Crooked nose, sparkling green eyes with salt and pepper hair. He looked normal, safe, like someone you'd cross on the street. There was nothing special about his build, nothing particularly terrifying about him... in my mind, he seemed so much bigger, but now I realized he was just a little taller than my mother.

He wasn't what I had expected.

I exhaled shakily through my lips as I found his stare travelling eerily down my form. Something in those murky depths held a sick fascination; they looked like they wanted to break me apart into a thousand little pieces. 

"Looks like Johnny's going to have a good night," one of the men hooted.

Run.

Run.

Run.

The small girl in my head screamed, her voice cracking through my broken little head. My muscles felt like lead however and all I could do was watch him. My breaths seem to shorten in their distance, my lungs trying to fill with a panicky rapidness. "Alaric..." I whispered his name out.

Where was he? Frantically, I searched the room.

Four demons.

My mother.

And me.

My knees weakened and I stepped back just as the man, Johnny stood up. "Run, bunny... I love the chase," he winked.

I screamed.

The high-pitched tone was accompanied by the sound of a bullet.

My watery eyes snapped to where the noise had come from. Alaric stood in the opening of the hallway, he held a rifle in his hands, "Come here, Vaela." Alaric kept his eyes on the strangers.

"Wow man, take it easy," Johnny turned his foul gaze from me to the reaper currently itching to pull the trigger.

"Now, Vaela." Alaric hissed, cocking the gun.

His words seemed to kickstart my heart, the adrenaline raced back up my body and I moved absently across the room to him, my back pressed against the wooden walls as my eyes watched the scene.

Alaric wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me behind his form the moment I was within reach, not once shifting his eyes from Johnny.

One of the other men tried to move, but Alaric cocked his head and then another bullet pierced the air. "Sit the fuck down," Alaric growled and somehow his words were heard through the cry of pain that left the man he'd just shot in the kneecap.

They stumbled back and dropped down beside my mother's limp body once more.

Her head lulled off to the side as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. I couldn't speak, the fear hindering my ability to speak clearly. How could I tell Alaric these were the bad men in my dreams?

"We mean no harm, just let us leave..." The injured man said, he had a slight accent to his voice and despite his enlarged irises, he was sobering real quick.

"Names?" Alaric asked, ignoring the plea.

The accented man looked at Johnny before replying, "Eric."

"John."

The third man, more heavily built and stocky with a tattoo of a raven across his neck spoke next, "Dave."

Finally, the last man, the youngest and clearly the most fearful said, "Tommy."

Johnny or John, the clear leader of the group took control once more, "we just came for a bit of fun, those shots will have police on their way in minutes. Just let us go."

I wanted to scream at Alaric, tell him to shoot the men, tell him to rip their souls from their fucking chests. But all that escaped was another shaky cry.

Alaric seemed to be debating something and for a fraction of a second, he turned back to look at me, what he found in my eyes must've given him the answer he needed.

But that small distraction was enough. The sound of heavy boots cut through the floorboards and Alaric whipped his attention back towards the room. He was quick, firing off the rifle once, cycled, cocked and then twice.

The groans of pain and agony were loud, but the sound of an engine roaring to life outside had Alaric crossing the room within a few strides, he stood at the door and cocked the gun, and another bullet whistled through the air.

Glass shattered and Alaric disappeared.

I looked back at the two bodies, the ones Alaric had shot before they'd been able to escape.

Eric held his chest, blood spilling between his fingers and sinking into the cracks of the wood. While Tommy curled into a fetal position, both knees shattered. Eric splutters out words, choking on his own life.

"H-help..." He stammered, reaching one crimson-covered hand out towards me.

But those eyes had haunted me for too many nights and there was something awfully beautiful in watching him slowly die. I rested back against the wooden hallway and sunk down to the floor.

I watched him as he spat blood and wheezed his last breaths. The colour dripped from his face and his pupils expanded, staring deathly into mine. Finally, his body stopped moving and I crawled forward.

"W-what are you doing?" Tommy cried, trying his hardest to scramble back but failing as his palms slipped on the silky blood around them.

I reached out and touched Eric. His skin was still warm but I could feel it slowly chill as the breeze carried through the living room from the open door.

A board creaked outside and I looked up, reaching onto the coffee table beside me, I felt around and grabbed a pair of scissors. Flakes of bud sat between the blades as I lifted the metal between my shaky hands.

Pushing back I slipped around the side of the sofa and watched the door.

Black boots, black slacks and black eyes.

The scissors clattered to the ground as I breathed out his name, "Alaric..."

He found me instantly, walking across the room he did not stop to flinch even once at the deceased man, nor the other who seemed to be paling by the minute.

Alaric wrapped his arm around my waist and lifted me, I clung to his neck and he placed me on his hip. "Shh, sweet girl, I've got you..." His gruff voice felt like home. Warm and deep, it seeped into my bones like honey.

He looked down at Claire, who groaned and flopped down on the sofa, she mumbled something but his attention shifted to Tommy.

Keeping hold of me with one arm, he cocked his rifle and nudged the man's temple. "Crawl." Then he pointed to the hallway with the tip of the firearm.

"Please don't k-kill me," Tommy whimpered as he dragged his body across the hallway.

Alaric grunted, "faster."

"Fuck, please... I-I'll do a-anything," he said the words fumbling over sobs.

Kicking open the master bedroom door, Alaric pressed his lips to my forehead as Tommy sobbed against the leg of my mother's bed. "Hold on, baby." Alaric waited until I strengthened my legs and arms around him, clinging onto his strong body I peeked between thick lashes as he knelt.

Alaric grabbed Tommy's foot, ripping his shoe off while sirens sounded in the distance. Next was Tommy's sock, which Alaric crushed in his fist before shoving it into the wide-eyed man's mouth. Unlacing the shoes, Alaric tied the sock to Tommy's head.

Then he stood and walked over to the closet before dropping back down and wedging open a floorboard. My eyes widened as I took note of the various firearms, money and other questionable items. Alaric grabbed a line of rope and made his way back over to Tommy.

"Make a sound and I'll put a bullet through your head before you finish a single fucking word." Alaric snapped while tying Tommy's hands together and then binding him to the bed.

To emphasis his point, he pressed down on one splatter kneecap, "not a fucking sound."

The sirens became louder and Alaric grunted his annoyance. He grabbed his rifle before walking back through the house and into the living room.

A yelp left my mouth as he lifted the base of the gun and snapped it against my mother's head, the skin on her forehead split and blood gushed from the laceration. Then he swiped his hand in the dead man's blood and smeared it across my chest, roughening my hair he inspected his work before nodding.

He grabbed a damp cloth from the kitchen and wiped up the trail of blood Tommy had left, thankfully a majority of it had clung to the man's jeans so it only took a minute to clear the hall. 

Lastly, Alaric grabbed the drugs off the table, shoved them into the sides of the sofa and dropped down to the ground with me still wrapped around his body. He placed his fingers on the deadman's pulse just as flashing blue and red lights lit up the room.

"Alaric?" I whispered.

He hummed softly, pressing his lips to mine before murmuring back, "they came in to rob us, they hurt your mother and you and I shot one of them in defence, the other two got away. Don't say anything unless I give you the okay, Vaela. Be a good girl for me."

I nodded, "okay."

Gravel shuffled and then heavy footsteps carried across the porch.

"Police, everyone stay where you are, hands where we can see them!"

"Police! No one move!"

I clung to Alaric and he lifted his palms in a surrendering gesture as three armed officers entered through the front door...