GFD 10: Nights Eternal - 11. Chapter 11

With a few extremely quick steps, I raced towards all four attackers at once! My hands began to move so fast that I was literally hitting two or three of them at once! They had NO defense! I was backing all FOUR of them up towards the wall with the frantic blur of my fists. They attempted to fight back, but I could read their thoughts faster than they could. While my mind reading ability had been nearly suffocated in this place...Zero's seemed to cut right through, and they're every move was an open book to me before they were even able to react. Com's power was sucking the shadows right off of them, creating an even darker cloak of darkness around me like a thick cape of velvet. As they attempted to defend themselves, I felt Chad's extra kick in, moving me back and forth between them so blindingly fast that they couldn't even figure out which way to fall! I was all OVER them! One of the men tried to run, and I caught him with a swift kick to his chest, knocking him backwards away from me...then a long acid web shot out of my hand to wrap around his waist, and yank him right back to me! The momentum of his travel back made my next kick all the more painful, and I sent him crashing into the wall behind him! I felt a knife slash me from behind, and start cutting deep gashes in my arm...but it didn't hurt. Not at all. I healed it instantly, and used the emotional pain to fire another geyser blast directly into his face, flipping him back onto his stomach. I fought so hard that my body knew no limits, and I was thinking about what I was doing...but I hardly felt in control anymore. Nor did I WANT to! I simply let every part of me do its job, and deliver the most brutal beating that I could give them! Strike at ME??? Are they out of their fucking MINDS???

I turned their attention around to focus on something behind them so fast that it spun all four of them around in a circle, and I used Jazz's electric shock to burn a hole right through the back of their black leather jackets! There was no emotion left. No fear, no doubt, no mercy. They pushed me to do this, and now they're gonna PAY! This is what happens when you fuck with the chosen one!!! You...them...and ANYONE who dares to defy me!!! I felt the anger raging out of control, my blows becoming harder, faster, more damaging. They were bleeding profusely from their wounds, and I could feel their bones breaking with every punch! My muscles were tight enough to snap, but I just kept pushing. I just kept swinging. I was blind with hatred...and I wasn't going to stop...EVER...until they knew who they were messing with!

My adrenaline was boiling out of control...and extras were appearing and mixing with one another out of nowhere. Combinations that defied the imagination, and all worked as a weapon to my advantage. And when the fourth henchman tried to stab me from behind, I spun around and caught the end of the blade between my index and middle finger. Then, with a simple flick of the wrist, I broke the blade off of the knife, and flicked directly into his throat at close range! He grabbed his neck, spitting up a torrent of blood, and fell down into the crowd below. I doubt he'd be willing to continue any further.

With a bright flash, I used the raider's extra to blind the other two men...their faces burning from the heat of an overextended blast. I was on top of them before they could even cover their eyes, Dylan's invisibility now cloaking my movents entirely. The first one, I reached out to yank his arm down quickly, dislocating the shoulder, and then used my elbow to break his jaw in three places! As the other attacker swung blindly at me to defend himself, I laid my hand on his chest and transfered the agony from one henchmen to the other...now making the other one feel the pain I had just inflicted on his friend. I kicked him to the floor, and sent the other one flying into a wall hard enough to knock him unconscious. Leaving only Cato to deal with.

He was clearly frightened at this point, as he saw me standing strong in front of him, staring him down with all of the anger that he deserved. I waited for him to make a move. ANY move. And when the anticipation of what would happen next got to be too much...he shouted outloud and charged at me! He began attacking with a storm of punches and kicks that might have made a normal vampire run in retreat. But he wasn't dealing with a normal vampire anymore. I had blossomed, bringing this hidden energy inside of me to the surface for the very first time. I didn't even have to think, it acted all on its own. And it would only stop if I told it to. I blocked every punch, every kick, every possible attack he threw my way...one handed. Swiftly tiring him out without moving back an inch. And when he attempted to kick me in the face, I slipped down into the crowd, grabbing him by the ankle and yanking him down to the floor with me...pulling so hard that he stumbled back and fell on his ass. I stood ready as he fearfully got back on his feet and balled his fists up. He was taking too long to gather the courage to strike out at me again, so I took the fight to him. I walked right up until I was staring him eye to eye...and before he could block it, I sent a hard shot out to his face. The punch was invisible, but it was far from painless. He reeled for a second, his fists still balled up. Did he not learn the lesson? Let's try it again. I took a step closer, waited for him to do something, and in his hesitation, I sent another blinding punch to his left eye. His bruises seemed to grow and swell right before my very eyes, and I gritted my teeth as I became increasingly disgusted with the idea of him challenging me in the first place. He attempted to fight back, but I blocked his first strike, and hit him in the mouth as fast as my arm would allow. He tried again, and as I blocked, I counterhit with a punch to the center of his chest. This was too easy. I stood silent, my hatred shining through my veil of darkness, and I waited. Almost hoping that he would test me...that he would push me to the point of ripping his heart out right here in front of everybody. I should bite down into his neck and DRAIN the son of a bitch just for wasting my time.

