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Standing outside of a ruinous building, in either hand he holds a briefcase. Both of the briefcases are made of a fine, beautifully rendered Italian leather. His hands are gripping the handle in a death grip, knowing that if anyone got their hands on these, it would be someone’s life. Scanning his surroundings, he knows that he’s been here a few more times before. He remembers that he used to come here before he was turned into a vampire. His thoughts touch on what briefcase is what first. It’s sort of like a mental check list for himself. In his right hand he has the goods, what he is hoping to use to win over a group of employees. The left hand is the path to death. In the left case there are two glocks, just incase things get out of hand. Is it dangerous to go in alone? Maybe. He is wise enough to admit the dangers to himself, but he isn’t smart enough to know the odds. Not to mention the fact that the men he’s meeting with are men that he’s worked with before. Hopefully they will remember him, and remember that he is a loyal worker. The things he’s done for one of them is what got him in his current situation anyway. If it weren’t for the murders he’d committed in America he would have never had to flee to Canada and become a vampire. Then again, these men haven’t suffered the same fate so maybe he should cut them some slack… And that’s why he’s here. He’s not here to offer them immortality, but a job and a cut in a manner of speaking. Making his way up the sidewalk, he rolls his shoulders in the way that he does, limbering his body.

Placing the right hand briefcase to the ground, the blond vampire reaches out his hand and knocks on the door. He does this in a small pattern: two knocks, pause, two knocks, pause, five knocks. There is a long silence on the inside of the building, probably one that has been there from the beginning it’s just emphasized now. This gives him time to lean down and grab his case again. The door doesn’t open, he doesn’t hear the generic ‘password’ from the other side. Instead the voice on the other side says, “Aiden? Holy **** man is that you?” The door opens and a rather short young man steps out from the building. “Come on in, you weren’t followed were you?” The dark-haired young man that couldn’t be a day over twenty three, quickly glances over the city street. The human ushers Aiden in and into the darkness of the hallway. There are a few more voices in the distance, three or four that are familiar to him and a few others that aren’t. The young man, leads Aiden down the hallway, “We thought you left and hid in the wilderness or got killed or something man.” All Aiden can manage to do is smile and nod, waiting for his old friend’s ongoing to end. It doesn’t, just like Tony to never shut his mouth. It is why he was often made the get away driver for things, because he doesn’t know when to shut up. There is a dim light at the end of the hallway, only lighting up the opposite wall from the door. The knob is a little rusted but still glimmers in the light. “Hey guys! Look who show’d up.” His words reach their ears before the two of them make it to the door way, but before they do a voice quickly answer back:

“Better be the pizza we ****’n ordered or I’m gonna go postal on the place.” The voice is all to familiar to Aiden. The voice that ordered the death of three drug dealers in Chicago. His childhood friend and partner: Damian. “We might have to go up there gun the place down.” It then strikes Aiden where he got that phrase from. He uses it so often that it barely ever crosses his mind where he got it from.

Just as the two of them turn the corner, the jaws of three of the seven people in the room just drop. The others, people that Aiden doesn’t connect to in any way, just look around the room in confusion. They probably do this because Damian has finally shut his mouth about killing. Or something else. Damian has changed quite a bit since Aiden has seen him. A bic-shaved head replaces what used to be a mop of red hair, and tattoos cover his arms. There are a few others that Aiden recognizes from his ‘adventures’ in Chicago. There’s Billy ‘the punk’ Garssman. The man stands about four feet tall. He looks like a leprechaun with his red hair and short body. Then across the table from him, in the dim light of a nearly broken lamp is Todd. The man is a giant now, compared to what he used to look like. The group has grown up, now lets hope that they’re not as stupid as they used to be too. “Ho-lee-sh-it.” These are the first words breathed among any of them as they sit around the table. There are a few women amongst them too, who look more confused than any of them. This leads Aiden to believe that whatever lives they’ve founded here in Canada, they haven’t spoken of their atrocities. Neither has he.

“Come on, sit play cards with us. Like the good old days.” Damian looks at one of the new people that Aiden doesn’t recognize and motions them off with his hand. “Scram.” The young boy gets up, he can’t be older than eighteen. Looking into the boy’s brown eyes, all Aiden wants to do is to tell him to run, get a GED, stop his investment in this life before it goes to far.. He doesn’t. Instead all Aiden does is sits down. He places both of his cases down on either side of him. Firming out the wrinkles in his slacks, and making sure that his collar is in the proper position, he can hear the voice again, “Look at this guy, golf club enthusiast. Comin’ round here thinking he owns ****, not sayin’ a word to me after almost a year.”

A smile cracks along Aiden’s face, his blue eyes look over to Damian with a look of sympathy. “Forgive me, just been a while since I’ve felt this moved by being around others.” He lies, not because it’s been awhile just because it’s never happened. “So five card draw, or Hold’em?” His blue orbs scan around the table for a few minutes before people around the table pick up their hands.

“Hold’em” The words are laced with a cold touch of anger when he says them. More people leave. The women and the newer members of his group that is. They wander off and the sound of steps creaking can be heard as they walk up stairs to some other rooms. The game begins. They play a few hands, and Aiden is losing. He’s losing on purpose. The way that he eyes the cards, he folds almost every time or he goes all in when he sees Damian’s tell. He does this for multiple reasons as he looks around the table. Everyone is watching him. He has to shake them up before he starts winning. He’s been using his own tells as false tracks for the past few hands. With this hand he would start to win. He watches the table as the cards are revealed. It comes down to the fact that he has two pairs. One pair of aces, and one pair of kings. He shows his tell again, waiting for people to do what he thinks they’re going to do. They put all their money in, thinking that Aiden himself doesn’t have any hand that could beat their leader. Placing his own bet, he waits. The cards go around the table, and finally gets to him. He flips his cards to show what he has, and a smirk comes over Damian’s freckle ridden face. “Nice hand, have you been playing like that long or did someone have to teach you… Oh, that was me..”

