The Story So Far > Chapter 34

Download the story so far by downloading here!

Chapter 34- What Happened in the Alley

Cole has been by Eliza’s bedside since he got to the hospital some hours ago. It takes a long time for him to ask, and when he does, when she tells him what happened in the alleyway, he falls into silence. Her words wash over him like the radio, the description flowing into his mind's eye and painting the picture. 

Daisy sleeps the moment she gets into the shed where she sometimes brings her guests. It’s simply that, a shed, on the busy road between the vets where Adita works and the suburbs where she lives, where she hunts. Her knees give way the moment she closes the door behind her. And, as she sleeps the world transforms into the alleyway, her head pounding, blood rushing, adrenaline pumping. She wakes and tries to sleep once again. But again, she’s back, unable to escape, trapped at the dead end. 

“Yeah,-. Where are you?” Cole’s voice on the other end was exasperated, doughy with weeks of insomnia but Eliza told him anyway, knowing he’ll come get her. 

“Neverland. It’s the club that used to be ‘Snitch’.” She stumbled from one foot to the other, the heel sliding out from under her foot as she caught the slimy wall with a shaking hand. She knew something was wrong. She had three drinks, ate before and this wasn’t how she should have felt. “D-Do you remember it?” 

“Yeah, I remember it. I’m coming. Be there in like… twenty?” 

She nodded, even though she couldn’t see him and hung up the phone just in time to see the little blonde fury storming towards her. “Daisy?” 

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing, bitch? Calling my boyfriend in the middle of the night,” Daisy’s voice was thick with anger, tough and unforgiving. But Eliza could barely see her in the dark, not when the alley kept moving from side to side. “He’s mine. You need to stay away from him, do you understand?” 

Eliza blinked, her hand once more clutching onto the wall but her grip was too weak, the wall too slimy from the dripping pipe above and she fell backwards. Daisy caught hold of her, pulling her clothes until she was upright. She didn’t feel her nails scraping across Eliza’s golden skin. Neither woman noticed the scratch or the rip in her neckline .

The smaller woman looked at the other with a frown, her brows creased now not in malice but in confusion tinged with concern. “Eliza? How much have you had to drink?” 

Swaying visibly on her heels, Eliza held up three fingers which made Daisy’s eyes roll in contempt. “Of course you have,” she positioned the taller woman against the wall with difficulty. “Cole’s coming to get you, right?” 

Daisy felt trapped by Eliza’s nod. She couldn’t leave the woman like this, wasted and vulnerable in an alleyway, but she knew it was going to be a challenge to explain this to Cole when he arrived. 

As is always the case with Daisy, she chose to stay. While this decision would eventually lead to her injuries, Daisy would never regret it. And Eliza? Would always owe her for it. 

No sooner had Daisy decided to stay, when the staff entrance to the club creaked open. 

Eliza recognised her date at once, Daisy took longer to put two and two together. 

“There you are, baby,” he said in his deep, baritone voice, his eyes fixed on Eliza the way a lion sets sights on a deer. “Thank you for waiting with her, she had one too many shots.” he added, not benefitting the blonde with a glance. “I’ll take her home.” 

“Shots?” Daisy said. She looked from one to the other. After the nightmare of her formative years, Daisy would never be accused of being too trusting of a man again, and tonight was no exception. She’d watched almost the entire night, seen Eliza drink wine, queue and go into the nightclub before turning up in the bathroom a matter of minutes later. She knew there was no way someone could drink that many shots in that length of time. 

People may debate for millenia about whether they are born or bred, but the truth is there are two kinds of predators. Some are bred, circumstance beating the empathy from a normal human being until only the fight is left. Others are born. And the thing about born-predators is that they know prey when they see it. It’s instinctive, a homing device, a need. 

Unluckily for Eliza, she currently stood in an alley with both kinds of predator. 

“Yes, shots. Did I stutter?” The man said, his snarl set on Daisy, his eyes following his fury only to fix instead on her. “Who are you?” 

The thing about bred-predators is that they often can be mistaken for prey, a fact they generally use to their advantage. Daisy is no exception. 

Daisy transformed, her stature shrinking slightly, her round eyes widening, her lips pouting forwards weakly. “M-my name’s Daisy.” 

He let the door shut behind him, the welcome light from the club snapped off like an omen. “That so?” he asked, his eyes fixed on a new deer. He didn’t need to do the calculation, he already knew. Eliza might have needed the powder to be taken by him, she’s tall, trained, strong. But this little thing? She wouldn’t pose a challenge to anyone. 

Daisy knew the grab was coming before he lunged. She threw herself to one side, shoving Eliza to the ground as she dodged his grip. With the reprieve she finds as he stumbles, she thrust her hand into her handbag, reaching for the syringe she always carried with her. Instead, her fingers rummage through the oversized glasses, the folded headphones. Her disguise her undoing and he slammed into her with the force of a charging bull. Air left her lungs in an instant. Her head smacked the wall of the alley with a sickening crack that hurt both the back and front of her head. 

“Stupid bitch, stay still and take it,” he hissed in her ear, rummaging at his waistband. 

Although Daisy will never know it, it’s Eliza’s hand that fisted in the back of his t-shirt, yanking him hard backwards, giving the younger woman time to step free. 

He choked on his own neckline and turned to kick Eliza hard in the face. Her fingers release. 

Daisy hurled herself at him, scrabbling, scratching, kicking in a desperate animalistic attempt at rescue. But the man was twice her weight and threw her off him. Limbs fly through the air. Handbag upside down and the contents clatter to the ground. She landed on the damp concrete, dazed, muscles complaining, survival urges on fire. He advanced on her as she pushed herself to her side.

The kick was vicious, brutal and clean. It takes just one to double her over, gasping, helpless. Pain shattered through Daisy like a spiderwebbing window, every inch of her screaming. 

He didn’t notice, nor would he have cared if he had. His eyes were on Eliza, panting on the floor. He propped her up on the wall like a ragdoll. One of his hands ran up her warm thigh, gathering black material at his wrist. The other fingered the rip at her neckline. 

Eliza could do nothing but watch, trapped in her own body. 

Watch as he touched her. Listen as he whispered promises in her ear. See as the syringe flashed in the dim light, before burying in his thigh. 

Daisy squeezed the plunger with a grimy hand - a small movement causing so much agony. She sprawled on the alley floor as he fell back. She had army crawled over the filth of the alley; desperate horror for the other woman overtaking all other certainties. 

He hit the floor as Eliza blackened into unconsciousness. 

Daisy had no such amnesty. 

Two days later, Daisy’s job is finished. The nameless man is gone. Eliza, although hurt, was awake in the hospital. Yes, Cole thought she was a monster who would hurt his ex. Yes, she was in pain, but everyone survives. 

Everyone who matters. 

Miles away, everyone who matters sit in silence in a hospital room in the city. Eliza’s story is over, and all eyes are on her. Cole, and Jahlani stare at her. Jahlani, drops his gaze quickly, wanting to give her privacy over her moment. Cole’s eyes stay on hers. 

The silence is pregnant. No one moves. 

Then, abrupt in his confusion, Cole leans forwards. “But what about Daisy? Where was Daisy?” 

Eliza looks him dead in the eyes, gaze steady, unflinching before she says, “Daisy? Daisy wasn’t there.”