Nirvana

Chapter 10

    Vanessa could hear him talking, yet she wasn’t completely there. He’d noticed and waved his hand in front of her face to snap her out of it. 

    “Yo, Ness, were you even listening?” 

    “Oh, I’m sorry Dylan, what were you saying?”

    “You’ve been spacing out a lot lately. What’s on your mind?” Dylan asked. The fact that she was hesitating made him nervous. Maybe it was something she didn’t want to talk about. Or even worse, what if it was to talk about that boy? That’d get pretty annoying fast. 

    “I’ve been...troubled lately. I feel like since this year started, a lot’s been going on that I don’t understand.” she admitted, moving her spoon around in her ice cream.

    “Things like...me?” he asked.

    “Not just you, it's..,” she stopped, contemplating whether or not to tell him. “There’s this guy, you might have heard of him. He attacked our dorms a few days ago. He’s always dressed in all black and has these glowing red eyes.” 

    “Oh,” Dylan explained, surprised at where this was going. His heart rate quickened and he was starting to feel hotter than usual. “Yeah, I’ve heard Sarina and katskai talking about him. He was there earlier as well, right?”

    “Yeah, but thing is….okay, I’m gonna tell you something I haven’t told the others so keep it a secret.” Dylan made a sealing gesture across his lips. I’m not entirely sure, but I think he was someone I knew back at the orphanage. I don’t know for sure who he is, but ever since I first laid eyes on him about a month ago, things have been weird.”

“Weird how?”

“I’m not sure. It’s hard to explain. When he looked at me, I got this weird fluttery feeling in my gut. I felt warm and safe, like I was invincible when he was near. And he was sooo familiar like I’ve known him forever. I felt a pull between us and once he was gone, it was cold.” Vanessa rubbed her arms anxiously. “I know this sounds weird. To make matters worse, I’ve started having weird nightmares, almost every night. Usually they involved me waking up on the floor, blooded and covered in bruises. I’m lying in a room that’s cold and dark, like a basement or something. I can hear a man’s voice somewhere and he’s angry. I always wake up before I see faces. However, earlier, I dreamt that I was in that same place, but there was smoke everywhere like something was on fire. Then I saw his face, the man in black. Well I saw him wearing a mask, but his eyes were unmistakable. I called out to him. I called him Crimson.”

Dylan listened carefully, his thoughts swarming as he took in what she was saying. “So, you see this Crimson guy as an old friend? Was this before the orphanage?” 

“That’s the thing. You know I have no memory of my time at the orphanage because of the fire, but I think these dreams are memories. I think...I think he was the cause for all those bruises. I think he also burned down the orphanage. I can’t say for sure, a lot is still so foggy. Him showing up again and me having these dreams aren’t a coincidence. I’m pretty sure he’s also the reason why we’ve been having so many demon attacks lately. He’s planning something, or trying to do something but I can’t wrap my head around what. I’ve met him at night multiple times, but he’s never been hostile. If anything he often looks...sad.”

As if on cue, Dylan felt his arm start to burn. s**t, not now. He scratched his arm hoping to relieve some of the pain. Unfortunately it only made it worse. “Sorry to cut this short, I think I need to go home.” 

“Right now? Is everything alright?” she noticed how vigorously he was scratching at his arm. His scratching had moved his sleeve upward revealing blac markings. “Oh, I actually wanted to ask about those markings on your arm.”

“What?” he exclaimed, pulling down his sleeve. 

“You said your brothers made you get them right? What type of tattoo is it, can I see?” She reached her hand out to touch, but Dylan snatched away. 

“S-sorry, I just. They aren’t pretty to look at.” Silence fell over them. The burning sensation grew hotter and Dylan let out a hiss. “I gotta go. I can take you home really quick, but we have to go now.” 

Slightly offended Vanessa stood and grabbed her things. “No thanks. We’re not too far from campus so I’ll go by myself. “ without another word she exited the store. 

