Avriel Kaplan: Well dressed, well groomed, beautifully handsome, quiet and brooding and exactly the kind of man Ariel Declan doesn't need to know. But, that is not for her to decide.
Alexander Kirk: wickedly handsome, well known and well liked, egot...
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As she sat in her car and waited for the police and ambulance to arrive, Ariel felt a cold malevolence crawl across her skin and push against the edges of her mind. Her first thought was to retreat deeper into her own mind, that would be anyone's response, retreat from something repugnant, but her mother had prepared her well for such things. That was not what you did when something dark a creepy tried to come at you when you were a girl like her. When you were a girl like her, you fought back. She buckled down and actively sought to protect herself. She strengthened her mental wall adding to it positive thoughts and images of things, mostly just things that she took strength from.
The darkness pushed at her trying harder to invade her mind. She pushed back. Reflexively, she conjured a mental image of Avriel. It was not just any image of him. She pushed forward an image that she didn't know she had glimpsed, an image of a very angry Avriel. She had never consciously seen him angry, but that was the image that she used to strengthen and bolster her mental walls. In the image she pushed, Avriel was extremely volatile, perhaps down-right pissed off. His normally soft and beautiful features were cold and hard, his eyes glaring. His smooth brow was furrowed in pure anger. His nose crinkled, and his lips were caught somewhere between a growl and a sneer. He bared his teeth and literally growled in her mind. It should have scared the hell out of her. It didn't. Her response was quite the opposite. She took comfort in the strength and power behind that anger. He had a deep and lovely growl. She really liked it. She swallowed her surprise and curiosity. Had she really seen his face contorted like that? She had heard him growl, of that she was certain. Why did he growl like that? She knew that sound was his, but she did have a very powerful imagination as well as a curiously strong mind and great perception, anything was possible. She buckled down and focused. With that image of Avriel firm in her mind and the strength it gave her, she pushed the malevolence back, forcing it to the barriers of its own mind. Wait! It had a mind! The malevolence and anger she felt came from another person? Her moment of surprise bought it enough time to disengage and retreat.
The presence backed away from the girl both mentally and physically. In all its days of existence, it had never run across a human with that kind of mental fortitude and strength. It had spent its life preying on them, pushing and pulling them mentally and physically, until their fragile minds and frail bodies broke open spilling forth their deep and rich marrow and souls. No beast would ever taste as sweet as a human. The breaking of their will and crushing of their souls always satisfied its every need. Humans, they were always so full of self-loathing, guilt, anger, and fear. Some feared to live, all feared to die. Where others like it, lesser than it, could only pull from the most powerful emotions, fear or even love, over decades, it found the sweetest taste and most filling of these emotions were self-loathing and guilt, there was nothing as gratifying and filling as those, not even altruism.
It spent decades perfecting its craft, honing its skills to the finest point of precision. It learned to get inside their heads, to understand them, see what they saw and felt. It could tap their memories and pull from them the worst of their misdeeds and then target the negative emotions that those actions caused. It could feed their fear, their anger their guilt and their hate for all things, especially for themselves. Humans, they were capable of incredible acts of love as well as equal acts of debauchery and evil, hate and self-loathing. They were its favorite prey.
Humans were such interesting and varied creatures. It had met and ended hundreds of thousands, yet it'd never crossed paths with one such as that girl. Not one had ever been able to push back against it. Not a one, until her. It had no fear Itself. It was superior to all. It was more interested and curious than angry and afraid.
It moved through the shadows of the night, its feet silent upon the sidewalk. Its gait was careless and easy. It walked with a strong confidence and silent reassurance. It kept its head down hiding its eyes from view so that it didn't have to waist the energy it had just gained changing them. It kept its mind shielded and blocked. It would never do for it to broadcast its presence to the residents of the den it had walked into.
Behind the walls of its defenses, its mind stirred. It wondered at the curious human with a mind so strong that it repelled it and the image of the man that she had used to guard herself. Who was he? Who was she to him? Whomever he was, it could feel his presence in her mind. She pushed more than an image more than a memory. She pushed a force, the will of a man that was more than just a man. It felt that force combined with hers push back against him. She was formidable. Was she like him? No, she was human. That was clear to him. She was a very unique human. It found, for the first time in its existence, that it wanted to know a human.
The police were on the scene within moments. The paramedics close behind. The police rushed to the vehicle when they arrived. They quickly came to the same conclusion that Ariel did. Then came and talked to her. She gave them her statement and information and was released to drive home. "Would it be a bother to have one of you follow me home? I'm a little freaked out, but I don't want to leave my car here."
"Let me clear it with the officer in charge and I will escort you," the officer said as he nodded in understanding.
"Thank you." She met the officer's eyes and tried to smile. The officer escorted her home and walked her to her door.
He handed her two business cards. "If you ever need anything, call me. This is a hotline you can also call if you want to. They can help to settle your mind. Are you going to be okay? You can call either of us anytime you need. If you need anything tonight just let me know."
"Thank you, Officer." She fought to keep her voice soft and calm as she spoke to the young officer. "I will. Be safe out there tonight." She opened her door and stepped inside then turned to look at the officer through the partially closed door. She held up her hand and waved. "Good Night. Thank you again." She locked the door dropped her things on the table by it so she could find them in the morning. She was out of her clothes by the time she reached the bathroom. After a long bath, she plopped down on the bed. She didn't have time to bother with the comforter before she fell asleep. It had been an extremely exhausting day.
