I always knew the road ahead was dangerous. I mean, that’s why I accepted that this was the life I had to live. But I never knew that it would turn everything upside down.
1. This is me, Elly Bolan
I found out that I was not normal, not like an ordinary human being. You know those TV programmes when people claim that they see things? Angels, ghosts and all that? Well, I’m a bit like that, but it gets confusing. I see ordinary people. Yes, ordinary people living their daily lives. Or so I thought I did.
Someone told me more through a dream I was having when I drove through the pitch-black streets at night. I was coming home from a friend’s party, not really sober anymore, but sober enough to drive. All of a sudden, the headlights of a car in front of me blinded me for a second and I turned the wheel frantically, right into the woods, my car crashing into a tree, making my head bang onto the wheel and black out everything surrounding me. A dark, cloaked figure, surrounded by red lights, was talking to me. At first I couldn’t hear the figure, but after a few moments of concentrating I could hear it clearly say that I am predetermined to kill them. The things I see at night. The dark shadows I see walking around round my house at night. I am predetermined to slaughter them. To massacre them.
As fast as the figure had come, it had gone again. My eyes flickered, and I woke up in a white room. At first I thought I'd ended up in the hospital, but this was different. Everything, and by that I mean everything, was white. Even the buttons to lift my bed up were white. My suspicions were confirmed when a doctor came walking in, with a name tag on it saying something like, ‘Institution of Abnormal Beings’, better known as IAB. Actually, it’s not known by anyone, as the doctor told me. “Elly Bolan, you are hereby released from our institution after three days of observation. Here is the subscription you need to pick up your medicines.” I raised an eyebrow, as I didn’t know what he was talking about. He looked at me with a vacant expression. “We know you see things, Elly. You are predetermined to exterminate the things you see, which are here known as the ‘ITHE’s. That is short for ‘invisible to the human eye’. Do you know Buffy the Vampire Slayer?” I nodded as I was a big fan of her show. “Well, vampires don’t really exist, but ITHEs do." The tone of his voice turned more serious. "We don't know much about them and their kind, but we do know that they are dangerous. These beings seem to have an extra chromosome in their DNA, known as M. M causes ordinary human beings to suddenly, err, mutate, into ITHE's. Emotional stress seems to trigger this change, and it makes Sally next door turn into the girl from the Exorcist. Let me assure you that these are ordinary human beings, but are still terribly difficult to find and destroy." I lay there, letting myself take all the information in for a few seconds. "That," he continued, "is why you're here. We've scanned the whole human race to find someone who has a natural genetic ability to find ITHE's. We found you and tracked you down during one of your seizures. You have to find them, and kill them, or, even better, bring them back here."
"What do I have to do?" I asked, still not very awake. "Are you sure you've got the right girl?"
"Yes, I am perfectly sure," the doctor held my hand tenderly. "You just need to, err, control your seizures. They can come at any time but if you concentrate, and take these," he handed some tablets into my hand, "you can take control, and use them to find these people."
"But I can't fight, let alone kill someone!" I cried.
"Oh, I think you'll find you're stronger than you think," the doctor smiled broadly. "Here." He held a knife in his hand and rapidly swept it past my head. I stopped it in mid-flight, twisted his wrist hard, and sat, amazed at my own power.
2. First blood
A few hours later I got dropped off at my flat. The lady who had given me my medicine said that it would increase my ‘radar’ to pick up the ITHEs. God, I really have to think of an other name cause this stinks. I walked in my flat, got greeted by a very hungry dog, who I gave his meal immediately. Twice. Luckily, my girl next door, a 12-year old, always walked my dog around 12am, when I’m supposed to be at Uni. Which was getting hard if I had to combine that with the slaying at night.
That night, I lay down in my bed, but I couldn't get to sleep. I was tossing and turning every 5 seconds and couldn't close my eyes. The window had mysteriously been blast open, and I felt a cold breeze about my shoulders. I shivered.
I closed my eyes, and a surge of green light surrounded me. I opened my eyes but it made no difference. This was no dream. In the corner of my bedroom was a man of about 7ft, much taller than me, with long brown dreadlocks and a face to wilt flowers at 100 metres.
