My horrors grew more as I realized my powers. I was able to see the future a few moments before it happened, and I could see things happening when I wasn’t there. That played a crucial role in Mother and Hailey’s demise.

Hailey had met my parents before. Mother liked her, James didn’t. Hailey liked Mother, but not James. That was somewhat normal. The night Mother and Hailey died was a cold, rainy one. I had to take care of some issues at school, and Hailey wasn’t at school that day. I remember walking out the doorway of the school, and feeling a sharp pain in my head as I witnessed-psychically-James walking towards my mother, eyes wild and wings spread out.

Her fear was imminent. She was frozen as James lashed out and slashed her throat with his claws. She fell to the ground, struggling to breathe, and she fainted. I screamed out loud. I was witnessing my mother’s death. My heart dropped when I saw Hailey come though the door, and call for Mother.

She came to the living room, and gawked at James standing over my mother’s unconscious body.

“I’m afraid your precious Adam isn’t here. Now you can die together,” he sneered as he grabbed her throat and cut it open. She fell to the floor, gasping for breath. It made me sick when James licked the blood from his hand.

I was running now. I was flying past people to get home, and try to save them. When I arrived home, I busted through the glass door, not wanting to wait a second more.

James stared me down. “You’re next!” he snapped.

“Not if I can help it,” I said and went for his throat. I was tossed into the wall, and returned the favor with a slash at his face. The fight was so bad that by the time it was over, I was drenched in blood.

“Show them what you are!” James yelled.

“Never! I am not you!” I said. I grabbed him and threw him into a plate glass window, and he looked at me with hate before passing out.

I bent down to Mother. She was hanging on by a thread.

“Mother! Mother, wake up!” I cried. When she tried to look at me, her eyes rolled back in her head, and most of her blood was on the floor.

“Adam, you…save…take her. I’m…not…going to make…it. Kill…kill James,” she mumbled.

“No! You’ll make it. You’ll be alright. Just stay with me,” I said.

“Take her. Kill…that devil,” she said. “I love…you,” she said, and died in my arms.

“MOTHER!!!” I cried. I broke down to tears.

“Adam?” I heard a voice whisper. I turned to see Hailey, slowly dying. She reached for my arm with her bloody, trembling hand. I took it, and laid Mother’s body down on the floor. I covered Mother in a blanket from the couch. I heard glass fall, and turned to where James was. He was watching me now.

“I. Will. Kill. You.” I hissed.

“You have to catch me first,” he said, and he was gone. I turned back to Hailey and lifted her body off the ground. I ran as fast as I could with her in my arms to the hospital. I stumbled into the door, and turned the corner. Nurses ran and snatched her from me and took her into the big doors leading to the ER. I couldn’t stay. I couldn’t take it. I slowly ambled to my home, knowing I had to call the police.

I walked in, through the frame of the shattered door. I followed bloody footsteps to the living room, where Mother’s body, still covered, lay. I moved the blanket, and looked at her face. It was already pale and blue. I kissed her forehead, and covered her again. I picked up the phone, and hit ‘911’.

“911, what’s your emergency?” the woman asked.

“I have a body to report,” I mumbled through tears.

“What’s your address?”

“394 Hudson street,”

“Police are on their way, sir. Please stay on the line,”

“Thank you,” I said, and started to return the phone to the receiver.

“Sir? Stay on the li-,” was all I heard, before it clicked down. I broke down and cried. I came to see Hailey the next day. I never should have gone. She was about to pass away, according to my visions. I simply went to her room, where her stiff body lay, and lay a solitary red rose on her chest. A handwritten note said, “With love, Adam.” I never saw her again.

I went insane. I cared nothing about being discovered, and nothing about human lives. They let Hailey die, and did nothing for Mother. You’re thinking that they couldn’t help Mother because she was already dead, but I didn’t realize that then. I was angry that no one thought to question me and find that James did it. No one wanted to make a case. I was furious.

For the first time, I took a human life. I drank them dry, and I felt no remorse. I went on a killing rampage, like a homicidal maniac. Most of all, I wanted to kill James. I wanted to slit his throat, and see his horrified face as all his blood drained, like he did to Mother and Hailey.

One night, I slinked down a ratty alley, setting my sights on a kid by a crosswalk, bobbing his head slightly to his iPod. He was ignorant of my presence. Probably not blissfully, because his music was so loud that I could hear it. It sounded like it had morbid content, and if he knew I was about to kill him, he’d split-and fast.

I inched closer and closer. I could feel his blood slide down my throat and into my stomach. I could sense the vengeance I wanted so badly crawl up inside me. It was choking me, and I wanted…no, I had to loosen it’s grip before it killed me. At that point, death was a realistic option for me. I’d be with Hailey and Mother again. We would be complete again.

I was at the edge of the wall. All that was left was to grab the boy, slit his throat, drag him down the alley, and drain him.

I never got that far. I heard the sound of flapping wings. Not like my wings, which are almost silent. This was the flapping of feathers. Something told me I should abandon my prey and get lost. After a few crucial moments, I turned around and began to make my escape.

I got about halfway down the alley, and was ambushed by a feather-clad monster. I stared into it’s mauve-colored eyes. It meant business. A punch in the face sent me into a state of hopeful redemption.

