But I'm Losing Control [Aiden]

[Aiden]

This was a trail that Yuki and Teagan were unaware of, and one that he wouldn't drag them into. This creature was skilled, experienced, but not enough to slip by the experienced hunter. Old Town Chinatown was a great hideout, as well as a great place to harvest victims without much notice. The police, however, were growing more suspicious, and were issuing reports. No one had survived these attacks, and it was believed to be a cult due to the gruesome manner in which these people--men, women, children--were being attack. Aiden, on the other hand, knew exactly what it was: a vampire. It was something that he hadn't dealt with in a long time, but he wasn't rusty at all. In fact, he'd wanted a shot at a vampire for a while, it'd been months, maybe even a year or so since he faced on.

Aiden walked along the streets of Old Town Chinatown, a knife tucked safely out of sight inside of his jacket. It was a little warm for such a piece of clothing, but he didn't mind. A little heat was nothing compared to what he could face, vampire or not. Aiden was a simple person, as Yuki and Teagan were coming to find. His shopping was little, he was usually easy to please, and aside from training and reacting to something he disagreed with, he was usually an easy-going person. The Aiden that was always harping on them for one thing or another wasn't present. His eyes were filled with determination, and as he prowled the streets, his eyes scanned each alleyway.

Finally, he turned down one, small, usually used by the surrounding shops for their trash cans. Aiden shuffled by a few bins, knowing that at the end of this particular alley was an old nest that he had cleared out about a month and a half ago. Careful not to make too much noise, there were definitely tell-tale signs that the small, once abandoned building was being inhabited. Pulling out his knife, one dipped in dead man's blood, he put his back against the wall, moved along quietly to the window. He paused, tilting his head to peer through the cracked glass when pressure was suddenly crushing his throat. Out of instinct, he plunged the knife into his attacker, hearing a hiss and a sizzle from the vampire. He slumped forward slightly, and turned to meet the creature. A man, dark skinned, black hair, dark eyes, once physically built but the muscles had gone to waste. It clutched it's shoulder, hissing in pain as the poison now trickled through it's body.

Stepping forward, Aiden drew a fist back and swung it forward, colliding with the man's arm as he blocked. No retaliating hit was thrown back, so Aiden went in for round two. He decided on an uppercut, and his fist make contact with the man's bottom jaw, sending him reeling a few steps back. A well-placed kick into his chest sent him sprawling to the ground, and Aiden stepped over him, taking a vial out, and emptying the dead man's blood into the mouth of the incapacitated vampire. Once he was sure it wasn't going anywhere, he made a break for his car, and luck being on his side, was able to return with his new sword, out of sight. Raising in preparation to behead the vampire, his eyes narrowed, glancing around. How could it be gone? Did it have friends?

"Shit," he murmured, letting the sword drop slightly. He glanced around, looking for any signs of footsteps, listening for any echos, but found nothing, nothing but his own rushed breathing. He took a step forward, but froze when the headless body fell down in front of him. His brow twitched upward, and glancing up, his eyes became trained on a woman with wild hair standing on top of a nearby building. In her hand was the head, gripped by the hair. The small part of Aiden's mind that was still pure told him to turn away from the revolting sight, but he knew what was going on; this was a demon. And he recognized her.

"Ariel," he growled, his fingers tightening around the hilt of the sword. A smirk crossed her face, and as Aiden closed his eyes, he knew that she had moved right behind him. "My, my, how you've grown. Such a strong young boy," she said, almost seductively. In one fell swoop, Aiden could turn and injure her, but he knew that it wouldn't kill her, nor would he get the revenge he wanted. He remained silent, his mouth not giving him much of a choice since it was clamped down so tight he felt his ears ringing. Blood flooded to his head--there was no one, or rather, nothing in this world that he hated more than the demon named Ariel. She killed his mentor, and she wouldn't live. If only he had something that could kill her...

"You have no idea what you're in for," she cooed, her big eyes looking into his, a villainous glint in them. As if to continue, she reached a hand out through the air, towards Aiden's shoulder. When it made contact, however, the knife previously used on the vampire pierced her hand, but she simply retracted it slowly, pulled the knife out abruptly, and looked at him as if a mother was scolding her toddler. "Now, now," he said, taking a few feminine steps around him, "there is no need to attack!" she hissed, sending him flying to the ground, face first, with one slap of her hand. She pressed her foot onto his back, pushing him back down into the dirty pavement. In front of him, he could see the shadow of her figure, holding the knife as if to stab him, before she let it go, and let if fall through the air...straight into his calf.

