The next few hours consisted of scrubbing the glass of the chiller cabinet, cleaning the toilets and doing basically anything to get on her boss good side, Sam turned when the bell rang at the entrance of the bar. She stared at the tall, slender man, who slowly walked towards the bar, a knowing smile plastered on his face as he sat down in front of her.
His features hit her like stones.
It was his eyes that she noticed first, at a quick glance she thought they were just a ruddy brown, the light merely reflecting off them and giving them a subtle glow. But when she really studied them,  really studied them, she realised his eyes were gold- actual gold.
She thought of welding a Phoenix after his eyes. So bright and fiery against the dark of the world, to full of emotions she couldn't quite place. Something of a higher being who had been chained to this world.
“Whiskey, on the rocks” was all the stranger said, his inky hair nearly covering his gold eyes as he watched Sam get a glass from the shelf, not once taking his eyes off her whilst she poured the contents of the bottle into the glass and passed it to him. Nor did he say a word of thanks as he took the drink and sat at the other side of the bar, his eyes still following her around the room as he did so.
Creep
Ignoring him, Sam continued on with her work, turning only to find a tray full of food awaiting her on the service counter. She looked and found the chef pointing to a table behind her. “Number six" he barked and she turned, walking towards the table where plump, bald, middle aged man sat, surrounded by three more skinny, lanky men.
“Who ordered the beef kebab?” she asked, waiting until the plump man sitting in the middle of the booth, lifted his hand. Putting the plate in front of him, Sam noticed the beautiful young lady with fair skin and ginger hair leaning against him. Her eyes were so beautiful, a mixture of blue and green with a ring of gold outlining them.
It was only when she noticed the way the woman acted around him that she tore her attention from the woman's eyes and realised what was happening.
Her long clothes and hair covering any bruises.
The man’s vice-like grip on her arm, like she might run away at any moment, screaming for help.
Those glassy eyes staring into her own, so dull against the bright fiery colours of her hair.
She had to do something. She looked at the woman’s clothes and thought of the first rational thing that popped into her mind.
“I’m sorry ma'am but I’m afraid I'm  going to have to ask you to leave. In the evening women are required to follow the evening dress code”
She wasn’t lying, there was an actual dress code if Matt decided to check. Though not many people listened to it, it was worth the shot.
“I’m sorry again for the inconvenience, if you like you can borrow on of the spare pants we have in the back" as soon as the words had left her lips the man instantly pulled his arm tighter around the woman at his side.
She’s not leaving my sight his eyes seemed to scream.
The woman reassuringly squeezed his hand “Matt I’ll be fine, I'll just borrow one of the spare pants they have out back. I’ll be back before you know it"
Matt glanced at Sam before he leaned in, murmuring something into her ear that made her blanch.
Whatever he said, it’d drained all the colour from her face and suddenly the floor became the most interesting thing in the entire bar.
“Don’t get any ideas Lucie” he murmured to her, just loud enough for Sam to overhear.
He let go.
Smiling subtly, Sam led Lucie into the storage room at the back, gently closing the door behind them, as to not draw too much attention to what she was about to do.
“So what did you want me to change into?” she asked turning her head to see the door closed behind them. Her shoulders relaxed.
“Never mind that, how long has he been doing that to you?” Sam pressed. Lucie flinched as she said it, rubbing her arms, as if remembering a painful memory, brushing over the spots where her bruises peaked out beneath the fabric of her shirt.
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about” she stuttered “now please let me get back to my table, if I don’t have to change- then I have no reason to be here, and anyway Matt's waiting”
“Is that why you want to rush back? you’re afraid of what he’ll do to you if you don’t?”
She paused. Looked around and checked that the door was sealed. When she was sure that it was shut she sighed.
“Three years”
The woman tilted her head towards Sam, those onyx eyes filled with tears that began to slide down her beautiful face.
“For three years he kept me like his little pet” she spat. The last words with such loathing and ferocity that Sam understood what Lucie meant.
