3 | Salvation

New York City, New York May 1994

Scott

YEARS passed as if they were nothing, one day the world was the same, and the next it was not. The last 18 years I've spent traveling the globe by Seana's side; wreaking havoc everywhere we went.

I've lost count of how many people met their end at my hands. After the hundredth, I stopped keeping track.

For the past month, Seana and I had come to New York, she had a meeting with a witch named Hazel Moore. For years she had been trying to track some woman that she wanted to kill. Something to have to do with revenge for her slain family.

While she was off taking care of that I was alone, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. I hadn't fed tonight; it was better to look for someone alone. It was easier to depose one body than multiple.

I stood on the rooftop of an abandoned brick building that rose five stories high. Soot from long ago stained the bricks; the building was completely trashed from years of neglect. After a moment of listening, I heard my victim down in the dark alleyway. A homeless woman was digging through the trash, I felt my fangs wanting to extend and feed, but I picked up on movement coming from the alleyway where the woman was. Oh well, two victims it will be then. But right before I jumped, I felt someone grab my arm. Before I could even think I was flung several feet from where I was and crashed to the ground.

Snarling, I jumped back up, glaring at the figure standing in the shadows. Then they stepped forward. A woman of tall stature walked towards me, each step slow and cautious. Her blue eyes were light and piercing, her dark brown hair tied back into a tight ponytail, and a long black trench coat covered her frame. Her skin was pale, her appearance striking.

"Sorry, was I interrupting your hunting game?" she asked, her English accent thick. She took another step closer, till she was just inches in front of me.

"Well?" she hissed.

I glared at her snarling, "Yes, you were. Which is a fatal mistake, little girl."

Her expression turned amused and then started to laugh. Growing more frustrated, I launched at her, but all I caught was air.

I spun, finding her standing there again. She slowly smiled, showing her fangs as they came out, the white of her eyes blackened. But instead of being complete black pits, her irises remained a glowing blue.

"Well listen here little boy," she drawled. She sped beside me then gripped my hair, yanking my head down to the side till her head was above mine. Hissing through her fangs, she continued, "Your threats won't save you from me."

"Fuck you," I spat.

She just smiled at me, then threw me to the ground. Before I even was able to pick myself up, she was on top of me, digging her nails into my throat and choking me.

I thrashed around, trying to get her off me, but the psychotic bitch wouldn't budge. I started to choke up blood, my windpipe was completely punctured as her nails sliced into my throat.

"I've been keeping track of you for weeks, Scott Aldridge. Weeks. Do you realize how fucking sloppy you are! You and my niece both!" she snarled. "Are you trying to expose our kind?"

She tightened her grip even harder; I'm surprised she hasn't ripped my head off.

"Claire! Stop it!" I heard another woman scream; the bitch let my throat go. Whoever it was that screamed crashed into the other woman, sending her sailing into a chimney stack, it crumbled under the impact. "I said to find him not rip his throat out!"

I began spitting out the rest of the blood as my throat healed and slowly got up. Then realized just how much blood I had lost; I was covered in it. As were Claire's hands.

"So why wait till now to find me?" I hissed, spatting more blood on the ground. Claire stalked towards me; her gaze filled with disgust. "And niece? Seana is your fucking niece?" I said in disbelief. I thought her entire family was killed. Yet here I was staring at them in the flesh.

"Tonight was the only time you were alone, you imbecile. Seana does not need to know what is transpiring," Claire remarked. "Adelaide, you need to do it quickly, we do not have much time left before Seana comes looking for this idiot."

I glanced up at Adelaide who was staring at me, her light green eyes filled with nothing but sadness. "Forgive me for what I have to do," she murmured.

Then she was on top of me, gripping each side of my head. It was like knives going into my skull, a piercing pain shooting through the darkness. I felt her digging through my mind, going through memories that have long been pushed to the farthest parts of my consciousness. My humanity. The cord had been severed for so long, just thinking about the pain that would come pouring out, the feelings.

I did not want to ever feel it again.