I panicked at first, I screamed, hoping that someone would hear, but the man put his hand on my mouth. I tried to force him away, but he pinned me against the wall with one hand. I kicked my legs about and tried to wriggle myself free, but he dug one of his nails into my neck and drew blood. I realised that I had to move, to move fast, or I'd die.
My eyes began to water and I screamed an ear-piercing scream into his ear. He fell to the ground within seconds. I seemed to have deafened him.
I ran over to him and poked him with my finger. He seemed to be dead. I counted to three. Still no movement. I ran back to my bed and hid under the covers.
I jumped just then. I heard a loud growl and the next thing I knew, this giant of a bloke was crushing me with his foot.
I frantically dragged a lamp from the table next to me and smashed it over his head. A shard of glass got embedded in his leg, but he seemed to be unaffected, and carried on crushing me. My eyes grew larger and my face went blue because I could hardly breathe. I gasped for air, but felt nothing. I closed my eyes as he crushed me, down, down, down into my own bed, to my own death.
I tried a last ditch attempt to breathe. With all the strength I could muster, I pushed him away from me, through the wall, and into the next room. I kicked him in the stomach like I'd seen on Buffy. He clutched his side, and I saw that there was a lot of blood coming from a gash and a large piece of glass. He was weakening.
I ran to the kitchen as fast as my legs would allow and grabbed a knife from one of the drawers. I freaked out as I saw the guy coming towards me, still losing a lot of blood. I snapped. I had to kill him once and for all. Get it done with. I thrust the knife right at his heart and watched as he died right in front of me. I pulled back his hair, and saw a mark on his neck. He was one of them.
3. Charlie
A few months passed. I was getting used to the night and day rhythm. I practically lived at night, slaying those creatures, going to bed at six in the morning to get up at seven to get ready for Uni. But I could handle it; I would sleep when I got home from Uni, eat after sleeping and then start slaying my arse off. Until I got a letter on my doormat from IAB. Saying I had to go to karate training. Which I went to, and although I had to skip my last lessons at Uni for it, it was more fun than the boring science lessons. My karate teacher was, a surprisingly fit lad, of about 6ft 2, with hazel eyes and a smile to melt a million hearts. The best thing of those trainings was that they were private, so Charlie (that was his name) and I could talk about anything, from my stomach pains caused by PMS, to his first kiss.
He helped me kick my legs higher, and showed me how to do a split, without causing any pulled muscles. He didn’t do the actual split himself of course, that would be way too painful! But he touched my legs and put them in the right position.
I always looked forward to the end of the training, not because I could leave then. No, he would massage me afterwards with his big hands. Touching and massaging every single muscle in my back body. “Turn around babe.” I lay there, naked, under a tiny towel and he wanted me to turn around? “Oh come on Elly, I wont harass you. Now, flip over.” I did as I was told, covering my breasts by crossing my arms over them. “Loosen up, El. You’ve been coming here for over four weeks now, every day. Besides, I’ve seen breasts before.” He winked at me, before removing my arms. He massaged for another fifteen minutes, suspiciously staying around my chest area. Not a thing I could read from his face as he did. Only occasionally blinking.
“There, done. Wasn’t so hard, now was it?” He pulled me up, handing a bigger towel to cover me all up. “I’m gonna take a shower, see you tomorrow Charlie.” I hopped to the dressing room, leaving Charlie to clean up the mess. I stepped under the hot water, the sweat washed away. As I washed my hair, I heard someone entering the dressing room. I shrugged and thought it must have been Charlie closing the door behind my ass.
