Allena never truly liked attention, she preferred the comfort of the shadows. Even as a child when she craved the attention of her parents, she would some times sneak off into the hidden recesses of her mind; closing out the world around her and focusing on the life she wish she had. A father who stuck up for himself and didn't let himself be beaten down by his wife, a mother who wouldn't drink her families problems away.
She had abandoned her small suburban house near a town named Oakland, New Jersey, along with that old life a good seven years ago, in search of new, better one. One not so plagued with disaster and broken promises. But she would never erase the things she had said before she left. If there was thing every child could live without, it was seeing your strong father cry and your mother slap you. It was apparent long ago, she was a mistake.
Her reluctant friend Alec, had decided to join her. Allena and Alec hadn't known each other long, in fact, Allena had only just met Allec on her way from the marketplace the day before she decided to run. She had a habit of leaving her house to just leave; to just simply be gone and see if anyone cared enough to come find her. No one did until Alec.
He caught her sitting on a bridge in the marketplace, merchants shuffling by in this between world called Erydia. It was nonexistent to normal humans, and took much effort getting there, and the time lapse was different by about 7 hours so when she went there, she didn't expect to be home any time soon. It was a world not meant for the fragile; full of hybrids, demons, and creatures seen only on Halloween night. But most weren't as dumb to pick a fight somewhere so public. As bizarre as Erydia was from New Jersey, they still had their own set of laws that corresponding quite closely to that of the human world. The law was enforced by the High Court, and they were the good guys.
Alec had seen her on the bridge and decided to ask her what reason she had to be wondering amongst monsters such as he. But she didn't respond. He took it upon himself and agreed to come with her as far as she needed to go, for it was not safe for a teenage human girl to be wondering Erydia alone.
It didn't take Allena too long to realize that he wasn't doing her a favor; he was a wanted man with a large bounty on his head. Wanted posters hung in almost every town, and he slipped by easily with glamour. She wasn't too sure if she enjoyed the presence of a wanted demon criminal near her, you are who you associate with, but the protection wasn't something she could pass up, so she allowed him to stay near. As for Alec, he didn't often risk life in a jail cell for pretty, young women, but free food, free housing, and if he was truly evil, free a** if he wanted it. He was stronger than she was on many levels, but he hadn't pushed his limits, and instead respected her team rules.....For now.
After the ordeal of returning home briefly to tell her parents she would not be returning, she got a job from a high, official corporal of the fairy department in the High Court. He was an old man with a limp, but also at the same time a master of old history. He looked like Gandhi with more hair and more muscular.
He had appointed her the job of checking in on the other courts and relaying their concerns to him. These courts consisted of the Summer Court, Winter Court, Shadow Court and Dark Court, each having their own set of rules and regulations and creatures that abided by them. The trick was finding the courts' Kings and Queens. Most of these didn't have Queens, only Kings, which made finding and possibly meeting them that much more difficult. Girls were easy to talk to under the right circumstances, but men like Alec were impossible.
Court realtor was a very dangerous job, for not all the courts were quite as nice as the High Court. In fact, many were actually quite ruthless, as Alec had many times told her. The Dark Court King, Irial had shone his ruthlessness many times over, slaughtering many of the High Court's fey, but he was just as powerful if not more than the old geezer who ruled the High Court, so putting him down wasn't an option. That in total would create a war of the Courts, and frankly, that seemed to just be the way the Dark Court was. Blood lust and sexual attraction, and every scared beast was another blood lure for the Dark Court creatures.
She thought of who would cry for her if she died, if anyone would even know. If maybe Irial would give her a break seeing as she just the messenger, but it seemed unlikely. Using her body as a scarecrow was more probable than even getting a head start to run from him.
