Indigo Blues-[Adley Reed]

[Indigo]

Words had become inaudible. Not so much a certain pitch or tone but as if each one was a smear of noise in the air rushing past her. Nightclubs like the one Indigo Knight stood in were a great idea until it came time to leave. Her ears were ringing, her steps felt far too light and she lost track where the doors to exit were located. The friend she arrived with was long gone with someone she just met. It was one of those things she had become all too used to. Unfortunately so was her handbag that the woman asked to borrow so she could use the lip liner inside while in the ladies room.

In a slow weave the chandelier heels from hell carried her closer to where a group was forming. Beneath the haze of black lights she navigated her way closer to the growing mass of club goers who took up forming an inebriated hip hopping barrier between her and the doors. Low riding pants and baseball caps that were pointing to the right and left of the heads while the faces beneath showed no intentions of moving.

“Can I get through, please!” Indigo was needing the fresh air faster than she could get to it. Of course, the statement fell on deaf ears.

The salt on her dry lips exploded when her tongue darted out in an attempt to sooth what was suffering from the overabundance of a well salted rim of a recently emptied margarita glass. Despite the dissolving particles of salt she managed to make another plea for sweat and cologne bathed bodies to step to the left or slide to the right, just so long as they did something.

“C’mon, move it, people!”

The comfortably numb feeling washing over her was less reassuring and more of a warning when a series of gunshot shattered the smooth wave of motion coursing through the over heated barely covered bodies writhing next to her blocking her from making a less than quick exit. A long arm went over her head and soon she was feeling the heavy burden of an crowd riding behind her pushing her through the doors. A body too close for comfort behind her felt awkward as it pulled down on her. That move was met with her elbow kicking back in response. The slick slide of her bare skin pushing back had her glance over her shoulder. The male's eyes were in the process of rolling back in his head as the fresh stream of blood bubbling out of his mouth found its way on her shoulder. All that was left for her to do was scream. Her foggy senses went into overdrive and she nearly clawed her way through the bodies in front of her leaving a dull thump of the gunshot victim landing on the floor behind her.

“C’mere!” The curl of long fingers locked like a flesh vice grip around her upper arm. “You stupid *****.” Her body was in the hand of a giant that she could barely size up while being tossed into the back of a car that soon was occupied by bodies sandwiching her from each side. “You hang with them much longer and you are going to get yourself killed. If I were him I would get tired as all **** saving your *** all the god damned time. Stay put or I will cancel you out for the night.”

Indigo’s eyes burned with their narrowing attempt to focus on the face that was delivering the statements that she could not ignore. Her insides went from knotted balls formed out of shock to finding a place to sink fast at her feet. She felt like she was going to pass out as her mind whirled with what to do next. She had no clue who in the hell she was sitting next to. Neither body was familiar and the slam of each door told her she was in far more trouble now than she was inside the club with a bleeding guy hanging on her back. Before her lips would part to say something about having the wrong person the vehicle that carried them was screeching out of the parking lot. While she tried to find her voice in all the chaos she felt the push of the engine sending her back into the seat. Just like her state of mind the car was racing through the abyss of blackness that seemed a whole other world than the city that was being left behind.

“I got him good.” A click of a clip being pulled from a gun yanked her eyes downward to find hands working casually at putting the weapon into a jacket pocket. “Now the question is if you are going to keep your *** in line till we get back home.” A hand pushed at the side of her head and it felt like she was being pushed against the currents of mind numbing madness filling her. Was she losing her mind or was she seriously in a car with complete strangers talking to her like she should know them. “Don’t have **** to say now do you? You are lucky your *** is fine because I can tell you that is the only reason you aren’t back there part of your loser friends blood bath. He thinks you are worth bringing back so you better start appreciating that **** or we get to have more fun than you ever dreamed of.”
“Friends get you killed all the time, princess.” The other body next to her finally spoke up. When it did a full set of teeth sparkled like diamonds and pearls in the small flashes of random passing headlights. “****, that is why I hang with the fuckers I hate the most.”
"Who the **** are you people? I have never seen you before!" She gasped. "Let me out!"
“**** you, dumbass.”

