The night was cold as the young teen sat on the trunk of his car, a cigarette in one hand and a his mp3 player in the other. He was scrolling through his music looking for the right song to match his mood. Much to his dismay, this had been another night in which his emotional instability was very apparent. A curse that had been his mothers gift to him before leaving the family. Almost every night he had to pull himself away from everyone and just relax. It was a constant battle between depression and complete anger. Sometimes it wasn’t a battle and the two emotions would mix together and just overwhelm him. Those times were the scariest for himself and the ones he loved as he would flux between being really quiet, to slamming doors, breaking walls, and just yelling about whatever slightly pissed him off. He hated it most of all because he would usually take it out on his fiance.
He took another drag from his cigarette and blow the smoke into the sky. Finally the right song started playing, and he closed his eyes. It was the song Apology by his all time favorite band Alesana. To most people a song involving a long of screaming wouldn’t be relaxing, but to him, it was like a sweet massage for his brain. He kept his eyes closed and leaned back on his car. The song wrapped around him and took him deep into his own mind. He felt as though he could sleep right there on his car. And he would have too, if it wasn’t for someone taking the cigarette from his mouth. Normally he would have been freaked out but from the scent wafting around him he knew who it was.
“Hello Clarissa,” he said casually, taking one headphone out and opening his eyes.
Standing in front of him was a tall beautiful older woman in skimpy clothing. As was accustomed with her, she wore short shorts that barely covered her butt and showed off her stocking tattoo on her right leg, a half shirt with long sleeves to show off her belly button piercing, and shoes that ran all the way up her shins. Her lacey pink thong was pulled up so it ran over her hips and her shirt was just loose enough to show off far too much to be decent when she bent over. The various other piercings she had on her body was just icing on the cake of her body.
She had short brown hair with blond highlights, that would have hung just in front of her eyes had she not tucked it behind her ears. Her eyes were a deep blue and had the fun ability to change brightness. That was something that had never really been talked about. Her skin was a radiant white that could barely be seen by the shadow cast from the street light above them. Which was a shame as she also had many beautiful tattoo’s splashed on her body.
“My dear Romeo. Sitting out here is dangerous all alone. You could get hurt, or worse, killed.”
“Love, how many times do I have to tell you to call me by my real name?”
“I don’t like Jesse. It brings shame to all the fun times we had together.”
Jesse rolled his eyes and sat up. Ironically a song from a band that she had showed him started playing on his mp3 player. He put it turned it down a little but left the other headphone in his ear.
“What are you doing out here anyway Clarissa? Shouldn’t you be feeding right now?”
“The blood isn’t ripe right now from anyone close by. So I decided to visit my favorite pet,” she said as she started petting him. He pushed her arm away and took his cigarette from her.
“You know I don’t like when you treat me like an animal. It reminds me of the monster I once was.”
“Lovely, we’ve talked about this. The difference between an animal and a monster, is control. You had control, so therefore you were just an animal. And I love it,” she winked at him flirtatiously and then walked over to sit next to him.
“Why are you out here? Shouldn’t you be with Rydar?”
Jesse blew out smoke and passed the cigarette back to Clarissa.
“You know how I get at night.”
“And Rydar won’t lay naked with you like I did?”
Clarissa blew out some smoke rings and refused to look at an annoyed Jesse. She had been referring to a solution to his nightly depression that she had suggested to him the first time he ran away to her house. They would strip down and hold each other all night. Jesse found the skin to skin contact and the sound of her heart beat to be soothing, and could keep him from his thoughts. Clarissa had been very open to this solution as she was not a very shy person with her body. His fiance Rydar on the other hand was the opposite. She was barely comfortable being half naked around him. Which left him too many nights like these.
“No she won’t, but it’s okay. I’m learning to get over it,” he lied.
“Of course you are Romeo.”
As she had always been able to, she knew he was lying.
“Anyway, have you told her about our past together yet, or what I am?”
“She’s not ready for that yet. My past with you and the others, is too much for other humans to handle.”
“You handled the news really easily.”
