Spirit of Vengeance

I lay on the old beaten matrass; no doubt worn and torn because of various things I care did not to prey on. After I had visited my mother I had took of back to the motel and as I reached my room, what feelings had been raging inside me finally broke free. Every emotion I had buried to the darkest pits of my soul over these six months, now consumed me, swallowing me alive.

My eyes were swollen and red from the five straight hours of crying and the room was trashed from the bursts of anger that swarmed into my system. I didn’t mean to trash the room, but when the sudden burst of anger took me over, I became out of control. I was just glad there was no one with me when it happened, or else they might have been dead like me.

Tonight I was planning to kill the third of my five murders. He was attending a party, which meant it would be a clean easy kill. My plan was seduce him, before slipping a lethal drug into his drink. Easy, clean and simple.

I tilted my head towards the yellowing clocked ticking away on the wall on the opposite side of the room. It was quarter to six, which meant I had three hours and thirteen minutes until I need to get to go hunt for my next victim at the party. Until then I had nothing to do. I wasn’t going back to the gym any time soon, no doubt because Ronald would have a mouthful to give me, and I couldn’t go back to visit my mother, because I wouldn’t be able to summon her to my side with the grave yard now being open until eight pm.

Narrowing down my options to completely nothing to, I remembered what Shadow had said last night. Whenever you need help or a chat, anything at all, just call me, he had told me. Biting down on my lip, I considered whether or not to call him just to fill up my time . . . I mean he was my first sort of friend I had in six months, well one which was around my own age anyway. Ronald was more family, than friend.

Pushing myself of my bed, I headed toward the rotting wooden dressing table just below the clock and pulled open the draw, where I had placed several items for safe keeping and the business card Shadow gave me in there, including his number.

Scooping up both the card and number, I determined which number to call, even though there might be a chance that he wouldn’t pick up on each number, and if someone did, it might not be the person I was hoping for.

Taking a deep steady breath, I punched in Shadows number into my phone. It wasn’t until I had placed the phone to my ear and glanced up into the dusty cracked mirror that I hadn’t noticed my skin colour had the slightest of peach, instead of the normal pale white colour and my cheeks had a faint but noticeable rosy glow like they once use to.

I was so entranced with the slight change of skin tone; I hadn’t heard Shadow call my name.

“Hello, is anyone there? Vengeance is that you?” he asked.

“Hu? Yeah. It’s me,” I said stumbling over my words.

“Are you alright? You seem distracted.”

I took another glance in the mirror, double checking I wasn’t seeing things, but the same reflection stared back as before.

“No, I’m fine thanks. I was just doing something, that’s all,” I replied a bit too quickly. I cleared my throat to distract myself.

“If you say so,” he said, but his tone told me he didn’t quite believe me. “Anyway, what can I do for you? Obviously this isn’t a call to just chat, is it?”

I rolled my eyes. Though I was unable to see him, I knew he was grinning just by his too casual tone.

“Instead, let me take a guess,” he continued, cutting me of before I had the chance to speak up. “I’m going to take a stab in the dark here and say that you’re bored and you’re looking for some company. Am I right?”

“Or maybe she want’s something more,” someone called from the background, followed by the sound of a numerous guys laughing and hollering at Shadow. I couldn’t help but blush and I was glad he weren’t here to see it.

“Slade, shut the fuck up man, before I show you what pain is,” Shadow said in a fierce but joking tone. More laughing echoed from the background once more, that’s when I realized I must have been on loud speaker for them to hear me.

“You’ll have to come and get me bro, ‘cause I’m not going down so easily,” Slade challenged, causing the group to holler and whoop once more.

I rolled my eyes. Why were guys so violent prone?

“Not to intrude your brotherly brawl, but I’m on the phone here still!” I yelled, making sure I was heard. It did the job. A second later the hollering stopped as Shadow told them to pipe it down a moment.

“Sorry, the guys can get a bit feisty sometimes,” Shadow replied apologetically.

“I can hear that. Anyway if you’re busy, I’ll just leave you guys -”

“No, I’m not,” he cut in a bit too quickly. He must have not noticed as he continued calmer now, “We’ll go out if you want? It will give me a change of scenery from these jackasses. Hanging around with a bunch of guys can get -”

“Lonely!” someone yelled from the distance on Shadows end. The sound of laughing echoed through the phone and I couldn’t help but laugh either.

