Shadowglass

They’re here. Cool white twins, their vapid stink oozing. He spied them arriving tonight, falling from the sky, splat on the ground in a shaft of fetid light like the vermin they are. This is Jinxx’s city now. They don’t belong here. The battle for London’s souls was over a long time ago.

Fury flushes his course hair coal, and he jerks up from his stool and stalks onto the crowded floor. The saccharine reek draws him on, through the writhing crowd who shuffle aside for him without volition. Past mortals glued in hot blind embraces, past whirling fae dancers and sleepy-eyed vampires feeding slowly, draped on bloody couches. Past the corner bar where Simon Cruz, Jinxx’s first vampire minion, shares dark wine with his scaly faeborn second and plots a spree of bloody Parente deaths now that Angelo’s gone. Past the bright mirrored wall where Chris Cerulli sucks on another glowing cigarette and leather-wrapped banshee Ash radiates frustrated lust in a sleek fall of ultrablue hair.

Parente maggots. He should crush them to pulp. But right now he doesn’t care.

Beneath the mezzanine, dim and humid, shadowed bodies stretching and curling as they take their pleasure, be it chemicals, caresses, malicious fairy memory. On the floor, a dragon-tattooed banshee snorts a glittering golden line from a little mirror and passes it on, wetness glazing her eyes. A half-naked human girl moans under twin vampire boys, their fangs ripping delicately at her throat, their snowy hair shimmering in green neon as they share a bloody kiss. A shining glass fairy with silver-spun hair shoots up with glowing violet junk, color veining slowly up his translucent arm. Fairies bite, scuttle, twist each other’s bodies in drug-numbed coupling. A long wet sniff, a flutter of moist scarlet wings, sighs and groans and the dark salty taste of sex.

In the corner, the sickly smell pools like hot sulfur, and there they stand, showered in ultraviolet from distant fluorescents, dumb like brainless insects in their stolen bodies. A dark-haired boy wearing a leather vest and buckles, strong thighs, smooth sun-browned skin, tattoos curving on his shoulders, a line of tarnished studs in one ear. Beautiful young face, soft plum lips, a hint of stubble.

That one stinks the worst.

The other is just a faintly foul underling, a black-maned waif in a short skirt and halter, smeared dark lipstick, brows ringed with piercings and a red-berry jewel flashing in her navel. High heels she can’t stand up in, straps too tight around tattooed ankles.

Not blending in, not drinking or kissing or sniffing sparkle. Too fucking superior for that. Just standing there, waiting to get their own way as they always do. Both smiling stupidly. Both with unearthly angel-blue eyes. Both greasy with the stink of get-the-fuck-out-of-my-city.

The pair stares, sapphire irises aglitter. Jinxx doesn’t pause. He stalks up, claws springing, and grabs the boy-thing’s throat. “Name yourself.”

Around them, people blink and back away, or pretend not to see.

The boy chokes, clutching at Jinxx’s gold-linked wrist. The girl-thing whirls, striking at Jinxx with inhuman strength.

He glances at her, and blinks.

A shimmering black wave of compulsion crashes, and she cries out and staggers, red-skinned, hair crinkling in fresh heat.

Too easy.

Jinxx crushes his thumb in harder, forcing the boy to his knees. Scarlet blood sizzles on his knuckles like acid. Pain stabs, but he doesn’t let go. He coats his voice with grasping duress, dragging invisible black hooks through the boy’s blood. “I said, name yourself, aberration.”

The boy splutters, tears spilling on his cheeks, and Jinxx relaxes, just enough to let him talk. Spit dribbles onto Jinxx’s bloodstained hand as the boy forces the sounds out. “Jake. Ella. Curse your blood, demon.”

Jinxx’s hair tumbles longer, a deep angry coal. He hisses charcoal smoke, and somewhere behind him, glass shatters. He yanks the boy’s greasy ponytail back and crunches razor teeth an inch from the boy’s ring-pierced nose. “This is my city, Jake. You won’t like it here. You’ll not steal back a single soul from me. Go back to where you came from, and tell Shadow I said fuck you. Got it?”

He doesn’t wait for an answer, but rips his claws away and strides off, the air around him shimmering with hate.

Jake spits warm sour liquid onto the metal floor, his new body flowering with sensation. Unpleasant. Fresh. Addictive. He wipes blood from the demon-poisoned wounds in his throat, and this time they don’t heal.

Ella hugs her knees, still shivering on the floor. Pain clouds her pretty voice. “I do not like this, Jake. I want to go home.”

Jake swallows, and warm pain spreads like sunshine. Dazzled, he wobbles to his feet, offering Ella his hand. “He is stronger than we.”

She rises, clutching his hand in both of hers, and her gaze slips. “He cannot be. They told us he was weak.”

Jake breathes once, again. Pressure in the lungs, bones moving, skin stretching. Delightful. Water stings his eyes, making it hard to see. He blinks, and it’s gone. Wonderful.

Even the horrible electric din of the club pleases his ears, and the ache in his injured throat slides delicious fingers of pain down his chest. And the sounds that wrap around him in the dark, sighs and whimpers and muffled moans, they’re sounds of agony, yet they’re sultry and wet with deep pleasure. He slips a bloodstained finger into his mouth, and it stings. His tongue flares alive with heady sensation, disgusting yet beautiful.

What a strange, bright, painful world.

He gazes around with fresh, suspicious eyes. The sky never lies. There must be a reason for this discrepancy. “Things are not as they told us, Ella. This will not be easy after all. People are free. Jinxx is strong. Pain is . . . happy.”

“No.” Ella clutches him closer, her new dark-painted mouth pursed. “The sky is never wrong. It is not true.”

“It must be. Jinxx has corrupted this place. If we are to take the city back, we must watch him, and find his power’s source.” Jake stretches, blood coursing warm through new muscles, and strokes her pretty new hair with a smile. “Do not be afraid, my love. I have a plan.”

Notes

Hey guys, here is the promised chapter i have for you. Yay!!!!!
I also might be updating again very very soon because i definitely owe it to you guys for staying with me whilst i was kinda on a hiatus...

As well as that, i also apologise for any spelling, grammar or punctuation errors in the chapter as i was just trying to get something updated for you so i didn't look like the worst author in the whole world. haha.

Again, sorry for not updating... Plz just remember rate, review and subscribe!!
(yay 13 subscribers now!!! can't believe people actually like this)
Stay weird baby bats
-Grimm