Nodding, Aiden speaks back to the man. “Yeah, but I’ve come a long way from playing in basements for petty cash.” The rest of the room is silent. The two men that used to be partners are now in some sort of power struggle. They’re pushing one another to see who breaks first, to see who give their composure away and flakes off. “Another game?”

The quickness of the answer is a sign of his anger, “No.” There is a pause in his speech as he looks around the room, looking from man to man. “I wanna ask you something. Why now?” The question catches Aiden off guard but no more off guard than the fact that the base is filled with families. “Do you have something to prove? Something to hold over my head? Why now?”

The look in Damian’s eyes is a mixture of anger and sadness that can’t be empathized with. Humanity has its perks and its downfalls, over emotional drivel is one of those down falls. “To offer you a job.”

“So you think that YOU can come in here and offer ME a job?” His voice is raising as heads get heated in the room. Aiden keeps his composure throughout the whole sentence. He waits for the human to finish before he opens his mouth only to be cut off. “No, I made you! I offer you jobs.” Damian is now standing and pacing about, acting big and bad, huffing and puffing.

“Are you done yet?” Aiden lifts the briefcase at his right side to the top of the table, laying it over the cards on the table. “We used to do it together, so I know that you’re familiar with pot and how to sell it.” His blue hues looks from their downward position to see that Damian at least looks interested. The quiet is good, it makes Aiden smile a little bit. “I have a supplier, doesn’t matter to you who, so just follow me on this.” He opens the briefcase to reveals the contents, a few bricks of marijuana. Tapping the plastic-wrapped buds he looks Damian in the eyes, “Tell me your not at least interested, and I’ll walk.” There is silence on the other side of the room, Damian’s mouth opens then shuts all the same. He wants to retort but can’t. “Smell this”, Aiden hands him a brick of the plant and looks at him. He sits back down in his chair waiting for a response. There is a long pause then he walks over to the stair well. He takes a few other in the room with him. He leaves Aiden and Tony in the room by themselves. Aiden offers Tony a smile.

“How does this work, we work for you?” These are the first words that leave Damian’s mouth as he leaves the stair well. He sits down again, hands on the table, fingers interlocked. He looks stern, a business man finally rather than a babbling child. This makes Aiden happy to see that he can work with someone that isn’t going to blow up and make this difficult.

“In a way, but even I work for someone. Get caught and it’s your own ***.” Aiden looks at Damian and speaks to him in the most serious tone. “But lets be honest. I know what your really concerned about. Percents?” Aiden looks around the room, he peers into each mans eyes. There is some mumbling before Damian replies:

“We want sixty percent.” He’s starting high, knowing that it’s going to go down during the process of him arguing back and forth with Aiden. He also knows; however, that this is not Aiden’s strong suit. Aiden is a gunner, an artist with a firearm. He can paint pictures with lead. Words, they’re not his strong suit. A smug smile appears on his visage.

Aiden taps the top of the table with his finger tips, his mind has been touching the thought of spending time with Dia. He wonders what time it is. He knows that this might take a while, but he wants to be back across town before the end of night. Anything to speed this process, but not that much. “I’ll give you thirty-five percent.” It’s more generous than he wants to be and probably more than Leir wants him to be. “That covers the product.” He smirks, knowing that he’s made a point.

“And we have to move that product so we want forty-five.” The man retorts back, he seems a little uncomfortable by the way he moves about in his chair. “If we get caught we have to have some money to keep ourselves out of jail.” Aiden hadn’t thought about this. He nods slowly, agreeing in a way.

“I’ll give you no more than forty percent.”

“We’ll take it.”

There is a long silence for a moment as the product is passed around the room. Each man studies it, and looks it over. “Oh and here’s a sample bag to test it out.” Aiden takes a baggie out of his pocket and tosses it across the table. “That way when you explain it, your customers will understand.” Leaning back in his chair, he waits for something to be said. It seems that he’s waiting a long time. There is long periods of time when nothing is said to him. “Alright. The price for this product is twenty dollars a gram. Yes it’s worth that much. Trust me. Anything you don’t sell, you keep until you sell it. If you can’t sell it we find other employees.”

“How do we get a hold of you if we need to talk to you.” The very question bothered Aiden a bit, he doesn’t want them to know how to get a hold of him. It’s his purpose to make it impossible to trace him.

“Give me your numbers and I’ll call you then you can save my number into your phone.” He plans on getting a cheap prepaid that he can ditch and not have to worry about ever again if someone catches onto him. The men in the room pass a piece of paper around. It looks as if the old gang is put back together, but only slightly. Soon Aiden will be leaving and they will be left to do his deeds. When the paper is finally handed back to him, he looks over the names and the numbers. He nods his head, “Alright boys, we’ll be in touch.” He smirks as he goes to leave.

“What’s in the other case?” Aiden ignores them and leaves the building. He knows that they won’t be able to track him down with their human senses. Something about being a shade has its advantages in this business. Behind he drops a card on the steps of the building. It's his old way of leaving a scene. The black pressboard is printed on one side with a harlequin-green ghost.

