And His Jacket Smelled of Cigarettes

13 · Lights

I wore a dark beanie, a black t-shirt, and some light gray jeans with a belt that I could carry my pepper spray on. My mom had always been worried about me and men, so she gave it to me on my sixteenth birthday. I've never thought about using it until now.

Deciding it would be best not to let Nick know I was leaving again, I locked my door and moved over to the window. Then, I messaged Shay, letting her know I was going back over to Athan's house.

5:09PM
Jen: i just wanted to say im sorry. for dragging you into something you didnt want to be involved with in the first place. so you dont have to be anymore. im going over to athans house. ill text you before I go inside.

The window made a grinding noise as I yanked it up, quickly climbing through to get outside. I took one last look at my house before making my way to the sidewalk, and starting my journey back to Athan's house.

About twenty minutes passed, and I came to Winwood Avenue, Athan's street. I took a deep breath and pulled my phone out, leaving Shay a message that told her I was here. Looking both ways, I crossed the street to the house, walked up the steps and stopped in front of the door.

I raised my hand and started pounding on the door. "Hey, open up! I'm here. I know you're in there!" The door opened and swung inward slowly, but when I looked inside, no one was standing there. I pushed the door open further, stepping inside of the house. I hadn't noticed it before, but all of the windows had been boarded up or barred. From the outside, it was almost impossible to tell. I held onto my pepper spray, preparing to use it if anything went south.

"Where are you?" I called, looking around the house. Everything in the living room seemed normal, besides it being so dark in the middle of the day. No sunlight came through from anywhere, besides the door at that moment, and a single light flickered from around the corner in another room. "Come out. You wanted to talk, remember? Well, I'm here. So... show yourself!" The front door slammed behind me, making me yelp in fear. I spun around, seeing a figure standing against the wall.

"Y'know, the sunlight truly kills my eyes. Sunglasses barely do it for me anymore. I'm not sure how Athan does it; walking around in direct sunlight like that, glasses reflecting that bright, horrible burning ball of gas you call the sun." The figure stepped toward me, but it was still too dark to see his face. He was a lot larger than I had expected. "I can see you're curious. Come with me," he said. His voice sounded less like Athan in person, and a lot deeper.

We came around the corner, the light from a single candle stinging my eyes.

"What do I call you?" I asked, approaching the table. The man went around to the other side, finally allowing me to see his face. His features told me that he had to be Athan's older brother; they had the same nose, the same lips. The only differences I could notice were that this guy looked a couple years older, his shoulders were wider and he stood taller, his jaw was more squared, and his hair was a lot shorter. Plus, his right eye had three large scars that stretched from above his eyebrow down to his cheek bone. In general, he was just... bigger.

"Donn. If you're as smart as I thought, you'll notice that I am Athan's--"

"Brother. I can see that. But let's cut to the chase. Why the fuck are you harassing me?"

Donn laughed, bringing his hand up to his face, "Oh, boy. I'm sorry, is that what it seems like to you, Jennifer? I wouldn't think so, considering how you stalked my brother home just the other day. Or, wait, that was today, wasn't it?" Donn seemed very amused.

"I... that was different!"

"I'm sure," he said, a grin plastered to his face. Donn crossed his arms and shook his head. "God, I can see why Athan likes you so much. I can smell you from over here."

I blushed a little, confused, "W-what the hell? You creep! Shay was right, I shouldn't have come!" I turned and started walking away, but Donn had already whipped around the table and proceeded to block me from leaving.

"No, no, no... not so fast," His voice was fast and full of unnecessary breaths, as if he was overly excited and couldn't contain himself. "You don't honestly think... I'd let you leave. Would you?"

I placed my hand on my pepper spray. "Move out of my way."

Donn laughed again, glaring down at me with a serious look on his face. The blue of his eyes had been replaced by darkness. "I know Athan wants you. And that's exactly why I must have you."

"No one is having me except me!" I yanked the spray from my belt, brought it up to his face and pressed the button to spray, but Donn grabbed my wrist and pulled it to the right of his face, the pepper missing his eyes.

"Wow. I guess I should have seen that one coming," he sighed, bringing my arm down forcefully as he bent down to look at me more closely, causing the spray to drop out of my hand, "Athan never takes what he wants. That's why he struggles to feed. That's why he is weak." I reacted and tried to push him away, but he grabbed that arm, too. His grip was tight, and my wrists were starting to ache.

"Let go of me." I said sternly, my voice low and quiet.

"No. No, I don't think I will," he said, his voice matching my volume, "see, I'm not a good boy, like my little brother."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

Donn brought his face next to mine, whispering into my ear. "I take what I want."

A loud noise came from the living room, and I recognized it as the door opening and slamming shut. In an instant, Donn let go of me, making me fall to the floor. I lifted my head and looked around, my eyes resting on a second figure that had appeared. I could see sunglasses reflecting the light of the candle.

"You're really pissing me off, Donn."

"Agreed, little brother. I wasn't exactly looking for a fight today, though. You see," Donn looked back at me, "I'm quite starved."

"If you ever touch her--"

"Woah, woah. Let's not say something we'll regret. Especially when you can't even live up to your own heritage. Say, when was the last time you've fed?"

"Come on, Jen. We're leaving." Athan said, waving me over. I stood up, snatching my pepper spray off the floor and scurried over to him, glaring at Donn as I moved past his body.

"You remember the last time we fought, don't you, brother?" Donn felt the scars along his eye, "Because I do. And I won't be the only one with scars this time."

Athan responded by opening the door, letting the light flood in from outside. Donn shielded his eyes and growled, moving away into the shadows. Taking my hand, Athan pulled me outside, closing the door behind us.

"I think you have some fucking explaining to do!" I scolded Athan, rubbing my paining wrists.

"Not now. Let's get out of here. Can we go to your place?"

I scoffed, starting down the steps and flinging my hands outward, "Why the fuck would I want to go anywhere with you?"

"Just let me explain, Jen." Athan was following me. I sighed, turning around to face him.

"Fine. But you make one move at me, don't think I won't rip those glasses off your face and spray you in the fucking eyes." I took out my pepper spray and held it up, putting my other hand under the bottle as if I was in a commerical that was advertising it. Athan held up his hands and nodded, the two of us starting to walk back to my house.