Bloodthirsty Wings

Chapter Three

Xander stood there, stunned. He hadn't felt someone hug him since the days everyone was still alive. He turned around as he watched her leave.

"No one has hugged me like that since my sister," he said to himself as he walked to his room.

He figured that she was embarrassed and didn't want to talk. He left it alone and threw his leather jacket on. Walking out the door, he grabbed his sword. He needed to get out his anger and the only way he knew how was to fight. So he left to go find the biggest creature he could find.

In her room, Helena sighed and shook her head, thinking she made him mad as she heard the door close behind him. She went to the laundry room and searched for sheets and a blanket. She found black and red ones, pulling them down off of a shelf. After making her bed, she wandered around the house. Discovering a radio, she turned it on and started listening to music. She sang along and, out of boredom, started drawing things to put on her walls with pens and paper she found in a drawer in the living room. She laid down on the couch and just let the music play.

"I probably really pissed him off... What was I thinking, hugging him like that! Ugh!" She yelled at herself.

She calmed down and continued singing and drawing. Eventually, she dozed off on the couch.

Meanwhile, out in the woods, Xander stumbled upon a bear sleeping and it attacked the vampire as soon as it saw him. He greeted the bear with his own attack and they began a huge brawl. He had won that fight but took a few claws to his back. He brought the cave bear back to the house, keeping it slung over his shoulders. As soon as he walked through the door, he dropped his sword and the bear onto the floor. He looked around his living room as he heard the radio playing music. He noticed that Helena was asleep on the couch and smirked a little as he thought of a good way to prank her. He grabbed the bear and propped it up along the couch. Once he felt that the bear was in a good position and ready to start the prank, he shook her.

"Helena, wake up," he whispered.

She lazily opened her eyes, looking around.

"What? Is everything o- WHAT THE f**k!" She yelled upon seeing the bear.

She moved back quickly and nearly fell off the couch. Out of reflex, she held out her hand and a ball of flames hit the bear's face. She looked away and curled into a ball on the floor, waiting for it to attack her. When she realized she was not getting her body torn up by the bear's huge claws, she slowly looked over at Xander, then at the bear.

He broke out into laughter as he saw her expression.

"You should see the look on your face," he exclaimed through laughs.

A few more chuckles escaped his mouth as he grabbed the bear, slinging it over his shoulders and walking into the kitchen.

"This will serve as bait for many humans. We'll catch them off guard and make our strike," he said with a smirk.

Playing this prank on her reminded him of all the times he and his sister would pull pranks on each other. He couldn't help but show a genuine smile as he thought about his little sister.

"I'll avenge you Laura. I swear it," he whispered as he stabbed the bear's eyes out with his kitchen knife.

Helena walked into the kitchen to watch him and, upon him turning so angry and seeing the hurt in his eyes, she took the knife away from him, turned him around, and looked up at him.

"It'll be okay. There's only so much we can do one day at a time. But you need to calm down," she softly murmured.

She hugged him for the second time, making sure he was okay. She thought of how odd it felt to hug someone again, and her body became tense, but she still hugged him. She didn't want him to feel alone, or like he had to inflict pain on someone to feel better.

"It'll be okay," she whispered.

Xander’s eyes were bulging out of his skull. He felt warmth when she hugged him, he knew what she was doing. But when he heard her say it'll be okay, something inside him snapped. He grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her.

"Okay? Okay?! It'll never be okay, Alyss! Don't you understand?! Everyone, everyone I've loved and held dear to me is dead! You weren't there that night! You didn't see what I saw, or do what I did to survive!" He shouted.

He released her from his grasp, breathing rapidly.

"It'll be okay once I take vengeance on those humans who destroyed my life and took everything away from me," he muttered.

He left the kitchen and stepped out to his backyard. Stopping at his little sister's grave, tears were streaming down his face as flashbacks hit him hard of that eventful day.

She closed her eyes and refused to let him shake her up. A sigh escaped her lips as she angrily walked outside after him.

"Listen here you son of a b***h! You think I don't know what humans do? Do you?! I HATE humans! I went through a living hell because of them. A flash of a memory hit me so hard it made me fall back earlier! Don't think for a SECOND you're the only one that's been hurt by humans because you're NOT!" She yelled.

Her anger mixed with hurt as she stepped forward to look at him, and as a reflex her wings spread out to protect them.

"Look... I have my own reasons for staying with you. If I wanted to, I could just run. I could get away from you and go back to my old life. However, I don't. You don't know why I don't, and no- I don't know what exactly happened to her. But damn it, at least I am trying to help you through it. Because it will be okay. It WILL. Think of Laura. Would she really want you to live ALL of your life with hatred and anger running through your veins?" She spat.

She looked at him for a minute before walking inside and laying down on the couch.

Her words had struck a nerve. He punched a nearby tree, shattering it into tiny pieces as he stomped back inside the house and approached her.

"Listen here, damn you! Don't you ever mention my little sister ever again! I will not hesitate to kill you the next time," he said coldly as he stared her down with anger still in his eyes.

"You may understand what it's like. But you were not there, to see what they did to us," he muttered.

He walked to a shelf in the living room, grabbing a book off the shelf. He tossed the book to her and walked out of the living room.

"Read that book. It holds the records of our coven. You'll understand my anger, my hate after you read that book," he said as he left the house.

Anger still fueling him, he left for a nearby town to cause havoc among the people walking through the night.

"Then kill me!" She shouted to the empty house, realizing she thought about his words a little too late.

She screamed in frustration and threw the book on the floor. Running to her room, she cursed Xander with every word she could think of. She changed into her clothes she had on the day she came here and walked outside.

"I'm not staying here- not with him," She whispered.

She spread her wings and jumped up, flying out over the trees of the forest. She circled around for a while until finally deciding to go to the river she had spotted. She quietly landed by the flowing water, remembering her foster father taking her to a river close to her old house. Her knees hit the ground quicker than she expected, and she stared at her reflection.

"Why me... Why did I have to be this... WHY?!" She screamed.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she laid down and closed her eyes, drifting into a dreamless state.