It was true that the ice cream shop wasn’t very far from campus, but Vanessa had forgotten her bus card in her room. She would have flown back, but it was strictly forbidden for unmasked angels to fly out in public. The very few times she’s done it were at night on unlit streets. However, this time she was wearing her uniform and the last thing she needed was for a pedestrian to report to her school that they caught a student flying around without gear on. She didn’t really want to walk, but she wasn’t about to call Dylan back. 20 minutes into her walk back, she heard a commotion coming from a nearby alley. She heard what sounded like two women and several men. It didn’t sound like they were having a pleasant conversation. She looked around, but there was no one on the street. She took out her phone to call the police, but stopped mid conversation when she heard what sounded like a gunshot. A woman screamed in agony and she rushed over. She peaked around the corner to witness one girl being carried over to a black van. There was blood leaking from her leg. The other girl cried softly as another man holding a gun guided her toward the van. There was no way she was going to stand there and watch this happen. She raced over, kicked the man in the back of the leg to make him fall to the ground and drop his weapon. She then pulled his arm behind his back far enough to cause him pain. He groaned in agony. There were four other men, one carrying the woman with the bad leg. Vanessa knew she was outnumbered, but they were just human, surely she could handle them. She swung her elbow into the man’s temple, knocking him out cold. One of the men pointed the gun at her, but she swerved out of the way just in time to dodge the bullet. By the time he was ready to shoot again, she was already beneath him, bringing her leg up high to kick the gun into the sky. Gaining her balance, she turned and kicked him right in the stomach. He fell back onto the ground, hitting his head. He wasn’t unconscious, but there was blood leaking from the back of his skull. “We don’t have time for this s**t!” one man screamed. He fired two more shots at Vanessa, one only missing her by an inch. She took a running start, bounced off the wall and wrapped her legs around the man’s head to turn and flip him hard on his back. He screamed as a loud crack was heard. She winced at her own injuries. Her bones had healed, but the muscles surrounding her ribs were still sore. Before she could get up, one of the men locked his arms around her and slammed her into the wall. It made her head spin. He twisted her arm so far behind her back, she heard a pop as it popped out of socket. She screamed, but it was muffled when a handkerchief was placed on her mouth. There was a foul chemical coming off of it and she knew if she didn’t get out of here soon, she’d get seriously hurt. However, she couldn’t fight like she wanted to with her arm the way it was. She could feel the chemical move to her brain as she began to feel dangerously sleepy. She didn’t have a choice, angels weren’t allowed to use their powers on humans, but if she didn’t she’d die and so would these girls. She tried her hardest to focu her powers, but her mind was becoming too foggy. Suddenly something fell from the roof and broke the guy's neck. His body fell limb to the ground. One of the guys she had knocked out earlier rose to his feet and ran toward the figure that had just appeared. He was a man dressed in all black. As if not even trying, the man caught the guy and hoisted him up in the air by the neck using one arm. His eyes were blazing fury. With her last seconds of consciousness, Vanessa could hear him utter something in a language she could understand and the man burst into flames. The last thing she heard was the man’s screeching whales and the distant sound of sirens.

    Vanessa shot up in her bed. Not only was she surprised that she had awoken in her room, but also that her friends were there. “W-What happened?” 

“We don’t know.” Sarina started, “I was called in the middle of the night by some anonymous guy saying my best friend was lying unconscious in an alleyway with a swollen shoulder.” They took note of the bandages wrapped around Vanessa’s shoulder. “No more leaving us in the dark girl, we're your friends and we’re worried about you. You’ve been spacing out, disappearing at late hours in the night. You keep getting seriously hurt. Like, what’s up?”

    As much as she didn’t want to trouble her friends, she told them everything she knew regardingCrimson and her theories. Obviously they scolded her for going about the entire situation alone. They suggested she take a break from combat and defense missions to rest and allow her body to heal. Right now, she was a target and they couldn’t risk her getting into trouble. So for the next week, Vanessa took things easy. She focused on school and her after school activities. She seemed to be growing closer with Darren seeing that they would spend a lot of time together handling work in the student council's office while the rest of her friends were on demon defense duty. As they were finishing up their work, they were interrupted when Dylan and Renei came charging into the room. 

    “Hey Ness, do you know where the key for the computer room is? I think one of the staff members locked it by accident.”

    “Uh yeah, I can go request it. What do you need it for? There are study rooms in the dorm.”

    “Too many witnesses.” Dylan said. 

    “Remember that woman in black from before?” Renei began, “Well Raid gave us the idea of trying to track her down by looking into police records. The network here is stronger and likely less blocked.”

    “No, absolutely not. I thought we all agreed to let the authorities handle this.”  

    “We’ll leave the arrest to them, but we can still figure out who she is. Who better to figure it out than Raid?” Renei explained.

    “Why are you guys so fixated on this?” she turned to face Dylan, but he looked away. “Why are you here? I hope you haven't allowed them to talk you into doing something dangerous.”

    “Stop worrying about me,” he started, touching his arm. “I’m not as weak as you think I am. These people have put your life in danger and I refuse to just stand on the sidelines.” 

    Vanessa huffed stubbornly, “If you guys get caught, I had nothing to do with it. I can’t afford to lose my scholarship.” 

    In the computer room, Vanessa, Dylan and Renei all leaned over Raid’s computer. 

    “So can you track her?” Dylan asked. 

