Justin takes a drag off of the cigarette hanging between his lips. He takes it from his lips with his right hand and holds it between his pointer and middle fingers loosely. He scratches his head with his left hand and sighs as he looks down at the pictures floating in the water tray below him. The red light fills the room he is in and somewhat dry pictures hang on a line behind him. The turned heads of AJ and Josh look at each other as there mouths hang open in conversation. He pushes down a new picture into the water as he takes another drag off a cigarette. He stretches out his back slightly as the figure standing behind a bar begins to take shape. Justin looks down at it as the facial features come into focus. He stares at AJ’s black and white colored face stares directly back at him. AJ was staring straight at him in the photograph. A shiver runs up and down his spine as he takes another long drag off of the cigarette.
He turns around suddenly on his heels as he hears someone begin to walk towards his door. He could hear the sounds of heavily clad feet make their way down the wooden floors. He crouches down slightly as he opens his dark room door and walks out into the darkness of his apartment’s living room. It was his instinct. Get low to the ground and prepare to run like hell at whoever was coming. He didn’t know anyone here. Not yet. Not well enough to come to his door. Maybe AJ had caught a glimpse of him at some point. He stops dead in his tracks a step before his front door and stares at the wood. A low growl escapes his lips as he puts one hand on the doorknob and slowly turns it. He throws the door open in one swift motion and lungs out into the hall drawing one of his guns and pointing it down the hall. No one. Nothing.
Justin lowers the gun slowly, hesitantly, as he looks around the hallway. He turns around on his heels again as he goes to walk back into his apartment. He looks at his door as a small wreath of flowers around the doorknob. Justin crouches in closer to them. Marigolds. He lets out a low growl and snatches them off the doorknob.
“Lance!” he yells, “get out here!”
“Why do you hate those flowers so much, Justin?” Lance asks as he appears in the far corner of the hallway. He stands cloaked in an old fashioned black cloak with the hood pulled up over his head.
Justin growls lowly at him, “Get out of here. He’s mine.”
“Why are you so hot to get him?” Lance asks walking foreword, “Huh?”
“Nevermind,” Justin says.
Lance shakes his head, “Temper. Temper. Reaper.”
“Shutup,” Justin snaps, “I can tear you limb from limb.”
“And I can send you flying out a window,” Lance snaps back, “You’re nothing but a wolf, Justin. I…I am more than that. I am immortal.”
“All immortals can die,” Justin smirks, “Lets find out how you can.”
“Back off Reaper,” Lance says, “Seek and Destroy could grill your hairy ass.”
“Seek and Destroy are a legend,” Justin says, “A legend.”
“Just like a Reaper is,” Lance smirks.
“So tell me…what brings Death to my door?” Justin asks him calmly.
“Word is you’re going for Alexander James.”
“And if I am?”
“Then you’re more suicidal then I thought,” Lance smirks.
“Why do you say that?”
“Because,” Lance says simply, “Because he is one of the oldest left.”
“I thought he was the oldest?” Justin asks.
Lance shakes his head no, “No, the elders stay hidden. Them and their 400 BC born asses.”
“What does this have to do with AJ?” Justin asks growing impatient.
“Just that AJ…AJ owns this town. He controls everything in it including the Witching Counsel…”
“And…”
“And there is a hit out on your pretty little head,” Lance smirks as Justin’s face falls.
“What?”
“You heard me. They don’t know who you are, but others do. Others like us. The hunters who kill for profit. AJ put out a hit early this morning. Anyone with known information that will lead to the kill or kills the elusive Reaper will be granted 2 million. Possibly more. You’re dealing with a vampire for the first time that is smarter than you. You’re as good as dead,” Lance smirks.
“Why are you telling me this?” Justin asks, “Why aren’t you stabbing me in the back yet?”
“Because,” Lance’s face falls, “Because I know why you are doing all these executions. Because I know you have a good reason to do them and because we don’t need to loose one of our best. Your parents would be proud of you…”
“Shutup,” Justin snaps growling softly, “Death has made its presence known…now you can leave.”
Lane nods, “I’ll be around. Find me if you need me.”
Justin lets out a low growl at him as Lance begins to fade away before completely vanishing. He looks back down at the marigolds that were partially crushed in his hand. He sighs and brings them up closer to his face sniffing them lightly before crushing them in his large hand.
