Dangerous Games: Chapters 1-7 (Patreon)

Chapter One

“That is a terrible idea.”

Ethan looked over at his mother, Helen, amused by her reaction to his suggestion.

“What’s so terrible about it?” He said, feigning ignorance.

Ethan’s mother narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t get cute with me, I’m still healthy enough beat that behind of yours.” She threatened.

Ethan chuckled; he was glad to see his mother’s fiery spirit hadn’t gone anywhere, especially given the circumstances. His mother’s blonde hair and vibrant blue eyes were so full of life, her white skin was a bit paler than normal, but if not for that fact that she was currently sitting in a hospital bed you’d never think anything was wrong with her.

“You’ve always said you wanted to go Spain.”

“Yes, to visit, not move there.”

“Well don’t think of it as moving there, think of it as an extended vacation.”

His mother’s eye turned somber; he knew what she was going to say before she even said it. “Ethan, I’m dying, moving to Spain, just isn’t practical.”

It hurt Ethan to hear those words again, it had been almost a year since he first heard them, the first time being from the doctor who told them his mother’s prognosis. He still remembers the inexplicable dread he felt that day as he answered the call that informed him that his mother had fainted at work and had been taken to the hospital. He also remembers his near breakdown at the news that the disease was unknown and that there was no cure. Ethan had wanted to scream and shout and probably would have had his mother not grabbed hold of his hand. Even after hearing about her impending death his mother remained steadfast, her eyes and voice never wavering, the only indication that she understood her situation were the tears that ran down her face.

“That’s exactly why we should go.” He argued. “You have to use what time you have left to actually live. Go where you’ve always wanted to go, do what you’ve always wanted to do, I mean do you really want to spend what time you have left cooped up in a hospital?”

The unknown disease seemed to drain the person of their energy making them lethargic and weak. As the disease progressed it became harder for his mother to move around and it was recommended, she stay hospitalized. Inevitably the disease will make even staying awake difficult, in all the other cases the patients eventually die peacefully in their sleep. Ethan only solace was that there was no pain, but still he spared no expense and admitted her into the best hospital in the city with her own room and private bathroom.

“What about your job or money for that matter, do you even have enough money to buy a house in Spain?” She argued back.

“I’ve been saving up and I work on a computer all day, as long as I have an internet connection, I can do my job from anywhere.”

“I still don’t know.” His mother mumbled.

“Knock, knock, is it okay to come in?” A voice called out from the doorway.

It was his mother’s friend Diane; she was an older lady around the same age as his mother with red tinged brown hair and brown eyes, they both met while receiving care here at the hospital. She was admitted after being in a nasty car accident that left her wheelchair bound for a few months. Her family had to force her to come here after she refused to stop working and recover properly. She’s stubborn and hardheaded just like his mother, probably why they get along so well.

“Of course, please come in.”

“Thanks Helen, how are you feeling today?”

“I’m great, thank you.”

“And Ethan, I swear you get more and more handsome every time I see you.”

“Yes, he’s looking more and more like his father every day.”

Ethan isn’t vain but he’s fully aware of how attractive other people found him, it mostly had to do with his mixed heritage. His father was originally from Spain and Ethan inherited his bronze skin and black hair from him. But it was the vibrant blue eyes that he got from his mother that really drew people in. It was this combination of dark skin and hair with his blue eyes that really captivated people. Not that it was all genetic, because of his true vocation, Ethan had to keep himself in peek physical condition. Added all together it wasn’t difficult to see why so many people found him attractive, even with his current plain appearance of black shoes, black pants, and white tee.

“When are you going to let me introduce you to my niece, she just turned twenty-five same as you.”

“Don’t get me started, I’ve been telling him for months, ever since he broke up with…what was her name?”

“Jenny, and you’ve got more important things to worry about than my love life.” Ethan chided. “Besides, isn’t she like five nine?”

“She’s five eight, and why should that matter?”

Ethan rolled his eyes, throughout his life he’s found that most women tend to date or go out with men of either a similar height or taller, rarely do they go shorter no matter how attractive. At five feet five inches, Ethan was clearly in the shorter category not that it bothered him, in fact it suited him and his needs.

But before Ethan could answer, his phone chimes, taking his phone out if his pocket he sees he has one new message.

Target on the move.

“Mom I got to go, its work.” Ethan says as he gives her a peck on the cheek.

“Ok, tell Joe hi from me.”

“Sorry Diane looks like we’ll have to talk about your niece another time.”

“That’s what you said last time and her name is Rose.” Diane pouts.

Ethan just continues to smile as he grabs his backpack and quickly ducks out. Not wanting to waste time Ethan decides to take the stairs down instead of waiting for the elevator. Which wasn’t too bad as it was only two floors down. He quickly makes his way down and out of the hospital via the automatic doors and into the sprawling city of Port Iron.

Outside the weather was perfect; the sun was shining with just enough clouds in the sky to keep the temperature from getting too hot. The streets were packed with cars and the side walks were jammed packed with people, a few of them dressed in red for the small blood drive celebration happening downtown. Ethan quickly falls into the flow of foot traffic as he makes his way down the city street. As he walks, Ethan can’t help but think how fake it all seemed, as if the city itself were trying too hard to put on a friendly face. But Ethan knew better, he knew that behind the beautiful façade was a dangerous and volatile center. The city itself was massive and seemed to be in a perpetual state of growth and construction. It reminded him of the two cities from his favorite comics: the beautiful and expansive Metropolis, and the dangerous and ever-changing Gotham. Ethan snaps himself out of his brief reverie, now isn’t the time for idle contemplation, he chastises himself. After a few more blocks Ethan finds himself downtown, it would have been faster to take the tram, but he wanted the extra time to go over the different plans in his head.

Ethan didn’t really work with computers, he was a thief one of the best in the city, but he doesn’t steal for himself, he steals for his clients. Most of the time his jobs are pretty straight forward, he’s usually in and out before anyone even notices something wrong and always at night. But this job was different, the mark this time was a high-end art dealer who was extremely careful even by Port Iron standards. He only moved during the day and always traveled with armed escorts, mercenaries. And he always carried the desired item with him until delivery, the item this time being a gold crest shaped pendant with an emerald center. But none of that was the real problem, the real problem was that the client set a deadline and not a friendly one. But with the amount they were willing to pay it would be worth it. This was Ethan’s whale; with the money he gets for this he can finally take his mother to Spain and be done with Port Iron for good.

Ethan ducks into a café and heads straight for the bathroom, he gets a few smiles from some of the female customers inside, but he just gives them a fake smile and continues to walk past. The bathroom was in the back of the café obscured by a small wall you have to go around. Once inside the bathroom Ethan quickly checks to make sure he’s alone and once he’s certain no one else is there he locks the bathroom door. Removing his backpack Ethan pulls out a pair of black gloves, a red hoodie, and a mask. The blank featureless mask was solid white and was customed made to fit his face with the right eye camouflaged to look like the rest of the mask while the left eye was made with a red outer glass lens. Giving the mask the appearance of having only one red eye, which is what Ethan’s clients know him as, Red Eye.

Ethan puts on the gloves and hoodie but before putting on the mask he takes a second to look at himself in the mirror. He takes in a few deep breathes to steady himself, and then he looks into his own eyes. The vibrant blue eyes staring back at him reminded him of his mother, the reason he was doing this, the reason this was worth the risk. Ethan quickly slips on the backpack and puts on the mask; pulling the hoodie over his head to obscure it as much as possible. Ethan unlocks the door and slips out of the bathroom, making sure to not be seen. He then goes out through the emergency exit leading to the alleyway behind the café. The alleyway was empty save for a few garbage cans and cigarette butts that littered the doorway.

Ethan checked each end of the alleyway; he could see people walking by on the streets but wasn’t too worried about being seen. Most of the time people in Port Iron avoid alleyways like the plague, knowing that nothing good would ever come from looking down one. Ethan looks at his watch; a quarter to four, it’s almost time. Over the last few days Ethan learned that the art dealer had a thing for one of the baristas inside. To show off his wealth and authority, he would buyout the café for a few hours to have it and her to himself. As if on cue Ethan hears a voice inside the café asking everyone to leave.

“Sorry everyone but the café is being closed for a private party, again I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Ethan walks to the opposite side of the alley and turns to face the door getting into a runner’s start position. As he waits, he focuses on his breathing and concentrates his mind; the noise of the city falls away and everything seems to slow down. He could sense the people inside the café, besides the barista and the art dealer, there were three guards inside. Two were standing by the art dealer who was sitting down and the third was walking toward the emergency exit to check the alleyway and make sure it’s secure. Ethan discovered this ability at a young age and its one of the reasons why he’s one of the best thieves in the city. From what he could gather neither of his parents seemed to share this ability, so how or why he got it remains a mystery to him.

As the door slowly opens Ethan burst into a run toward the door, by the time the guard fully opens it, Ethan is already tackling him to the ground and knocking him out with a punch. But Ethan can’t afford to stop, he breaks into another run around the wall and toward the café. Everyone but the guards were still in a state of surprise from the loud bang caused when Ethan tackled the guard, it showed these mercs were well trained. They were already reaching for their weapons when Ethan rounded the corner, but it was no use. Ethan ability allowed him to view the guards as if they were moving in slow motion. He quickly grabs one of the small café tables and chucks it at the three men, who instinctively move to avoid it, giving Ethan enough time to jump between them. Ethan quickly kicks the dealer who was getting up off the floor back down, and then uses the same foot to kick the back of the guard’s knee to his right, causing the guard to fall down onto one knee. The guard on his left tries to attack Ethan with a punch, but Ethan deflects the blow down and away. Allowing Ethan to counterattack with a strike to the guard’s temple, stunning him. Ethan continues his attack by back handing the guard on his right in the back of the head and then proceeds to turn and launch a roundhouse kick to the stunned guard’s head knocking him out. Ethan turns to face the remaining guard only to see that the back hand to his head before had already incapacitated him. He turns towards dealer who’s was still ailing from the kick earlier. Ethan quickly searches the dealer, the café windows were already filled with people trying to see what all the commotion was about, and the police had undoubtedly been called.

Inside one of the dealers’ pockets was a black box, opening it up Ethan finds the gold pendant with the emerald, he quickly pockets the pendant and closes the box.

“Don’t move.”

The sound of a gun getting cocked was made to emphasize the command, it was the guard that Ethan had tackled and punched earlier.

“Careful, miss and you might end up shooting you employer.” Ethan called out.

“I’m a good shot, besides, I was hired to protect the pendant not the employer. Now get down on the ground and put your hands on your head.”

Mercenaries, you got to love them, Ethan thought to himself. Just then the alarm on Ethan’s watch starts to beep signifying it was four o’clock.

“What’s that?”

Thinking fast Ethan calls out, “A bomb, catch.” And tosses the black box at the guard.

The guard instinctively jumps away from the box, giving Ethan enough time to toss a chair through one of the café windows and jump out after it. All the onlookers step back in shock and fear, as Ethan makes his way to the middle of the street just as police cars start arriving. But Ethan wasn’t worried, because right on schedule a group of about a hundred people all dressed in red hoodies and similar backpacks arrive enveloping Ethan. They were promoting the blood drive and passing out fliers. Ethan removes his mask and watches as the police and the now recovered guard search in vain for the masked figure.

Ethan smiles and slowly slips away.

Chapter Two

“What do you mean the contracts been cancelled?!”

Ethan tried to stay calm as he stared at the older man in front of him.

“My friend, I’m sorry but it is out of my hands.” The older man said in a thick Russian accent.

“Dammit Erik, just tell me what happened!”

The older man Erik was Ethan’s contact for this particular job, Ethan usually preferred dealing with clients one no one, but every so often he had to take jobs offered through middlemen like Erik. After stealing the pendant, Ethan had made his way to Erik’s warehouse on the eastside of town where he was supposed to drop off the pendant and receive his money, but when he arrived Erik informed him that the contract had been cancelled.

