Shadowglass

Sammi chokes, her own sour blood clogging her throat. She heard the smash of glass. The mirror’s gone, and fury chills her heart that she let it go so easily. She struggles to get up, to chase those fairy maggots down, but the stinking angel-thing rams her skull into the floor, sunbright blue eyes glowing with triumph.

Bone splits, and semi-heals with a screech of protest. She’s slowing down. He’s strong. Too strong. Fear tumbles through her body like a hellstorm. She wasn’t ready for this. She didn’t know.

Again he slams her to the floor, scales cracking, her needle teeth slashing her tongue to shreds. Pain, real pain, the kind that can’t wash away. He’s killing her.

She struggles, summoning the last of her compulsion in a shaky black mist that stings her eyes. But he’s too strong. It doesn’t affect him. He just breathes it in with a pleasured sigh. Wet dark hair plasters in ringlets to his pretty snarling face, and he leaps astride her, holding her down with wrists and thighs. “Give me that mist. I want it.” And he jams her wrists into crumbling black tiles and crushes his mouth over hers.
Suction, hot and unbearable, stretching her tongue and tearing her throat raw. Her vision fills with starry clouds. He tastes rotten, of flesh gone sour. His body presses down on hers, impossibly heavy, his arousal threatening, and the black muck of her essence drags agonizingly up her throat like thick acid. She screams into his mouth, eternal terror consuming her. Death. Torment. Hell. Forever. It isn’t supposed to end like this.
And then his body rips away, and she’s free. Somewhere, glass smashes.

She scrabbles like an upturned bug, instinctively fighting what’s no longer there. Agony still cramps her guts. Her heart lurches, and she scrambles blindly to her feet. Her legs won’t hold her, and she fumbles at the railing to stand up, her vision slowly clearing.

The second window’s a shattered hole, ragged glass dangling. The angel-thing flops wetly on the carpet in a pile of broken glass. A smoking black creature with wiry limbs and streaming blue hair swoops down in crackling blue flame and hurls the angel-thing through the air.

It slams into the wall. Plaster cracks, and the body slumps to the floor, its neck cocked at a crazy angle. Blood slides down the wall from its shattered skull, but still it grins, chokes, tries to laugh. Blood drips from its hair, down its face. It twitches, trying to move, to heal itself, but its neck is broken. It can’t raise energy. It can’t do anything.
A triumphant cackle freshens in Sammi’s torn throat, and she stumbles forward, black hatred festering in her heart.
Jinxx crouches over the dying angel on bony black legs, smoke hissing from creaking joints. Hellstink curdles the air, and his voice scrapes like metal spikes, black needle teeth spitting obsidian shards. “I warned you, Jake. This is my city.”

Jake blinks up at him, sky-blue eyes still shining. Scarlet bubbles inflate and burst on his lips.
Sammi wobbles up, forcing scales back under her brown human-form skin. Her torn dress tangles around her feet, and she rips the skirt away with an angry kick. “Let me kill him. Send the fucker to hell where he belongs.”
But Jinxx thrusts out a lean charcoal-crusted arm and holds her back.
He’s strong. Stronger than she thought. She fights, her fingers itching to rip the Jake-thing’s skin off, but Jinxx forces her back. She hisses, sparks showering. “Let me go.”
Jinxx grins, and ash rains from the air. “No, little girl. I’ve a better idea.” He squats like a black hellbird, coarse blue locks tangling around his elbows, and his yellow gaze burns a smoking hole in Jake’s bloody cheek. “Go home, Jake from the sky. Tell them what you found here. Tell them that if they come back, I won’t be so patient.”
jake’s eyes bloom with terror. He chokes and splutters. “Nononot—”
Jinxx slams his charred palm into Jake’s face.
Smoke hisses, the fleshstink delightful. Jake jerks, and his body falls limp, the outline of multijointed black fingers burnt through to his skull.

