Doomsday; Children of the Fae, Book 1

Humans. For centuries they have thought they are the top of the food chain, but they couldn't be more wrong. Humans have a history of fearing what they do not understand. Just look at the Salem Witch Trials - and some of those were just humans mixed into the fray! Many supernaturals have agreed that it is better to stay hidden and coexist. Goddess knows how humans would react if they found out there was an entirely different world hidden amongst their own... Friday, 8:30 p.m. Downtown San Fransico Sitting crouched on the roof top I had a perfect view of the city below me. San Fransico was the perfect place for the supernatural to blend in. It seemed that the humans in these larger cities were more willing to look the other way when it came to vampire attacks. A cool breeze suddenly whipped around me bringing with it a sweet smell of lilacs. There wasn't a garden or flower bed for miles in this city. I began scanning the figures below trying to pin point where the curious smell was coming from. That's when I spotted her. A fair haired girl, petite in size, walking with two other females who appeared to be around her age. Quietly and effortlessly I jumped to the next rooftop to get a better look and concentrate on what they were saying. They had stopped in front of the building and appeared to be arguing. "Are you kidding me!? Its not even 9:00 p.m. yet and you're wanting to go home." The burnette hissed. "I-I know guys but my parents-" The fair haired girl started to protest. "f**k your parents! f**k your curfew! You're seventeen. Who the f**k has a 9:30pm curfew??" The burnette and the black haired girl with them started laughing. Something was off about this girl. I could read her friends life lines, but not hers. I could practically feel the light rolling off of her aura though. "I'm sorry Jessica, I really want to go, but I have the SATs to prepare for a-and-" "Whatever." The burnette, Jessica, waved her off with a hand, "I get it Shelby. Go home and be a stick in the mud like you always are." Both girls turned to walk away leaving Shelby to stand on the sidewalk alone. Some friends. I thought to myself. Just as I was getting ready to jump to another building a flash of silver caught my eye. I could smell his stentch 12 stories up. "H-hey guys! Wait! I-I changed my mind!" Shelby exclaimed as she started to run after the two girls. She was quickly stopped in her tracks when she bumped into a particularly greasy looking man. "Well hello beautiful, what's a doll like you doing out here all alone?" The man smiled. It was a dirty unsettling grin that showed his decaying teeth. "I-I was just catching back up with my friends." Shelby started to back up. Quietly, and in one fluid motion, I landed on the fire escape above the pair. I knew all too well where this was going. "You're not going anywhere sweetheart," the man purred, pulling out a large buck knife, "matter of fact I think we need to go back to my place for a little fun, what do you say?" "Get away!" Shelby screamed shoving the man as hard as she could then darting down the dark alleyway. Stupid girl. I sprang into action. Effortlessly swinging from the ledge of the fire scape to the window ledge at the side of the building. Like a Jaguar I was waiting for my moment to pounce. The man had Shelby cornered at the end of the alleyway. It was a dead end. "P-please! Just leave me alone!!" Shelby cried sliding down the brick wall into a huddle on the concrete. She looked very small, like a helpless little bird. The traffic and noise of the city drowned out her cries. No one would come to her aid, "You don't want to have a little fun? I love games doll face. I think you would too." The man said as he inched closer, his hands held up as if he meant no harm, but he still heald the buck knife in his right hand. "I love games." I said as I dropped off the ledge just behind the man. "What the f**k?" He quickly spun around and backed away. My abrupt response startled him. The stench rolling off of him was stronger up this close. It was almost making me sick. "Its always 'who are you?' 'what do you want?' 'what the f**k?'" I stalked twoards him, "Its never, 'do you want to play?'" I stopped just infront of him, knees relaxed ready to pounce. "Look b***h, this is between me and her," the man pointed to Shelby with his knife, "So how's about you take your sweet ass back to where it came from." "What is it Michael? Do strong women intimidate you?" I purred. "How the f**k-" He stammered, eyes widening. I could see the wild look glistening in his eyes. This wasn't his first time. He had a hunger he needed to fill. "Oh I know everything about you Michael," In a flash I had him by the throat against the brick wall of the alleyway. The kife he was holding loudly clattering to the concrete, "The countless women you have r***d and assaulted. I can feel their pain and I can smell their fear." "W-what the f**k are you!?" he managed to choke out. His feet swinging wildly in an attempt to free himself from my grip. "Your worst nightmare." I could see the reflection of my eyes beginning to glow cyan in the reflection of his. I wanted this disgusting individual to feel all of the pain and suffering of his victims before I claimed his soul. I projected their fear, hurt and pain to him. His life laid before me like an open book. The screams of his victims echoing in my ears. Tears streamed down his face, his mouth opened wide into a silent scream, and he