“Come friend, sit.” Erik said as he offered Ethan a chair.

Ethan just stood there for a moment staring at Erik before finally relenting and sitting down, while Erik sat opposite of him behind a desk. Both men were currently on the top floor of the warehouse, Erik had converted it into an apartment slash office of sorts some time ago. The whole room had a Dungeons & Dragons theme to it, Ethan didn’t know much about Erik, but the one thing he did know was that Erik loved Dungeons & Dragons. Not that Erik tried to hide it, given the chance Erik could talk for hours about the different campaigns and characters he was currently playing. It’s just a bit of a surprise given Erik large muscly body, shaved head, and clean-shaven face.

Erik took out a bottle of vodka with a glass out of the desk and took a shot before speaking, “The client was the head of one of the smaller criminal syndicates in the city. They were in a bidding war with a rival organization for some properties somewhere in the city. The client won the bid but for a price far pass that of the original. The rival organization was sure that the client didn’t have the money and were going to wait for the term of payment to expire.”

“That’s why the client needed the pendant within the time frame, it was going to be they’re collateral.” Ethan inferred.

“Da.”

“So, what’s changed?”

Erik looked and Ethan with sad eyes and spoke slowly, “Well, when the rival organization heard that the client was going to be able to make the payment. They decided to take a more violet approach and…had the client assassinated.”

Ethan let out a groan of frustration, he wasn’t surprised, fights and killings are pretty common among the smaller criminal organizations in the city.

“How the hell did they find out the pendant was for the client; I just stole the damn thing an hour ago. Was one of his people a mole?” Ethan speculated to himself.

Looking up, Ethan notices Erik looking down fiddling with his shot glass with the expression of a child who just did something bad.

“YOU!” Ethan yelled as he stood up.

“It was accident!” Erik yelled while trying to shrink back his muscular frame in surrender. “I did not know head of the rival organization was party member of mine in one of my campaigns. The other night after campaigning and drinking a little too much I let slip about the job.”

“Erik you moron! Let alone you screwing me over on my biggest job ever, what happens when people find out you sold out one of your clients!”

“Not problem, I offer him special discount for not telling anyone.”

“Special discount? You brokered the deal for the assassination!?”

Besides brokering deals for thieves like Ethan, Erik also brokered deals for assassins, most of whom were men he knew from his time in the Russian military, and who could only be hired exclusively through him.

“You are unfucking believable.” Ethan swore as he squeezed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to put off his growing headache.

“Ethan, please I’m sorry, you know Joe is like brother and you are like young nephew. I would never purposely hurt you; you and I we are two E’s in pod.”

Ethan’s headache grew worse, he didn’t even want to think about all the things wrong with the last part of that sentence. Ethan met Erik through Joe, they apparently went back a ways and said that Erik was one of the few people he trusted with his life.

“How much can you give me for the pendant?”

“One twenty-five.”

“One twenty-five! That’s a quarter of what I was supposed to get, I might as well try selling it on my own!”

“You can try but I wouldn’t recommend it, the company the art dealer you stole it from works for is out for blood. In order to save face, they have hinted to being responsible for your clients death, a lie of course but one that benefits me and the one who actually did do it. But this has also frightened many potential buyers, this price was best I could do and I’m not even taking my brokerage fee since this is my fault.”

Ethan sighed; he was tired, tired of all this bullshit. This job had been his chance to finally get him and his mother away from all of this. He didn’t lie to his mother when he told her that he had been saving up for the house in Spain, but her medical bills had made things a bit difficult.

“Just send the money.”

Ethan takes the pendant out of his pocket and hands it to Erik.

“I must say my friend, I always knew you were ghost, but I did not know you were also hammer. When are you going to make jump to other side of business, if you require money I have few jobs in need of someone like you.”

“Give it a rest Erik, and don’t expect any calls or favors for a while.”

Ethan left without looking back, this wasn’t the first time Erik had offered Ethan an assassination contract. Ethan was quite good at getting in and out of places unnoticed, a skill that would be quite handy to someone in that line of trade. He also knew that Erik didn’t have any malicious intentions or hidden agendas when offering him the contract. To Erik a job was a job whether it be stealing or killing they were both the same to him, he had no opinion either way. But Ethan always said no, he might be a thief, but he couldn’t kill anyone. Kick their ass, sure, but never kill.

After about an hour of subway rides and walking Ethan finally reach the apartments that were his home. Ethan went up to the intercoms and rang the button with his name on it, Ethan Frost.

“Joe, its me.”

Ethan never carried his keys or anything that could be traced back to him on a job. After a moment the door buzzed, and Ethan was able to get inside the apartment building. He took the elevator up to the fifth floor and walked to the end of the hall to reach his apartment. Ethan opens the door knowing it wasn’t locked, after buzzing him in, Joe would have unlocked it for him. Inside, the apartment was well furnished and had a chic design to it, all of it done by Ethan’s mother.

Glad to be home, Ethan immediately strips down and jumps into the bathroom for a quick shower. After a quick dry Ethan puts on some jeans and a comfortable green tee, he then puts the clothes and the backpack he took off into a garbage bag and heads next door to Joe’s apartment. He knocks twice before opening the door and walking inside, the inside Joe’s apartment was filled with books, paper, diagrams, and computer equipment.

“What’s word kid, job go okay?” The voice of an older man calls out from the kitchen.

Ethan drops the garbage bag containing the clothes and backpack on the couch before walking into the kitchen. Inside a rather well-built older man with greying hair was standing over the oven huddled over a book about baking cakes. Looking around Ethan saw that the countertop was a mess of flour, eggs, and cake mix.

“Geez Joe, what are the hell happened here?” Ethan asked as he tried to contain his smile.

Joe was Ethan’s teacher and friend when it came to stealing; before retiring, Joe like Ethan was once a thief for hire one of the best in the city. They both met when Ethan was around eight, and he pickpocketed Joe’s wallet and ran off with it. It was during a time when Ethan’s mother was having a hard time working three job, and Ethan being young and naïve, decided to try pickpocketing to make money to help his mom. Ethan having gotten away with Joe’s wallet went home only for both to realize they were next door neighbors. But instead of being angry, Joe was rather impressed by Ethan’s thieving and after hearing about his mother’s situation decided to take him under his wing. He taught Ethan everything he knew from lockpicking and safe cracking to bypassing security alarms. He’s also the one who pushed Ethan to take up multiple martial arts, not to necessarily learn how to fight but to learn discipline and patience and to acquire the right temperament for this line of work.

“I was trying to get this cake done before you got back as a congratulations for pulling off your last job, but I can’t seem to get this batter to the right consistency.”

Ethan lets out a small sad laugh, “Well I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s a bit too early for that.”

Joe turns around, “What happened?”

Ethan tells Joe the events of the heist and what happened at Erik’s afterward, Joe showed no emotion while Ethan spoke, only after Ethan was done did Joe finally say something.

“I’m going to kill him; how could he fuck up so badly!”

“Its fine Joe, I just got to push my plans back for a little bit longer.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to just kill him.”

Most people would assume this was just angry talk, but Ethan knew better.

“No, besides being one of the few friends you have left, him and his people are still one of the few neutral organizations in Port Iron which is rather useful.”

Unlike most criminal organizations in the city who wax and wane with alliances and betrayals, Erik’s organization is, according to his words, ‘true neutral’. He is neither friend nor foe to any of the other organizations in the city, not even the big three.

“I guess.” Joe mumbled to himself.

“Besides, even though he totally screwed me over this time, I guess I still kind of consider him a friend too.”

Joe grunts, “Fine, I guess. But besides that, I got to tell you kid, I’m proud of you. Not just for how you handled yourself during the job today but for everything with your mother too”

Ethan takes the comment in stride but deep down it meant a lot to him, growing up Joe had become a second father to Ethan. Ethan’s birth father had died in a car accident a couple of days before he was born. His mother was with him when a drunk driver ran a red light slamming into them, his father and the drunk driver dying instantly. His mother was rushed to the nearest hospital where two days later she gave birth to Ethan. According to his mother, his father was a great man with a big heart who was excited about being a father. Ethan’s one regret is never getting the chance to meet his father and hopes that if his father is looking down at him, that he is proud of him too.

“Well, I’m about to head back to the hospital to see mom, did any jobs come in?”

A strange look comes over Joe’s eyes.

“Joe, what is it?”

“A job showed up about twenty minutes ago, and at first I thought it someone making a bad joke, but it seems to check out.”

“What is it?”

“See for yourself.”

Joe exits the kitchen with Ethan following behind him, he goes over to his computer and opens a file and then moves aside for Ethan to read.

“Someone wants to rob the Eckharts!” Ethan exclaims.

“That’s why I thought it was a joke at first.”

Ethan couldn’t blame Joe for thinking that, the Eckharts were one of the big three alongside Riverside and War Kings. The big three were the most powerful and dangerous organizations in Port Iron and together they basically owned almost half the city.

Ethan continued to read the file; the time frame was two weeks, and the target was a USB drive that had a built in GPS device.

“Did you ping the GPS to see where the drive is at?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, and its already inside the Eckhart estate. In my opinion, their price of ten million is still too low.”

Unlike Riverside or War Kings, the Eckharts weren’t just some gang or organization, they’re a family who’s ancestor date back to the founding of Port Iron.

Ethan looked at Joe, “And how many turned this client down before coming to us?”

“About three from what I can tell.”

All things considered, fourth place isn’t too bad I guess, Ethan thought to himself, ten million is quite the payout. Problem is the Eckhart estate is a fortress guarded more heavily than the White House, and the floor plans to the estate were burned to keep the layout of the house a secret.

“Don’t say no right away, let them stew for a bit as punishment for making us fourth on their list. And make sure to toss this into the incinerator.” Ethan said, pointing toward the garbage bag as he walked toward the front door.

“Alright, say hi to your mom for me.” Joe called out.

By the time Ethan reached the hospital for the second time that day it was already starting to get dark. As he got closer to his mother’s hospital room, he could already hear Diane inside complaining away about something.

“She asked me as a favor, but I just don’t feel comfortable catering an event in that place, it could ruin my company’s reputation.”

Diane owned and ran a successful catering company in the city, she took her company and its reputation very seriously.

“True, but it could also bring in even more business.” Helen, Ethan’s mother replied.

“I don’t even think I have enough people for a place like that.” Diane continued to protest.

“Come on, that’s what temps are for.” Ethan said as he walked in.

Diane and Helen both smiled as he walked in and gave them both a peck on the cheek.

“Why does she need temps when she has you.” Ethan’s mother said.

“Well I pretty much walked into that one.” Ethan said as he rolled his eyes.

This wasn’t the first time Ethan’s mother had offered up his services to Diane, he’s already helped her out twice before serving as a waiter and bartender, respectively.

“So, what will it be this time, waiter, server?” Ethan asked Diane.

“No, you’ll be bartending again.” Answered Diane.

“Alright and where and when will this event take place?”

“This weekend on Friday at the Eckhart estate.”

Ethan froze, he couldn’t believe what he just heard, “You’re joking, the Eckhart estate!?”

“Nope, not a joke, someone I know requested me as a favor.” Diane grumbled.

This is unbelievable, Ethan thought.

“Give me a sec, I got to ask Joe if I can have that day off.” Ethan said as he stepped outside the door and called Joe.

“Yeah?”

“Joe, did you already turn down the client?”

“No, I was literally just about to message them now.”

“Good, tell them we’ll take the job.”

Chapter Three

The day of the party came quick, Ethan and Joe scrambled to prepare as best they could, but there was only so much they could do. The Eckhart manor was more guarded then the White House, blueprints and schematics were unavailable and round the clock security monitored both the manor and the steel fence surrounding the property. But even without all that, this wasn’t the type of party you tried to crash, the people in attendance were not the kind you wanted to upset. Ethan and Joel both agreed that the party would only be used for reconnaissance and gathering intel, specifically where the drive was being kept.