He tried to punch again, and I leaned back for him to miss my face, this time using my middle finger to flick him hard on his adam's apple. He choked for a moment or two, before trying to kick me. Another useless persuit. My leg was twice as fast, attacking the leg he was standing on, and knocking him to his knees in front of me. What a pathetic sight he was. Weak. Weak and alone. I grabbed him by the throat and squeezed, pulling him up to his feet again. At this point, he just wanted to stop...but I didn't WANT to stop. He wanted to fight! He wanted to play games! So we're playing now! Come on! Give me more! I'm enjoying this! All those years I spent at the other end of a fist. All those years that I spent at the bottom of someone's shoe. It's MY turn to enjoy the pain and suffering of someone who can't defend himself!

In one last desperate attempt...he lunged forward with both hands to grab a hold of me, but I took hold of both of his wrists, and twisted them up to lock his arms at the elbows. I raised them up as he stood on his tip toes in pain, and I stared him in the eye with an evil sneer. "What was it you said? Two hundred for each arm?" And with an abrupt motion of my hands, I broke BOTH of his arms simultaneously. "And one hundred for each rib?" Without his arms to defend himself, I focused a strong blow to his chest, feeling two or three of his ribs crack under my knuckles like glass. "Plus interest." I said, and in some strange way, I felt Rain's extra reverse itself somehow...causing the wound on Cato's leg to reopen as though it had just been damaged a moment ago. He cried out in agony as the blood trickled out of the bottom of his pants leg, and he was barely able to stand. "Keep the change." I kicked him back against the wall, and watched as he fought to breathe. Pathetic. Totally pathetic.

He was broken, bleeding, bruised...struggling to his feet...shaking from the pain. And it was then that I suddenly became aware of the other people around us. The mosh pit that was so unconcerned with our battle before, was no focused entirely on us. Or worse...entirely on me. There was a look of shock on their faces, and I was suddenly thankful for the swirl of shadows that hid my face from them. My mind began to settle, and I was now looking at the battered soul in front of me. And I was scared. I had done this. Willingly. I had beaten this man until he was almost unrecognizable. I had knocked people unconscious, and had thrown a broken knife blade into someone's throat. I was ready to murder this man. I was standing there egging him on, hoping that he'd give me a reason. I....don't do that. Not me. Weak? Defenseless? Pathetic? I don't have thoughts like this. I just...I felt so...so STRONG. I got carried away with everything that I was feeling and....I mean..if I hadn't DEFENDED myself, they would have.....

My senses returned to me. And I stood down from my assault, letting Cato fall to the floor, and roll over onto his side. I backed away from the scene, the eyes of everyone there watching me. I quickened my pace, and pushed my way through the crowd, just wanting to hide my face for just a little bit longer. A fear ran through me. I was unstoppable. An unimaginable amount of power surging through me until I felt almost godlike with my abilities. Maybe it was too much, too fast. It hit me all at once, and I really could have done a lot more damage if I wanted to. I was truly becoming...dangerous.

As I made my way off of the dancefloor, I felt the shadows around me turn cold. Ice cold. I didn't really pay it any mind at first, just trying to find away to get my breathing back to normal. Maybe figure out why it felt so good to hurt those men back there. But....with a few more steps...the shadows swirled up even tighter against me, and their grip became so frigid that my knuckles began to ache. What the hell was going on here. I moved over against the wall, and stumbled my way down a dark corridor to get away from the music and the madness for a moment or two. The shadows got even colder, and the darkness swelled around me, not just covering my face anymore, but pouring into my eyes as well. I was inhaling it, tasting it...it was invading every part of my body. How doe Com control this thing anyway? I tried to get the shadows to settle and leave me alone, but they wouldn't listen. They just kept building, until the very 'weight' of them stated to pull me down from the shoulders. What the hell IS this? Why won't it stop?