Alec, unlike Allena, loved being in spotlight. It was the main reason he was a wanted man. He never told Allena why he had such a large bounty, but he knew she had some idea since the ruler of the High Court himself, wanted him in chains. Why he wanted him alive, he wasn't all too sure, but he figured it couldn't be good. Though she would not admit it, Allena was fully aware he was only using her because she had the High Court protection, food, and housing and he simply had nothing, but he had wooed her into believing in some moments, that he actually cared for her, and maybe he did. But he wasn't about to let Allena know it. The only thing that kept him around her was the idea of possible protection and that lingering fact that he wasn't human. He was half-demon, and that intrigued her. She had met many creatures like him, but none were too keen on cozening up to her being as she was human. She liked it, she liked him, she liked to study him, find things out about his race that she wouldn't find out anywhere else. It would be sad end when she figured out he felt the same things humans do, nothing was different emotionally.
"Sooo," Alec began, as him ad Allena sat down at a tavern, "Who are we waiting for again? Don't you have your high, official business or whatever to attend to?" He was obviously jealous that Allena would be escorted to the Dark Court by the Irial's carriage. The tavern was buzzing with Lucian's clan of wolves from the mountains. They had been doing some intense training up there and warned settlers away for the time being, but promised it would be well worth it. They were sire-bonded with Irial's court, she had wondered why they were not there right now, seeing as it was their free time. And then her mind slipped into other questions, why had Irial order them to train in the mountains in the first place?
She shifted in her booth seat, and pushed a strands of chestnut hair out of her face as it cradled down around her shoulders, "We are waiting for a man named Leo Carnage." She picked up a small menu and scanned the list of beverages, dutifully noting they sold blood by the bottles.
She could hear all of kinds of conversations with her too human hearing, most were talks on murderer on the loose, but that was to be expected in Irial's town. Alec pulled her menu down, and peered at her,
"We? No no, I think you got it wrong Sena, I don't do King Irial. That guy hates me!" He almost choked out hate, as if no one has ever hated him before. Across the room, playing darts were two blondes, keenly staring Alec but he paid no mind. They had exchanged some words in what sounded like some ancient Hebrew of some sort and then grinned Alec's way.
Allena slammed the menu down annoyed,
"Its Allena! Who the hell is Sena anyway?" She crossed her arms, clearly frustrated with the rising attention Alec was getting.Though they had only been working together for a week, she still figured he would have her name by now. he wouldn't remember her name, but he would remember two sexy blondes' names by now.
She ran her hand through her thick hair, debating whether to try and lighten the mood a bit, but all that came out was, "Trust me, its not surprising that Irial hates you. It would be surprising if I could find someone who didn't hate you." She sneered at him and waved to the waitress. she wasn't entirely good at being nice to him, seeing as he was the reason getting hotel rooms was so hard.
Alec huffed, his nostrils heaving in and out frantically,
"Well, its not like Irial is prince charming either. He isn't the easiest to get along with." Allena scoffed at him as the waitress pulled out her writing pad and a black pen, she was pretty with long aqua green curls and dark eyes missing the irises; Summer fey,
"Anything I can get for you?" She made it a point to smile brightly at Alec, and only give Allena a glance. Alec was now becoming the new excuse as to why girls didn't like her.
"Uhm, do you have anything that doesn't come from...Well..." She hesitated, "Me?" The waitress scowled,
"I'm sorry, we don't serve humans here." Ouch. That was a personal blow,"But your welcome to try our garbage, all the dogs eat out of there any who." Ouch!! Another horrible blow to my self esteem.
"I'll have a glass of blood please, and excuse her. She will have some water." Alec interjected. But he didn't cut in soon enough, Allena was already biting her lip and glaring at the menu as if it had just slapped her. The waitress nodded and took their menu's before Allena was ready to give it up again, but not before caressing Alec's hand just after grabbing his menu. He grinned, showing off his sharp, glistening canines. He was handsome to say the least, surely did attract a lot of attention Allena wasn't used to, and what was worse, he knew he was attractive. He used to his advantage any time he got the chance.
