New York April 2007
It was an hour short of closing time, and there were only a few people in the ‘Wasted heaven’ when Ana walked in and sauntered to the end of the bar. She leaned back; elbows propped against the bar rail, eyeing the crowd for potential threats. After a quick look around she decided there was no one in the bar that posed a threat to anyone and she relaxed a little.
Ana had been coming to this bar for a couple of weeks now, after hearing that it was a popular place for vampires but so far she had only dusted three of them and she was beginning to get bored.
Just as she was about to leave the place the door swung open and she inhaled sharply as a stranger walked in.
She inhaled again.
Male, prime of life, healthy. Drool-worthy…
Ana shifted position, checking out the man at the other end of the bar.
Wearing a battered leather jacket he looked like someone who had been through hell and lived to tell the tale.
He had a chiselled face with razor-sharp cheekbones and the most stunning blue eyes she had ever seen.
There was only one word to describe this stranger; gorgeous.
Then she noticed the knife the man held in his hands. And the blood dripping from his chest.
“’S that what this is, then?” the man screamed, voice thickly accented and choked with tears. “This is blood. Real blood. Am I real? Am I real? AM. I. REAL?! ”
“Hey, man,” stammered one of the guests and slowly backed away from the seemingly crazy man. “Take it easy, okay? You don’t want to hurt yourself like that. Or anyone else for that matter. Someone can die.”
“The dead don’ bleed, you know,” the man said as he sliced another cut on his chest without flinching. “Some dead do, but I shouldn’t. I was bloody well finished. Bloody beyond dust.” He turned his face upward. “Wasn’t I finished?! Wasn’t I? Am I real?”
Ana started forward which got the strangers’ attention. He turned around, letting the knife clamber to the floor and stared at her with wide eyes full of fear and… recognition?
“Slayer…?” he mumbled before crashing to the floor in an unconscious heap.
“Someone call and ambulance – and the cops!” yelled one of the guests as Ana quickly kneeled beside the young man and checked for any vital signs of life.
Yeah, he was breathing alright but just barely and his heartbeat was fast, so fast.
Suddenly he stirred to life and their gazes meet. For a moment she completely lost herself in those blue eyes.
“I was finished.”
“Finished?” She frowned and leaned in closer, desperately trying to hear his whispering words. “And how did you know that I was a slayer?”
“Bloody well recognize a slayer in my sleep,” he muttered and blinked. Then he positioned himself on his elbows and looked up at her with questioning eyes. “Why am I here?”
“I don’t know.” Ana shook her head as she heard sirens from a distance. Suddenly she made up her mind and with a firm grip around the strangers’ elbow she helped him up from the floor. “But I’m going to find out.”
“Hey!” The bartender protested as she walked toward the door with the man in tow. “What am I going to tell the police?”
“The truth.”
“And what’s the truth?” The stranger asked and followed her out into the cold night.
“That nothing happened.”
“Nothing?”
“Nothing of interest for them.” She guided him to her car and sat down in the front seat. “Now let’s go home.”
“Home?”
“Home sweet home.” She smiled brightly. “By the way; my name is Ana. Anna Calder.”
“William. At least I think it’s William…”
She gave him a quick glance before starting the engine and drove off, destination home.
Beside her sat the man and studied his bloodied hands with contemplation.
I died.
No. I didn’t.
I did die. I remember it. Twice.
You did not.
Yes, I did.
Didn’t.
I’m telling you; I died!!
Okay. Maybe you did.
Told ya.
But how can you be sitting here if you’re dead?
Don’t bloody know.
See. You didn’t die.
I didn’t die.
“I wanna see how it ends.”
“William…”
He turned around to the young woman and noticed for the first time that she was quite lovely. Long raven hair and grey eyes. Long and slim body dressed all in black. His kind of girl…
“I died.”
~ ~ ~ ~
Ana normally thought of herself as a serene and patient woman who got along with most people. That was of course before she met – and took home, the stranger that called himself William.
He alone would be the death of her – she just knew it.
He was stubborn beyond words and he demanded attention almost every second of the day. And most of the night as well. Twenty four seven got a whole new meaning.
Worst off was the nights. He tossed and he turned and he groaned. And he wailed. Like some fuckin’ animal at full moon – only for him it was full moon every night. Apparently.
Thank God that she was a heavy sleeper…
When William didn’t hold her awake with his tossing and turning, he slept. A lot.