Indigo was drunk but sobering up quickly when the offended party raised a fist and the arm took a sudden swing in front of her. Having a split second option she sank farther back into the seat so that only her face felt the rush of sweaty flesh and air pass over the tip of her nose. She turned just in time to witness the contact being made with the mouth that was instantly bleeding.

“I can leave your shady **** behind too!” The huge hand was shaking out its bruised knuckles in front of her face. “Do that again and I will take your nut sized brain out of your skull and use it to choke your ***** while I give her something to remember.”

A series of ominous clicks sent a chill down her spine. That was the moment the driver’s head turned back and over his shoulder was the unmistakable glint of a gun barrel. Indigo couldn't catch her breath. Everything became a blur as fists began flying and a series of shots were fired. After that the spiral of the world as she could still make it out to be picked up speed. Blinding light, sharp sudden stabs of pain and loud blasts of metal being torn filled her until she felt the cold air rush across her weightless body. She could see trees as the sound of the vehicle she was in plowed into the ground. All she could think about was she was free. She got away. Then the bone jarring pain of rolling into a ditch that was hardly deep enough coursed through her body from head to toe. Everything went dark before her bruised body could take another breath.

Four hours later the stroke of wild dry brush tickled her face despite the rest of her that felt like it was in pieces and not one working body. Rolling over took at least fifteen minutes to accomplish once her limbs allowed the connection from her brain to take hold. Every breath was excruciating. There was a whistle in her exhales. Nothing prepared her for the visual she received as soon as she worked her way to her feet. Three bodies were strewn about. Each was contorted to the point that she didn’t second guess if there was any life left. Not that she felt inclined to help. Normally she would but they nearly got her killed and she had no idea who they were to begin with.

Desperate hands fumbled against her pockets and quickly found no cell phone on her where it should be. Indigo was also aware that she had at least two broken fingers. Maybe three now that her pinkie finger appeared locked in a hook position pointing down. Just as she took a step she felt her body snap forward and expel blood and the remnants of what she drank. Her ribs felt like they were cutting into her gut and she cried as her eyes nearly popped out of their sockets from the pressure. She was going to die. She felt it in her toe nails. While the back of her hand brushed at her mouth she noticed the shard of glass protruding from the top of her shoeless foot. With the fingers that still functioned she pulled off the other shoe and dropped it. If she was going to die she was going to do it on her feet heading towards the city lights that she wished she never left.

[Adley Reed]

Life as he knew it was starting to look a little better from Adley’s perspective. The nights weren’t coloured by an undertone of bitter resentment or anger; instead, he again looked forward to waking up, to dressing, to leaving his apartment to stalk the city for its many offerings of excitement and adventure. If adventure was really what you could call it.

Basically, Adley went back to work. The video of his death had been saved in many different placed and deleted from his camera. The cracked screen had been fixed, and the expensive piece of equipment serviced properly so it was in good working condition again. The scanner that had been stolen from his jeep not too long ago had been replaced; everything was back to normal, expect for the fact that he Jameson had become his junk food of choice instead of McDonald’s.

Adley hadn’t yet suggested that Jameson come to work with him, so that he could have a midnight snack when he pleased, but he assumed it was only a matter of time. Although Adley knew that Jameson’s reasons for wanting to be around were not quite the same as Adley’s – Adley was not at all interested in anything else Jameson had to offer but his blood (and, okay, the guy was a little amusing) – he was not at all concerned about taking full advantage of the situation. He’d never made any promises to the waif, and nor did he intend to. If Jameson became too attached, then that was a hurdle to be dealt with when it came around.

As it was, he had not called Jameson yet. The hunger wasn’t bad. He wasn’t desperate for blood, and could boost himself if absolutely necessary. Instead, he sat in the car outside the club he’d just vacated; although he hadn’t got there before the cops, he’d managed to find a way past all the yellow tape. A back way they hadn’t yet cordoned off. With the fake lanyard around his neck and a heavy, serious expression on his face, he was able to get quite a few really good, sellable pictures of the gore before someone realised he wasn’t supposed to be there. That was the point at which he threw up his hands, rattled off some things about bureaucracy and its failings, and got the hell out of dodge before his camera was confiscated.

