(hiii! just a quick note before we start; raphael is NOT a love interest for ness, so don't get your hopes up, lol :) however, he is for another character, so buckle up for the third love-line so far! sotc is alleyways, by the neighbourhood, happy reading! <3)
Ness rubbed her eyes groggily and tried to sit up. The splitting pain in her head shot through her body, shocking her as if it were hot water, and she fell to the ground again, smashing her head on the ground as she did. She whimpered at the pain of the wound and lifted her hand gingerly to the back of her head. Her hair was warm and wet and when she pulled her fingers away the were streaked scarlet with her blood. Ness flinched at sight of it, her head still foggy with confusion, as if someone had pumped clouds into her ears and forgotten to suck it out again.
Her chest hitched with her gasps of pain, the back of her head feeling if someone was pouring alcohol into it. She squeezed her eyes shut, silently begging her demon blood to heal her wound, but the pain stayed the same, not mulling for even a moment.
Ness didn't know how long she lay there, a pool of blood surrounding her blonde head with her eyes screwed shut, wanting to die from the burning pain. That was when she heard it.
It was a small gust of wind, no more than a rustle, but it was enough to snap her out of her woozy state and she opened her eyes cautiously, coming face to with a concerned looking man.
He had Latino features, but he was unnaturally pale, and his skin looked almost waxy, with reddish bags under his eyes. He almost looked like he was-
Dead. He was a vampire.
Ness gasped and sat up hurriedly, ignoring the splitting pain in her head, and the blur that it put on her vision. She slid back away from the man, filled with fear. This was not how she anticipated that her death would go. She scrabbled desperately to get back from him, with back hitting off one of the trash cans that so often frequented these dark alley ways. The man laughed out loud and held his hands up in surrender.
"I'm not going to hurt you". He spoke very precisely, his diction sharp, despite his American accent. He didn't slide his words out like Alec did, his words lazily dropping out of his mouth like honey. No, this man was clean and smooth, and precise.
"You're a vampire" she countered. "Who drinks blood and is dead, so I'd be inclined to disagree with that statement". He walked over to her, and she internally flinched, but held her head up high, no matter how it ached. He held out his hand in an offering of peace. He wanted to help, he was telling her. It was up to her if she wanted to accept.
She glanced at him suspiciously, before reaching for his hand tentatively, still unsure of his intentions, and his firm hand wrapped around her, and pulled her to her feet. She nearly slumped again but stumbled and caught her balance just in time. He placed his hand on her forearm to help steady her, and she smiled at him gratefully, before cautiously moving out of his grip and steadying herself.
"Can you balance?" he asked levelly, and she nodded.
"Yeah, I can, thanks."
"Raphael Santiago" he introduced himself, holding out his hand for her to shake. She went return the gesture, then glanced at her hand, which was covered in blood.
"I would, but I don't want to encourage you to kill me if I can help it" she laughed, and he nodded in surrender.
"I completely understand" he nodded with a smile, and she went to nod back, but clutched the back of her head with pain. "You need some venom for that?"
"Some what?"
"Some vampire venom" he shrugged. "It can heal wounds made by demons". Ness raised her eyebrows.
"I wasn't attacked by a demon!" she scoffed, disdain clouding her voice. "I think I'd know about it if I was."
"You apparently wouldn't" he said dryly. "I can smell it off you". He looked at her for a moment. "I know this is quite an unusual thing to ask, but would you mind turning around and lifting your hair up?"
Ness glanced at him with confusion, but obliged, turning and pulling her hair up into a handheld ponytail. Raphael studied her neck for a moment and then tutted to himself.
"Mm, yes I thought that might be the case" he nodded. "Where did you say you lived?". Ness turned back and looked at him expectantly.
"What's on my neck?" she asked, her blue eyes narrowing, and he shrugged.
"It's probably not my place to tell you..." he began, but she held up her hand.
"You know what the Nephilim are like" she stated, not unkindly. "If you don't tell me, I'll never know". He bit down on his tongue thoughtfully and then caved.
"It's the Cacciatore, a demon group" he began uncomfortably. "They're obsessed with the downfall of the Nephilim, and they've marked you, for what I don't know. They want you, or something from you and there's nothing you can do about it."
The car ride back to the Institiute was quiet. Raphael had rosary beads, and holy water in his car, and Ness wondered if he'd believed in God before he died. It must be awful now, knowing that even though you'd devoted your life to something that was going to send you to Hell after you died anyway.
He'd given her some of his venom, and her head wound had healed quickly. Not her neck though. Once the Cacciatore marked you, that was it. It was there forever.
She bit her lip and stared out the window at the drizzly rain that had begun to grace the skies.
It was the nights like these, the nights filled with hopelessness, and grey, the nights that suck everything happy and good out of you until you feel like you're nothing but a shell, a hollow space an empty vacuum that Ness had tried so desperately to escape. And now it was happening all over again.
The grey of the sky seemed to seep into the car, and Ness felt as though she were turning grey all over, just feeling like she was a blank and empty void that meant nothing and cared about nothing. She could feel her old emptiness sink in, and if she was being honest, she welcomed it.
Behind all the charisma, and the flirty glances and the humour, Ness was a person that she didn't really like. She was unfaithful and unforgiving, and reckless. She didn't care what the consequences were to anything she did, because quite frankly she didn't care about anything. Except now she did.
She cared about him in ways that she'd never cared about anybody else. She noticed the small things, like how he raked his hand through his hair when he was nervous, or how he pressed his lips together when he was suppressing a laugh or rubbing his forehead when he was stressed. He was clingy when he was drunk, mean when he was angry, and funny when he was happy.
She knew these things because she cared.
And now she'd messed up. She'd snuck out of the Institute without telling him, and he was going to be so mad at her when she got back. She wished she hadn't gone, but it was too late.
She'd been marked, and she couldn't tell anyone about it.
She'd be a freak.
And outcast.
Like before.
Ness gritted her teeth. It wasn't happening to her again. It couldn't. She wouldn't let it.
She'd hide this is if it killed her.
Raphael glanced at her.
"Want me to put on the radio?"
"If you wouldn't mind."
And so, he did, and Ness lost herself in the music, pressing her eyes shut together, and willing it all to go away.
When they pulled up outside the Institute, she turned to Raphael and took a deep breath in.
"Raphael?" she started, her voice a little shaky.
"Yes?"
"I don't want you to tell them about my...mark, if you wouldn't mind. It's better that nobody knows."
"I won't if you don't want me to" he replied thoughtfully. "But what if they ask you? You can't lie about it". Ness shrugged and allowed herself a small smile.
"I'll find my way around it."
Raphael walked her to the door, and she knocked on it, folding her arms and tapping her fingers on her arm nervously. Isabelle opened the door and gasped.
"Oh my god, I was so worried about you!" she cried, and Ness shook her head with a smile.
"I wasn't gone that long, surely" she replied, and then took a second look at Isabelle's face. "Wait, what it is?". Isabelle swallowed nervously.
"Alec's in the infirmary" she said shakily. "A demon slit his throat."