~ PARAESTRALS ~
Volume I
Who ever said a P.I. has to be human!
By S. E. STENNER
~ Chapter One – Something nasty? Something nice? ~
My heart thundered like a storm in my chest as my feet raced across the tarmac. Every pounding step my shoes made on the road’s surface was amplified as its monotonous sound reverberated off the buildings surrounding me. Feeling every echo crashing down upon my being like a mighty wave, I urged myself onwards Breathing deeply as I swiftly ran, I hastened a glance behind me. Dual figures emerged from the night’s blanket in my stead and, as I turned yet another bend, I felt them closing in on me. Skirting a corner I found myself at a dead end, trapped between the end of the alley and the two brutes that had pursued me to this point. A solitary street lamp illuminated their features in its dull glow. One man was tall, broad and brutish; the other was squat, fat and balding.
‘Come on girly,’ called the tall one, eyeing me up. The man was six foot plus, with limbs like rusted iron girders. His clothing appeared weathered and worn and came up short at every hem and cuff. The man also possessed the most hideous face I have ever seen with odd shaped features that didn’t seem to match each other and sat over a mouth filled with chipped, tobacco stained teeth, which smiled a gruesome grin at me. ‘We just wanna play,’ he purred.
His fat little friend chortled, as if the statement that had just been said was some bad joke. This one seemed to carry most of his size across his girth than in his height and his filth riddled attire was stretched extremely tightly across every bit of his chunky frame, like an overstuffed cushion. He had an average enough face until I glimpsed his eyes and found that one wandered off to the right whereas the other stared fixedly at me, showing no ounce of pity.
Backing myself further into the alley, I stared unblinkingly at my pursers who were blocking my path like two ravenous demon dogs.
‘We’re just having a bit a’h fun love. You look like a girl that knows how to have a good time,’ the little creep called, as his vile friend advanced on me.
My back was hard against the brickwork now. So it had come to this. I resigned myself to the fact that what was going to happen, was going to happen and nothing and no one could stop it. Surveying the two sin drenched souls before me, my heart hardened as I stood my ground. The brutish one was so close now that I could smell his breath; it reeked of fags and beer with the rankest stench of body odor thrown in. It seemed that nothing but the rancid reek of depravity seeped out of this man’s pores.
It was in this moment that the men suddenly turned really nasty: their words were no longer mocking they were deadly serious, as the larger one leaned in and whispered to me.
‘Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no one’s coming to help you!’ he spat looking me up and down lustfully, as his creepy fat friend laughed hauntingly at his words.
Oh dear, I thought, looking back at them both with pity. They had absolutely no idea what was about to happen. Composing myself a moment, I shot them both a broad grin, which made them stop in their tracks. I don’t know if it was my sudden confidence that had caught them off guard or the fact that my teeth were slightly off coloured from years of drinking a certain substance; that and two of my teeth in particular were a little longer and far more pointed then the rest. It was in the confused silence that followed when I hissed back at them both. ‘Who says I need anyone’s help?’
The brutish man, who was stood a mere foot away from me, had not expected me to say this, nor had he expected me to grab him by the throat and sink my razor sharp teeth into the veiny flesh of his neck. The fat one ran of course, but I’d catch him up in no time once I’d finished with this one. I let the man’s bulky frame collapse to the floor, his blood was not an exact delight; it was tainted with alcohol which filled it to the brim, making it rotten to the taste and its substance did very little to quench and quell my thirst. As the man lay in the last of his blood pouring from the wound on his neck like a river, he gawped up at me with the most confused and utterly petrified look on his face.
‘Wha’ – what ar’h youuuu?’ he spluttered, almost drowning in his life fluids as his skin drained of all colour.
Staring down at his pathetic soul lying limp at my feet seconds away from death, I thought, I might as well answer the last question he’ll ever utter from his disgusting mouth.
‘I am your murderer,’ I stated.
He looked dumbfounded; that had not been what he had asked. I watched the man gasping for air at my feet; his breaths faltered unevenly as his whole body convulsed with violent shivers that tremored through the vile man’s core. Seeing the last of his sin tainted blood seep across the ground, staining it like a grotesque canvas, I crouched down to spell it out to him. With a whispered hiss I uttered the answer he sought and as the words left my lips, his eyes flickered shut.
He died with my secret and took it along with his black soul to the grave.
*************************************************************************************************************
~ Chapter Two – In the beginning, I was human? ~
Two years before;
So, where do I begin? To start my name’s Samantha LeFay, I have poker straight black hair that falls nearly to my waist, I’m slimly built with quirky features and my Dad used to tell me that my eyes were astoundingly large, which I like to think was a complement. Well, I guess it all began in the summer just after I turned sixteen. School was nearly ending and I had my whole life ahead of me, but little did I know then that what would happen that summer would change me and my entire outlook on life forever.
I’ve never known my mother; she died before I was one. Dad didn’t really speak about her; I guess it was just too painful for him. We still had a great relationship though, until I hit my teens that is. I don’t know, he just didn’t understand me anymore and I stopped listening to him. If I’d known time was so short I might have acted differently; but I wasn’t to know that just before my fourteenth birthday he would follow my mother to the grave.