Stepping out of the shower, towel wrapped around me, drying my hair with an other one, I noticed a pile of clothing and it wasn’t mine. More like… Charlie’s. I heard a running shower and someone softly humming. Yep, definitely Charlie, but what the heck was he doing in my dressing room? He had his own for God’s sake! I dressed myself, put my shoulder length brown hair in a ponytail and packed my bag. Suddenly steam filled the room. Charlie stepped out of under the shower, only a tiny towel covering his bits. “Oh, bloody heck! I thought you were gone already!” He said, nearly dropping his mini towel. “Anyway, the showers in mine are all broken so I had to use yours. Do you mind?” I shook my head. “No, not at all. Go ahead.” Only then, after the steam had cleared up a bit, I noticed his wet, toned chest, which made me drool like a baby. “Something wrong, Elly?” He came closer to me, tucking a string of hair behind my ear. I could smell his shower gel, I could feel him breathe. Hell, I could even feel his heart pump, so close as he was. “No, nothing’s wrong.” I smiled and tried to put my hand on his chest as naturally as possible. Oh God, can someone get me bucket to drool in? “Okay, good…” He grabbed my hand. “I think it’s better if you leave right now.” “Why?” I asked, confused. "I don't wanna leave!"
Charlie grabbed me and kissed me there and then. I was shocked at first, but then something else happened. Something really strange. I started seeing things right as his hand moved to my waist.
"Mummy, Mummy, where are you?" said the little kid in the dream. I woke up and realised that I wasn't in Charlie's arms anymore. I was in a dark street, possibly fifteen or so years ago. In a flashback. I looked carefully at the child. He had big, slightly watery hazel eyes and blonde hair, just like Charlie. He looked about four, and glanced around worriedly. "Mummy," he cried. "Mummy?"
He started to sob. I began to shout out to him. "Charlie!" I shouted. He didn't even turn to me. He seemed to not be able to hear me. "Charlie!" The boy turned to me this time, but I could tell that he wasn't looking at me. Suddenly, a woman with a black cloak came and drew a sword of some kind. Charlie, for I guessed that it was him, started to run, but the woman caught up with him and knocked him to the floor.
"Somebody help me!" little Charlie hollered as the woman crept up to him.
"Charlie, NO!" I cried, and tried to grab the sword from the woman. She took no notice of me, and I couldn't stop her. My hand ran right through the sword. She stabbed Charlie in the back. I watched in horror as the boy lay there, slowing dying in the middle of the cold, wet, dark avenue. "Charlie," I cried out. I could feel my hand disappearing into thin air...
4. Confused
A flash, and I got back to the real world. In Charlie’s arms, still kissing him. With the little kid still in the back of my head, I pushed Charlie off me, grabbed my bag and ran as fast as I could into the hallway, straight to the laboratory where the doctor who helped me at first was. Confused, and with tears in my eyes I clung myself onto him, asking what the hell happened a few minutes ago. “Elly, calm down. Elly!” He shook my body, so my mind would turn back to normal. It worked and I stopped crying, still whispering Charlie’s name over and over again. I told him what I had seen, he carefully listened to me and nodded occasionally. "I knew this would be trouble..."
I tried to stop myself from an emotional outburst. "But he's one of them!"
The doctor nodded his head sadly. "I cannot deny it."
I burst into tears again. "I can't love him!" I sobbed.
"Well, the thing is with Charlie... ...he was an ITHE. He had been destined from birth. But, as a young child he started seeing things, and it freaked him out. In the end, his parents decided to abandon him on the street."
"But weren't Charlie's parents ITHEs?"
"No. His family was a pretty unusual one. The gene had been skipped for 4 generations. Charlie was just unlucky."
I stood there and pondered over his words for a few moments, and realised how bad I felt. I felt so sorry for Charlie.
The doctor glanced at me and carried on. "Anyways, as Charlie had been abandoned, he had nowhere to go. He was only three years old, and hardly strong enough mentally to know what was going on. He fought so hard against the M in his body, and basically waged a war against the whole ITHE race. We don't know how he did it, but he won. That flashback you saw was when the head of the ITHEs attacked him for deserting them. He must have been a very special boy to have overcome the ITHEs. So we keep him here to keep an eye on him, and to find out how he did it. He really wouldn't hurt a fly."
“But…” I thought for a moment. “I want to know more about these creatures. I fight against them, but actually, I have no idea what I’m fighting for.” I explained to the doctor.
He nodded. “Well, I can explain it to you, but you won’t understand one thing of what I’m saying. But we have a boy working in the library, James, who is obsessed with these things. I think he’ll be the right person to explain it to you.” I thanked the doctor, and going into the direction he pointed to, following the boards which led me to the library.
