Storm of Truth

In the time that Harley had been out, the sky had turned a deep purple colour, a few claps of thunder had erupted from the clouds and it had begun to rain heavily. Brushing her wet hair out of her face, she squinted to see where she was heading. The torrential downpour had made it difficult to even keep her eyes open without them stinging from rain water. Despite the lack of roaming vampires due to their leader's plan, she knew that a good few wouldn't be able to resist coming out during a storm since it enhanced their thirst for a short period of time. After all, the more blood thirsty they were, the less control they had over themselves.

She shivered as the rain soaked her clothes, causing them to stick to her skin. She carried on walking, though she couldn't see and her hands and feet were frozen. There was no doubt that she would end up with a cold considering she had to stay out until sunrise. Before she could take another step, she found herself almost flying through the air as her feet barely touched the ground and someone's arms firmly around her. Knowing instantly that it was a vampire, she reached for her gun but the speed they were travelling made it impossible to even touch it. She was almost ready to fight them off when suddenly, she was dropped back on the ground on her feet. With her head spinning, she looked around and barely made out a little garden surrounded by a white picket fence before everything faded to black.

"Crud!..." The word echoed as though it had bounced off the storm.

Lifting her tall and slender figure into his arms, he shouldered the door open and kicked it closed behind him before carrying an unconscious Harley through the house into a fair sized room that had little furniture; to the left there was a small wooden writing desk piled high with unused papers, in the middle of the room there was a medium sized love seat coloured in a bold red and a few feet away, built in was marble stone mantle with a fireplace beneath it. Laying her down gently on the love seat, he stripped her of her weapons and took one last longing glance at her and exited the room in inhuman speed, discarding the weapons in a wooden toy chest located in the hall.

He swallowed hard as he tried to suppress the burning in his throat caused by a hunger that had been enhanced by the storm. He felt restless as he fought the urge to go back into the room where she laid soundlessly and drain every last drop of blood from her body. Her sickly sweet scent had clung to him like leeches, making him fight harder to resist the temptation. Getting closer and closer to reaching his breaking point, he fled to the second floor of the house and into the room that he'd made his own, locking the door as soon as he slammed it shut. He needed blood, and he needed it now. Unable to stop himself, crashed through the window of the bedroom and landed outside on the grass below and within seconds he'd found his prey.

A middle aged man stumbled out of one of the nearby strip clubs, staggering all over the place and eventually jaywalking in and out of the roads causing the cars to honk their horns as they swerved to avoid hitting him. Waiting up high on the ladder of a fire exit wedged between two apartment blocks, he waited until the man staggered into the slim alleyway before sliding down the ladder and jumping in front of the unsuspecting victim. The man stopped abruptly, almost falling backwards as he did so and muttered a few drunken slurs that were unintelligible, even to a vampire.

Feeling his hunger reach its peak, he bared his fangs at the man and snarled just as a strike of lightning tore through the sky, illuminating his figure. Absolutely terrified but still drunk, the man turned on his heel and tried to run away only to trip over, landing in a puddle. He waited until the man had gotten back to his feet and then captured him in a strong grip from behind, sinking his fangs deep into his neck. Guzzling down the warm, sticky blood, he couldn't stop himself even as the bitter taste caused by alcohol hit the back of his throat. Initially, he'd intended to stop once he'd had enough, but it seemed that the more blood he drank, the more thirsty he became. The last ounce of control faded as another clap of thunder rumbled throughout the city and as the sound faded, he'd drained the last few drops from the drunken man's body, killing him instantly.

Lightning lit up the sky, illuminating the limp body in his arms. He became horrified by what he'd just done; something that hadn't happened since his first week as a vampire. Using his sleeve, he tried to wipe the blood away from his mouth but only smeared it. In a state of panic and disbelief he frantically dragged the body over to a nearby dumpster and threw it inside, covering it up with trash bags that had been left on the ground by people who were in a rush when they'd left them. Once he was certain that it was completely covered, he made a swift exit hoping to get back to the house before Harley woke up.