“Jackass,” Shadow called off. “Anyway, as I was saying, hanging around with a bunch of guys can get annoying, especially when it’s twenty-four-seven. Ten of them just makes it worse.”

“Seriously, you live with about ten other guys?”

“It’s all part of our jobs, but I’ll explain that when you get here." I could hear the cunning smile creeping onto his lips. "I'll see you soon, if you take up my offer that is. Our address is on the business card."

"And don't forget to bring pizza, lots and lots of pizza," a young voice called cheerfully.

Before I could protest about going around to his place, or even mentioning about going out with him, the phone went dead, leaving me listening to emptiness. Brilliant, I thought. Just brilliant. Though one part of me was screaming at me to not go because of whom and what I was, the other half was being thankful that Shadow had offered to take me out to fill out my spare time.

Are you insane? You’re an avenging ghost. You have a task to be getting on with, not frolicking around with guys that you can never fall in love with.

I growled at my inner conscious as I slipped away my phone, but in a sense, my conscious was right, I am avenging ghost with a task to be getting on with, and because of that, I could never fall in love. The huge fact that I was a ghost didn’t help either.

Take a break, my mother’s words echoed in my mind. Live a little, Honey, before they manage to cross you over. You have a chance to live again.

Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I dropped my head into my hands and sighed, Shadows business card locked between two fingers. Was I really considering my mother’s words? Sitting up straight, I glanced at the business card.

The card was plain black, and on one side it gave the address of what seemed to be a warehouse, written in blood red and on the opposite side, it read The Hounds in gold lettering and below it was the same symbol on my wrist, only with two swords creating an X through it. I scrunched my eyes shut a moment, remembering that I had heard the name The Hounds before, but where?

The Hounds Warehouse

I looked up at the giant iron gates and the electric fences blocking me from entering the warehouse, well theoretically peaking they couldn’t exactly stop me anyway, but I didn’t want to cause suspicion. I’d been sat on my running bike for five minutes wondering whether or not to press the buzzer or retreat back to the motel, even though I did generously buy pizza . . . but hey I could just give them to the poor. It was the battle between decisions once again.

“Are you going to press the buzzer or what? Because not to hurry your decision or anything, but my pizza is going to get cold and I hate cold pizza,” an unfamiliar husky voice asked before me. I was so distracted in thought; I hadn’t noticed someone appear on the opposite side of the fence, his hands wrapped around the iron bars, his eyes steadily surveying me. A menacing smile was perched on his lips.

He stood at approximately 5ft 9 with an average build that wasn’t too skinny or too big. He had red and black spiked up hair, with a side fringe that fell over his right eye and Carmel brown eyes which seemed to pierce my very soul, which were lined in eyeliner. His face was covered in numerous piercings, with two bars going through his right eye brow, a nose stud shaped as a skull and four hoop piercing on his lips, two on either side. He seemed to be one of the rock loving sort of guy as band merchandise hung around his neck and wrapped around his wrists, which expressed bands like Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and many more, and the shirt he wore had Iron Maiden’s Eddie on the front.

Rolling my eyes, I cut of the engine and slid of my bike. “You know you could have just opened the gate for me,” I said spitefully as I pressed the buzzer to allow myself in.

The smile on his face deepened and something twisted flickered in his eyes, but it faded as he stepped back from the gates as they parted.

“I was too busy admiring your beauty,” he purred sickeningly as I pushed my bike past him, eyeing him carefully. Something wasn’t right with this one. I had to fight not to punch him in that creepy face of his as he watched me go by, before following close behind me.

Ignoring him and his intense gazing, I asked “Where’s Shadow?” as I followed him towards a garage which he had drifted past me to open it up. The garage was filled with a stunning variation of bikes and cars, even a fair few vans and trucks in there. I could not help but gasp.

“He’s up in the gym. I’ll show you to him in a minute, but first park your bike with the others,” he said pointing to an area where all the bikes were parked in two tidy rows. “I’m Slade by the way.”

