Pop Evil - Deal with the Devil

Nevaeh's attitude got steadily worse over the weeks, as if she honestly believed the entire world was against her. I suppose I could understand why someone like her would see it that way. Her parents were lost, her sister, and now her Clan. She had gone through the ultimate threesome of shit in her life. I tried to be kind to her, to be sympathetic, something she hadn't seemed to think of in regards to me yet. But it was difficult when she would get in my face, screaming like we were on some reality TV show.

I hated people getting close to my face, it had always made me want to bite them, which I full well knew was a strange reaction, especially for my kind, but it was still always my most readily available reflex when someone got their face too close to mine.

Usually, I just let it slide with her, let her vent at me, even when it was about stupid shit, but lately it had gotten worse, and she had started drinking, or rather, her drinking had gotten worse. She had gone from thirteen or fourteen drinks a day to thirty, and even for a Darkling, that was a little much, especially when the drinks were the size and strength she made them to be.

I tried to be kind, understanding, but she was angry and hurt, yet too proud to admit her injuries, so that just left the anger, and mixing that with her binge drinking and an already less-than-sugary personality, sometimes it was all I could manage not to squeeze the life from her in her sleep.

I sat across our messy but fine room on my bed, watching her shoulders rise and fall as she faintly snored, a trash can next to her half filled with vodka-smelling vomit. For a Darkling she had never been able to hold her liquor well. I almost let my mind wander to how the hell I had come to be where I was, how my life had fallen apart so quickly. A month and a half earlier I had had everything, almost everything, but I pushed Ambriel from my mind as well. None of that mattered anymore. I laid back on my bed as I tried to think of productive things, tried to reign in my mind, but it was no use. I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, not with Nevaeh sure to wake up every hour or two for more booze, or to puke again.

My support of sharing a room had quickly faded within the first week. I liked my privacy and my sister didn't have a thread of modesty in her. I sighed as I stared at the ceiling, trying to remind myself that I should go easy on her, that even my life looked easy in comparison to the one she had suffered. I knew I was just in a bad mood because I was restless, because I hadn't done anything in weeks, hadn't practiced, sparred, hadn't even Shifted in over seven days, hadn't left the penthouse in six.

Nevaeh didn't seem to mind doing nothing, but it was draining me, boring me to death, but I couldn't seem to find any decent reason to drag her from our hotel either. It was as if she had chosen the quietest city in the region to relocate us to, or maybe I just didn't know where to look, who to ask. I pulled a pillow over my head so I wouldn't wake inebriated-beauty as I let out a frustrated groan.

I left soon after, just needing the streets, their freshly polluted air, the possibility of violence, anything but the monotony that my life had become, the mind-numbingly boring nothingness that my life had become. Nevvie was almost out of booze anyway, so I told myself it was a liquor run, but it wasn't, it was a search, a hunt, though I didn't have any particular prey in mind.

I took a short cut through an alley, since there was no reason for me not to. I didn't have to fear some little hoodlum, and we hadn't seen sign of a single supernatural event since our arrival. I had decided weeks ago that we were the only even remotely dangerous beings living in the grey city. But then I felt it, just a little tingle from my Shift, from the Shift that had been dormant for far too long. I froze, wondering if I should switch my vision, or if I was just being paranoid. I kept walking.

Fifteen seconds later a man appeared in front of me, appeared, out of nowhere, out of the plain air. I stopped, sensing that something was off about him, obviously, but kept the surprise and curiosity from my face. My initial reaction was to bash his head against the brick wall on my right, but even with his grand entrance, he seemed so human, so weak and pathetic and easy to kill, and young. So instead I just stood in front of him, waiting for the point of his little manifestation.

The man initially appeared before me in an aggressive stance, self-assured and more for show than anything else. When I merely stood before him however, looking unimpressed, unafraid, he paused, even glanced around as if he wasn't sure he had poofed himself to the correct location.

"Yes?" I said dryly, sounding more like James than I could ever remember.

"I, uh."

Then he disappeared, but I felt him poof behind me, heard his breathing, the scuffle of his shoes on the gravel underfoot. He clearly wasn't a warrior, just a punk with a curious skill. I ducked when I sensed the blow coming, simultaneously turning to face him. I let my eyes darken, feeling like a double hit of the newest club drug. Along with my Shift came my decision. I would kill the dick and find out what he was later, or if one hit didn't knock his head off, maybe I'd be able to get some answers from him before I snuffed out his life. I almost felt a second of hesitation, I wasn't in the habit of killing humans unless James directed it, but...I was the leader now, and he had attacked me first.