He quickly flicked through the images and sent them wirelessly to his own inbox before he carefully placed the camera on the passenger seat and drove away. Better not to sit around the scene of the crime, lest someone come looking for ‘that guy with the camera’ who was never supposed to be there. A quick visit to Harper Rock News assured him that the photos were secure, a few late-shift reporters taking on the job of getting the news out before everyone woke up the next morning – even for the late-night news – and Adley’s pictures would be used. He sat around in Abelle’s office – an office he had claimed as his own in his remiss sire’s absence – and finished off some more work before he went back to his car, intending to go find Jameson. The blood frenzy, though controllable to a point now that human blood was less of a trigger – was still a ***** to keep under wraps for too long. Maybe he needed to get out of the freelance news business and do landscapes instead. All that blood… he was craving it. Poor Jameson might be in for a bit of a rough start, tonight.

As Adley got in the car, however, he heard the crackling voice over the police scanner report an accident on the road out of the city. South. Redwood… Swansdale.

Before he’d even heard the details, the jeep roared to life and Adley’s foot was heavy on the pedal. So very close, and he’d definitely make it there before the authorities. He broke all kinds of speeding laws – even ran a stop sign – to get there. The wind rushed against the windows; ahead, the beams of his lights lit upon a girl. Tan skinned, wild-haired, covered in blood and limping like she knew where she was going. Adley kept going. He had a job to do. Right? Except…

The image was burned into his retinas. Like there was something so familiar about her, something so… what? Maybe he knew her. Maybe he didn’t. What was another car accident? They happened all the time. He’d already made some cash that night. He slammed on the brakes, the tires squealing, smoke pouring out behind them. The jeep bounced and rattled as it went off road, Adley hastily executing a u-turn. It took half a minute to find her again; to slow down with his beams on low. He pulled up beside the limping girl, parked the car though it remained idling, and circled around the back to open the front passenger door.

”You’ve come from the accident,” he said, stating the obvious as if that was any better than asking a stupid question. He held his arm out to the girl, gesturing to the cab of his jeep, though treating her like she was a doe who’d just gone through someone’s windshield. In shock. Skittish.

”You need a hospital. I’ll take you…” he said.

Yes, Adley Reed had an ego. It was far too large, and far too ugly. But that did not mean that he didn’t have a heart somewhere in there. This girl, though – her eyes. It was something about her eyes. Oh, her blood was tantalizing too, in a way that it made him want to tear her apart. But that would mean ruining that wondrous exterior. No, no. He could control himself until he got her to the hospital. Right? Right.

[Indigo]

Indigo felt the reality of the shape she was in with each new bone deep aching step. The glass was working its way further into the layers of skin and muscle in her foot. Any sharp burn of tormented nerves lost its effect several hundred yards back. She surmised that the particular wounds she was reminded of as her bare feet pressed into the asphalt below were by far the least of her issues. The sun was closer than ever to rising and so would be the visual on the events that had taken place over the last several hours.

Pain and fresh air worked on Indigo and brought her back to her full senses. The black label tequila was proving to be about as dependable as her friend had been. Both equally left her just when she needed them most. Whoever it was Marina was curled up in the sheets with had better have been worth it. The woman was never going to hear from Indigo again...once she got her purse back, of course. Not that she was one to talk. She hardly had a case or a solid leg to stand on to plead her innocence for that matter. Her head was spinning but not enough to save her from the facts.

Indigo Knight had left the scene of a murder. Not some run of the mill shady random hit but a highly public one in a nightclub full of people and cameras. The news would be all over it before the sun was up. If that was not enough she was walking away from an accident that left those responsible for the first crime dead. Dead men tell no tales and the sole survivor was heading towards the city lights and hoping she could make it without notice.

Indigo was hardly the type to be routinely found in her current situation. Generally she fared far better when things went south like the had earlier in the club. She was great at sliding by and getting out of whatever potentially threatened to pull her into trouble. The way she saw it she could do two things if her body didn’t give out on her and leave her withering away beneath the sunrise like the paper flat rabbit she passed a few minutes back. One was to head to the police station. She could tell them she was with the ones shooting the place up until the getaway car rolled over and they all turned into half baked pretzels. Police were always there to protect and serve as well as understand. If they asked for identification she could point them to searching for her friend. How many beds could there be in ...where was she anyways? Harper Valley? Rock...Harper Rock!