Jinxx lights to his feet and changes. Burnt limbs shorten and fill out. Blue hair shrinks to golden blond. Yellow eyes harden to black, and he adjusts his ash-strewn suit and turns his remorseless gaze onto her.
Sammi swallows, cold. She’s not ready. Foolish to imagine challenging him yet. She slides damp palms over her hips, nerves tweaking bright. He’s better-looking close up. She likes those gentle lips, the soft cheekbones, the guileless look in his eyes. Maybe she can offer herself, placate his temper. Let him think she’s apologizing for breaking those stupid court rules.

She licks her lips and edges forward, twirling a curl around one bleeding fingertip. “Thank you. I’m grateful.”
“I don’t want gratitude from you.” He doesn’t move away.
Sammi gives a sultry smile, enjoying his dark stormy scent. Her body warms, and she presses close, sliding her fingertips along his suit’s rough silk. “Then what do you want?”
She presses her lips to his. He tastes ashen, alkaline, like home. She murmurs and slides closer, and after a moment he responds, a hard, dominant kiss that sucks her breath away and twinges desire deep into her breasts. It’s a rare man who outpowers her, and it feels good. Lust and relief fire her blood, and she slides her hand into his lap, ready to do what she must to appease him. Not that it’ll be a trial. His body feels taut and lithe, the swelling hardness under her palm delicious. She strokes him, eagerness blotting out her fear.
But Jinxx steps back a few inches, a polite but definite rejection. “Don’t do that.”
Unease and confusion blunt her desire. Fuck. Now he’ll punish her. It’s his right. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean . . .”

But Jinxx just gives a tiny smile, ash drifting gently from his hair like snowflakes, and flips a glossy card from his pocket. “Next time, call me before you drop by.”
Bewildered, she takes it. He walks smoothly away, and the door clicks shut.
Rage crusts her hair with ice. How dare he dismiss her like that? He doesn’t care enough about her to punish her, or to accept her peace offering. She’s not a threat. She’s not even an annoyance to him.
Not fucking yet, she’s not. Just you wait, you arrogant motherfucker.
The card ignites in her hand, crimson edges on black, and she tosses the burning ash aside and hobbles angrily to the counter for her phone. She claws dirty purple locks from her face and dials, the screen throwing a green glow onto her face. “Cerulli. Yeah, hi. Look, we need to talk.”

* * *

Salt water burned my throat.
I gulped, and swallowed, searching for more. Warm ocean water streamed over my lips, soothing my face, my skin, my stinging wings. Energy tingled under my skin. Hands caressed my hair. I rolled, and sand plastered my legs. Warm waves lapped over me, the smell of salt and seaweed refreshing in my tired lungs. Distant, weary bliss.
Tender fingers peeled sodden hair from my face. “Appolonnia, wake up.”
My heart glowed, and I opened my eyes. Stars jeweled a purple velvet sky, dimming toward the horizon. A seagull wheeled overhead. Salt stung my eyelids. Waves lapped on a midnight stretch of beach, the setting moon painting a bright ribbon across the water.

I blinked, and a dark blue shadow blotted out the sky. His jagged hair dripped, blood and water streaking his chest. He cradled my head on his lap, electric blue waves splashing over his thighs, and he closed glowing red eyes in a sigh of bitter relief. “You’re here.”
“Yeah. So are you.” Salt roughened my voice. I reached up to touch his face, and metal clunked on my wristbones. The broken handcuffs, still tight.

“Let me get that.” He traced a sparking claw over the steel, and it hissed and fell apart, ends glowing white. I offered my other hand, and he did the same. His fingers brushed over my wrist, so careful, my tears swelled, and I tried to slide my hand into his, but he pulled away and eased me gently upright, his gaze averted. “Your friends are here. You should go with them.”