One punch and the man lay twitching on the ground, his body giving little jumps like he was still alive, but by the way the side of his skull had caved in I knew he wasn't. I turned after watching him for a moment, still wondering what he was, or had been. I kept my Shift, just for kicks, as I continued down the dark street, enjoying the feel of it.

I began to wonder if I shouldn't have killed him, if it had been wrong, but the sight of his blood, the impact of my blow, I had missed it all so much it seemed silly to think of it as anything but a treat, a gift. I smirked up at the sky, but as soon as I leveled my eyes in front of me again I saw the next one, another young human man, this one maybe just seventeen. His eyes were wide where he stood.

"Y-You killed Cal?"

His stutter and the way his eyes were bugging out of his head as he looked past me made it clear the kid had never seen a dead body before, at least not one so fresh.

"Yes, are you next, little human?"

Again my voice sounded like James', in fact I was almost sure I had heard him say similar words before but I ignored the thought. I had based my entire act as leader on him, since he was the only point of reference I really had, the only leader I had ever known.

"Whoa there, I'm pretty sure we're on the same team here, man. You're just, you know, not as new to the club as we-uh, well, as I am."

The boy stepped back, his hands up in a show of retreat.

"He was supposed to kill you, you know, initiation, but uh, I guess he picked a shitty target. I went for a pretty young thing, she was noisy as hell till I shut her up, but at least it was easy. Cal had to go for the big, crazy lookin' dude though. Serves him right, right?"

The kid let out a nervous chuckle. I was not amused though, or even curious, strangely enough I was just angry and it came through clearly in my voice as I replied.

"I hardly think we're the same. I would be able to tell if you were."

"Well then, uh, what are you, man?"

It was then that the drifting smell of alcohol met my nostrils. Was no one in this god damn city sober?

"Me? I'm a killer. You? You are not. Go home, kid."

He seemed to only then notice my black eyes, or the irregular shape of my teeth, but he didn't back away.

"No, no man, I am too. You're like me, totally, you know just like, a veteran or whatever."

The kid sounded eager now, like being a dark-freak-murderer was desirable. This generation, I swear. I rolled my eyes.

"What...are you?" I had to pause to control the volume of my voice, as my first word came out in a boom that bounced off the damp alley walls. The kid was grating my last nerve.

"Well, you know, I'm like a human, sorta, but like, plus."

He smiled at me cheesily and I was almost too stunned by the strange little being in front of me to even know what to do. The kid continued when I didn't react as he had expected.

"I'm like an X-man."

"Oh, for fuck's sake."

In the span of a blink I had him slammed against the wall, his feet dangling beneath him, my hand closed around his throat where I held him suspended.

"What are you!"

I roared in his face and I almost thought he'd wet himself, instead he answered, his words falling into each other, quaking like he couldn't quite catch his breath, which by the way I was holding him, seemed likely.

"I'm human, with powers and the price, you know, like you have, but I just got 'em last week. I dreamt and they asked if I wanted it and I said hell yeah and then they found me and when I woke up I was there and like this and they said I'd kill someone with my ability and then boom, powers cemented in and I'd be like a Shazam, Superman, X-man thing, you know, like you, man. I told you, I'm just newer to the club, that's all, I swear. We're on the sa-"

I snapped his neck by accident, cursing under my breath as I dropped his dead weight.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're on someone else's side."

I got back to the room to an awake but whiny Nevaeh. I explained what had happened but she hardly reacted. It had been hard to put my Shift away once I left the alley, and Nev's nonchalant act was making it stir in me again.

"Jesus, Nev, don't you get what this means?"

I finally stopped pacing to glare at her, fighting the darkness from my eyes. She rolled her head in my direction as she laid sideways on her bed in uncomfortably skimpy sleepwear, her head off the edge.

"Yes, there are two dead X-men in an alley. Neat-o."

I threw a pillow at her, which made her scowl and turn herself on the bed until she was almost upright.

"Alright fine, you want to hunt down those little smudges on the Earth cause it'll make you feel big and strong and worth something? I'll tag along, whatever. You'll probably need the backup, but I'm bringing my friends."

She grabbed two of her flasks defensively as she spoke.

"Fine, get some clothes on. I want to be gone in ten."