Laying on his bed, he flips a card between his finger. The card laces between his fingers in all it’s own cryptic meaning. A black piece of poster board, both sides are jet black. One side, however, is printed with a light shade green ghost. The ghost itself shimmers against the light in the farm house, it shines with its own gloss. His thumb runs over the ink, as he thinks about all the time he’s left one of these at a place where he’s committed a crime. It is probably easier to think of time when he hasn’t. That would certainly shallow out all the criteria that he would have to go through in his mind. Even in thinking about all the times that he hasn’t laid this card at the scene of a crime can he think of one. There has to be a time when he hasn’t left one. No human being is perfect, and neither is any vampire, though some of them would have you believe they are. Then again, maybe he was having too much fun leaving them to just not leave one. Why would one give up something that makes them laugh as they drive away with thousand of tax-free dollars? He can’t think of a reason. Though it seems like an ignorant thing to do, leave behind clues to who he is, it’s more fun his way. Come to think of it, where did all those cards go? Probably some evidence lab somewhere in some city. Real crime is nothing like the TV shows, because results take forever to get back from these labs. Maybe they sent the card out to some forensics lab somewhere to get prints and a possible ID on him. Fat chance. They might have sent it out there, but it’s not like Aiden’s stupid, he burnt off his finger prints off years ago. Some poor forensics doctor is sitting with a pile of these cards, and nothing to go on. Aiden laughs a little at the thought of it. The card continues to lace in and out of his fingers, changing position every so often.

Funny how all natural things eventually come full circle back to their original state. He starts out in Chicago as a criminal, then ends up coming back being a criminal in Harper’s Rock. He feels that there’s nothing wrong being this way. The circle is coming full swing tonight. Last night just happens to be the beginning of this little plan. Tonight is where he makes his mark. Aiden’s never been one to enter the stage quietly. The man is a showboat in a way. He likes to make sure that people know he’s around. He wants them to know the places ‘not’ to go. This evening, he’ll be going to some rival drug dealers and make sure that they know what the deal is in the city. Leaning forward, he rummages through a bag and pulls out a mardi gra-esque mask and looks at it. It’s light green in color, and looks like that of a jester. A fool for the king. Who is the king? Greed is the king, since the green color. Greed is one of the most motivating forces known to humanity, maybe even vampire kind. It has to be with the way that people on the bounty list die everyday. Greed, green, and the fool, these are all things that mask his true intentions. Aiden doesn’t do this for greed. The money isn’t a factor for him. It’s the rush. The pure adrenaline of walking into a building with twelve armed men, himself included, and holding a place up. His ‘greed’ covers up the lust for the crime. Tonight is one of those nights. However, instead of going in as a team, he’ll be going in by himself, and instead of holding a place up, he’ll be putting his mark and image in the mind of every gangster in the city. This mask and this little card are going to help that. They both play a powerful game, it’s called paranoia.

Pulling the mask from his bag and a few of the cards from the side pocket he stands up. Looking around the room at the farm, he smiles as he looks at Sierra. Although back when he was in Chicago he only used to play with glocks, now he wields a rifle. The thing is sleek and almost all custom made. The barrel and any part of the firing mechanism is all it’s natural color of a charcoal like metal. The plastic butt stock, the hand guard, and the front handle are all a light green color. On the back of the butt stock there is a black silhouette of a ghost. The image is nothing more than an outline filled in with green happy eyes and a smile. He takes the gun from stand that it sits on. Shoving a clip into the magazine well, he makes sure that the gun is on safe. He doesn’t want to end up mistakenly shooting his siress. There are other vampires in this farm house that he’d rather not shoot. With nearly no gun-safety skills he throws the gun over his shoulder, letting it rest there as he picks up the mask. Tonight is going to be a fun night. “Blood and fire will fill the night..”

He returns to the same area of town that he had gone to before. He smirks as he crosses into the light of a street light and looks around the area. In the morning those men that are working for him, are going to find that most of their competition is dead. Those that aren’t dead will live in fear for most of their lives that something what happens to night will happen again. If they don’t, then Aiden will just have to continue to do this until they stop selling on his turf. The excitement that is within him, it can’t be adrenaline anymore. No, because there’s nothing to pump blood. This is the feeling that is under adrenaline. It’s what adrenaline holds back. Holding the gun, he puts the mask over his face as he approaches the first house. Not knocking or anything of that nature, he merely opens the door and walks in. All the lights in the house or off or so it would seem. Using his powers over the shadows around him, he pulls them tight against his skin and hair. He creates a sort of body suit this way. The mask and his gun are the only two pieces of him that are left seen through the darkness. The faint smell of incense and cheep cologne cover the faint smell of cannabis in the area. There has to be someone awake in this place. There’s no way in hell that any established drug dealer would leave their base unattended while everyone went to sleep. Knowing this, he quickly climbs down the stairs, leaving anyone asleep on the first floor alone. His foot steps make no sound as he moves down the stairs to where they’re probably growing their goods. He’s right about both things. They wouldn’t leave the place unguarded and especially not here where they do all their growing. Behind the safety of his mask, he smiles a little bit.

The men in the room instantly perk up to meet him as he comes down the final set of stairs. He wishes that he could see what he looks like from their point of view, as they stumble over their words for a moment. “S-s-stop.” Aiden has the feeling that their language would be slightly more colorful were they not scared nearly to death. All the color is flushed from their faces as their heart nearly stops pumping when he enters the room. Doing what they tell him to do, Aiden stops dead in his tracks and opens his arms, waiting for their next instruction. He says nothing else just waits for them. They look at one another and start to talk between themselves. It’s all whispers about something that they could do. “G-g-get over here.” One of the men points his glock at Aiden while the other takes off past him up stairs. This is exactly what Aiden wants them to do, raise the alarm in the house, and let them all come to him. As the man ascends the staircase, the man next to him tells him to sit and hand over his weapon.