Approaching the front porch, he opened the door soundlessly and closed it behind him with a gentle click. He peered from an angle into the room where he'd left Harley and sighed in relief when he saw that she hadn't yet woken. Moving towards the stairs, he put his foot down on the first step and cringed when it creaked loudly.

_ _ _ _

Opening her eyes, Harley groaned and clutched her head as she felt a heavy thumping sensation. Getting to her feet, she settled back down instantly as her legs turned to jelly. She decided to lay down for a moment longer to let the dizzy feeling pass before attempting anything else. As she settled back down, she heard the front door click into place and froze, pretending to still be asleep. She waited until they had reached the top of the stairs and then tiptoed through the hall, searching for the weapons that were missing from her person. Heading straight forward, she came across the kitchen; A room with a colour scheme of red walls with black and white floor tiles, an oven that looked like it dated back to the nineteen thirties, and a backdoor that had a built-in cat flap.

The movement of feet on the floor in the hall quickly caught her attention and she glanced around the kitchen, grabbing the nearest weapon she could find; a solid silver serving platter and spun around just in time as the vampire crept up behind her, hitting them over the head with her makeshift weapon.

"Oh, bloody hell! What'd you do that for?" Mason cried, rubbing the top of his head.

"I…" She began, feeling relieved that it was just him, but trailed off as her eyes widened at his bloodstained face and clothes. "No! You- you liar!"

"Huh?" He questioned, confused by her sudden tone of voice. "Oh, right… the blood. Harley, listen I can explain."

"No!" She rejected, picking up a plate off of the counter top and launching it at him.

Dodging the plate and watching over his shoulder as it hit the wall and smashed to the floor, he remained calm as he took a few steps towards her.

"Don't take another step!" She demanded, throwing another item; this time a cheese grater and backing up against the counter. "You tricked me!"

Just as he'd done with the plate, he dodged the cheese grater and threw his hands up in surrender. With her still soaked to the bone from the downpour, it was getting increasingly hard for him not to make a move, but he would remain grounded somehow. Despite Demitri's orders, he had no intention of killing her tonight.

"Harley, listen to me! I didn't trick you, okay!" He swore.

"I believed you!... I trusted you and allowed you to trick me into believing your lame story just so you could catch me off guard, bring me here and then go out on a killing spree!" She accused him, throwing a coffee mug made of china at him, followed by a stake knife

"That's not what happened!" He yelled, frowning in frustration as he dodged the mug and caught the knife in his hand, tossing it to the floor.

"You can't lie to me! You're covered in blood! I don't need this! Please… I just… I wanna go home." She pleaded, no longer yelling.

Mason's expression softened as he watched her intently. The thing that caught his attention the most though, was her eyes; wide with shock and fear, but also hiding a river of pain beyond the surface. Lowering his hands, he stopped and backed away hoping that it would make her less scared of him.

"I'm sorry, Harley. But you have to believe me, I really didn't trick you."

"Then why…? I'm so confused! What happened?" She asked, her voice now just above a whisper.

"It's the storm. The weather affects us in some horrendous ways. As you already know, the sun burns us. It doesn't stop there though."

"What do you mean?"

"The snow weakens our power, rain increases it and storms… They increase our hunger and decrease our control. When I brought you here, your scent clung to me and I was itching for blood. I didn't want to risk your life, so I went out on a hunt. Unfortunately, I lost all control and killed someone for the first time in a long time. I'm telling you this now, I didn't mean to kill them."

Harley remained silent. Her rapid breathing became calmer and slower, and all she could do was stare at him. She tried her hardest to remember the events that had led up to this moment, but all that came was a hazy blur.

"How did I get here? What happened? Why can't I remember? Did you make me forget?"

"First of all, no I didn't make you forget. Secondly, I think that you may have hit your head when you passed out and thirdly, I can explain. To kill two birds with one stone, or in this case questions, I found you outside in the middle of a storm, soaked right through as you are now. You're human, you'd have gotten sick being out, there's still a good chance that you might. So I whisked you away here, but unfortunately the speed was too much and you passed out as soon as we reached the door. I brought you in here, put your weapons safely in a toy chest and went on a hunt while I waited for you to come around."

