Short Story – Page 2 – The Mind of Nox

Valentine’s Day 2009

AJ wrote a little back story, and maybe the start of a story for a NaNo.

It was Friday night. Normally Sage, Mia, and I would sneak into Aspect and dance the night away. But Mia had a boyfriend — my bully and roommate, Jace. What she saw in the asshole I don’t know, but it is what it is and now my roommate/bully is also one of my circle of friends. And it wasn’t just any weekend, it was the day before Valentine’s Day. While Jace didn’t celebrate the human holiday, Mia did. We had for years with Sage. We always hung out to make Sage’s issues less of an issue. We were his only real friends. So this Friday night, Mia was with Jace. And Sage was hanging out with this sister’s girlfriends. One of them thought Sage was cute and wanted to see if she could be the one to touch him. I wished them good luck, but both Sage and I knew he wouldn’t be hanging around them at all. But Carla wanted to try, so I said I’d stay home — alone.

I would miss the dancing and I could go out alone, but I would rather stop by Greenly Square Park and see a particular vampire who would sell me an escape that meant I didn’t have to see anyone else the rest of the night. It had been a rough week — between Jace picking fights with me in class, and the fitness tests before survival training started, I was ready to just collapse into nothingness.

Dorian and Dae’lin would kill me if they ever found out what I was doing. But so far they hadn’t, and my roommates didn’t really care if I was so out of my head nothing bothered me. Nepenthe was neither legal or illegal by human standards — they didn’t know of its existence. It was lethal to a human — thankfully I was only half human. It was till illegal by Venatori standards for someone to sell a Minorem — me — nepenthe, but Scott wasn’t afraid of the Venatori.

He camped out on a bench in the park at precisely 7:46pm for ten minutes. He would then make his circuit around the city selling his stash to all the supernatural freaks who wanted to get high. Freaks, is Scott’s way of saying fucked up — the people who use nepenthe are much like me — misfits, outcasts, people who want to die, but don’t have the balls to do it so they numb themselves to the point of not caring anymore.

Scott wore a pair of black leather jeans, a white t-shirt and a black leather jack. The only thing he was missing was the greased back hair, and he’d fit right into the movie Grease as on of the T-birds. He was turned back in the day and never really thought he should blend in better. That was how a lot of vampires were. once in a while you’d see Bernstein on an interview sporting early 18th century ruffles. People thought he was eccentric, and they were probably right, but he was cursed back then and found the clothes appealing — a throwback to his time as a living person.

“Hey Nox.” Scott drawled out. “Not a typical night for you.”

“My friends are doing the romance thing.”

Scott laughed, “I could think of a thing or two you could do.” He winked. It wasn’t the first time Scott had propositioned me. He thought of himself as a would be pimp if I ever said yes to him — again. I had thought he had wanted to get down with me, but it turned out he was trying to set me up with a woman who had a very interesting way of doling out nepenthe as a reward for good sexual behaviors. While I enjoyed being submissive, I did not enjoy punishment, and I definitely didn’t want to put myself at the mercy of a strange dominant under the influence of a drug that could kill me. After my initial yes, I had a hard pass and that night I went home both hard and frustrated in more ways than one.

I shook my head, “Unless you want to fuck me, I’m gonna pass on your idea of fun.” I flashed Scott a handful of bills, “I can pay.”

“I will never know where a kid in the AU can find cash.”

“It’s not hard, when you do odd jobs for people. Besides I do actually have a job inside the AU. Not a usual thing for kids my age, I know.”

“Fighting crime, and committing one at the same time. Gotta love a hypocrite.”

I shrugged, “So what’s it going to be?” I asked.

He pulled out a sleeve of paper with tabs of nepenthe dots. “How many?”

“Just one.” I said. It was all I ever bought. Anything more and one I might get caught, and two I could die if I took more than that. And I really didn’t want to die — not anymore, anyway.

