Day One: Chapter One

It was still early when Etta finally broke the barrier. Her chain linked watch said 4:32 p.m, a time of day where people like her usually hid indoors. She thanked the cloudy sky and the wet, humid weather for granting her mobility as she made arrangements for a temporary living space that met her standards, then again, as she rounded up a small number of humans to tend to her needs. She now had seven full nights to complete her task and solidify her freedom.

Only seven nights.

Etta squirmed in the backseat of the Bentley she'd acquired earlier that day, feeling a sour mix of excitement, resentment, anxiety and dread.

"Human," she said, addressing her new chauffeur, a homosapien in a greasy polo shirt. 

"Ma'am?" it muttered vacantly.

"Let me out at the next block. I want to stretch my legs a bit."

"Yes ma'am."

It had been a long time since she'd had a decent hunt. She had been forced to get her meals through other means; even now there was a meal waiting for her in her bedroom, where she could feed discreetly, safely, and boringly.

She'd been waiting outside this town for years, hoping old age would get to the creature that powered the barrier before time got to her. Hiding herself in the neighboring city was dull but necessary, and her patience had finally paid off. She deserved a bit of fun for all those years of discipline and, this would probably be good for the stress she felt creeping up on her.

"Afterward, find a discreet place to park the car and wait in it. I will call to you when I'm ready for you and I'll expect you to come immediately."

"Of course ma'am" it murmured vapidly.

The human let her out at the next block, just as she'd commanded, opened her door and extended a sweaty hand to help her on to the curb. 

Etta wrinkled her nose. "Next time wear gloves" she said through a grimace, and climbed out of the car on her own. 

She was tall, less than an inch away from six feet, and narrow. With her high heeled boots she easily towered over her chauffeur, and the large head-wrap tied at her forehead did more to make her look impossibly long. She was covered from her neck to her wrists and ankles in dark, tight fitting clothing that accentuated what little curves she had on her willowy body. The only spot of color was the bright lipstick she wore which contrasted gorgeously with her deep brown skin. 

She waved the chauffeur off with a heavily tattooed hand so that she could be completely alone. 

Her fitted black leather blazer swung open as she stretched her arms above her head, tattooed fingers interlaced, head thrown back to watch the rain droplets fall and land on her oversized glasses, then inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with muggy air. This weather, though excellent for a sunlight intolerant being such as Etta, was not ideal for humans and therefore, not ideal for a hunt. 

If this failed, she decided she'd have her human drive her to the woods to check the health of Moniasili, the fairy who guarded the city. She doubted it was weak enough to be absorbed yet, but maybe she could hurry things along. If nothing else she could assess her situation in more depth. She could stand to know more. 

At the moment, she knew her sires, the people who had turned her into what she was today, were bound to sleep by a spell she had put on them 100 years ago. She knew that the spell would wear off in exactly 7 nights, 3 hours and 47 minutes. Etta would need to cast them to sleep again if she wanted them to stay subdued; however, Etta was technically dead,  the substance that powers all magic, can only reside in the living. Her only hope of casting this spell was absorbing the xhole from another source. She planned to get it from the fairy, but even with all the theorizing, and all her patience, until she evaluated Moniasili, she was operating on faith. That was a tricky place to be.

Two pair of footsteps approached her from opposite directions. Both sounded far away and both sounded heavy, seeming to be between 200 and 250lbs.  One seemed to be a bit more fleet of foot and the other skidded their shoe against the pavement as they walked. Etta allowed herself to blend into the darkness of the night and pursued the more graceful of the two. 

She approached her prey at a speed that made her surroundings appear warped. Etta was by far much faster than any human, but not a particularly fast runner for her kind. Her vision was average, her telepathic skills were average, and her hearing and sense of smell were sub-par. She did not, however, consider herself to be weak. What she lacked in physical ability, she believed she made up in several other ways. 

She stalked the human, watching and waiting. Sometimes she'd allow it to feel her staring, other times she'd disappear, allow it to lull itself into a false sense of security only to make it distrust itself later by making a faint noise. At times she'd walk a fair distance behind the male human and allow her footsteps to be heard, and when it turned around, she'd hide again, entirely emerged in the shadows were she couldn't be sensed at all.  Each time she did this she would get closer and closer to the human.

"WHO'S THERE!?" it shouted after the third or fourth time. 

Etta chuckled.

It walked faster.

She allowed it to walk in peace for a few minutes after this outburst. The less graceful of the humans was nearing them. If she stretched this out just a bit longer she could kill them both in one motion.

Etta leaped ahead through the darkness to examine her new prey: A young female human wearing flip flops and shorts despite the rain and a hoodie despite the heat. Tiny drops of rain trickled down it's warm brown skin as it walked, but it seemed totally unaffected. Even pleased.

She fell back and decided to harass the frazzled male human for a bit longer until the female human was close enough to see everything Etta was about to do to it. She smirked thinking about all the amusing expressions this human would make watching one of its own kind get its throat torn out with her teeth. 

