Hey people! Here it is, chapter 2! Please leave a review! ^-^
-Kit
Chapter 2: Meet the New Girl
The next morning, Ayaka lays on her back in her queen size bed, wearing a white tank top and warm, fuzzy pink pajama pants.
The spacious, elegantly designed room is warm and dim, a few slivers of light coming in through the curtains as dawn approaches. Ayaka thought back to a few hours ago, when she had pulled the trigger and killed that vampire, thought back to how his bright blue eyes dulled as he fell to the floor. She remembered that Reizo had pulled out a high-tech cell phone and told someone on the other end of the line that "their assignment was complete". In a few minutes, some people came, took the body and cleaned up the blood. After that, the mysterious duo left, saying that they'll be back to get her answer.
Tossing on her side, she tries to get some sleep, with no luck. That couldn't have happened. I had to be dreaming that. She opens her eyes, and stares at the silver gun on her nightstand. Reaching over, she grabs it, cold to the touch. Ayaka takes out the clip, counting the bullets and seeing that one bullet is missing. She also notices that the bullets are silver.
Wait. Silver bullets? Why not regular bullets? She puts the gun back on her nightstand next to her cell phone and clock. It was 5:54 am.
I don't feel like thinkg about it. Hell, I don't want to leave this bed, let alone work at the club today...but I need that money...uhh...I need to stop drinking.
She closes her eyes and finally goes to sleep.
Eleven o'clock comes. Ayaka sits at her usual mirror in the dressing room, not even feeling like talking to some guy and being hit on for the billionth time. For all I know, I could've been talking to vampires and werewolves for the past six months. She wore a dark red dress that was backless and had silver strands that barely held the lower back and high leg slits together. It was her favorite dress Seita bought for her. She remembers that Valentine's Day; he pulled out a small white box with a big red bow. Ayaka excitedly opened the box, revealing the dress. She remembers putting on the dress and him saying it fit her like a glove and it being the perfect dress for her. It was a dress that made the all the men in the club drop everything and stare at her, wishing that they were the lucky one sitting at her table.
Ayaka folds her arms on the counter and puts her head down on them. I don't feel like being here. Forget the money. Just as she stands up to leave, a woman comes into the always crowded room. "Ayaka. You actually have two customers today, and they're cute. Lucky you."
Ayaka walks into the room. As usual, the room gets quieter and the guys stop to look at her. So predictable. She stops in front of her table, seeing Reizo and Michio sitting there. Reizo wore a white button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The first few buttons were unbuttoned, exposing a silver necklace with a cross charm laying on his chest. Michio was wearing a black T-shirt and an all-black skull cap with his black gloves. A silver wallet chain that connected to his extremely baggy pants glistened whenever light hit it.
Michio stands up at the sight of Ayaka. "Wow. So you are a hostess...and a hot one at that!" The brown-skinned hostess sits down at the table. "Keep the drool to yourself, Wolfie. What are you two doing here?" He sits back down as Reizo takes a drink out of a cup that was sitting on the table and calmly speaks to her. "Well, we're here to get your answer of course. So? Have you thought about it?" She folds her arms. "I have and I need some more information before I can just join. Who do you work for? What exactly do you do? You know, stuff like that."
Reizo closes his eyes and lowers his head. "I understand. Well then...come with us."
"What? I can't leave! I'm working!" Ayaka looks at them shocked. The guys look at each other and nod their heads.
Michio stands up, lets Reizo by and sits back down. Reizo goes over to a young girl standing by the door greeting people. He asks her something and she leaves, returning with Ayaka's boss.
Reizo says a few things to him quietly, looking calm, cool and collected. Her boss paces and, visibly angry, he tells the girl that was greeting people to get changed. He yells over to Ayaka.
"Idane! Matsu is taking your shift! Make sure you punch yourself out before you go! And don't expect to get paid today!"
Ayaka sighs, "Damn."
Their car was a sleek black Viper with a single silver racing stripe down the center and a red light on the bottom that lit up the ground under it.
Ayaka looks at it in shock. "Wow. Nice ride. Is this a perk of being a 'FOX?'"
She gets into the back seat of the car with Reizo driving and Michio in the passenger seat. Reizo puts the key in the ignition and starts the car. "The Agency gave us this to us, but we got it modded." The engine of the car revs, sounding like a race car. Michio takes off his cap , twitching his wolf ears.
"Damn hat. Its too icthy. Where'd you get this thing Reizo? At a flea market?" He looks at Michio and he revs the engine again, pulling off and speeding down the street.
"Well, next time, you can just show everyone your ears and tell them you're a werewolf. Or you can just get your own hat." Ayaka, laughing at the werewolf's frustrated reaction, taps Reizo on the shoulder. "What exactly did you say to my boss? He never lets hostesses leave during their shift."
Reizo whips the car around a corner, throwing Ayaka back in her seat. "Let's just say we know about his gambling debts...and you might want to put on your seatbelt."
They drive into an old, dark abandoned warehouse and park the car. The guys get out the car and Ayaka stays, reluctant. "I...thought you said we were...going to your agency." Reizo opens the door for her. "We're here."
