Simon was on his way to Kyles place,somewhat happy about the new supply of blood packages that Jace had shoved at him after he found out about the incident at the gig.
The night is still young he thought and realising how Dracula-ish that sounded he let out a sigh. As he walked he heard a scream,a high pitched female scream that made shivers run up his back.
His vampire senses kicked in and before he even had the time to rethink the situation, he was already dashing towards its source full speed,keeping a tight grip on his bag of goodies.
He found himself in a large shadowy graveyard surrounded by white marble stones, his sight falling to a girl half buried in the ground .
She stared at him with a mix of shock,confusion,disorientation and ,what he recalled as hunger.or thirst.. yep definitely thirst.
He realised what was happening as he saw her lounge at him.
He was hoping that The mark would not hurt her and take another victim.
What he didn't expect was her aiming at the bag in his hand, she tore it open and her eyes glowed at the sight of all the packages of blood that fell to to the floor.
She took a pack and fiddled with it trying to open it with a puzzled expression.
Simon,keeping his eyes locked on her, took one of the many other packages on the floor and tore it open at where the marker indicated he should.
The sharp smell of blood quickly filled the air ,causing the girl to drop the bag in her hands and reach out to the opened bag in Simon's offering hands.
Her hands shook with anticipation as she brought the blood to her thirsty lips. She finished the first pack quick and messy, and threw it on the ground next to Simon reaching for the second one that he passed to her.
Watching her as she drank a third pack of blood he asked himself with a sigh of sadness , how did she get into this situation, was she turned by choice or by force and why would her creator leave her like that.
His eyes wondered to her face,covered in blood,tasty,sticky crimson red blood. How long had it been since he last had any?he wondered and felt his mouth water at the tought of it.
She looked at him at the exact moment that his fangs slid out,her eyes widened and her vision blurred as she found herself falling to the ground.
Waking up,Mandy noticed 2 things
1.she had no idea where she was
2.she was filthy
Her clothes were covered in dirt and blood and her hair was tangled and dirty.
Her whole body was screaming shower.
Wait
Howd she gotten blood on herself?
Maybe it was just paint or
The images of last night started coming back. Images of blood,death and fangs.
She crawled out of the bed and satin on the floor,knees hugged to her chest,eyes tightly shut.
She felt as if she was choking,her breathing was uneven and there wasnt enough air in the room.
Simon,carrying a package of blood, opened the door to his room and on first glance noticed that the bed was empty, the mystery girl was all the way to the window,which was shaded, reaching out to open it and let all the deadly sunlight in.
He let the blood fall to the floor and ,just as the window creaked open, Simon tackled her to the floor, out of the streak of sunlight creeping from outside.
After making sure that it was safe,he looked at the girl's surprised expression.
He had pinned her to the wooden floor,her hands with his.
She didn't try to shake him off but stayed still,looking puzzled at his.
They were so close that their noses were almost touching,simon thought as he felt her warm breath on his cheek.
"The sun is bad" he said with a sigh as he stood up and went to close the window. "You shouldn't just go on and open windows during daytime like.." he let out another sigh as he walked to her and took her by the wrists helping her up.
"Vampires don't get along well with sunlight you know, it burnss uss" he said the last part with a LOTR reference, but as she didn't react in any way , he half-dragged her to the bed letting her sit.
"Do you know who turned you by the way? What is the last thing you remember?" Simon knelt in front of her to look her in the eyes.
She had brownish eyes with a tint of caramel,brown hair that reached to her shoulders and puffy pink lips that parted slightly when she spoke
"Nothing"
Maybe she's still in shock he thought, remembering his own first moments after awakening that frightful hour and being struck by the newly acquired senses that left him breathless.
"Where is the bathroom?"
"First door to the right"
She slipped out of the room beforehe could ask anymore questions.
Her head was pounding and her whole body ached making it hard to breathe.
Upon walking into the bathroom she found herself surrounded by clothes that were left to dry.
She folded them within a few minutes and left them on the rug in front of the door. After stripping off her clothes she let the water run steaming hot and let herself enjoy the lovely feeling of the water washing away all the dirt and blood off her.Her headache disappeared in seconds and the pains all over her body vanished as if by magic She snatched a shampoo bottle off the sink's shelf and cleaned her hair. Later she also used it as a body wash.