Warping shadows around the man’s face, Aiden blinds him causing him to fire in an erratic manner. The shots tear holes in the roof, dent the concrete basement. Giving the man a butt stock stroke to the face, and knocking on him on the ground, Aiden points his gun at him and lets out a spray of rounds. Then to effectively make sure that the man is dead, the vampire, stomps on his neck, twisting to break it. Aiden lets out a sigh, but not one of remorse. Pulling a bottle of lighter fluid from his pocket along side of a lighter, Aiden sprays the plants of his enemies with the liquid. Turning he makes sure that no one is watching, as he lights the whole growth on fire. Turning on his heels, he has more shadows to play with now that there is a bright light source behind him. This entertains him. He’ll wait here for more people to make their ways down into the basement. Finding a shady area in the basement, Aiden shrouds himself in total darkness hidden from everyone’s eyes.

Waiting in the shadows, several men all come down the stairs at the same time, their eyes look in astonishment at the burning green. After a few seconds of them yelling at one another. The explicit things they would say would have made Aiden’s mother cry, then again the things Aiden did would make his mother cry. Stepping from the veil of darkness, save the layer that lays close to his body, he opens fire on the group. Pumping rounds into each one of them, he moves quickly to the stairs, closing the door at the top. The whole house is telling now. Each moment someone is yelling out loud for them to get to whatever is causing the problem. His hand grips tightly around the pistol grip of his rifle as he goes into the next room. It’s just across the hall, he kicks in the door and starts to spray fire into the room, he doesn’t move from his position as he pulls the trigger. The door flies open and he lets loose a volley of death upon them. When they’re all down on the ground, he walks by and pops a round into the head of each on of them to make sure that the deed is done. Aiden pops his neck as he pops the last of them in the room and smiles leaving. The smell of smoke is bellowing up from the basement under him. He can see it in the hallway. There are several of these dealers either dead or wounded.

He turns to the stair case at the end of the hall, knowing that there has to be someone up stairs. He’s yet to see the person that is in charge of this gaggle of people. He loves the chaos that is in the air, the smell of burning bodies down stairs, the feel of a death machine in his hands. Climbing the stairs, he sees that there is only one room at the end of this hallway. Walking slowly down the narrow path from the stairs to the closed door on the other side. Reaching his hand out, he turns the knob and enters the room. It’s like the man on the other side has been waiting the whole time. The door opens and Aiden is blasted with a shotgun shell. It knocks him off his feet, and unto his ***. He looks at the shadows that cover his body, allowing them to move to see the damage. The man has nearly ripped off Aiden’s shoulder. Starting to stand, the man pumps another shell into the chamber. Pump action, really? Aiden just drops to the ground, and lets the shadows in the room swirl around his target. The shadows drive the man mad, as he blasts a hole in the floor beneath him. In this moment, Aiden shoots the man in both his knees. Standing, he kicks the human to the bed and shoots him in the both his legs again. He tears the humans legs into oblivion with the gun shots. Looking down at him, Aiden takes off the mask.

“Listen”, the man opens his mouth to speak as Aiden leans over him. The vampire puts his fingers to the mans lips, “Sh, easy thoughts… I’m going to do the talking.” Aiden pulls a chair to the side of the bed, and digs his finger into the bullet wounds in the mans leg. The man screams out in pain, writhing a bit, begging for it to stop. “As I was saying. Listen.. It’s nothing personal, because I don’t know you. This is strictly a business thing. You and your friends are bad for business, and I’m here to make sure that business is good. Do you understand.” The human doesn’t answer, just sits there sobbing a little bit. It’s amazing how fast a thug can become a punk. Due to the lack of response from his roommate, shaking his head, Aiden digs his finger into the bullet wound some more. The man nods very quickly, hoping that Aiden would stop. The vampire does stop, and looks down at him. “Good, now I wish I could say that I am a merciful person. That I could let you live. That would be a lie.” The man starts to sob again. “Sh, be quiet Mr… Who cares what your name is. “ Aiden laughs a bit and takes a minute to calm down. He goes back to his very solemn tone. “I’m going to take your life, but what I want you to do is..” Aiden pulls one of the cards out of his pocket, and holds it out. “I want you to put this card into your mouth and hold it tight.. Can you do that?” The human nods very quickly, hoping it would save his life. He takes the card from Aiden and quickly puts it in his mouth and forces a smile. Aiden gives no response, just stands up, and puts a bullet in between his eyes.

The house is quiet, the sound of sirens in the distance. No one is left alive inside. The government officials would assume that the dealers were killed by a gang that they screwed over and Aiden wouldn’t be hunted. He has to make sure though. He leaves out of the back door. He quickly makes his escape and crosses the river into the quarantine zone. Watching in awe at his creation as the sky is painted a faint orange color from the flames in the distance. He lays back on the bank of the river with a smug smile on his face. He knows that cops would release information about the card in the mouth of dead man. The paranoia would seed within the minds of every dealer in Harper’s Rock.


((Title of this post is credited to Zen's player))

Walking up the cracked walk way to this almost broken down building, he can smell the mask of cologne and air freshener. This makes him smiles a little, tugging at his heart strings, then an anger comes over him. He hopes that his employees have not forgotten that it is their job to sell this ****. Taking a deep breath, he doesn’t bother to knock. He summons the forces of the shadows around him and breaks into the building. It looks the same as it had before. The hallway is all but blacked out with lack of light. His eyes quickly adjust to the shadows in the room. Aiden starts to wonder why he’s here, he already did his drop off and pick up, but this is all because of some message that Damian left on his machine. He is here now because some gangsters have been coming and talking to them. On that note his mind starts to think about the Harper’s Rock gangs. They really are getting on his nerves. Not but two days after he torched the house of a reputable grow-house for them, they started selling again. Are they ignoring him or testing his temper? Neither are smart things to do; however, he is here. When he and Damian last spoke, which was earlier this evening, Damian told him that there would be a meeting at the house, and that he should attend. Can you believe that? His employees telling him that he should be at a meeting. Nevertheless this is something that cannot be missed. A Harper’s Rock gangster is interested in the way that he works. The light at the end off the hall is reflecting off the same brass door knob as before. Everything is almost the same, yet different. There are no voices down the hall. The whole house seems to be wrapped in total silence. The missing noise does not matter much to Aiden, it gives him a moment to gain some composure before turning the corner and walking into the room.