Heart complaint brought on by stress; couldn’t have been helped the doctors said, but in the back of my mind I kind of always thought that some of that stress he suffered was because of me, but the past is the past and it can’t be changed so there’s no point crying about it now.
So now it’s just me, my little half-brother Liam and my utter waste of space of a stepmother. Don’t get me wrong she’s great with Liam who’s biologically hers, but with me she never gives me the time of day. When Dad was alive she would put on an act of caring, but since he’s been gone she either ignores me as if I didn’t exist or she nags me to the point of insanity. Frankly, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m my father’s only daughter and Liam’s sister, I doubt she’d try at all. Oh well, no love lost there. I get on with my life and as long as she doesn’t bother me I stay out of her way, simple!
To tell you the truth the only family member that I ever give my full attention to is ickle Liam. He’d kill me if he heard me call him Liam; he likes to be known as L.J. (Liam junior) even though he’s the only Liam around since Dad went, but it’s just habit I guess. Even though L.J.’s five years younger than me we still get on great, he always makes me laugh my head off and I’ve always had this uncontrollable urge to protect him; which probably explains why I kicked all those bullies’ arses for him over the years, but enough about the family. You want to know what happened to me that summer, what changed me in so many ways that I feel as though the person I was then, compared with the one I am now, are completely different people.
It all started with the headaches. I’m not talking normal run of the mill headaches; I mean full blown excruciating pain shooting across my forehead into my brain, which had all originated from me scrunching my eyes so tightly together to keep out the sun. The sun never used to be an issue; as a kid I’d play in it for hours and it didn’t bother me, but in recent months it seemed much more intense. The heat, the light, the colour, it crept into my pupils like liquid magma, burning my irises and blurring my vision. It didn’t matter if it was an overcast day and I had the thickest pair of sunglasses on; it still strained my eyes to the brink!
This, however, wasn’t the worst of it; my skin was what hurt the most. Fifteen minutes of sunlight was pretty much all my skin could take these days, before it started to turn red and burn. I’d hate to think what would happen if I spent a whole day in it. Luckily, I’m a quick healer and my skin doesn’t stay lobster red for long, but still it had become a constant pain having to remember to apply a thick layer of sunscreen, cover-up and always carry a pair of sunglasses everywhere I went, even on a cloudy day.
Of course this was just the start of all my problems and the worst was yet to come!
.....to get your copy of Paraestrals - Volume I. Download your copy from Amazon now:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paraestrals-Volume-I-ebook/dp/B0092NIUY4/
Paraestrals - for a Vampire story, minus the glitter!
Volume I
Who ever said a P.I. has to be human!
By S. E. STENNER
~ Chapter One – Something nasty? Something nice? ~
My heart thundered like a storm in my chest as my feet raced across the tarmac. Every pounding step my shoes made on the road’s surface was amplified as its monotonous sound reverberated off the buildings surrounding me. Feeling every echo crashing down upon my being like a mighty wave, I urged myself onwards Breathing deeply as I swiftly ran, I hastened a glance behind me. Dual figures emerged from the night’s blanket in my stead and, as I turned yet another bend, I felt them closing in on me. Skirting a corner I found myself at a dead end, trapped between the end of the alley and the two brutes that had pursued me to this point. A solitary street lamp illuminated their features in its dull glow. One man was tall, broad and brutish; the other was squat, fat and balding.
‘Come on girly,’ called the tall one, eyeing me up. The man was six foot plus, with limbs like rusted iron girders. His clothing appeared weathered and worn and came up short at every hem and cuff. The man also possessed the most hideous face I have ever seen with odd shaped features that didn’t seem to match each other and sat over a mouth filled with chipped, tobacco stained teeth, which smiled a gruesome grin at me. ‘We just wanna play,’ he purred.
His fat little friend chortled, as if the statement that had just been said was some bad joke. This one seemed to carry most of his size across his girth than in his height and his filth riddled attire was stretched extremely tightly across every bit of his chunky frame, like an overstuffed cushion. He had an average enough face until I glimpsed his eyes and found that one wandered off to the right whereas the other stared fixedly at me, showing no ounce of pity.
Backing myself further into the alley, I stared unblinkingly at my pursers who were blocking my path like two ravenous demon dogs.
‘We’re just having a bit a’h fun love. You look like a girl that knows how to have a good time,’ the little creep called, as his vile friend advanced on me.
My back was hard against the brickwork now. So it had come to this. I resigned myself to the fact that what was going to happen, was going to happen and nothing and no one could stop it. Surveying the two sin drenched souls before me, my heart hardened as I stood my ground. The brutish one was so close now that I could smell his breath; it reeked of fags and beer with the rankest stench of body odor thrown in. It seemed that nothing but the rancid reek of depravity seeped out of this man’s pores.
It was in this moment that the men suddenly turned really nasty: their words were no longer mocking they were deadly serious, as the larger one leaned in and whispered to me.
‘Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide and no one’s coming to help you!’ he spat looking me up and down lustfully, as his creepy fat friend laughed hauntingly at his words.