The party started around six and was already in full swing, Ethan was in the kitchen waiting for the chef to finishing plating a dish when Diane burst through the double kitchen doors.

“Ethan we’re running low on champagne, the one’s in the fridge should be properly chilled by now.”

Without further explanation Ethan quickly goes to the large fridge and grabs as many bottles of champagne as he can carry, and quickly hands them out to some of the other servers to start pouring.

“Also, in about twenty minutes Derek is going to need his break, can you cover him?” Diane asks.

“Of course, let me just do another pass around the party to see if anyone needs anything.” Ethan replies.

“Thanks, sweety you’re the best.”

Derek was the bartender, originally Diane had wanted Ethan to bartend, but Ethan convinced her that he would be more helpful as a server/waiter this time around. In reality, it was because being a server allowed Ethan to search around the manor for the drive more easily. Unfortunately, the search had not been going well, Joe had built Ethan a locator app using the drives GPS signal, but no matter where Ethan seemed to go the signal was always weak. Before walking out to the party Ethan puts on the party mask Diane requested all the servers and staff wear for this event. The mask covered the eyes and nose and it was Diane’s way of keeping her people safe, she was under no illusions about the people she was catering this event for. It was the reason the Diane didn’t even want to cater the party in the first place, but apparently an old friend of Diane’s asked her as a favor because she was the only one they trusted, so Diane relented and agreed.

Ethan discreetly pulls out his phone while moving around the room the party was taking place in. The room was massive, the center was converted into a dance floor with tables aligned along the outer edge. A bar was placed on the far side of the room and second story railings allowing guest to view the dance floor from up high. The party was a strange mixture of high society decorum with night club activities, given the reputation of some of the individual here it was hardly surprising. Robert Eckhart and his family had their feet in both camps, respected members of Port Iron’s high society and ruthless gangsters.

As Ethan walked around, he couldn’t help but marvel at the fact that quite a few of the guest here were people he had stolen from. It amazed him how easily it was for members of Port Iron’s high society to comingle with some of Port Iron’s more notorious guests. It seems that at the end of the day, as long as they have money, most didn’t care how they got it.

Ethan looked at his phone, but the locator app still showed a weak signal.

‘Damn still nothing, it’s got to be somewhere on the other side of the manor.’ Ethan thought to himself.

As Ethan tries to think of a way of searching the other side of the manor, he feels a chill run down his spine and the sensation of eyes watching him. Ethan remains calm and slowly puts his phone away, given the reputation of some of the attendees here it was only natural for one or more of them to be wary. Ethan calmly walks over to the bar to give Derek his break like Diane wanted him to. He just needed to act like normal and after a few minutes they would see he wasn’t a threat and stop being wary of him.

Thirty minutes go by and the sensation of being watched still didn’t go away, just as Ethan begins to worry that he messed up and someone noticed the locator app on his phone, the sensation of being watched vanishes. But even though the sensation of being watched was gone, something in Ethan’s gut was telling him that something was wrong. After another thirty minutes Derek comes back from his break and Ethan decides to go back to the kitchen to regroup. As Ethan makes his way to the kitchen, he’s stopped by none other than Robert Eckhart himself.

Ethan puts on his best customer service smile, “Yes sir, what can I get you?”

“Actually, it’s not me, I have a special guest staying here and they requested you to bring them a drink.”

The way Eckhart spoke and the strange look in his eye when he said special guest, he was afraid of this person. Who in the world could scare a man as powerful as Robert Eckhart in his own home, Ethan wondered?

“Of course, just tell me what they want, and I’ll have one of the waiters take it to them right away.”

“No, they asked for you specifically.”

Warning bells went off in Ethan’s head.

“Look, your boss and my wife are old friends and I promised her that nothing would happen to her staff.”

This surprised Ethan, he never thought the old friend Diane was referring to was Robert Eckhart’s wife.

“So, don’t speak unless spoken to, and avoid eye contact, Adkins here will walk you to their room.”

A good-looking blonde-haired man standing beside Eckhart holding a tray with a glass of scotch steps up, Ethan recognized this man as Eckhart’s number two and right-hand man. Not given much of a choice Ethan follows Adkins, they go up to the second floor and walk to the other side of the manor, exactly where Ethan had been wanting to go.

Turning a corner Ethan sees ten men waiting and he freezes, ‘shit is this a trap’.

Adkins look over to Ethan and hands him the tray with the glass of scotch, “Don’t worry about them, just walk pass them and the guest will be in the last room on the right.”

Not sure what else he could do Ethan continues forward and the men in front move to let him through. Reaching the door Ethan looks back at the men and sees they’re all staring at the door with looks of fear and trepidation. Ethan quickly realizes they were meant to be guards against whatever was in this room.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Ethan thought as he swallowed down his own building fear.

He knocked on the door but there was no answer, Ethan slowly opens the door and announces himself.

“Hello? I’ve brought the scotch you ordered.”

Ethan steps into the room and the door naturally closes behind him, the room itself was quite grand with a high ceiling and two large windows covering the back wall. A rather ostentatious king-sized canopy bed sat between the two windows and a fireplace that was currently lit adorned the left wall. The room was mostly dark except for the light coming from the fire and a small bit of moonlight peeking through the windows. The room was also quiet, with as loud as the party was outside the door, only the crackling of the fire could be heard in the room.

Ethan stood there in silence for a few moments, the whole situation made him feel uneasy and he wanted to be done with it as quick as possible. Ethan spots a small table to his left and thinks of just setting the glass of scotch there and leaving, but a woman’s voice calls out to him.

“Come closer.”

Ethan slightly jumps at the sound of the voice, following where it came from Ethan looks towards the back-left corner of the room. At first, he sees nothing, but then I chill runs down his spine as he sees two eyes watching him. At first, he thought the eyes were a dark blue but as the eyes continued to stare at him, he sees they are a dark violet. He reasoned that they couldn’t be real and that they had to be contacts, but the way her eyes seemed to pierce into him, made him quickly realize they were real. As Ethan continued to look into the woman's dark violet eyes, something about them began pulling at Ethan.

Mentally shaking himself, Ethan remembering her words, begins to slowly step closer, he notices the figure was sitting down in a chair. As he reaches the fireplace the voice calls out to him again.

“Stop.”

Her voice was smooth and silvery, and Ethan did as he was told.

The woman stands and slowly steps into the light leaving Ethan awestruck as the creature in front of him was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. She was also tall, Ethan measured her at approximately five nine, dwarfing his five feet five-inch frame. She had long wavy layered red hair that dropped past her shoulders and clear white skin that only made the contrast of her red hair stand out even more. Lush full lips, that would attract any man’s attention, were covered in a dark red lipstick that screamed kiss me. Now completely visible Ethan couldn’t help but admire the woman’s incredible hourglass figure. She was wearing a long black evening dress with long slits going up both sides of the dress giving just a few glimpses at her incredibly sexy long legs. She wore no shoes confirming Ethan’s estimate about her height.

Ethan’s legs felt like jelly, he had never been more attracted to someone in his entire life, his whole body seemed to yearn for her. Ethan gulps as the woman reaches out and grabs the glass of scotch. As she takes a sip, her eyes never move away from Ethan. A sense of dread begins to well up inside Ethan’s stomach, something about her eyes told him that this woman was the most dangerous creature he has ever met, and somehow, he just knew she had the drive.

Having done what he was asked, Ethan turns to leave.

“Stop.”

Ethan turns back, “Of course, how rude of me, would you like anything else?”

“You can drop the act now, we tend to recognize other people like us when we run into them, don’t we?”

Her honeyed words held a hidden threat, telling Ethan not to play games.

“Yes.” Was all Ethan could manage.

The woman smiles, “Good, I was worried I’d be stuck bored in this room all night.”

Ethan was confused by her statement.

“I felt you watching me earlier and your clearly dressed for the party, so why are you staying here?” Ethan asked.

“Cutting right to it, I like that.” The woman takes another sip of scotch before answering. “I was planning to attend, but someone I didn’t expect to be here turned up.”

“An ex-boyfriend?”

Shocked by what he just blurted; Ethan slaps his hand over his mouth and quickly apologizes. “I’m sorry I…I don’t know why I just said that.”

But the woman just laughs, “No, no one like that.”

A small sense of joy begins sprouting inside Ethan, but he quickly squashes it down.

‘Now is not the time to be thinking with your lower half.’ He chastises himself.

“But enough about that, why are you here?” The woman asks.

The question was so simple and yet the answer could very well get him killed, Ethan thought.

“You called me here.” Ethan replies.

A pressure Ethan had never felt before pushes down on him and killing intent radiates out of the woman. Ethan braces himself for an attack, but just as quickly as it came the killing intent vanishes.

“I’ve decided I like you, so I’ll let that one go. But a word of warning, don’t push me.”

The woman’s eyes seem to glow as she spoke, leaving Ethan a bit shaken.

‘What the hell is she?’ Ethan thinks to himself.

“The chair in the corner, bring it here.” She orders.

Ethan quickly goes and grabs the chair and places next to the fire where she indicated. She sits down and hold out her glass indicating for Ethan to take it, which was confusing him.

‘What is going on? If she knows what I am, why isn’t she attacking or turning me in and instead treating me like her butler?’

No sure what else to do Ethan decides to risk it and ask her, but before he can the woman interrupts him.

“Rub my feet.”

Ethan froze, “What?”

“My feet rub them, NOW”

Her killing intent from earlier starts to leak out again, Ethan quickly kneels and begins rubbing her feet. The woman says nothing as Ethan rubs her feet, she just stares down at him with satisfied smile. Ethan couldn’t help but feel humiliated about his current situation, but at the same time a small part of him was enjoying this opportunity to touch her.

Ethan again squashed down those feeling, “Why are you doing this, you said you know what I am so why haven’t you killed or turned me in yet?”

The woman lifts her right leg and places it over Ethan shoulder.

“Now the leg.” Was her only response.

Ethan starts at the ankle and works his way up her calf, once he reaches the top of her calf, he begins to work his way back down to her ankle, but she stops him.

“Higher.”

Ethan froze for a second but then proceeded up behind her knee.

“Higher.”

Ethan swallowed and looked up at her; she was smiling a small provocative smile and her eyes were again glowing, but instead of being afraid Ethan inches closer to her so that he can reach her thigh.

“Higher.”

Unable to see and only feel, Ethan’s breathing got heavy as his hands reach her inner thigh and began to feel the heat of her core, letting him know that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Unable to help himself Ethan splays his fingers ever so slightly so that they can brush pass her velvet folds. Ethan looks up again and this time the woman’s eyes were closed, and her lips were slightly parted.

Sensing his gaze, the woman’s eyes open her eyes glowing even brighter than before, “Take off your mask.”

Ethan’s hand goes up to his face in confusion, he had completely forgotten about the party mask, which meant the woman didn’t know what he looked like.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Ethan squeaks out.

The woman slightly tugs on the back of Ethan’s head, “I want to look you in the eyes as you go down on me.”

At her words Ethan’s mouth began to salivate and the overpowering need to taste her washed over him, but Ethan fought it.

“No, no, this…this is wrong.” Ethan stumbles back shaking his head. “Everything about this is wrong.’ Ethan didn’t understand what was happening to him, this woman was dangerous in more ways than one. “I need to leave.”

Ethan stands and heads toward the door, but the woman was already blocking it.

“What the?” Ethan murmurs to himself.

Ethan looks back at the chair the woman was just seating in and sees that it is empty, he wasn’t seeing things. Before he could react, the woman grabs Ethan by the throat, her speed and strength clearly not human.

“You’re not going anywhere; you belong to me now!”

The woman’s cold voice chilled Ethan to his very core, but what truly terrified him was the woman’s eyes. The whites of her eyes were gone, her dark violet eyes were now surrounded by darkness.