“Ya, but I’ve always had it in my head that vampires, werewolves, and all things like that existed. She hasn’t.”
“Well maybe I could show her.”
Clarissa extended her fangs and her eyes shifted to blood red, cat like eyes. Her half vampire form as it were.
“No, she’s already uncomfortable enough with our friendship due to our assorted past so . . .”
“I don’t get the problem. So we had sex multiple times, in multiple places, and I almost turned you into a vampire. She could just get over it.”
“. . . So I don’t want to make it harder for her to accept me.”
“If she really loves you, she would accept you for anything.”
“Well obviously I don’t know what that’s like. No one from my family has ever accepted me. No one I’ve ever been with has ever accepted me. Besides yourself, no one accepts me for who I am.”
“You don’t even know who or what you are.”
Jesse looked at her confused, but she didn’t say anything else about it. Classic Clarissa.
Over the next few minutes they sat by his car and talked about their past and present. As midnight approached Jesse decided to say goodbye and head home. He had a lot to do tomorrow and needed to see Rydar before she went to sleep. His car tore down the street at an amazing speed and got him home in under ten minutes; a new record for himself. As always he had to turn down his radio as he drove through his neighborhood and parked in his drive way. He waited for the garage door to open and pulled inside. The garage still had his bass and amps in it and his various work out equipment set up. Tomorrow he would have to clean it up. He got out of the car and walked back to the drive way and looked up at the moon.
The moon looked so beautiful to him, even though it was the same moon he had seen his entire life. Yet every time he still took it as a gift from Luna, the moon goddess, and was happy. If only that happiness lasted forever and he wouldn’t have to smoke so much. He looked down at the cigarette in his hand and grimaced. It tasted like crap, but it always made him feel better. An even trade in his mind.
“Have I ever told you how sexy you look when you smoke?”
Jesse smiled as he recognized Rydar’s voice. Turning he saw his gorgeous, cream skinned fiance standing by his trunk of his car. Rydar Nicole Gray. Her long red hair looked so radiant in the moon light. It really brought her green eyes to focus by contrast and just made Jesse smile. Her beautiful eyes was the first thing he had noticed about her when they had met a little over three years ago. Well those and her beautiful slender lips that were always in a smile when they were together. The rest of her body was amazing too. She had a perfectly curvy body, tanned white, and knew how to show it off. Her clothes always hugged her the right way and gave her such an air of sensuality. She was only a little shorter than Jesse and only two years older. They had met at Jesse’s work only a few months after he started, she worked in the bakery department of the same grocery store.
“You have told me a few times, but I still love hearing it.”
“Well you look sexy when you smoke.”
“Well come give me a kiss then.”
She smiled and quickly pressed her lips against his. When she pulled back she blew out small smoke rings. They both laughed and Jesse turned his head to look back up at the moon. She was beautiful tonight, and always seemed to be calling to him. A small power filled his body as he starred up at her. Rydar walked up beside him and took his hand. Jesse turned to look at her then smile. He kissed her cheek as she took the last drag of his cigarette. Together they walked inside and closed the garage door.
“I’m home Seaver.”
“Okay,” called back Seaver from her room. Jesse knew it wold be a few more minutes before she came out to actually greet him. Even though he was like a big brother to her, whatever she was doing in her room always came first. It made Jesse laugh but it was something he had come to expect and love from her. She had been living with him long before Rydar moved in. They had met only a week before he and Rydar. He was next to his old high school and was walking to a corner market when he picked up the scent of blood. Following it he found her lying in the school courtyard covered in blood. She was barely conscious and only said one word, “Help." He took her back to his house, washed the blood off of her, and treated the cuts and scratches covering her body. When she finally woke up, she was laying in Jesse’s bed and he had fallen asleep on the ground next to her. The next morning they talked and discovered that Seaver didn’t remember anything about that night, or where she was living. She didn’t remember her parents, she didn’t really remember anything about the past year of her life. Jesse decided the best thing to do was give her a place to stay until she got better. Over the course of the last year they got close and became like a family, including Rydar. It was something that Seaver and Jesse needed.