Oh dear, I thought, looking back at them both with pity. They had absolutely no idea what was about to happen. Composing myself a moment, I shot them both a broad grin, which made them stop in their tracks. I don’t know if it was my sudden confidence that had caught them off guard or the fact that my teeth were slightly off coloured from years of drinking a certain substance; that and two of my teeth in particular were a little longer and far more pointed then the rest. It was in the confused silence that followed when I hissed back at them both. ‘Who says I need anyone’s help?’
The brutish man, who was stood a mere foot away from me, had not expected me to say this, nor had he expected me to grab him by the throat and sink my razor sharp teeth into the veiny flesh of his neck. The fat one ran of course, but I’d catch him up in no time once I’d finished with this one. I let the man’s bulky frame collapse to the floor, his blood was not an exact delight; it was tainted with alcohol which filled it to the brim, making it rotten to the taste and its substance did very little to quench and quell my thirst. As the man lay in the last of his blood pouring from the wound on his neck like a river, he gawped up at me with the most confused and utterly petrified look on his face.
‘Wha’ – what ar’h youuuu?’ he spluttered, almost drowning in his life fluids as his skin drained of all colour.
Staring down at his pathetic soul lying limp at my feet seconds away from death, I thought, I might as well answer the last question he’ll ever utter from his disgusting mouth.
‘I am your murderer,’ I stated.
He looked dumbfounded; that had not been what he had asked. I watched the man gasping for air at my feet; his breaths faltered unevenly as his whole body convulsed with violent shivers that tremored through the vile man’s core. Seeing the last of his sin tainted blood seep across the ground, staining it like a grotesque canvas, I crouched down to spell it out to him. With a whispered hiss I uttered the answer he sought and as the words left my lips, his eyes flickered shut.
He died with my secret and took it along with his black soul to the grave.
*************************************************************************************************************
~ Chapter Two – In the beginning, I was human? ~
Two years before;
So, where do I begin? To start my name’s Samantha LeFay, I have poker straight black hair that falls nearly to my waist, I’m slimly built with quirky features and my Dad used to tell me that my eyes were astoundingly large, which I like to think was a complement. Well, I guess it all began in the summer just after I turned sixteen. School was nearly ending and I had my whole life ahead of me, but little did I know then that what would happen that summer would change me and my entire outlook on life forever.
I’ve never known my mother; she died before I was one. Dad didn’t really speak about her; I guess it was just too painful for him. We still had a great relationship though, until I hit my teens that is. I don’t know, he just didn’t understand me anymore and I stopped listening to him. If I’d known time was so short I might have acted differently; but I wasn’t to know that just before my fourteenth birthday he would follow my mother to the grave.
Heart complaint brought on by stress; couldn’t have been helped the doctors said, but in the back of my mind I kind of always thought that some of that stress he suffered was because of me, but the past is the past and it can’t be changed so there’s no point crying about it now.
So now it’s just me, my little half-brother Liam and my utter waste of space of a stepmother. Don’t get me wrong she’s great with Liam who’s biologically hers, but with me she never gives me the time of day. When Dad was alive she would put on an act of caring, but since he’s been gone she either ignores me as if I didn’t exist or she nags me to the point of insanity. Frankly, if it wasn’t for the fact that I’m my father’s only daughter and Liam’s sister, I doubt she’d try at all. Oh well, no love lost there. I get on with my life and as long as she doesn’t bother me I stay out of her way, simple!
To tell you the truth the only family member that I ever give my full attention to is ickle Liam. He’d kill me if he heard me call him Liam; he likes to be known as L.J. (Liam junior) even though he’s the only Liam around since Dad went, but it’s just habit I guess. Even though L.J.’s five years younger than me we still get on great, he always makes me laugh my head off and I’ve always had this uncontrollable urge to protect him; which probably explains why I kicked all those bullies’ arses for him over the years, but enough about the family. You want to know what happened to me that summer, what changed me in so many ways that I feel as though the person I was then, compared with the one I am now, are completely different people.
It all started with the headaches. I’m not talking normal run of the mill headaches; I mean full blown excruciating pain shooting across my forehead into my brain, which had all originated from me scrunching my eyes so tightly together to keep out the sun. The sun never used to be an issue; as a kid I’d play in it for hours and it didn’t bother me, but in recent months it seemed much more intense. The heat, the light, the colour, it crept into my pupils like liquid magma, burning my irises and blurring my vision. It didn’t matter if it was an overcast day and I had the thickest pair of sunglasses on; it still strained my eyes to the brink!
This, however, wasn’t the worst of it; my skin was what hurt the most. Fifteen minutes of sunlight was pretty much all my skin could take these days, before it started to turn red and burn. I’d hate to think what would happen if I spent a whole day in it. Luckily, I’m a quick healer and my skin doesn’t stay lobster red for long, but still it had become a constant pain having to remember to apply a thick layer of sunscreen, cover-up and always carry a pair of sunglasses everywhere I went, even on a cloudy day.
Of course this was just the start of all my problems and the worst was yet to come!
.....to get your copy of Paraestrals - Volume I. Download your copy from Amazon now:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paraestrals-Volume-I-ebook/dp/B0092NIUY4/
Paraestrals - for a Vampire story, minus the glitter!