I leaned back against the wall, and slid slowly down to the ground as the darkness flooded into my ears, and down the back of my throat. It was then, that I heard it. A single scream. A scream that could only come from someone who is ost in their own suffering. A tortured soul, begging for help. I couldn't tell who it was or where it was coming from, but it seemed like it was just a random person in the club around. Somehow, Com's extra picked him out. And while everyone was partying and laughing and having fun with each other...beneath that exterior was a deep level of misery. Misery their soul chose to share...with me. I was intrigued by the pleas of that voice, when I suddenly became aware of another in the distance. A second soul, hurting, alone, afraid. Crying out to me. Their shadows suddenly gravitating towards me to join the others. I felt the weight of that darkness get heavier as another soul reached out to me for assistance. Then another, and another, and another, and another. My ears became FILLED with screams! Terrible, horrifying, screams. More pain-heavy souls seemed to take notice of where the other shadows were heading, and joined into this morbidly loud symphony of suffering. I tried to cover my ears, but it did no good. They only got louder inside my head. They would not, could not, be ignored. A strong headache began to throb and pulse in the center of my skull, and I noticed that the shadows were now coming from every corner. I was surrounded by hundreds, maybe even thousands of people...and while the laughed and played with one another...their pain came to me. I was absorbing it at an alrming rate. I had never felt anything like it. It stung me from all sides, like being pierced with a million needles at once. It became hard to breathe, and I rolled over on my side, just hoping that the screams would stop! Why is this happening to me! Why won't Com's extra turn itself off???

These weren't just 'shadows' that I had wrapped around me to hide in. It was pain, and fear, and anger, and confusion. It was the blackest emotions of each and every single person standinganywhere near me. There was no more light. I couldn't even see their smiles anymore. No more laser light shows, no more drunken laughter, no more 'good times'...no love, no friendship, no happy emotions at ALL. It was blocked off from me somehow, clouded in a thick black cloak of death and abuse, heartache and lonliness, tears and gritted teeth, self pity and suicide. And the screams kept increasing in volume until I began to shake violently from the overwhelming blast of emotion. I couldn't even use my own extra to get RID of it! Because the pain wasn't even mine...it was theirs. And even if I had gotten a single blast off, they would have filled me back up again almost instantly. I struggled and clawed my way up to a sitting position, and atempted to physically push the shadows off of me. I think the sea of souls recognized that I was attempting to free myself...and they suddenly became chaotic! The screams became desperate, some of them angry, and others were so unbelievably lost that they flooded my senses with tears. I was able to free my head from the dark pool of blackness surrounding me, but it was pulled back under. The shadows, with thousands of tiny little hands, began to angrily claw and grab at me, clutching desperately to my very spirit. The voices were beyond deafening now, and I felt a trickle of blood run out of my nose. I had to...I had to break free. I had to get OUT of this!!!! I can't...TAKE anymore! I gathered up all the strength that I could and struggled frantically to pull myself out of the dark mask surrounding me. Comicality's extra was trying hard to swallow me alive, devouring every bit of light that I had left to divide amongst the darkness inside. My own emotions became so intertwined with the insane cries of the darkness, that my own memories and hardships began to pull me down further. My father, my mother's drinking, the kids at school, the Pier, Richie's sickness...the built another anchor to weigh me down, to hold me still. I didn't know what to do. So I simply kept fighting. Hoping that they'd get just enough light to let me go. But the void sucked more out of me greedily...more and more....until my body heat and my heartbeat nearly got sucked down with it. I was suddenly reminded of old pains that I had long forgotten, and had alreadt gotten over. Wounds freshly opened, inspired by the darkness constricting around my emotions. Every tension, every disappointment, every humiliation...the dark SHOWED it to me. It opened the abyss wide and soon my own shadows joined the others, trying to battle for my attention. And losing.

My head emerged from the surface again, allowing me to breathe again, and I reached out a hand in an attempt to pull myself free. The souls begame agitated, more frantic, derranged...the screams now turning to howls and wails of indescribable desperation. Wanting my help. DEMANDING my help. They were biting and scratching, wrapping both arms and legs around me, trying to hold on all at once. I was gasping for breath, terrified of what was happening all around me. Completely suffocated in misery. I pulled myself out further, and began to rip and pull at the shadows around me, tearing it physically from my flesh like a thick living blanket of hot tar. I had to kick and shout and claw at the ground to get away, as the shadows began to push each other away, fighting amongst one another to hold on for just a moment longer. Their battle became violent, and it was the only thing that allowed me to free myself from the cloak. I rolled backwards and surried to my feet, my back against the wall, listening to the echoes of a million painful screams dissipating into the light around me. Along with the shadows themselves.

