**Hello everyone, trigger warning for this chapter, for there is drug use is involved. Enjoy the update!**
Something about Tobias was familiar. Like she had seen him somewhere before. A face with no place.
Joy shook her head with a halfhearted eye roll. She was probably just imagining things again. It was a common symptom of a bad habit she acquired.
Clutching the generous tip in her hand, she stuffed it into her bra with the rest of the loose bills she had in the cups. It's not like she had pockets, so where else would she put it right?
That's why parents tell their children not to put money in their mouths.
Just before she reached for the door knob that was peeling, she adjusted the black lace that was riding up her ass since she started the shift, too focused on work to be comfortable. It was important to sustain a certain amount of hours and customers to meet her quota by the end of the night. She was always moving, so she didn't have time to pick wedgies.
And she certainly didn't have time to waste with Isaiah. He was a very impatient vampire.
Wasting not a second more, Joy opened the door to Isaiah's office, her heels clicking against the worn wood as she stepped inside and shut the door behind her.
Isaiah was tapping his nails along his desk, a hint of a jeer curling one side of his mouth when his soft orange orbs met with hers.
"Someone is cranky, huh? Heard you yellin'." Joy put her hands on her hips, and rolled her shoulders back. She was in an awful mood the moment she woke this evening. She had a nightmare last night, and the entire day her stomach tossed and she got angry when people accidentally brushed against her or walked too close.
Isaiah knew why she acted this way. Only him. He comforted her when he could, but most of the night he was out of the apartment and she was slightly upset with him about that. Not being there when she needed him. He was the only person in her life left. There was no one else. Just Isaiah and she hated that she depended on him so much.
But she didn't dare catch an attitude with Isaiah, even if she was mad. She bit her tongue. She always bit her tongue.
"That asshole downstairs can't do nothin' right." She murmured, keeping her voice barely audible. His grin widened as he raked his fingers back through his dark locks.
"I’ll deal with him later." Isaiah rose from his chair, sauntering over in her direction. His form towered over her, and instinctively she took a small step back, her eyes flittering directly to the ground. Another habit of hers.
She knew his eyes were wandering over her body and though he's done it many times before and it made her feel good, today just wasn't a night she wanted to experience this. Her mind was still ripe with past events and all she could imagine was him. Every man resembled him in some way.
Isaiah took his lower lip between his teeth and leaned in, his mouth leveled with the mark along her throat. They didn't have no fancy blood blinding ceremony. An extravagant ceremony similar to a wedding that would bind a vampire with a human. They would serve as a Blood Bride, feeding a vampire for as long as their human lived. He was a low class vampire and she was a poor human, so what was to be expected? It was just them and the sheets. That was their blood binding but it didn't make it any less special for Joy.
"Muñeca bonita." Pretty doll. Another nickname he gave her.
All she could feel when his breath grazed her skin was utter sickness rise in her throat and singe it. That nauseating sensation was intensified when his hands explored her skin in a ravenous manner, starting from her breasts and trailing down her body, skimming across her stomach and making her itch and squirm like insects were crawling over her.
Joy was stiff, her eyes shut and tears wet her lashes but never fell. She tried to enjoy his touch, for this wasn't Sam. This wasn't someone who would do that to her, but she physically couldn't get herself to ease, paranoia and anxiety crawling through her veins faster than cocaine ever would.
His fingers glided along her arm, creeping around her waist, then he her drew her in and delved his hand into the barrier of thin lace that shielded her backside and that's when she caught his wrist and prevented him from going any further.
"Please, not tonight." The same voice that came down on other people like a whip, would always return to the small voice of her younger self when she was afraid. The quiet and fear filled tone that never failed to make her feel weak. She hated it.
Her body was tremoring, and all she could do was excuse this for another bad day. Days that were more common than not.
Isaiah recoiled and stepped back from her, however it didn't make her feel better.
She only felt exposed and it made her want to curl into a ball. She hugged herself and looked away, her eyes becoming pink under the strain of holding back tears. Her head began to ache but still she never let those tears fall from her hazel eyes.
Joy just wanted to leave now, wanted to go home and scrub her skin clean.
