Mission The Second Part One (Kill The Lights)

This story's missing a wishing well....

Once again I found myself checking and rechecking my weapons in my room. Satisfied with the state of them, I shoved them into a duffel bag amid the clothes I had in there. I sighed and tugged at my worn jeans and faded long sleeved shirt and pushed my black-rimmed plastic glasses back up, I had forgotten how much they liked to slip down my nose.

This isn't exactly what I had planned to do when I had gotten the orders for this mission but it was a group of them this time, and I had to do this job the right way. And the right way meant doing this and not showing true compassion to these people.

"Are you sure about this Tori?" Skye asked. I turned to see that he was leaning on the door frame of my room, as he so often did.

"Yeah. I... I have to get used to this job, and the only way to do that is to do it this way..." I sighed.

"Well I'll make sure not to blow up the house while you're gone," he joked. 

"Make sure not to blow yourself up with your runes is more like it," I muttered before heaving a sigh. "And make sure to feed Alaska around five at night. And you can use the punching bag in the basement to replace sparring. And-"

Skye cut me off with a laugh. I looked over at him questioningly. "I know Tori you told me before."

"I know... I just..." I gave a defeated sigh and slumped my shoulders. "I feel like shit about this decision..."

"Well it's like you said..." he trailed off. I knew he wasn't comfortable with this either.

"I know... Just... Be safe alright?" I looked up at him. 

"I will. And I'll keep Alaska safe too," he smiled. I smiled back at him.

"Trust me, if there was any other way..." I trailed off.

"I know."

Every prince is a fantasy

We stood there awkwardly for a bit, both not knowing how to say goodbye. He opened his mouth to say something and I opted for the more direct route. I walked over and hugged him with more strength than my hugs normally had. I felt him hesitantly wrap his arms around me. "A-are you r-really gonna m-miss me that m-much?" he stuttered. 

"No I'm gonna miss your cooking," I mumbled into his chest. My glasses were pressing awkwardly into my face and probably slightly painfully into his chest, but I didn't really care. He tried and failed to start many sentences before I pulled away from him. 

I sighed once more and grabbed my bag. I looked back up at Skye to see that there was still a faint blush on his cheeks from when I hugged him. I chuckled softly before adjusting my glasses (again) and pulling on some beat-up fingerless gloves. "I'll be back in about a week hopefully..." I trailed off.

"Well I'm not going anywhere so don't worry." He smiled at me again. I smiled back before closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. I opened them right before I stepped into the path to see that Skye's mouth was open, as if he wanted to say one last thing.

We kill the lights

"Well he can tell me when I get back," I mumbled to myself and set off. The black figures that I had seen at a distance last time were closer now, like they were curious about me. I shrugged it off and walked another minute or so before stepping out of the path and into an alleyway between two blocks of houses somewhere outside of Baltimore. The area I had been given wasn't very specific this time - apparently this group moved around a lot. I sighed and went to my left, figuring that I'd just walk the alleyways until I found the group, or signs of them anyway.

After about an hour of wandering I was getting frustrated. No sign, no people, only rats. I let out a growl of frustration and kicked someone's backyard fence. The chain rattled, louder than I thought it would be.

"Whose there?" a voice shouted from the end of the alleyway that I had just come from. Instinctively I gabbed my revolver out of my bag and aimed it down the alley.

"I have a gun, show yourself," I shouted back. I watched as a figure slowly made its way to me from the end of the alleyway, hands raised with a blade in one of them. When the figure was close enough, I could see that it was male, probably around nineteen with shaggy blond hair and dark eyes. "Where am I? Is this still Maryland?"

And put on a show

"We're in Dundalk," he replied, eyes narrowed.

"How the hell...?" I trailed off sighing. "I thought I was at least in PA by now... dammit..." I muttered, loud enough for him to hear but soft enough to make it sound like an accident.

"What are you running from?" he asked, smirking.

"Demons with no faces and great taste in men's finery," I muttered sarcastically, rolling my eyes.

