘Winter is comin’’-“

A frowned creased the stranger’s face, “I said darkness is coming. And I can sense it on you,”

“Ya sayin’ I’m gonna go all evil on ya?”

A snort came from the patron of the pub, “Nay, I be telling you that it’s coming to you. You're going to meet some light,”

“Can ya sense that to?” Tanner asked sarcastically.

The man sighed at him and shook his head, “Naw. I warned you. You gonna regret that, boy!”

It could have been taken as a threat but Tanner shrugged it off. There was no point in getting mad at him. He began trudging his way out of the pub, weaving in and out of the tables. In the background the fargle let out a disturbing cackle that sent shivers down his spine.

“And she’s gonna be your death…” he taunted.

Spinning around, Tanner glared at the empty bar stool. The man was gone.  

 

"Damn fargles these days," Tanner muttered to himself as he fumbled with his keys.

With a clang they hit the ground. He grumbled as he bent over to pick them up. When he stood up straight, his brown eyes flickered upwards to peer at the window. Rain poured down onto him and he barely made out a figure in the window. At first, he thought the person was in his car but at a second glance, he realised that they were behind him. Damn old man, he thought to himself, thinking it was the pub patron. Tanner brushed the brown hair our of his eyes and glared at the figure.

"Can't leave me alone, eh, old man?" he called out.

The figure walked closer until he saw a girl standing drenched in the rain. By what she wore, he could tell she wasn't from around there. Atlanta was one of the worst cities. Ever since the demon take over, it was never the same. Or so Tanner had heard. He'd only been around when demons roamed the streets. The girls dress was a blue silk that matched her eyes, and it clung to her wet body. His eyes drew her body in, appreciatively taking in every curve. There was a sadness that lurked behind her peircing eyes. Her feet were bare; all she wore was the dress. And when he thought about it, it looked rather like a nightgown.

"What are ya doin' out so late, girlie?"

"I..." she hesitated, "Are you Tanner?"

He frowned and tilted his head, "Who wants to know?"

"Me."

A smirk crossed his face, "An what's 'me's' name?"

Her mouth twitched and she took another step forward. There was some sort of determination on her face. From what Tanner did not know.

"My name is Bethanie," she paused, as if hesitating to go on, "Bethanie Fairblood."

She didn't need to state her last name; Tanner already knew who she was. There was one other person with the last name Hunter that tanner knew, and that was Cam. Especially when she spoke with such formality. No-one who lived life as it was spoke like that. Emotion boiled up within Tanner, it had only been a few days ago that Cam was killed.

"I'm Cameron Fairb-"

"I know who ya are!" he snapped, "Now, what do ya think ya doin' around here, girlie? Ya daddy ain't gonna be very happy with ya. Best if ya go back,"

The girl frowned. She obviously hadn't expected such harshness from him, not that it mattered - she'd gotten it anyway.

"I don't care if my father is worried - which, by the way, he isn't-"

Tanner raised a hand to cut her off short again. He rubbed his face and let out a loud sigh to show his frustration, "Look here; Cam loved ya, right? But that ain't mean anythin' to folks 'round here. They see ya as another girl lookin' for a good night. Besides, them demons gonna eat ya up lookin' all bare like ya are!" he threw his arms in the air in exasperation.

She snorted, "Woah! I came here looking for my brother's best friend. I didn't expect a crazy guy in his place-"

"Wait! Hold up. Rewind, hun," Tanner inclined his head closer, studying the expression on the girl, "Crazy? What the fu-"

Beth's face froze, her blue eyes watched something above Tanner's head. Before he could react and giant screech came from behind him. They both fell to the floor covering their ears. In a squat position, her turned around and saw a figure on the roof of his car. It was one of the most obvious types of demons; with froth foaming at it's mouth and ugly appearance. This certain one had no teeth so it bared it's gummy mouth at Tanner and snarled. There was a green tinge to it and it dripped with a sticky liquid that trickled over the window of his car. Simple to say that it was a basic of basics demon. A Penth demon.

Slowly, Tanner reached into the side of his boots. The demon hissed at him, causing it's slime to spray at him. It hobbled back and forth, making dints in the roof of the car. Tanner cursed at the demon as it launched itself at him. It hit him like a tonne of bricks, but after a moment it jumped off of him. He didn't have much time to react because a scream peirced his ears. Turning around, the small demon stood in front of Beth. Fear radiated off of the terrifyed adolescent and she scrambled backwards, towards the pub. Another curse escaped Tanner's mouth as he dived at the Penth demon. It turned at the last minute, it's black and yellow eyes staring into his soul as it were up for grabs. With a grunt, Tanner pulled it away from Beth and threw it back. As if it never got hurt, the Penth jumped back up again and charged at him with a high-pitched war cry. Later, Tanner would laugh at the ridicule of the minor demon. A flick of the wrist, he let the dagger sail straight into the demon. Towering over it, Tanner raised his second dagger. The Holy Water laced dagger. The one that would kill the demon quickly.

"Stop!" it screeched, "Boon! Boon!"

Tanner snorted, "I have everthin' I ever wanted, ya got nothin' ta offer me."

After a moment of silence, the demon's upper lip peeled back revealing several rows of pearly sharp teeth. Where the hell did them come from? he asked himself. Penth demons never had teeth. It must have been a type of shapeshifter demon posing as a Penth. A cackle erupted from it's mouth.

"Fairblood! Fairblood! We all want Fairblood! Fairblood!" it sung. At Tanner's befuddled expression it snickered at him, "Silly, silly, Mr Tanner! You want Fairblood. I want Fairblood. He wants Fairblood. She wants Fairblood!" the demon threw his hands in the air laughing at something unknown. It's plain white eyes widened and looked inquiring at Tanner, "Who will get Fairblood?"

After a moment's hesitation, Tanner forced the Holy dagger down into the shapeshifter's chest. With a grunt, he turned around, pushing the brown locks out of his face. Once he saw the girl sprawled across the gravelled parking lot floor, he let out a groan.

"Damn, girl," he muttered while walking over to her, "Ya couldn't have been ugly could ya?"

Author's Note

Please let me know on any mistakes! And I'd really like a review :) good or bad!

Reviews

[S M Ince]

It looks to me like you are setting up a new world or a new world order. I applaud you, that is hard. There are new rules for new worlds that have to be translated to the readers so we know where we stand. I hope you have given a lot of thought to that and have written them down somewhere so you won't break your own rules. I am a little lost on how old Tanner is? From the last chapter I thought he was a older teenager but here he comes across as early twenties at the beginning and around 30ish at the end. What about Cameron? He died but what from and what for? It leaves me a little lost on that front. His sister is older or younger? I can't help it I really like this story but you need to clarify a few things to straighten out the flow. I like the way it moves along and I can feel the excitement of what's happening, it's just that I don't know what's happening. (Clear as mud huh?) How did Beth end up on the parking lot floor when she was headed into the pub? I think if you could fill us in with a little foreshadowing or some quick flash backs that would really flesh out your story. It's always good to know what's going on in your protagonists mind. BTW I like this a lot. Write more soon.