“He controlled every move that I made, everything I did and even when I-I managed to escape and call the cops they didn’t believe me- in fact they handed me right over to him like I was l-lost property. Then when we finally got home and we were...a-alone. He took his time in teaching me to n-never disobey him again. Now please if you really want to help me you’ll let me get back to my table. Matt will already be s-suspicious on how long I’ve taken to change my clothes”
Tears now flowed freely down Lucie cheek, anyone who looked close enough could see the trauma she’d endured. She pulled her in tightly, her frail body so thin and breakable against her own.
“I’m not goanna let him hurt you, you understand me? Now I’m going to go out there and tell him were having some trouble finding you some pants that fit. And whilst I’m doing that your going to run out the back door and get a taxi straight to the airport. Ok? You’re not going to go to your house because that’s the first place he’s goanna look. Don't take anything with you, just get on that plane, you hear me?”
Lucie nodded her head, that fire that had once burned so bright was slowly returning to her eyes.
Hope.
That was it. That was the thing that got people through their darkest days, that ember of light that shined in the darkness, something for them to cling onto when the rest of the world had given up on them. That was the thing that shaped worlds. Hope.
“Here’s Two hundred pounds, it should be enough to get you a flight to wherever you want to go, now Lucie go and I’ll try and distract Matt for a long as possible”
Sam went for door handle but stopped when a small hand clamped itself around her wrist.
“Thank you” Lucie smiled “you don’t know how much this means to me"
Sam hugged her once more before twisting the handle to open the door.
“I do”
And with that Lucie disappeared behind the door and into the shadows beyond. Sam sighed, she was safe.
She opened the door.
Matt instantly jumped to his feet. “Where is She?” he growled “Where’s Lucie?” he growled, those feral eyes surveying her body for any weakness.
She didn’t give him one.
“Far away from anyone with the likes of yo-“
“no,no,no,No!” he shouted, clawing his hand through his short hair. He looked around paranoid, his breathing ragged as he doubled over, clutching his chest as if he was in pain. That’s when the rocking began, over and over again as if the action could somehow soothe him, continuously rubbing his eyes as regularly as someone would scratch a rash.
Sam could hear him mumbling to himself, something about Lucie, but she didn’t hear the rest as he wrapped his hands round her throat and pushed her against the nearest wall.
“Tell me where she is!” he growled, shoving her harder against the wall with his weight. Trapping her.
Sam’s eyes burned as Matt tightened his fingers around her throat, cutting off her air supply as he tried to make her pass out; she didn’t want to think what would happen if she did.
Without so much as a thought Sam grabbed the empty beer bottle that stood behind Matt and smashed it on the edge of the oak table. Glass shards flew everywhere as she dragged the jaggered bottle along his cheek.
The bar went quiet.
Everyone in here knew what was about to happen, not daring to breathe as they watched Matt. No, they wouldn’t help her, not since it was their necks that were on the line. They knew what would happen if they did.
They all did.
The only sound filling the room was Sam’s heavy breathing and the blood that slowly dripped from Matt’s face.
He removed his hand and stared at the crimson liquid smeared on his hand
“You bitch-" he snarled, loosening his grip around Sam’s neck, giving her enough time to gulp down a breath of air before she struck out with her arm towards Matt’s chest.
“This is for Lucie” she snarled.
The first punch hit home.
Sam had barley enough time to duck as Matt, one again, lunged for her throat. Though with her first punch it took him longer, staggering backward, it momentarily threw him off balance, she used his size against him.
She thought of the times when her father had sent her to a training camp in the North. Being with forty other kids, having to fight each day for food. Not saying a word of why he did it, when she would come home. The only time she saw him was when he dropped her off and picked her up at the site not bothering to know how she had got on- but that had all stopped when her mother had died.
With the thoughts still in her mind, Sam
was running towards the door, if she could run outside...be somewhere were somebody would see her-but her dreams were dashed when a muscled arm clasped itself around her shoulder pulling her backward.
No, no, no.
Her instincts took over and Sam grabbed his arm and twisted it in the opposite direction.
Crack!
Matt howled in pain and clutched his arm, though not before he shoved Sam backward into the wall behind her, her head connecting with the hard brick wall. Her head spinning as she watched Matt run out the bar and turn right into the alleyway beyond.