The male bit out a chuckle. "Not exactly a demon, but you're close. Come on, you look like you've been wandering a while." He put his switchblade back in his pants pocket and held out a hand to me. I eyed it warily before I clicked the safety back on the revolver and put it back in my bag. Self-consciously I tugged my sleeves down again before lightly placing my hand in his. He gripped my hand lightly before leading me though the streets and alleys.

"It's like 85 degrees out here, what's with the jeans and long sleeves?" he asked, smirk evident in his voice.

"I got on the wrong end of a knife of one of the Tall Bastard's lackeys," I sighed.

"I'm sorry..." he trailed off and gave my hand a small squeeze.

"You couldn't have known, it's fine," I brushed it off. "So where are we going?"

"Well first, we need to cross this road that's coming up..." he murmured.

It's all a lie

"What road is - Dude this is a highway!" My voice shot up an octave and I ripped my hand from his grasp. "You're insane! We'll get hit by some jerk-off who doesn't have his headlights on or some shit like that!"

"You're running from some eldritch horror-terror and you're worried about getting hit by a car," he stated dubiously.

"Admittedly I'd rather be done in by a car than that... thing..." I trailed off.

Suddenly, he grabbed my hand and ran across the road. I was too shocked to do anything but run with him, hoping that some jackass with his lights off didn't come barreling down the road at 80 miles an hour (about 130 kilometers per hour for those who use the metric system). Luckily, we weren't turned into road pancakes.

"Come on, we're camped out on the roof of that building over there," he said as he pointed to the empty parking lot of a shopping center. I looked up to see that there were walls around the roof of the building, giving the group of runners some cover. Smart, I have to admit. However, deciding to trust some random stranger who you found walking around alleyways wasn't smart. I sighed and shook my head. Keeping up this character was starting to get to me, and it hadn't even been two hours yet.

"You alright?" he asked as we walked around to the back of the building.

"Yeah, just thinking is all," I shrugged.

But you'd never know

"Ladies first," he smirked, gesturing to the ladder that was on the side of the building.

"And let you stare at my ass while I climb up? I think not," I scoffed. "Lead the way..." I trailed off. He hadn't told me his name, nor had I told him mine.

"Lucas Greyfield," he smiled. "You can call me Luke if you want though," he shrugged.

"Alright Luke, I'm Violet Stevens," I smiled back. "And you can just call me Vi if you want, I don't really like being named after a flower."

The star will shine

Luke smirked and held up my hand before brushing his lips against the cloth that covered my knuckles, never breaking eye contact. "I think it's a beautiful name."

"HEY LUKE!" a voice yelled down from above. "STOP TRYING TO SEDUCE THE NEWBIE!"

"HEY JAMES!" Luke yelled back, "SHUT UP."

"HEY LUKE! THAT'S MEAN!"

Luke rolled his eyes and started up the ladder. I followed close after wondering in the back of my mind what he would've done if James hadn't have called down when he did. Well one thing's for sure, I thought to myself, I certainly wouldn't be here for a week if he would have tried anything.         

And then it will fall

He pulled me up when I got to the top the ladder, and I pretended not to notice how his hand trailed down my side lightly when he let go of my hand. I looked around to see that they had small tents set up that didn't rise above the wall around the roof, which was about four feet tall. There were only about five or six tents, and it looked like it was one person to a tent if the small crowd that had gathered was any evidence.

"So that's what took you so long!" one of the two girls called out.

"Figures, we send him out for food and he brings back a girl," the other girl laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Luke exclaimed. The four other people just laughed.

And you will forget it all

"Anyway, introduction time!" the guy who had yelled down called out. "I'm James. You already know this guy's Luke," he pointed at a fuming Luke. "The two girls over there are Melody and Natalie - they're twins. And that guy smoking over there is Adrian. HEY ADRIAN GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE AND SAY HI!"

I winced at James' sudden change in volume. The other guy, who also looked to be about 19 but could pass for 21, walked over. When we met each other's eyes the song changed. Before it was slightly approving, he knew of my plan, with violent undertones. Now it was... well as melodious as I've heard the song get. The last time I had heard the song sound like this was back at Antithesis when I lived with a bunch of proxies.