“What are you?”

The woman smiles revealing elongated canine teeth, “I am your forever.”

The woman reaches for the party mask to rip it off, but as soon as her hand touches it a bright blinding light explodes out from it, blinding Ethan and the woman.

As the light slowly dissipates and Ethan’s sight comes back, he sees the woman wobbling on her feet, her eyes and teeth back to normal. She falls forward grabbing Ethan by the shoulders, using what little strength she has left she crushes her lips against his. She tasted of scotch and something sweet that Ethan couldn’t quite put a finger on, but nevertheless it was intoxicating. Ethan couldn’t get enough, he opens his mouth for her, and she wastes no time exploring it with her tongue.

After a moment she breaks the kiss, “You are mine and I will find you.”

With those last words the woman slumps forward, fast asleep. Ethan catches her and carries her over to the bed.

After laying her down Ethan steps back and can no longer hold back the words. “What the fuck just happened?”

Ethan replayed the entire situation in his head and not a damn thing of it made any sense to him. He reaches up to take off the mask and look at it but thought better of it, who knows what else it could do. Ethan had prided himself in his ability to keep calm and figure things out, but this whole situation was completely and utterly insane.

“Fuck this, I’m done.”

Ethan turns to leave but is stopped by the vibration of his phone in his pants. He sees that it’s Diane, he also notices that he has a bunch of missed calls, having been too preoccupied to have noticed before.

‘Hey Diane, sorry about-”

“Ethan where the hell are you, we’ve been trying to reach you for almost over an hour!!! The hospital called, Helen’s condition has gotten worse and they need to see you.”

Diane’s words hit Ethan like a ton of bricks and steel his resolve, “Ok, I’ll leaving now, give me a few minutes to find my way back.”

Ethan hangs up and opens the locator app on his phone, just like he thought the drive was somewhere in this room. The app leads him to one of the closets, opening it up he’s greeted by the sight of a wide variety knives, blades, and handguns. Even to the untrained eyes you could tell that this was some serious hardware. Ethan looks back at the sleeping woman on the bed and again wonders who the hell was she and what had he gotten himself in the middle of. Focusing back on the matter at hand Ethan spots the drive and grabs it.

He looks at the drive; a part of him knew that taking this meant that the life he knew until know would be over.

He grips the drive, “It doesn’t matter, as long as mom gets the peace she deserves.

Ethan walks toward the door and straightens out his clothes; he looks back at the sleeping woman and still feels an overwhelming sense of attraction towards her.

“Stop thinking crazy and leave before she wakes up.” He tells himself.

As Ethan opens the door and walks out her final words echo in his mind.

“You are mine and I will find you."

Chapter Four

Ethan watched as his mother continue to read her book, he turned away to stifle a yawn, hoping to hide it from her.

“Will you just leave already!” His mother sighed in irritation.

“I’m fine.” Ethan replied.

“It was just a dizzy spell; you and the doctors are overreacting.”

“It was not a dizzy spell, you passed out mid conversation with the doctor! So I’m not going anywhere.” Ethan declared.

“Fine I passed out, but you being here isn’t going to change anything. Especially when you look like you’re ready to drop dead any second now.”

Ethan couldn’t think of a reply, its been three days since he left the party and came straight here. Within those three days Ethan has slept a total of five hours, his lack of sleep was beginning to affect his brain and his eye lids felt like they had sandbags on top of them.

“Please, go home. Get some sleep.” His mother pleaded.

“Fine, I’ll sleep, but I’m sleeping here.”

Helen sighed as she slightly shook her head, but she also couldn’t help but smile at her son’s stubbornness. Something, much to her chagrin, he had inherited from her.

“Fine, but at least call Joe to bring you another change of clothes.” She stated before going back to her book.

After getting to the hospital, Ethan had called Joe to bring him a change of clothes so that he could change, but also to hand him the drive.

Helen looks up from her book, “Actually, I’ll call Joe. Instead can you go get me some food from the cafeteria?”

“Of course.”

Ethan quickly left and soon came back with a tray full of food.

“Did you talk to Joe already?”

“Yes, he should be here soon, and Diane is on her way as well.” His mother added with a smile.

Ethan froze for a second as he gave his mother the tray of food, but he quickly recovered and hoped his mother hadn’t noticed. Ethan looks over at the mask from the party sitting on the nightstand by the bed. The day after the party when Diane had come by to check on Helen; Ethan had been planning on asking Diane about the mask and the light it produced. But once Diane came in and saw the mask for herself, she gave Ethan curious glance before telling him.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”

After that, she made it a point of not giving Ethan a chance to talk to her alone, knowing he wouldn’t want to bring it up in front of his mother. Ethan didn’t know what to think, so he asked Joe to look deeper into Diane, but he couldn’t find anything. From then on Ethan had become suspicious and wary of Diane, but she was still his mother’s friend and the mask had helped him. So, he had tried to hide his suspicions from his mother but she was sharp, judging by the smile on her face, she knew something was going on between them and was making a point of using it against him.

‘Of course, she noticed.’ Ethan sighs to himself.

But at this point Ethan didn’t care, he wasn’t going anywhere. He walks over to one of the chairs in the corner of the room and sits down. Despite their look plain appearance, they were actually quite comfortable.

“Wake me when they get here.” Ethan tell his mother before closing his eyes.

Sleep quickly takes Ethan, and he begins to dream, as he does a sense of trepidation takes hold of him. In truth his mother’s worsening condition wasn’t the only reason he hadn’t slept. The other reason was because every time he closed his eyes, he could see a pair of dark violet eyes watching him. They were beautiful and mesmerizing, and they watched him with hungry anticipation, like a predator stalking its prey. But before they could ever get too close Ethan would wake up with a chill running down his spine. And that’s what Ethan expected to happen again, but something was different this time,

Opening his eyes, Ethan found himself in a dark forest, illuminated only by the light of a full moon. Ethan was confused, he had gone camping a few times before in the woods just outside the city. But these woods were nothing like that, these woods were vast and dark, the kind you would see on tv or a horror movie.

‘Where the hell-?’

Before Ethan could finish the thought a chill runs down his spine, he was being watched and he knew exactly who was watching him. Ethan scans the trees in the surrounding darkness and sees them, those same dark violet eyes.

“I told you I’d find you.”

Hearing her voice again causes Ethan’s heart to beat out of control.

“This can’t be real.” Ethan says in disbelief.

As if to prove him wrong the woman steps out the darkness and into the light of the moon, she was still wearing the same dress from the night of the party. She was absolutely stunning; Ethan couldn’t look away, a part of him had been longing to see her again.

The woman licks her lower lip as she slowly approaches Ethan, the hunger in her eyes cause Ethan’s legs to shake. She wanted him, and a part of Ethan just wanted to let her take him, but Ethan shakes his head.

‘This isn’t right, what happening to me?’

“Come here.” The woman calls out to Ethan,

But Ethan shakes his head and instead forces himself to take a step.

“No.”

The woman did not like this, the air around her immediately changed and the white of her eyes became black making her violet eyes standout even more. Ethan recalled the same thing happening the night of the party, she clearly did not appreciate being disobeyed.

Seeing her eyes, a sense of both fear and excitement washed over Ethan, his whole body began to shake slightly, but he continued to stand his ground. The next thing Ethan knew he was being thrust back into one of the trees behind him. The woman grabs Ethan’s hair and jerks his head back so that he’s looking up at her.

The woman smiles the same hypnotic smile from before, “I’m coming for you beloved.”

The woman rears her head back revealing her now elongated fangs, before quickly biting down on Ethan’s neck.

Ethan springs awake, his breathing fast and heavy but from fear, excitement, or both he wasn’t sure. After catching his breath Ethan looks around and realizes he wasn’t in the hospital, he was at home in his bed! Ethan jumps out of bed and runs over to the bathroom mirror and checks his neck. There was nothing there, looking down he notices he’s still wearing the same clothes from earlier.

A noise from the kitchen catches Ethan attention, he slowly exits the bathroom and proceeds down the hall. Ethan hides his presence and moves without a sound, skills he’d had to master over the years stealing. As he reaches the end of the hall a lump catches in his throat at the thought of finding the woman waiting for him just around the corner. Swallowing the lump and steeling his resolve, Ethan peaks around the corner and sees Joe messing around in the kitchen.

Ethan sighs in relief and chuckles at his own paranoia.

‘Of course she isn’t here, it was only a dream.’ Ethan tells himself.

A small part of him seems disappointed by this, but he quickly quashes the feeling down and steps out of the hall.

“Hey there kiddo, sorry if I woke you up, I’m out of coffee at my place and was hoping to find some here.”

Ethan sits down on one of the bar stools under the bar, “Check the pantry behind the cereal.”

Joe moves the cereal and spots the coffee, “Ah ha, oh my sweet love, what would I do without you.” Joe croons as he kisses the coffee container.

“Maybe buy your own coffee.”

Joe hugs the coffee container tight as if to shield its ears, “Don’t listen to him my love, he’ll never understand our feeling for one another.”

Ethan lets out a small laugh and rubs his face, “What time is it, and how the hell did I get here?”

“It’s a little after eight pm.”

“Twelve hours! No wonder I feel sluggish.”

Ethan grunts as he rolls his shoulders and stretches his back.

“Yeah, but by the looks of it you needed it. As for how you got here, your mom called and told me to come get you.”

“Ok, but how’d you do it without waking me up?”

“That would be your mom and Diane.”

“Diane?”

“Yep, she was already there when I got there and they’ve must’ve given you some sort of sedative cuz you were out like a light, never seen anything like it.”

Hearing this made Ethan even more suspicious about Diane, but it was too late to worry about that now.

“Come on, you can fill me in on the way to the hospital.”

“Sorry, but no can do. I’m under strict instructions from your mother to not let you go back there for at least twenty-four hours, and apparently, she told the hospital this too.”

Ethan’s jaw dropped, “Your serious?”

“Yep.”

Ethan shook his head in disbelief.

“Unbelievable. Any word from the client?” Ethan asked.

“Before we get into any of that, I suggest you go clean up, you look like shit and I need to make myself some coffee.”

Ethan rolled his eyes as Joe walked out of the kitchen and towards the front door. Ethan got up and went into the bathroom; he had been planning on just washing his face, but after taking a good look at himself in the mirror, he decided to just take a shower instead.

‘The hot water will help relax my muscles.’

Ethan quickly takes off his clothes and turns on the shower head, stepping into the shower, he lets out a hiss as the hot water cascades down his sore muscles. For a brief moment Ethan closes his eyes and just enjoys the sensation of the hot water running down his body. As he continues to bathe his mind goes back to the dream he just had. Just remembering the woman’s fiery red hair and glowing eyes sent chill down Ethan’s back. But he couldn’t decide if it was from fear or excitement.

‘Stop it, she’s dangerous, and she might not even be human! She had fangs and glowing eyes for goodness sake!’ Ethan chastises himself

But no matter how many times he tells himself, he can’t seem to help but think back to the night of the party, with her sitting in that chair and his hands on her leg. Closing his eyes; Ethan could still remember the feel of her, every curve, every muscle. The way she looked at him as she urged him further up her leg until his fingers grazed her entrance.

Ethan grits his teeth as his mind rushes forward with thoughts of what would have happened if he had kept going. If he had indeed gone ahead and taken off his mask and let her lead him to her waiting core. The taste and feel of her as she held his head and moved her hips to the rhythm of his tongue.

Ethan’s hand moves towards his now enlarged member and begins to slowly stroke himself as he continues to imagine sucking, licking, and nipping at her core and the sounds she would make as he brings her ever closer to her release.

As Ethan’s own release begins to build, his mind suddenly shifts back to the dream as the woman reels back and sinks her fangs into Ethan’s neck. The sensation of her fangs sinking into his neck causes Ethan’s release to explode out of him with a force that had his knees shaking.

