Jennifer stared up at Em with a puzzled look on her face. Em could see Jennifer's eyes were deeper than they'd ever been, her soul was close to the surface, twisting gently and slowly like a single autumn leaf on a twig. Jenn was cold, very cold, and it wouldn't be long now.
"Em?" said Jennifer. "How did you..."
"Shhh..." said Em quickly. "Don't worry about that. Everything's going be okay now." She rocked Jennifer gently back and forward, slowly and lovingly, wishing with all her heart it didn't have to be like this.
"It was that girl," said Jennifer urgently, "from the club." She coughed and Em felt a gush of blood run out of Jennifer's neck and over the arm Em had around her shoulders. "She's not ...."
But Em shushed her. "I know, Jennifer. I know all about her. And don't worry, she'll pay for this Jenn. I promise you that."
Em realized a tear had landed on Jennifer's forehead.
"I'm going to die, aren't I?" said Jennifer.
Em said nothing for a moment as a few more tears fell onto her friend. She nodded.
"It hurts," said Jennifer in a small voice. She sounded like a child, and suddenly Em knew what she had to do.
She allowed a little wave of dark energy to ripple softly over Jennifer. It was like a mist, or a fog, and it curled around Jennifer's body until it covered her completely. Em strengthened it a little, gently, so as not to hurt her friend, and then she commanded it to settle deep down within Jennifer's body.
Jennifer shivered for a moment, and then her eyes cleared a little. The energy absorbed her pain. Em could feel it, stabbing and burning. She gathered up the pain and stored it away for a while. She had a feeling she might find a use for it later.
She brushed Jennifer's hair back from her forehead, tucked it carefully behind her ear. Then she gently wiped away the tears that had begun to pool in the corner of Jennifer's eyes. From the hollowness and emptiness she felt in the pit of her stomach Em searched for a smile to give her friend. She hoisted the smile onto her face and tried to shine all her love right through it.
Jennifer's chin quivered. "I'm frightened," she said.
Em hugged Jennifer one more time and then smoothly pushed her energy into her friend's mind. She filled Jennifer's mind with warmth and light and whispered softly, "It's going to be okay, Jennifer. You'll see. It's going to be beautiful."
Em found the single silken thread that kept Jennifer's soul tethered to her body. She wrapped her mind around it. She reached back into Jennifer's thoughts and pulled forward all the happy memories she could find - childhood memories, her mother's embrace, the teddy bear she slept with till she was twelve, the flowers her grandmother grew, the roses her first boyfriend had bought her, a beach party, a favorite dress, the smell of warm fresh bread, the taste of chocolate, good times with friends...
Em looked down at Jennifer. Her face was calm, her breathing had slowed. There was the hint of a smile at the corners of her mouth.
Em cut the thread.
Jennifer's soul flew up and out of sight, and Jennifer's mind shut down. Em choked back a sob. She lay her friend's body carefully back down on the ground and stood up.
"Raeisa!" she called, with all the fury she could summon.
* * *
Raeisa slithered out of the warehouse. The dress of reptilian scales had gone. It appeared to have dissolved into skin and spread to cover her entire body. She was naked, covered from head to toe in green scales, and her red hair tumbled loosely down around her shoulders. The snake patterned fingernails had hardened into long, sharp claws. Raeisa was still human in shape, but she was plainly more lizard than she was girl. She was also taller than she was before, and she swung her naked scaly hips with careless seduction. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"You didn't even take her, did you?" she said scornfully, stepping over Jennifer's body without even a glance. She walked in a slow circle around Em, smirking as she took in the redness in Em's eyes and the sorrow on her face.
"You didn't even feed off her soul. A beautiful, fat, stupid soul like that one and you just let it go." Raeisa laughed and touched a finger to the blood that was running from her lip. She opened her mouth as she wiped off the smear and then, walking around to face Em over Jennifer's body, she licked the blood from her finger and looked at Em through half closed eyes. "Don't you find it dull, Emilia?" She strung out the syllables in Em's name mockingly. "Or do you like playing by the rules? Don't tell me you never indulge on a weakling every now and then?"
"What are you?" said Em, quietly.
Raeisa smiled and put her hands on her hips. "I'm a halfling," she said. Her smile quirked downwards into a lewd smirk and she drew out the next words slowly watching Em closely to see if they had the desired effect. "Just like you."
Em sucked in a quick breath. She was going to devour Raeisa, but she wanted to know a little more first.
"How did you do it?" she asked.
"Do what?" said Raeisa, in an amused tone. "Oh, you mean drain my way through the sweetest tasting men this city has? Used to have, I mean." She giggled. "I started small, of course. I believe you met my first few meals."
Em snorted. "You mauled them."
"I was a little messy at first, I will admit. It took me awhile to figure out where the nerve centers were. And then I made an interesting discovery... All that lovely heat that comes out of the human body when it's aroused. Very warming for a lizard like me, and it concentrates the energy in the soul in such a delicious manner..."
"You're sick," spat Em.
"I am what I am," Raeisa spat back, suddenly angry. "It's not my fault they made me this way."
They? Em stiffened. They who? Not the Family, no one she knew about. And if 'they' had made Raeisa, they might have made others like her. Where? How?
Em shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. Raeisa was strutting around her again, widening the circle, inviting Em to take a place out in the middle of the lane, setting the field of battle. And she was licking her lips with too many kinds of hunger. Em's patience ran out.
"You're nothing like me," spat Em, and gathered her dark energy for the attack. It took only a millisecond, but somehow Raeisa was quicker. The lizard girl blinked and suddenly the headache that had been plaguing Em for weeks exploded into agony inside her head. It was like Raeisa had thrust a burning poker through her eye. The front half of her mind was on fire and Em's hands rose automatically to clutch at her forehead.
Raeisa sprang, claws on both hands and feet out and pointed at Em's torso. Em was blinded by the pain in her head and Raeisa's attack caught her completely off guard. The lizard's talons plunged deep into her human flesh and the weight of the girl pushed them both back into the gutter. Em's head hit the pavement with a bone crashing thud. Raeisa stepped casually off Em, planted her feet solidly on the ground and raked her claws downwards through Em's body, an unholy smile twisting her face as she did so.
Em screamed and felt the human side of her boil with pain. Breathlessly she scrabbled around re-gathering her energy, and as Raeisa raised her hands for a second strike, Em dissolved into smoke and flew out of her grasp.
The pain in her head was so great she was forced to take human form again within moments and she reappeared a few meters behind Raeisa.
The lizard looked confused for a moment as her prey disappeared beneath her talons, but she turned around with a haughty smile and began to walk slowly towards Em again.
"Nice trick, vampire," Raeisa purred. "Don't think it's going to save you though."
Em sucked in air and blinked madly as if it could help clear the pain behind her eyes. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten about the headache. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen what was right in front of her all along. Raeisa had been there every time this headache had become unbearable. And like an idiot Em had flown to her best friend's rescue without even thinking that Raeisa would be waiting for her.