The part time dancer and model paused in her steps and took in a painful yet deep breath. Both appeared to be improving the more she kept moving. The sound of an engine in the distance grew louder and soon the dual beams of light washed over her as it passed by. A jeep was breaking speed laws and heading straight for the scene of the accident. Soon there would be emergency vehicles that would find they were too late. There was nothing there to save. Great. Just great. The lights were within reach if she moved faster. All she had was perhaps a mile left and she could fade into the streets and try to pull herself together or at the very least into a bathroom next to a pay phone. Marina would surely answer her phone. Yes, that was the plan. She sure as hell had nothing else to back up the first option.

Indigo picked up her pace this time attempting to appear as if she always took a before dawn barefoot stroll outside of town. Only flaw with the idea was that the blood was impossible to hide. The dark red blots that had dried to her clothing and skin looked seriously out of place. The fresh crimson that oozed from various spots on her as she left the even surface of the cool paved road beneath her feet hardly did her any favors either. She felt the gravel and dirt find its way into the small deep cuts.

The sudden screech of tires and the revving turn of the vehicle leaving the road sent her into instant panic. She was so close. When it was clear that the driver was coming back she entertained the thought of making an attempt to run without looking back. It was a fail before she gave it a go. Indigo Knight was pegged like a deer in a set of headlights. With a final swerve beside her followed by a quick stop the jeep parked then the driver's door was opened and closed. Her head started swimming with fear.

What if it was one of those creeps trying to collect her again?

The scent of her own essence filled her nose as she inhaled in deep to stop it from dripping. It hurt to part her lips and just as soon as she did she could taste her iron rich blood pooling over the surface of her tongue. Thankfully a male voice filled the silence she had difficulty breaking. He was willing to help. Of course he was. A complete stranger was willing to pick up her bleeding and bruised body and drive her to a hospital. Her body ached as she turned to take in the blurred view of a form beside the passenger's side of the jeep holding the door open. Her eyes burned with the attempt to sharpen the image that grew larger as she stepped closer. Whoever it was they appeared like a dark angel surrounded by the soft glow of light. Indigo was in need but she was wise enough to know she was far more deserving of a devil in disguise.

“I should be okay if I can just get back to town.” Her voice cracked while her insides felt like they were ready to jump out of her entirely and abandon her. Each step was more painful than the previous one. She would sell her soul for relief from the pain. “No hospital.”

A trip to the emergency room would mean questions she didn’t have answers to. She just needed to clean up, find a phone and perhaps give Marina a piece of her mind if she had any left to spare by the time she pulled herself back together. Indigo, for the most part, was out of options and praying she was not out of luck as well. The closer she was to the open passenger's door the more her body felt those warnings that went up when she was about to make a bad decision against her better judgement. With the beams of light left on the road her eyes are able to finally capture the man’s face. She quickly discovers as her feet stop that similar effects once again take over with the fix of his eyes on her own. She wasn’t sure if she could move a single muscle if she had to. He was absolutely stunning. Now she was sure that the end was near. No man alive was meant to be that beautiful.

[Adley Reed]

The world took a breath and held it.

Adley wouldn’t know it – he couldn’t have possibly have deciphered the winds of change as they stopped and twisted directions. Never would he admit that some higher force dictated his actions – or the way he had decided to turn his car around that night. He was the sole decider of his future, and it had been his choice to bundle this bleeding, broken girl into his car in order to get her off the road. Would he had done it for another man? Would he have done it for someone elderly, or middle-aged? A man with a receding hairline and a growing paunch? Probably not. But what did that prove, except that Adley Reed was a little shallow, or that his head was easily turned by a pretty little thing?

His eyes had softened, his thick lower lip parted as really stopped to see her – in the exact same way she had stopped to see him. The scent of her blood thickened and swelled, pushed by the breeze toward him, the harsh cold of the lingering Canadian winter dulling the heat of it. It was probably better that way, though in the heated cabin of his jeep, it wasn’t a scent he’d be able to avoid. Oh well.

Slowly, he nodded. In the distance, there was the sound of sirens. Again, he nodded, though this time with an upsurge of reassurance.

