A man sat at a bar in the spacious interior of the building, a glass with a dark liquid and ice cubes in his hand. He is burly, with wide shoulders and a broad chest. He looks at the glass with blood red eyes, a deeper, darker red than what his hair and beard are colored, an unnerving mismatch of colors, almost as if the eyes didn't belong to him. He was dressed in business casual wear, a black button-up covering his upper body, the top two buttons of his shirt undone, the sleeves rolled up. The black pants and shoes matching the shirt, clean and pressed, as if the man has just left some important meeting. He finished his drink before standing, and, grabbing his long, black jacket, walked out the door onto the almost pitch-black street. The night was warm enough that he didn't need his jacket as he meandered the streets, eyes and ears open for anything that might need his attention. The slight breeze wafted a scent toward him and his nostrils flared, the smell warning him that he was being loosely followed. The man remained relaxed, not giving away that he was aware of being followed, the only potential sign being his red eyes glowing in the darkness. He slowed his pace slightly, hands in his pockets, acting as if he was peering into a window of a closed shop while his keen hearing worked overtime. The individual following him slowed too, maintaining a distance of about seventy feet between the two of them. The night was quiet, the slight breeze bringing the smell of a second and third person closing from a different direction.
“Well, gentleman, who wants to open this dance?” Erik Ulfvaldr asked, red eyes flashing danger in the darkness.
The three attackers rushed Erik, drawing clubs out from underneath long jackets. ‘Well at least I don't have to contend with bullets. That means they want this kept silent. That gives me an advantage’ the man thought to himself. ‘Don’t get too cocky. They still have the numbers advantage.’ Another voice spoke in his head.
He withdrew his hands from his pockets, and clawed fingers followed. He launched his coat at the first man that got within arm's reach, blocking his vision, and sidestepped the club of the second man, causing the two to collide with one another. The third man swung his weapon, and the man grabbed his hand, driving an elbow into the attackers' ribs, breaking one and stunning the man. The next second Erik stepped and twisted, bending and almost breaking the attacker's arm before kicking out with his foot, catching the attacker in the side of the head, putting his lights out. The other two attackers recovered from their collision, and stood, looking at the heap that their comrade had crumpled into at the feet of the dangerous man they faced. They both hesitated in pressing their attack, giving Erik a moment to launch his own offensive. He slashed his clawed fingers at the face of one attacker, partially blinding the man as the clawed fingers sliced him from his forehead to chin, destroying one eye completely, and causing him to drop to the ground from the shock of the pain. The remaining attacker lashed out with a fist, grazing the side of Erik’s head, knocking him back a couple of steps. He snarled, baring teeth that were dangerously sharp, causing the attacker another second of hesitation. That hesitation proved fatal, as Erik leapt at the attacker, clawed fingers grabbing the attacker's hair as he sank his razor-sharp teeth into the attackers' throat. The assailant attempted to scream, but had his throat completely crushed, and the attacker died choking on his own blood. Erik stood over his attackers, blood dripping from his hand and mouth, breathing heavy.
‘No time to clean up the mess. I need to disappear.’ He melted into the darkness, leaving the mangled bodies behind.