"I ain't him, Joy." He said, his tone filled with traces of annoyance. "I wouldn't do that to you." He moved back behind his desk, and Joy ran her fingers through her waist long brunette locks. She could feel her fake lashes becoming unstuck due to the wetness that coated them. "I don't even know why you're still upset about it. It happened years ago."
"I know." She wished she could explain it to him, but that did no use. She's tried before. She tried to explain that just because he was out of her life that the pain never went away. She never went to therapy to cope. She never spoke about it. She kept it in. "I'm sorry. I’ll make it up to you tomorrow night." But who knew if she'd be alright then?
Isaiah sighed in frustration, but his voice softened. "Don't apologize. You didn't do nothing." He took in her lifeless appearance, and waved his finger. "C'mere." Joy took a few shaky steps forward, moving around his desk and standing before him. "How much did you make tonight?" Joy pried in her bra and ripped out two handfuls of bills.
It had to be over a little over a thousand she placed on the table. "I haven't counted yet." Isaiah noticed the dazed look she had in her eyes since she walked in. She wasn't here completely.
He didn't understand her or how she felt. He never would.
"Someone must've really liked you then, hmm? Can't blame em right?" He gave her a small grin and Joy returned it weakly.
Tobias.
He didn't watch her like she was an object of pleasure. She saw something in his eyes. Like he admired her. A twinkle of awe.
It might if been a trick of the light, but his eyes didn't say she was a mouthwatering toy. They told her she was beautiful. She was so caught off guard it made her forget for a moment that she was feeling like dirt.
She quickly shook away the thought. No. He was just like the rest of them.
He was no different.
"If you needed a hit of something, you should've told me." He opened the drawer near his feet, fishing around within it for a few measly seconds.
Joy always needed a hit of something. She couldn't ask every time she needed to drown out her past or every time her body began to ache from needing it.
Her pupils dilated the moment she saw a small baggy with powder that was white as snow.
Isaiah raised his available hand a little too quickly, causing Joy to flinch with a gasp of fright, however he only tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
"You know I'd take care of you. I always have." He murmured. His words were empty to her, for she focused on nothing but the bag he held out to her.
She lifted her still shaking hand to grasp it, only for him to close his fist around it.
"Give me a kiss." Joy was willing to do anything in that moment if it meant getting the drugs into her hand faster.
Joy leaned forward and pecked his lips, his fingers loosening around the plastic to hand to her.
"Don't use it all up, I only have a little left until next shipments come in." Joy's fingers curled around the baggy, the soft crinkle enough to bring euphoria to knock at her door.
"Thanks." She spoke against his lips and he purred.
"Of course, baby girl."
Joy straightened and as she had begun leaving, his stern tone stopped her.
"Go home. I don't need you snapping at any of the customers." Joy turned to face him, a clear indication of distress written on her face.
"When will you be home?"
"When I finish work." He murmured, taking the tip of his own between his teeth. "Take the car and I’ll see you later." Joy wanted to say more. She wanted to stay, but he was busy. "Love you." Joy stopped and she gave him a gentle beam.
"I love you too, Isaiah."
But what they had wasn't love. Joy knew that deep down. It was toxic, but she would never admit that to herself. She adored Isaiah too much. After everything he's done for her, she could never see him as harmful.
Joy pushed open the door and headed downstairs into the club bathroom.
Besides.
Joy locked herself in a stall and eyed the baggy with a relieved exhale.
It's not like she was sober enough to care.
~·~·~
The clatter of her makeup case coated in a thin white dust hitting the floor was background noise that swirled with the dull thump of fast paced music.
Her eyes rolled back, jaw locked tight as she savored the symphony of chemicals washing through her. An explosion of adrenaline gave her such an overwhelming sensation. Even if the lining of her nose and throat were on fire, that sensation was overrun by ecstasy.
Her head spun leading her to shut her eyes and allow her heart to hammer erratically in its chest plate. She rested her head against the tiled wall, her body slumping against the toilet seat.