"Have we met before?" Adrian asked me, sounding as confused as I felt.

"I... I don't know you seem... familiar..." I mumbled. I just wanted to say it right out, because I knew that he was like me but I had to stay Violet and not become Tori.

"Maybe we lived in the same neighborhood or something," he shrugged, but his eyes were trying to tell me something.

And after midnight we're all the same

"Yeah, I think that we went to the same school before I started running actually. That dumb catholic school where we had to pray to Father and call everyone Brother and Sister?" I raised my eyebrows and stared hard at him, hoping he would get it.

"Saint Twiggy's, oh I mean Saint. Thomas. The. Third's," Adrian stated the name like he was a teacher drilling the name into student's heads. But what he had said first confirmed it for me.

"Ah yes, Saint Twiggy's. So many grueling assignments... We should catch up later," I smiled at him.

"It would be my pleasure," he smirked, looking me from head to two. "You've grown."

"And I see you still haven't kicked your sinful habits," I smirked back, gesturing to his cigarette, before turning to Luke. "So where am I crashing for the night?"

Every story's a waiting game

"With me of course!" Adrian laughed and went to wrap an arm around my waist. I had him pinned with his arm held behind his back, threatening to dislocate his shoulder in five seconds flat. His cigarette was on the rooftop.

"Not funny," I growled before getting closer to his ear. "I'll find your tent sometime tomorrow night, we need to talk," I whispered in his ear. "But seriously I do not give two fucks if you're a proxy or not. I will castrate you with a rusty spoon, got it?" I hissed and gave his arm a painful jerk.

"Jesus girl your threats got scarier!" Adrian exclaimed as I let him go.

"Where can I sleep?" I asked Luke again, sounding tired.

"We have an extra tent that you can set up. I would suggest with the twins, but these tents aren't exactly big, you know?" Luke laughed. The rest of us laughed along with him.

It's all a lie

Luke lead the way while James, Melody and Natalie went back to whatever they were doing before. Adrian tagged along with us. We stopped at a dull blue tent and Luke went in and came back out with a bundle in his arms, which he promptly deposited in mine. It was a dull red colour and had some spots where it looked like it had been bleached. I didn't want to know.

With the help of the two guys, we got the tent up eventually, but we kept putting the poles in the wrong place. By now the sun was starting to light up the horizon. I groaned when I realized that I had stayed up through the night.

"Get some sleep Vi, someone will wake you up around noon - we usually have food then." Luke patted my shoulder before walking over to James.

But you'd never know

"My tent's the green one right there," Adrian pointed to the tent that wasn't even ten feet away from mine as he tried to light another cigarette. The wind kept blowing the flame on the lighter out. I rolled my eyes and grabbed it from him. He cupped his hands around the end of his cigarette and I used my hand as a shield from the wind for the flame. It lit the first time. "You smoke too?" he asked, blowing some of the smoke into my face. It was cherry-scented.

"Nah, I'm just good with lighters." I shrugged before yawning. "Sorry, I'm tired as hell. Mind if I take a rain check on the catching up?"

He looked down at me and half-smiled. "Anything you want. Just one question - you planning on killing them all at once?"

The star will shine

I started to nod, but then shrugged. "Initially yeah, but I'm not too sure now. I need to see how they work as a group first. This is probably gonna take a while longer than I guessed it would. And I would prefer to convert them if possible, you know?"

"Yeah... So how long were you planning on staying here?" he asked me, blowing the smoke away from my face.

"About a week at most..." I trailed off.

And then it will fall

"That won't cut it and you know it," Adrian smirked, green eyes dancing with amusement.

"Yeah yeah," I mumbled through another yawn.

"Go to sleep, we can talk about this some other night," he smirked before running his fingers through my hair. At this point I was so tired that I didn't care that he was touching me again.

"Alright..." I yawned again before crawling into my tent, dragging my bag with me. I stayed up for about half an hour, a sinking feeling in my gut. I figured that it was because I was planning to kill most of these people, but that wasn't all of it. Before I could identify what was eating away at me, I fell into a dreamless sleep.

And you will forget it all...