Erik ducked into a high-rise apartment complex, after glancing around to make sure he wasn’t followed by anyone. He entered his rental, and tossed his coat away, then proceeded to the washroom to clean the blood off of himself. ‘Dammit, who the hell were those guys?’ Erik thought to himself. He was used to running, hiding and even killing men who wanted to hurt or even kill him, but that was a lifetime ago. Erik had secrets to his life. His secrets had secrets. The biggest of the secrets being that he was úlfblóe, or wolf-blood. He had been born a few thousand years ago. He had seemed to lose count after a few hundred years of staying hidden from threats and constantly running. He washed the blood from his hands and his face, and stripped his shirt off, wrapping it in a plastic bag to avoid getting more blood on anything else. ‘It seems to me that you have made a friend somehow.’ the voice from earlier spoke to him. Erik scowled inwardly. The voice belonged to Alastair; the reason he held immortality in this lifetime. An incubus that had been inadvertently bonded to him, the result of a cult meddling in his life so many ages ago. ‘Offering sage advice as usual I see. Do you have anything to add that might be worth a damn?’ Erik asked Alastair. ‘Of course not. If I knew what those weaklings wanted, you would know as well. It’s not like I can hide anything from you.’ Alastair had a point. Since they had been bonded in a summoning gone wrong, they just couldn’t separate from each other. They had learned to get along, if only for the convenience of staying alive. Nothing they had attempted had been successful in splitting the two from each other. Erik walked to the bar in his living room, pouring himself a glass of whiskey on ice. ‘It’s very unlikely they are cult members. We wiped that stain from existence a few hundred years ago. So, who could they be? It didn’t seem random. They were waiting on me specifically to leave that bar. They used clubs, meaning that they didn’t want to draw attention to what they were doing. They obviously didn’t know what they were up against, or they would’ve been more cautious.’ Erik thought out loud, to both him and Alastair. ‘Well, that was their mistake, one they won’t make again. You absolutely mangled them.’ Erik grunted his reply, taking a gulp of his whiskey. He tapped his clawed fingers on the leather and wood of the chair he had taken residence in, his mind working overtime, sifting through what he had done recently. He could think of no one he had crossed that would seek to cause him harm. He stood, walking to the window of his luxurious apartment he maintained, staring into the darkness of the night. He already decided not to return to the bar he had been at, nor would he return to the scene of the fight. No reason to bring any attention to himself over this, although he was sure that whoever was responsible for the attack had already cleaned the mess up themselves. If they knew who he was, or, at the least, that he was dangerous, then the last thing they would want to do would be to draw attention to their activities. ‘At least I don’t have to worry about any authorities knocking on my door asking questions.’
As that thought was passing through his head, there was a rapid knocking at the door to his apartment. Immediately, he shut down all the lighting in the apartment and crept quietly to the door. ‘Seems like you might’ve spoken too soon.’ Alastair pointed out. Erik sniffed the air as he moved closer to the door. ‘Whoever it is, they aren’t human. The scent is all wrong.’ Erik countered with, as he peered through the peephole on the door. The figure standing on the other side of the door seemed nervous judging by the body language that Erik could make out. He couldn’t see its face, or much of any details for that matter, as whoever it was had a hood pulled over its head. He slowly turned the knob for the door, clawed hand ready to strike if it became necessary. He slowly opened the door, ears and nose working overtime to catch any unusual sound or smell that might be within range of his senses.
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“Who are you, and what do you want?” Erik asked the figure standing in his doorway.
“Um, yes, hello, um, are you Mr. Erik? I was looking for you, I have something that may interest you.” The creature, who still hadn’t revealed its face to him, said.
“You did not answer my question. Who are you, and what do you want?” Erik repeated, a slight edge to the inquiry.
“Please, the information I have is vitally important, and it is not safe out here with prying eyes and ears. I will not reveal anything until we are somewhere that is away from these things.” The creature insisted. Erik narrowed his eyes for a moment, thinking hard about the situation. ‘This creature seems rather meek. No match for myself if it comes to a fight. Besides, I smell genuine fear and not fear of me. They are running from something.’
“Fine, but you will tell me everything when I let you in.” Erik stepped aside to allow the creature to swiftly enter the abode, before giving the hallway a quick scan for any danger, and then closing the door, locking it behind him.
“Now, explain yourself before I decide to thro-” Erik stopped dead in his tracks, sentence cut off. The creature had pulled its hood down, revealing pale, ice-blue eyes, fiery red hair, and soft, feminine features. A being of pure beauty. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you struck silent before’ Alastair goaded. ‘Shut up, you. I don’t need you making things worse. Just be quiet until I work this out.’ Erik thought to himself.
“I apologize for the secrecy, sir, but I have important information that I’m only supposed to reveal to Erik Ulfvaldr. How can I be sure you are who you say you are?” The creature said in a hushed, almost breathless tone.
“Now hold on a moment. You came knocking on my door, demanding to be let in, without any reason or explanation, expecting me to trust you, and then you question if I am who I say I am? Who the hell else would I be? You know my name, so obviously you know more about me than I know about you.” Erik growled out, temper rising slightly.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. You are correct, I have demanded a lot of you without reciprocating that trust. I am named Sassy. I was sent here by someone who seeks to help you figure out who the people who ordered the attack on you today.”