“Why’d you do that?” a voice says from behind him as his ears perk up at the sound of another person.
He turns around and stares calmly at the small female elf before him. She was dressed once again completely in earth tones and an old-fashioned deep brown cloak hung around her loosely. The hood was up over her head covering her hair from view. Elves…elves were tricky. They were as light on their feet as vampires if not more so. They never made a sound as they moved and when they talked it…it was almost indescribable. It sounded like the calm bubbling of a brook some times and others it warmed you from the inside out almost like hot chocolate on a cold winter’s day. New York had one of the largest elfish populations in the world and few cities actually permitted them to live in the concrete kingdoms. They were too passive for their own good at times and others…well others they could decapitate you faster then you could say Santa Clause.
“Why’d you do that?” she asks again calmly walking towards him.
“I…marigolds bring back bad memories,” Justin says calmly looking down at it.
“I know…I can see it in you,” she says as she takes his hands and covers the marigolds with them, “Sometimes you have to move on from them though. You can’t be afraid of flowers,” she says smiling as she puts her hands on his.
He smiles at her almost stupidly as a warm feeling comes over his body. Yes, everything would be ok. The sun shone through the window at the far end of the hall brighter. He could here soft whispering in the wind as it blew through the window. Life moved slower. He could feel himself within everything. In the saplings newly planted on their block as they caught their first rays from the sun. It was a gift. A gift to feel everything within yourself, the way nature spoke to you and you alone. His people had lost that gift long ago. He could feel himself being slowly shut off again and she calmly slipped her hands off his and smiles at him.
“Don’t be so angry all the time. It’s not healthy,” she says to him as she begins to back up away from him turning around.
“WAIT!” Justin blurts out as he instantly reels back from the embarrassment of yelling something out.
She turns around effortlessly on her heels as she stares at him, “Yeah?”
“It’s only eight in the morning right?”
She nods, “And? I’m a morning person.”
“You wanna go get a cup of coffee or something?” he asks her, “I don’t really know the city that well yet…you think you can show me around…maybe…possibly…ok you don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
“What do you want to see?” she asks him smiling.
He shrugs calmly, “Touristy things.”
“I need to be somewhere by four though ok,” she says.
“Ok,” he nods, “Let me go get my coat ok,” he says as he runs back into his apartment quickly. He opens his hand slowly and stares at the marigolds in his hands that looked like they had newly blossomed. He puts them on his coffee table softly before grabbing his coat off his couch and throwing it on in one swift motion. He reaches over and grabs the handgun that was lying underneath it and shoves it into the waistband of his pants before stopping suddenly…SHIT. ‘Touristy places…you idiot. Touristy places have metal detectors. Shit. Shit. Shit. Well maybe I can focus on places that don’t…yeah, yeah, I’ll do that. Idiot,” he thinks to himself as shakes his head to himself and runs back out of his apartment shutting and locking the door behind him.
Nick looks up from sipping his coffee as he notices a couple in the corner talking quietly. The young man kept fidgeting and distracting himself by fingering a piece of a tied up straw wrapper. He looks next at the small girl sitting oddly and extremely poised across the table from him. Her brown hair covered the side of her face as small streaks of deep purple cut into it here and there. The young man’s curly dirty blond hair sticks out untamed here and there as he runs a nervous hand through it. Nick knew the girl…where did he know her? She takes one hand and moves her hair behind her ear as a pointed ear protrudes.
“Oh. My. God,” Nick says to himself standing up from his table abruptly as he walks over to the table and grabs the young man by the shoulder suddenly pulling him towards the bathroom. Once they were out of sight Nick could feel him grab his right arm and effortlessly throw him over his shoulder onto the floor. Nick lands with a loud thud as Justin stares down at him eyes glowing with rage and breathing heavily. Nick could have sworn he was growling too.
“WHOA!” Nick yells at him from the floor, “It’s me…JUSTIN, it’s Nick! Nick, Nick the Rider!”
Justin’s eyes soften slightly as he takes a deep breath and lets go of Nick’s arm staring down at him, “What!”
“What are you doing?” Nick asks standing up slowly and making sure to keep a distance between himself and Justin.
“Breakfast,” Justin says bluntly staring at Nick.
Nick lets out a long breath, “With a girl?”
“Yesss…and your point is?” Justin asks.
“That girl.”
“Yes, damnit. She lives in my building,” Justin says.
Nick shakes his head, “You know she’s an elf right?”
