Chapter 1: Arden

Nothing good ever came after 2 am.

I should've known better, yet there I was, dancing with my friends at Mystic, the hottest club in New York city, and consuming expensive liquor that I knew I would regret purchasing in the morning.

Everyone has a bad habit, and mine was going out with my friends when I should be catching up on the hours of sleep I deprived myself of during the school week. It was my form of coping, and while I swore to drop this dangerous habit of partying and borderline alcoholism eventually, tonight was not that night.

Spring semester of my third year in college finally commenced, so for three months, I was free from the mundane routine of bi-weekly exams and never ending lectures. While the beginning of summer was supposed to be the exciting start of outdoor activities and sleeping in, it also served as the annual reminder that I would not be returning home like the rest of my peers.

It had been three years since I had last seen my parents, and I intended on keeping the trend going, but leaving my younger sister alone with them weighed heavily on me, especially on special days like her eleventh birthday which happened to be tomorrow. I had sent my Mia a gift in the mail, and she texted that she received it today. It was decent timing, but her following text message made the relief in my chest dissolve.

"So you're not coming to my party tomorrow? :("

It was only Mia and I, so the logical part of me prods me to drop all of my bearings against our parents in order to be the big sister she deserved, it was her fucking birthday, but I was always weaker than I thought, never able to face them and the disappointment I represented. I felt my eyes slightly damp at the thought and returned my mind to the bar, sipping the rest of my Sex on the Beach and setting the empty plastic cup on the counter. I shifted my gaze to my three friends who were still on the dance floor not too far away. It sucked at times being the only single one in a friend group, but my friends made it less sucky. They always joined me on the days I wanted to go out to the bar and even the days I wanted to stay in to watch romcoms until I cried. In return, I kept a firm eye on the surrounding men who wandered closer and closer to them throughout the night.

As if on cue, a trio of men approached them. I scrunch my nose. At the beginning of the night, the men were only slightly disgusting, gazing with lust-filled eyes and snickering amongst themselves, but by this late in the night, all subtlety was lost. It was time to leave. As I pushed off of the bar counter to regroup, I heard a deep voice that stopped me in my tracks.

"Excuse me, can I buy you a drink?"

I sighed. This line rarely worked, so I turned my head, opening my mouth to instinctively decline the offer from the likely young freshman in college or creepy absent father, but my breath hitched upon facing a strikingly attractive man.

He had dark prominent brows and angular cheekbones that carved their way down towards a strong jaw. His smooth midnight hair was thick and flowed out like waves, framing his face and his hooded blue eyes that seemed to brighten as he smiled down at me. He didn't look that much older than I was, but he still looked like he should be filming a movie in Hollywood, not sitting at the bar-side of a night club in New York.

I resisted dropping my jaw and forced my expression to remain neutral. "Sure."

The handsome stranger waved to the bartender, who nodded his head as he approached. He tilted his head at the plastic cup sitting on the counter.

"Another one of those?" His voice was a deep baritone that sent slight shivers across my arms.

"That works." I returned his casual smile, but inside, I was screaming. If I knew I would be approached by the most attractive man I had ever seen, I would have worn a better outfit besides ripped jeans and a cropped top.

He nodded, gesturing to my cup. "I'll have another one of those and a whiskey on the rocks, please."

While the bartender made our drinks, I glanced over at my friends, all of whom had seemed to have noticed and stared wide-eyed at the handsome stranger accompanying me. The drinks were promptly made and placed in front of us. I swirled the pink and orange drink with the thin straw and watched as he rolled up the sleeves of his white long-sleeve, showcasing what looked to be an unfinished inked sleeve across his right arm. The art wasn't of a wolf or some other scary animal, or looked dark and overdone in order to stand out. Instead, it looked to be Japanese characters of some sort and though I couldn't see it clearly, the inked illustrations surrounding them seemed to have some meaning in tandem with the characters.

