The rain pours relentlessly, pattering on cobblestones and pooling in uneven cracks. The wind carries faint whispers through the deserted streets, and distant thunder rumbles like a warning. Falls Hollow always felt a bit creepy at night. A sharp, unnatural noise stopped her in her tracks, Tessa looked around the deserted street, it was midnight on a Sunday. All the businesses were closed except for the bar she worked at. She was used to walking home late at night but tonight felt a bit different. The air felt charged with tension, she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Goosebumps riddled her skin. She looked up and down the street one more time, pulled her coat tighter and continued making her way home. All she wanted was to go home, get into bed and forget about tonight. The bar had been busy, more so than usual. But the vibe tonight had been different, she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was. She was lost in thought when she heard a crash, it sounded like someone was being thrown around. She looked around and noticed shadows coming from an alley. She knew better than to go look, but her feet moved on their own.
When she reached the opening of the alley she gasped, in the throes of a heated fight were two men. Both equal in height, one was thinner and leaner. While the other sported a more muscular build. The muscular one looked like he had the upper hand. He had the other guy pinned to the floor a silver cross pressed to his chest. Tessa watched as the man on the floor struggled to move away from the cross, she could hear him hiss as the object touched his skin. Her eyes widened when she noticed smoke coming from the cross as it touched him. Before she realized what she was doing, she grabbed an abandoned pipe and made her way to the two men. The guy on the floor noticed her first, his eyes were glowing red, and she thought she saw a hint of fangs. She looked at the guy again, but his teeth looked normal and his eyes were a stormy silver color. She was lost in his stare and marveled at his porcelain skin, not a blemish in sight. She felt like she was in a trace, the muscular guy thought he had the upper hand when he noticed that silver eyes stopped moving. He still hadn't noticed that she was behind him, she was distracted from silver eyes when she noticed a blade going to straight to silver eye's heart. She screamed and brought down the pipe on the muscular man's head, he turned to stare at her and then fell to the floor.
She dropped the pipe and just stared at the man. She felt cold fingers touch her hand and realized that Silver Eyes had somehow managed to get up and come to her. "We have to go" Silver Eye's tugged her hand and pulled her out of the alley. She turned one last time and noticed that muscular man was still breathing. "He's not dead, just sleeping a little" She turned to look at Silver Eye's, he had bent his knees a bit to be at eye level with her. "What did I just do?" Tessa stared out into the deserted street, no one was around, she came to the aid of someone she didn't even know and almost killed a man. The adrenaline was wearing off and she started to shiver, her teeth clattered as the reality of the situation set in. Silver Eye's watched her; he took his coat off and wrapped it around her. He grabbed her hand again and started walking away from the alley. He needed to move fast before the hunter woke up to finish what he started. He needed to get this girl to safety and taking her back to the lair was not an option. "Where's home princess warrior?" He turned to look at her and noticed that his coat completely dwarfed her, she was like a child walking in a grown-up coat. At least her teeth had stopped chattering, and she seemed to be warming up a bit. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Tessa had been lost in thought. She kept thinking about the fight, the red glowing eyes, the fangs, the smoke and cross. The muscular man was still there, was he okay, maybe she needed to go back and help him. She stopped in her tracks and stared straight ahead; she touched her fingers to her lips as she gasped. "Oh, my goodness, I just hit a man. Left him dead. What if he comes after me? And you. You...your eye's, they were red and you had fangs." She shrugged the coat off her shoulders and started running. She could hear Silver Eyes following her, she kept looking over her shoulder as she ran until she didn't see him behind her anymore. She stopped, looked around but didn't see him anymore. She wasn't sure if she had lost him or if he was hiding, she walked around for a bit before heading home.
She opened her apartment door and quickly shut and locked the door. She went to the kitchen for a glass of water but then decided on something stronger. She drank the glass of whiskey in one gulp, the burning down her throat made her feel alive. She needed to numb herself if she was going to get any sleep. She looked at the clock and realized she must have been walking for hours. It was almost 4am, she needed to sleep, tomorrow was an important day. She was finally going to be free from her past and be able to start a new life.