”Okay, yes – no hospital,” he said, even though she definitely looked like she needed one. If all her injuries were superficial, maybe she’d be fine. But she looked utterly exhausted, like she was about to collapse at any second. She looked more on death’s door than Adley did, which was saying something – even though in low-lighted conditions his tan skin could get away with looking alive, if revealed under harsh, bright lights that tan wasn’t so alluring. It looked pallid, like he could be sick. Like his illness was a fatal one, and he could pass out from it at any second.

At least out here in the semi-dark, it wasn’t all that obvious.

The girl didn’t seem perturbed about jumping into the car with a stranger; he took her no hospital – just back into town policy as agreement. Boots crunched in the snow-slushed dirt of the edge of the highway, as he ushered her into the car as best he could without touching her, closing the door behind her. It wasn’t long before he was back in the driver’s seat, pushing the car into drive. It gently eased back onto the road, doing the speed limit now that he knew that they’d probably pass the cops on the way back.

His knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and the blood-frenzied necromancer did his best not to breathe. If he breathed, he’d smell the blood. And who knew what he would do then. And yet, he couldn’t sit there and not say anything.

”To my place or yours?” he said, teeth gleaming as he grinned cheekily. A joke. Though it seemed an odd time to be joking. Or teasing. He didn’t give her time to respond before the grin fell and he glanced sideways, again taking in her rather broken appearance.

”In all honesty though, are you sure I can’t take you to the hospital? You could be bleeding internally…” he said. He hadn’t seen the crash, but from the state of this girl, he could only guess that it was quite horrific. ”My name’s Adley, by the way…” he said. It was easy to not offer a hand to shake – he was driving. He needed to focus on the road.

[Indigo]

A flip of the sun visor on the passenger’s side of the car had Indigo setting her eyes on her reflection and the damage she earned tumbling in the the body lined death trap hours prior. Her muscles ached as her fingers lifted to pat the swollen knot of skin rising over her cheek. With a parting of her puffier than usual lips she was able to take a visual inventory on her upper and lower jaws. Nothing was chipped and all teeth were accounted for. A deep inhale of relief reminded her that her rib cage was tender and but her lungs filled to capacity. She exhaled and hissed out the excess she didn’t hold on to due to the ache of knotted muscle forming in her diaphragm. Her hand tapped the visor back in place as the driver's seat was claimed. Her eyes dipped to the left and found him while she reached back with her right hand and hooked the the seat belt across her lap in place.

“My place. Mmmm…”

The sound of her debating giving what place exactly echoed softly with the pinch of her bruised bottom lip between her teeth. At that point she resigned herself to the fact that everything about her body hurt so it was no point in being surprised when it did. She was alive and that was a hell of a lot more than the dead guys could say on the road behind them looking like a game of Twister gone seriously wrong.

“Sometimes tequila saves you and pays the check your body wasn’t ready to cash.” She winced as she shifted so she could look over at him instead of the road ahead. “Adley…” She purred out his name and felt the roll of her tongue on the roof of her mouth. Her fingers lifted and attempted to make sense of the chaotic cascade of honey brown ringlets that went every which way but loose. “Thank you. I am sure about the hospital. Larch Court.” Her hand pulled up her skirt to the curve of her left hip so that that the material in the middle settled between her thighs where it would keep her respectable. Her fingers stroked the bare spot of tender flesh where a burn started in. The cool air kissed the tips as she lifted them up to find the blood from a wound she had not taken into account before. “All flesh wounds. I checked.”

Blood. She could taste it and feel it actively seeping from various small superficial cuts and abrasions peppering her warm flesh. The slick fluid cooled on the surface of her skin while she took in the bold crimson tint over her french tip nails. Indigo eyes fix on the glove box and swallowed back the urge to act on the impulse to reach out and open it without asking. Everyone had leftover fast food napkins in there, right? Her senses were shaken up but not enough to have her losing sight of the fact she was the passenger yet another vehicle of a driver she didn’t know. This time around she was invited and while her body throbbed with every movement she was going to be eternally grateful. Avoiding the attempt at gaining permission to check and find out for herself if he was like everyone else she instead placed the tips of her fingers on her lips and erased the iron sweet fluid with the discrete sweep of her tongue.