As I pushed my bike towards a parking space, I watched as two heads appeared at the door, both of who were watching me with great anticipation. The two young boys glanced at one another before nodding and slowly but eagerly coming over to me, two great big smiles on their lips forming dimples in their babyish cheeks. They must have been about twelve or thirteen years old.

Both boys stopped before me and gave me a small salute, something they must have picked up from Shadow. Each boy stood at approximately 4ft 11, with almost white bleach blond hair which flopped to their shoulders and just above their emerald green eyes, which stood out beautifully against their natural pale complexion. Not one feature was out of place on the boys and the only way I could tell them apart were their dog tags which hung around their neck, which read Disaster on one and Devastation on the other.

“Ehm, hello,” I said nervously as the pair stared up at me.

“Hello miss,” they said in sync. “Did you bring the pizza?”

I looked between them both before stepping aside from my bike to answer their question. Strapped to the back of my bike were several pizzas and a moment later the two boys were hugging me.

“Ehm, a bit creepy,” I said to Slade as he unstrapped the pizza from the back of my bike.

“Disaster and Devastation sometimes can be creepy. You’ll just have to get used to it if you’re dating our leader,” he replied hitching the stack of pizza onto his shoulder before heading to the door.

“Wait, who said anything about me dating Shadow?” I called as he disappeared out the door, surprised at his words. I’d just met Shadow. “And why are they called Disaster and Devastation?”

The two boys finally let go, but instead either one took my hand and began dragging me towards the door Slade exited through, which led into a long hallway. We turned left and headed up a set off stairs.

“We are called Disaster and Devastation because we are notoriously known for our messy behaviour. Every job we do we leave a trail of destruction behind us by accident,” Disaster said, after confirming who was speaking by their dog tags.

“We are also known for our messy practical jokes, which can sometimes cause damage if we are not careful,” Devastation added as we stopped before a door. Both boys knocked together in sync before pushing the door open.

As the door swung open, I was greeted by white and blue walls, which were covered in medals and photos. The room was filled with a variation of gym equipment and had its very own boxing ring. One wall was completely covered in glass mirrors.

“Shadow, the girl you love is here,” the boys called, before they shoved me into the room and disappeared out the door, closing it behind them.

“Just ignore them two, they have a habit of making up false accusations,” Shadows voice laughed from the opposite side of the room.

Though I wasn’t bothered in what way he saw me, my heart seemed to sink at his words. Seriously what was going on with me all of a sudden?

I watched as Shadow rose to his feet, his back to me, his torsos bare and towel slung over his shoulders. A moment later he turned towards me an intoxicating smile playing at his lips. I quickly looked down avoiding eye contact and my gawping stare at his beautifully sculptured body.

“Hey,” I said finally meeting his eyes. “That’s kids for you, always making stuff up,” I laughed nervously.

“Yeah they do,” he said, his tone less joking now. “Any way I’ll just go put a shirt on,” he said jabbing his thumb towards a door which seemed to lead to a set of showers.

I nodded and waited a moment as he disappeared only to return a minute later pulling a black tee over his head as he came towards me. As he slid the tee over his body, his muscles flecked uncontrollably, causing my cheeks to flare and my heart beat speed up just as uncontrollably.

“So what do you want to do tonight?” he asked ushering me out the door and down into the hall way.

I shrugged and shoved my hands into my camo jeans pocket. “I have no clue. You sort of took me by surprise when you said you’ll take me out. I don’t normally go out anymore.”

Shadow laughed softly and shook his head. “Well I have two ideas planned to us.”

“And what would that be,” I smiled, a blush rising into my cheeks.

We stopped at the garage door I had come through moments before. Shadow leant in the door way facing me, while I leant against the wall opposite him. A menacing smile played at his lips.

“Well we could always go out for the night, have a few drinks, and play a little pool or something.”

“And my other option?”

The smile on his lips deepened. “I could always send the boys out for the night and we’ll have the place to ourselves.”

I folded my arms over my chest, frowning a little at the idea of us being alone together, let alone in an empty warehouse.

“And do what exactly?” I asked suspiciously.

Shadow seemed to notice my sudden discomfort and slowly raised his hands to his shoulders and his smile twitched a notch higher, obviously finding this moment relatively amusing.