5. James
A young lad was sitting at one of the large tables. As far as I could see he had blonde hair, wearing baggy jeans and a t-shirt. I walked up to him, he didn’t even seem to notice me as I sat down opposite of him. He had thick glasses on his nose, which was stuck into a big, yellowed, dusty book. He pushed his glasses back on his head. “Are you James?” I asked.
He jumped up and inch as he looked up. “Bloody hell, aren’t you Elly? Elly Bolan?”
I nodded. “Hey, I’m famous dude!” I joked, but pulled a serious face immediately after my words. “Anyway, the doctor told me to ask you more about those ITHEs. I heard you are fascinated by them?” He nodded shyly, and signalled me to come and sit next to him. I stood up, walked around the table and sat next to him, looking into the book. He pointed onto a picture, which showed a woman with raven-black hair and skin as pale as a ghost, and two kneeled men.
“That’s Melusine, she used to be the head of the ITHEs. The two other freaks kneeled under her were her slaves, Tyro and Gnypsus. They searched for the right victims, and for potential heirs to the realm. They did find one, about three hundred years ago, a boy. He was about four years old and almost certainly doomed to be an ITHE.”
I interrupted him. “You mean Charlie?”
James nodded. “Yes, Charlie.”
“But, then he must be over three hundred years old by now! Why isn’t he dead? He isn’t an ITHE anymore.”
James leafed through the book, and pointed out a picture with the Melusine woman and a small, blond kid getting stabbed with her sword. “Charlie was indeed an ITHE. Melusine found out that, one day, a child more powerful than her would kill her and take over. She thought that Charlie was the one, and tried to persuade him into forming an allegiance with her.” He thought for a second. "You know Charlie?"
"Yeah." I didn’t want to talk about Charlie anymore, so I changed the subject. “And what about Melusine, you said she used to be the head of the creatures. Then who is it now?”
James stood up, walking over to one of the, possibly hundreds, bookcases and took out a book. He sat next to me again and shoved the other book away, putting the newer looking book on the table and leafing through it. He stopped at a page where a recent, but vague, picture could be seen. Or at least, it looked recent as the person who was on it was wearing a suit. “This is the new head of the ITHEs. Well, not so new, cause he’s been the leader since 1753. But anyway, this is him. He's known as Matt, well, apparently that's his pet name. His full name in Latin means cursed mother... ...ahem." James carried on reading, pausing every so often to shift his glasses around a bit. "He’s Melusine’s son. Melusine got pregnant 50 years after she had turned Charlie into an ITHE. Melusine died after the baby was born, because the baby just killed her. It weakened her and stole her power for it's own. From then on, Matt ruled an empire of over 100 known ITHEs around the world, and several thousand unknown ones. The annoying thing about Matt is, is that his appearance doesn’t change at night. He looks like a normal person, which makes it harder to track him down.” He closed the book and sighed. “Did that help?”
I nodded, “Yep, thanks.” I stood up, glanced on my watch and thought for a small second. “Hey, you wanna go grab some dinner with me? I think I can eat a horse just now.”
James smiled. “Yes, good idea. My work is done here anyway. Let me just put away these books.” He piled the two books and placed them back in the bookcases. He pushed his glasses back onto his nose, picked his jacket off the chair and walked in front of me, out the building.
6. Matt
“So, tell me. How come you’re so interested in those…” I looked around and started to whisper, “things?” We were sat in a Chinese restaurant, a quiet place. James pricked into a bit of meat. “Do you really want to know?” I nodded and took a bite of my pancake roll. “My," he paused. "My mum was one as well. I always have been a reader, and the library was my second home. When I found out she changed when night fell, I started looking for information about it and eventually I got to IAB, who picked my mum up and held her for observation. She died of loneliness there.” James sniffed and pushed his glasses back onto his nose once again. I put my fork down and caressed his hand.
“I’m really sorry to hear that.” He looked up with watery eyes.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
He showed a weak smile. “No, it’s okay. I’ve never told anyone actually.” I let go of his hand and slumped back in my chair. “What about your father?”
James frowned and looked aside, as if he was ashamed. “My father died when I was seven.” All I could say was a long, but soft ‘oooh’. I sort of pitied him; he lost both of his parents as a little child. “But enough about me, how about you?”