It was almost as if his body tried to heal itself through sleep. From what she could only imagine.
Since his memory was all whacked his past remained a mystery to her – and him. But even tough she knew so little about him, she found great joy in coming up with possible stories about who ‘William’ really was.
Her favourite being that he was a retired war hero who’d get wounded in Iraq and thereby lost his memory in the process.
William on the other hand didn’t seem particularly curious about his past, or lack of it. He took each day in stride, walking from room to room as if he searched for something and couldn’t find it. At times she could come up behind him and hear him muttering about a ‘burning spark’ or ‘golden goddess’ or something other equally gibberish.
Being a slayer should have prepared her for all kind of strange things and beings but nothing could really have prepared her for playing caretaker to a delusional man.
A very attractive delusional man…
There was no doubt that William was a looker. A total hottie.
Ana was fairly convinced that he had had his share of women in his time. And she couldn’t help to ponder on what they had been like.
Probably equally good looking. Strong… Independent…
William didn’t appear to be a guy who spent his time with weak-minded woman. No, he would have been looking for someone who could have stood up to him. Challenged him.
If there were something that Ana had discovered with her mystery guest, it was that he liked to test the boundaries.
When it wasn’t him eating all of her weetabix, it was him stealing all the hot water – and leaving wet towels on the floor. And also the fact that if he didn’t get to watch ‘Passions’ he gave her that whipped puppy look that could have melted the heart with even the most cold hearted woman on the planet.
Ana was convinced that if given time, William could have every woman in the world drooling at his feet.
If only he could remember who he was…
~ ~ ~ ~
William stared at Ana as if she just had said something outrageous.
All she had said was that she wanted to spar with him.
She also had said that she was going to go easy on him – so what was the nig fuzz?
“Oh, come on!” she begged and whipped out the puppy look. “Please?”
“You’re completely off your trolley,” he exclaimed and shook his head. “There’s no bleeding way I’m going to go up against a slayer!”
“I promise that I will take it easy on you,” she promised. “I just want to test you. See what ya got.”
William tilted his head in that adorable way and she could almost she how he silently calculated her words – spinning and twisting them around to determent if she was sincere or not.
He was really good at that; reading her like an open book.
It was kind’a creepy…
“Okay,” he finally said and she repressed the urge to make a rah-rah motion with her fist.
Hook, line and sinker…
“Great!” she declared and assumed fighting position. “Are you ready?”
He gazed at her calmly, no curiosity in his expression. No trust, but no distrust either.
Then he nodded and copied her position like he was born to do that.
Like a fighter…
Ana surged forward, swinging her fist against his cheek – only to hit air.
Somehow, without her being really ready for it, William gracefully ducked and then he stretched out a leg and tripped her.
Ana landed on the cold floor with a thud and she blinked up at the ceiling.
This was not anything she’d been prepared for; being outsmarted by a man with amnesia.
It was vexing to say the least.
Climbing to her feet she noticed that he now was watching her with an almost predatory look in his angelic face.
Although he wasn’t one, every pore in her body screamed ‘vampire’.
But he couldn’t be…
Shacking off her uncertainties, she went for another round with William.
Her fist found its target this time and managed to knock him a few feet back.
William wiped away some blood from the corner of his mouth and gave her a savage grin.
Then he landed a high kick to Ana’s jaw followed by a powerful punch that sent her flying backwards and hitting the wall.
Ana was fairly convinced – as she lay dizzy on the floor that she was seeing yellow birds flying around in a circle above her head.
Then the stubborn streak in her kicked in into overdrive and forced her back up on her feet and moving in William’s direction.
She swung her fist, putting all of her strength behind this blow – completely ignoring the fact that as he was human he wouldn’t be able to withstand the sheer force behind it.
That was soon to be proven wrong…
William captured the fist in midair and stepped closer to the slayer. He then lifted Ana up as if she weighs nothing and threw her across the room so that she hit the wall (again), leaving a mark.
She shook the dizziness away and stared up at him accusingly.
“You’re not human!” she exclaimed and struggled to get back up to her – very shaky, feet. “No human is that strong!”
He simply stood at his spot, staring at her with those blank eyes. There wasn’t even a twitch in his face that let her know how he felt.
It was watching a robot.
“What are you?”
After a long silence, his answer finally came – but it didn’t help make things any easier.
“I don’t know.”
And truth be told, Ana believed him.
Tbc…