Odd One Dead

Chapter 1 - Changleling

"Don't forget: eight O'clock at the Duke. And don't be late!" Cindy said to me as she got out the car. I had dropped her home after work, she was currently my girlfriend and this was the third date we were going to go on.

A smirk played on my lips. "You have four hours to get ready, are you sure you're gonna make it on time, what with all the make up and hair and whatever else girls do when they get ready? I mean, it takes you so long to get ready."

I let out a laugh as she reached through my window and smack my arm. "Okay, okay! " I cried in a fake surrender, my arms held up. "I won't question what goes on in a woman's lair!" While she reached in again for another smack, I landed a peck on her cheek and drove off shouting "See you at eight" as I went.

I was looking forward to this date. I swear I already loved Cindy, even though I've only known her since she started work two months ago. I finally plucked up the courage to ask her out three weeks ago and I'm so glad I did.

Humming the tune to my favourite song "Seven Nation Army" by White Stripes as I opened the front door to my house, I thought about how grateful I was that she had come into my life. About six months ago my mum had died and I hadn't been able to let a smile touch my lips once. Not until I met Cindy four months later. I don't know how, but she somehow enabled me to come to terms my mum's death and to remember that I was alive and I should make the most of it - not to forget my mum, but honour her memory and live out a happy life like she'd want me to. She really is something special, my mum would have loved her.

I needed to take my mind off the depressing subject, so I switched the TV on and watched a comedy show to lighten the mood.

When I felt a bit better I turned the telly off and decided to clean up the house a bit before I needed to get ready for the date.

I was ready in my suit at about seven thirty. It takes about twenty minutes to get there so I assessed myself in the mirror until I felt it was an appropriate time to leave. I always, for some reason, liked to dress up for Cindy and look as attractive as possible, which was very attractive; if I say so myself. With my ruffled, raven black hair, contrasting pale skin, piercing deep blue eyes and slim but muscular physique , it's "hard for the ladies to keep their eyes off me" as my mum always used to tell me with a twinkle in her eye. I used to use that to my advantage and score one night stands but after my mums death I needed a serious and caring relationship. I am fully committed to Cindy, and I wouldn't trade her for the world.

Cindy was going to catch a lift from a couple friends, meaning I didn't need to pick her up, so I headed straight to the restaurant bar.

I was just around the corner from the Duke when I saw something out of the corner of my eye heard a scream in an alleyway near the movement. It sounded like it was coming from a woman. I pulled over and hopped out of my roofless car, landing smoothly on the pavement, and ran towards the alley.

When I got there I walked slowly into the opening between two buildings, so I didn't scare anyone into doing anything dangerous. But when I could see the whole of the alleyway, I didn't see any signs of struggle, but instead the silhouette of a woman. It was dark enough that I couldn't see any of her facial features, but light enough that I could make out obvious body features; like the fact that she had long, straight hair, her skin was as pale as the moon and she was wearing an ankle-length leather coat.
"Who are you?" I inquired.
The woman just stood there looking at me. 

Unmoving.

Silent.

"Who are you?" I raised my voice slightly.
Still there was no reply.
I look around her, trying to look through the darkness. Hadn't someone screamed?
I was about to ask her about the screaming when she suddenly moved. It was strange, the way she walked. It was like she was gliding - she was as graceful as a swan, as soundless as a cat padding towards her prey. I was too busy wondering about the way she walked to notice that she was walking towards me, and her blue eyes (which I could now see) seemed to be glowing from within. But it wasn't a warm glow. It was a cold, washed out kind if light adding an eerie quality to her appearance.

She stopped about an inch or so away. She was roughly the same height as me so I had no choice but to look straight into her eyes. They were unblinking and kept me transfixed as she leaned her head in just a bit closer... and sniffed me.

The oddness broke me out of the strange trance her eyes had put me under and I took a step back and, naturally, said "Do I smell good?"

I know. It was a ridiculous thing to say. I should have probably been scared or something, after all, she was on her own in a dark alley where I heard screaming and her eyes were glowing, but I just wasn't for some reason. I was actually quite calm - not relaxed, obviously, that would be crazy, but there was just no fear.

She tried to advance on me again, but this time I matched her steps so we stayed the same distance apart. She stopped and cocked her head to the side, appearing confused. Her eyes seemed to intensify and grow brighter, sending a shiver down my spine, but I was determined to not back down and tried to meet her gaze with one as hard as I could manage under the circumstances.

We stood like that for a long time, seemingly hours, until she opened her lips slightly and uttered a very quiet, slow chuckle. I wasn't sure how to react. How could I react? It was a very odd situation I had found myself in, one so odd that I had completely forgotten about my date with Cindy.

That was until a strange vibrating sensation against my right butt cheek made me jump about ten feet in the air. It didn't seem to shock the woman because she strode around me in a tight circle, whipped my phone out my pocket, presented me the screen with Cindy's picture on it showing an incoming call from her, and the time which - to my complete and utter shock - was 8:45 PM. When I went to take it out of her and she snatched it back and, with inhumane speed, dashed it against the hard concrete floor. With a loud catastrophe of noise, it broke into little pieces and scattered across the alleyway.

I stood there for a moment, dumbstruck, before I turned to face the woman - a dark shadowed grin stretched over her face, showing some cruel delight - and said " What was that for?! You just broke my fucking phone!"

Her grin only broadened and she said in a sinister voice, which was deep and rich but the tone was flat, almost... dead, "Not to worry, you won't need it anymore."

With the same inhumane speed used to smash my phone, she stepped forward, grabbed my hair and pulled my head to one side holding me in place.

"The dead don't need phones." Was all she said before I became immersed in a world of endless torture and pain, of glowing blue eyes and razor sharp long canine teeth slick with my own ruby red blood, of silent misery so great all I could think of was how I wished I would die rather than endure the next most horrifying and painful hours of my entire existence.