Thomas roamed the streets of Astoria past curfew on a damp spring night trying to clear his head of that nights argument with his brother, Reginald. So much had happened to them the past few days and he didn't know what to make of it all. He rubbed his left temple, tempting a few curls to fall from their gelled prison.
He turned up Sheffield Alley, letting his feet guide the way towards his old stomping grounds. He hadn't been on this side of town in a while and he knew it wasn't safe to be here but he knew how to protect himself so he wasn't scared of anybody he could meet.
He walked noisily through a puddle when he heard voices of other people nearby. One voice was high and pleading for the other people to stop. Thomas could see just enough as he got closer to make out on slender figure on the ground with two hulking men bearing down. He quickened his pace shouting "Hey!" hoping the men would stop their attack.
The two men looked around in alarm until they saw Thomas' small figure coming towards them. "Get the fuck out of here kid and we won't hurt you." The smaller of the two said. "No, you get the fuck out of here." Thomas countered. He was now close enough to see that one of the men was much brawnier than the other, who had a large scar on his right cheek.
The two men looked at each other and advanced on Thomas who surreptitiously drew a small dagger from his back pocket. The bigger of the two swung at Thomas, narrowly missing his face as he ducked. He always found his small stature came in handy during fighting, often times being able to move quicker and get in closer to his opponents.
The man kept swinging clumsily at Thomas' head. In quick succession the man swung and Thomas sliced off his middle finger. The man with the scar stepped in as his friend wailed a slew of indecipherable curse words. Thomas wasted no time and sunk his blade deep in to the man's upper thigh.
The person on the ground looked on in horror as Thomas quickly made his way over. "Come with me, you'll be fine." Thomas said gruffly, grabbing the boys hand and dragging him up while the two men were distracted. They didn't talk or look at each other while they ran, un-pursued, to Midtown, 4 blocks from Thomas' house. When the two boys finally stopped they doubled over, trying to catch their breath, Thomas looked at who he had helped. It was like he forgot to breathe. The boy was tall, slender and flushed from their running. He was pale underneath his reddened face contrasting against his chestnut colored hair. The boy looked up at Thomas, with piercing clear blue eyes, and spoke "Who are you?" his voice was high and soft, almost angelic. He suddenly seemed so familiar but Thomas swore he would have remembered somebody so stunning. The boy spoke again, "Wait, are you a Smith?"
Thomas broke out of his reverie at his name. "Yes, how do you know my name?" he felt alarmed, like he was being set up. "I'm Preston, Preston Anderson." The boy said, willing Thomas to catch on. He was still confused but wait, "OH, my dad works with your dad doesn't he?" Thomas said, already knowing the answer. "Yes, I think he's the VP of my dad's oil company actually." Preston said, sounding less scared with each word. He was with somebody from his own caste. The two boys talked the entire way back to the upper part of town, forgetting the earlier events of the night.
"And that, Addy, is how we met." Thomas said to a small blonde girl listening eagerly in her bed. "Goodnight Thomas and Preston, I love you." She said sweetly. "Goodnight Addy, we love you too." Preston said, pressing a kiss to her forehead. He crossed the room towards Thomas who was standing at the door. "I love when you tell her our story." Preston said, shutting his sister's door and placing a quick kiss on Thomas. Thomas wrapped his arms around Preston's slender waist, nuzzling his face into Preston's neck. "I know, it's my favorite to tell." He pressed a kiss to Preston's collarbone.
"Ugh, come on you two, we don't have time for loving tonight. We have to get going." Helena scolded, watching the two from the top of the stairs, a small smile playing at her lips.
She was right, they had a job to do and time was of the essence.
The three lurked through midtown, waiting for a sign of their target. He showed precisely on time, as he always had. A watch maker was always on time. Rumors followed that Mr. Dahms, along with members of parliament, had been heavily involved in a protection racket. It had taken months to track where they met but Mr. Dahms led them straight to the source. He was just a business man but he was high enough on the totem pole to reach low level members of parliament and where they is one there is more.
A few henchmen had been taken out a few weeks ago, after following them to midtown to a nondescript house where the group of men met every few nights to organize hits and discuss business. It had raised the alarm and they hadn't been able to get near any of the men but they were hoping that tonight would prove different; they needed this job done and fast.
Preston crept close to the house, listening intently to their plans. It was the same as the past weeks. Mr. Skoe, a fellow watch maker had been gaining notoriety for the quality of his craftsmanship. Mr. Dahms couldn't afford to lose business and wanted him out. It was also known that Mr. Skoe was a gay man and that was just unacceptable.
Two days more and Mr. Skoe would be found dead.
As they had hoped Mr. Dahms left the house alone and the three followed him for a block before Helena quickly circled around to be in front of him. She was wearing a tight, strapless black dress that stopped above her knees. The two boys closed in behind the short, soft man without his notice. He was focused solely on Helena, who was making a show of sauntering towards him.
Dahms didn't notice the slight sound of a hatchet being raised behind him. He only saw Helena as the hatchet cracked his head in two. Blood spattered everywhere as Dahms' lifeless body fell to the ground. Thomas reached down and yanked his baby out of Dahms' skull, a bit of brain matter sliding off.
Helena and Preston were already on their way back to the house, waiting for their next victim.
Mr. Stumpf came out next, headed towards cheap side where he liked to pick up whores nightly. Preston and Helena followed him as Thomas stayed behind to take care of Wolfs' henchmen. Helena quietly came up behind Stumpf, tapping him on the shoulder. As he turned around Helena stabbed him through the heart as Preston slit his throat. Helena turned her face from the blood spatter, getting it in her hair. "Sorry Helena, I'll help you wash that out." Preston whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder. Helena smirked at him, "It's alright baby boy, no harm no foul." They made their way back to Thomas who was casually wiping blood off his dagger on one of the henchmen's pants. Thomas walked towards them "We only have Daley, Wolf, Gimse and two of their henchmen that are in on this. Tomorrow night we need to finish this. For now we can leave these guys as a warning. Hopefully they'll back out of their plans with Dahms gone. Let's get back to the house." Preston slid his hand in Thomas' and held out an arm for Helena. The three quickly made their way back to Preston's house to clean up and sleep a bit before Addy woke up. Little did they know that they were followed by a figure in the shadows until they hit the walls separating Midtown from Uptown.