was no longer kicking and fighting against me. I tightened my grip on his neck. I could feel his soul detach from his body. I inhaled it like a cigarette, letting it fill my lungs, my body, his pain and fear was invigorating. I could feel it spreading throughout this body creeping into my fingers and toes adding years to my lifeline. As quickly as it started, his body crumpled and burst into ash, a gust of wind carefully carried it into the street leaving no trace. Not that anyone would miss the sorry peice of s**t. Coming down from the high of feeding I turned my attention to Shelby. She appeared to have passed out, but seemed otherwise unscathed. Carefully I lifted and cradled her to my body. She needed a safe place to recover before another man with malicious intent came along. I wasn't worried about what people would think as I carried Shelby out of the alleyway. That was another good think about humans, they never seemed to ask too many questions. Her friends didn't even seem to be concerned about her well being. --- 10 p.m. The Apartment Two hours after brining her back to the empty apartment I had been using as a home base of sorts Shelby started to stir. Even in the darkness she seemed to glow. I was still confused as to why I couldn't see her life line. He aura was bright white and it gave me a burning feeling every time I tried to look past it. Her scent was overpowering. It was as if I had brought a field of lilacs into this run down apartment. She looked very out of place wearing dark makeup, a leather jacket and dark washed jeans. I had a feeling these clothes belonged to Jessica. "W-where am I?" Shelby sat up slowly from the dirty sofa I had laid her down on. I had tried to cover it with a sheet but it didn't seem to help all that much. "A safe place." I kept myself to the shadows in the corner of the living room unsure how she would respond to me initially. "I-I want to go home." Her voice cracked and tears began to well up in her violet eyes. "You can go home." I responded, instantly seeing her relax. "I just wanted to keep you safe." "Th-Thank you." She smoothed out the blanket I had placed on her, "Where are we?" "An apartment, not too far from where your friends left you." I pointed out the window. The sun was just starting to peak out of the horizon. It was almost 7 a.m. I watched as the events of last night came flooding back to her. "Oh God. That man, what happened to him?" She reached up grabbing her head and moving her hands over her body as if she was making sure she was still whole. "I took care of him. You won't have to worry about him anymore." I watched as she squinted, trying to see who I was. It only made me want to recede in to the shadows further, but I stayed put. "Thank you." Shelby relaxed, suddenly she appeared to be looking for something, "do you know where my phone is? oh God. My parents are going to kill me!" She quickly jumped to her feet and started looking under the blankets, cushions and coffee table. I had checked her pockets. I didn't see a cellphone. "You probably dropped it. It's probably been picked up and its long gone by now. Here you can use mine." I stood, making sure to still stay hidden and retrieved my phone from my pocket and held it out. She took it and started punching in a number, but then paused, she looked up at me. I could feel her violet eyes suddenly looking into the hollow place where my soul should be. "You know what? Screw them. They can worry a few more hours." Her sudden change of tone suprised me. "They have controlled every aspect of my life since I was born. I'll go home when I'm good and ready." She seemed pleased with that statement. A smug smile crossed her face, she handed me back the cellphone, and then she folded her arms across her chest as if it was an act of defiance. "You need to go home Shelby. I cannot allow you to stay here." Me saying her name startled her. "How do you know my name?" She questioned. "It doesn't matter," I said firmly. She didn't challenge me. "Okay, well if you know my name, then what's your name?" I pondered unsure if I should give her the name that I've been called these past few centuries or make one up. Something about this girl made me feel like she was special. Trustworthy. "Doomsday," Her eyes widened for a moment and then she seemed to ponder it, "Doomsday." She said aloud as if she was trying it out, "Alright, I can do nicknames. That's cool." I wasn't going to correct her, but I didn't have the time to explain why that name was given to me. "Alright Doomsday, how about we at least get some breakfast before I get dragged back home?" I no longer needed food for sustenance, but eating did sometimes give me a feeling of normalcy. "Fine," I responded. Finally I stepped into the light allowing her to see me for what I was. The human mask I wore helped me blend in. Like a lot of other supernatural beings I too had perfected the art of blending in with prey. I had long thick white hair that reached my lower back, I was tall, slender and somewhat muscular. I didn't consider myself attractive, but I wasn't unattractive. My skin was an olive color no matter how long I spent in the sun. My traditionally white soulless eyes were hidden behind the black lenses of Rayband sunglasses. Humans often assumed I was blind, but little did they know I could see more than what they wanted me to. I tried to stick to attire that would blend in, A simple black leather jacket with a maroon tank top underneath, Dark wash jeans, and