"Get out of my head!" I snarled, throwing up mental shields to get her to stop.

"Look at me," I heard her murmur, our eyes locked. I couldn't look away from her haunting green eyes.

A door in my mind flooded open, every bad thing I've done, replayed in my head within a millisecond, a cry escaping my throat. I shoved her away from me, then gripped the sides of my pounding head.

"Reign it in, don't let yourself turn it off again, you have to let it in, and then let it go. What Seana turned you into, that isn't you," Adelaide said softly.

"Isn't me?" I replied, a laugh escaping my lips. "I've killed people for the past eighteen years on my own, not because she forced me to!" I yelled as I paced around frantically, my hands balling up into fists. My mind filled with even more sorrow as people's screams of the past echoed through my mind.

"You were manipulated from the beginning," Adelaide insisted, her voice feeling far away. I felt her grip my arm tightly, snapping my attention back to her. "You have to calm down."

"Why?!" I hissed out angrily.

I could still feel her presence in my mind; she saw things no one should ever see.

"It doesn't matter why, it had to be done," Claire answered. "Now we must leave."

Adelaide gave me a sad smile, and let my arm go.

"Can you at least tell me why you forced my humanity back on?!" I shouted at them.

"Because you are of my husband's sire line. We keep them in check, I would enjoy just killing you, but my sister sees some sort of hope for you," Claire hissed.

I scoffed, "Hope? You're all out of your fucking mind. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to murder your niece that ruined my life."

All I could see was red, I never experienced pure hatred to this extent. For the longest time, I felt nothing, now all I wanted to do was rip Seana Kane into pieces. I was going to do it, even if it killed me.

Adelaide froze, a look of horror spreading across her face as she slowly turned towards Claire who now glared at me with nothing but contempt.

"Now I am going to kill you," Claire snarled.

Suddenly it was as if time had slowed down to a crawl. Claire was running towards me, a sharp wooden stake she had hidden somewhere in her coat was now in her grasp, making its way right to where my heart was.

But it never made it to its intended target. Instead, Adelaide materialized right in front of me, a yelp of pain escaping from her. Claire's eyes widened into shock, as did mine. The stake had made its way into Adelaide's chest instead but not her heart. I caught her as she collapsed, her breathing was ragged. She glanced up at me; pain etched across her face. Then she started to cough up blood. Confusion spread through me, why would she suddenly just do that?

"Adelaide I'm—" Claire choked out.

I slowly put my hand around the hilt of the stake and then yanked it out, causing Adelaide to cry out. I winced. I knew how painful a wooden stake to the chest was and dropped it on the ground. It was almost on par with being burned by sunlight.

"Are you okay?" I asked, my voice faltering. Adelaide turned around and gave me a deadly smile, her green eyes glowing ethereally.

"I'm fine," she deadpanned, "I just need to settle some things with my sister."

A snarl built in the back of her throat as she turned to Claire who took a step back.

Adelaide launched herself at Claire, both of them violent blurs of motion. Claire flung Adelaide away from her, sending her sprawling against the edge of the roof.

"Must we do this?" Claire hissed.

I just stood there frozen.

"Yes, we must," Adelaide spat, then threw herself at Claire once more.

But Claire moved before she reached her and flipped Adelaide mid-air. Something flew off her and made a clinking noise on the ground. My eyes darted to whatever it was, as did Adelaide.

It was a necklace.

Adelaide darted towards it, but Claire knocked into her and sent both of them off the edge of the roof. I ran to the edge to look for them, but they were gone. In the distance, however, I could still hear them fighting.

They seemed to have a loving sisterly relationship. A fucked up one if they were trying to kill one another right now. What did I know? I just met them.

I turned away from the edge and picked up Adelaide's necklace, the stone matched the one in my ring. The chain was brass and the large pendant hanging from it was quite large. It was her daylight necklace, which she would be needing in a few hours.

Hopefully, she would come back for it. If I survived the idiotic thing I was about to do now, I would give it back to her. I slipped it into my pocket, then strode over to the stake that I tossed away.