I smiled, glad to see him smile again after what he had told me. “I’m not so famous after all.” I winked at him. “But my parents live miles away, Southend to be precise. I moved to London when I got accepted at Uni here. I only see them in the holidays.” It felt weird to talk about my parents. I hadn’t seen them in ages. Another glance at my watch. “James, I’m really sorry but I have to go. Work y’know.” He nodded, stood up at the exact same time as me and handed me my jacket.
We stood outside, in the cold, I shivered.
“Shall I walk you home?” He pushed his glasses onto his nose one last time and put his hands in his pockets. I shook my head. “No, I’m gonna head off into town immediately anyway. No point in bringing me home. You’ll only risk your life.”
“I’d be happy to do that…” He whispered, but I could hear him. I acted liked I didn’t hear and softly kissed him on his cheek. “It was nice talking to you, James.” I smiled, he sighed.
“Yeah, same here.” A smile covered his entire face and he turned around to walk off in a different direction than I had to go to.
I hid half of my face in my jacket, to keep the cold out. The hands in the pockets of my jacket, I walked into an alley. It was dark, and there was no light for all I could see. With my mind on James, instead of concentrating myself on ugly, dangerous creatures I just walked my way blindly. I heard a crash, metal ripping and scouring, followed by a loud voice. “Watch out!” Something, or someone, fell on my back, making me fall down on the floor. I scraped myself from off the ground hastily and gazed upwards. Not one, but three of those ugly creatures were in front of me, grinning their butt ugly faces off.
“Get out of my way.” I got pushed aside by a guy and slammed onto a brick wall. The guy hit them, pulled a large knife out of his pocket and one by one he slaughtered them. He didn't just throw the knife, however. He seemed to control them with his mind. I watched as he moved his hand, and the knife up with it, and, as he thrust his hand back, the knife flew straight into one of the butt ugly creatures. Twisting and turning 360 degrees in the air, the knife seemed to write a symbol in the cut of the victim. It was like a horror movie, or even the Matrix, but I wasn't scared.
He breathed heavily. “What the hell are you doing in a dark alley like this one at this hour, lady?” I sighed. “Actually, it’s my job to kill those things.” I walked out of the alley, where I could see properly again. The guy followed me. “What? Are you the new slayer?” I nodded, it was then that I noticed he had dark hair, brown eyes and a friendly face. “And who are you then?” I asked him irritated. He shrugged. “None of your business…Elly.” I crossed my arms and pulled up an eyebrow. “Since you know so much about me, I think I have the right to know who you are.” I heard a honking car, and in a reflex I looked over my shoulder and looked back to the guy. But he was gone. Nowhere to be seen. I shrugged, and tried to concentrate on whatever was out there. I felt nothing, it was a quiet night for a change, which made it all a bit suspicious. But maybe ITHEs sleep too, or whatever. Would be good to go to bed at a normal time for once, so I did. I walked home, gave my dog his meal and went to bed.
7. Stuck in a rut
I woke up by the phone which was loudly ringing. I picked it up and heard a screaming friend of mine. “Where the hell are you?! You’re supposed to be at Uni, Elly!” I made up a lame excuse that I wasn’t feeling so well and got out of bed.
Scratching my head, and yawning at the same time, I walked up to the door, picking up my mail. Not important, not important, junk… an eviction note?! What the hell? Great, just great. Where the heck can I get the money to pay for the rent? I don’t even have the time to work! This was something for I.A.B. If they wanted me to keep on working for them, they would have to pay me.
I quickly dressed myself, brushed my teeth and jogged my way to the building, not far from my flat. With the eviction note in my hand, I found my way to the laboratory. Just something inside told me that I had to go to the doctor. I didn’t know anyone else anyway. “Okay Elly. What now?” The doctor said irritated. I held the eviction note in front of his face. “Oh right, I see.” He got the letter out of my hand and read it slowly. “Well?” I asked, hands on my hips, waiting impatiently for him to say something or come with a solution. “Well, I guess since you’re very valuable for I.A.B. we are going to pay your rent and the rest. You really don’t have the time to work.” “Thank you.” I grabbed the piece of paper out of his hands and turned around. “Elly?” I turned on my heels and sighed deeply. “Aren’t you supposed to be at Uni?” I nodded, “Yes, but I’m not feeling so well.” I winked. And since I had nothing else to and really didn’t feel like going to Uni after all, I decided to go to the library, to see if my new mate was there.