    “Question is, is it possible to track her.” Raid said. “It’s not like we have any of her DNA to scan and there’s no guarantee she’ll be registered in the city. I’d have to hack into the police satellite which is illegal by the way.” he typed away at the computer. “If we get caught the supervisor is going to kick our asses, then expel us because we’d most likely be facing some time in prison.” He was blocked by a restricted code that prevents students from going into illegal or inappropriate websites. “Damn it, it’s locked. I could unlock it, but I’m pretty sure it’d cause an alert. I’ll have to do this on my computer at home.” 

    Dylan walked with Vanessa back to her dorm once the rest of their friends had parted ways. At first, they were quiet. Vanessa nudged him gently 

    “Hey Dyl, are you angry with me?” she asked. “You’ve been acting strange lately.” 

    “I’m fine.” he reassured her. She didn’t buy it. She pulled on his jacket to stop him from walking. 

    “Dylan, please don’t play me like a fool. I know you better to know that you're not fine. So what’s really the matter with you?” Dylan’s face flushed. Here was another window. Should he tell her the truth, lay his cards out on the table?

    “The truth is...'' His confidence dropped and he hesitated. “The truth is...I’m nervous about joining the basketball team.” It was the worst lie he could come up with, but he had no choice. “The tattoo I got really made my arm sore. And I’m embarrassed by it. I told Kay I’d join him, but I haven’t played in years. I’m a little anxious.”

    “Basketball?” Vanessa didn’t sound very convinced. “Sure okay, if you say so.” 

Dylan hated lying to her and he could tell she wasn’t buying it. He’d tell her soon, when the time was right. Sorry Rina, I couldn't.  

    For two days, they searched the school yard for DNA and they came up empty. Raid stayed home, working on his computer, searching the city. On the third day, Vanessa had spotted an animal sniffing around the school. He was too far for her to identify what type of animal it was. When she tried to get closer to it, it ran away. This happened for several days. When the weekend came, they all took a break from searching. Vanessa decided to take a jog around town, listening to music. She liked exercising. She liked the feeling of her heart pumping, plus it kept her focused and quick on her feet. When she stopped in the park to rest, she looked over to see a dog staring at her. He was sitting in front of a berry bush, watching her. No one seemed to be with the dog. She slowly made her way over. It didn’t run. When she kneeled down in front of it, its tail started to wag. 

    “Hey boy. What are you doing around here?” she asked, rubbing the top of his head. He wasn’t wearing a collar. “Who do you belong to? Where’s your home?” She could usually hear the thoughts of animals, but for some reason, he was quiet. He looked to be a german shepherd. “Are you lost? Do you need help finding your owner?” the dog still said nothing. He only tilted his head. “So you’re not going to say anything?” He moved toward her and licked her cheek. She giggled, pushing him away. “Jeez, what’s with you? You can talk to me, you know. I’ll be able to understand you. ” When he continued to be quiet, she sighed and stood up. “Fine, guess I’ll just go then.” She began walking, but turned to see that the dog was following her. When she began to jog, he trotted along with her. “You’re just going to follow me?” The sun was going down. “I have to go home now. You should probably do the same.” The dog stared up at her sadly, slowly lowering its head. “Aw, come on, not the puppy dog eyes.” she gave in and scratched behind his ear. “Fine, you can come home with me. Just until I find your owner though. He wagged his tail and Vanessa led him back to campus.  

    The next day, the dog tried to follow Vanessa to school, but she locked it in her room. She didn’t want to, but pets weren’t allowed in the dorms, let alone in the main building.

    “You got a dog? Really?” Renei asked. 

    “He’s not my dog. I’m not keeping him.” Vanessa replied. They were all seated at their usual table in the cafeteria, eating their breakfast.

    “Do you really think it was a good idea to take in a stray dog?” Dylan asked. 

    “He’s not a stray.” Vanessa protested. “He’s surprisingly well mannered and trained. I think someone just lost him. I’ll be setting up posters after school.” Dylan shrugged.

    "If you say so. Anyway, we have bigger things to worry about. I saw on the news that there were sightings of a strange person wearing all black roaming around City hall where the last demon attack occurred. Maybe we should check around there later on.” Sarina slumped over the table.

    “Why does it feel like all we talk about is work?” she whined. “Why can’t we act normal for once and talk about normal teenage stuff?”

    “Because we’re not normal teenagers.” Katskai said. Sarina sighed and buried her face in her arms.  

    “We should check up on Raid later on.” Vanessa suggested. “It’s bad for him to be missing school like this and I know staying in front of a computer all day isn’t healthy.” 

    “This is Raiden we’re talking about. I’m almost positive he was born from a computer.” 

    “We should still go check on him. He’s our friend after all.”