Not trusting herself to be able to speak proper words, she simply nodded as the pieces of the puzzle from earlier events finally slid into place. She was able to remember being out in the storm, being grabbed and feeling herself flying, then ending up in some sort of garden before blacking out.

"Forgive me, but shouldn't you maybe change out of those clothes so that you don't catch pneumonia?"

"Change into what exactly? I'm a hunter, we don't really carry spare sets of clothes."

"Right. I forgot about that. One second…" He said, leaving her hanging as he vanished up the stairs and came back down almost as quickly as he'd gone.

Giving him a questioning look and folding her arms across her chest, she stopped herself from laughing as she eyed the materials in his hands; a strapless silky, midnight blue dress that was fairly short in length and did little to hide any details.

"Yeah… No! It's not gonna happen."

"What's wrong with it?"

"Uh… I don't know, only everything!" She quipped.

"But that's all I got… I'm sorry. As you've probably guessed, I don't get many female visitors and certainly not high maintenance ones-" He began, but was quickly interrupted.

"Excuse me! High maintenance?"

"No! I didn't say that! I mean, I did but I didn't mean to. What I'd meant to say was that I don't get many female visitors, especially not decent ones like yourself."

"Why? What do you normally have? Street slob? Hooker? Ooh I know, strippers right?"

"I most certainly do not! Look, now before you catch a cold, will this do or not?" He questioned, bringing the point back to focus.

"Hmm, I suppose. What's my other option?"

"I don't know, become a nudist." He quipped.

Rolling her eyes at his silly suggestion, she sighed. "Fine. The dress will have to do." She agreed, giving in despite her distaste for the item of clothing.

"That's what I thought."

Waving the dress out, she snatched it out of his hands clearly unimpressed, and gave him a questioning look. Knowing what the look was about, he pointed down the hall to a door on the left.

"Thank you." She muttered as she stalked off, opening the door and slamming it shut behind her.

"Sheesh, women!"

Taking a seat on the bottom step while he waited for her to change, he rested his head in his hands. A few seconds later he lifted it again as he heard a faint sound coming from the direction of the bathroom. Getting up, he trailed over to the door and tapped lightly.

"Harley? Are you done?"

Despite the door providing a barrier between them, his enhanced hearing allowed him to hear what was going on inside the room. He could hear the pounding of her heart, the oddly spaced breaths and the occasional hiccup. Finally, it dawned on him. She was upset.

"Harley?" He called as he tapped the door again. "Are you done?"

Meanwhile, Harley could hear Mason calling out as she sat on the floor with her back against the door. Knowing that he wouldn't drop it, she rose back to her feet and straightened herself out. She couldn't deny that she felt uncomfortable in the dress, it wasn't her usual attire after all, but that's not what she was upset about. Combing through her hair with her hands and wiping away any signs that she'd been crying. It was one thing to be behind a closed door and show her true feelings while she was alone, but never in her life would she let anyone else see. Taking a deep breath, she slowly reached out and opened the door.

"Laugh and I'll murder you." She warned, watching his cheeks puff out the way a chipmunks would as he held in a laugh.

"Hey! No need for death threats… And, I'm sorry about what I said. It wasn't what I meant."

"Oh, that's okay. Honestly it didn't bother me."

"So then, what was…?" Mason began to ask, but trailed off as he thought things over. "Is everything okay?"

"It was nothing. I'm fine. Everything's fine."

"Right. Okay then, looks like the storm isn't going to ease up anytime soon, so what do you want to do?"

Although he knew straight away that she was lying, he'd decided to drop the subject for now to avoid pushing her away. Outside, the storm was raging, which gave him the perfect opportunity to spend time trying to unravel the mystery that was Harley Lawrence. The only trouble was that he didn't know where to start.

"Erh… Well, looks like going home is out of the question, not that I really wanted to return anyway, I was confused when I said that." She rambled, thinking over her answer. "Can I ask you something?"

"Hmm, that depends."