Etta stood directly behind the male and blew onto the nape of its neck. It spun around wildly and punched the air where Etta used to be, but now she was sitting on the bus stop behind him. 

The female was only a few feet away now.

The male spun wildly some more until it spotted Etta on the bench with her legs crossed, her elbow resting on her knee, and her chin resting on the back of her hand.

"Hey!" it yelled, face red. She could smell the fear and adrenalin on him, "Did you just do that?"

Etta sat there wearing a bored expression.

"HEY!" it yelled, louder this time.

Etta switched her legs and leaned back in her seat.

"Are you deaf?" it spat.

It's veins were sticking out of it's neck and forehead now. Pretty veins now covered in nervous sweat, turned muddy with the dirt and dead skin particles on his skin. This human was never particularly appetizing, but all this nastiness made the thought of putting her mouth on it's neck particularly unappetizing. 

As a slightly nauseous Etta rose to walk away, the grimy human grabbed her shoulder. 

"I asked you a question," it growled, now holding a fistful of Etta's jacket.

Just as Etta thought to rip this homosapiens face clean off, a foreign fist met it's face. The male human reeled back in shock and pain as a fist connected with his nose, releasing Etta's jacket, and the young female was positioned between Etta and the male. Before the male had regained its composure the girl was spraying it in the eyes, nose and mouth with mace.

She grabbed Etta by the hand, and nearly dragged her across the street, running surprisingly fast. Etta allowed herself to be pulled like this for several yards before lifting the girl and leaping effortlessly over the wall that separated the nearest apartment complex from the road, then leaping again several hundred feet away. After they were a reasonable distance, in Etta's opinion, she set the girl softly on her feet.

"Are you ok?" asked the girl in a shaky voice, quivering. Her eyes were the blackest brown, wide-set, warm, rich and gentle, and were presently open wide as humanly possible. Sizable round lips were parted slightly, thin eyebrows lifted in an expression of confusion, or fear, or shock, or maybe all three.

"Are you okay?" asked Etta, observing the girls trembling hands.

She nodded with her entire upper body and took a few wobbly steps away from the wall. "Did that really just happen?"

Etta smirked. Of course this girl was a bit shaken. She'd never been lifted in the air before. Any human would be nervous around someone like her. "Are you amaz-"

"Did I really just do that???" moaned the girl, pushing her hands up her high cheekbones and pulling her eyes and mouth into a cat like shape.

"Do what?"

She shook her head no five or six time before pausing suddenly. Then she spun around, panic spread across her face and half whispered, half screamed, "We have to run still!"

She grabbed Etta by the hand and tried to drag her a second time, but Etta held still.

"Calm down, my driver will be here shortly" she said, as she called to it through telepathy "It's not safe to run in sandals, especially in the rain."

The girls opened her mouth to speak but stopped when Etta pointed at her feet, "Look, you already cut yourself."

Sure enough there was a small circle of blood pooling in the girls shoes, and as soon as she saw it, she winced and lifted her injured foot off the ground. 

A few awkward moments passed. The light rain had softened into a drizzle and the only sounds that could be heard was the occasional distant car driving by and someones T.V blasting some sitcom.

"You never did tell me if you were okay or not," said Etta, breaking the silence.

"Huh? Oh, I'm OK. I'm fine."

Etta nodded, "Good."

"Are you?"

"Oh, no. I'm fine."

There was another short silence.

"He was going to hurt you..." the girl aloud her words to trail off, as if she'd given up mid sentence.

Etta glared at the girl, who was now staring at her feet.

"He couldn't have really," said Etta, slightly insulted that she would suggest such a puny creature could harm her. Still, it was kind of this girl to attempt to save her. Etta could admit to being flattered, and maybe a teensy bit impressed.

The girl explained that Etta's most recent game was particularly well known for harassing teenage girls. "And nobody does anything about it," she finished, slightly exasperated.

"You did," Etta reminded her, which must've been the wrong thing to do because the panicked look returned to the girl's face with force. 

The driver arrived just as the girl looked as if she was preparing to drag Etta down the street again.  Etta was pleased to see that the chauffeur had found some gloves to wear when it opened the door to let the girls in. She'd be sure to let this human return home safely once she was done with it, which would be rather soon. Etta would prefer cleaner, more beautiful service. Like her new companion perhaps.

"Where to, Ma'am?" asked her human.

Etta told the anxious girl, "Tell it wear you want to go."

A strange expression that appeared to be two parts confused and one part offended spread across the girls face. "You mean him?" she asked.

"Yes." Etta grumbled , annoyed that she'd been corrected. "Him."

Etta sat with her boots crossed and eyebrows furrowed the entire time the girl gave directions to her home and pretended to ignore them both, still annoyed by the correction. Yet, she listened to each word intently. The girl, who's name she'd learned was Jada, spoke in a thin, wavering voice. Each sound she uttered trembled like jello. Each move she made was abrupt, sharp, and nervous. But there was a certain power behind her thin voice that rang in each syllable, and a certain sense of urgency with each of her movements that Etta found intriguing.

