Nightshade: A SimLit | Chapter 8: Vengeance

Elaine stormed up to the house across the street, determined to settle things. She pounded on the door, waiting impatiently for a response.

Raven cautiously stepped outside. “What do you want, human?” she growled.

“Don’t play dumb with me!” she snapped. “Your son has brainwashed my daughter and now she’s getting to my husband!”

“Onyx hasn’t done anything to your daughter and you know it,” Raven said. “It’s you humans that are brainwashing your own daughter into hurting my son!”

“That’s a lie!” Elaine yelled. “If I ever see your son anywhere near my family ever again, I’m... I'm finding some help from vampire hunters!”

Raven’s entire body tensed up. “You… you wouldn’t dare.”

“Yes, I would."

“He’s only a child!” Raven cried. “You’d hire people to ruthlessly murder a child?”

Elaine laughed dryly. “Hah! Murder? You act as if you’re people. It’s only mere pest control; you’re no different than insects.”

“You're the pest! My son is far more of a person than you will ever be!”

Elaine stepped back in fear as the woman transformed into dark form, surrounded in a cloud of mist. Raven lunged for her in a vicious attack, making no effort to hold back. She wasn’t able to protect Brone, but she knew one thing: she had to protect Onyx, no matter the cost. 

Raven emerged from the fray victorious, levitating herself and Elaine in the air. “I don’t care what I have to do to you, I will not allow you to hurt my son!” she snarled.

“Please…” Elaine choked out. “Let me go…”

“I shouldn’t allow you to live,” Raven bitterly replied. “but I will."

Elaine fell to the ground hard as she released her, gasping to catch her breath.

_______________________________________________

Alexander was just about to walk into the classroom when Amelia ran up to the door and stopped him. “Alexander!” she cried.

“Amelia? Where have you been? You’re about to be late for class, and the teacher’s gonna get really mad!” Alexander frowned.

“I was… in the principal’s office.” Amelia replied.

“Oh, great. Who’d you get into a fight with this time?” 

“No one,” she sighed. “The principal said that Onyx’s mom called the school and said I’d been bullying him, and I can’t be around him anymore or else I’ll be in trouble.”

“No way!” Alexander gasped. “That’s stupid!”

“I know!” Amelia whined. “I tried to explain, but he wouldn’t believe me…”

Alexander looked down at his feet. “Hey, um… we’ll figure out… something to fix this?” He didn’t sound very sure of himself.

“I guess…” she sighed.

“Let’s just get to class. We can come up with something after school. Okay?” Alexander forced a smile.

“Okay..."

____

‘I’m going to be late for class…’ Onyx stood in front of his locker, preparing to grab his necessary things for the next class. ‘I’d better hurry.’

“Well, well, well, look what we have here!” a familiar voice taunted. “The little vampire is all alone with no one to come to his rescue!”

Onyx slowly turned to Vance and his lackey, Dominic. “I… I don’t want to start anything, okay?”

“You started something the second you came here!” Dominic exclaimed. “This is a school, not a freak show!”

“Yeah,” Vance laughed. “What use do you have here? All you need to learn is how to bite people’s necks.”

“I-I…” Onyx swallowed the lump in his throat. “I don’t want to bite people…”

“Oh yeah? Then maybe you should go to the dentist and let’em yank out your fangs!” Dominic grinned. “Can creatures like vampires even feel pain, Vance?”

Vance smirked. “I don’t know, should we find out?”

“No, please… I don’t want to fight! I’m not doing anything to you. I don’t understand why you hate me so much…”

“Everyone hates you, Onyx!” Vance yelled. “And you know why? It’s because your brain is the size of a split pea!”

“Yeah, you’re a split pea brain!” Dominic laughed. “Or maybe it’s even smaller than that. I dunno, you’re pretty dumb.”

“Stop!” Onyx sniffled. “Just leave me alone!”

Vance snickered. “You gonna cry?! No wonder no one likes you! You’re such a sissy!”

“I’d cry, too, if I was a freak like him.” Dominic said. 

He broke down into tears, at a loss for words.

“You want somethin’ to cry about!? I’ll give you somethin’ to cry about!” Vance growled.

Dominic got out of the way, and Vance stepped forward towards Onyx, cracking his knuckles.

“No, don’t…” Onyx pleaded. “Please don’t beat me up…”

Vance only laughed in response as he lunged to attack his victim. Onyx didn’t fight back, but instead endured every punch and kick, just hoping it would be over soon.

Vance finally got bored of beating him. “Wow, what a wuss! You didn’t even try to fight back!” he rolled his eyes. “That was a waste of time. C’mon, Dominic, let’s get outta here. We’re late for class.”

The two bullies walked away with pride. 

“You’ll never be worth anything!” Vance called over his shoulder. “You’re supposed to be some big strong scary vampire, but you’re just a wimp!”

Onyx didn’t bother going to class, but instead stood in the hallway, sobbing softly and longing for comfort that wouldn’t come.