As he turns into the same room as before with its table and one light, he notices that there is something different indeed. The table that was united but two weeks before is now divided into two sides. Looking on either side, Aiden can quickly tell where his side is. Damian and his group are wearing flannels, jeans, and an assortment of skate shoes. The other side of the table is matching in one shade of red. They look a little like clowns in Aiden’s opinion. He has never understood the point of men that want to dress the same. It’s kind of like they are making their own mock army, though they have no real morals. Taking a few steps, he sees that he has a seat in the center of his side. Leaning forward, he reaches across from his seat and offers his hand. “Matthew Geist, it’s a pleasure”, Aiden fails to tell the man his first name. This is a common thing within his group, never giving full details. The man offers his hand but says nothing, only looks Aiden in the eyes. Bringing his hand into his lap, Aiden takes a seat across the table from the man. He is unsure of how to handle the whole situation. He knows that if he makes a brash choice the men will open fire on one another and everyone will be dead but him. That is not allowed to happen because he can’t lose his best sellers to some testosterone contest. “Well, I’m sure my men have been very hospitable, and I think that we should get to business”, his voice carries but his eyes scan among the room. He’s trying to tell what all the men are carrying. Today, his suitcase, is already here. It’s behind him, near Billy. The M5 inside is already assembled and ready to go if he needs to.

“Yes, Aiden, we are here with an offer from our boss.” The rest of the room is quiet. It’s almost as if all the air has been sucked out of the room. Without oxygen there can be no sound. There can’t be anything. The man keeps going, “He wants to know if you would like any cut in the other drugs that we are dealing…” The very idea of this shakes Aiden to the core. He is confused that anyone would want him to get in on their cut, that is without ulterior motives. Not to mention that there is no need for him to get involved with these humans. Street clown is the first word that comes to mind.

“Goodie, and what is his proposition?” Aiden’s blue eyes look across the table at all the men. He doesn’t give a crap about their business nor their other drugs. How much they’re making and where they’re selling is what really matters to him. By the end of the night, he will know these things, and he will use them to better his own part of his sire’s business.

“Well, Aiden, he is willing to offer you ten percent of the meth action in our area..” The man’s voice is still just as monotone as ever, and his mouth barely moves. It’s almost as if he’s trying not to talk to the man in front of him. He is being rude, and Aiden almost cannot take it anymore. There is a long silence as Aiden pretends to think about this. In his mind all he’s really thinking about is what Velindia’s doing. This should be over rather quickly and he can get back to her. He doesn’t like to spend too much time working, that’s what he hired these fools for, but he’s glad that they called him in for this. It should be interesting.

“Ya see, I’m not big on meth, big shock eh?” A smirk plays at Aiden’s lips as he leans back in the chair, before leaning forward really quickly. As he lunges forward the men on the other side of the table pull guns and point them at him. “Ah, that’s what I wanted to see.” His blue orbs scan over each and ever gun, looking at the craftsmanship. Most of the guns in their hands seem to be glocks. “What if we made a new deal?” The men lower their weapons, as the man in the center of them looks at him with intrigue. It is the look that Aiden wants, drawing them into the darkness only to slaughter them like lambs for the machine. Confident is the first word that comes to mind, followed shortly by cocky.

“What’s your proposal?”

Taking a deep breath, Aiden leans back again. He reaches behind him and pulls out a map of the city. He holds it up first so that all the men in the room can see it. After than he places it on the table, and slides it across and looks down at it. “I want you to circle all the houses that you grow from and give my men full access.” His own words shock him so he knows for a fact that they shock them. They absolutely should. By the looks on their faces it seems that he has stunned them. They all seem to be lost in their own look of awe. His smile grows, as Aiden knows that they are in a pickle of sorts. They were sent to make a deal and it seems like they won’t get it.

“Well, we can--”

Aiden instantly interjects, “Can’t what?” The vampire’s tone has changed into a very cold, morose, and anger filled voice. His blue eyes cast over the men on the other side of the table without reall looking at them he can tell that they are getting angry.

“We can’t come to a decision without going to our bos--” The human’s voice is interrupted by gunfire. Aiden has pulled the gun off Damian’s belt and shot him before the rest of the men could react. It seems that most of the men around the shot man, are new. They haven’t shot back yet. Standing, Aiden looks at all of them. Opening his arms he lifts his eyebrow, still eying them. Are they really not going to shoot him. It only takes a few seconds after this thought that the men fire a round each. Three shots into Aiden’s arms and shoulder. He falls back into the chair. Leaning forward, in pain, but not dying. He looks at them and lets a sigh escape his lips. He spits blood unto the table.