Justin nods, “I got that impression.”
“Her name is Quest right?” Nick asks as Justin nods, “Well her real name is Questapatania.”
“I know that,” Justin says.
“Well did you know she’s the next in line to take the thrown for the elves here?” Nick asks, “Huh?”
Justin stares at him as his mouth drops slightly, “Shit.”
“Yeah…yeah shit,” Nick says, “Elves are great. Passive people mostly. Still in tune with their roots and nature. They have a sort of warmth around them. She…she probably has the warmth of the sun around her. She is powerful as all hell Justin. She has been trained to fight with the best of them as well. There is a whole file on her…”
“Show me it,” Justin says.
“I’m not at liberty to do that,” Nick says.
“But you’ll show me the Master of the Cities?”
“I…do…NOT want to piss off the elves. Don’t get your hopes up either,” Nick says looking at him, “Elves still play by the old rules and she’s set to marry another elf, her uncle choice of course.”
“And how does she feel about it?”
Nick shrugs, “Ask her.”
Justin shakes his head and begins to walk away.
“They don’t look kindly on werewolves Justin,” he says, “The elves.”
Justin pushes the door open and walks back out into the crowd looking for his table. He begins to walk to his table when he sees another young man sitting in his seat talking to Quest softly. He could hear the words softly as they floated across the floor to his sensitive ears. They were elfish; the oldest language in the world, and the sound was almost like they were talking with their singing voices. He could have just stood there and listened to them if he wanted to.
“Hey,” Quest says looking over at him and smiling, “Where’d you go?”
“Someone needed to talk to me,” Justin says as he begins to walk to the table and catches a glimpse of the young man sitting in his seat, “Oh Justin this is Josh,” she says motioning to the blue eyed man across from her who smiles at Justin pleasantly, “He’s head of the Shape shifters around here. JC this is Justin. He just moved here.”
JC smiles at Justin calmly, “Nice to meet you. I see you met our dear Quest already. Our very own diamond in the rough.”
Quest smiles brightly at him and Justin could have sworn she blushed slightly.
“Yeah,” was all Justin could say in reply.
“Well,” JC says standing up and stretching slightly, “I really must be going. I have a meeting with Kevin and some other people in a few minutes.”
Quest nods, “Give my regards to them.”
JC nods, “I always do,” he says, “Nice meeting you Justin,” he says looking at Justin as he begins to walk away as he spies Nick in the crowd walking out of the building. He stops shortly and watches him leave intently before walking out himself.
“Your friend?” Justin asks Quest sitting back down.
“Yeah, I’ve known him for a few decades.”
“You’re one of the immortals aren’t you?” Justin asks her.
She nods, “Every immortal can die though…”
“It’s just a matter of finding out how,” Justin finishes for her.
She nods, “Yeah.”
AJ rubs his temples and sighs loudly as he sits in an overstuffed red chair, “Well…”
“No, one knows anything,” a voice says from a dark corner to his right.
“Nothing?” AJ asks.
“Nothing,” the voice says.
“Fuck!” AJ says slamming his hand down on the table before him and creating a large crack that runs through it.
“Death has entered the city,” the voice says.
AJ nods, “I know. I found out the moment he set foot in my jurisdiction. I don’t know what he’s up to. If he comes anywhere near me…I kill him.”
“Maybe you can use him,” the voice says calmly.
“Use him? He’s a hunter, a hunter who knows the Reaper personally. I doubt he will fold.”
“Every hunter has his price,” the voice says.
“True,” AJ says calmly once more, “Tell me. What have your people found out?”
The voice sighs, “These two hunters bring much disturbance to the air. They can not remain here.”
AJ nods, “What did she say about it? Will she help?”
“I’m not sure. She wants nothing but the best for her people, but still she will not justify that by killing someone.”
“I figured on that,” AJ says as a tall figure begins to walk out of the darkness. His short-cropped blond hair stands up on end on his head. His blue eyes shine eerily in the darkness still as his flawless pale skin shows no signs of age. A black shirt hugs his well toned upper body perfectly as a plain pair of jeans are held up by a simple brown belt, “Tell me Oleander. Do you think there is any way she will help me find him? She has to know he will kill me. What does she want me to die now?”
Oleander shakes his head no, “She probably figures you are strong enough to protect yourself. On the other hand this hunter has no idea what he is getting into.”