After a few deep breathes Ethan recovers, “What the hell is wrong with me?”

Confused by what just happened, Ethan quickly finishes showering and gets out, his reaction to the bite had him a bit worried. Wanting to clear his head, Ethan quickly dresses and heads over to Joe’s apartment.

Walking in; he finds Joe in font of his computer drinking a cup of coffee.

“Now that you have your coffee; any word from the client?”

Joe looks toward Ethan with a dour expression, “No, nothing.”

Ethan let out a depressed sigh, it had been three days since Joe sent confirmation for the retrieval of the drive, the fact that the client hasn’t responded was not a good sign.

“But what’s really got me worried is that there’s been no chatter on the drive being stolen.” Joe continued.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Ethan responded.

“Normally yeah, but these are the Eckhart’s we’re talking about. There not the kind to let thing go or stay quiet about it. The only thing I can figure is that someone is hiding it.”

Ethan looks to Joe; he hadn’t told him about the woman or his strange encounter with her. All he told him was that he found the drive in one of the bedrooms.

‘IS she hiding that it’s been stolen, is she scared of what the Eckhart’s might do?’ Ethan thinks to himself.

But thinking back to the night; Ethan remembers how scared Eckhart and his men seemed to be of the woman and quickly dismisses the thought.

“You made sure to deactivate the GPS signal, right?” Joe asks Ethan.

“Of course, I did it before I even left the estate.”

“Just making sure.”

Ethan knew what Joe was inferring, it wouldn’t have been the first time a client tried to just kill him and take the contracted item. Thankfully, those that have tried always seem to underestimate him, making it easy for him to get the drop on them first. Afterward he would have Joe call Erik and leave it to him to procure his payment from the client and to deal with them them afterward. Ethan may not kill anyone but he’s not stupid enough to believe that Erik just lets go afterward, he knows that no matter how indirect it may be, he still has some blood on his hands.

Ethan lets out a frustrated sigh, “Two bad jobs in a row and my mother’s condition is worsening. Could things get an-”

“Ah ah ah, do you really wanna jinx us?” Joe interrupts. “Haven’t you ever heard of tempting fate?”

Ethan raises his hands in defeat and says nothing, surprised by Joe’s outburst.

“Alright then, now Erik reached out saying he has a small job he needs done tonight. I was gonna tell him to fuck off, but given our current situation, I held off. So up to you, what do you want to do?”

“I’ll do it, send the details to my phone.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I need the distraction. Also, its been three days, see if you can access the drive and find out what’s on it.”

“Alright I’ll see what I can do, but this thing has some pretty heavy encryption I can’t promise I’ll be able to get anything.”

“Why don’t you ask that hacker friend of yours’ Ava for help?”

Joe met Ava through Erik a few years ago when he needed help hacking a building’s security system for a job. Her skills were invaluable, and she was only seventeen at the time, her skills have only grown since then. Ethan likes to keep the amount of people who know who he is to a minimum, so he never met Ava face to face only Joe did. After that job, Joe thought they worked quite well together and kept in touch with her. He’s asked her for help once or twice over the years so Ethan figured they were still on good terms, but Joe seemed to cringe at the name.

“What wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s just that, last time we spoke Ava made it pretty clear she wanted to enter a physical relationship with me.”

“Oh, is she even-?”

“She turned twenty-two last month, she let me know by sending me this.”

Joe goes back to the computer and clicks on the recycling bin and opens up a deleted photo, the photo was of an attractive blonde-haired blue-eyed woman in her twenties. Her curvaceous body was scantily clad in a bra and thong, and she was giving the camera do me eyes.

Ethan’s eyes widen in surprise, “Wow, I mean, wow.”

Joe closes the window and clicks empty recycling bin.

“Yeah, unfortunately for her I’m only interested in women, not girls half my age. So, I kind of don’t want to go down that road if I can help it.”

“Well then just do what you can, we’ll figure out the rest.”

Ethan heads back into his apartment and changes into a pair of black pants and black t-shirt with a black hoodie on top. Ethan finishes his dark ensemble with a pair of black boots and black gloves, he then opens his closet and after removing a few floor panels pulls out a black backpack. The backpack contains his custom tools and signature mask, he begins pulling the tools out one by one and checks them for any wear and tear that might need addressing. Once satisfied everything seemed to be in working order, he puts everything back in and pulls out the mask.

Ethan looks down at the mask, a mixture of emotions run through his mind as he stares down at it and it’s one red eye. A part of him loved it; the waiting, the planning, the thrill of the job and the rush of success. But a part of him also hated it, it was a reminder of the darkness the city tried to hide, a darkness he is a part of no matter how noble his intentions. It was a reminder that something in this city didn’t want to let Ethan go.

A chime from Ethan’s phone breaks him out of his thoughts, it was the info on the job for Erik. Ethan pulls the hood from his hoodie over his head and slowly puts the mask on, it slips smoothly into place as if it were always meant to be there. From the corner of his eye, Ethan sees his reflection in the mirror, his dark figure was quite intimidating. But what was really unsettling about it was that from the darkness of the hoodie the one red eye on the mask seemed to give off an eerie glow.

Ethan smiles to himself underneath the mask, “Time to go to work.”

Chapter Five

Ethan surveyed the south end docks; his objective was in large warehouse near the far end, the job Erik wanted him for was simple but important. The warehouse was run by the War Kings, the last of the big three and the most violent. Erik has come to suspect that the War Kings have begun dealing in human trafficking, something Erik has zero tolerance for. Erik’s organization lags behind the big three in terms of size and strength, but despite this he has made it clear to the three of them that he would not tolerate human trafficking and that he would openly move against anyone caught dealing in it. Surprisingly, Eckhart backed Erik’s stance on this and have offered to help should the need arise. Hence the importance of this job, should Ethan find the proof they need, Erik and Eckhart will begin to actively move against the War Kings.

Satisfied with what he sees, Ethan jumps down off the roof of the black van he had been perched on. It was a little after ten and the night sky was covered by clouds, the van was parked underneath an overpass that ran along the dock’s perimeter, so Ethan wasn’t too worried about being seen.

As he lands the van door slides open and Erik steps out.

“How does it look?”

“Well, there’s a lot of guys with some pretty big guns, but they don’t seem to be guarding all that much.”

Ethan had spotted more than a few of the guards slacking off and one straight up sleeping.

Erik smiles, “Probably because they don’t think anyone is crazy enough to steal from them.”

Ethan smiles back, still surprised by the fact that Erik was here. Earlier, when Erik had messaged that he would be providing transportation, Ethan hadn’t expected to see Erik himself when the van pulled up to him. At first Ethan thought this was his way of trying to make up for botching his last job, but after hearing the details of what this job was about, he knew this wasn’t the case. Erik was taking this job very seriously; Ethan could tell by the fact that Erik hadn’t made a single D&D reference the entire time.

“How sure is your contact about this ledger?”

“As sure as he could be, he couldn’t verify for fear of being discovered.”

The ledger in question apparently held all the information Erik needed, from buyers and suppliers to information about the people being trafficked. Whoever was in charge had opted for a written ledger instead of an electronic one for fear of being hacked. The ledger was being kept in an office on the second floor.

“What happens after I get you the ledger?”

“We find out who in WK knows about this, and then fun begins.”

Ethan rolled his eyes at Erik’s use of the word fun, he knew that by “fun”, Erik meant hunting down everyone involved in this.

“Ok, you’re going to slowly drive the van along the perimeter, once you get close enough, I’ll jump the fence from the roof of the van. After that you wait for me by the east gate, if anything goes wrong, do not come barreling in like a maniac. Get as close as you can without being noticed and I’ll somehow get to you.”

Erik only nods in response; as Erik gets back in the van, Ethan climbs back onto the roof and knocks twice to signal he’s ready. As the van slowly starts to move along the perimeter; Ethan begins to focus on his breathing and concentrate. Slowly, the world around him begins to slow down and Ethan jumps over the perimeter fence. Ethan rolls as he hits the ground, using the momentum to break into a small run, getting behind a cargo container. After waiting a momentum to make sure he wasn’t seen, Ethan keeps to the shadows as he makes his way toward the warehouse. As he moves between shadows, Ethan keep a careful eye on the men guarding the area. Though his ability allowed him to view them in a slowed state, he still needed to be careful to not be seen. As he reaches the warehouse’s side entrance, Ethan stops using his ability, using it for too long mentally drains him. Thankfully, the entrance was being watched by the sleeping guard Ethan had spotted earlier, which gave him plenty of time to make sure the coast was clear and slip in undetected.

Inside the warehouse was filled with crates and containers, mostly likely holding WK’s newest shipment of guns and drugs, but those weren’t Ethan’s concern, his goal was on the floor above. Luckily, a set of stairs leading to the second floor were right by the side entrance Ethan just came in from. Ethan listens for any patrolling guards as he climbs the stairs, but all he could hear was loud yelling and cheering. Peaking over the top step; Ethan sees a group of men facing away from him crowded around a large TV watching a football game. The score on the screen was tied and the men watching continued to yell at the screen with nervous excitement. Looking around the small lounge Ethan spots a hall to his left with a door Ethan guessed was the office. Thanks to the football game, Ethan was able to sneak by unnoticed. Reaching the door Ethan turns the knob and finds the door unlocked.

‘Wow, either these guys are way too careless or they really didn’t think anyone would try and steal from them.’ Ethan thinks to himself.

Ethan quietly closes the door behind him as he enters the office; the office was quite big with a large desk at the center and a large window overlooking the warehouse floor behind it. Two sets of filing cabinets lined both sides of the room. Ethan spots a small safe wedged between two of the cabinets, he walks over to it but stops and looks over at the desk.

‘It can’t be that easy, can it?’

Walking over to the desk; Ethan stares in disbelief as the ledger he was looking for just sat there out in the open. Ethan flips through the pages to verifies the contents of the ledger, just like Erik’s contact had said the ledger contained the names of buyers and suppliers. There was also some information on a few of the people being sold like their name and where they were taken from, most of which were women. One page in particular caught Ethan’s eye, a large number of women were all sold to the same buyer. The strange thing was there was a note from the buyer to the seller reminding them that they would only accept pregnant women.

‘Jesus, what kind of monster goes after pregnant women?’

Disgusted by what he read Ethan closes the ledger and stares at it with contempt, he takes solace in the fact that Erik was going to make good use of this ledger to hunt every one of these sick bastards down. Ethan moves to put the ledger in his bag when I sudden chill runs down his spine freezing him in place. Before he could make sense of what he was feeling, an explosion rocks the warehouse. The sound of men shouting followed by gunfire began to emanate from the other side of the door.

‘What the hell?’

Ethan shakes his head, now wasn’t the time for idle speculation, he needed to get out of there. The door wasn’t an option, from the sound things, someone or something was tearing through the men outside. Looking around his only option seemed to be to hide; going over to one of the filing cabinets Ethan quickly climbs on top of it, allowing him to move one of the ceiling tiles over so he could climb up. He quickly replaces the ceiling tile right as the sound of the office door being knocked off its hinges fills the room.

Ethan freezes and erases his presence as much as possible, he can hear someone walking around in the room below him. Ethan quietly listens as drawers are opened and papers are tossed about, they were clearly searching for something and Ethan had a funny feeling it was the ledger. Ethan begins to take slow deep breathes, his mask muffled most of the sound, so he wasn’t too worried about being heard. Focusing his ability, Ethan tries to sense the person below him, but something was wrong. Usually when he senses people, he can see a vague outline of their body almost like a dull or hazy heat vision, but this person seemed to be glowing brighter than anything Ethan had ever seen before.

Suddenly, the figure looks up to where Ethan is hiding; before he can react, the figure jumps and its hand crashes through the ceiling tile grabbing Ethan’s foot, pulling him down. Ethan’s hands shoot out in front of him, breaking his fall before his face can hit the floor. He quickly kicks his leg free and stands to face the figure.