In the kitchen himself, Rydar, and Seaver sat at the table and talked about their days. Seaver had left the house with one of her friends to do something uninteresting to Jesse. Rydar had gone to work, came home and watched television all day as she normally did. Neither of them had much imagination in activities for the day. Which was a shame because they could do some amazing things. Rydar was an excellent baker and cook, and Seaver was great with cleaning. Together they could have not only made Jesse some treats, but they also could have cleaned up the house. Instead, they choose to be lazy and ignore the house. Which was great with Jesse, especially when he had worked all day.
They talked for a few more hours before the girls took off to bed. Jesse stayed in the living room to play around on his bass guitar and to watch t.v. He always enjoyed his alone time at night especially when he didn’t have work the next day. It was one of the few times he could do whatever he wanted to.
Quietly he walked to the garage and turned on his amp. It hummed rhythmically as he lifted up his bass and played with the strings. He loved his bass, because it was on of the few gifts his older brother Anthony had given him after their family fell apart. Jesse spent many hours playing with it, and making up songs. When he was younger most of them were about wanting to run away, or wanting to find love. Now most of them were about love, the pain he felt from his past, and inner demons. He strummed the familiar chords and sang quietly to himself.
“So here we are again. Lost in the mix of the lies and the facade.”
Something shook the garage door and made Jesse jump. He stayed quiet for a few seconds and listened. There were not more sounds from outside. Again he strummed the notes and started singing.
“Lost in the mix of the lies and the facade. The moon shines down and lights up my world. Yet I can’t stand to see the bodies lying around me. I am nothing more then an animal, a monster in human clothing.”
He closed his eyes and started rocking his head back and forth.
“Losing myself in the world around me. I run the streets lost in the crowd. Blood running around me, circling the heart of my own. I can’t forget what I’ve done to you.”
The lights around Jesse brightened but he didn’t pay any attention to it.
“Now you’re gone, you’re gone. And I’m sitting on this gravestone alone. The best part of my taken away by her love. Love taken away by her hand. You worthless, selfless, selfish, little . .”
The light bulb above him exploded as he sung. Jesse jumped back and fell back onto the concrete, hitting his head hard. As he started to black out, he felt his blood pooling around him. As the room faded from his vision, he found himself smiling.
When he woke up again, he was laying in the middle of a large field of amethyst crystals, taller then himself. Each one of them was glowing and released a small heartbeat like shock wave through the ground. Jesse slowly got to his feet and felt the back of his head. There was no cut or blood, not even a bump.
“This is weird,” he said looking at his clean hand.
He dusted off and walked around the field. Outside of the diamonds was a large dense forest that offered no hint as to where Jesse was. He looked up at the sky and surprisingly saw that the full moon was directly above him. The stars around it, were bright and beautiful. It was the best view of that Jesse had ever seen, even besting the view at the top of the mountain he liked to visit when he was very stressed out.
Jesse walked around the field until finding the center. There was a large cluster of crystals that looked sort of like a throne. He walked over to it and hesitated before sitting down. As soon as he did, he felt like electricity struck him and he screamed. His body was stuck to the chair and a silver wind was twirling around him. A strange power was surging around his body and his veins were pushing against his skin as he screamed again. His hair was standing on end, surging with silver electricity. He screamed and pulled with all his strength. Finally his body was ripped off the throne and thrown to the ground. He panted heavily and clenched dirt in his fists. The electricity was still surging around him and had given his body a strange silver glow. He looked at his hands and watched as the glow slowly faded.
“Chosen just as I knew you were,” said someone that Jesse couldn’t see. He tried to stand but his body wasn’t responding to him.
“The world now depends on you. Zenkro is awake, and ready to fight.”
Jesse heard footsteps walking away from him, but when he was able to turn around, he saw nothing. He pulled himself up to his knees then immediately clasped at his wrist. Pain was surging from the center and felt like something was tearing through his skin. He looked it over and saw something pushing up through his skin, but wasn’t able to peel through. He clawed at it but wasn’t able to dig to it. Suddenly he was hit with lightning again and blacked out.