leather combat boots. I kept a Glock handgun tucked in the back of my pants. Most of the time it wasn't needed, but old habits die hard. Shelby seemed to take in my appearance with approval, "oh we match!" she exclaimed pointing to our jackets. "Neat." I said dryly making my way to the door with Shelby practically skipping behind me. "So is this your place?" She asked as I firmly closed the door behind me. "Not exactly," I said over my shoulder as we made our way to the stairwell. I didn't quite trust the old elevators in this building. I'm sure they hadn't been serviced since the 50s. I probably would survive the fall, but Shelby wouldn't. She had experienced enough trauma for the day. "Oh," She didn't press me for anymore information, "Hey! I know of a really nice diner on 24th. We should go there!" I was familiar with the diner. Quite a few supernaturals worked there. "Alright, but let's be quick about it." I was certain her parents had sent out a search party looking for her and I didn't want to be caught with a potentially missing person. I also wasn't quite ready to say goodbye either. Something about this girl interested me and I still couldn't quite put my finger on it. --- 9:30 a.m. The Metro Diner We decided to sit at the bar across from the cook's window. I could see a tall bearded man in a white apron cooking on the flat top. The place was mostly empty except for a few regulars. An elderly man, mid 70s, was sitting in the back corner booth reading a newspaper from yesterday. He would occasionally look over his glasses at us. Quickly scanning the paper from afar I noticed that Shelby hadn't made front page news so we were okay. For now. Shelby was folding the paper napkin ring into some paper mache creation, swinging her legs happily as she sat on the tall bar stool, humming a song I didn't quite recognize. Her curent look certainly didn't match her attitude. "What were you doing with those girls last night?" I asked as a plump waitress came over with two heavy mugs of coffee. She smelled of cigarettes and looked as if she would rather be doing a million other things than be here right now. "Oh, Hannah and Jessica?" Shelby started, grabbing the jar of sugar and pouring an ungodly amount into her coffee, "They're my friends. Hannah got invited to Brendan's party - his parents go out of town for the weekend once every month and he typically throws a huge party. They're supposed to be fun, but I usually never go. Jessica talked me into it." I was listening to Shelby ramble on about Jessica and Hannah when my hair on my arms began to stand up. I looked up to the cook's window to see the gruff looking cook scowling at me as he placed what appeared to be our order onto the ledge in front of him. "Fancy seeing you in these parts again, D." He practically growled. Before I could respond, "Do you know him?" Shelby said suddenly stopping her insufferable babble about high school boys and her classmates. "Is he your ex?" Shelby practically squeaked in excitement. "Goddess no!" I quickly responded hoping to snub Shelby's excitement, "You can say he was an old... friend." I practically choked on the word. I was not about to talk to some teenager about my past love life or acquaintances. Shelby pouted, but she wasn't able to protest further as our plates of food was placed in front of us, "eat." I said pointing to her plate of food. Two minutes later the waitress was placing the check in front of us. "I'll pay!" Shelby pulled a small change purse from her pocket and laid a crisp $20 bill on the counter, "You can keep the change!" she practically sang as she and I walked out of the diner. "Hey, D" The cook was leaned against the outside wall of the diner smoking a cigarette, "Can I speak to you for a moment?" I quietly told Shelby to wait making sure she was within my eyesight. "What, Ben." I responded walking over to him. "Its good to see you, I haven't seen you since you went Rouge." Ben had a gravely deep voice that was strangely comforting. "I could say the same about you, how's life without a pack?" I could see the hurt in his eyes but he quickly tucked it away. "Hah, you get used to it, but better than the alternative." Ben looked to Shelby for a moment, "Who's the Fae?" Startled by his question I looked over at Shelby. Standing in the sunlight she had a glow around her, almost like a halo- I couldn't believe I didn't see it before! "How do you know she's part of the Fae?" I asked trying to hide the alarm in my voice. "Look at her, she's bright, chipper, and I watched her pour a s**t ton of sugar into her coffee. She's Fae." I couldn't help but smirk. Werewolves were good at sniffing out other supernaturals. I knew there was a reason I agreed to allow Shelby to go to this diner. "I saved her last night from getting assaulted by one of San Francisco's finest." I replied crossing my arms. "Oh s**t, D has turned into a super hero- Hey, Ouch!" I punched his arm and gave him a death glare. "Alright, Alright..." He put his hands up in defeat, "well it was good catching up, but I better get back before Marge notices." Just as he opened the door I could hear the waitress from earlier screech, "Ben! Breaks over, get your ass in here and cook me up some scrambled and hash!" I walked over to Shelby shaking my head. "He's cute, you'd make a cute couple." She scrunched up her nose and smiled. "I don't really date dogs." I spat turning to walk away. Now that I knew what she was something told me Shelby was unaware of her lineage.