Yelping in pain, Aiden felt his blood boil as she stooped down in front of him, to get face to face, and yanked his chin so they were looking eye to eye. "Don't you dare attack me, although thanks to that, I've got my way now," she said, her voice raising in pitch towards the end, mimicking how one might speak with a child. Then, with a burst of strength, Aiden was thrown against a wall, the air escaping from his lungs. His body burned, his vision blurred, his eyes felt hot. And then, he lashed out, his arm found hers, gripped it tight, and in one clenching of his fist, he felt the bone snap like a twig. He let off a smirking growl, and then threw her form against a nearby brick wall, following by another kick to the torso. More bones shattered. He could smell the blood as it dripped from her wounds. As he advanced towards her, she scooped up a handful of dust from a nearby wood pile, and threw it into his eyes. When he was able to see again, she had gone.

Looking into a nearby puddle of water, his reflection caught his eye momentarily. It was shadowy, but it looked like his eyes had been crimson...it must have been his imagination. With the insane amount of adrenaline still coursing through his body, which must have allowed him his moment of strength, he sighed, picked up his weapon, and headed back to his car. Ariel would pay, one day.

[Aiden]

The drive home was similar to that of any other return home; the high of battle was coming down, his makeshift bandage wrapped around his leg was quickly becoming too soaked with blood, and his body was now worn from the intense burst of adrenaline. His veins burned, with exhaustion and excitement and a multitude of other things, while his wounds felt cool and icy. He pressed the gas pedal a little further down as he came down the road that lead to The Crossroad’s Tavern. As always his eyes swept over said crossroads just in case some demon decided that they were going to show up and make a deal, and as always, nothing.

Slipping through the door, and through the bar with only the normal look from Ruth, the same one she always gave him when he returned all beat up, he shuffled through the door that would take him to the living area side of the bar, shuffled up the stairs, and into his room. Good, he didn’t need Yuki and Teagan asking him pointless questions. He didn’t even know how to begin explaining what happened back there. He had heard of bursts of strength in stressful situations, but he’d been in such situations since he was ten, and had never experienced anything like that. Grabbing a change of clothes, he decided that properly treating his calf, and a nice shower would help him just relax, and take him mind off of things.

That, however, proved to be nearly impossible. His mind would not let the clear image of Ariel from his mind. He stared straight ahead at the white tile, seeing her reflection in it. This was the demon that killed Malcolm, Aiden’s mentor and the man that saved him after his parents’ deaths. The man that taught him to survive, the man who gave him the skills to train these two girls to do the same. His bare skin crawled at the memory, the vivid sight of Malcolm being torn apart. His eyes were cast downward as the water swirled down the drain, quickly reverting back to the blood that seeped from Malcolm’s mangled body. He’d stuck it out for so long, but it was finally catching up with him again. It would be another sleepless night.

Deciding that the shower had done nothing to help him aside from clean his body off, he turned the water off, changed into his clothes, and walked downstairs, still rubbing the towel on his hair. He was looking for one person, and one person only. He found her in the kitchen, as expected, and he made short work of what he intended. “Hey Teagan, don’t cook for three tonight. I’m not hungry,” he said calmly, turning around and walking away, before she could even ask what happened to his leg, which was bandaged up, and that was if she even saw it.

Closing and locking his door behind him, he let his body collapse onto his bed. It was tired, aching. Bruises had developed on his back from the run in with that wall. The bandage was tight and uncomfortable, wrapped around his calf. And yet his body was oddly calm, and his mind wasn’t even focused on Malcolm so much as it was on that demon. The stench she carried still burned in his nose, her evil visage playing out in his mind, her touching him, her acting like she knew everything about him. She…she didn’t know anything about him, about the pain she caused him. His fist slammed down on the bed as he laid a moment, glaring at the ceiling. Then, he sat up abruptly, looking at his desk. Of course. He’d been waiting all this time, standing idly by, but now…

He rolled the chair out from the desk, and sat down, pulling a drawer open rather forcefully. He pulled out a small, black, leatherbound book, and opened it on his desk, a pen scrawling ink across the page. Yuki and Teagan couldn’t know about this, they wouldn’t understand. Jeff wouldn’t even understand…but he would make Ariel understand that she had made a mistake by showing her face in town, alerting the one whose life she ruined of her presence.

Aug. 15, 2009.

Ariel attacked me. She’s in Portland. Going to find out whereabouts from demon tomorrow.