I took a few moments to catch my breath, as I was too scared to move for fear that the shadows would return to reclaim me again. I was breathing so hard that my chest felt like it would cramp up on me, and my eyes were bloodhot, my head still pounding from the awful noises coming out of that place. My cheeks were stained with tears, my hands shaking...it took a full minute and a half to even recognize where I was again. I looked up at the crowd in front of me...and it was as if nothing had changed. They continued to party and have fun. They seemed....'normal'. At least with each other. But...but...there was so much pain behind those grins. SOOOO much agony. Their shadows had come rushing towards me without mercy, and they didn't even know they were doing it. They weren't even aware of how much anguish they carried with them. Being tapped into that pain...even for a moment...is more unbearable than I ever could have imagined it would be. All at once, it was more than I could handle. More than ANYBODY could handle.

I inched my way along the wall until I was standing in that corridor among the many shouting and cheering partygoers again. I looked around me, and was afraid to look anyone in the eye. So dark. So cold. Too much. Too much. I kept going forward into the club. Once again ushing my way through everyone there. Still getting shoved, still getting my ass grabbed, still getting sneered at and called a halflife. But I had to keep moving. This place was huge, and without my pager...it seemed infinitely so. Still, Taryn was in here somewhere. And he may need my help. He may be in danger. If the prophecy is expecting me to lose my true love...then that means that trouble can come for him at ANY time. And I plan to be there! I don't care WHAT some prophecy says! Or Comicality, or Stew, or Zero....NO stupid prediction is going to tell me that I have to let go of the one person in this world who makes me complete. I've done my 'time', I've lived with enough pain. I've been criticized and hurt and beaten and heartbroken...and no amount of expected 'duty' is going to make me lose anymore of my soul. I am going to find Taryn, and I AM going to protect him at all costs!

Even if it means giving my life. If he jumps...I jump. That was the plan. And I love him too much to change that now.

TARYN'S DIARY
- Friday -

Despite the comforts we try to give him, Justin still seems so drawn to his old life. I guess the old addage holds true...that you never really know what you've got until it's gone. He ran out to see his sick friend Richie in the hospital recently. Sigh...I nearly expected Bryson to blow up and reprimand him viciously for what he had done. We DON'T go back to our old lives. He was very clear about that. But....Bryson seemed to take it rather well. In fact, they came back to the lot closer than ever. And Justin told the rest of us just who he was. I've never been more proud of him.

But...I wonder how it felt. Seeing his friend again. I think that, deep down, it made all of us at the lot wonder. What would it be like, if for just five minutes, we could go back to our lives and maybe lay to rest some of the demons we left behind. Maybe...see some of those faces again, and just...let them know I'm ok. What would I do? For Justin, it's only been a couple of months. But for me? For me it's been ten years. What could possibly be waiting for me in my old life now? I'm sure my stepfather Chuck has forgotten all about me by now. My mother has probably moved on, Alec would be in high school now...even the friends I had before...they're probably all married, graduating college, and starting families now. It hurts to say it, but I don't think my life even...exists for me anymore. There's nothing there to go back to. I should probably be happy about that, since it frees me from any temptation to do so. But I'm not. In those quiet moments when I'm alone by the lake...I still miss it. I haven't felt the warmth of the sun for oh so long. Only Justin's body heat, brushing up against me while we make love, comes close.

I sometimes worry that Justin's abilities and his status in our world is going to outgrow me at some point. I mean...who am I, when it comes to a duty like that? From what I've been able to find on Mimics, he's basically here to save us all. Or at least give us a hint on how to save ourselves. With all of that riding on his shoulders, how can I ask to be with him? How can I ask him to spend time with me, or share his kiss? Does he have more important things to do? More important than me? Over time...how am I ever going to be able accept that? So many questions. And the only answer I have in return is that...'I love him enough to try'. I just wish I knew what all of this will mean in the end, and how far it'll go.

I DO know one thing though...when I look into Justin's blue eyes and see the smile on his kissable lips, I'm reminded of what true beauty is. I remember that Tiana once told me that eternity is a concept that a vampire never truly reaches. Which I guess makes sense. But before Justy was a part of my life, the idea of an eternal existence seemed unbearable. Now...with the true love that I have for him growing every day...the idea of forever is the most comforting thought in the world. Justin and I will always be together. We will always have each other. And nothing will ever seperate us. Not ever. For him...for him I'd live forever.