It was a still night, overcast but it didn’t feel like rain was imminent. Maybe that would come later. Despite there being no storm brewing, there was a sudden spark of lightening, followed by the deep rumble of thunder which made a few mortals in the surrounding area gasp in surprise, but, as usual, they quickly went back to their own business. Things like unusual weather were not too much of a shock in this city.
As the light of the lightning bolt disappeared, there was a bright white figure stood in its place who hadn’t been there before. The creature folded its pale wings close to its body, then gave a small shiver as the sexless form transformed into a young woman. She was wearing a leather jacket which was too big on her and her jeans had holes in the knees which were definitely not designer. Underneath she wore black leggings for warmth and a t-shirt which had once been white but was now a faded grey.
Alena’s eyes slid shut and she took in a deep breath, her arms outstretched as she stood on top of the tall building. Her thick, dark hair blew in the wind, giving her a windswept look, but she made no move to try to restrain it. She could feel the electricity which had been in the air from her appearance fading far too quickly for her liking.
Buildings like this were usually throbbing with electricity, but there was a distinct lack of that in this quiet building and that was unnerving for the demon, and might put a flaw in her plan. She had been expecting some kind of electronic lock on the door up to the roof, but instead when she shook the handle, it felt like there was a large padlock on the inside. Alena gave a small sigh and glanced around, a smile appearing on her lips as she spotted a potential other option.
To be honest, she knew there would have been easier ways to get in on the ground floor, it was a known squatters den, but she was hoping there was something here who might be able to help her who wasn’t one of them and if they were here they would be on higher levels. She didn’t want to go through a load of squatters to get to what she needed, if it was even here. She had nothing against them, she was one of them, but she didn’t want to waste time.
Alena dragged a couple of concrete blocks over to a large vent and hoisted herself up onto them, before pulling a small penknife out of her back pocket. She made quick work of the screws which held the vent cover in place and lowered it quietly to the floor, wincing slightly as it made a quiet clang. She waited for a few seconds, listening down the metal tunnel, but hearing nothing gave her confidence a boost and she quickly pulled herself up and slid into the tunnel. Her heavy boots would have made a loud sound, but the noise from dropping the vent from higher than intended had put her on edge so she took more care to be quiet as she moved.
Alena made her way down the internal ladder, designed for workmen, not intruders, her heart pounding as she went. She hadn’t done anything like this by herself before, usually there was the back-up of her family, but they were gone so this was all on her. She couldn’t let herself get distracted by that though, so she focused on feeling for each rung carefully, until she found herself in the air vents. Alena crouched down, then arranged herself onto her hands and knees to crawl through the tunnels. She peered through the first vent she came to, her eyes drifting over the plush furniture and designer features of the top floor quarters.
Her fingers made a move to look for the penknife again, but then she paused, instead pressing her hand against the metal. Not electricity, but there was something which she could sense but not quite put her fingers on. No, there was no point even attempting to get into this penthouse apartment – maybe there would be some useful shit in there, but she didn’t want to waste time to get nowhere.
After moving on, Alena eventually made her way to an elevator shaft and she grinned as she finally found something she could use. She swung her legs out first, letting them dangle for a second as she eyed up the various wires which held up the machine which she couldn’t even see in the dim light. There was emergency lighting which Alena was very happy about – even if it wasn’t the main power source she could still use it. After stealing her nerves, Alena flung herself into the middle of the shaft, adrenaline shooting through her as she grabbed the wires and wrapped her body around it. She could have transformed and flown, but despite being small, she wasn’t sure her wings would stretch out fully in here, and where was the fun in life if you didn’t take the odd risk or six?
Once she was secure Alena did transform, a necessity to use her powers. She let out a happy hum of pleasure as she felt the delicate buzz of power in the cables and she let her spirit flow into it, her corporeal form disappearing in a flash.
Her movements were much faster now as she travelled the current, searching for some kind of hint of what she might be able to use to her advantage. Before long, she reappeared on floor 26, not bothering to transform into her human form as she entered the residence of one of the Oligarchs. The apartment was looking quite bare, but not completely empty, like whoever had been here had moved out in a hurry, leaving behind things which didn’t matter. But their scent remained. It was a type of demon she’d smelt before, but not for a while. It smelt of darkness, despair, but for her it was hope.
“Where did you go?” she whispered to herself as she strolled through the rooms. They were huge, especially if only one person had been living here. His scent was old, it had been months since he’d been here, but it gave her a start. She now knew what type of demon he was and his scent if she were to run into him in the future.
The study was dark, but a brush of her fingers against a lamp changed that, sparking it to life with the flicker of equipment which had been out of use for some time. Alena rummaged around in the desk drawers, but there was nothing of any kind of use. No computer, no papers, fuck all. In one Alena found a marker pen and moved back to the living room, uncapping it with a flutter of anger in the pit of her stomach as she scrawled on the wall where the TV should have been.
WE NEED YOU
She stepped back to admire her handiwork, her blue eyes glinting and a smirk on her face. Well, even if she couldn’t talk to him it made her feel a little better to get it out there. And the red showed up so nicely against that perfect white paint.
After discarding the pen on the floor, Alena made her way into the bedroom where the bed lay made, but slightly wrinkled, as though people had placed things on top of the cover – maybe whilst packing bags? At least the bed was still here though. Alena transformed back into her human form and kicked off her boots revealing bare toes, before crawling onto the huge bed, running her grubby fingers over the smooth silk sheets. It wasn’t more comfortable in her human form, but with demons being killed in public it didn’t feel safe resting in her winged form, where it was too easy to see what she was. The sheets smelt stale, but his scent was strong amongst the pillows, unwashed from when he was last here.
Alena curled up amongst the pillows on top of the sheets, resting her head on them. She didn’t really know what she’d expected coming here, but she couldn’t help being disappointed. The Oligarch had been gone for months. It wasn’t like she’d show up here and… what? He’d just be sat here waiting? Like that was all it needed, someone to tell him they needed him and he’d reappear? That was too much to fucking hope for. But there had to be someone who could help her bring down that vampire scum.
Alena rolled onto her front and let out a scream of rage against the pillow, before flinging one of them across the room where it hit the wall with a very unsatisfying 'flump'. She scowled at it for a few seconds before flopping back onto the remaining pile of pillows, then with a click of her fingers she put out the bedside lamp (which shattered the bulb in the process) and rolled onto her side to consider what to do next.
