Champagne High

Chapter 1

There are some moments in life where you have to step back and take stock of exactly what is going on. Sometimes you step back and everything around you falls into place; like the workings of an intricate jigsaw puzzle, everything makes sense in that moment of clarity.

Like everything in life it’s not always so simple; sometimes you step back, look back in from outside the box waiting for that moment where everything makes sense and sometimes that that moment never arrives. So you’re left scratching your head with nothing but a single thought; ‘What the fuck?’

These are the moments we always remember. Constantly trying to puzzle them out, waiting for the pieces to all fall into place.

I experienced a whole series of moments just like this, one after another, leaving me thirsty with curiosity. Wanting, no, needing to know exactly what happened. What did I miss? What did I over look? Did I look at a small part of this puzzle too hard and miss the big picture?

I had worked late that night, The cold of the November air chilled me through to the bone. Pulling my thick coat tighter around my shoulders against the bitter cold. Breathing into my cupped hands, trying in vain to push some warmth into my stinging skin.

I hadn’t been paying any attention to the deserted street around me. The only sound entering my consciousness where the sound of my own heals as I travelled along the paving and the roaring of the biting wind as it sailed past my ears.

I should have been more alert. Should have been paying attention to the shadows along the empty side streets and alleys lining the main road I was walked along. Should have been looking at anything but my feet as I travelled but I was tired and I was hungry from a long day at work. The only thing on my mind was getting into the warm confines of my car, getting home and getting into a well-deserved bath.

In fact my mind was so focused on my up and coming bath that the only point I realised I was no longer alone was when two pairs of hands closed themselves over each of my forearms. Lifting my feet from the ground, they kicked wildly from under me, trying to gain some purchase on the ground. Even at this point my mind was screaming at me to run. It didn’t matter where to, as soon as my feet had touched the ground I was going to run and run hard until my lungs hurt.

My two assailants didn’t give me that chance as I was turned on the spot; they took a few steps forward before unceremoniously throwing me to the ground along one of the most badly lit side roads I think I have ever had the misfortune to be in.

I landed heavily on my side on the damp cold paving. I pushed the palms of my hands into the ground pushing my upper body up and turning my head to face my attackers. The small street I have been hauled down can’t be more that five feet across between one multi-story office building to the next. Giving the location itself more that just a small ominous feeling.

My head swivelled around to face my assailants; I instantly disliked them, not just for the rough manhandling I had just received but also for the look on each of their faces. There were two of them, both male. One was tall, Maybe standing at 6 feet tall. Then, very thin. So thin I could see the hollows under each of his already impossibly high cheekbones. His long curtain of hair curling around his face as what I can only describe as an evil smile spread wide across his facial features. His already tight royal blue dress shirt pulled at his shoulders as he casually pulled his arms to cross over his chest. All the way from his shiny black shoes all the way up to his neatly trimmed hair he looked the part of any business professional.

I wish I could have said the same for his accomplice. An ape of a man, I could not judge his height due to the fact he was squatting close to the ground actually leaning against his knuckles. His shoulders were broad and his head cleanly shaven with a leer pull across his features aimed straight at me. His shabby black leather coat looked as though it hadn’t come off his back in years, the shoulders showing signs of wear, threatening to come apart at any moment.

Both of these men’s faces were as pale as marble from what I could make out in the limited light filtering through from the main road. I remember I had the strangest sensation in the pit of my stomach as both men simply continued to stare at me. Waiting for something from me. Unfortunately being lifted from the ground and thrown down a dark side street was not something I had a huge amount of experience in. So I was at a complete loss as to exactly what it was they were expecting.

After a few moments had passed the only sound between us was my rough laboured breathing. Each breath exhaled turning to mist as it hit the chill of the air around us.

Ape-man leant more heavily on his knuckles as he bent closer to me. “’Ent you a pretty little thing?” These words coupled with his thick Bristol accent are not the only thing, which makes my heart still in my chest. As he spoke I could have sworn I had not seen his breath. The thought is quickly pushed from my mind as one of his fisted hands pushes in front of him. He once again leans on his knuckles as he pulls himself yet closer to me.

His counterpart pushes himself from the brick wall at his side and comes to stand behind him. “Indeed.” The only word uttered from his lips. Once again, I do not see his breath when he speaks. A predatory glint in his cold ice blue eyes.