After signing the receipt, he shifted towards me, leaning his side on the counter. "I'm Leon, by the way."

"Arden."

"Arden," He repeated, almost like he was testing my name on his tongue. "What brought you here tonight?"

"I'm just here with my girlfriends," I answered, and he nodded his head slowly before sipping his drink. "What about you?"

"Well, frankly, Arden, I came here to find you." He said casually.

My brows furrowed as I watched him finish his drink. Did I hear that correctly? "Sorry, what did you say?"

Leon leaned closer, close enough for me to be surrounded by the smell of his musky cologne and to feel his warm breath inches from my ear. He asked a question that shattered my world into a million pieces. "You see them too, right?"

Them? Was he talking about… I leaned back and blinked slowly up at the mysterious man, searching his face whose previously playful expression had grown scarily stonelike. He couldn't mean what I thought he meant… The silence between us became deafening, and I felt my heartbeat quicken, slamming against my chest. Suddenly, it became hard to breathe.

"Excuse me." Without another word, I left the bar and slipped onto the crowd on the dance floor in search of my friends.

I heard him call my name, but I didn't stop. Instead, my eyes darted through the crowd. Where were they? I felt panic grow in my chest. I couldn't think straight, but I knew that I had to leave now. I continued to wander on the dance floor until finally finding my friends as they exited the women's restroom.

Aeri's blue eyes widened upon spotting me. "Arden! Who was that hottie talking to you?"

"Yeah, did you get his number?" Jasmine asked excitedly. I tried to speak, but there seemed to be a lump that had formed in my throat.

Carla stepped forward and rubbed my shoulder. "Arden, what's wrong? Did something happen?"

"I have to go." I managed to choke out, and without another question, we all were leaving the club. I kept my gaze at the ground as they led us out, horrified at the possibility of running into the strange man. Was he talking about what I think he was talking about? How did he know about them? What's even worse was he said he came here to find me… Was he stalking me?

I gripped Carla's hand tighter as we pushed past the doors. The night air quickly greeted me, wafting around my bare arms like a cold hug. I shivered. The girls were talking, but I couldn't hear them. My brain was numb, my ears were ringing, and all I could think about was what Leon said. He saw them, too. The spirits.

They appeared before me ever since I was a child. It was the reason I wasn't speaking with my parents. Every time I would bring up the "monsters" I saw, they would shut me up and threaten to send me to a hospital. One time, shortly after my tenth birthday, the spirits became more abundant, following me everywhere I went, and I could not stop crying about it for weeks. They haunted me throughout the day, but especially at night.

One day, I overheard my parents talking about my condition and my father sighed heavily, "There's nothing we can do. She's a cursed child."

That was shortly before they sent me to an institution for psychiatric treatment. The only way I got out was by lying and saying that I didn't see them anymore. After that, my parents became so distant that I feel like I didn't have any. It didn't help that my younger sister was born. Mia has been all they dedicated their attention to, which her beautiful self deserved, but part of my younger self craved the same adoration.

I still see the spirits today, as I call them, but throughout the years, I have learned to cope with their existence. They appeared like humanoid zombies or deformed animals rotting from within and were wandering the world invisibly like ghosts. Sometimes they would interact with me, poking me curiously or even following me throughout my day, but ignoring them usually worked at keeping them at bay.

They were everywhere and anywhere. I even saw a few large bird-like spirits at the club on my way in, observing the club from above like vultures, but seeing spirits was something about my life that I had never revealed to anyone besides my parents or the institution. I learned to cope silently since asking for help didn't get me very far when I was younger… So, how did Leon know? Was he even talking about the spirits or was I making that entire thing up? I didn't let him elaborate, but, in the silence after his crazy question, I swear his hardened eyes confirmed my suspicion.

"Arden!" Carla shook my shoulders, and I snapped back into my current reality where she was guiding me into a cab. "I'm taking you home, alright?"