I had to settle a score of my own.

It would take a miracle for me to kill Seana. I was nowhere near her strength, but with the hatred and rage racing through my veins I don't think anyone could stop me right now. I held onto that stake with a death grip, Adelaide's blood still coated it. My blood from earlier was still splattered all over the front of me.

I knew there was a chance I wasn't going to make it out of this. Even if by some fucking miracle I managed to end her miserable existence, I wasn't too long from following her. I would gladly die knowing I avenged my grandfather.

I made it back to the psychic shop I left Seana at earlier. As I walked in, a bell rang as the door closed behind me.

I heard footsteps come from the other end of the store; I tensed as they got closer. I saw Hazel stride in, the beads hanging in the doorway opening as she came through.

"Have you seen Seana?" I asked through clenched teeth.

"Yes, she just got back from looking at a lead I gave her," she replied, her eyes widening as she took in the full sight of me. "What happened to you?"

"Oh nothing, just met some interesting people this evening," I retorted. "One tried to kill me and the other wanted me to see the error of my ways."

"I assume you killed them then," I heard Seana chuckle from behind me.

I whipped around, glaring at her. "Not exactly, but they really opened my fucking eyes."

Seana frowned, but before she even said anything, I sped at her and shoved her into a shelf full of nothing but glass. I pulled out the stake from my jacket and jumped on her, but she was already scrambling up onto her feet. Using all the strength I had I pinned her down, but she kept on thrashing violently.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" she screeched, kicking me off her. The stake flew out of my hand as I sailed through the air and into another glass shelf across the room.

Seana stalked towards me, her eyes soulless black pits. I jumped back up, my body tensing waiting for her to spring at me. In the corner of my eye, I saw where the stake landed, Seana followed my gaze, then dove for it at the same time. I got to it first and grabbed it, but she tackled me into a glass cabinet. I could hear Hazel screaming at both of us as we destroyed the place.

And it went on like that, till we just about broke everything in sight.

"Are you done yet?" Seana shouted, she was covered in blood and limping as was I. Did she not get the hint I was trying to kill her? Before she could say anything else, I answered by flinging her into another wall. Before she could even get back up, I pinned Seana down again, using all my weight.

"This is for my grandfather you insane bitch," I spat, then right before the stake even pierced her heart, I froze. I couldn't even move like some sort of fucking force was holding me back. I tried staking her again, but my hand wouldn't even budge.

"What's wrong Scotty? Can't kill me?" Seana snarled, "You are pathetic." She flipped us over in a flash, took my arm and snapped it, then ripped the stake from my hand and shoved it into my abdomen. She got up from the ground, "I should just end your miserable existence, or I can just enjoy killing you slowly."

"Fuck you," I rasped, then slowly propped myself up against the wall. Seana just rolled her eyes and limped away from me. I yanked out the stake and flung it to the side.

"It sounds like someone has their humanity back," Seana giggled dementedly.

"You both destroyed my store! I gave you what you wanted Seana, now could you get the hell out!" Hazel fumed.

Seana turned her attention towards Hazel, her eyes bleeding black once more, "Your lead led to nothing witch! I should kill you just for wasting my time!"

I sighed, having my humanity back finally let me see the real Seana for who she was. A deranged child.

"Threatening me isn't going to save you," Hazel chided her. "Forgive me for not intervening sooner."

"What?" Seana spat but fell lifelessly to the ground in the same second, her neck at an awkward angle.

I looked to Hazel, whose right hand was raised, her fingers twisted together. I slowly got up from the ground feeling completely weak. I had lost too much blood tonight; I was barely even healing.

"You better run far away from here," Hazel murmured.

"She will kill you," I muttered as I limped towards the entrance.

"Never underestimate a witch, Mr. Aldridge," Hazel chuckled. "Now get the hell out of my store."

FOR the last several years not once have I enjoyed a sunrise. The city skyline over New York was illuminated as always. The first few hints of dawn started to creep onto the tops of the skyscrapers. I had only fled a few hours ago; Seana hadn't found me yet. She would never find me after the sun rose. I had chucked my daylight ring off the roof of the building I was on.