“My name is Indigo. Nice to meet you.” She was able to check out his profile as the glow of low beams of passing vehicles dropped on his face randomly as they entered city limits. “Is it too much to ask for a set of extra hands when we get to the house?” She lifted her knee enough that the glass still embedded in the top of her foot sparkled. “I promise you are safe. I don’t bite.” Indigo laughed lightly until it hurt and had her stop.

[Adley Reed]

Adley had told himself to just keep his eyes on the road and to not breathe. With every car that passed them going in the opposite direction he had to tell himself not to run them off the road for the blood bath it might create; he didn’t hunger for human blood anymore, so why did he want to see so much of it? Why did he want to be covered in it, from head to toe, every single time he caught a whiff of the tiniest drop? His willpower wasn’t all that great, however. Either that, or habit had him glancing sideways as a natural course of conversation – there was that social etiquette burned into his brain about conversation, and how there should be the requisite amount of eye contact for it to be considered normal.

He just so happened to glance sideways as tender flesh was revealed. Knee to hip were revealed to him in a way that wasn’t at all risqué – he’d seen plenty of women in bikinis before, not to mention their underwear – and she was hardly showing him anything to allow his lurid imagination run wild. What he could see, however, was rashed with red. A burn, from something or other. At least it wasn’t an artery, he supposed. Flesh wounds or no, the entire cabin of the car was filled with the scent of blood. Cold-blooded as he was, Adley felt himself heating him. A low hiss slithered past his teeth – it was a reaction to his own frenzied lust for blood, but could very easily be construed as a reaction to the harsh burn. He forced his eyes back to the road.

Adley laughed in what he hoped was a good-humoured way, though it was cut short when he realised his canines were showing. Didn’t matter whether it wasn’t human blood that he craved, it was still blood. The hunger was there. But he knew he wouldn’t bite, either. Ironic, however, that it should be the line that she used. Without thinking, he reached for the electronic button that would lower his window just a crack. The crisp air flooded the cabin, but at least it wasn’t snowing anymore. The poor girl was probably already freezing, but it helped to alleviate the scent, and somewhat soothe the frayed endings of Adley’s lack of control.

”…I’m not much of a medic,” he said, thinking about his tendency to make living things wither. And she wanted use of his hands? Probably not a great idea. But… he kind of really wanted to go inside.

”I can give it a shot,” he said. By this time they’d entered the city limits – Larch Court was only ten minutes away, if that. There wasn’t much traffic on the road. He ran his tongue over his teeth, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth as he tried his best, again, not to breathe. It was hard not to breathe when trying to keep up conversation.

”So what happened back there?” he asked. Maybe if she told him about the crash, he could imagine what it looked like. Maybe imagination would be as good as the real thing.

[Indigo]

By the time they arrived to the house she already given him the rundown of how she was caught in the middle of a fight that broke out in the club. In short she barely escaped only to be yanked into a car and take a road trip to near hell. She was feeling fortunate to be alive to the point everything else seemed trivial. Her eyes glanced over to him then to the house she had not seen in what seemed forever. Now her uncle disappearing a little over a year ago was less tragic. The city was a hotbed for the unthinkable and the unknown.

“So that is what happened and I am grateful you came along when you did.” She sighed pulling the door of the jeep open and then glanced at him as her body slid from the seat. A smear of blood left behind could not be avoided. “I am sorry you had to be the nice guy and end up with this mess on your hands.” Her hand brushed across the blood and some of it came off into her palm. “I can help you clean it up if you don’t mind helping me get the glass out first and patch up?”

Indigo was still somewhat dazed by everything that had brought her to the point she was walking barefoot to the garage door. Her long fingers twitched while they went about tapping in the security code that she would never forget. She watched the door advance up then glanced back at the Jeep. If the man was going to take her up on her request it would be more than generous. If he didn’t she would hardly blame him. He owed her nothing and if anything it was she who owed him. She retrieved the keys from the hiding spot in the garage and unlocked the door. Stepping inside was a reminder that she was lucky to be home.

Indigo was born and raised in Toronto. When her parents passed while she was young it was her uncle who packed up, moved in and took over raising her. Once she turned eighteen he felt comfortable with resuming his life and returned to Harper Rock. His success and eccentricity was evident as she made her way through the massive home into the kitchen. The modern home and its amenities her uncle left behind was a different world altogether. She had no idea while she looked for hand towels and ice that this would become the refuge she never knew she needed from the world around her. The sound of footsteps brought a smile to her lips as she closed the freezer door.