Ethan’s eyes widen in shock as the eyes that have been haunting him for the last three-day stare back at him. A part of him didn’t want to believe she was real, that he was somehow dreaming, but she was real and a small part of him was excited to see her again. Ethan couldn’t help but stare in awe of her, she looked completely different but no less captivating. Her fiery red hair was all swept to one side and gone was the dress from the party. Instead she wore a black long-sleeved turtleneck with black pants that seemed to hug her every curve. Black shoes and black gloves completed her dark new look, but what really caught Ethan’s eye was the black utility belt that hung from her hips. He saw no gun, but the belt was full of pockets and pouches that for some reason gave Ethan a bad feeling.

The woman continued to glare at Ethan as she took a step toward him, knowing he was no match for her Ethan calls out to her.

“Wait, wait, wait I’m not with the War Kings!”

The woman stops and carefully eyes Ethan, seeing this as his chance Ethan continues to talk while inwardly praying that she doesn’t recognize his voice through the mask.

“Look, I was hired to steal this ledger so that my employer can shut down the human trafficking happening here. If you’re here for the same reason maybe, we could help each other out?”

The woman says nothing as she just continues to stare at Ethan, she was blocking the doorway and Ethan saw no openings for him to try and slip by. And despite the sounds of fighting and gunfire earlier the woman didn’t seem to have a scratch on her. Even now Ethan could sense an overbearing pressure coming from her.

The sound of men yelling draws Ethan’s attention to the window behind him. Looking down he sees the men who had been standing guard outside were now rushing in to find the source of the explosion.

“Who are you?” The woman asks drawing Ethan’s attention back to her.

Ethan could tell from the look in her eye that his voice sounded familiar to her, it was probably the only reason they were talking.

“Like I said I’m a thief, look we’re running out of time we have to move or we’re going to get cornered.”

But it was already too late, Ethan could already hear men clamoring up the stairs behind her. At that moment, the woman lifts her right hand and flicks her middle finger with her thumb causing a spark. Ethan watches in shock as what at first was a small spark turns into an orb of fire in her hand. Ethan watched in astonishment as flames swirled around the orb floating above her hand, Ethan couldn’t believe what he was seeing, the woman had created a fireball out of thin air. Unable to look away Ethan watches as the fireball grew smaller, no, not smaller, she was purposely condensing it he realized.

Just as the men from earlier reach the top of the stairs, the woman turns and in one fluid motion shoots the fireball in their direction. The fireball explodes sending a shockwave of air and dust along the ground. As the dust settles Ethan hears whatever left of the guards screaming and running in fear. Ethan’s whole body goes into a cold sweat as the woman slowly turns to face him, her violet eyes glowing.

“Jesus Christ.” Ethan mumbles in shock.

Ethan swallows hard as he tries to understand what just happened.

“H…h…how?”

“Give me the ledger.” The woman demands in a cold tone ignoring Ethan’s stammering, her eyes still glowing.

Having no choice but to obey Ethan slowly moves towards the woman and hands the ledger over. The woman takes the ledger, but instead of leaving like he thought she would, she opens it instead. She flips through a few pages before stopping on one, Ethan recognized it as the page with the pregnant women on it. After a few seconds she rips the page out and puts it in her back pocket before tossing the ledger back at Ethan. Surprised, Ethan catches it and quickly puts it in his backpack before she changes her mind. Looking up; he saw the woman eyes were no longer glowing as she looked him up and down.

‘Just stay calm and walk away.’ Ethan tells himself.

Ethan begins to slowly move around the woman when her hand shoots out and grabs Ethan by the arm.

“That scent.”

Ethan looks up at the woman and sees a small smile playing on her lips and recognition in her eyes, her smile widens as she closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath.

“I’d recognize that intoxicating scent anywhere.”

“Scent? What are you talking-”

Ethan’s words die on his lips as the woman opens her eyes, just like the night of the party, the white of her eyes had turned black and her violet eyes were once again glowing. A strange mixture of fear and excitement runs up Ethan’s spine as he looks into her inhumane eyes, she then blinks, and her eyes are back to normal.

“Well hey there lover.” She says in a husky tone.

Ethan pulls his am free and steps back, feeling a strange sense of disappointment as he does so, but he quickly shakes the feeling away.

“What’s the matter, aren’t you happy to see me?”

Something in her voice and the way her gaze seemed to pierce through him sends another shiver down Ethan’s spine.

“What do you want?” Ethan asks.

The woman chuckles, “You already know the answer to that, come with me now and I promise I’ll be gentle.” She says in a low suggestive voice.

Ethan’s heartbeat quickens at her sensual promise.

‘Get a grip, now isn’t the time to be thinking with your lower half.’ Ethan chastises himself.

“I’m not going anywhere with you.”

The air around the woman changes and her eyes begin to glow again; Ethan could feel her displeasure at his refusal. Before he can react, the woman dashes forward and gets right in Ethan’s face, her tall figure looming over him, forcing him to look up at her. Ethan, to his own amazement, stands his ground refusing to let the woman intimidate him.

“One way or the other, you are coming with me.” The woman says in a whispered tone.

Ethan’s legs slightly shake at her words, he tells himself to push her away or at the very least move, but something was keeping him there something primal, something other than fear. The woman began to stroke his mask with her thumb.

“I’ve missed having your eyes on me.” The woman whispers.

She grabs the mask and out of instinct Ethan knocks her hand away, the woman retaliates by grabbing the back of Ethan’s head and pulling it back so that he was facing up.

“I think its time we meet face to face.” The woman snaps

She grabs the mask again but before she could pull it off, a female voice calls out to her.

“Lady Sera the council has requested your presence.”

The woman freezes, from the corner of his eye Ethan sees three hooded figures standing behind the woman, from what he could make out it they were two men and a woman.

“I’m busy.” Sera states, not bothering to turn around.

One of the hooded men steps forward, “The council means now half-breed!”

“Z shut the fuck up!!!” The other hooded man yells.

‘Half-breed?’ Ethan thinks to himself.

The room immediately turns cold, Sera lets go of Ethan and turns to face the three hooded figures. Ethan has never felt as close to death as he does now, he was just glad he wasn’t on the receiving end of Sera’s bloodlust.

“Lady Sera please calm down; he’s knew and doesn’t know any better. Please, just follow Richard and me, Zane will stay behind and to take care of the human.” The hooded woman stated.

The air around Sera turned violent.

“If any of you so much as touch him, I will rip your hearts out.” Sera threatened in a vicious voice.

Ethan felt a strange tightness in his chest at Sera defense of him, judging by the way the hooded figures kept looking at each other, this was a surprise to them. Their use of the word human to describe him also helped confirm something Ethan had already long suspected. That none of these people including Sera were human, but that also raised the question, what the hell are they?

“Lady Sera, you know we can’t…” The hooded woman began as she took a step forward.

Sera flicks her her middle finger with her thumb, creating a spark that immediately grew into a fireball.

The hooded woman stops talking and steps back while the two men raise ready to defend themselves. Ethan slowly backs up until he reaches the window, from the corner of his eye, Ethan sees Erik’s black van speeding into the warehouse. Stopping just below the window Erik steps out and aims a grenade launcher at the window. Ethan ducks as a canister crashes through the window and releases tear gas. Sera and the three hooded figures immediately begin to cough and cover their eyes, Ethan’s mask gives him some protection, but he had to move quickly. Ethan moves toward the door, but the three figures still blocked the way, looking back Ethan sees Sera pulling something out of one of the pouches on her hip.

‘A chrysanthemum?’

Ethan watches as Sera puts the flower head in front of her mouth, and after a few seconds begins to breath normally.

‘Shit, I’m running out of time.’

Looking at the window Ethan sees only one option.

‘This is gonna hurt.’

Ethan runs and jumps, crashing through the window landing with are hard thud on top of the black van.

Ethan grunts in pain as he tries to move, “That was stupid.”

“My friend you have balls of steel!” Erik exclaims as he helps Ethan off the roof of the van.

“Yeah, but we have to move now!” Ethan grunts.

As he gets into the van Ethan looks up and sees Sera at the window looking down at him, the chrysanthemum still in her mouth. Her eyes were still red and watery from the tear gas, but he could still see anger and sadness in them. A part of him ached for her but another part feared who and what she was. Ethan looks away; getting into the van he watches through the side view mirror as the warehouse and Sera get farther and farther away.

Chapter Six

Ethan was exhausted by the time he and Erik got back to Erik’s place. After driving and ditching the van on the other side of town, they took two subways and a cab before finally feeling it was safe enough for them to head to Erik’s. Walking into Erik’s apartment; Ethan was dead on his feet and his whole body ached from his little stunt with the window. Erik on the other hand, having been in the van the whole time, was still hopped up on adrenalin.

“My friend that was incredible, YOU were incredible!”

“Yeah, incredible.” Ethan mumbles, pain shooting up his shoulder as he takes off his backpack and lets it fall the floor.

“Come on, we drink to celebrate!”

Erik walks over to a mini bar and begins to pour two glasses of cognac while Ethan gently lays his aching body onto Erik’s couch.

“Must say, you were like rogue slipping through shadows, why explosion?”

Erik walks over and hands Ethan one of the glasses.

“That wasn’t me.”

Taking the glass; Ethan leans forward and takes a small sip; the dry spicey taste did nothing for him. Erik on the other hand finishes his glass in one gulp and goes back to pour himself another glass. Laying back down Ethan places the glass on the floor bedside him.

“A third and fourth party showed up, kind of made a mess of things.” Ethan explains.

Without going into too much detail, Ethan explains to Erik what happened at the warehouse and about what he saw in the missing page Sera took. Hearing that the page contained the selling of pregnant women, Erik’s glass shattered in his hand as he cursed in Russian.

“Say no more my friend these people, nyet, these animals will be dealt with.”

The murderous glare in Erik’s eyes had Ethan almost feeling sorry for the people involved.

“I will also look into these other people you mentioned.”

Ethan quickly sits up; the sudden strain on his sore body causing him to grunt out in pain.

“NO, don’t! Erik, trust me when I say, leave it alone. I can’t explain it, but these people are dangerous, the rules of Port Iron don’t apply to them!”

“Calm down my friend, what do you mean the rules of Port Iron don’t apply to them?”

With a sigh, Ethan then tells Erik about the night of the party, and how afraid Eckhart and his men seemed to be of Sera. While leaving out the embarrassing parts, he also tells Erik about the strange change and glow in Sera’s eyes. Hoping that Erik’s crazy obsession with D&D would provide some sort of clue as to what she is.

“I see, so the stories are true.?”

“Stories? What stories?”

“Back when Port Iron was first founded, no one expected the town of becoming such a large trade port. As the town grew and the money began to flow many of the founding families began to fight over control of the town. The fighting got bloody, and the Eckhart’s, who were just a small trade family at the time, were backed into a corner. With no options left the head of the family at the time, Henry Eckhart, called upon a demon to help them. In desperation, Henry offered the demon his soul, but the demon was cunning, it saw an opportunity to get so much more. Foregoing Henry’s soul, the demon asked that in return for control of the town, the demon and his followers would be allowed come to Port Iron every few years to satiate their dark desires however they wish. Henry, happy with keeping his soul, hurriedly agreed not realizing that he had doomed his family to forever be in servitude to the demon and his followers.”

Ethan was stunned.

“I can’t believe it; I’ve never heard any of this.”

Ethan watches as the Erik’s hard lips slowly form into big smile.

“Oh, oh, you asshole!”

“Pretty good, right? I’m thinking of putting it in my next D&D campaign.”

Ethan grabs one of the couch pillows and flings it at Erik’s head as hard as he can. Erik dodges: the pillow hits the wall behind him with a loud smack, causing some of the picture frames hanging on the wall to fall.

“I was being serious; her eyes really did glow and change color!”

