Daniel felt the hunger eating at his dark soul. It was the same hunger that had pounded inside of him for almost a thousand years. Never-ending hunger. Because unlike the weak humans that shoved and pushed all around him to the pounding rhythm of the music, hunger could not kill him. Starvation brought only pain; it could not gift him with the blessed release of death. Few things truly could.
But it was not just the hunger that ate at his soul, if he still possessed such a thing. It was loneliness. He tried to remember a time when he last had companionship. Companionship, not friendship and certainly not the unattainable love that he felt for his wife many lifetimes ago. No, just simple companionship. Someone intelligent to converse with.
This modern world was becoming increasingly insipid and shallow. He watched as all around, half-dressed women gyrated and pulsed to pounding beats that would once have been a cry to war. He scanned the thoughts of those closest to him. His face contorted into a scowl of disgust. All these lowly creatures thought of was their physical appearance, material gain and copulation.
Certainly he could offer the vipers ample rewards in all three. Despite his ancient heart that hungered for a meaningful conversation, his physical appearance remained as pleasing as it had a millennia ago. That time when he would have and did trade his soul for vengeance. As for money, it was easy enough to collect silver, gold, land and all other means of exchange...when you had unlimited power and immortality. As for copulation, sex, that had become a favored means of filling the gapping void that must have once been his soul.
Daniel shook his dark head in disgust. This night like all the others he was not going to find what he sought. He knew that it was an elusive gift, more rare than a four-leaf clover, more precious to him than the Holy Grail to the Mother Church. He sought the impossible. A mate. A true mate. Someone that might see into the black hole of his heart but rather than be afraid would feel true compassion. Someone who could knit these tattered threads of humanity back together. It was a precious gift that had eluded him over the centuries. A gift that always eluded his kind. For who would wish to give their life to save one of his kind...a vampire.
***
Rahab walked the neon lighted streets of Hollywood. Women, and others, called out to her. Ran to offer her hugs. She spoke with each of them. Asking about their health, their children and as they knew she would, did they need anything. In each face, she saw her baby sister's. The familiar heaviness settled around her heart, just as it always did when she thought about the loss.
Twenty years, had it really been twenty years? It felt like only yesterday when she and her parents had stood next to the packed car, laughing and crying with the blonde beauty. She was going to be a star. In Hollywood. Everyone in their small Texas town had always said that was where someone as beautiful as Mindy belonged. So now that she was eighteen and had graduated high school she was off for those neon lights.
Rahab swiped the moisture from her eyes with the back of her hand. She had a job to do this night as she did all others. She was here to care for the needy, the forgotten, the lost...without questions. Because she would not allow one lost soul to slip through the cracks the way that her beloved sister had. It was more than a job for her...it was a mission.
Her heart stopped when she saw little Jodi talking to the tall, dark stranger. Rahab cared for everyone that came into her life, regardless of their past, or present. But Jodi was special. In the two decades since Rahab had identified her baby sister's body at the morgue, beaten, raped and strangled by a serial killer, no one had touched her heart the way Jodi did. The girl reminded her of Mindy in almost everyway from her blonde curls to her smiling eyes.
Rahab excused herself from the older transgender lady of the night as she called them. She walked towards the alley where Jodi was conversing with the man. Rahab could not see his face, maybe that was what bothered her? The fact that she did not know this man.
Over the years, she had gotten to know as many of the Johns, customers as she did her ladies. Sometimes their stories were as sad or sadder even than her girls. Lonely men mostly, some married even. Having forsaken marriage and even love in order to fulfill her mission she could not understand how that was possible. Those saddened her the most...to be alone and married. It seemed oxymoronic.
As she approached them, she plastered a smile onto her face. She did not want to give Jodi or the man any cause for alarm. She studied him in particular. He was tall, broad shouldered, perhaps not quite as old as her forty-three, but in that ball park probably. He had a baring about him. Military perhaps? Trained and tutored killer for certain. She could feel the blood upon his hands. Stains upon his soul. But there was something more there. An emptiness that she knew personally. A loneliness that called to her.
Rahab had never questioned her gift. For as long as she could remember she could see into the souls of man. The good, the bad and in her time upon these dirty streets with pain and sorrow on as many of squares as there were names, foot and hand prints...the ugly. Hollywood could be a very ugly place. Even when you were as beautiful as Mindy and Jodi.
"Rahab," the young girl called out to her in welcome.
The man turned towards her and her breathe caught in her throat. Beautiful. It was not a word for such masculine pulchritude but there was no other sufficient. There was something ancient, other worldly about him. Although death and violence hung like a second skin from his features so too did chivalry. The man was a warrior, stained with the blood of many, tormented beyond all measure by the things that he had done just to survive. Rahab cocked her head and almost sniffed the air as if to be certain. Then in the end she made her pronouncement, 'But not a killer,' she thought.
***
'Not a killer?' Daniel laughed as the woman approached. How dare she? Did she not know who...what...he was? Would always be.
He turned from the younger, more beautiful woman to study the new arrival. His face contorted. Her face was bare of the artifice favored by modern women and especially these types of creatures who had been his favorite prey over the years. He was after all doing them a favor. Cutting short a life of pain, degradation and most likely addiction. But this one was different. Not only did she not use paints to hide her plainness but her lush curves were decidedly out of place among these emaciated peers. He frowned as he studied her more carefully.
"Hello Jodi, I was just making the rounds. Checking on everyone," he clear blue eyes, perhaps the only thing that was truly remarkable about her, scanned him from head to toe and back again. Their gazes met and where others would look away, she stared into the depths of his dark soul. "I don't believe I know you. I'm Rahab," she said as she extended a hand. Her grip was surprisingly strong for a woman. "Are you a visitor to Hollywood or just moved here?" she inquired.
His frown deepened. She clearly did not belong. Yet she acted as if she owned these vile streets. He watched the silent interplay between the women. The young ones eyes pleaded with her to leave them to their business. But it was clear from her protective stance placing herself between him and the girl that she had no intention of honoring that plea. And honestly, he did not want her too. Suddenly his interest in the younger woman's pain and suffering had been diverted by the new arrival.
"Jodi, I need your help tonight," she smiled as she physically turned the woman away from him. The young one opened her mouth perhaps to protest but before she could his new interest pulled a handful of green papers from the pockets of those too tight and uncomfortable looking pants called jeans. Women did not belong in such garments. It was indecent. He wished for the long dresses of centuries past. Even the ones with necklines way too low for decency would be better than these things that hugged a woman's curves, revealing far more than they covered.
Still the younger woman meant to protest. He could see it in her eyes. Why was she so eager to go with one such as he? Could she not see his darkness, even as her friend did? Did he not stink of death and pain? Or perhaps the bright lights here did strange things to his features? Making him appear as he once had. It certainly seemed that even the mature one did not recognize him fully for what he was. A killer.
She pulled more of the green papers from her pocket until the younger woman could not look away. She turned to him and studied him again for a long moment before smiling. "Jodi, listen to me. Please!" He could hear the hurt, fear and pain dripping from every word, "Take this. Take it all. Give Gary his portion. Then I want you to go to this place. Tell the sisters there that I sent you. They will take you in, care for you and see that you are safe."
The younger woman started to shake her head but the elder would not be dissuaded. "Please, Jodi. Please," she begged as he noticed tears gathering in those eyes. Perhaps she was coming to see him for what he truly was after all?
The tug of war continued for a couple more moments as the women conversed in shushed whispers. He leaned casually against the dirty brick building. He studied the older woman as she pleaded. Beyond the plainness of her physical appearance he could not deny the passion with which she sought to protect her young charge.
