Chapter 2.
Jagger walked into the apartment where he and his Uncle Leroy lived. Setting down his guitar, he let the last of his anger slip away. He shrugged off his backpack and tossed it on to the couch. Checking his watch, Jagger frowned. Leroy should have been home by now.
Leroy was his mom's younger brother and he was only ten years older than Jagger's sixteen years. Before his mom had died of cancer, Jagger had never met his uncle. Now, almost a year later, It was hard to imagine a time he hadn't known Leroy, Jagger thought as he stuffed a pizza box into the trash, loaded the dishwasher, and used a golf club to scoot a pair of boxers that had been on the living room floor for a week towards his uncle's room. His hand was on the knob when he heard something crash on the other side of the door. Maybe Leroy was home after all. He knocked.
"Leroy, you in there?" No one answered. Jagger shrugged. Hooking the boxers on the end of the golf club, he started to push the door open. Before he could open it all the way, a women appeared. Laying her hand on the edge of the door she stopped him.
"Did you need something?" Her tone was flat. Her perfectly manicured nails clicked on the wood as she tapped her fingers impatiently.
Jagger felt as though some one had disconnected his brain as he looked at the lady before him. She was beautiful. Dressed in a black pin striped skirt that ended at her knees and a cream colored silk shirt with more than a few of the top buttoms undone, her wavy, raven black hair fell just passed her shoulders and was off set by mint green eyes. Full, dark crimson lips formed into a small frown and Jagger found his voice.
"Who are you?"
The women sighed, as though bored with Jagger already."My name is Sophie, Leroy and I have some business to take care of." She smiled as she said the word business and Jagger could help but notice her incisors were pointed. A shiver ran down his spine.
"Business?"
She smile again with her lips closed this time, and Jagger's breath caught in his thoat. "Yes, just a bit of paper work to look over. Now, why don't you let..." She had been closing the door when she trailed off. Breathing deeply through her nose, she open the door wide. Her eyes suddenly intent and scrutinizingly on Jagger.
Jagger shifted uncomfortable under Sophie's direct gaze and looked past her into his uncle's room. His heart sped up as he caught sight of Leroy. Eyes closed, face drawn and pale, his uncle was slumped against the bed. He was so limp he reminded Jagger of a pile of clothes.
Jagger tensed as Sophie reached out and toughed his cheek gently, her fingertips icy. As their eyes met Jagger could tell she knew he 'd seen his uncle. She ran one finger lightly along his jaw line and when he jerked away, she chuckled, a soft low chuckle that scared Jagger terribly. He struggled to keep his face emotionless as she stepped out of his uncle's room and shut the door behind her with a click.
"What did you do to Leroy?" Jagger asked, a rising uneasiness in his gut. Desperately he hoped this was all some kind of mistake that could somehow be explained away, but even as he thought that, he couldn't bring himself to believe it. There was something about this Sophie that wasn't normal.
"Oh, Leroy?" Sophie smiled wickedly. "I was feeding on him." Then she began to change.
Jagger backpeddled away from Sophie as her skin paled to a blue white and her eyes became bloodshot and red. Her teeth sharpened and fangs grew from her gums. Finger nails changed to claws. Her legs shifted form as one turned to bronze and the other reshaped into what Jagger could only describe as a donkey leg.
Jagger backed into the kitchen as she advanced, her gait uneven. He bumped into the counter. The bar stood between him and the living room and Sophie blocked the enterance. He was cornered. Desperate, Jagger spotted the handle of a kitchen knife sticking out of the half filled sink. It was only a few feet away, but he was afraid of what that Thing might do if he made any sudden moves. Maybe he could distract her.
Throwing all the disgust into his voice that he could muster, Jagger addressed the monster.
"What the heck are you?" He inched closer to the sink.
"Ohh, I can't believe it." Sophie squealed. "I got one who doesn't know anything. Well lucky for me, it's so much more fun when they aren't know-it-alls." Jagger slid nearer to the knife. Sophie had come to a stop. Laying a finger aside her nose she mused. "Hmm, where to start? I suppose your question is a good a place as any." She studied her two inch long, razor sharp nails. "I am an empousia. Formed from animal, bronze, and ghost. I exist to feed on the blood of young men." She paused and looked up from her nails. "Will you go for the knife already?" Jagger froze. She went on. "Oh, come on, you didnt really think I wouldn't see you going for it?" She laughed and Jagger dove for the kitchen knife.
Pulling it from the sink by it's handle, he flipped the knife so he was gripping it by the blade. Drawing back his arm, he threw the knife as hard as he could. It left his hand and time seem to slow down as he watched it turn end over end and fly point first into the empousia's chest....And then kept going! Jagger blinked stupidly as the knife went right though the empousia, hit the wall, and then clatter noisily to the tile floor.
Sophie sighed as she look down at the gash the knife had torn in her blouse. "I liked this shirt." She pouted, starting after Jagger again."Ok," Her voice took a teacherly tone. "Lesson number two, normal weapons can't hurt me. Only a weapon made from celestial bronze can kill me, and FYI, weapons like that aren't just something you can pick up at an army surplus." She smiled sympathetically. "Tough luck kid."
Then she lunged at him.
Jagger reponded with instincts he didn't even know he had. Ducking under the monster's reach, he plowed his shoulder into her stomach, driving her back. Pinning her against the wall, Jagger wrapped his fingers around her neck.
"Lets see how long you last without air." He hissed though clenched teeth. The empousia's eyes flicked towards the front door.
"Someone's coming." She gasped. Tightening his grip, Jagger glanced at the door. When he looked back, his fingers loosened of thier own accord. He still held Sophie, but no longer was she a white, fanged creature. She was once again the lovely business women. Her green eyes pleading and tearfilled. Her deep red lips, slightly parted, revealing straight white teeth as she gasped for air, each time with less effert. She was so beautiful. She began to go limp and Jagger couldn't take it any longer.
He released her. Sophie fell into his arms, chocking and sucking in mouthfuls of air. Her head lay on his chest and as her breath came back her arms crept around his waist. When Jagger tried to step away, her grip tightened. In a second his head hit the tile and he was on the floor, Sophie was on top of him. Eyes blood red. Fangs barred. This time her fingers were curled around his neck.
"Lesson number three," She whispered, eyes crazed. "Never, ever, give an empousia a second chance to kill you 'cause you won't live to regret it."
Jagger's field of vision narrowed as whiteness sept into the corners of his view. Sophie's lips moved, but he couldnt seem to hear what she was saying. A sharp point appeared in the middle of her chest and Jagger wondered where it came from. Sophie seemed surprised to see it too. She opened her mouth as though to say something and dissolved into a cloud of dust. Jagger was still trying to figure out what that meant, when the world turned the rest of the way white and then dipped into blackness.
Hope you liked it. ~ Dragongirl
Chapter 3. viewtopic.php?f=361&t=87013