After a few minutes sitting on the bathroom floor,lettinge the water wash over her, she got up and closed the tap.
Examining her clothes ,she discovered that only her under garments were wearable. She slowly opened the bathroom door,remembering the clothes she had folded earlier, and grabbed the top t-shirt. It was an oversized black t shirt that reached down to about her mid tight.
She stood in front of the sink mirror trying to comb her bird nest like hair with her figers and failing miserably.
The memories of last night's bloody "adventure" still haunting her,leaving infinite numbers of questions in her head.
Even after cleaning off all the blood,she still couldn't shake off the horrible sticky feeling of disgust left behind.
She walked out of the bathroom and headed back to the room she woke up in, hoping to find the boy she saw earlier and maybe asking him a few questions about what happened and where she was.
Mandy walked in to see not only the boy from earlier but four more people who stared at her when she entered the room.
A tall black haired girl looked outraged and kept looking from the boy and back to her.
" another one Simon? Seriously?" She yelled at him while glaring at Mandy. She looked furious.
Mandy froze at the door not having any idea what the fuck was going on.
"It's not what it looks like...Izzy wait you gotta hear me out.." he tried to explain, but she was already dashing towards the door , and Mandy was unintentionaly blocking her way.
"Its not.. we didn't.. " Mandy tried to explain the situation that she wasnt completely aware of herself.
She saw the blonde guy sitting by the windowsill smirk with an amused expression .
"Yeah and I would definitely believe a slut like you" isa? belle spat " move the hell out of my way" she said as she shoved Mandy towards the wall. Hard. And glanced back to Simon " I'm honesty not even surprised anymore,but why pick someone so plain ?"she mocked.
Mandy had just about had it. The second time isabelle turned to look at her Mandy could see the utter disgust on her face .
While isabelle was still facing towards her, Mandy did something that left everyone in the room wide eyed and gapeing . Witbh one swift blow she kicked Izzy behind the knee and shoved her back with one hand,making her lose her balance and fall gracelessly on the floor.
"You have no right to talk to me like that" she whispered,not completely realising what just happened.
Everything went still for a few seconds and then Simon rushed to izzy but by the time he reached her, she was already up and storming out of the room.
"Leave it ,she's better off coping by herself" the blonde said with a note of amusement. "What I'd like to know is how you managed to take down one of the best shadowhumters I know in a single blow, you can't possibly be all human" he glanced at Mandy."so,what are you?"
"I don't even know my own name and you're asking me for my birth certificate, well that's plain ignorant"
She said under her breath "shouldn't I be the one asking that question?"
" Dude I have no idea what you gave her but I think the warlock who sold it to you did a crappy job"
" I didn't drug her!?!" Simon stared on disbelief." I found her"
"So now you're keeping her as a pet?"
"No! I just.."
"Decided to have a sleepover with a girl with memory loss lying to her telling her she's your fiancee and that she lives with you and your bands vocalist?"
"For crying out loud Jace Just let me finish my damn sentence!" Simon yell.
Jace smirked,proud of himself.
"My name's Mandy" she sighed " that's all I know. The last thing I remember is waking up in a graveyard and shadows and that he "she pointed to Simon"found me. I also remember blood,but I don't remember who was injured."
Simon walked up to Jace and started talking in hushed whispers .
"How could you ask her what she is Jace? Can't you tell she's a vampire? With Kyle you could tell right away."
Jace glanced at Mandy,who was now sitting on the bed still wearing nothing but the oversized T shirt and talking to Alec and Kyle with a glowing smile in a friendly manner.
"Explain. Now."
After Jace and Alec left and Kyle went to his night shift leaving Simon and Mandy sitting awkwardly on the couch ,each trying to figure out what was going on.
"Sooo" Mandy said " I'm a vamp. Umm yay?"
"Yay" he echoed.
"At least that's something I know about myself"
"Wait, how did you know that your name's Amanda"
"Mandy" she sigh " I went trough my things, pockets and stuff,you know. And I found a birthday card with that name"
"Are you sure you didn't write it?"
"Yup, not unless you think I look,like a Christopher"
"Maybe after a few procedures" he teased.