I handed Scott the Benjamin, and he handed me the small slip of paper. Nepenthe was a supernatural drug, made from supernatural creatures. The CCB, who had access to all the creatures to donate blood, typically manufactured it. Scott’s didn’t come from donations that I knew of. His supplier was some big criminal boss that thought to rule the Underworld and New York City. “Pleasure doing business with you.” He said and turned his attention elsewhere. Not that there was anyone there besides me. This was too close to the AU for their comfort. And getting caught with nepenthe was punishable by death.

I slipped the peice of paper under my tongue and started the walk back to the AU building. And by the time I’d get back to my room, I could lie down in bed with my high and forget the world existed. Forget the pain of my existence, of the magic inside of me — dull the senses and slip into a world I wouldn’t remember when I woke.

And that’s exactly what I did.

****

I woke in a white room with a white bed, white walls covered with white curtains that flapped in the wind. The window overlooked a barren landscape filled with stars and a sunset. It was beautiful and unreal.

I was five — I was always five when I woke in a dream. Colorful blocks littered the floor where I’d left them last. The disaster prompted me to pick them up and put them in the white bins, and put them back in their place on the shelf on the wall. The blocks were the only color.

I felt the cool breeze on my skin, but the whispers of the singular word I knew they said slid past the emptiness and I was happy to just lie down on the bed and wait. I didn’t know what I was waiting for, but I was waiting none-the-less.

“Why are you always a kid? You’re a sixteen-year-old boy now — almost a man, and you still come here as a kid.” The voice of an angel carried the words to my ears. His blue eyes haunted my waking hours. I saw them everywhere, and I didn’t even know who he was. His face was different — it was always different.

He smiled at me from the face of some celebrity who I’d seen in a movie I didn’t know his name. His eyes didn’t match the face, and his eyes were all I cared to see.

He smirked, “That’s better.” He laid down next to me and ran his fingers over my belt buckle and under my t-shirt. “You like being this guy?”

I shrugged, “He’s easy to remember.”

“He’s hot.”

I hummed my agreement. “So undress me.”

“Bossy much?”

I grinned at him. “No, I don’t think I can move.”

He looked at me and tilted his head, “You’re high again.” It wasn’t a question. He was exasperated with my useage. “Why this time?”

I sighed, “My roommate is fucking my best friend and talking shit about her behind her back, and she forgives him every time. And he blames me for spreading the lies. And there’s this test and… this week has just been hell and it’s Valentine’s Day weekend so we aren’t doing our usual thing.”

“So you came here to see me?”

“I don’t remember you until I see you.” I said honestly.

“Because you are always high.” He laughed, “Not that I mind when you can’t move.” He leaned down and bit my neck.

“More.”

“You forget me when you wake up, right?” he said, putting himself on top of me and rubbing his pelvis against mine.

I nodded. He grinned down at me and bit my bottom lip before I could. “So I can tell you something?”

“Always.” I said. I would always listen to him. I fucking loved listening to him. His voice was music to my ears, and then he’d sing and I would melt. And when I was high, his voice was like velvet on my skin.

“Last night, Kate asked me to move in.”

“Did you?” I asked beneath him,, my fingers wrapping his belt loops as I pulled him against me.

“Sorta. She didn’t ask me to move in to the main estate, she bought a small apartment for us.”

I grinned up at him, “You have a sugar mama.” I teased.

“I do.” He admitted.

“So what am I?” I asked playfully.

He leans his head back and leans on his elbows his body’s weight still fully across mine making me want more. “My dream love.”

“Does Kate know about me?”

He laughs, “No one knows about you. I’d sound like I’m crazy. I am so totally fucking in love with this hot boy in my dreams, we fuck like rabbits and hmmmm….” He grins and thrusts his body against mine. “I want to make you mine.”

“I’m yours.” I didn’t remember him until he got there. I won’t remember him when I wake up. But my body sure as fuck knows his. Sex with my dream guy is epic on nepenthe — and I imagine it’s even better when I’m more actively involved in our shared experience, but I don’t remember those times. If anyone were to ask me after I woke from my dream, why I take nepenthe — I’d know the answer immediately — because I get to see him. But I don’t remember him unless I’m high and only after a dream. I need him like I need air, yet I don’t know why I feel lost.