“I really owe you for this.” She called out while walking to the bathroom. Hopefully there would be what was needed to extract the shard from her foot and cleanse it. “I am in the bathroom. I figure it will be less mess.”

[Adley Reed]

The story didn’t surprise Adley. In a city like Harper Rock, there were raids happening all of the time – and not just the cops raiding houses. There were vampires raiding houses, vampires slaughtering gangsters or monsters. He’d never heard of anyone raiding a club, but then, the city had descended into a kind of quiet chaotic madness, recently. And underground hub of activity, of warring factions and entities. It was something Adley had heard along the grapevine, but not something that he himself had participated in. It was not a surprise that some of the violence may have spilled into one of the busier nightclubs. Or maybe it was just a regular, run-of-the-mill, human gangster shootout.

Whatever the case, instead of working and photographing the men who’d taken Indigo, Adley had instead picked her up and brought her home. He couldn’t exactly call her a stray – her home was probably ten times the size of his. Adley lived in a studio apartment in one of the repurposed warehouses. Except, they’d tried to cram as many apartments in as possible, to get as much rent as possible. It was a bit of a rort, but Adley quite liked his box. He didn’t even have a bedroom – just a couch that folded out into a bed.

He watched as Indigo punched in a number and then found a key. The scent of blood still lingered in the car and he contemplated driving away, finding one of those raids and indulging himself in a bit of a bloodbath. But there was something about this girl that lured him in. Maybe it was the way her feminine features belied something stronger, something deeper. She was no damsel in distress. She must have been in pain, in shock, and yet she had not cried or sobbed. She had glass stuck in her foot but that didn’t stop her from walking barefoot into her own house, rather than waiting to be carried. Which was all well and good – Adley would have done her no favours, if he’d done the carrying.

On a whim, he jumped out of the Jeep and followed Indigo inside. He had only to follow the trail of blood to know where she had gone. It looked like she had already raided the kitchen, but Adley went in after her and went through the cupboards, too. He was looking for something very specific, something he didn’t think she would have – until he spotted the yellow gloves beneath the sink. The kind used when washing dishes in boiling water. They would be clumsy, but they would just have to do. He followed Indigo into the bathroom, pulling on the gloves as if they were the latest, hottest fashion accessory. He didn’t even try to explain himself.

”Tweezers. I’m going to need tweezers. Have you got any?” he asked, glancing around the… hell, his entire apartment would probably fit into this ******* bathroom. The lights were bright and no doubt made him look a little ill, what with his necromancer complexion, but it wasn’t something he paid much mind to. His eyes gleamed as they landed on Indigo. For a split second he doubted she’d need tweezers. Surely, she was born with such perfection. Not a single hair out of place – the flesh wounds would heal, and she would be perfect again. And no, he told himself – he would not imagine her in that pristine tub with her blood spilling from her femoral artery, slowly filling it. Except, that’s what he was doing, eyes glazed. Waiting for tweezers, not a knife…

[Indigo]

Does a model have tweezers?

If it wouldn’t hurt as much as it had to smile she would laugh at the question. Not that Adley would likely appreciate it since he was the one attached to the extra set of hands that she would need. The bright lemon yellow gloves on his hands caught her attention rather quickly. She inhaled deep and felt the flutter of nerves start up. Just because she didn’t do hospitals didn’t mean she was made of steel. Her eyes worked down to her foot while she wiggled back to sit on the edge of the tub. With a slow slide of her fingers she caressed the smooth frame of the tub with silent invitation.

“Climb in and I will grab the tweezers.” It took a minimal stretch back and leaning to open a drawer beside the the six person tub and retrieve the set of tweezers that was predictably where she left it last. “Enough blood has been left to clean up. I think given the fact I feel it with each step means it is somewhat deep. You may have to work to get it out and I will do my best not to scream. Sound like a good deal?”