Her foot connected with his shin under the table, and he made a small squeal of pain. He bent down to rub his leg, and she kicked again, harder this time. He yelped and pulled his bruised hand from under the table, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" No one turned to stare, but Allena could tell they were listening in, even the blonde couple near the dart board had stopped talking.
"You're a man whore, that's probably why Irial hates you." She grinned innocently and leaned back in her seat, but she meant every word of what she said and Alec knew it. He also could smell jealousy a mile away, it was a perk to being one of Irial's creatures, though he abandoned that part of himself long ago. Irial made him do things as soon as he turned him that he wasn't proud of.
"Like I said, Irial isn't easy to get along with. He has a huge ego and he-" Allena didn't get to hear the other insults Alec had up his sleeve because a large crowd of screaming people, brushed past the doorway to the tavern. Terrified screams, screeches even, they almost sounded human.
Allena leaned out of her seat to get a better look, but the taverns' guests were all standing now, peering out the doorway. She could make out a male silhouette, limping or striding through the doorway, crimson blood running down his arms and legs. Under the moonlight, it was bright red and glistening over tattoos that seemed to move around on his sleeve.
Allena caught her breath and held it as he nearly crawled to their table. Alec gasped and scooted further into the seat when he approached. He had blonde hair stained with blood, and a bruise on the right side of his face. Whoever he was, he had been beaten fairly bad. He seemed newly turned, a cub, and yet so old and hurt; he was scrawny but tall like the nerds that got picked on on all those soap operas on tv.
He handed her a crumpled, bloodied piece of folded paper and then, as if he had accomplished his mission, collapsed. Allena wasn't sure if he was even still breathing! Was it possible for a King to make a subordinate only live long enough to complete a mission?
Soon after Sammy, the tavern's owner, was hauling him out the door and down the dirt road to the nearest clinic. Alec clawed at the folded paper in Allena's hand,
"Allena! What does the note say?!" Her heart beat hard against her rib cage, and tears nearly welled in her eyes. Irial's town certainly was one to be feared.
"Don't come to the Dark Court or else you'll see hell at my hands - Irial." She read aloud.
She had abandoned her small suburban house near a town named Oakland, New Jersey, along with that old life a good seven years ago, in search of new, better one. One not so plagued with disaster and broken promises. But she would never erase the things she had said before she left. If there was thing every child could live without, it was seeing your strong father cry and your mother slap you. It was apparent long ago, she was a mistake.
Her reluctant friend Alec, had decided to join her. Allena and Alec hadn't known each other long, in fact, Allena had only just met Allec on her way from the marketplace the day before she decided to run. She had a habit of leaving her house to just leave; to just simply be gone and see if anyone cared enough to come find her. No one did until Alec.
He caught her sitting on a bridge in the marketplace, merchants shuffling by in this between world called Erydia. It was nonexistent to normal humans, and took much effort getting there, and the time lapse was different by about 7 hours so when she went there, she didn't expect to be home any time soon. It was a world not meant for the fragile; full of hybrids, demons, and creatures seen only on Halloween night. But most weren't as dumb to pick a fight somewhere so public. As bizarre as Erydia was from New Jersey, they still had their own set of laws that corresponding quite closely to that of the human world. The law was enforced by the High Court, and they were the good guys.
Alec had seen her on the bridge and decided to ask her what reason she had to be wondering amongst monsters such as he. But she didn't respond. He took it upon himself and agreed to come with her as far as she needed to go, for it was not safe for a teenage human girl to be wondering Erydia alone.
It didn't take Allena too long to realize that he wasn't doing her a favor; he was a wanted man with a large bounty on his head. Wanted posters hung in almost every town, and he slipped by easily with glamour. She wasn't too sure if she enjoyed the presence of a wanted demon criminal near her, you are who you associate with, but the protection wasn't something she could pass up, so she allowed him to stay near. As for Alec, he didn't often risk life in a jail cell for pretty, young women, but free food, free housing, and if he was truly evil, free a** if he wanted it. He was stronger than she was on many levels, but he hadn't pushed his limits, and instead respected her team rules.....For now.