She threw a couch pillow at him.
"Even if I were a chris, I would still be very happy with the fabulousness of my current state." The look on her face was so serious that Simon couldn't help it and laughed.
It was a soft low muffled noise that Mandy found very appealing.
"Can you show me?"
"Sure"
Mandy went to the bath room and came back with a turquoise blue wallet which then handed to Simon
"This is the only thing that can help me find out who I am and where I come from and the only clue it gives me is a stupid birthday card. GG" She said bitterly.
"And a credit card"
'Whaa-? That wasnt there when I checked"
"It was in an inside pocket"
"Oh"
"It belongs to Christopher Rose, and it also has this" he said as he handed Mandy a piece of paper
"Numbers?"
"The pin code"
" I haven't heard of a pin that ends with XOXO "
"That's cause there can't be" simon sigh " it can only contain numbers"
"But that makes no sense. Maybe someone just decided to scribble on the paper?"
"Doubt it"
Mandy put the card back in the wallet and was just about to put it in her pocket,when she realised she still wasn wearing any pants.
" if I'm really gonna have to stay here ,like the dyed blond prick said, I'll have to get some new clothes cause the old ones are horrid and I can't keep on walking around like this " she pulled down the shirt.
"I don't mind"
" helping me get clothes or me walking around like this"
"Both actually"
She laughed. Simon thought shed get angry or something but she laughed and she called Jace a dyed blond. And a prick. Yep they were gonna get along well.
When the sun went down Simon and Mandy headed downtown to the shops that were surely open. She was wearing a pair of Simon's baggy jeans with a belt she borrowed from Kyles room and the t shirt from earlier .
She tried using the credit card,and to her surprise it worked, the ATM showed no recognition even if the card was fake.
Simon took her to a shop with a name in the lines of "pretty in pink" where ,oh what a surprise, almost everything was pink but it didn't look pretty... he had to drag her inside only to watch her flee the second he let go.
"No pink" she mumbled.
The next shop was normal-ish with a shade of punk.he watched her dash back and forth and in and out of the changing room.
After a good hour or two Simon was happy to finally get out the shop.
He really wanted to call Clary but Jace had "ordered" him not to get her involved because of the wedding coming up and all. He felt really sleepy (since he wasn't so nocturnal anymore) and kinda pissed off,because Isabelle would probably never want to speak to him again.
As he turned around to face Mandy he noticed she wasn't following and was out of sight.
Mandy was sitting in a coffee shop and ,while munching on a chocolate biscuit , was trying to recall something ,anything about herself before the awakening at Simons place. Every time she tried to concentrate it was hitting a brick wall , it does more damage to you than the barrier.
She tried a few more times before giving up due to the pulsating pain and lack of progress.
She continued drinking her tea when she got a poke on the back, she turned to see a very pissed off Simon. His expression however changed to shock when he saw the tea and biscuit leftovers.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you..."
'Do what"
"Eat that cookie"
"Are you saying I'm fat?"
"No.. but that's gonns be really nasty when it comes back up" he felt sick in his stomach just by looking at it.
"I'm not bulimic you prick"
"That's not what I meant " he took a seat next to her. "I mean that we error can't digest human food and it eventually .. finds its way out"
"Oh" she left what was left of the cookie on the table "but , its just food "
"And its for humans, and you're no longer one. It makes sense that it won't be suitable for vampires . Even kids know we feast on blood " Simon said the last part with a cheap vampire accent.
" k."
All the way back,Simon couldn't help but go trough every theory that he could think of about how she was able to eat. He knew that it takes a lot of practice and effort even for elder vampires to be able to drink anything other than blood and now ,out of no where, a fledgling can barge in and nom tea and cookies.
Not fair.
"Where can I sleep?"
"Its just 1 am"
"And I'm sleepy " she confessed " and so are you"
"Take the bed"
"But I like the couch" she whined as she popped herself beside Simon on the couch.
"Not happening"
"Fine"
Mandy stretched her legs on his lap and lay her head on the cushions.
"Night"
She was joking at first but after a few seconds she felt her eyelids close and she drifted into sleep.
Mandy was woken up by the sound of a microwave followed by a lot of swearing. To her surprise she was back at the bedroom and the bloody sheets had been changed.