Star Crossed Lovers

We took a different approach to Rory Cube prompt. The three images — drama (comedy/tragedy), shooting star, and an arrow. AJ went the route of Shakespeare and his star crossed lovers. The arrow symbolically being cupid’s arrow early on. It’s quick and dirty, and there is a whole story that could be told, but AJ broke it down as quickly as we could so as to get you an story.

The club was dark — it was always dark. The way I preferred it. I didn’t want anyone to see the shadows lingering in my eyes. I didn’t want to see theirs. I came to the club alone with every intention of leaving alone. That was until I saw him. His gorgeous blue eyes. His simple smirk when he caught me checking him out. It was like cupid’s arrow had struck me through the heart. I crooked a finger at him, but he shook his head. And then his friend distracted him from me and I lost the feeling.

I danced. My entire motivation for the night gone on the winds of time with the fleeting moment shared with the blue-eyed man. I went home alone, unsatisfied yet filled with hope of a better tomorrow.

Three weeks later, the blue-eyed man almost entirely forgotten stepped through the door with a man that only brought terror to my heart. I pasted a smile on to my face and stepped out from behind the bar. “Can I help you, Mr. Kennedy?”

“Is your father here?” He asked. The blue-eyed man smirked as he watched us speaking. I couldn’t help the genuine smile the spread across my lips when he winked at me.

“He is. I’ll go get him.” I left the two men standing in the lobby while I went back to get my dad.

I found my dad in the back room taking stock. “Mr. Kennedy is here.” I said without warning.

My dad jumped as he swore in Italian. I didn’t know if it was from the fright or the news I had delivered. But it didn’t matter as he dusted his hands and handed me the inventory.. “I’ll take care of this. You finish this.”

I sighed. I wanted to go see the blue-eyed man. But I guess that would not happen now.

I sorted through boxes and rearranged inventory, taking stock. My mind wandered to the blue eyes, the smirk on his lips. I wanted to kiss them. I wanted to do so much more that my body tightened at just the thought of his hands on mine.

A throat cleared behind me and I turned to see those same blue eyes I’d been fantasizing about behind me. Heat rushed to my face, but I met his gaze head on. He liked his lips and took a step towards me, shutting the door behind him. There was a loud snick as the lock caught in the mechanism and I cocked my head at the stranger locking us inside.

I involuntarily took a step back. His smirk grew wider. “Afraid of little ole’ me?”

I shook my head. My mouth was dry I couldn’t speak if I wanted to.

“Speechless. Though, I see what you think of me.”

I laughed, though it sounded like I had choked on my tongue. A tower of boxes behind me impeded my movement, and I pressed my hands down into the box I’d found to grip. He laughed. His voice made me quiver. His eyes…

He pulled a card from his pocket and tucked it into the front of my jeans, his fingers brushing along my zipper with a featherlight touch before his hands were back to his side. “Call me.”

I gulped as he backed up, still facing me. His eyes never left mine. My hands were sore from the grip on the box and I wanted to grab the card, but I didn’t. I wanted more. I whimpered.

“Call me.” He said again as he unlatched the door and left me alone in the darkness again.

Moments passed, but they felt like hours as I waited until I composed myself. The card wasn’t surprising; he worked with the same firm that was trying to buy the restaurant from my father. But his name — Alex Kennedy — son of the man who was now trying to intimidate my dad. The common folk didn’t call them thugs, but that’s what they were. They called themselves protection. Though from whom I had no idea.

And now they were playing dirty — sending the son after me.

I frowned and tossed the card into the bin. But those blue eyes haunted me the rest of the day.

I could have only wished for another month to have passed before seeing those haunting blue eyes again, but as I left for the night that same day he stood in the alley as I locked up after tossing the last of the garbage into the dumpsters.

“Fancy meeting you here.”

I smirked at him. I liked the melody of his voice as he tried to maneuver his way around my heart. He was doing a damn fine job of making me swoon. “Just locking up.”

“I can see that,” he grinned.