“Take my proposal back to your boss, remembering what happened here…”

As the gangsters go to aim there guns again the rest of the room has already drawn. Being in his base of operations already gives him the upper hand. There are men around him with fire arms and people up stairs that have them also. Aiden has home field advantage, but he can’t help but think how stupid that action was. He lets it pass and the men are herded out of the room by the majority of the group with him. By his side stay Damian and Tony. Their mouths are hung open in astonishment as they watch him bleed. For a minute the blond vampire isn’t sure why they would be so amazed that he’s bleeding. Then it hits him. He covers the wound with both hands and looks at them. They say nothing just look at him. His hands are tinted black with blood. There is a silence that falls over them. The other men come back into the room with them. The silence continues. It feels like this silence has lasted forever already and it’s only just started. They eye him over and he them. The rest in the room have no idea what is going on they just look between the two men that are human and the one that they think is human. Aiden is sure that in their minds there is some sort of traitor here in the mix of them and that he is about to put the beat down on them. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The vampire’s mind is running with some sort of lie for if they ask.

“We need to get you to a hospital man. Get you out of here and get you healed up.” Tony finally says something, though his words sound worried his face shows something of fear. The fear of the unknown is what causes humanity to be the way that they are. “You need to get those bullets out.” The vampire knows this to be the truth, but his body will push them out as he heals. He’s seen it done before.

The blond haired, blue eyed vampire shakes his head. “No, there is no need for all that.” He starts to stand up as the black pours out of his chest and he sits back down. Seems that the bullets that have pierced him went clean through him but have drained a bit of blood. His whole body feels like it wants to cave into itself. The eyes that peer on him look at him for direction and he looks at them. “God, go make some deals or something.” He tries to not let the pain get to him, but it’s hard. This time he stands and looks around. He winces but swallows down the pain. In his mind you are only as strong as you are when you’re hurt. Self-destruction is perfection incarnate, or so he read in fight club. It’s a rule that he lives by. The mix of different hues continue to look at him and he takes a breath. “What?!”

“Your blood is black, Aiden.” It comes as no surprise to the vampire that the others in the room just lock their eyes on him. It’s like they were scanning for a target and now they found it. This is where he will have to find a non-violent solution to this problem. He might have to lie a little bit here to get out for this. “Why is your blood black. Are you a..” Please don’t say vampire, “Vampire?” There it is the word that he hopes that none of them would figure out that he is. He isn’t sure what to say to them. He wonders if he could pull something out of his *** to pull himself out of this predicament.

“You’re not one of those are you?!” This is his first line of defense, to take the accusation and make it lack ground to stand on. He isn’t sure if it will work but he hopes that it will. The rest of the room is now looking at the human that said this. Looks like Aiden may very well have the floor, so to speak, when it comes to what he can and cannot say with them there in front of him. He smiles a little then frowns as if he were in utter pain again. “You have to be kidding me… Do you wanna know the real reason why I bleed black?” He looks around the group of them hoping that he can make this as believable as possible. The whole room nods almost in unison the eye him waiting for the explanation. “Have you seen the suits in this area?” The men look around to each other before looking back to Aiden and nodding. Good he has a scapegoat to blame this on. He smiles a little this time letting his smile be known to them. “They have taken a few of the city’s humans and done testing on them. In this manner they have created sub-genetic super humans.” The lie is too impossible there is no way they’ll…

“Yeah I could see that happening. I’ve been seeing some other weird **** too. Some guys selling their blood…” Aiden looks at the man that says that and turns his attention to him.

“What did you say you saw.” The vampire’s tone has changed yet again something of anger and disbelief. He waves it off to make the man not fear his wrath..

“I uh.. I didn’t see anything man.”

“No you saw what you saw, and I want you to tell me what they look like from now on. I have a friend that would like to know which of us. Super humans are selling our blood to the enemy.” The fact that he’s surrounded by burn outs makes this lie seem easier now that they believed the initial lie.

“Alright. I’ll do what I can.”

The smirk on Aiden’s face is mixed with the evil that he feels in his heart and soul sometimes. “Good, be sure to give me any information you can. As for the rest of you I’m gonna be alright. See, super healing, already stopped bleeding.” This is another lie but he can’t have them going to the hospital looking for him when he hasn’t been to one in over six months. He can’t rightly let it just go and let people cut him open and what not. His mind touches on Dia again wondering what she’s doing. He would be there soon. Walking toward the door he smiles a little bit and looks at them. “Don’t worry I have my own personal doctor. She’s been trained to work on us.” With that the vampire leaves the building and starts to walk toward the Ivy Bluff apartments to find her.

Sitting atop of a building in the city, far above the rat race that he lives in as he walks the sidewalks, his blue eyes look over the horizon toward the south. His hands are curled around the edge of the building’s edge. The wind would sweep him from this place were he standing, but he has made it a point to keep four points of contact with the building. The pale digits on his hands tap at the wall as his eyes close and he envisions himself falling the number of floors to the ground. He knows that it will hurt and probably break several bones in his body, but he isn’t sure if it will kill him. He doesn’t really want to find out, even though he does enjoy a good jump. His eyes open just to look down at the ground, the people that are walking along the edge of the building look like ants from up here. If he so wanted, he could do the thing where you puts your fingers against their image and smoother them. Most of the humans in this city are so oblivious to his race and the means on which they function. Either they are oblivious or in denial. Aiden would like to believe that the humans are just blind to their existence. Even if humans are blind to his existence, he knows that he was a human but mere months ago. The things that he drags behind him from being human will likely follow him in this life. He knows that eventually they will find out where he is and that the cops here will hunt him. A murder charge is a serious thing. Not to mention his track record isn’t the cleanest in the world. It would be a matter of time before they find him and try to put him away for a very long time. Those blue eyes look down to the city street as he hears sirens. The sound always makes him nervous of what might be coming next. The cop cars do however just drive on by like they weren’t looking for him. Maybe they aren’t but they will eventually.

