Chelsea
Chelsea sat on the bus, writing in her journal and managing to keep her writing semi-readable as the bus drive through the streets. She glanced out the window; night had fallen. Stupid buses. They were *always* late. She should have been home by now, not half way across the city. She looked around at the people on the bus, and gasped almost noiselessly. That guy! There was like this darkness all around him, and was that blood on his mouth? She glanced around fearfully. There were these things flickering around the people near her. Colours, shifting and turning. An old lady's colour (aura?) was almost totally white, with flickers of blue through it, and all the people around her they had them too. In different colours and shades...but that guy. He was just...wrong. There was no other word for it. He seemed to feel her eyes on him, and turned around to glare at her. She flinched back as the wrongness, and there really was no other word for it, *evil* poured off him. He didn't even seem human, somehow...
Somehow, she shakily made her way off the bus when it reached her stop and started walking quickly home. Everything looked different today. What had happened to her? Had someone slipped her some kind of drug? She turned around quickly when she heard footsteps behind her. Her eyes widened. The guy from the bus. She started walking backwards, making ready to run.
"Hello, little girl. Out a bit late, aren't we?" Chelsea didn't even bother to reply. She turned, almost stumbling, and ran. She could sense things coming from the houses and the guy's footsteps pounded along behind her, increasing her sense of unreality as the buildings seemed to shift and move. She glanced back over her shoulder, and choked back a scream. His eyes were yellow, his face ridged and the black in him screamed soundlessly for her to look at him. Oh god, he was *so* hungry and angry and full of a lust that she didn't understand. And then more of the wrong people slipped out of the alleys around, and Chelsea picked up the pace, breath rasping through her throat.
"Uh huh, she smells good enough to eat!"
"She's mine, back off," the first guy snarled. Chelsea put on an extra burst of speed as a building up ahead seemed to glow with a welcoming light. She crashed in its doorway and a howl of anger came up from behind her. "Aw, dammit! That's the Hyperion. Let's get out o here." Chelsea laid on the floor, panting for a minute as she sensed them leave, then got slowly to her feet. Where was she, anyway? Running for your life did not lend to looking where you were going, particurily much. High roof, staircase, lobby...she was in a hotel. And then a tall guy with brown hair and a crossbow burst in and she screamed again, heading for the door in a panicstricken bolt.
"AHHHH!" She could sense the black in him, but it was tempered? controlled? by a white light. She kept running though. He had a *crossbow*. She ran into someone, and bounced backwards, landing on her butt. "Ow." She looked up. Green guy with horns and red eyes, but he was good. She could feel it. "You, uh, slightly green." Chelsea rubbed her head tiredly. "What is going on?" Tall brown haired guy came up, and she scrambled away from him. "You, feel likie those guys out there, but not. Do you do that freaky ridgy thing too? Because I'm sure that someone's slipped me something. It can't be normal to see things the way I'm seeing things. Colours, and, and feelings and how did I know this building was safe?"
"Ok, sweetie, let's back up there," the gren guy said. "Why don't we sit down and you can tell us about what you've seen today."
"Ok. I can trust you, I know that somehow, but him..." she jerked her head at the black/white guy. "I'm not sure about." She sat down on the couch the green guy lead her to, and told them, before sitting upright. "I havta get home! My parents will be going nuts!" The tall guy slipped her a card. "Angel Investigtaions?"
"I'm Angel. We help people with unusual problems. Come back here if something like that happens again, and I'd advise you start wearing a cross."
"Ok." Chelsea nodded, slowly, scepticism in her eyes. "I'm just gonna...go now." She got up off the couch slowly and headed towards the door, before slamming it closed and leaning against it on the inside. "Dear Lord. There's a lot of those guys out there." Angel looked out through a window, and nodded slowly.
"I'd say that's about right."
"What is going on?!" Chelsea shrieked. "I can *see* things!" She struggled to find the words to express her new senses. "Everything screams at me! Your, your darkness covered by light. Their pure black. There's music around him!" She pointed at Lorne. "What has happened to me?" She whispered, putting her hands over eyes. "The house called out to me as a place of haven."
"Well, first of all, let's work on getting rid of the vampires, and then we'll work on finding out what happened to you," Lorne said gently. Angel went out and dusted the vampires while Chelsea cried into the demon's shoulder.
"She doesn't smell of magic, that's one thing," Angel said as he placed the ax he'd been using back in the weapons cabinet.
"Magic?" Chelsea squeaked.
"The darkness in me? I'm a vampire." Angel turned around and vamped out. Chelsea scrambeled over the back of the couch and fell on the floor with a thud before running for the door. She ran out into the night, and Angel sighed as Lorne looked at him. "On second thoughts, that may not have been the wisest course of action." His face shifted back to its human planes.
"You said that right, angel cakes."
"I'm going to go call Micheal...I think she was a mutant."