She was also listening well enough to know that Jada had winced seven times since they got in the car together. Her foot was obviously bothering her. Etta could fix that. Jada was only injured because she'd tried to help after all, it was the least she could do.

Etta pulled out a sealed plastic bag containing a needle from her a small pocket inside her jacket.

"Jada," she whispered. The girl turned to answer and met Etta's lavender gaze, immediately becoming overwhelmed as Etta entered her through her eyes. She would do as Etta commanded her to do. 

Etta used two of her alcohol wipes on her hands and gave six to Jada to clean her foot with. Once Etta's hands were cleaned to her satisfaction, she pricked her finger in order to collect a few drops of blood. A wound like Jada's shouldn't require the girl to take the blood orally; a few drops on the abrasion should heal it immediately.

"Are you diabetic?" asked Jada motioning towards the needle.

Etta shook her head. "Give me your leg,"

Jada made an odd series of faces: surprised at first, suspicious for a moment then a far away look as if she was in deep thought. 

Strange. This girl should still be under her control, yet, she was acting on her own free will. And thinking. Etta decided that she must've been quite tired from collecting and compelling humans all day so that she could have a worthy living space for the next few days. Just as Etta was preparing to ensnare the girl again, Jada plopped her plump, round thigh over Etta's narrow ones.

Etta swallowed and immediately turned her attention back to the wounded foot was still caked with blood, and dusted with top soil and chunks of dead leaf, only, the wipe hand made everything thin and wet and spread it around a bit.

Unsightly. Disgusting. This was not to Etta's expectations, but she decided to tolerate it for the moment.

With a wipe, she twisted Jada's foot just enough to see the wound, and pressed the blood from the needle into it. The scratch closed up within a second.

Jada's eyes spread wide.

"What did you do!?" she nearly yelped, in a bright and brassy voice. The girl quickly clasped her hands over her mouth and squawked something unintelligible.

This was the type of awestruck exclamation Etta expected earlier that night!

"A little trick I know," said Etta cryptically, purposely hiding her enthusiasm about Jada's enthusiasm.

"That's crazy!" Jada exclaimed again, (which pleased Etta very much.) "Who are you?"

"Etta Mae."

Jada's wide, dimply smile wavered for a moment, but but became wider and deeper, stretching her cheeks and squishing her eyes nearly shut as she explained:

"No, I mean, who are you? Like, are you a witch from England or something like that."

The question struck a rather sensitive nerve. 

"Why England of all places?" asked Etta wrinkling her nose.

The girls shrugged, "I don't know, it was random... But that's not the point!"

The Bentley came to a stop in front of an apartment building that was separated from the woods by only a few parking spaces, a dumpster and a wire fence that was already becoming swallowed up by vine and foliage. 

The girl said a quick goodbye and swung the car door open to exit, but Etta reached around her, pressing against her soft body, and swiftly pulled it back shut. 

At this proximity, Etta could feel the warmth radiating off her, and became lured into the sound steady push and pull of her valves, healthily circulating that sticky red substance Etta craved so much. 

Etta grimaced, she should have eaten before now. The hunger was already setting in.

"Is everything OK?" Jada asked, as she sat with her back and shoulders pressed to the seat, flattening herself in this cramped space to allow room for Etta.

Etta quickly returned to her seat, before answering, "I'll have to erase your memory before you leave."

Jada recoiled, almost comical, with an expression of horror that engulfed her entire body.

"Not all of your memories, just the ones from today," said Etta, trying to calm her company.

Her response wasn't sufficiently calming, however, as Jada reached for the door again and attempted to escape. Etta easily pulled her back into the car, and closed the door.

"I don't want to lose my entire day!" Jada cried, after her failed escape attempt.

Etta chuckled.

" Forgive me, I should've been more clear. I need to erase your memory of me. For your safety. Not the entire day."

This seemed to calm her down, just a bit, but Jada was still on edge. She had backed herself into the car door, as if that would prevent Etta from wiping the girls memory clean if she wanted to.

"No, I don't want to lose anything!" 

This was getting very unpleasant.

"Fine," Etta conceded, "What if I suppressed, only the memory of your foot being injured?"

"Why can't you just let me go?"

"Because if the wrong person found out about me I could be hunted down and killed."

"I won't tell,"

"You wouldn't have to. There are ways of getting information out of human's without their cooperation."

Jada's eyes grew wide with shock for a moment, before she turned away, eyebrows furrowed as if in deep thought. After some time she asked,"Just suppress it, not take it away?" 

"Yes."

Of course, 'suppressing' was exactly the same thing as 'erasing,' since there was no true way to erase someone's memories. Etta hadn't lied, however. 'Suppress' was definitely a more accurate way to describe what she planned to do.

Several moments passed before Jada agreed solemnly. Etta didn't hesitate to entire her eyes with a piercing lavender gaze. Jada would do whatever Etta told her, and Etta told her to forget.

She said her thanks (for the ride home) and left, unceremoniously.

Etta waited for her to disappear into one of the doors, then took note of the location