The Hand of Crimson

Chapter 1: The Fire

They say that darkness is evil. That it controls us. But that’s not entirely true. Sometimes, if you’re strong-willed enough, you can be the one to control the darkness instead. I did anyway.

In the dark of the night, I felt something was different. I felt something in the wind. Some might think that sounds silly, but I knew it. Something was up. But at that point, I thought it might have just been competing sexual energies surrounding Jen. It was usual, even though I hated it. Why did boys have to be attracted to her like that? Like moths to a flame. It was fucking ridiculous. I mean, I’ve gotten used to it over the years, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

Jennifer’s heels clicking against the hard wood floor pulled me out of my daze. We were at Melody Lane. It was a little bar in our hometown. Rather rank actually, but its all we had. The soft lighting really lit up her face. Her beautiful blue eyes glinted in the overhead lighting. The friendly atmosphere buzzed around us as we watched the band set up.

“I think they need two groupies.” Jen said, hinting ta me mercilessly. She never really was good with subtlety.
“I don’t think-”
“They’re just boys. Morsels. We have all the power. Don’t you know that?” She pleaded pathetically with me, taking each of my breasts in her hands. My breath caught in my throat and I almost forgot to breathe when she did that. “These things? They’re like smart bombs. You point them in the right direction and shit gets real.” She grinned at me wickedly, walking off and just expecting me to follow. To be fair to her, I did. I could still barely catch my breath after that. I didn’t know why that incident had such a big affect on me, but it did.

“Hi, I just wanted to meet you or something. I’m Jennifer Check. Aaaand this is my friend.” Jennifer introduced us as we walked up to the band. She looked so star-struck and eager to please. God, it was sickening. “Hey, um, can I buy you a drink?”
“Sure, what’re we having?” The lead singer asked, seeming all too eager, but I guess who could blame him? Jen was a pretty girl offering him a free drink. Who wouldn’t turn that down?
“Uh, they have this 9/11 trigger shooter that’s red, white and blue but you have to drink it really fast or it goes brown and shi-”
“Oh, right, well, we’ll drink it fast.” He interrupted with a wolfish grin. I didn’t know what it was but there was just something about him that creeped me out. Like an obedient little puppy, Jen walked away in the direction of the bar. But I wasn’t going to just let her go and get drinks for these creeps.
“Wait, how are you gonna get alcohol?” I asked, stepping in front of her to try and stop her.
“Uhh, I don’t know. I’ll just play Hello Titty with the bartender.” She replied in a bored voice, puffing up her chest and adjusting her bra to show her tits as she brushed past me.

I just rolled my eyes as I walked over to the corner to play some pinball while I waited. It wasn’t why I came here and I didn’t really wanna play, but if Jen was just gonna leave me for some assholes, then I didn’t have much choice. The band members started chatting idly amongst themselves. I wasn’t trying to listen to them, but I couldn’t help hearing some of their conversation. I caught snippets like; ‘What about her?’, ‘the one who just went over to the bar’, and ‘definitely a virgin’. It sounded awfully like they were talking like Jen. It boiled my blood that they even dared think of her like that, let alone talk about her. My skin crawled as they spoke. It sounded like they were planning on fucking her, maybe even planning on raping her. God, I hated the thought. I felt my stomach turn as the thought crossed my mind. I had to stop this. 

“Hey, that’s my best friend you’re talking about. And yeah, you’re right. She is a virgin, and that’s better than hanging out with guys like you.” I hissed at them, trying to contain my rage at their talk. I wasn’t gonna sit around and let them do that to her. I walked over and stood in front of her as she walked back towards us.