“Call in the Rider,” AJ says calmly, “We should have a talk with him.”
“Just talking,” Oleander asks.
AJ nods, “If I touch the Rider without just cause the Witching Council will be up my ass…and I don’t want to piss Kevin off.”
“Good move,” Oleander says.
“Someone will be very mangled by the end of all of this though,” AJ smirks.
“I don’t doubt it,” Oleander says.
“You were raised to be a warrior what do you think?” AJ asks.
“I think war is very different from execution like this,” Oleander sighs, “You know our people have no troubles with yours. We enjoy having an even ground with the vampire community nowadays. Without you I doubt we will have it. I fear for the man who thinks he can beat you, honestly.”
AJ nods slowly as a door opens in the distance of the room and another young man walks into the room, “Josh.”
Josh nods at AJ, “I saw Quest today,” he says turning to Oleander, “out eating with someone.”
“Who?” Oleander asks.
“Young guy about your height, build…curly hair. I can’t remember his name right now though.”
Oleander looks at him oddly, “I have no idea who that is.”
Josh shrugs.
AJ looks between the two smirking slightly.
“What?” Josh asks.
“Someone is coming into your territory now…so tell me how do you feel about that?” AJ smirks.
“Better then if I was wanted dead,” Josh snaps.
AJ’s face falls quickly before he recovers just as fast, “You shape shifters have always been so testy…now…bring me the Rider.”
Justin sighs as he struggles with a large bulletin board trying to carry it into his bedroom. It wasn’t that it was heavy, but rather that it was so cumbersome. After he manages to get it through his doorway he goes straight to the back wall and hangs it on the wall before taking a step back to admire his work. He shakes his head before turning on his heels and walking out of the room returning in seconds with a large envelope. He pulls out a stack of pictures before reaching for a small box of pushpins. He takes out the first photograph and looks down at the black and white image.
AJ- He taxes the picture onto the board as AJ looks not straight into the camera, but with his head slightly turned to the right. His mouth was partially open and one could barely see the tips of his fangs. He was standing behind the bar at the Neon. He hand blown up the picture to get a good size picture of his face. Justin stares at the picture for a few seconds before taxing a picture of the Neon club next to it. He pulls out a permanent marker and scrawls AJ on the picture and then Neon on the other.
Josh – Justin taxes a picture next to the picture of the Neon of Josh mid conversation laughing in the Neon. His eyes were in small slits as a large grin covered his young looking face. He was leaning slightly to his left at the bar talking to a young blond male. No doubt a friend of his. Justin shakes his head as he writes Josh’s name on the picture. He hated dealing with shape shifters. They were too unpredictable.
Witching Council Building – Justin had taken a picture of the building earlier that morning while he was trying to hunt down Kevin Richardson. There was no such luck yet, but he knew that he would need to see what he looked like eventually and exactly how close he was to AJ.
Red Light District Sign – Justin taxes a picture up of the Welcome to the Red Light District sign. Someone had written hell right above the words Red Light in red spray paint. Well it wasn’t that far off.
Nick – Justin pushes a pin into the picture of Nick walking down the street towards his office buildings totally oblivious. Justin still didn’t know about him. Yes, he knew information, but Justin doubted he wasn’t connected to all the leaders somehow.
Quest – Justin stares at the face of the girl before him hard after he taxes it into place. He had no idea if she was trust worthy or not. He had asked her to the picture though while he was showing her around his apartment after eating. Her face smiled brightly at him, as her eyes seemed to twinkle even in the picture. Justin shakes his head snapping himself out of it. He needed to concentrate.
Justin sighs as he begins to peel off his shirt walking into his bathroom. He turns on the light as he stares at himself in the mirror. He touches a large scar that runs over his heart on his chest. Dornhower had tried to cut out his heart in one of their final fights. He touches another small cut on his right collarbone. Nikoli had tried to break his collarbone in half…she had succeeded somewhat. Small scars and cuts litter his body here and there as he stares at himself in the mirror before running a hand through his hair. The hair needed to go…it was official. He looks down at the counter top as he reaches for his toothbrush.
“You lie to me,” a voice says from behind him as his head snaps up and looks in the mirror as Quest’s face flashes before him. He stares into the mirror before turning around on his heel and staring into the darkness behind him. Nothing only darkness. He could see the moon through a window out in the hall and that was all. Nothing but the killing moon.
