The nightmares came again, and Cheryl was struggling to breathe. The feeling of being choked to death and that sinister smile of Marcus made her trash all over the couch where she fell asleep a couple of hours ago. She was clawing at her throat and begging for him to let her go. This time he found her and she didn't had a chance to escape. He was going to make her pay for what she did and she was crying, swearing to him that she would never try to disobey him again. Just when she thought that the end of her misery finally came, she heard her Danny's voice, commanding Cheryl to wake up and she jolted awake. Drenched in sweat, with her heart beating like crazy, she took intake after intake of breath, almost crying from happiness that it was all just a dream.
"You need to open the door, puddin', it's urgent."
"What?" Her head was fuzzy and she had a hard time concentrating at her surroundings, the banging on her door stopped and she faintly heard her neighbours door slammed.
Getting up from the couch, she took a few steps thru the door and the dizziness came again. Even if it was all just a nightmare, she felt her throat sore, just like in the past when he used to strangle her until she past out. The banging on her door started again and with shaky legs she fumbled with her lock, trying to open the damn door, but her hands were shaking too much.
"You are safe, puddin'... He can't get to you now, I'm here. Breath, yeah that's it, now exhale. You are safe."
The tears were in the back of her eyes, but she swallowed them and managed to open that damn door. On her doorstep it was Ace, Jimmy and that cute girl that the kid proposed a few nights ago.
"What happened to you?" The gruff voice of Ace brought her back to reality and she realised that the only clothing on her body was a t-shirt that did little to the imagination and she tried stretching it down. With her bumm on full display for him, it was hard not to blush. Mainly because he was looking at her like she was his next favourite meal.
"I was... I... Uhmm... Just woke up." Cheryl was stuttering and she hasn't done that since highschool. The cute curly girl came to her rescue when she saw that Cheryl was almost fating from embarrassment.
"Sorry for barging like this Miss, but it's something urgent."
"Yeah, Danny said that..."
"Danny?" Jimmy's eyes almost fell out of their eye sockets. "As in the one and only Dante?"
"I told you the kid idolised you." A little smile found its way on her face when she looked over her shoulder at her brother.
"Pfff, of course he does. The kid has taste. But it seems that he's not Ace's blood brother. He can't see or hear me puddin'."
Ace barged in her apartment, with the couple hot on his heels. The warning in his beautiful blue eyes, made her shut up and she shut the door, locking the bolt's in place. She kept telling herself that it wasn't from fear.
"Make yourselves at home, please. I need to...uhm... Splash some water on my face."
Tugging at her t-shirt, she stopped at her espresso machine and programmed three cups before hiding in her bathroom.
Throwing her clothes in the laundry basket, she opted for a quick cold shower. Even if she wanted to scrub every inch of her body, to take the handprints of that bastard away, she didn't have the time to do that.
After she was satisfied of cleaning that clammy sweat out of her body, Cheryl remembered that she forgot to take a new set of clothes. She couldn't paray around the house in only a towel, so she rummaged in her bathroom for something to cover herself. After some time, she found hanging on the door a pair of cotton shorts and a loose t-shirt. Both black and cleaned, it seemed, after she smelled them. She must've forgotten them there.
Looking in the mirror above the sink, Cheryl didn't like her face. Those hollow eyes and white skin remembered her about that damn dream. Involuntary she touched her neck, where no imprint was shown, but the soreness and the feeling of his hands still remained. The beeping of her espresso machine brought her back and she left the bathroom, forgetting to pin her hair and leaving it free.
She found a tray in her cupboard in the kitchen, and made a mental note to thank her mother for buying her stuff like this, when she last visited. Finding some milk and sugar, Cheryl added them on the tray, but stopped when she saw that little bottle of whiskey hidden for mornings like this. Debating with herself if she needed it again, the sober part of her won the argument. She had company and she needed the coffee more. Yeah, she could function and have a decent conversation without having her mind hazy with weed and alcohol. Cheryl gave herself a mental patt on the back and plastered a fake smile on her face.
"I didn't know how you liked your coffee so here is some milk and coffee." She took her own coffee and added just one spoon of sugar.
Watching the big bad Ace adding three spoons of sugar and milk, made her smile, but she concealed it, taking a sip of the hot coffee.
"So what's the emergency? I'm not saying that I don't appreciate the visit but it seems not everyone is pleased to be here." She didn't want to sound bitchy, but Ace's grumpiness was entertaining in some degree.
"Don't mind my brother, he also just woke up, and he usually doesn't talk until he's had his first coffee."
So another thing that they had in common.
The way he took all the space on the couch with his long legs spread, and still looking like he didn't had space, made her smile again. It seemed Ace was making her smile more by the minute and she couldn't complain, Cheryl needed that more then ever.
"If it's not a inconvenience to you Miss Blossom, can I leave Annabelle with you? Some new hunters are in town, and this type is really dangerous for her, for you too."
"Why is that?"
"Because they are hunting for witches for another reason. You see, they are vampires. Annabelle has my imprint on her, but I don't trust them. Normally they would leave witches alone if they have another's male scent on them, but these vampires came in town without notice, and already started to hunt. Most of the witches are already with Yehnnefer, but she was left behind because we...unm... Were late for another reason." The way he blushed and took the girl's hand in his, was the cutest thing ever.
"They were fuckin'."
"They were banging."
Both Ace and Danny's comment made her snort with the coffee in her mouth and she coughed a little.
"Guys stop being so blunt, you're making the girl uncomfortable and it's uncalled for. So in what way witches are being hunted by vampires? Are the vampires like Lestat or Edward Cullen?"
"More like Lestat. And they hunt you for procreation. Basically the only way to reproduce is if they fuck you. They need witches, that's why they don't kill them. Most of them just hunt them for slavery."
The way he bluntly talked about this, without any feelings of compassion made her nervous. So she lighted a cigarette with shaky hands, and the image of Marcus popped in her mind again.
"The only way for them to stay away from you tonight is if you have my venom in your sistem."
"What do you mean?" She could feel Danny getting restless beside her the moment those words got out of Ace's mouth.
"I need to bite you."
"Excuse me?!"
"While my viper is out."
Cheryl didn't now what was wrong with her, but she wanted it. So much that she felt the need to close her legs, to stop her from jumping on the couch next to him and offering him her neck.