Tommy

Tommy




It’s raining again.

Tom’s heavy footsteps splashed against the rain-slicked concrete.

God must be pissed.

A truck’s tires splashed next to him, making him jump, hand guarding his pocket. The vial tucked into that pocket seemed much heavier now than it did when he filled it.

That very thought made his skin crawl. Why had he done it? Why hadn’t he just said no?

A bitter chuckle escaped his lips as he pulled his hood tighter, further obscuring his face.

She’d kill me.

But oh how he lived for it.

He remembered how they had met. Sitting outside a bar waiting for his father had never made him so lucky.
He remembered the way her eyes shone, the way she moved, such grace, such purpose. He was shocked when she came out and sat down next to him.

The way her eyes pulled him in, he hadn’t thought twice when she offered him a job. His own eyes glazed with a soft lust as he remembered how she had thanked him for it.

Tom jumped once more as an old beggar’s voice broke through his lust-filled thoughts.

He smiled half-heartedly and fished in his pocket for a few coins. His fingers grazed the vial and he cringed, tossing a button and a dime into the man’s hat and rushing off.

He sighed as he reached his destination, but he couldn’t decide whether it was with resignation for what he had done or with relief, at the prospect of getting out of the rain.

A dented bell rang, off-pitched, as he pushed the open the apartment complex door.

“Hello.” Tom said, wavering voice portraying his nerves. The greying man at the front desk simply grunted a reply, hardly looking up from his Victoria's Secret catalog.

Tom swallowed hard and entered the rusted elevator, pressing the button for the top floor.

The soft hum of the nameless tune playing in the elevator calmed his racing thoughts for a moment, before the elevator doors creaked open, and he faced the seemingly never ending hallway, lined with battered wooden doors.

Deep breaths, Tom. Deep breaths.

Tom’s leg trembled as he set it on the carpeted hallway floor, boards creaking as his foot hit them, dank carpet squishing lightly below his tennis shoe. The hallway’s decaying state wasn’t what uneased him; it was the emptiness of it. What was she even doing here? This place was filthy!

She lives here idiot… She has to.

Tom’s own thoughts chastised him. He sighed, breath laden with the dust that hung in the air as he stood just outside of the elevator doors.

I’ve been away for too long.

This simple thought spurred him on, his feet uprooting his position by the doors and carrying him down the hallway.
His feet, however, re-rooted themselves as they reached the last door. In fact, Tom’s whole body froze in place. His heart raced, and he strongly contemplated running off.

No sooner than the thought had crossed his mind, a soft and warm burst of air pressed itself out from under the door. Tom involuntarily took a deep breath through his nose as the rush of air melted his muscles.

Cinnamon.

The spicy scent brought him back to his senses and his hand grazed the vial in his pocket once more.
She needs this.

Steeling his nerve, Tom, pulled the neck of his jacket down, fishing for the key to her apartment kept on a necklace.

While reaching for the key, his wrist clipped the small bell perched on the collar attached to his neck, and as the twinkling sound hit his ears, Tom could feel a shot of what he could only describe as pride paint his chest.

Now with a small smile on his lips, Tom removed the key from his neck and unlocked the door, opening it to bathe in the rich cinnamon scent that flowed from the apartment behind it.

As he stepped inside, the door closed behind him, plunging him into the warm, palpable darkness.

“Tommy?” A woman’s voice flowed from the darkness, wrapping him in its embrace and calming his racing heart. “Is that you?”

“Y-” His voice squeaked as he momentarily lost himself in the sensations of the warmth and her voice. “Ya, it’s me.”

A soft snapping noise echoed through the darkness, as several candelabra lit themselves around the room. Tom finally saw her. Candle light cascading down her rounded, feminine form.

He should have questioned how he had missed her form entering the room and positioning itself in front of him, but as she smirked at him and gently bit her lip, fang glinting in the room’s dim glow as it dug into the flesh it found there, his thoughts seemed to leave his mind completely.

The woman’s voice was smooth and dark, and a devilish spark shone in her crimson eyes.

“Do you have what I asked you to get, darling?” She spoke to him the way a mother speaks to a child, but the way that word - darling - struck his ears made him melt far easier than the warmth that surrounded him.

Tom simply swallowed and nodded, digging into his pocket to retrieve the small vial. He held it up to the candlelight, the ruddy liquid inside casting a reddish glare across his face.

As he stared at the glimmering glass, the memory of what he had done to fill it flashed into his mind, and he dropped to his knees, vial sliding gracefully across the floor as it fell from his hand.

Oh God… Why?

Tom sniffed lightly as tears slipped down his cheeks, the heavy cinnamon scent about him suddenly suffocating rather than comforting.
All at once the woman was beside him, clawed hand on his shoulder.

“It’s alright, Tommy. Mothers hardly ever miss their infants.”

At this Tom sobbed, turning to the woman and clinging to the lace of her dress. Her cold, ash-scented skin calmed him, his tears hissing gently as they touched the icy flesh of her thigh.

When he finally collected himself, He looked up at the woman that he clung to.

The devilish female had retrieved the vial and had it pressed to her plump lips, draining its contents into her waiting mouth.
She looked lost in her own world as she leeched every last drop from its rim, forked tongue slithering out to lap any stubborn drips.

As she removed it reluctantly from her mouth, she reached for the teenager at her feet. She tossed the glass over her shoulder causing it to burst into a puff of glittering silver smoke, before grabbing the leather strap of the boy’s collar, dragging his head to meet hers.

Her ruby eyes burned into his bloodshot baby blues for a moment.

“Thank you.” She muttered politely, before sending her lips crashing down on his.

Tom groaned softly into her lips as the woman’s pronged tongue painted him mouth with the metallic taste of blood.

He was the first to break away for air, albeit reluctantly.

“I love you” He murmured quietly, losing himself to his surroundings.

The demon simply smiled and snapped her fingers, extinguishing the candles and plunging the pair back into the darkness.
“I know you do.”