“Yeah, well you tell the boss. I’m just going to stay out here and keep doing what I’m paid to do.”
“I ain’t saying nothing to nobody!”
“Yeah, you are. You keep complaining — like it makes a difference. We do what we gotta do.”
“I didn’t say I wasn’t going to do my job, I’m just complaining about it a little first.”
“And during. And after,” the other man said.
Just behind them where they stood close to each other looking out over the snow covered drive leading up to the classic old mansion they protected, Tempest smiled to herself as she reached out and laid a hand on each of their shoulders.
“That hand ain’t gonna help keep me warm,” the complainer said.
“Well, I ain’t got no use for it! Get your fucking hand off me,” his friend answered.
“What? I ain’t touching…” the complainer said, turning toward his friend. That’s when he saw her. “Holy fuck!” he gasped, darting away from the creature standing behind them.
“What are you freaking out about now?!” the other asked, glaring at him as he watched him nearly break his neck on the ice as he struggled to put distance between them.
The complainer had regained his footing and was moving steadily backward as his gloved hand fumbled for his gun beneath his coat.
“The fuck is wrong with you?” his friend asked irritatedly.
“I think he’s a little unnerved by my presence,” Tempest said.
The man startled and spun around, getting a good look at Tempest. She seemed like a beautiful woman, any beautiful woman you’d see walking down the street in any city or town. Until you looked into her eyes. They were black and soulless. No pupils, no whites. Just black and empty, like a shark. They didn’t even shine in the warm lights of the lamps mounted on either side of the gates that protected the house inside the large, stone wall surrounding the perimeter of the property. It was like the light was absorbed into the emptiness in her eyes rather than reflecting back outward. “Who the fuck are you?” he demanded, at least holding himself together a little bit better than his friend had.
Tempest sighed tiredly. “I think the better question is, what the hell am I?”
The man’s expression changed to one of irritation, until Tempest smiled.
Her teeth appeared to be jaggedly pointed and uneven, with little pieces of what looked like flesh stuck between a few of them. Something red and faded seemed to be staining the upper edges of her teeth near her gums. It was a simple glamour toterrify the humans, complete with the rotting flesh smell, but it worked as well as if she really had rotting skin between her teeth.
His eyes widened with fear as he backed away further away from her. “I ain’t got no problems with you! Whatever you’re here for, it don’t concern me!”
“Doesn’t it though?” she asked, shrugging and lifting her hands palm up in question.
About ten feet to her left the complainer had finally managed to retrieve his gun from its holster and leveled it at her.
She grinned at his friend, pretending she didn’t notice the complainer preparing to shoot her. “Watch this,” she whispered.
The complainer held the gun steady and pulled the trigger three times, hatred and determination coloring his face.
Tempest calmly plucked the bullets out of the air one at a time until she held all three in her hand. She held her hand out to show both men.
Both of them were terrified, unsure of what they were dealing with, but knowing beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was not of this world.
“My turn!” she sing-songed happily as the complainer pressed the button on his radio.
“We’re under attack, I repeat, under attack!” he screamed into the radio.
Tempest threw two of the bullets at the complainer and they pierced his body as though fired from a gun. One lodged in his chest, the other right between the eyes. His body dropped into the snow, a steady stain of deep red blood spreading across the blanket of white beneath him.
His friend, turned and started running as best he could on the frozen ground.
Tempest laughed and misted to a place right in front of him, causing him to run right into her as he looked back over his shoulder to try to see where she was.
He bounced off her, stumbling backward as she reached out and grabbed him by the collar of his coat.