The first hit of the day was always the best. Vicarious would be a word she would use to describe the adoring perception. Like you were in the body of someone else who was at the very top of a roller coaster just before the drop. Waiting anxiously and eyeing how high they were. Looking down at their surroundings that seemed so small. All their problems equivalent to nothing but small issues. How could they be worried about anything when they were focused at the task at hand? The stomach turning feelings of fear and sweaty palms as they grabbed onto the bars in anticipation. Opening the bag and cutting it up was like the ride to the top, slow and steady. Unrushed. And then when you were done, you inhaled it into your nose and assailed it in your lungs, that was the drop. That was when everything became unclear and fast moving. Unexpected, plunging you into a kaleidoscope of colors and visions away from every problem you've ever had. That desire in the pit of your stomach when you drop shoots directly to your skull and leaves you breathless, but you hang on and enjoy the escape.
And then there's darkness. The ride is over. Your stumble on your feet and somehow make it out. A chemically induced happiness you wished to be locked in forever.
Joy lifted her hand, fingers clutched to her reward tightly. There was enough left for tomorrow.
Joy sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, still feeling that buzz in the back of her head, ready to take on the world. She felt so energized. So alive.
She grabbed her makeup case off the floor and tossed everything into her purse she grabbed on the way down, and then she stepped out of the stall, motivated to head home and clean the apartment for Isaiah. Make it nice for when he comes home. She would dance for a little while. She loved to dance.
She strutted out and went directly to the backroom where her clothing was, slipping into the red dress she walked in here with and throwing on her coat to block out the harsh New York winter.
She grabbed Isaiah's car keys from her purse, strutting out in a more confident manner as she made her way to the door.
"Joy," She stopped a few inches from the glass doors and glanced over her shoulder at the vampire whom had gave her such a nice tip.
"Tobias, right, look I gotta run, but I’ll see you around." She spoke extremely fast; in fact, he was surprised he understood what she just said.
He took notice of her nearly black eyes. Not a hint of hazel in them, rather occupying the space was her abnormally large pupils.
"Are you intoxicated?" His brows creased with concern. No, not concern. That was false. Joy thought to herself. He was just trying to take advantage of her.
Joy turned away from him. "No. I'm fine, I gotta get going. Traffic is already heavy." She pressed her palm to the door and Tobias grabbed her wrist. Very gentle, barely grabbing her but enough touch to stop her.
"Why don't you let me take you home?" Joy snatched away from him, her high gradually begin to wear off and make her irritable. She bared her teeth at him the moment she felt threatened.
"Listen, I don't fucking need your patronage. Leave me alone and don't fucking touch me." Tobias curled his fingers back and watched her leave with one last attempt to help her.
He went after her in a slow jog, and watched her get into a red car parked out front.
"Joy, at least take a taxi-"
She firmly slammed the car door behind her and skid off down the street, Tobias watching the car run through three red lights.
He didn't mean to upset her, he just wanted to help.
He stood there in his loosened tie watching, a sinking feeling in his stomach. He felt like something awful was going to happen.
Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was because she was driving down the road erratically that gave him the idea.
She was going to hurt herself or someone else.
He looked back into the club and noticed his master wouldn't be leaving any time soon. He decided he would call later and inform him where he had gone.
Tobias stepped back, then zipped forward, becoming nothing but a guest of wind to the human eye.
~·~·~
"Fuck!" She gripped the steering wheel with trembling hands, her manicured hand, beating at against it at one point.
She looked in her rear view mirror, her makeup smeared along her cheeks, her eyes pink and lashes coming undone. She curled her smudged lips and ripped off the eyelashes, tossing them aside and she wiped the lips clean of red lipstick.
She kept driving, taking her blurry eyes off the road more often than not.
Men have never been a good factor in her life. They've always been a negative addition that added more burden onto her already struggling life.
Her birth father for example. She never saw him. Ran out on her mama right after she gave birth, not wanting to be tied down by a baby.
Her mother's boyfriend Sam. Well him. There was a lot of negative qualities about him.
Joy shut her eyes and nearly became sick at the thought of him.
And then there was Isaiah. The only decent man she has come across. A vampire at that. He didn't start her drug addiction or feed into it. She was already doing petty drugs like Mary Jane and cold meds, he just introduced her to harder stuff since his career was drug dealing and God knows what else. Whatever it was, it was illegal.
Joy wiped her eyes, her bracelets ringing as she moved and sped down the highway.