“I’m just a lackey here, just because my father owns the place doesn’t give me any sway over things.” I said as I headed up the alley to the street.

“What?”

“I can’t talk my dad into paying you more.” I glanced in his direction. The frown marred the sparkle in his eyes, but when he caught my gaze he smirked.

“That’s not why I’m here.” He grabbed my arm and turned me towards him, pushing me up against the brick wall. His knee pushed between my legs and his lips pressed against mine. I moaned into his mouth and I could feel his smirk against my lips even as he kissed me hard.

He pulled away with a satisfied smile. “Call me,” he said, stuffing another card into my coat pocket then he slid into the shadows and was gone.

I wanted to throw the card away in the nearest bin as I walked home. But I didn’t. After a long hot shower, I laid down in my bed fondling the card above me.

I sighed and grabbed my phone and dialed the now memorized number from the card. His voice was like heaven.

It felt like forever — the next three months. He and I walked a fine line. If my father knew, he’d kill me. If his father found out, he’d kill my fathers. Star-crossed lovers, if there were any. The quarrel between our families doomed our fate, just like Romeo and Juliet.

But there was one thing about falling in love with a mobster — faking a death was easy. A simple car crash and two horribly burnt bodies with faked records, and we were sipping cocktails on the beach in Fiji with unknown names — married and everything.

A Long Day

I like AJ wrote a small short for Alex’s birthday. It’s not a sex story which will disappoint him I’m sure, but it’s a thought I had when AJ left work yesterday.

Thud goes the head severed from the vampire’s body. They don’t burst into flames like the TV shows show you. There is a lot about vampires the myths and legends get wrong — and for good reason.

“That’s the last of them.” I said to Vin as he wiped his blade on the shirt of a vampire. Like most of the old vampires, he preferred to use the melee weapons — a regular long sword he’s had since the Roman empire. These vampires were no good. Stirring up trouble with the locals. And not just the humans — they were preying on dragons and therians — powerful blood.

They tried to take Faelen from me, but the two I caught lived only long enough for me to get the information about their nest before they lost their lives. Faelen was safe. A little more rattled than he was before, but he was home with the rest of the family. Vin, Griffin and I hunted them down without mercy.

The blood covered next burnt as we laid their victims laid to rest. The victim’s bodies would never be found, a sad price we had to pay to keep our secret safe.

Home was where I wanted to be, but the fire was my responsibility. I watched until the last of the bodies were nothing but ash. And then Vin stepped into a shadow with my hand in his to the simple place where we all came and went through the shadows. The small room was light with a bright light creating a deep shadow in a very specific corner of the room. It wasn’t magic that kept people out, it was the two or three seconds you had to complete the code that disabled the security measures. Thankfully, Vin was fast enough.

Vin followed me to the communal shower. I didn’t want to wash the blood and guts down the drain where Alex and I showered daily. Griffin was already there, and the three of stood in silence as the water streamed down our bodies, cleansing us from the putrid stench that was dead vampire blood.

And when we were dressed the three of us didn’t need to know where everyone was. The dim sound of the surround sound beat against the walls of the media room where explosions sounded, and we found the rest of our family. Faelen was curled up with Rider. He beamed at me and was in my arms before I moved. He almost toppled me to the ground.

We curled up on the couch next to Alex, or rather I was curled up in Alex’s lap and Faelen leaned against me. We both wrapped our arms around him and we watched whatever action movie Alex had chosen.

This is all your brother’s doing.

I grinned and leaned up to press a kiss against his lips.

“Get a room.” echoed across from multiple directions, and Alex flipped them the bird.

The little kids tsked at Alex. He knew better and he at least had the sense enough to blush, though no one saw it in the darkness. Well, maybe they did, most of them had excellent night vision. I didn’t care what they werewatching;, I pressed my face into the crook of Alex’s neck and took in his scent. I missed him even though we hadn’t been gone long. I so fucking love you. I thought at him.

“No swearing, Daddy!” Cass whispered. Alex chuckled and pulled me closer to him. This was home.