After the ordeal of returning home briefly to tell her parents she would not be returning, she got a job from a high, official corporal of the fairy department in the High Court. He was an old man with a limp, but also at the same time a master of old history. He looked like Gandhi with more hair and more muscular.
He had appointed her the job of checking in on the other courts and relaying their concerns to him. These courts consisted of the Summer Court, Winter Court, Shadow Court and Dark Court, each having their own set of rules and regulations and creatures that abided by them. The trick was finding the courts' Kings and Queens. Most of these didn't have Queens, only Kings, which made finding and possibly meeting them that much more difficult. Girls were easy to talk to under the right circumstances, but men like Alec were impossible.
Court realtor was a very dangerous job, for not all the courts were quite as nice as the High Court. In fact, many were actually quite ruthless, as Alec had many times told her. The Dark Court King, Irial had shone his ruthlessness many times over, slaughtering many of the High Court's fey, but he was just as powerful if not more than the old geezer who ruled the High Court, so putting him down wasn't an option. That in total would create a war of the Courts, and frankly, that seemed to just be the way the Dark Court was. Blood lust and sexual attraction, and every scared beast was another blood lure for the Dark Court creatures.
She thought of who would cry for her if she died, if anyone would even know. If maybe Irial would give her a break seeing as she just the messenger, but it seemed unlikely. Using her body as a scarecrow was more probable than even getting a head start to run from him.
Alec, unlike Allena, loved being in spotlight. It was the main reason he was a wanted man. He never told Allena why he had such a large bounty, but he knew she had some idea since the ruler of the High Court himself, wanted him in chains. Why he wanted him alive, he wasn't all too sure, but he figured it couldn't be good. Though she would not admit it, Allena was fully aware he was only using her because she had the High Court protection, food, and housing and he simply had nothing, but he had wooed her into believing in some moments, that he actually cared for her, and maybe he did. But he wasn't about to let Allena know it. The only thing that kept him around her was the idea of possible protection and that lingering fact that he wasn't human. He was half-demon, and that intrigued her. She had met many creatures like him, but none were too keen on cozening up to her being as she was human. She liked it, she liked him, she liked to study him, find things out about his race that she wouldn't find out anywhere else. It would be sad end when she figured out he felt the same things humans do, nothing was different emotionally.
"Sooo," Alec began, as him ad Allena sat down at a tavern, "Who are we waiting for again? Don't you have your high, official business or whatever to attend to?" He was obviously jealous that Allena would be escorted to the Dark Court by the Irial's carriage. The tavern was buzzing with Lucian's clan of wolves from the mountains. They had been doing some intense training up there and warned settlers away for the time being, but promised it would be well worth it. They were sire-bonded with Irial's court, she had wondered why they were not there right now, seeing as it was their free time. And then her mind slipped into other questions, why had Irial order them to train in the mountains in the first place?
She shifted in her booth seat, and pushed a strands of chestnut hair out of her face as it cradled down around her shoulders, "We are waiting for a man named Leo Carnage." She picked up a small menu and scanned the list of beverages, dutifully noting they sold blood by the bottles.
She could hear all of kinds of conversations with her too human hearing, most were talks on murderer on the loose, but that was to be expected in Irial's town. Alec pulled her menu down, and peered at her,
"We? No no, I think you got it wrong Sena, I don't do King Irial. That guy hates me!" He almost choked out hate, as if no one has ever hated him before. Across the room, playing darts were two blondes, keenly staring Alec but he paid no mind. They had exchanged some words in what sounded like some ancient Hebrew of some sort and then grinned Alec's way.
