"I can smell you," Roman taunted in a mocking sing-song voice. He looked around the alley for any sign of the pickpocket responsible for swiping his coin purse. At first, there seemed to be nothing in the dark, grimy alleyway, but on closer inspection, there was a slight shift in the brick pattern just a few feet away from where the ginger was standing. In a flash, he moved forward and seized the thief's wrist, raising her into the air with ease.

"There you are," He grinned as the girl's skin and clothing returned to its normal color. The girl was a tiny thing, but Roman would be lying if he said her flailing legs didn't pack quite the punch. He allowed her to struggle until she'd exhausted herself and took the chance to study her more closely.

The girl couldn't have been older than ten. Her eyes were wide and terrified, her irises an odd silvery-white. She was filthy and clearly malnourished, and whatever shapeshifting magic she'd been using during the theft and chase had worn off, leaving her all the more vulnerable. Roman sighed, grabbing her free hand and retrieving his wallet.

He had half a mind to simply kill her. He was hungry, and it had been years since he'd tasted therian blood. But at the same time, he was impressed with her. She'd had the guts to pick pockets at night when crowds in the city, while by no means nonexistent, were much thinner. If she'd picked a different target, she would've almost certainly gotten away with it. And on top of all that, she could wield her therian magic with seemingly no problems. There was no denying the uses for a partner that could turn invisible...

"Alright, calm down," Roman sighed. He released the girl's wrist and she fell to the ground in a heap. He swung his cane out in front of her as she tried to scramble away. She swallowed and looked up at him, and he grinned to reveal long, razor sharp canines.

"I didn't say we were done here, kiddo. Oh no, not by a long shot." He waved the wallet in front of her face. "What's your name?" The girl was shaking, but she managed to scratch her answer into the dirt.

"NEO."

"Well Neo, let me guess. You've got no friends, family, or home, and you're starving?" As expected, the girl nodded. Roman shook his head in mock sympathy. "How sad. It's not right for one of noble blood to be scraping by on the streets. Which is why I've got an offer for you." Neo cocked her head to one side, her eyes slowly changing from white to pale pink and brown.

"I want you to come with me. Think of it like an apprenticeship. I feed you, I teach you, I put a roof over her head, and in return, you do whatever I say." Neo sat there, staring up at him. "Alternatively, I kill you right here, right now, and get a much-needed meal. So, what's it going to be Neo?"

The girl didn't hesitate to reach out her hand, which he accepted.

And just so you don't try and run off during the day... Roman met Neo's eyes as he helped her to her feet, channeling magic of his own.

"Sleep."

Neo's eyes immediately rolled back in her head, and she fell forward. Roman caught her long before she hit the ground, gently picking her up in his arms. She looked even smaller now, which he hadn't even thought possible. He sighed, turning back they way he came. He knew how to get back to his den without hitting any heavy traffic areas, but it was going to be a long walk home.

"Kid, you'd better be worth it," he grumbled.

A/N

HEYO! What is up, guys? This is part of a new miniseries weisspresso and I are currently planning. It's unnamed as of yet, but its code name is "Therian AU", or "TAU" for short. Now, we are far from done with TAU and aren't planning on releasing until sometime after the end of our current AU story "Tyger, Tyger." This is just here to build hype and start building up the world we've created, and once it's done I may start a second that may or may not be about Raven. If you guys would be interested, that is.

Friendly reminder that our ask boxes are always open on Tumblr. I am wizthewolf and weisspresso is, well, weisspresso (and also "pyrrhadise", which doubles as her A03 username if ya wanna check her stuff out. It's great.)

Anyway, have a great day, thanks for reading, and if you could leave a review that would be lovely!

-WTWW