“And this person wishes to share this information with me why? I didn’t need help handling them, I sure don’t need help finding the rest of them and dealing with it myself. What could this person so graciously offer me that I can’t find out for myself.” Erik spouted, becoming slightly annoyed at the gall of this mysterious stranger.
“Only a chance to expedite the process slightly. The people who ordered your attack have also been slowly eliminating the population of……non-human species in the city. The person who sent me knows who the organization is, and where they are located. Until now, we have lacked the capacity to deal with them, but if we combine our efforts, us with our resources and you with your unique abilities, then perhaps we can slow or even halt their progress entirely.”
Erik pondered this information for a moment. How much did these people know about him and his past? How had they gathered this information about him so easily? He took every precaution to hide himself from prying eyes. “You speak as if you know me. How is that possible? I’ve been in hiding for longer than this city has existed.”
“My boss makes it a point to know about non-humans that come and go. It took a lot of digging, and he is only slightly aware that you exist. We have a person on the inside of the organization that has been killing off non-humans, and somehow you ended up on their radar. That’s how we found out about you.” Sassy replied, not making eye contact with Erik. ‘I don’t sense any hostility in her, nor do I sense she is lying. Either she is being truthful, or she is so well trained that it’s impossible for me to sense.’ Erik thought. ‘Well I sure can’t sense anything off kilter either. It seems that, at least from her perspective, she is being truthful.’ Alastair replied.
“Fine. Let’s say I believe you. I still don’t see how you can help me. It would be easy for me to find these people and put an end to them. Why do I need your help with this?” Erik asked.
“After the failed attack earlier, they will now expect you to do just that and will be ready for you. We can track them down and provide certain back-up to assist you.” Sassy replied. Erik stared for a moment, his blood red eyes seemingly staring into the very soul of the creature that stood before him.
“Hmmm. It seems I have no choice but to trust you for now.” He moved past her, into the living area of the apartment. “You cannot and should not be traveling in the middle of the night around the city if what you speak of is true. I will provide you with a place to sleep for tonight. Tomorrow, you can return to where you came, with a message for whoever it is you report to.” He opened a closet near the living room, pulling out some pillows and blankets. “For now, you can stretch out on the couch and rest. You look like you are about to collapse from exhaustion as it is.” Sassy hesitated, slightly fearful of the being before her.
“Um, I I I ....are you sure that’s a good idea?” She squeaked out.
“Come now, I don’t bite. Besides, if something were to happen to you on your return trip, I might never get the information I need to deal with these people.” He tossed the blankets and pillows onto the couch. “You can sleep there. You will not be bothered here. Don’t try to leave before I allow it though. I have my own…..ways of protection for this place. Now, sleep. You can explain further after a night’s rest.”
“Th-thank you sir. I won’t go anywhere until you are ready to send a response back to who I work for.” Sassy gathered the blankets and pillows and made herself comfortable, falling very quickly into slumber. Erik sank into a chair near the window, staring out into the inky darkness of night. ‘What do you think Al? Could this organization actually be a credible threat to us? No one has been since that cult we wiped out all those years ago.’ Erik asked of the incubus soul-bound to him. ‘Threat? Highly unlikely. But I never turn down a good chance to deal some misery to those who harm our kind.’ Alastair replied. ‘You aren’t going soft on me, are you?’ Erik teased, laughing to himself. ‘Me? Never. I love dealing out misery to the human race. This seems like a perfect chance to do just that.’ Erik, never one who needed sleep ever, started coming up with and shifting plans in his head on how to deal with this new threat, however small it was. He agreed with Alastair that it needed to be handled. Anyone harming any non-human being was a problem to be dealt with swiftly and violently. He would see if the information that these people could provide would be of any use to him. He glanced over at the sleeping form of the one who called herself Sassy. He put it together that she was a shifter almost immediately, as he could tell the form she wore was not her own, but rather one to hide herself amongst humanity to move around undetected. ‘Well, this will certainly make things more interesting.’ He thought to himself, and for once, Alastair had no comment to add.