“Alright! You win!” I snapped, shielding my battered face. I glared up at my assailant. It was something like me. It looked-he looked, rather, somewhat like me. The only difference besides the obvious reason-no one is alike-was that he had bird wings instead of bat ones.

“Are you like me?” I asked. He grabbed my collar and yanked me up to his level.

“Yeah,” he said, “only nicer,” he growled. He never let me go.

“You gonna hurt me?” I asked.

“Not if you promise to leave and not come back,” he said. I nodded graciously. He grinned as he set my back on the ground. “I’d tell you what you need, but you won’t like it,” he offered.

“What is it?” I asked, eager.

“You need to go to Anaheim. Find Michael and Melinda. They’ll help you, but I’m not saying it’s easy…or painless,” he warned. “Now,” he said, “You said you’d get lost,” He didn’t have to tell me twice.

San Francisco and Anaheim are about one hundred and fifty miles apart. So when, you have amazing abilities, like super strength and speed, how do you get there fast? Take a bus. I’m not kidding, either.

I had no money, so I had to find a way. It came down to breaking into the ticket office when the cashier ‘rested his eyes’. I grabbed a few tickets for San Fran to San Luis Obispo, a couple for San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbra, and some for Santa Barbra to Anaheim. I wasn’t going to do a one way. I can’t sit that long. I got a couple of each so I could try to sell some at each stop so I could have a little money.

As I gave the ticket to the driver, I scanned the bus for an open seat. I took one in the far back corner. As the pulled out, I thought about my crazy idea. Something told me that I shouldn’t do it, but another thing said it was the best thing for me. It was too late to turn back now.

We stopped at San Luis Obispo, and several people, including yours truly, got off. I sat for ten minutes, waiting for the San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbra bus. I watched people get on and off buses, none having witness my horror. They had no idea why I was making my trip. I didn’t care why they took theirs.

San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbra was a satisfactory ride, primarily because I slept most of the way. It’s uncommon for demons to sleep because we have so much energy.

Santa Barbra to Anaheim was the worst. I was so tired and frayed from noise, hunger, and exhaustion that I was afraid that the smallest thing would set me off. I was to the point of bursting when we pulled into the Anaheim terminal. I was the first one off. The only problem left was that I was lost. I had no idea where anything was, or how to find Michael and Melinda.

I guess they found me first. At my first kill, rumors went though the demon population of a new kid in town-and I was not welcome. A deja vu of my San Francisco encounter occurred, and I wasn’t attacked by any demon-it was Michael, and he was angry. He was tall with dark brown hair, and a goatee. His eyes glowed a bright yellow.

“What’re you doing here?” he demanded.

“Looking for you!” I proclaimed.

“What do you want me for?”

“You and Melinda. Someone told me it’d be good for me, whatever that means,” I said. He paused.

“Ah, so you want the boss?” he asked.

“So, she’s the boss?” I asked. He nodded. “I guess that’s who I need. I think,” I said. Michael tucked his hands in the pockets of his brown corduroy jacket.

“This way,” he hissed. I was led to a large statue of an Archangel…Michael, I believe. “Melinda, we have a visitor,” Michael called to the dark of night. A female demon materialized from behind the statue. She was tall with long, blonde hair and pretty lavender purple eyes. Both she and Michael possessed a pair of black bird wings that jutted from their back. She smiled.

“You’re our new kid on the block,” she said. I nodded. “Have a name?” she asked.

“Adam,” I said. She nodded.

“What can we help you with?” she asked.

“I don’t know. Someone told me you guys could help me,” I said. I was fixing myself up for a lot of pain. Melinda glanced at Michael.

“So you want a job?” she asked.

“I guess,” I said.

“I see,” she said. She reached into her coat pocket, but didn’t take it out. She walked behind me, but I didn’t turn to look. I knew something was up.

“Well Adam, we’d be glad to have you,” she said. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground with a stake impaling my belly. The last thing I saw was Michael and Melinda staring down at me. Welcome to Anaheim, Adam. We’re glad to have you.

No, they didn’t kill me. I became what Maddie tells you about. A good demon. My first mission was to find a girl named Madison Christina Dunn. After rigorous training, they sent me into the night. I used my honing skills to find her coming home from a concert.

My psychic abilities came in handy, because I watched as two men stood at the end of the alley that she was about to turn onto. They were thinking bad things.

She came down the alley, and locked eyes with one man. I crawled up the side of a wall to look at her as he knocked her on the ground. I grabbed the nearest thing-a trash can lid-and growled and screamed to get their attention. When they looked, I chunked it at one of them. They got the idea when I bared my fangs and growled. They ran like a bat out of Hell.

Me and Madison met face to face and…I freaked. I split because I had no idea what to do next. I waited a couple days to Michael and Melinda’s dismay. Madison had some troubles at home, so I let her be.

Getting her to believe me was the hard part. I broke into her house and after breaking a bowl, scared the crap out of her. We argued, which resulted in her getting her throat cut. That resulted in me getting the beating of a lifetime.

You probably know of my other adventures with Maddie. I’m sure I’ll find James-and make him pay, even if Maddie has to see it.

Occasionally, when I have time to myself, I still stalk people, but causing no harm. That’s when I’m free. I am a demon, and we demons…well, we own the night.

Started December 2nd
Finished December 7th
7:11 P.M