My mind is once again screaming at me to run. My muscles will not obey, almost as if caught in the predatory gazes of both of these assailants.

Tall Dark and Hansom cocked his head ever so slightly to the side. His upper lip lifting, into a smile that twisted my insides. “Looks good enough to eat.”

I felt my blood run cold and my face drain of all colour. My muscles finally listened to me as I dropped my shoulder trying to scramble my way to my feet. I tried to run but the soles of my shoes would not gain grip on the damp concrete beneath me.

Just as I found a large enough grip on the ground to take off and never look back, a huge cold palm closed around my ankle and I fell once against face first to the floor. My head swivelled around to cast my gaze over the two men once again.

Ape Man had his large meaty hand clasped around my ankle in an iron grip. He was still squatting low to the ground leaning on his idle knuckles. It made me wonder if he was even capable of standing up straight.

The sound of footsteps entered my consciousness as Tall Dark and Hansom travelled around me, to come to a halt mere inches from my face. I was left starring at my own refection in his immaculate shoes as he spoke. “Now, now.” He said disappointment lacing his voice. “One should not be so quick to leave the party.”

“Should one not first be presented with an invitation?” A third voice entered the conversation. This voice low in both pitch and volume, but distinctly feminine.

I lifted my gaze up to this new participant. Her feet were covered by trainers, which looked as though she had walked hundreds of miles in them. The denim of her jeans fell low over the tongue of her shoes and dragged along the floor at the back where assumingly due to wear they were frayed and falling apart. At parts of her jeans, specifically the knees the material looked dangerously thin, they hung low on her hips held up by a simple back belt. Her black plane t-shirt tucked into the waistband. Her fingers were pushed lightly into the front pockets of her well-worn jeans, her thumbs hooked into the belt loops. Her arms covered in a brown parker jacket. My gaze travelled further skywards and reached her face. She had dark brown hair layered at the sides, it curled around her cheeks and under her chin. She stood at no more than five foot seven. Her face was expressionless, held in a hard mask only her piercing blue eyes gave her any animation. They bored holes into the man standing at my head. Something that appeared to me as almost dangerous, feral even sparked across the deep blue pools as she waited for a response to her question.

The feet at my head scuffed along the floor as Tall Dark and Hansom twisted on the ball of his foot to face this new comer. I looked up at him as his hands locked together rigidly behind his back, his jaw clenched violently. “I was unaware that these were your hunting grounds.”

Hunting grounds? I distinctly remember thinking when did rapists start marking their territory?

She began to take strides towards us. “It’s not.” She comes to halt less than a foot from me. “However, I would appreciate it if you were to get off my doorstep.” Her gaze cut to Ape Man at my feet. Immediately I felt the pressure lesson around my ankle. I took this as my cue to move as a tried and failed once again to get to my feet. I had to settle for a part crawl part scrabble away from the two men. I pulled my self around onto my back as soon as I passed my savours legs.

“You’re doorstep?” Tall Dark and Hansom asked with his head slightly cocked to the side. I watched as my saviour’s shoulders tensed and she took a menacing step forward. For the first time that night the smile dropped from his lips. “Very well.” His fingers snapped at his accomplice. “Come along Gerald.” He turned and walked from us.

Ape Man whose name I now assume is Gerald snarled in my direction before drawing himself to his feet. Still hunched over at the shoulder and followed his collaborator from the dimly lit street.

I looked back up to the tense shoulders of this mystery woman. I was suddenly struck with the sickening sensation that I had been left with the lesser of two evils. This woman had just put the fear of God into two men who had incapacitated me with ease, without even lifting a finger. My mind wouldn’t stop drawing back to rapists and murders now marking their territory.

She turned her head to me looking at me over her shoulders, which immediately relaxed. A small warm smile spread across her face and she turned to me. Leaning down with an outstretched hand and helped me to my feet. “What do you want with me?” I said not being able to tear my gaze away from the deep blue pools she calls eyes.

I small chuckle emitted from deep within her chest. “I thought I might walk you to your car.”

“Oh.” Even thinking about it now makes me feel stupid.

Her eyebrows lifted at my statement. The smile never left her features. One of her feet pulled behind the other so she stood side on to me. Lifting an arm out towards the main road. “Shall we?”