I sat up. On the sand, Ashley crouched in a dim fiery glow, Charlotte’s sleepy head on his shoulder. Charming little rat. Maybe one day, she’d forgive me, too. I waved, and Ashley waved back in a faint rain of sparks. Beyond the beach above a rock retaining wall, cars slipped by, their headlights scraping faint scrawls in the sea mist. The air swirled in lonely sea breeze, and my heart filled with sorrow. “But what about you?”
Andy fluttered wearily to his feet on rust-spotted wings. His wet shirt was burned and torn, dark blue skin showing where the cloth plastered to his chest, hinting at curves of muscles, narrow fairy ribs, the dark edge of a nipple. And those tight, dripping jeans . . .

My skin heated. I always made him wet, rain or ocean or the fluid from my body when we loved.
It was a really good look.

But he twisted sparking fingers together, tense, and I knew what he’d say before he opened his mouth.
He sighed, sorrow glowing green in his eyes, and said it: “This can’t go anywhere, Appolonnia. You and me.”
“But . . . But Dennis' gone. And I’m better. Why can’t we—?” My voice strangled, weak. I’d said I loved him. He’d said the same. Would we let that wash away?
“It’s just not possible.”
I fluttered onto my knees in the warm wet sand, flowing water refreshing my skin, feeding my energy. Even my scorched skin felt healthy and plump with moisture. “There’s no impossible. You said that yourself.”
But he hadn’t. Dennis had. I waited for him to correct me, to deny that anything had changed.
“Yes, I did. I also killed. I also got you hurt. I can’t—”

“Oh, you are so damn selfish, you know that?” The words flung out before my brain could reel them in. My pulse thudded, that old exhilaration flowing back. The mirrorbeast might be dead, but my courage hadn’t faded.

Unwilling, a smile plastered across my lips. Maybe I’d always been brave, and just hadn’t known it.
Andy stared at me, bewilderment twitching salty drops from his wings. “What do you mean?”
All my frustration and pent-up desire came rushing in like breakers. “Did you see anyone throwing me into the air in front of that mirror? No, I bet you didn’t. That was my choice. And how about when we made love, huh? See anyone holding a pistol to my poor helpless little head? Don’t think so. That was my choice, too. Fairy wings don’t mean I don’t have a brain. You don’t make me hurt myself, Andy. I do that on my own. Sure, I understand your girlfriend died and broke your heart. Christ, it makes me want to cry and I wasn’t even there. That doesn’t make you responsible for her mistakes. And yeah, Dennis killed people. But you weren’t there. You didn’t do it. Not every fucking thing is your fault, okay?”

I sucked in a breath and held it, waiting for him to scowl scarlet at me and turn away.
But he swallowed, a salty shimmer on his coppery lashes, and shook his dripping head. “You’re wrong. It doesn’t work that way. Tonight proves that. I’ll only ever hurt you.”
Waves sloshed around my hips, the tide coming in. I splashed up and down, infuriated. Stubborn, deafhead boy. “Do I look like a child to you? Now isn’t the time for your emo think-it-to-death blame-yourself-for-everything bullshit. Snap out of it. I’m here. I’m asking. Do you want me or not?”
My stomach lurched. I felt like stuffing the words back into my mouth. A yes-or-no question had only one easy answer.

But he dropped to his knees in breaking waves and pressed my hand over his heartbeat. My palm tingled, his skin like warm velvet over iron, his pulse light and swift and mingling with mine. “Yes, Appolonnia. I meant it.”
I swallowed, my throat suddenly dry. “Then I want in. I’ve been a shit magnet all my life. If you can make it worse, I’ll be surprised.”
His pulse quickened under my palm, but his eyes stayed guarded. He slid his hands over my shoulders and shook me gently, like he didn’t think I understood. “Dennis, he . . . it’s my fault. I shut him away so tight that killing was the only way he . . . the only way I could feel alive. Connected. Just because he’s gone doesn’t mean I didn’t—”

I stopped him with shaking fingers on his lips. “I get it, okay? You have to forgive yourself, Indigo. Everyone’s got a dark half. But it’s meant to be deep inside, where you can control it. Dennis was never supposed to be out on his own, without the good parts to hold him back. But he’s back where he belongs now.”
He swallowed. “Can you be sure?”