No, what if Lucie was still there? She wouldn’t let him get to her.
As she tried to stand up, her head throbbed and she lifted a finger to her forehead, it stung and she lifted it away only to realise what it was.
Blood.
The metallic smell of blood flooded her nostrils as she began to stand up, pushing against the wall for support.
Lucie.
Pushing against the glass door that let her exit that bar, Sam turned right down the alleyway where she had last seen Matt earlier. Just before she turned she saw a broken piece of pipe lying on the floor and picked it up.
Just in case
Holding it tightly in her hand Sam carried on, hopefully Lucie had gone straight to the airport where she would have-
She gasped.
This wasn’t real. It wasn’t happening couldn't be happening. She was too frightened to do anything, her legs were glued to the spot.
Some creature was draining the life out of Matt.
The creatures skin was red and scarred , lined with deep long scars that looked like they had been put there with a whip.
She edged closer, clutching at the jaggered piece of pipe she had found earlier in her arms.
If I could just get close enough...
As Sam edged closer, making sure as not to make a sound, she saw something familiar about the creature. It’s eyes. She'd seen them before in the pub that same blue-green eyes that were ringed with gold. So beautiful she had thought they'd been the eyes of an ange-
Lucie.
That thing was Lucie.
She didn’t know how, didn't what that thing was or why it had done it, but that thing had looked human- even acted like one.
But these creatures didn’t exist, couldn't exist. A million questions ran through her head about what other creatures could be lurking about her streets when-
Snap!
The creatures head snapped toward where Sam stood, it mouth dripping with fresh blood as she tossed Matt's body aside. From behind the creature’s hind legs she was able to spot Matt’s face.
But what had once looked like a man in his mid thirties now looked like he was ninety years old, somehow he had aged.
Somehow, that creature had made him age and die- had literally sucked the life out of him.
He was dead.
The creature snarled and lunged for Sam, she screamed as she tried to run backwards but the creature was too fast. Sam didn’t look where she was going and before she knew it she’d tripped over her own feet and fell backwards, unable to do anything as the creature ran closer to where she had fallen.
Suddenly there was a gleam of metal in the sunlight and a scream not from this world echoed around her.
She opened her eyes.
Standing in front of her was a tall man, wearing a black t-shirt and dark blue, all of him had been sprayed with what looked like back blood and in his hand he was holding Luc-that creatures head.
As she looked up his clothes were no different than his face, covered in black blood. She paused. His eyes they were gold. It was him, the man she had served the whiskey to back at the bar.
“You-" Before she could finish a muscled hand clamped itself around her mouth and dragged her into the ally behind.
She struggled against the stranger as he slammed her into the wall. Her head throbbed and the metallic tang of blood stung her eyes, trickling down her face as Sam's vision blurred.
The stranger was faster and more skilled than any opponent she’d ever faced before.
The people she usually went up against only had basic training. Not like this person-no they had been trained, for what looked like a long time judging by the scars that she briefly glimpsed on their hand.
Sam writhed in the strangers grip and kicked, her leg connecting with his groin.
The stranger cursed under their breath, the person's grip on her loosening long enough for her to run.
Her limbs ached and her lungs burned as she ran, she could see the exit of the alley way. Only a few more feet.
Something wrapped around her ankle.
One minute she was standing. The next, she was being dragged backwards.
She looked down, feeling a burning sensation at her ankle. What she found made her scream.
Fire-actual fire.
“What the hel-"
She stopped moving.
The only sound was the crunch of gravel beneath heavy boots. Sam looked up and gasped as a black and shiny powder was thrown in her face.
It made her eyes burn and her head swirl. Her throat felt as dry as the Sahara desert as her eyes started to close.
She tried to move but her whole body was paralysed, that fire had disappeared though; or maybe it had never been there at all.
Sam didn’t finish that thought as her breathing slowed, the darkness closing in. The last thing she saw was the man’s burnt gold eyes smiling down at her, his eyes looked like spheres of fire as the darkness finally swallowed her whole.