I was done with this life.

Whatever awaited me in the afterlife was probably going to be eternal damnation, if being a vampire wasn't that already. There was no point in continuing to linger here, my entire family was dead. I've killed countless people; I hoped I burned in hell because of it.

"How did your fight go?" I heard a voice behind me inquire, I turned to see Adelaide standing to my left.

"You're looking at it," I chuckled then got up from the ledge I was sitting on. Adelaide was just as bloodied and battered as I was. "As I can tell yours went just as well, did your sister give up on killing me?"

"After some persuasion," she murmured, "Claire finally decided to let me be, but when she left, she told me you were about to do something drastic."

I looked down at her and pulled her necklace out of my pocket. "I think you'll be needing this."

I held it out for her to grab, and Adelaide's eyes widened in surprise. I almost forgot to give it back to her. It was ironic, I was giving her necklace back to her so she wouldn't die, yet I was doing the opposite of that to myself.

She took it from me and put it around her neck, tucking it into her shirt so it wouldn't fall out as easily as it did before.

"Thank you, I was about to grab it until my sister well," she paused. "Threw us off a damn building."

"She is quite nice, isn't she?" I murmured.

"To a few," she smiled, then took in the view around us. New York was beautiful just before sunrise, the skyline had just begun to show the slightest hint of dawn breaking. "Do you enjoy seeing the sunrise?" she asked.

"Sometimes, but today is different from all the others," I breathed. I could feel something.

Adelaide was silent next to me, then slowly locked eyes with me. She knew something was off. The moment she grabbed onto my hand; I knew she was reading my suicidal thoughts.

"Scott," she stressed.

"I'm just finishing what she wanted to do earlier," I replied.

Adelaide looked down at the hand that was in hers. "Where is your ring?"

I stared ahead, not answering her.

"There is so much more to life than this Scott, you just haven't lived it yet," Adelaide pressed.

"I have lived before Seana came into my life. I had a great life," I sighed, "The past eighteen years have been a nightmare. I'm tired of it. But at least in these final moments, I can feel something, despite the pain that makes me want to turn it right back off."

Adelaide stared up at me, her eyes always full of nothing but sadness. Before tonight I had never seen her before, but here I was feeling things that I didn't understand. And I still had no idea why she just came into my life and changed everything. I felt her entering my mind again, reading my thoughts, feeling everything, I was feeling. Invading my privacy, per usual.

I glanced at her, but she spoke before I even said a word, "I know there are many things you don't understand, but one day you will. You think of yourself as nothing more than a monster, but it isn't true. Please. I want you to live, for once in your life go live it,"

"Well sorry to ruin your hopeful disposition," I remarked and pulled my hand away from hers. "I'm a dead man walking."

My ring was gone. I could find shelter, but even then, what was the point?

"Today isn't your last day on this earth," Adelaide murmured.

Suddenly, she latched her hand around my wrist and reached her other hand out as if she were about to grab something. Then I heard it, something whistling through the air towards us. Something flew into her hand. My daylight ring. Adelaide promptly forced it back onto my index finger.

"I suppose I have no choice in the matter, do I?" I chuckled; Adelaide just frowned. "What other magic tricks can you do?"

"I can fly. Well, levitate if I concentrate hard enough," Adelaide smiled and asked, "I was planning on going to Seaside before I came back, I was hoping you might join me?"

"Seaside as in, California?" I gawked. Was it a coincidence?

"From what I recall when I was invading your privacy," she remarked jokingly, "You have family there?"

"I did," I lamented, "My mother's family was from there."

Hell, I hadn't been back to that place since I was a child, but perhaps there was something for me there. Some distant cousins perhaps? I wonder how my cousin Tony was doing or my uncle. I'm sure everyone thought I was dead.

Adelaide was smiling broadly at me, no doubt listening to my internal ramblings. What was it about this woman? But I saw that light in her eyes, hope.

We were gone before the sun rose.