“Nothing but watching movies, having a few drinks, playing a few computer games if you want, nothing more, nothing less, just friends.”

“What games,” I asked slowly warming up to the idea. Considering I was of the female gender, I adored bloody gory computer games.

“I hope you like blood and gore because that’s pretty much the only sort of genre we have.”

I smiled. “I’ll take you up on that offer; a game isn’t a game without blood and gore.”

"Wow, I think I met my match," he teased, pushing up of the wall and before I could register, Shadow hooked his arm around my waste and began guiding me further down the corridor, before stopping before a door and hustling me inside.

"I'll just be a few minutes while I sort something for the guys to do tonight," he said before slipping out the door and down the corridor.

I turned to take in my surroundings, only to be face to face with Zane, who didn't look very pleased.

A frustrated growl escaped from my lips as he took a hold of my wrist and shoved me down onto the black leather sofa in the small, but packed, room. He stood before me, arms crossed, making me unable to move from my spot.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded.

"Saving your fucking ass, that's what," he growled.

"What do you mean 'saving'? I don't need saving from nothing, and even if I did, I wouldn't want you to save me."

"Now you listen to me and you listen to me carefully," he said sternly, the presence of a growl still in his tone. "Since your refusing to cross over like a stubborn bitch you are, I'm stuck saving your ass from danger."

"Since when did you care?" I asked with a frown.

"I don't. I wouldn't give a fuck if you got yourself in trouble, but I have my orders and tragically I've got to follow them."

"Since when did you follow orders?"

"I'm not a complete jackass you know," he said smugly.

"Jackass is an understatement," I coughed into my fist.

He rolled his eyes. "Clearly not in your eyes then."

"Nope," I said, plastering a fake noticeable smile on my face.

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

"Slu-"

Zane quickly closed his mouth as the sound of footsteps echoed down the hall.

"This isn't over slut, meet at your motel in ten," he hissed, before disappearing just as the door opened.

Shadow slipped through the door, now wearing a different set of clothing and looking a lot fresher. His black tee he was once wearing was now a black long sleeved t-shirt and his shorts were now a pair of denim jeans.

"Sorry, the guys didn't take it too well getting chucked out for the night," he said as he sat down beside me. "It's like looking after a pack of stubborn five year olds sometimes," he added before his head dropped back onto the back cushion, staring up to the celling.

"I would be protesting to if I was getting chucked out this late."

His head tilted my way, another one of his intoxicating devious smiles tugging at his lips.

"So you're taking their side, after I chucked them out for you?"

My heart began to kick a notch faster at his emphasis on the 'you.' To cover my upcoming blush, I replied "Hey! I never asked you to." I rose my hands up to my shoulders in an it’s not my fault, don't go blaming me way and placed in a I'm innocent face just to make him feel guilty.

He was undisturbed by my gestures as he teased, “Is that the best you got? The classic I’m innocent look.”

“I could always do the I’m going to kill you look, but at the moment I’m not in the sunniest of moods.”

Shadows face suddenly shifted into concern as he sat up propyl, giving me his full attention. I didn’t want his attention and concern, it made me feel like charity, but a part of me was thankful when he asked softly, “What’s up? Is it something to do with me? Because if I offended you in any way, just tell me.”

I shook my head and allowed my eyes to drift down to my hands resting in my lap. “Don’t worry it’s not you I’m pissed at. It’s just some guy I know who won’t leave me alone. I can’t tell you why though, it’s complicated and even I don’t understand some parts of it.”

“Guys can be pricks some times, trust me a used to be one, always thinking of myself and never others. I never gave a fuck about who I hurt, that was until I met someone and she changed the way I worked.” He looked away all of a sudden, as if he seemed a shamed to talk about it.

“What happened?” I asked, sensing something was wrong.

“She’s dead,” he said flatly.

“Oh,” I whispered softly. “What happened?” I wasn’t expecting that.

“Let’s just watch a film shall we.” It seemed more of a command than a question. I nodded not wanting to push him to his limits. I had only met him the night before, so I was still feeling wary around him, even though up to now he gave me no reason to hate or fear him.