The young man walked the streets of New York City, making snide comments to himself about how the entire city was headed to hell. He'd come to America a long time ago, drifting from one city to the other whenever it seemed someone was on to him. As much as he hated New York, at least in a city this big he could settle down for awhile, work on building up his ever-growing empire.
A newsboy dressed in a pink long john shirt with thin grey pants held up by a pair of threadbare suspenders yelled out a head line from across the street. He was dressed entirely wrong for the cold nip in the air, as the city waited for winter to make its way into spring, which it was taking it's sweet time doing this year.
Idly, Eric wondered what the newsboy was doing out selling so late, seeing as darkness had already fallen over the city. Shaking his head at himself, he took a few long strides over to the boy, who looked to be in his late teens or early twenties, holding out a nickel, and taking a paper in exchange. He shook his head when the boy started digging in his pocket, motioning that the boy should keep the change.
He wasn't sure what had caused him to do that, as he folded up the newspaper and stuck it under his arm, quickly hurrying back across the street in the direction he'd been headed originally. He wasn't exactly what someone would call a warm, nice, caring person. To be completely honest, he wasn't even a person.
Opening up the door to an office building, Eric took off his gloves, which were only for show anyway. He didn't feel the cold anymore, and he hadn't been able to for many a year. But it was all about keeping up appearances, and it wouldn't do for such a wealthy, prominent man to walk around Manhattan looking like he couldn't afford a pair of gloves.
He took the hat off his head also, as he absently nodded to the desk boy, who was also there for appearances. Well, appearances and lunch, Eric laughed cruelly to himself, licking his lips at he remembered the sweet, coppery taste of the boys blood.
"Eric," A frosty female voice interrupted his thoughts, as a tall blonde female walked in his office, shutting the door behind her.
"Anyone ever teach you how to knock, Pam?" He asked, an edge to his already bitter voice, unhappy at the interruption and the way Pam tended to walk around like she owned the place.
She ignored his comment, throwing an exact replica of the same paper he'd just bought onto his desk. "Maybe you should worry less about my knocking abilities and a little more about how to cover your tracks better."
Eric heaved an annoyed sigh at her, picking the paper up off his desk. Leaning back in his chair, he tossed his legs up on the desk, as he unfolded it, to see what had her in such a snit.
Skittery called out a thank you to the blonde haired man who'd let him keep the change, as he slowly counted the papers left in his hands. Normally he managed to sell enough of the morning edition of the paper that he wasn't forced to sell the evening one as well, but he was trying to save up money and had been selling late the past few weeks, catching businessmen on their way home. He'd grown sick of living hand to mouth, and was trying to stash himself away a nice little nest egg, so if anything came up he wouldn't be out on the streets.
He watched the man jog across the street, and couldn't help wondering why a businessman was going into the office so late, as opposed to leaving and going home to his family like all the others.
Shrugging, and noting that it wasn't really important anyway, he turned around calling out the headline. "Mad Man Running Loose at Nights! Another Body Found Drained A Blood!"
Listening to himself, and noticing how late it was starting to get, Skittery shivered slightly, suddenly wanting to be anywhere but out on the cold, black streets of New York by himself. He started to make his way back to the Duane Street Newsboys Lodging House, selling all but one of his papers before he made it there.
Relieved to be home, he laughed nervously at himself for his sudden fear, shaking his head. He'd been out on the streets at night by himself since he was eight, and nothing had ever happened to him, so he was unsure as to why he'd managed to scare himself earlier. Wrenching open the door, he walked in to a chorus of greeting from the other newsboys, and Kloppman waving him over to pay up and sign in.
He greeted the kindly older man, who tended to act more like the boys grandfather than anything most days. Skittery knew for a fact that he secretly hated taking the boys money every night, and would let them all live there for free if he could.
Pulling the nickel he'd just gotten out of his pants, along with a penny, he handed them over, scribbling his name in the book, and shoving it back across the desk. He flicked his suspenders off of his shoulders as he wandered back to the common room, joining in the game of cards already in full swing, promising himself he'd just play one hand and then he'd go up to bed.
AN - Okay, not a lot happening yet, but it is only the first chapter. I'm trying something new here, that I haven't seen done before really, and also trying my first crossover. Please review if you read this and liked it at all, so I know if I should continue it. (Although chances are I'll continue it anyway!) I'm not sure how it's going to end up going, and am a little nervous about it, but I think it could be really fun! And I can't guarantee on the quickness of updates to this story, since I'm also working on Everything Comes With A Price, and try to update that one daily. But I'm typically good about updating. Anyway, like it, hate it, let me know! Reviews make me (and every other author on FF) happy, happy, happy! Also, if anyone is wondering as to why this under True Blood and Newsies, as opposed to Southern Vampire Mysteries and Newsies, it's mainly because Eric's hair will be short like in the show, and I may stick with some of the other things that differed between the show and the books, like Godric being Erics maker, as opposed to Godfrey. (I think it was Godfrey in the book, sorry if that's wrong, it's been ages since I read that one!)