Silently I nodded and walked past her out into the brightly lit street. Thankful to once again see the light. Even out in the bright open main road I felt unsafe without this mystery woman in my sights. She followed me out of the small ally and fell in step to the side of me. I can’t help myself from letting my gaze wonder to my side. How is it possible that this woman had just saved my life and possibly my virtue?

She looked unremarkable in almost every way. You’re regular, average Jane. By her facial features shouldn’t have been much past her early twenties but both her eyes and the tone of her voice made her seem so much older. “Who were those men?” I asked not being able to stand the silence any longer.

“Revenants.” She replied to me simply.

“Is that some kind of cult?”

My question amused her; I could see it in her eyes as she glances my way. “To a fashion, yes.”

The vagueness of her answers were doing nothing to ease my frayed nerves. “I see.”

“I don’t believe you do.”

My blue saloon came into my line of sight. On some level I was actually sorry for my time with this woman to end so soon. We reached my car far sooner that I would have liked and I slipped the key into the lock pulling my door open and tuned back to her. Now feeling a lot safer having my car to retreat into if anything turned to any sort of violence. “What’s your name?”

Her forehead pulled into a crease and she looked at the ground at my feet. It wasn’t supposed to be the hardest question I asked her that night. She looked to be deciding exactly what she was going to tell me. Her gaze shot up and once again I was lost in her deep blue irises. “What ever you want it to be.” She bent her back ever so slightly towards me in a small polite bow. “I will take my leave of you.”

She walked around my cars open door and left me there with my mouth agape watching her disappear into the shadows of the night.

I slid into my seat behind the wheel and pulled my door firmly closed. Placing my elbows in the top of the steering wheel as I ran my hands though my hair trying to make sense of exactly what had just happened to me. I remember sitting thinking over the night’s events then I hastily locked my door.

I dug both my index and middle fingers of each hand into my eyes before letting out a long calming breath and started the engine.

I drove slowly back to my home, not wanting to have just been rescued from two would be murders to only end up across the tabloids for causing a ten car pile up on my way home. I pulled steadily to the side of the road in front of my home locking and leaving my car and made a hasty retreat behind the thick wooden door. I let my body just lean against my door for a few moments, soaking up the feeling of safety around me. I’d made it home in once piece and I was dammed well going to enjoy it.

After I had felt my stiff limbs slowly relax I pushed myself from my door and made my way to the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror. I looked a mess. My thick red hair dirty, damp and matted, from my tumbles around the pavement. Grime was smeared around my cheeks, no wonder she wouldn’t’ give me her name. I lent over turning on my shower, all thoughts of my bath had left me. All I wanted in that moment was to be clean and climb into my bed and forget that night.

I set to work first removing my contacts and stepping under the now hot steady stream of water. I let it work feeling back into my fingertips and I pushed the soap though my hair and around my aching muscles. When I was sufficiently clean, which couldn’t have taken any longer than ten minutes, I stepped out of the spray and into a waiting towel.

Walking into my bedroom I started vigorously rubbing my skin with my towel trying to get myself dry enough to sleep as quickly as possible. My dog, Jake pushed past my legs as I opened my bedroom door he jumped up onto the bed, he was panting at me trying to put on his cutest face. After the events of that night I was more than grateful for the company as I slept. He’s by no means a small dog. He is about the size of a Labrador. He is mostly black, his white socks on his front paws reaching the joint of his paws. His chest and nose are also white and the smallest speck of while on the tip of his tail. He’s my little boy and I wouldn’t trade him for a hundred pure breed toy poodles.

I shook my head at him and pulled on a t-shirt to sleep in. I turned out my light pushing Jake over to the other side of the bed and clambered in.

When I awoke from my deep sleep the following morning with my dog curled at my side I shook away the cobwebs and convinced myself that each event of that dreadful night had been nothing more than a dream; a horrible dream that I could not awaken from.

For weeks, months maybe I convinced myself that the two men who had handled me so roughly had been nothing more than a figment of my overactive imagination.

The mystery woman had been nothing more than wishful thinking. Wanting a knight in shining armour to swoop down on me and whisk me off my feet, no matter how plane she might have been. For the longest time I thought on it and came to the conclusion that it could not have been real.

That is until I saw her again.

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A/N This is my first crack at a totally original piece of work, I know the characters haven’t been developed much here but I hope to get right into the nitty gritty with them so your just going to have to bear with me :D Please read and review.