"Oh, t-thanks." I replied quietly, following her into the back of the cab. Carla and I lived on the same side of town, and we often rode home together on nights like this. Unlike the other times where we would banter and recap the night, it was completely silent save for the quiet hum of the radio. I couldn't bring myself to speak. I felt insane, like my mind was on the verge of breaking.

I kept my eyes down at my heeled feet, fiddling with the rings on my right hand when suddenly, the vehicle came to a sharp stop. I turned to Carla, whose brown eyes were suddenly wide with fear as she looked ahead like she was watching a horror movie. What was going on?

I shifted my attention to the cab driver sitting in front of her and my lips parted in shock as what looked like multiple arms began protruding from his body like tentacles. Before I could react, one of his arms reeled back and punched the seat between us, smashing into the cloth as if it were butter. We screamed as another arm swung back, hitting the back windshield of the car and shattering glass over us.

The cab driver's head was slumped forward like he was asleep, all whilst his various arms seemingly moved with a mind of their own. Was he a spirit all along? No, it wasn't possible. Spirits weren't able to interact with the physical world, let alone drive a car. Was I dreaming?

My thoughts were interrupted as the car began moving again, quickly picking up speed until we were speeding through the city streets as if on a highway. I screamed as I watched cars careen out of the way.

"Arden!" Carla shouted, and I gasped as one of the flailing arms connected with Carla's chest, and she cried out in pain. I ripped off my seat belt and pulled her closer in a tight embrace, shielding her with my back. The monster-like creature screeched and roared as it attacked the two of us. Tears pricked my eyes as its fists slammed into my back repeatedly. The sharp pain stung on my body and I could feel the bruises forming.

Whatever the hell was happening, I had a feeling it was my fault. Somehow, I must have drawn the spirits to me, and Carla was roped in and getting hurt because of it. This had never happened before, but it was like my worst nightmare was coming true right before my eyes. I squeezed my eyes shut and cried as I apologized to Carla, who was unresponsive beneath me.

The monster roared louder like a wild bear and I instinctively gripped her body tighter, preparing to shield her once again until the vehicle came to sharp stop. I cried as our bodies lurched forward as a result, and I grabbed the front headrest with my free hand to steady us. Fuck, did we crash into something? After catching my breath, I slowly peered above the seat and through the windshield. I gasped upon seeing a pair of black dress shoes standing on the hood of the car. Who the hell was that? It looked like a normal person standing on the front of the vehicle, but the metal hood was subsequently crushed in as if the person weighed a hundred tons.

The monster seemed shocked, as well, frozen in the driver's seat, but it quickly recovered, slamming its fists through the glass windshield towards the person. The stranger was quick to dodge, however, seemingly disappearing into thin air. I spun my head around in search of them and reeled back as the sharp sound of metal ripping pierced my ears. I watched in awe as the top of the car was suddenly ripped off in one smooth motion, revealing an oddly familiar face.

Leon?

"Sorry I'm late." He apologized politely as if he was tardy to a meeting instead of saving us by crushing a moving car with his body. I had no words, and it didn't seem like he was waiting for a response, shifting his attention back to the monster. He moved with inhuman speed to attack the monster who aimed all of its various fists at his face. However, Leon did not hesitate or seem phased. Instead, he reeled his arm back and threw out his own closed fist. Upon impact, the monster's fists were crushed in like paper and dark liquid burst from its wounded hands.

The screeching sound was high-pitched like an injured mule. I winced, clutching Carla who was still unresponsive. Leon then revealed what looked to be a long sword hung across his back. My eyes widened as he went in for the kill without hesitation, slashing the silver blade across the monster's neck in one swift motion. The head of the monster flew off, landing outside on the sidewalk.

I stared with my lips parted at the beheaded monster who was formerly our cab driver. Was this really happening? My last memory was turning around and seeing Leon's face as he stood behind the now missing car door, his expression solemn and almost sad, then everything went black.