The Goblin's Daughter

The Goblin's Daughter
Chapter One: Baiting

"Craven, get your ass over here! I'm not going to able to hold her much longer." Brynn laughed cruelly, "this one is feisty!"
I watched Craven's tall and lanky shadow as it made its way through the darkening alley. The girl, and I used that term loosely, struggled against Brynn's chest. He had his arms around her like steel braces and I smiled when she looked up at me and I could see the fear in her eyes.
"Please," she whispered, "help me."
Her words made me stop, but not out of pity. I crossed my arms around my chest and watched Craven get right up in her face. My stomach twisted when he licked her cheek out of some sick fascination to see her flinch. It was starting to become more difficult to hide these growing urges coming from some dark place inside of me.
"This one is pretty Brynn. Can't we keep her?" Craven asked as he stroked the side of her face.
"Just do it already, man. Shira's next."
The small girl across from me squealed and clapped her hands, "yeah, hurry up Crav, I want to play," she pouted.
Craven winked and blew her a kiss. "Greedy little Pixie, isn't she?"
Shira giggled like Craven was the funniest person in the world. I couldn't help rolling my eyes. More often than not, they got on my nerves, but there was no one at home that would understand these dark needs boiling inside of me. My new friends certainly fulfilled those well enough. For now, I amended.
When Craven began murmuring to the sobbing girl, my focus became her. Her lips were full and trembling, rosy pink and perfect. My breathing started coming in shallow little pants, my heart began racing in my chest and my hands got all sweaty. When he moved closer, his eyes closing softly, I licked my own lips in anticipation.
It was the closest thing to erotic I had ever felt. There was a light breeze sending icy chills over my heated cheeks and making me hyper aware of everything around me. The scratch of Brynn's clothing where it rubbed against the girls, Shira's shallow breathing, other heartbeats racing in time with mine, the ragged breathing and broken sobs of the girl we had captured. It was all enveloping me like a blanket of sensations.
Finally, when Craven leaned all of the way in to the girl, we all focused in on her lips. Even Brynn strained his neck to get a better look. A small moan escaped Craven's throat just before his tongue darted out and ran across her bottom lip.
Heat flashed through me when he pushed closer and smashed his lips against hers. Shira walked closer and placed her hand on her boyfriends back before leaning up and kissing his neck. With his lips still pressed to the girls, he reached up with his free hand and pulled Shira's head closer, forcing her to continue kissing him.
My eyes met Brynn's over the tops of the others heads. He was looking at me; really looking at me. In a way that should have made me feel excited. Instead, it made my skin crawl and I shivered. He smiled and his amber eyes narrowed before he licked his own lips. I turned away and hugged my arms tighter around my chest. This wasn't what I had come here for and I didn't want to give him the wrong impression.
When Craven's moans turned to something closer to a groan, my eyes snapped back. It was just in time to see his knees buckle before falling to the ground shaking. The scream that came was from the girl and Shira yelled at her to be quiet. Instead of dropping to check on her fallen boyfriend, she reached up and met the girls lips with her own. This time, it was much quicker. After just a few seconds Shira joined Craven shaking uncontrollably on the ground.
"I am going to try to turn her Gianna, then it's all you babe," Brynn said, smiling cruelly over at me.
I rolled my eyes, but luckily, he didn't notice. The girl screamed and cursed when he tried to turn her in his arms. Reaching up, she was able to rake her fingers across his face, streams of bright red blood began pooling in his flesh and I felt my stomach begin to get queasy. What the hell was I doing here?
Before he was able to get her back under control, she grabbed him and kissed him, throwing him completely off guard. It wasn't enough to drop him like the others, but it was enough for her to break completely free.
I backed away when she turned toward me and she laughed. "You are all sick!" She spat on the ground, "I've heard of people like you and you deserve everything you get!" She spun on her heel and fled from the alley.
I closed my eyes against the onslaught of memories her words evoked. The last time I had faced off against a Banshee, I had lost the most important person in my life; Mitch. A single tear slid down my cheek before I swiped it away.
Both Shira and Craven were still on the ground and I knew that they were getting close to the point of no return. Brynn was lying on his side facing me, his eyes watched me, waiting for me to go to him. We'd done this before. I knew what I was needed for.
The problem was, I was over it. I had no desire to bring them back. After a few more seconds it clicked in Brynn's mind what I was thinking. His eyes widened and he began struggling, sweat breaking out all over his exposed skin. I knew that if I left, they'd all die, but it wasn't me that killed them, not really.
"It's been real fun guys," I called down to them before turning my back and walking down the alley in the opposite direction the girl had gone. I heard Brynn still struggling behind me, but I wasn't worried. It wouldn't take long.
In our world, with our heightened senses, it was difficult to find any recreational drugs that we could use. There wasn't much out there that could alter our awareness. Not willing to be out done by our human counterparts, we have had to discover other means to achieve that drug induced euphoria.
A few weeks ago, Brynn found me on the beach. I had been spending a lot of time away from the island and he was an Intuit so he knew what I was when he found me. Very few people knew of my newly developed talent as a Healer, but he knew it the minute he saw me and asked if I'd be willing to try a little experiment with him and a few of his friends.
Banshee baiting was the newest trend. It was a rush unlike anything most had ever felt because the kiss of the Banshee was deadly. Hence the need for a Healer nearby. Brynn had been looking for one for a while. Apparently we are rare.
I had been involved a few baitings since meeting Brynn and his friends. Not only was it a rush to bring people back from being that close to death, having the power to achieve this was its own kind of drug. One that I couldn't help feeling had come to me too late.
Mostly though, and I wasn't proud of this, I liked seeing the Banshee captured, contained, and humiliated. I liked seeing their control and their power stripped away. It was a sick glitch in my brain, but given everything that had happened to me, I guessed it was sort of normal. Right?
It all came back to Mitch; always to Mitch. Just thinking about him made my chest tighten and my heart hurt. It used to make me cry. Not now. Now I was just numb. The only time I felt anything was when I'd look into those random Banshee's eyes.
Even now, leaving Craven, Shira, and Brynn behind me; leaving them to die, I couldn't find it in myself to care. I was emotionless. I was an empty shell in which everything inside of me had died months before. Had died even before that Healer had brought me back to life.
I laughed to myself. The Banshee had been wrong. I didn't deserve everything that happened. I didn't deserve my past and Mitch didn't deserve his. The three people behind me didn't even deserve what I had left them to. Regardless of what was deserved and what wasn't, life always seemed to swoop down on you... and sometimes... only the strong survived. I had become one of the strong.