Allena slammed the menu down annoyed,
"Its Allena! Who the hell is Sena anyway?" She crossed her arms, clearly frustrated with the rising attention Alec was getting.Though they had only been working together for a week, she still figured he would have her name by now. he wouldn't remember her name, but he would remember two sexy blondes' names by now.
She ran her hand through her thick hair, debating whether to try and lighten the mood a bit, but all that came out was, "Trust me, its not surprising that Irial hates you. It would be surprising if I could find someone who didn't hate you." She sneered at him and waved to the waitress. she wasn't entirely good at being nice to him, seeing as he was the reason getting hotel rooms was so hard.
Alec huffed, his nostrils heaving in and out frantically,
"Well, its not like Irial is prince charming either. He isn't the easiest to get along with." Allena scoffed at him as the waitress pulled out her writing pad and a black pen, she was pretty with long aqua green curls and dark eyes missing the irises; Summer fey,
"Anything I can get for you?" She made it a point to smile brightly at Alec, and only give Allena a glance. Alec was now becoming the new excuse as to why girls didn't like her.
"Uhm, do you have anything that doesn't come from...Well..." She hesitated, "Me?" The waitress scowled,
"I'm sorry, we don't serve humans here." Ouch. That was a personal blow,"But your welcome to try our garbage, all the dogs eat out of there any who." Ouch!! Another horrible blow to my self esteem.
"I'll have a glass of blood please, and excuse her. She will have some water." Alec interjected. But he didn't cut in soon enough, Allena was already biting her lip and glaring at the menu as if it had just slapped her. The waitress nodded and took their menu's before Allena was ready to give it up again, but not before caressing Alec's hand just after grabbing his menu. He grinned, showing off his sharp, glistening canines. He was handsome to say the least, surely did attract a lot of attention Allena wasn't used to, and what was worse, he knew he was attractive. He used to his advantage any time he got the chance.
Her foot connected with his shin under the table, and he made a small squeal of pain. He bent down to rub his leg, and she kicked again, harder this time. He yelped and pulled his bruised hand from under the table, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" No one turned to stare, but Allena could tell they were listening in, even the blonde couple near the dart board had stopped talking.
"You're a man whore, that's probably why Irial hates you." She grinned innocently and leaned back in her seat, but she meant every word of what she said and Alec knew it. He also could smell jealousy a mile away, it was a perk to being one of Irial's creatures, though he abandoned that part of himself long ago. Irial made him do things as soon as he turned him that he wasn't proud of.
"Like I said, Irial isn't easy to get along with. He has a huge ego and he-" Allena didn't get to hear the other insults Alec had up his sleeve because a large crowd of screaming people, brushed past the doorway to the tavern. Terrified screams, screeches even, they almost sounded human.
Allena leaned out of her seat to get a better look, but the taverns' guests were all standing now, peering out the doorway. She could make out a male silhouette, limping or striding through the doorway, crimson blood running down his arms and legs. Under the moonlight, it was bright red and glistening over tattoos that seemed to move around on his sleeve.
Allena caught her breath and held it as he nearly crawled to their table. Alec gasped and scooted further into the seat when he approached. He had blonde hair stained with blood, and a bruise on the right side of his face. Whoever he was, he had been beaten fairly bad. He seemed newly turned, a cub, and yet so old and hurt; he was scrawny but tall like the nerds that got picked on on all those soap operas on tv.
He handed her a crumpled, bloodied piece of folded paper and then, as if he had accomplished his mission, collapsed. Allena wasn't sure if he was even still breathing! Was it possible for a King to make a subordinate only live long enough to complete a mission?
Soon after Sammy, the tavern's owner, was hauling him out the door and down the dirt road to the nearest clinic. Alec clawed at the folded paper in Allena's hand,
"Allena! What does the note say?!" Her heart beat hard against her rib cage, and tears nearly welled in her eyes. Irial's town certainly was one to be feared.
"Don't come to the Dark Court or else you'll see hell at my hands - Irial." She read aloud.