At the sight of Mandy at the door Kyle rushed to shut the curtains close ,a few more swears escaping his lips.
"Sorry" she whispered.
"No problem. Its just that I'm not used to it "
"Oh. Wait . Haven't you and simon been living together for a mount?"
"Yeah but... "
"Nevernind , where is Simon anyway?"
" He's at Clary's so you're stuck with me."
" Okay" she sat herself on a chair next to the dining table.
Who's Clary? She wanted to ask but held her tongue.
"Here "Kyle said passing her a cup.
" I would have prefered some tea" her voice shook as she spoke.
Mandy left the cup on the table not giving it a second glance.
"Do you have any?"
At first Kyle thought that her behaviour was normal. That she was still thinking she was alive and denying her thirst. But now ,after making her drink the cup of blood,he wasn't so sure. He was standing in front of the bathroom door still very unhappy that she wouldnt let him in.
Amanda felt sick to her bones. The blood she drank made her dizzy and she couldn't keep it down for long.
After it had gone by the drain, she found herself sitting on the cold bathroom floor with her arms around her knees shaking violently. There was something wrong with her. And not just the vampire part.
"Hey! You okay in there?" It was Kyle,sounding distressed.
Great,she thought,now people are getting worried they broke me or something
"Okay" she mumbled. "I-I'm gonna take a shower"
"I'll bring you a towel" he said after a while.
Simon was on his way to Luke's to see Clary when his cell rang.
"Hey man what's..."
"Was there anything wrong with the blood packs in the fridge?!?"
"Not that I know of. Wh-"
"Are you sure they weren't like expired or something?"
"There was nothing wrong with them!I got them two days ago,from Jace. Why??"
"Well I sorta gave one to Mandy and well.. um.." he trailed off.
"And what?"
"She puked it out. I've never seen that before. And now she's laying in the bed shaking. Man , I have no idea what to do..."
"Just stay put okay?'' Simon didn't wait for a reply and hung up.
Mandy was curled up on the right side of the bed having wrapped herself in the blanket,she heard the door open but didn't make any notice of it.
"Mandy?" Simons voice crept into the room."you there?" No reply. "I brought you tea?"
The bump on the bed rose up a little as if listening.
"If you come out I'll also give you a cookie?" Simon sat at the edge of the bed and waved the cookie in front of the bump.
A hand reached out blindly from under the covers and tried to grab the cookie,unsuccessfully, and Simon carefully placed the treat within its grasp. The hand retreat,taking thesweet back to its lair.
Simon waited until,a few minutes later, a pretty beat up looking Mandy emerged from the blankets.
"Did you say Tea?"
Mandy drank her tea in silence while Simon was studying her. The way her brown eyes lingered around the room,always stopping a little too long at the beam of light escaping from the curtains, the way her short pear coloured hair bounced as she breathed. He was too busy trying to figure out what was wrong with her to actually look at what was right. She was beautiful.
Not in the way that isabelle or Maia were, heck not even in the way Clary was.
The creature standing (sitting) in front of him was unlike anyone he'd met before she was -
"You're staring"
-looking very pissed off.
"Are you feeling better?"
"I'm not shaking anymore" she stated.
"Do you have any idea what cau-"
"No. Honesty I don't even know why I believed you about the whole vampire mumble jumble. I should have known better... I should probably go see a doctor or something. Or a psychotherapist. I'm pretty sure the old me would have needed to-"
"Why would you say that?"
"Well ,for starters vampires are known to enjoy blood while I on the other hand-"
" I mean .. about the psychotherapy thing..?"
Mandy put the cup on the floor and rolled up her sleeves.
"I don't think that anyone completely sane would do this to themselves."
Simon carefully took her hands in his, examining the countless thin scars drawing a repeated pattern on her wrists. She looked away, not wanting to see the disgust in his eyes. If she hadn't, she would have seen there was none.
Simon didn't know what to say. He didn't have any theories , not about this... he just leaped forward and hugged her. It was awkward at first but then she gave in and hugged back.
Mandy usually wasn't the huggy type ,or at least that's what she thought since she didn't have any memories of hugging people,or at all.
Damn her life sucks.
"No more blood,okay?"
"Okay"