Hollow

Chapter One - A Connection

"Hey Sugar." His voice is smooth and confidant, but unfamiliar.

This is his first time and if his slight off balance lean didn't give him away, the fact that I had spent an insurmountable number of nights around drunken humans did.

He had all the obvious signs of a drunk, the dribble of alcohol down his shirt, a heavy eyed expression and the way he stared so blatantly at me. The biggest tell, though, was the fact he was here, talking to me.

His aura was a dark orange but with a thick haze over it, the haze of inebriation. I saw this haze too often these days. It was as if the alcohol was trying to obscure his aura from me. Drugs often had a similar effect; it was a bit like looking into a fogged up mirror. I could see his soul, of course, but it was as if it were out of focus.

I sip from my straight liquor and try not to think about how long it has been since I had made a connection. One week? Or two?

"You're amazing!" he says placing his empty glass on the bar.

The sound of the glass striking the solid wood bench is familiar and it releases a flurry of faces into my mind.

The bartender stands nearby, watching warily while he polishes a glass. His hands are moving rhythmically around a glass with a practiced motion. The movement stops for a moment as the intoxicated man next to me gestures to him. The bartender nods and finishes polishing the pint glass, holding it up to the light and searching for fingerprints or lip stains. He finds nothing and sets it down onto the rack with the others of its kind.

"I mean, I've seen plenty of Hollows before...but nothing like you! Wow!" His speech is slurred, and his eyes wander over me, undressing me in his mind. The way his eyes revisit certain areas tells me the alcohol is also affecting his memory.

There was no better name for us. In fact we welcomed it, embraced it, and made it our own. We were Hollow in the most extreme sense. We felt nothing. No sensations, no emotions. Not even memories could spark a hint of feeling in us.

The man looks at me with an expression I was more than familiar with. The way his eyes widen, I could tell his imagination would be filling with expectations of a night of drunken lust. If only he knew the end result of our encounter, then perhaps he would not be so eager. He would be unlikely to remember much about tonight, anyway.

"But I'm sure you hear that all the time." he continues, smiling as he drags the bar stool closer towards me and sits down.

It wasn't the first time I had heard that comment, nor would it be the last. Human men thought pretty words and sweet sayings were just the trick to get into a woman's pants. For human females it was. Pretty, meaningless words spoken with the intention of creating an emotional reaction meant nothing to a Hollow.

Of course human men—particularly drunken human men—were not aware of this fact. They would try anything to get the approval of a female Hollow, because Hollows weren't just average bodies. No we were perfection.

It starts when the curse sets in. It changes everything about you.

Your skin becomes soft, smooth like silk, perfect in human terms. Then it hardens like stone. Steel won't cut it; bullets do not better. Next your bones shift and your muscles adjust. You are sculpted into the image of perfection, what every human would desire in a body; agile, strong, nearly boundless stamina.

"What can I get for you?" the bartender asks the intoxicated man as he wipes the bar with a damp cloth taking the empty used glasses from the bench top and setting them in a separate tray.

"I will have another of the same, and whatever this stunning woman is drinking." he answers with a slap on the bar, a sign of arrogance and authority. He obviously believed he was better than this bartender because of a higher income or more sexual encounters, but this bartender was more alive than this sad lonely man. This bartender's soul was bright and spirited, a soul that was hard to conquer even for an experienced Hollow. The bartender looks at me with an enquiring expression. I finish my drink and nod for another.