Standing up on the top of the room, the wind blows and it nearly blows him from the top of the monolith. As he is rather quick, he just steps down into the lowered area at the top, safe from a bit of the winds wrath. He pats himself down and starts to look for the keys to his bike. The black and green steed that Velveteen has purchased for him, and he would eventually have to pay back. He’ll get to her in time it’s the right thing to do. There is even a code of ethics for criminals like him. If someone gives you something, it’s proper that you pay them back. The chances that the person who gave you the item probably has bill collectors of their own. He doesn’t think that his best friend would do this too him, but it’s always the chance when this amount of money is being transferred between two people, or vampires in this instance. Leaning down to pick up the black and green helmet from the ground, the keys fall out of the bottom. Aiden grabs them also before walking to the door that he has propped open. Those pale fingers curl around the cold iron being whipped by the wind, and pulls the door further open. He kicks the rock to the side and takes a step inside. The shelter of the long stairway is dark at this height. It looks like people haven’t done maintenance up here since the building was finished. The lights don’t work and the cool air is finding it’s way into the building. It seeps in and chills the vampire to his bones.

Generally he would take the elevator the next floor down, but not tonight. This evening he just wants to take his time and get to where he’s going without feeling rushed. The life of being on the move all the time is one that he only likes on occasion. Tonight is not one of those times. Taking his time to get down to the next floor the sound of thunder can be heard outside the metal prism. His eyes look around, wishing that he had a window to look out of and eye the splendor and magnificence of natures wrath. The flat is a little more warm than the one here were on a few moments ago, and probably more so due to the humidity of the rain. The drops fall from the floor above and hit his head. The cool feeling of water runs from the top of his head and stops just short of his ear. Glancing up, he tries to look for where exactly this drop came from, but he knows that the hole or crack is probably far too small for him to see. The small crack makes him think of the most recent fault that he left in his defenses. Letting another drop hit his head, his mind wanders to his problems with the most recent woman in his life: Velindia. The problems all started due to their inability to really talk to one another. He knows it to be true, he also knows that telling her was the right thing to do. If one have feelings for someone else then it is only right to tell the significant other. It makes sense and seems to be the right thing to do. The right thing to do isn’t always what one should do apparently, as it torn his relationship with her apart.

Descending down another flight of stairs to the next flat, the droplet of water falls on his head. The annoyance is starting to get to him, but he just takes a deep breath. He’s not going to let little things bother him. The topic of Dia is still on his mind and it doesn’t seem to be going away; however the feelings aren’t as bold as they were but a few nights ago. He feels distant from her, as if he could honestly care less about the situation that they are in now. What is the situation is the real question. He couldn’t really tell anyone were they to ask him. All Aiden would be able to tell them is to drop it and let it be what it is. It is nothing. It has always been nothing in a way, because if it weren’t it wouldn’t have been so easily cast aside by either of them. So it doesn’t matter. All that is left to do is to let it go and just take the next step down into the building.

In a matter of a few minutes the blond vampire has made his way down two more floors. The concrete ground here is reflecting the faint light on this floor. The halogen light bulbs behind their plastic casing, shine down and flicker in the stair well. The lights on the floors below him, as he looks over the bright yellow railing, are much brighter. This floor is still a little dark. It’s almost as if this floor is on the edge of the sea, coming into the harbor with the light, flicking, as the beacon atop of the light house turns. The term light house makes him think of Asia. The last person he thought would be a light in his darkness, before he gave up on the light and warmth all together. His anger starts to swell in him as he leans up against the wall. His hand pounds the wall, as he looks up at the light. The way that it flickers off and on. He knows that as mad at her as he is, there is no need for it anymore. It’s done and over with. The whole thing has pretty much been resolved by himself and the actions that he has made since they last spoke. This too has come to pass. His hands push up off the wall as he looks down at the ground floor, it’s not too far now. Aiden feels like he’s been in this building for some time. The thunder is still roaring outside the building. The sound waves alone nearly shake the building to it’s core. The core where Aiden stands.

Slowly getting over the problems that he has had with women in the past few months, he makes his way down the steps. He climbs down maybe three or four stories this time. The floor is the brightest, and it is the only reason he stops. He doesn’t even know if his powers could blot out the light in this room. It comes from all sides and illuminates his pale skin like a whiteboard in a classroom of students. He can feel it warming him in a way. The heat from the bulb illuminating his body and making him warmer. It is also making him want to bring to light all the things that he has done as a human. As previously thought, his track record is far from clean. In fact there are several counts of assault and a few counts of arson. He wants to feel sorry for the men that he has harmed. He can’t bring himself to though. The way Aiden sees it is that he was just doing a job when it came to those people and they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The memory of the apartment building in Chicago comes to mind. He blew the place to the ground, he rigged it with C4 and made sure there was no way that anyone would get out.

As he climbs the next several floors down, closer and closer to the ground level. He starts to feel like he’s made a sort of connection to himself. The personal ideals and philosophies are all starting to sink into his mind. Aiden starts to realize that there is no need for him to be upset about things because in the end there is no time to regret the stupid things one has done. It’s better to rationalize them for oneself than for the benefit of others. If the others around him cannot understand why he is doing something, then they shouldn’t ask questions. His foot touches the ground floor and he takes a deep breath. He looks to the door, the windows that look out into the city. A shallow breath escapes his lips as he walks past the woman at the counter. The doors out into the city streets open and eyes around the people on the street. He is the eyes of this little city’s ulterior motives and plans to remain that way. From now on, with Aiden what you see is what you get. Turning on his heels, he walks toward his bike and starts to think about all the places that he can go for the rest of the evening. More than likely he will end up going home at the end of the evening before the sun rises, but for the time being he wants to go do something. All that matters now is self-recognition. It's amazing what one person can do with a few hours of alone time in complete solitude.