It sounded weird, talking about him like that. Scary to think that my crazy half was still cackling inside me somewhere, scratching to be free. But it had always been there. The mirror just dragged it screaming into the light. Dennis had always been there, too. That didn’t make either of us evil.

Faith warmed my heart, and I stilled his restless hands under mine. His skin sparkled with static at the contact. “I’m sure. And so should you be.”
Slowly, he pulled me up onto my knees. The water came up to my hips, playing with my skirt, bathing me in rushing salty warmth. “You know I steal things from bad people. Demons chase me. I get my ass kicked a lot.”

“And you damn well better let me come along next time. No way are you keeping all the fun to yourself.” Patching him up after an ass-kicking sounded delicious to me. A smile crept over my lips. I wanted to fold him in my arms and kiss him senseless. But I needed him to come to me.

He took my hand, tracing my fingers with a gentle, hesitant claw. “You’d accept all that?”
“Said I would, didn’t I?”
“For me?”
Sigh. “See anyone else here?”
He kissed my fingertips, one by one, and then he slid my hand onto his chest and kissed my mouth.
Salt, rust, his delicious iron flavor. His arms enfolded me, so hot and strong, drifting seawater caressing me up to my waist. My mouth sprang alive under his, his tongue on mine, his sharp teeth tingling my skin. I slid my wrists around his neck, buried my fingers in his crisp metal hair, gave myself up to the familiar yet still so unbelievable warmth of his body.

Pebbles splashed around me, and a sharp whistle sang from the beach. “Jeez, please, can we get home sometime this week?”
I giggled. Ashes idea of a cold shower. “You’re just jealous!”
“Get a room,” called Charlotte, giggling, too. “A soundproof one. You guys are a whole box of cream pies. Nausy-ate-ing.”
Andy laughed and kissed me again, gentle, possessive. “Wanna go?”
“Yeah.” I let him help me up. He shook like a dog, rusty droplets showering.
I squeezed out my hair. Water ran over my body, a sharp and salty glory. I loved it. As we waded toward the beach, I couldn’t help but watch him, my delicious dark metal prince. After we’d loved, I’d been afraid to touch him again. Now, I didn’t care. I knew I had nothing to fear. I slipped my wet hand in his and held it tight. “So, what now?”

He knotted knobbly blue fingers around mine. “I was thinking, home. Shower. Bed. That kinda thing.”
I sighed, content, but my heart sank. I groaned. “I can’t. We still owe Peter five grand.”
“Maybe I can help with that.”
Excitement sparked my spine. “You got a job on?”
He laughed. “Nope. Got a bank account, though. You should try it.”
“God, you’re such a human. Next you’ll say get a real job.”
“Get a real job, Appolonnia.”
I swatted him. “No way.”
“No hope of a respectable retirement, then.”
I skipped, kicking up wet sand, and giggled. “Not a chance.”
He stopped me with a searching kiss, his hands fresh and needy on my body, and when he pulled back, I was gasping, my sex aching and my nipples standing out in my wet clothes. Home was sounding better all the time.
He nuzzled his dripping hair on my cheek, and I felt his dark metal laugh. “Good.”

Notes

Well thats a wrap!

Thank you so much for sticking with me throughout the past two years. I means so much that people actually liked this enough to stay with me. I know that you probably didn't want it to come to an end, but all stories must find their conclusion.

If you guys liked this story i hope you will continue to stay by me by subscribing to a new story I'm writing. This new story is called Repossession and it is based off of the musical Repo! The Genetic Opera. With this new story I'm going to try and write in a little bit of a different style just because of character ages and the over all genre of the story.

http://www.blackveilbridesfanfiction.com/Story/89073/Repossession/

Again, thank you all so much for staying by me.
hope to see all your comments on Repossession!!!

Remember, Stay Weird!
- Grimm <3




ps - for Repossession I'm thinking of adding a co-author? What do you guys think? And would anyone like to help writing Repossession?