Indigo hoped that Adley was onboard with the prospect of pulling out the offending piece of glass and perhaps quick handed. Hopefully it would not be a bigger mess than she planned on. Leaning over his shoulder and barely brushing his body with hers she set the drain to close and started the hot water. Close enough to whisper she danced her eyes across his face then leaned back with a sudden inhale for more courage that would be needed when those yellow gloves went towards her foot.

“Perhaps taking off your shoes and whatever first may be a better idea.”

The stretch of her bare feet into the water was followed by the pouring of liquid soap nearby which her feet desperately needed before he was expected to start working on the one in question. Even if he had the gloves on she had a collection of who knows what that had taken up temporary residence on her soles as she hiked the roadside until he came to her rescue. The sparkle thatappeared in his bright eyes nearly distracted her from his otherwise noticeable somewhat off color. She was not exactly shy so she figured asking was the only way to rid her of the curiousity and perhaps start a distracting conversation while he pulled the invasive object from her body.

“If it is out of line to ask please tell me.” She prepared him for the delivery of her question before asking it. “Are you feeling alright?”

Indigo continued to watch him to make sure he wasn’t going to fall over before he got his shoes off if that is what he would choose to do. Everytime her eyes found his it was like a charge set through her. She couldn’t shake it even though she was wondering if perhaps Adley was one of those that would rather not be the one holding the tweezers or doing the pulling. Not every person was ready to be Rambo when the call ‘em all went out. Or maybe it was something simple as he was needing some supplements of which she believed in taking routinely.

“I can hook you up with some iron and the usual cocktail once this is over. Cures everything from sleep deprivation, hang-overs to iron deficiency.” It was an old school recipe but it certainly worked like magic. “ I owe you something for this.”

[Adley Reed]

Of course, water would be required to clean Indigo up. Adley would prefer that it was running water, so that all the blood could be washed down the drain, but he supposed soap would help to mask the scent. Although Indigo had claimed the materials to help clean up, she had not grabbed a first-aid kit – but he wasn’t about to make her go run around the house to find things.

When she moved in closer to close the plug in the tub, Adley had to forcibly keep himself from inhaling. There was nothing he wanted more than to etch the memory of Indigo’s scent into his olfactory senses, but to do so would be insanity. To do so would only increase his need for bloodshed. Rather than dilly dally around, Adley thought it was best to hurry; to hastily patch this girl up so he was no longer privy to the direct sight and smell of her blood. There was still the worst to go.

First, he had to answer her enquiry, which he did so with a laugh.

”I’m fine. I get plenty enough iron,” he said. He drank blood for a living – he assumed he would get just as much iron from vampire blood as he used to from human blood. Jameson would have consumed iron in his nightly feedings, and Adley would be getting it from him. For a man who looked like he might be suffering some fatal illness, Adley still moved like a man at the height of his health. He suffered zero fatigue as he gestured to the slowly filling bathtub, reaching for one of the sponges hanging from the taps.

”It’s probably better if you don’t submerge yourself – that burn on your thigh,” he said. Submerging it in hot water would not do it any good. Adley had told the truth – he wasn’t much of a medic, but he could use common sense and take care of the basics. He’d moved to the tub and sat down, leaning over to use the sponge to clean all the dirt from Indigo’s feet. He was careful of the wound and the glass lodged inside, the yellow gloves keeping him from touching her skin directly.

”We’ll get the worst over and done with, though,” he said as he coaxed the foot up onto his knee, leaning over it and lightly poking at it to see how deep the glass was lodged. ”Deep breath. We’ll get you a cocktail once we’re done – clean up the rest of you, too. Nice, comfortable pyjamas. Do you have a first-aid kit somewhere? Tell me wehre, and I can find it. I can go out and get something for that burn…” he said. As soon as he’d come inside, he threw himself into the role of nurse. Nothing held back. The focus was shifted to her wounds and her well-being and away from Adley’s ill appearance.

With a thumb and finger on either side of the offending piece of glass, Adley pushed, opening the wound. Blood surged around the edges of it; his pupils dilated and he bit the inside of his lip. Hard. His whole body tensed as he waited for the wave of hysteria to pass; cleared his throat, shook his head, and poised the tweezers. He gripped at the glass with the metal tool, dug it in so he could get a good hold, knowing that he’d be causing Indigo pain but trying to work swiftly. Ripping off the band-aid, as it were.