Again no sex. I'll just come out and say I don't know when there will be. But there will be. Eventually. This is longer than the first as requested. I don't know how many words constitutes a literotica page but this should be more than one (I hope ; ) ) I want to thank everyone who commented and gave me advice on my first submission. It is very much appreciated : D And again sorry about the no sex : )
* * *
Tears rolled down Aprils face as she stared open mouthed at the image in the mirror. She didn't recognize it. It wasn't her. It couldn't be her.
She
was beautiful. The voice in her head told her to be happy. She was alive and that was the only thing that mattered but she couldn't help it.
It didn't help she couldn't remember anything about how she got this way other than an intense feeling of cold. Getting out of bed had been a nightmare. Pain searing up her legs so strong she thought she might collapse. But she'd still stumbled through the bathroom door with barely a glance at her condition. Now, in front of the full length glass there was no way to ignore it.
Deep red scrawls covered her from thigh to ankle. It was obvious someone had tried to clean her up, but dry blood still clung to her on her thighs and around the knees. A nasty gash curved across her stomach and up her side, a smaller one across her breast. Bruises covered her entire body and what skin did show was sickly pale.
Taking it all in her stomach heaved and she ran for the toilet vomiting a mixture of water and blood. Sinking down on the floor she stared at the image. Hollow, sunken eyes stared back at her. The pale green color that once sparkled with life now looking more grey. And her hair! She ran her fingers over the tumbled mess. It hadn't been shorter than her waist in seven years. But now she wasn't sure if she could save it.
Shaking her head hard she bit back the fresh tears and stood. She was a survivor. She'd survived the death of two parents, the accident that took one her brothers, the cancer that threatened to take the other, and more than her fair share of abuse. She would survive this.
Turning towards the shower she twisted the taps as hot as she could handle. She just needed to take it as she always did. Break it up, and fix it one step at a time. With fresh determination she stepped inside and let the water run over her battered body. She was going to be just fine.
* * *
Seere held on to the banister like a life line. How he'd lasted as long as he did with the girl was beyond even his knowledge. Stumbling a few more steps he made it down and fell against the bench shaking. The ramifications of the night before were even worse than he anticipated and he hadn't even healed her all the way, just enough to close the wounds and fix the internal damage.
"I shouldn't have even done that much, she was too far gone" he muttered reaching over the top and grabbing a bottle of pills.
He could take the pain. But if the shaking didn't slow down, he was going to have more than the little problem upstairs to deal with. His employers had sent him the signal last night. They expected the job to be done last night. He was going to have trouble thinking of a good explanation. A mere human wasn't going to be anywhere near enough. He looked towards the ceiling and started when he felt another presence enter his home.
"Ah! You're home" a voice chirped through the first floor "now where are you?"
Seere grinned as his friend appeared on the bench in front of him pizza in hand. "So genies do grant wishes" he groaned and grabbed the box.
"Jinn brother, Jinn. Do I look big and blue and come with a lamp?"
"Well, purple anyway" he gestured to the streak of purple running through Rane's jet black hair suppressing a laugh.
He groaned "yeah Charity got a little ambitious on the weekend. Why I let her do these things to me I have no idea" he snatched a piece of pizza from the box. "Well I do have an idea but I'm certainly not going to tell you about it" he laughed.
The pizza stopped halfway to his mouth, his brown eyes turning an unearthly shade of light gold as he looked up at the roof.
"And what's this I sense? Did our little night demon find something interesting in the moonlight?"
"It's not like that"
"No?" Rane teased
"It was a call"
That wiped the smirk of his face. Rane had known about the whispers Seere had been hearing from the moment they met. At the time Seere had thought he had found an answer for what breed he was. But the Jinn were pure mischief. They couldn't heal or manipulate minds the way he could. And they phased in and out of the dimensions at will preferring to spend most of their time out of sight. Still, Rane had taken an immediate liking to Seere and even taught him how to block the whispers.
"I thought you were past that phase" Rane sighed putting down the food.
"I was. I haven't been pulled towards someone for over six years"
Rane's gold eyes flashed "I told you. I told you if you held on to these people you'd sink back into old habits"
Seere slammed down his glass his body giving one more spasm as the pills set in. He met Rane glare for glare. "it's not like I can just phase it out like you, I have to live here"
Rane's eyes flickered "yes, you do, but you don't have to hold on to the people Seere. They'll kill you. You'll live forever trying to help all of them and eventually they'll take what's left and leave you. Do you know what that looks like? Have you seen it?" he gestured towards the black stone hanging around Seere's neck "go on. See what the generations of so called heroes that walked before you paid for their mercy"
"I'm not using the stone"
"If you have it you're meant to use it" he snarled "might as well use it to keep yourself alive"
"No"
Rane opened his mouth to reply but stopped when April entered the room. His eyes shone a little brighter as he turned to look at her. Jumping down from the bench he walked forward. She stepped back at the wicked look in his eyes.
"Leave the girl alone Rane" she looked towards Seere curiously as he leaned back against the bench.
"Relax Seere, I just want a closer look at those beautiful eyes" his voice was like water over rock drawing her to meet his gaze. This time she did gasp. Colored lights flashed in front of her eyes and she felt herself falling until all she felt was cold.