“I believe you my friend, but I don’t know what to tell you, I’ve never come across such a thing.”

Ethan lets out a frustrated sigh.

“Sleep my friend, we worry tomorrow.”

Erik walks away and goes into his room, not giving Ethan a chance to decline his impromptu invitation to crash on his couch. Not that Ethan was in any shape to decline, his whole body ached, and he was both physically and mentally exhausted. His eyes were already getting heavy and he was having a hard time keeping them open. Before he zonked out completely, Ethan used his emergency burner phone to text Joe the job was done and that he was staying at Erik’s. Not waiting for a reply, Ethan turns off the phone and lays back down on the couch.

As his eyes begin to close, he realizes, he no longer felt afraid of the eyes waiting for him in his sleep. In fact, he was rather excited; twice now he had beaten her, twice now he had escaped her grasp, and twice now has he learned more about her then she him. By all accounts Ethan should not have been able to escape, she was superior to him in every way, and yet luck seemed to be on his side.

“Sera.”

Saying her name gave Ethan a sense of achievement, his trophy from their latest confrontation, but it also filled him with a strange sense of longing. He knew it wasn’t rational but something inside of him wanted to give in to her and let her take him. But he quicky pushes the feeling aside, his focus now had to be his mother. She was quickly running out of time and he doesn’t want her last days to be in this damn city. So, for now, he would have to be satisfied with seeing Sera in his dreams and knowing that he had won.

The next morning Erik had one of his men drive Ethan home, once there he debated whether to check in with Joe or sleep some more first. A small ache in his shoulder had him choosing the latter. Waking up for the second time that day, Ethan got up a looked at his clock, seeing it was noon he quickly jumped in the shower before putting on some clothes and heading over to Joe’s. Walking in he sees Joe sitting in front of his computer still wearing the same clothes from last night.

“Any progress?”

Ethan calls out as he walks into the kitchen and puts on a fresh pot of coffee for Joe.

“Some, I should hopefully have something for you by tonight. Don’t forget the cream and sugar.”

“Hold on it just started brewing, you want breakfast?”

“Sure.”

Ethan opens the fridge and takes out some eggs.

“You want ham or bacon?”

“Both.”

Ethan pulls out both and places them next to the eggs. Opening one of the top cupboards Ethan takes out a bowl and begins to crack four eggs into it, making sure to take out the chalazae of each one with a fork. He knew they were safe to eat, but it was a habit he picked up from his mom who found the white string attached to the yolk gross. Ethan then rinses off the fork and begins to stir the eggs with it since Joe didn’t have a whisk.

“So, what happened last night?” Joe calls out.

Ethan sighs, “A lot.”

Ethan puts the bowl down and grabs two pans from one of the bottom cupboards and sets them both on top of the stove.

“Reeally, I had no idea.” Joe responded sarcastically.

Ethan shakes his head as he turns on the stove and puts both burners on medium heat. Grabbing the adobo and pepper from the pantry; Ethan pours some of each into the bowl with the eggs and begins to stir again.

“Third party showed up looking for the same thing I was there for and then a fourth party showed up looking for the third party.”

“Did Erik double book us again?! I swear I’m going to ki-”

‘Calm down, it wasn’t Erik’s fault, in fact he saved me so lay off.”

Joe didn’t respond but Ethan knew he was probably grumbling something under his breath. Opening the fridge again Ethan takes out a stick of butter and uses a butter knife to cut a small chunk into each pan. Ethan moves the butter around in both pans until they melt, he then takes the bowl with the eggs and pours it into one pan while putting the bacon and the slices of ham in the other.

“By the way your mom called last night.”

Ethan froze.

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine, she just wanted to check in on you and called me when she couldn’t get a hold of you, I told her you were still sleeping.”

Ethan lets out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and goes back to scrambling the eggs.

“Not exactly original.” Ethan calls out.

“Yeah, but its believable.”

After a few minutes, the food was ready, Ethan serves himself before calling Joe.

“Joe break time, come and get it.”

Ethan sits down; after a few moments Joe comes in and serves himself before sitting down across from him.

“Things kind of blew up last night, so I want us to stay off the radar for a while.”

Joe looks up and takes a sip of his coffee.

“How far off the radar?”

Ethan thinks for a moment.

“No jobs period, not even contact, in fact burn all our current communication channels.”

Joe whistles, “What exactly happened last night that’s got you so spooked?”

Deciding to finally come clean, Ethan tells Joe everything, starting with his first strange encounter with Sera the night of the party and ending with last night’s even stranger events.

“I see, I’ll make sure to tell both Erik and Ava to keep a low profile as well, since they’re the only once who know how to contact us directly.”

Ethan was surprised when Joe didn’t ask any further questions and proceeded to eat his food.

“That’s it? You’re not going ask me about Sera or the weird stuff I saw?”

Joe continues to slowly chew and swallow his food before answering.

“A few years before I met you and your mother, I was hired to steal some property deeds from a three-story office building over in West Port. The client, who I was going to meet after the job, said that they would provide a distraction to keep security off me. Which in hindsight was a bit sketchy, I mean a client voluntarily choosing to be the distraction, didn’t make much sense. I should have known something was up right away, but I was impulsive and accepted the job anyway. When I went to stake out the building, the whole thing seemed like a joke, half the cameras didn’t work and the ones that did weren’t even covering any of the obvious entry points. The entire building only had one security guard and the alarm system was so outdated a ten-year-old could’ve cracked it.

Still, I took the job seriously and took every precaution as if it were a maximum-security facility. The night of the job, I had the deeds in my hands within minutes, I was on my way out when I started to hear loud noises coming from the roof above. But before I could make sense of it, two figures came crashing down through the ceiling almost crushing me in the process. I quickly hid in the hall and watched through the crack in the door as the two figures stood up and stared each other down. I recognized one of them as the security guard, they both looked like ordinary men until they started going at each other, they moved so fast my eyes could barely keep up with them. And the way they went at each other was inhuman, joints were dislocated, and bones were clearly broken, but neither seemed to care. They would just pop them back not place and go back at it as if nothing happened. During the fight I saw that the man fighting the security guard had eyes that were completely black and at one point hissed revealing he had fangs as well.”

“The eyes they were completely black, you couldn’t see the irises at all?”

“Nope.”

Ethan began to think, it was similar to what he saw with Sera, but while the white of Sera’s eyes did go black her violet irises were still visible.

“What happened next?”

“Well, after a few exchanges, they started talking about things I didn’t quite understand like some place called the Boundary and something about a council. I honestly didn’t catch much of it I was too stupefied by what I was seeing. The one thing I did catch was that the security guard referred to the man with the black eyes and fangs as a vampire.”

Hearing the word vampire had the hairs on the back of Ethan’s neck standing on edge.

“Then things got really weird, earlier when they had crashed through the ceiling, they ruptured a water pipe causing water to pour out into the room. The security guard reached out and grabbed a handful of water and it instantly turned to ice in his hand. It then morphed it into long thin icicle shards which the security guard began throwing at the vampire.”

Ethan was confused, that sounded similar to what Sera had done last night, so was she a vampire or whatever the security guard seemed to be?

‘Half-breed.’ The word popped into Ethan’s head, remembering one of the hooded figures calling Sera that.

“Even with the ice shards being thrown at him, the vampire put up a hell of a fight, and only lost because the security guard seemed to be just a tad more skilled. During their last exchange, the security guard managed to pierce the vampire in the shoulder and hip with two ice shards. The vampire jumped out the window after that and the security guard jumped out after him. I stood there like an idiot for a good five minutes before finally coming to my senses and getting the hell out of there. I remember waiting at the rendezvous point trying to convince myself that I wasn’t crazy and that what I saw really happened. And then the client showed up and it turned out to be the vampire I saw fighting the security guard, minus the black eyes and fangs. To this day I thank God for my excellent poker face, because I could tell that the moment he suspected I saw anything, I would have been be dead. But he didn’t, I turned over the deeds, he completed the payment, and we went our separate ways.”

Ethan was stunned by this sudden revelation.

“Jesus, why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“Why didn’t you?”

Ethan opens his mouth to reply, but nothing comes out, he didn’t have an answer. Joe shrugs and goes back to eating his food effectively ending their conversation.

After eating, Ethan headed over to the hospital to check on his mother, walking into her room he finds his mother up and doing some simple exercises to keep her muscles from atrophying.

His mother smiles as he walks in, “You’re looking a lot better, I’m glad.”

“Yeah, still don’t appreciate you having me drug-”

Ethan stops, something was different, but he couldn’t quite point out what it was.

“Are you okay?”

His mother’s worried tone broke through his thoughts.

‘Yeah, sorry it’s just there’s something different about the room.”

His mother smiles.

“Ah, its probably the air, doesn’t it smell so much fresher in here?”

That’s when Ethan notices the vase of chrysanthemums next to his mother’s bed.

“Mom, who got you these?”

Ethan hoped his mother couldn’t hear the slight fear in his voice.

“No one got them for me, I picked them out and had Diane get them for me.”

Ethan breathed a sigh of relief, for a moment he thought Sera had found him.

“Why chrysanthemums?”

“I felt the room was getting a little too stuffy and chrysanthemums help to clean and purify the air, plus I think they smell rather lovely. Why you don’t like them?”

“No, its not that, I just thought you preferred lilies.”

“Lilies are my favorite, but I enjoy mixing it up. But enough about that, Ethan it’s time.”

“It’s time? For what?”

“For you to meet Diane’s niece Rose.”

“Ugh, mom I don’t think now is-”

“No, none of that, you promised Diane you would give her niece a chance and that’s exactly what you’re going to do.”

“To be fair I never explicitly said I would-”

“ETHAN.”

His mother’s tone left no room for further discussion, with a sigh of resignation Ethan looks toward his mother.

“Where are we meeting?”

“Tomorrow at the café a few blocks from here.”

Ethan slumped into one of the chairs next to his mother bed, her excited tone already had him feeling exhausted.

“Ethan, you have to promise me you will give her a chance.”

His mother’s sudden serious tone had him sitting up and seeing the sad smile on her face as she looked down at him.

“I need to know you’ll be looked after when I’m gone.”

The sudden lump in Ethan’s throat made it hard to respond, grabbing his mother’s hand he touches the back of her hand with his forehead, before finally looking up at her.

“I promise, I will give Rose a fair shot. But you got to promise no more talking like that, we still have plenty of time, alright?”

“Ok.”

His mother wipes the wetness from her eyes and smiles.

“Now, let start with what you’re going to wear tomorrow, it needs to be something that will bring out your eyes.”

It wrecked Ethan every time his mother talked like that, so he would do as he promised and give Rose a fair shot, but he knew nothing would come of it. Whether he liked it or not he already had someone else on his mind. Not that he could ever tell her about his strange attraction to a probable vampire who’s most likely hunting for him at this very moment. Regardless, it was better to get this out of the way now, besides what’s the worst that could happen.

Chapter Seven

After an hour and a half of deliberation Ethan’s mother decided that he would wear a soft pink shirt, he didn’t own, with black jeans that he didn’t already have. Following his mother’s not so subtle hints, Ethan went out and bought new clothes for his date with Rose. To make sure he didn’t phone it in, Ethan’s mother had him come back to the hospital to see what he bought. After three different trips to the stores, Ethan’s mother was finally satisfied with what he bought and had him try them on.

“I think I like the pale pink shirt from Kohl’s better with navy blue jeans you had on before.”

Ethan takes off the black jeans he was wearing and grabs the navy-blue jeans his mother was referring to. As Ethan changes, his mind begins to wander, he begins to think of Sera, a dozen different thoughts run through Ethan’s head, but they were all the same.

‘Where was she, was she still looking for him, what’s her next move?’

The sound of his mother clearing her throat pulls Ethan from his thoughts.

“Are you going to tell me about her?”

Ethan is slightly taken aback by his mother’s question.

“Who?”

“The girl.”