I poked my head round the door, “Yo James?” I heard shuffling feet and saw someone coming from behind the bookcases. But it wasn’t the person who I expected to see, it was, surprise, surprise, Charlie.
“Hey.” He said, and walked towards me. “Listen, Elly…”
I interrupted him, “I know what happened a long time ago, Charlie.”
His eyes widened. “You do?”
I nodded, “Yes, James told me all about it.”
Charlie shook his head in disbelief. “What? Who’s James?” Just as I was about to tell him that James worked in the library and had a really bad obsession with the ITHEs, James himself walked in. “Hello,” He said shyly, and pushed his glasses up his nose. I smiled.
“So you’re James?” Charlie asked, rather irritated than happy to meet the person who told me about him. James nodded and stuck out his hand. Charlie on the other hand, put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I’m Charlie, nice to meet you. Gotta go.” He gave me a quick peck on my cheek and walked out the library.
“What’s his problem?” James asked, while walking over to one of the bookcases and getting a big book out.
I shrugged, “I dunno. What you doing?” I stood next to him, looking into the book he was leafing through.
“Nothing, just checking some things. Is there something going on between you and Charlie?” I shook my head. Looking for something to change the subject, I pointed at a picture in the book James was leafing through. “Who’s that?” I asked and jumped on the desk so I could sit. “That, Elly my dear, is Charlie’s father. Matt’s father as well, by the way. Charlie was chosen in the first place cause Melusine and his father were married. After his father changed, that is. So Charlie was related to Melusine and that made it easier to find a follow up. He,” He pointed at the man in the picture, “couldn’t be the follow up, cause he wasn’t related in any way to Melusine. Yes he was married to her, but that didn’t count. You see, this whole thing is very complicated. So when they couldn’t get Charlie as a follow up, they, err… made themselves a new one. Let’s put it that way, yes.”
I laughed softly. “Is he still alive?” I asked, slowly reading what the text next to the picture said.
“Yes, he is. Or at least, we think he is. The rumour goes that he’s always around with his son.”
“Right.” I said, then something of last night came to my mind. “Oh yeah, by the way. I met an other slayer last night. I don’t know his name though.” James eyes nearly popped out of his head and he quickly took his glasses off to clean them and put them back on. “What did you say? Another slayer? That can’t be possible. What did he look like?”
I bit my lower lip. “Err, well… he wasn’t very tall, maybe a bit taller than you, dark hair, hazel eyes. That’s all I can remember, sorry.” James shook his head. “Oh no…”
I frowned, “What?” I jumped off the desk so we were at the same eye height.
“I think you’ve met Matt, Elly.” He closed the book and walked off to the bookcases.
“But that can’t be, James, he killed three of those creatures in front of my face!” James leaned against one of the bookcases. “Well, maybe he is just trying to get your attention, as you’re the slayer in town, Elly. Just watch out.”
I nodded and at the same second I saw the bookcase which James was leaning against, moving and about to fall down. “James, watch out!” I cried and rushed over to push James aside and hold the bookcase in place. James' glasses fell off, and he looked up at me, blinking sort of blindly.
I stared at those blue eyes that were right in front of me. James felt out in front of him. "My glasses," he moaned worriedly, "where are my glasses?"
I picked up the pair of bright green glasses and put my hand out, but James started feeling my face. "Elly," he said softly. "Is that you?"
"Yeah, that's me!" I giggled, but I could see that James wasn't laughing. He blinked, but when he opened his eye again, a tear fell onto the floor.
"Hey, you alright man?" I said, stroking James' cheek. He looked up at me and smiled slightly.
"Yes, I'm alright." he mumbled, putting his glasses on. His tone of voice got louder. "Your face reminds me of my mother," he said. "It feels like my mum."
"Oh," I said, not failing to realise exactly what had happened to James. "Really?"
