Almost Normal (Editing)

Chapter Seventeen

JADE'S POV

I sat on the floor of Angel's house where she was last lived. After the cops left and taped it off Damien and I snuck back in hoping to find more clues. All I found was a trunk full of wigs and fake IDs. Why would she leave these behind? More importantly how did the cops not find these? My stomach growled and the thought of more raw patty meat made me sick. I stared through the open window and sighed.

I wanted desperately to go home, but I knew I couldn't. Not now. God knows how close I was last time I went home. Luckily Alexandra and the baby are okay. Every day I would follow them to make sure everything is okay. Alexandra goes to the daycare before school every morning and afternoon. Then she leaves her with her mother as she goes to work at my old job as an ice cream server. My boss and her seem to have become more friendly lately and he's started driving her home and sometimes staying over.

Jamie on the other hand hung out at thrift stores or in empty parking lots with her new friends. It made me glad that they were moving on fine without me. But I also felt like they should be looking for me. Did I not mean that much to them?

"Life moves on. Get over it." Damien said interrupting my thoughts.

I frowned as he dropped a damp paper bag of raw meat in front of me. I pushed it aside ignoring the growling noise from my stomach.

"Jade you're not in the position to turn down food. Now eat." He said kicking it back in my direction.

I hissed and lunged at him, but was yanked back by the chains that held me. He grinned and bent down our noses barely touching.

"Go ahead. Rip my face off. But without me you have no chance of finding Angel and saving your brother." He taunted. "Eat." He said pointing to the bag.

I shook my head and he pulled out a silver hunting knife. My eyes widened in fear and I started moving backwards as he moved forward until I was pressed up against the wall. He raised his arm, swinging it in a wide arc and sliced my neck. I screamed in pain and fell to the ground keeping pressure on the cut. He then gave me a swift kick to the ribs causing me to howl in pain even more.

"Shut up!" He yelled flashing me the shiny blade, now dripping with my blood.

I quieted down and curled up, my hand still on my neck and my body shaking with fear.

"Some vampire you are." He said spitting on the ground in front of me and walking away.

He lifted up the panel on the floor and descended down the stairs and out of the attic. I waited till he was gone before sitting up again. Flinching at what I assumed were broken ribs. I moved my hand away from my neck the entire palm red with my own blood. I began to lick it clean and I felt my torso slowly start to repair itself, but it wasn't enough. I heard the scuttle of a small animal and saw a rat eating some of the raw meat. It's tiny heartbeat beating so loudly I just couldn't resist. I grabbed it by its tail and bit hard into its side hearing it squeal and try to fight me until it lay limp in my hands. Once I was finished my ribs were no longer broken, but still sore and the wound on my neck had stopped bleeding. I tossed the animal carcass aside and stared out the window into the empty blue sky.

That night when I was sure Damien had left I knew it was time to make my move. I pulled at the chains holding me to the wooden floor knowing I didn't have enough strength to break free. So I did the next best thing. I pulled hard on both of my thumbs, dislocating them. I gasped in pain determined to be as quiet as possible. I struggled to pull my hands free from the handcuffs. I eventually got free and looked around the dusty attic. I found a wooden curtain rack and bit down hard on it as I pushed my thumbs back into their sockets. I opened up the panel and the wooden ladder fell down.

I climbed down carefully not bothering to close it behind me. I was almost at the front door when I heard it.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

The steady beating of a heartbeat. But this time it wasn't a rat. I turned around and was face to face with Damien. Holding a crossbow.

"You think I'd let you go that easily?" He sneered.

He shot one arrow in my direction barely missing me. I heard him talking, but it sounded like he was far away. All I could focus on was the sound of his heart. So I started walking forward slowly. And each time he shot an arrow it either grazed me or he missed entirely. I could see the fear in his eyes as I kept walking towards him. Soon he was out of ammo and he pulled out his knife. I didn't even blink as I swatted it out of his hands. He gasped as I grabbed his head between both of my hands and gave it a twist. Hearing the satisfying cracking noise then his body falling to the ground. I breathed a sigh of relief and got down on my knees and drank.

I could feel my body slowly repairing itself. I felt stronger, more energetic. I managed to stop myself and wipe the blood from my mouth. I stared down at his body, his eyes open in shock and the puncture wounds in his neck. I frowned knowing I couldn't leave him like this so I picked him up and carried him to one of the bathrooms before calling 911 and leaving.

ANGEL'S POV

I stood outside with the crowd watching them push a gurney with a black body bag on top. I pushed myself close enough to the front where I could hear what people were saying.

"Apparently some weirdo broke into this person's house and killed himself." One guy said to whom I was assuming his buddy.

"I'm sorry did you day it was a guy?" I interjected.

"Nah man it was murder. I heard them saying that there was these weird markings on his neck. Talking vampires man." The other guy said using two fingers to make pretend 'fangs'.

"Vampires? You into some gay twilight shit bro?"

I left them to it from there. Tuning out the argument I watched as they loaded the body into the back of the truck. No. It can't be. I watched it drive off and I went over to one of the lesser fit police men.

"What happened?" I asked curiously.

"Just some stupid kid killed himself in the bath. Looks like he fell asleep in there after taking some drugs." He said shaking his head.

"I'm sorry, he? What did he look like?"

The cop described Damien and my heart fell. I could feel the blood drain from my face as I turned around and walked away. I could hear him calling out to me, but I ignored him. I sat in my car in silence for a while before breaking out into a fit. Punching the steering wheel, screaming and crying. Once I was out of energy I sat there my forehead resting against the wheel, tears running down my face. I looked up at my face in the rearview mirror. I wiped away the tears and stared at my bloodshot eyes and grinned.

"An eye for an eye." I said to myself as I put the car into gear and drove off.