“What girl?”

“The one you’ve been clearly thinking about all day, I can tell from the look on your face.”

“What look?”

“That look.” His mother says pointing at his face.

Ethan touches his face but doesn’t feel anything different.

“Well?”

Ethan sighs, “Its complicated.”

“So I was right, it is about a girl! Who is she, why didn’t say anything? I’ll call Diane and tell her to cancel the date.”

“Mom, no, stop. It’s not what you think, this girl and I we…there’s a conflict of interest and it’s not going to work.”

“Why, what’s the conflict?”

“Its…its work related. Look, we met last week, and we seemed to have a connection, but then I realized she’s not…she’s not the type of girl I’d bring home to you. I’m only thinking about her now because I accidently bumped into her again last night.”

“Last night? When I called, Joe said you were still asleep.”

“I..I was, this happened after you called.”

Ethan could see the growing suspicion in his mother’s eyes.

“My point is I barely know her, and I doubt we’ll meet again, so don’t cancel the date.”

His mother looks at him skeptically.

“Fine, I won’t tell Diane to cancel the date.”

“Thank you. I think I’ll head home for today, got a big day tomorrow and I need to rest.”

“Uh huh, I’m sure that’s the reason and it’s not just you running away.”

“Whaaaaat, me run, never.” Ethan replied sarcastically.

“You’re meeting is set for a little after three so don’t forget and get there late.”

“I won’t.” Ethan answered as he picked up the bags holding his new clothes.

“Also, let me just say this; if you really did feel a connection to this girl, then don’t get hung up on my approval. Because as long as she feels what you feel I’m going to like her, so don’t worry about what I would think.”

Ethan opens his mouth to reply, but his mother interrupts him.

“I know, I know, it’s complicated. I’m just saying, don’t use me as an excuse.”

Ethan just nods, and after wishing his mother a goodnight, leaves.

Getting home, Ethan puts his new clothes away, and then does the one thing he hadn’t done in a long while, relax. Not even bothering to check in with Joe, since they weren’t taking any jobs right now anyway. Getting comfortable, Ethan orders a pizza, and watches Star Trek reruns until he finally falls asleep.

The next morning Ethan was up early, he was making himself breakfast when Joe comes in with a worried look on his face.

“We got a problem.”

“Tell me.”

“Last night DeMarco and a few others got hit.”

DeMarco was a middleman similar to Erik, he supplied jobs, and was one of the few people clients could go to to hire him and Joe or rather, Red Eye, directly.

“Hit, what do you mean hit?”

“Apparently him and a few others were attacked by a woman last night, a woman looking for a thief wearing a white mask with one red eye.”

“Oh fuck.”

“From what I can gather, she hit the others first and one of them fingered DeMarco as having contact with us.”

“Shit.”

“To their credit they didn’t do so willingly, even the ones that didn’t know made her work for it.”

“And DeMarco?”

“She worked him and his crew over pretty bad.”

“What are the odds of her tracking us through him?”

“Well, I did what you asked and got rid of all our open lines, so not likely. But…”

“But how long before she finds Erik, our close relation isn’t exactly a secret.”

Joe nods.

“Ok, call Erik and warn him that he might be compromised. What about Ava?”

“Not many people know we’ve worked together and the ones that do only know that she’s worked with me specifically.”

“That’s something I guess.”

While Joe calls Erik; Ethan hurries into his room and gets dressed. As he finishes tying his shoes, his cellphone rings, Mom popping up on the display.

“Hey mom, everything alright?”

“Everything’s fine, I was just calling to make sure you weren’t getting cold feet.”

“Cold feet, the meet isn’t for another seven hours, I haven’t even had time to get cold feet.”

“You sound anxious, is everything okay?”

Ethan struggles to put on his shirt and hold his phone as he tries to think of a response.

“Um, not really, a friend of Joe’s was in an accident last night, and we’re trying to find out who else might have been with him.”

“Oh God.”

Joe steps into Ethan’s view with a dire look on his face.

“Look mom, I got to go, I’ll call you after the date.”

“Ok, but I’m meeting with another doctor today so I might not pick up right away.”

“Then I’ll come by and give you all the juicy details in person. Ok. Love you. Bye.”

Ethan waits for his mother to finish saying I love you back before hanging up and facing Joe.

“What’s wrong?”

“Erik isn’t picking up.”

“Shit.”

“It may not be related.”

“We both know you don’t believe that.”

Joe sighs, “If she got to Erik, then she knows who you are and its only a matter of time until she finds this place.”

“No, Erik didn’t tell her anything.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Because, I’m still here.”

Joe gives Ethan a skeptical look.

“Trust me Joe, she is not the type to sit around and wait, if she knew where I was she would’ve been here by now. So come on, let’s go check on Erik.”

As they’re about to leave Joe’s cell goes off.

“It’s Erik!”

Joe answers and puts it on speaker.

“Erik are you ok?”

“I’m fine my friends, but we may have a problem.”

“Yeah, we know about Demarco and the others, we were calling to warn you.”

“Yes well, it might be too late for that. This woman you spoke to me about, you said you met her at Eckhart’s estate, correct?”

“Yeah, I first ran into her at the party there, why?”

“Because as we speak Eckhart’s men are following me and my men. They have kept their distance and hidden themselves well, but my men are experts in counter-surveillance.”

“How can you be sure that this is connected to the woman I told you about?”

“You underestimate me my friend, I have learned through my people that Eckhart is looking for you, or rather, the thief known as Red Eye. Given their connection I doubt their both looking for you separately.”

“That’s definitely not good kid.” Joe stated.

Ethan barely registered Joe’s comment, ‘If she’s using Eckhart and his people then she must be getting desperate.’ Ethan thought to himself.

“Where are you now?” Joe asked.

“Right now, I’m driving to a meeting with one of my people, like I said they are only watching for now and I do not wish to tip my hand. You should be safe as long as we do not meet for the time being, I must go, be safe my friends.”

With that Erik disconnects the call.

“Geez, what a mess. Silver lining, you’re good as long as you don’t take any jobs.”

“I guess, but for how long? Mom’s medical bill aren’t exactly cheap, and I really don’t want to dip into the money I saved.”

“Well, we still have the drive. If I can crack it, maybe we can sell whatever’s on it.”

“True, if they were willing to pay ten million to get it, then whatever’s on it should be worth just as much at the very least.”

“I’ll get to work on it, and…(sigh) I’ll call Ava to help.”

Ethan can’t help but chuckle at Joe’s tone of resignation.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I’ve got some time to kill before I have to meet Diane’s niece, Rose, so I’m going to the gym to workout and maybe get a few spars in. Call me if anything.”

“Alright, good luck and…give the girl a chance.”

Ethan nods, but remembering his mother’s words from the last night, he can’t help but think to himself, ‘Yeah, but which one?’

Getting to the gym, Ethan pushes himself harder than usual, the stress of everything that’s happened fueling him. So much so, that he ends up working out all the way until it’s time for his date with Rose. After a quick shower, he grabs his clothes from his locker thankful for having the hindsight to bring the clothes his mother picked out for him with him. As he leaves the gym, Ethan waves at the MMA group he usually spars with.

By the time Ethan reaches the café its five past three, his phone rings just as he pushes through the door. Looking at his phone; he’s surprised at the name on the screen.

‘Diane?’

Ever since the party Diane had avoided talking to Ethan one on one, given his suspicions of her, but since he was about to meet her niece it was understandable that she would call.

“Hey Diane.”

“Hi, just wanted to let you know that my niece is running a little late, but that she should be there any minute now.”

“That’s fine, I literally just walked into the café myself.”

“Oh good, well I’ll let you be then, I’m leaving to see your mother. Hope you and Sarah have fun.”

Ethan froze.

“Wait Diane did you just say Sera!?”

There was no response, Diane had already hung up.

Ethan stares at his phone in shock.

‘It can’t be.’ He thinks to himself.

Not wanting to find out, Ethan is about to turn to leave when a voice calls out to him from behind.

“Hey, are you Ethan? I’m Rose.”

Ethan slowly turns around and is shocked by the woman standing in front of him, he couldn’t believe his eyes, she looked exactly like Diane.

“Uh, yeah. I’m Ethan.”

“Is everything okay, you seemed shocked.”

“Yeah, sorry. I was just on the phone with your aunt, and she called you by a different name and it kind of threw me.”

“Oh, did she call me Sarah? That’s my first name, Rose is my middle name. I prefer to go by Rose, but she slips sometimes when she’s feeling anxious.”

“So Rose, not Sarah, got it.”

Relief washes over Ethan, the stress of current events had him jumping to conclusions. Still, Ethan couldn’t help but stare in disbelief as he follows Rose to a small table in the back. She was the spitting image of Diane, only younger. She could easily pass as Diane’s daughter or somehow younger twin.

“Is there something on my face, you’re staring.”

Ethan shakes himself out of his thoughts, “I’m sorry, I just can’t get over how much you look like your aunt.”

Rose laughs.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. There’s running joke in our family that me and my cousin were somehow switched at birth.”

“Really, I was banking on this being a ‘Star Trek: Nemesis’ type situation.”

“Well, maybe this is my real age, and I was aged up by a passing comet.”

“Nice reference, I think I just saw that episode last night, ‘The Deadly Years’, right?”

“Very good, I’m impressed.” Rose’s expression suddenly turns serious, “But now for the most important question, Kirk or Picard?”

Ethan’s eyes narrow and his expression turns similarly serious, “Same time. 1.. 2.. 3.”

“Kirk.”

“Picard.”

“Picard?! You’re insane, there is no way in any universe that Picard is a better captain than Kirk.” Rose chides.

“Oh please, Kirk is so overrated.” Ethan responds.

After staring each other down for a few seconds Ethan and Rose both laugh.

Despite the rocky start the date flowed smoothly, Ethan and Rose took turns asking questions and getting to know one another. As they continued talked, they came to find that they enjoyed each other’s company, but, neither of them felt the spark of attraction. They both quickly realized that a solid friendship was as far as their relationship was going to go.

“This was fun, but I’m gonna call it. Hope that’s okay?” Rose states as she gets up from her seat.

“No worries. I had fun too.” Ethan replies.

“Definitely keep in touch.”

“You to.”

Ethan waves Rose goodbye as she leaves the café. Instead of leaving right away Ethan orders a small coffee and decides to sit for a while. Despite his best efforts to see Rose as something more than a friend, he just couldn’t, whenever he tried his mind quickly replaced her with Sera. No matter how hard he tried he just couldn’t get her out of his head. He knew it was illogical but something inside him was drawn to her, despite her inhuman nature the danger she posed.

Ethan looks at his watch, it was a little after five.

‘Better go break the news to Mom and Diane.’

Knowing his mother would still be with the new doctor, Ethan decides to walk the few blocks to the hospital and tell her in person. It only took him ten minutes to reach the hospital, he was a few feet from his mother’s room when his phone rings.

“Hey Joe, how’d things go with Ava?” Ethan asks in a cheeky tone.

Joe clears his throat before answering, “I really don’t want to talk about it. But look kid the reason I called is because with Ava’s help, I was able to access the drive.”

“And what was on it?”

“It was a big list of names.”

“Any clue who they are?” Ethan asks as he continues to walk.

“Well, I recognize one name.”

“Who?” Ethan asks as reaches his mother’s room and opens the door.

“Your mother.”

Shock freezes Ethan in place as he walks into the room, but not from the revelation Joe just dropped on him. It was because of the person he saw standing next to Diane near his mother’s bed. Her red hair was up in an elegant bun with two loose tendrils framing her face, and doctors coat covered her body.

“Ethan come in, Doctor Umbra this is my son Ethan. Ethan this is my new doctor, Dr. Umbra.

Turning her head to face him it takes only a second for her dark violet eyes to recognize his vibrant blue ones.

Sera’s lips form into a wolfish smile, “Well hey there lover.”