"Yeah," he sniffed. He pulled a picture out of his pocket. The woman in the picture was smiling, and she had striking blue eyes, like James, but she had shoulder length brown hair with reddish bits in it, and some golden streaks nearer the front, a bit like mine.
"She your mum?" I said rather bluntly.
"Yeah. She doesn't look very much like me, does she?" James replied, stroking my hair. "But you remind me a lot of her. I sometimes get scared when I lose my glasses..." his voice trailed off.
"Why?" I asked. His face was dangerously close to mine.
"Because, shortly before my mum was taken away, I lost my glasses, and I didn't see her again. I can't see very well without my glasses. So I get kinda freaked."
James drew closer to me, and for a stupid moment, I actually thought he was going to bump straight into me. But he didn't. He turned his head in the other direction from mine, and kept moving forward. I was so caught up with James, that I didn't hear a voice coming from outside the library.
"Elly?" James quickly took a step backwards.
“What? What is it?" I asked, seeing James watching the entrance of the library. I turned my head to see what James was looking at. Charlie was stood in the doorway, and he looked angry. Very angry. He made fists out of his hands, and he was breathing heavily. “Charlie?” I tried, but the only reaction I got was a loud groan. The lights in the library dimmed, until they weren’t on anymore. I heard the breathing coming nearer. “James, run!” I screamed. The lights flickered, and a growing and mutating Charlie drew nearer. He was breathing through his nose, I could see his nostrils move. His eyes changed colour, first from hazel to green, and then to blue, and then to an odd, blackish colour, specked with red. My breathing got faster as the lights flickered again and Charlie was getting closer. I jumped on the table, to get at the same height as him. He reached out his claws, and lifted me up by my neck, making it hard for to breathe. I kicked his chest and with all the strength I could muster, I got his hands off my neck. I fell back onto the table. The lights flickered once again, and I saw Charlie’s bloodshot eyes stare at me.
“Elly!” I heard James yell, as he shoved a large sword over the table towards me. I kicked it up with my foot, quickly grabbing it with both of my hands, swinging it trough the air, cutting Charlie’s bare chest. He groaned loudly, and I kicked him down onto the floor. With the sword held above my head, ready to kill my enemy, I felt something change underneath me. The lights flickered a couple of times, then they stayed on permanently. My hand around his neck, the sword still holding, I saw Charlie changing back to normal. He opened his eyes, “Please, don’t kill me Elly.” Tears fell from his eyes, and Charlie sunk to the ground. I breathed heavily, and felt my eyes get more watery. I held the sword literally a millimetre away from his throat. Charlie gulped and I heard a noise from behind me. "Please Elly, I beg you, I love you, don't kill me."
The sword in my hand got lifted, I was losing grip on it. “So you thought you could just… kill one of my people?” A cloaked figure was standing on the other side of the library, holding his hand high, calling the sword to him. He put down his hood, showing his face. “Matt…” I heard someone whisper from under the table. With one swing of his hand, I flew off Charlie, to the other side of the table, crashing a couple of chairs on my way. Matt lifted Charlie up with his power, drawing Charlie closer to him. Charlie was so weakened from fighting with me, he wasn’t able to do anything. Matt held the sword in his hand, and drew it fast as lightning along Charlie’s throat. He fell on the ground, lifeless.
"Now, it's time... ...for the main course," Matt smirked, lifting me up to him with a swipe of his hand. I flung my legs and arms about, but I couldn't gain control of my limbs. I heard a smash, and I was up against the wall. Matt began to lift pieces of metal and force them on top of me so that I couldn't move from the wall. Matt walked towards me.
"Pity... ...one so beautiful, you would have thought she'd be something decent, not a rogue slayer," Matt hissed in my ear, pressing his lips against my neck. I shifted about in the metal bands that were holding me down, but it hurt every time I tried to move. It was as if a thousand nails went straight through my skin, through a vein, and down right into the bone.
Matt stepped back from me. Although he wasn't touching me, I felt very painful and the blood boiled in my veins. My focus, however, was on James. He was nowhere to be seen, and the sword had been flung somewhere far away. I panicked.
"James! James!" I shouted.