That same old ruinous house in Bullwood, it stands maybe three stories tall, but he wouldn’t advise anyone to go into the top floor. If he can remember correctly the man-shaped holes in the flat are covered by rugs. Last guy, as he remembers, that went up there fell through one of those holes and broke both his legs on impact of the second floor. The thought and this memory bring a soft smile to the mans face as he looks around the street, making his way to this dilapidated building. For the first time since he’s been coming to this place, he sees that it is almost standing on the water near the dock. It’s so bad that sometimes the rooms in the back have to layer several rugs just to get keep the water from soaking out unto their feet. He doesn’t have to worry about that because he’s been staying on the second floor for as long as he can remember. His hand is wrapped around the leather strap, but he’s careful not to jostle the bag too much. The contents, if mixed (even by accident) in the right manner could explode, leaving him damn near legless. That wouldn’t be good for the homework tonight, nor hold up his explanation of being some government experiment. The burn-outs believe it now, but will they believe it when he crawls in with no legs? Probably not. His hand reaches to touch the door knob and he walks into the main hallway. His foot steps are quiet as they move through the all and his ears listen closely to see if he can pick up the sounds of anyone in the house. Turning quickly, just before the last room, he climbs the stairs to the next room, whistling as he goes up. His eyes come to a table to at the top. It’s not a work bench, but it’ll do for right now.

Shortly the others in the house make their ways into the room, but the vampire ignores them. His mind is too preoccupied as he pulls out several objects. Mostly chemicals in containers that have almost air tight seals. Still, as he’s pulling things out, he doesn’t pay them any attention. He eyes over the things and then pulls out several copper pipes, used for sending the charge and detonating the chemicals. Turning slowly he looks to the men in the room and smirks a little bit. His eyes move over each of them. He knows exactly what he wants and who to ask, just wants to know how to go about it. His mind is racing and he knows that he’ll have to have this conversation with them eventually. Just a few days ago he told them that they were no longer selling drugs, and they almost cried, but today he has better news. He’s going to educate them in a way on how to make explosives and life. “I need four computers, and you won‘t be getting them back.” The men look at him as if he is crazy, demanding things that are theirs. He doesn’t know what to tell him. That look on their face, as they look at him is one that is starting to get on his nerves. It looks as if he’s gonna have to have this conversation with these people. He doesn’t like the fact that he has to do this thing. The idea that they won’t just listen to him. He frowns and looks them over, each one of them. “Everything in this house could be used to make an explosive, and we are the concentration of those explosions. Your attachment to your computers is just attachment to a tool that could be used to better focus our reach..” His eyes scan over them again, looking at them with that look on his face that says, ‘why are you still here.’ “Go!” The men in the room, the ones that own computers run off to go grab it.

One of them rocks from his heels to the balls of his feet and opens his mouth, “You know, if I had a computer I wouldn’t have argued with you.” He looks down at his feet, trying to be a suck up. Aiden isn’t having it then evening. However, instead of saying anything, he totally ignores the man’s statement and waits for them to bring back their computers. They bring their computers, mostly desktops, but there is one laptop. Looking over the items, he tosses them each a screw driver and pair of pliers.

“Get to work. Tear out the motherboard and attach this to it”, the male tosses them a motion sensor. It’s not the most technological thing in his arsenal but it is a primary piece to make this kind of explosive. A proximity mine is one of his favorites and it’s a great way to mess with the organizations (both human and vampire) in this city. He mind is lost on the set of things that he wants done with this organization of his the idea that there are several things that can be done, and several things that shouldn’t be done. He doesn’t know what to tell them. He kneels down once the motherboard is out and is connected to the motion sensor. “Good now connect the mother board and cross the wires so that they touch the copper pipe.” The vampire is guiding them through the process step by step as he motions the other humans in the room to gather around. Watching them he smiles, and moves back over to the table. Then he carefully hands them the canister of the chemicals. They are volatile in nature and anything done wrong could send everyone in this room to the emergency room. As they take the chemicals from him, his other hand grabs the copper pipes. “Alright, now attach the wires to the the copper tube.” They follow his instructions without question, probably upset that their computers are being used to make bombs. Aiden doesn’t say anything about it. His eyes watch as they do it. “Now put the canister inside the copper tube, and you will have successfully created your first proximity mine.”

Moving backwards to lean against the table behind him, he smiles at them and counts that there are four bombs there right now. His mind starts to run through the places to put them. He grins at them, “There are close to six sky scrapers in this city, big ones with lots of important people…. I want you to place one of these in each of those building‘s lobbies.” The men nod and look down at the bombs for a minute. There is a button at the top of the motion sensor that he has yet to tell them about and he will when they leave. It is starting to get to him that he will need vampires for this job in the future. The idea is coming to his mind at the moment. He looks at them and doesn’t really want them to die because they were found placing bombs in places they shouldn’t be. He doesn’t want that on his conscious. “Go, take care of the corporate bastards that thing they run ****.”

As they run off away from the room and off into the street, the lot of them carrying guns with them as they move through the city streets. The vampire, from the window, can see them as they move through the dark streets to most of them are gone. His mind starts to run through the idea of a group of vampires doing things like this. He wonders if its possible to gather that many in a group. To creature a demolitions team would be something that would be in his top of things to do. A grin on his face, he looks back at the broken computers behind him and tears other pieces from it then turns back to the window. In his mind he is starting up a list of names. The pieces of computers in his hand, go into the bag to start the process back over again on another night. His eyes close and he moves back into the house, walking around and trying to get a grip on what exactly this group of vampires would be doing. They might even be able to remove traps set by others for money. Cloaking himself in shadows he walks out of the building and down the street, invisible to prying eyes.