Isaiah had his flaws, but he was all she had. He understood her better than anyone else could. He understood poverty. He understood abusive households, he understood needing to flee, because he's lived through it too, just like Joy.
He took care of her.
When she was fifteen she met him, her being immediately catching his eye. She looked quite developed for her age, and though he was a lot older than her, that didn't stop them from talking. Joy was looking for any positive attention she could get and he gave it to her.
She was surprised he approached her because she looked ratty that night, but made her best look presentable with what she had.
He told her otherwise. She looked beautiful, he told her.
When her mother was too out of it with her shit boyfriend to pay attention to her daughter, Joy would go to Isaiah. She would show off her straight A's to him and he would be the one to praise her and tell her how smart she was. He would reward her with little presents and the fifteen-year-old would be dazzled. He would feed her. He would get her supplies for school. He would get her clothes she needed to look nice. He would give her a safe bed to sleep in for the night. Whatever she needed, he got her.
Now a twenty-three year old Joy clutched the steering wheel in resentment. If that fuck never showed his face, her mama still would've loved and cared about her, but she became so consumed in drugs, her daughter was just a memory.
Joy understood now, what drugs did. It was the only importance in her life now. Like mother like daughter.
She dug her nails into the fabrication of the wheel and grit her teeth.
She didn't need another man in her life offering to help her.
Her swollen eyes flickered into the mirror again.
"Stop crying. What are you crying for?" She grumbled to herself. "It's over." She got nervous when he grabbed her. When he followed her out to her car she got extremely afraid. When a man followed her it was never good in her eyes. There were no good intentions in Tobias' actions.
But her seven-year-old self reminded her that it couldn't have been that easy. She always ran and hid, but he always found her.
Joy bit her lip and anxiously looked into the mirror, her breathing hastening.
And then it happened, for a split second she was thrown into a quick memory of Sam clutching her arm and dragging her out from under the bed. Her wrist ached, and she could still hear the echoes of her own screams. Still smell the alcohol on him. It was branded into him like a second skin. It was disgusting.
Her eyes were blank, and even thought it was only for a split second, she completely became oblivious to the road, focused on one of the many traumatic events, but she quickly snapped out of her daze.
It was too late though.
She was going way too fast.
She couldn't slow down in time.
The gleam of headlights blinded her, her eyes widening as she slammed the brakes.
And then she closed her eyes and prayed to a God she didn't believe in, as the crunch of metal ripped through the empty road.
~·~·~
It was still hazy.
She thought she was lucky enough to die tonight, but she could hear. She could breathe.
"Are you okay, mam?" Tobias looked at the shaken mother of three, who was checking her children in the backseat. A blonde woman in her mid-thirties turned back and dipped her head once she was reassured her crying children were unharmed and only frightened.
"Are you? You're hurt." She replied. He reached up and touched a red stain that began to pool along his brow. He didn't even feel it until crimson got into his eyes.
Tobias ran out in front of Joy's car and stopped it with his being, saving the mother and her children from injury. Thankfully everything moved to fast for anyone to see.
"I'm okay. You just head on home; I'm going to call an ambulance." Tobias reassured, and the woman didn't ask any questions. She moved along past the wrecked car.
Tobias could hear a faint heart beat ensuring him she was alive.
He moved towards her car and knelt down, reaching inside the wreckage and crushed car parts to pull Joy from. He was sure to keep majority of the damage on the passenger's side to keep her unharmed and it had worked. The impact might have made her unconscious temporarily, but she was breathing. Her lip was only cut, a faint scent of blood wafting through the air.
He took her half-conscious being into his grasp and dusted her hair back.
Joy couldn't tell who it was, the force of the crash throwing her neck and head back and then forward against the steering wheel, causing her vision to go.
She could make out shapes of him and she was absolutely frightened, but there was nothing she could do.
She only allowed a few stray tears to leak over her cheeks as she let out a shivered breath, closing her eyes and having the light of the car completely obliterate from her sight.
**I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention, if you or someone you know has an addiction problem, or issues with domestic abuse/child abuse or assault, please get yourself, or those you know some help. No one should ever go through the following alone. Thank you for reading and I will see everyone next update ♥**