"On what?"

"Am I allowed to ask you a question afterwards?"

"I see what you're doing. Alright, it's a deal."

Pleased with her answer, he walked away into the room where he'd laid her down earlier and waited for her to follow. Once she did, he gestured to the little red loveseat for her to sit down. She sat down and then he sat down on the opposite side, not trusting himself to get too close to her with his hunger still not satisfied, and waited for the question.

"Did you really kill someone tonight?" She asked, her eyes wide with worry.

"Yes. Unfortunately, due to the storm, I wasn't able to stop myself like I usually would."

"Have you ever killed anyone before?"

"Ah ah, that's two questions. It's my turn now."

"Dang it! Okay, I'm sure whatever you got can't be that bad. Fire away." She said, the unanswered question still fresh in her mind.

Amused by her willingness, he chuckled as he thought carefully about which of the piled up questions he would ask her. Finally, he settled on the one that had been bugging him since he'd first spoken to her.

"So… What's your deal with the cemetery?"

Hearing his question, she squirmed in her seat and her expression changed from neutral to one of discomfort. She hadn't wanted this subject to come up, but she knew that she couldn't avoid it forever.

"I have a… Part of my family there." She answered vaguely.

The vagueness of her answer left Mason unsatisfied. He had hoped to learn more about her, but instead all he'd learned was that she had deceased relatives, just like everyone else on the entire planet.

"Come on… That's not an answer, that's a brief non-answer. You've gotta give me something better than that."

Harley sighed, knowing that he wouldn't drop the topic and with the storm raging on she didn't have the choice to just get up and leave. Opening up to people wasn't something that she was used to doing and most of the time, she preferred to keep every trouble to herself because there was only one person that she knew she could count on; herself. There was no denying that there was more to Mason than meets the eye, but could she really put her trust in a vampire.

"Fine. By family, I mean my mom."

"Oh. Wow. Jeez, I'm sorry." He muttered, feeling awkward.

"It's okay. It was a while ago."

"How did it happen?"

"Can I ask you another question if I answer this?" She asked, bargaining with him.

"Yeah, ask away. I'm an open book."

"Ha! You, an open book? I think not."

"You're one to talk."

"Touché." She concluded, having no argument against that. "It was two years ago. Her and my dad were on a hunt, my dad was busy fighting and they were severely outnumbered. One of them got to my mom before she could fight back."

Mason's heart dropped at her answer. He'd been expecting something along those lines but he had a horrible feeling that it wasn't just any vampire who'd killed her mother. Demitri had been seeking his revenge on that family for centuries and ever since he'd discovered them in the city a couple of years back, he'd been plotting against them.

"When was this?" He asked with worry.

"Hey! It's my turn now!"

"Oh yeah. Go on then."

"Before tonight, have you ever killed someone?" She asked, bringing back her earlier question.

"Yes, I have. I'm not proud of it though. It was a long time ago, during my first week as a vampire. I quickly taught myself control."

"So you really haven't killed anyone in like… A million years?"

"Easy there! I'm not that old, you know. I've only been a vampire for five hundred years. Even the dinosaurs are still older than me." He stated, feigning offence.

Harley laughed at the reaction her assumption had gotten out of him. In the years that she'd been hunting, she had never expected that there could be vampires who are still, to some degree, human. It was a completely new and foreign concept that she would have to get used to.

"Now can I ask my question?"

"Yes."

"How long ago was it?"

"How long ago was what?" She questioned, confused.

"Your mum…"

"Two years ago. It'll be three next June."

Shocked, but somehow not surprised, Mason gripped the arm of the seat to keep himself in place. He knew exactly who was responsible for her mother's death, and with Harley giving him the answer he was expecting, it made him want to rush back to the den and tear Demitri's head off. But he forced himself to stay put. Killing his leader wouldn't do any good right now because not only would he have a mob of angry vampires on his tail, but he was afraid that they might target Harley too. He'd finally figured out why he cared so much about her too; his stone cold, unbeating heart had become attached to her and if anything happened to her now, he would never have the chance to fully get to know her.