"He can't save you now." Matt grinned evilly. "Foolish boy. He should have known better, seeing what had happened to his mother."
"You!" I shouted. "You killed James' mother, didn't you?"
Matt laughed. I wanted to hit him. "You could say that, or you could say that I spared her."
I glanced around the room for James. I saw a spike of blond hair, and immediately knew that he was dead. A tear of anger, not sadness, ran down my face.
"You killed James' mother. You killed her because she had a son with an ordinary human!"
"Slayer girl, you aren't so sheepish as I thought. I'm going to enjoy killing you."
I didn't stop to think, I just kept shouting at him. "You killed James' father because he wanted his wife to be normal again, not ruled by scum like you."
Matt looked less pleased. In fact he looked perfectly miffed. "Jenny was always a troublemaker. Didn't want to join us at first. I loved her so much... ...but she belonged to another. When I heard that she'd got herself pregnant, I knew I had to kill the bastard that got her like that, and the stupid child."
Tears started to flow down in rivers on my cheeks. I felt myself turn crimson. "You bastard!" I screamed. "You killed the two people that I loved, right in front of me! I hate you."
Suddenly, I took a deep breath, and the metal flew off me. I was face to face with Matt and there was a sword in between us.
"You, you're barely a child! How can you say something you don't know? Mind you, I am a bastard." Matt growled. He moved the sword up above me, so that I couldn't reach it. "The supposed slayer, fighting against me, the most powerful force in the entire world? I'll laugh if you win!"
"You talk big," I grabbed the sword from his magic grasp and held it precariously close to his heart, "but can you justify yourself?"
A moment, and Matt was on the floor in a pool of blood. As I heard the crash that meant he was dead, I sunk to my knees and started sobbing. I looked up to the sky. "Oh God, why did you do this to me? Why? WHY?" I cried. I was drowning in a pool of tears.
I felt a clammy cold hand, spattered with blood, on my shoulder.
"James?"
"Elly?" I turned around, James’ shirt was ripped, the wound on his chest rapidly healing.
“God, I can’t see a thing.” James mumbled, and took off his glasses, “Odd, very odd.” He inspected his glasses. I gently touched his chest.
“How is it possible…” He got hold of my hand on his chest and pulled me up. With me by his side, he ran over to the bookcases and picked out a book where he first showed me he picture of Matt in. The book fell out of his hands, onto the ground, falling open on the Matt page. The text changed, James and I kneeled down. Text was getting added slowly, how Matt had come to his end; killed by a slayer. The pages leafed by themselves, stopping at a blanc page. Words were getting written, a picture was getting drawn. “Only true love can conquer the stab of death. Wounds get healed by mutual love. A man with this power so great, has been blessed with his parents’ love and their power.” I read out loud. The picture was getting finished off, showing a young bloke, with blonde hair, and striking blue eyes. A surprising resemblance to James. Two older people, a man and the woman James had a picture of, each had one of their hands on the boy’s shoulders. It was as clear as a day that it was James.
"James..." I looked into his eyes. "I don't understand."
"I guess there's more to me than you thought," James replied. "There's more to everything than you first see."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I feared for your life." He stared at me and his hand brushed past my face.
"And they call that mutual love?" I felt confused but I could see where this was going. Or I thought I did.
"It only works if the object of my affections loves me back," James sighed. "Now I know."
"Who is the object of your affections?" I could feel my heart bumping against my ribs, beating faster, and faster.
James hesitated for a moment; it was as if he didn't really understand what was going on, either. "There's this girl," James said. "I loved her so much, but I thought she belonged to another..."
He whispered something under his breath that I couldn't hear. I felt the tears coming to my eyes. He didn't, couldn't, understand me.
"I loved someone, once," I glanced up at him but couldn't bear to look directly into his eyes. "I thought he was dead. But now, I don't think he feels the same."
James gasped. "Elly, can I ask you something?"
I was really, properly crying now. "Yeah, sure, anything..."
"Are you- I mean, are you the person? The one that loves me?"
Suddenly my eyes dried up. "I don't know. Am I?"
James rested his head on my shoulder. He cupped my face in his hands. I felt myself falling, falling into him, and for once, I knew that this was all worthwhile.