Sanctuary

Chapter Four

With Jake's eyes tightly closed, he was unable to see the reactions of the vampires that had been poised to rip into his flesh. All of them stared down at their intended prey, his soft mutterings loud and clear to their supernatural hearing. Begging wasn't anything new to them. Often they made it a contest between them, who could make the prey beg first. Begging for their lives or begging to die, whatever made the game all the more fun. But this time it felt different. They had gotten their prey to beg, but this time it didn't have the excitement it usually did. This felt...off.

Prophet, or Cahya as was his real name, made a sharp motion to Mystic, or Onyx. The older vampire looked up at him curiously, before nodding and tapping two fingers to Jake's temple. The teen's eyes flew open before closing again, his muscles losing all tension as he fell into unconsciousness. Onyx released her hold on Jake's hair and Cahya rose slightly, kneeling over the prone body on the table.

"Fuck, we had to get the messed up one, didn't we?" Deviant, or Raven, gently examined the arm he had been holding down. He and Destroyer, Daegel, had ripped off the arms of the old, tattered jacket Jake was wearing; the ratty material practically falling apart already. In fact, all of the teen's clothes seemed to share the same state. Old worn tennis shoes that had the heels falling off, pants and a shirt that had more holes than Swiss cheese, and a general state of someone who has been living on the streets for some time.

Cahya looked down at the teen beneath him. His long black hair was tangled and all over the place. Like the four of them, Jake also seemed to be fond of dark make up. But Jake must have shed a few tears sometime before they had entered the bar, because the eyeliner was smeared, a few lines running down from his eyes like tear tracks. Glancing over at the arm Raven was holding, something in him winced at the many criss crossed lines going from the elbow down to his wrist.

"He's not messed up, Rae." Onyx gently brushed the hair from Jake's forehead, a contemplative look on her face. The action caused her sleeve to ride up, exposing tattoos inked onto the pale skin. "Look at him. Can't you see it?"

Cahya sat back on his heels. He thought back to shortly before, when they had been taunting Jake in the booth. Little things about his behavior had struck Cahya as strange. There was the odd flash of excitement when Cahya had mentioned his last drink, the small smile when he had been given the whiskey, and just before he had tossed back the drink Jake had taken a moment to breathe. Cahya had assumed he had been preparing for his death, resigning himself to the inevitable. Now he could see that it had been something more than that. It had been relief. This kid wanted to die.

"Come on." Raven set the arm back down on the table. "Look maybe the kid has it pretty rough, but it's not like we're fucking therapists. We also don't leave witnesses, remember?"

Cahya looked back down at Jake. The kid hadn't even fought back until Daegel and Raven had ripped off his jacket sleeves, until they had exposed his scars. But even then he had just laid back and waited. Hell, the kid had seemed downright thankful for his impending death.

"He's like us." Cahya murmured softly, receiving an incredulous look from Raven.

"Are you fucking serious? Look let's just off him. We're not babysitters!" Raven returned Onyx's glare at the words. "What the fuck do you suggest Nyx? We take him with us? Since when the hell do we take in charity cases? He's probably just some runaway kid-"

"How can you look at those scars and say that?" Onyx pointed to one of Jake's arms. "And look at him. Cahya's right. He IS like us. The times may be different, but he is just like us, how we used to be. Don't you remember what it was like?"

Raven threw up his tattooed arms in frustration. "Are you guys fucking serious? Dae, tell me you're not thinking that too."

Daegel hadn't spoken a word, instead staring down at Jake's other arm. There was a strange look on his face, not a trace of his usual exuberance there.

"Um, Daegel?" Onyx leaned over and gently touched the other's shoulder. "What are you-" She looked down, her eyes widening. "O-Oh..."

Cahya and Raven both leaned over, Daegel silently lifting the arm. Like the other, it too had crisscrossed scars down the limb. But unlike the other, it had one extra scar, a long one that ran the entire way down the forearm, ugly and somewhat recent by the state of it. A week or two, three tops. It looked like it had been a very deep cut too, one made by a young man desperate to end his life.

Onyx Cahya looked over at Raven in unison, eyebrow raised. The vampire sighed. "Okay... so maybe, maybe he has- alright it looks like he's had a fucked up life. What are we supposed to do about it?"

"Don't you remember, Raven? How it used to be for us? How it is to be so different, and alone?" Cahya gently wiped some of the smudged eyeliner from Jake's face with his long, thin fingers.

"I say we take him with us." Daegel said suddenly, his grip on Jake's wrist tightening a fraction. "Why not? I mean, what harm could it do? Besides, it's like Cahya's always saying, 'We're Outcasts. We have to stick together, watch out for one another.'" He motioned to Jake. "He's one of us. He's an Outcast."

"I agree." Onyx murmured softly, giving her friend an odd look before turning to Cahya and Raven for their say. Technically, Cahya was their leader, but if all didn't agree, then Cahya would usually defer to them. Cahya nodded and turned to Raven, waiting for his decision. The Outlaw sagged his shoulders, tipping his cowboy hat over his eyes and growling.

"Fine. Let's bring the kid."

Daegel smiled widely, throwing up his fists and letting out a cheer. "Awesome! A five man band is always better than four, anyway!" Onyx rolled her eyes, whether at the statement or being called a dude was anyone's guess. But she smiled nevertheless, glad to be able to help this kid.

Cahya chuckled, shaking his head in amusement. "Cool down Dae. We'll bring him, but he stays human." He looked at each of them directly. "We give him a choice. I think we can all agree on that." The others nodded and Cahya stood, leaping gracefully over Onyx and landing on his feet onto the floor. "Daegel, take him back to the bus. Rave, Nyx..." He turned to them, mirroring their grins in a way that bordered on sadistic. "Burn this place to the ground."