She slowly gets out of the car. "Well, it doesn't LOOK like some kind of agency."
Michio stands close behind her. "What's the matter? Is the cute little hostess scared?"
Ayaka turns around and sees him making a scary face with his tongue hanging out, his canines showing and his eyes glowing in the dark like a wolf's.
"AAAAHH!!!" She punches him in the face and he hits the ground hard.
Reizo laughs. "Michio? You okay? She just made you kiss the floor!" Michio's voice is muffled by the ground. "Ha ha. Very funny. Let's all laugh at the werewolf."
They take her to the basement of the warehouse. In the corner, there is a door with a camera above it and some kind of scanner next to it. The guys stand in front of the door and a voice is heard. "Please identify yourselves." Reizo lowers his collar, showing his tattoo. He then pulls out an id card.
"FOX Reizo Asari. Age 23. Blood type A-." He puts his card into a slot next to the door and takes out a knife. Making a tiny cut on his finger, he puts a drop of blood on the scanner. It lights up and makes noises. After a few seconds, the light turns green.
"Alright, Michio. You're up." He steps aside and Michio shows his tattoo. "FOX Michio Erizawa. Age 22. Blood Type AB+. Werewolf."
He goes through the same process as Reizo and the light turns green. The voice sounds again. "Welcome Asari and Erizawa. Please identify the girl."
Ayaka knows that they are talking about her. Reizo turns to her and gives her directions. "Look at the camera and tell them your name, age, and place of birth." She looks at the shiny camera lens. "They want a hell of a lot of info." She stands in front of the door, still staring at the camera. "Ayaka Idane...uh, age 22...er, birthplace New York City, New York."
Michio looks surprised. "You're American?" Ayaka turns to him. "I was born in America, but I'm still half Japanese. My father came from Tokyo." The voice speaks. "Please hold." They wait a minute before the voice comes back on. "Ayaka Idane, cleared."
The door opens up and they walk inside the dark room.
It is a huge elevator with five buttons, signifying that there are five lower levels. Reizo presses the highest one and the elevator goes down.
As the elevator goes down, butterflies start fluttering in Ayaka's stomach. "Do they have information on me or something?"
Michio's eyes gets big. "The Agency is like the freakin' government, but scarier. They know everything. EVERYTHING..." Ayaka starts to get scared, but Reizo stops the werewolf. "He's only exaggerating. But they are a branch of the government and they do know a lot..."
The elevator stops and opens up. The floor looks like a regular office, only there's an occasional person with wolf ears and a tail.
Ayaka looks around confused as the guys escort her to the back. There's a door with the name Chikato Nozara carved into a shiny gold plate on it.
Reizo puts his hand up, ready to knock on the door. "This is the boss of The Agency. He's in charge of everything, so be on your best behavior."
Michio chimes in. "Yeah, no pressure."
Ayaka gulps as Reizo knocks on the door.
A deep voice on the other side says come in.
They open the door to a huge, dimly-lit room that looks more like an apartment than an office, complete with a bed, couch, TV, desk and more.
Ayaka scans the room, then sees a man walking towards her. The man had dark brown, medium-length hair that was spiked back. He wore black denim jeans with an open brown sleeveless vest, the collar turned up. His well-defined muscles was slightly visible through the white muscle shirt he wore. She noticed that he had a gun holster on his waist, an ammunition belt across his chest, and brown leather wrist cuffs on both arms. His deep voice almost startled Ayaka.
"So you must be Ayaka Idane. My name is Chikato Nozara, as you probably already know."
He turns to the guys. "I received your message. Please explain what happened on your assignment."
Michio looks embarrassed. "Well Boss...what had happened was we were looking for the vamp guy and I sniffed him back to her house. When we busted in, she had already killed him."
Chikato looks impressed. "A Level 3 target, huh? Have you any experience with vampire hunting?" Ayaka shakes her head. "No. I didn't even know they existed." Chikato nods his head, interested. "I'm guessing Reizo and Michio already asked if you wanted to join The Agency. Have you thought about it?" She feels an air conditioner start up as the butterflies in her stomach flap harder. "I need to know more. I just don't want to jump into something I know nothing about."
"Highly understandable. Please, follow me." He goes past them out the room and the three follow. He takes her on a tour of The Agency starting with the floor they are on. "First, I should tell you our purpose. For many years, some vampires and werewolves have made a sport out of killing humans and it needs to be stopped. The government established this agency in secrecy, hoping to exterminate evil vampires and werewolves that find joy in harming innocent people." Ayaka nods her head. "Alright, I get it."
"This floor we are on is Level 1. This is where the newest and/or lowest ranked FOXes work. They usually handle the research and investigation on cases, but sometimes they go out into the field and...clean up the messes. The people that came to your house were Level 1 FOXes. I have my office here to supervise."
They get on the elevator and get off a floor below. It looks exactly the same as Level 1, except that there are less people and a few have weapons.
"This is Level 2. It's higher up on the chain of command. The FOXes here go on assignment and kill weak vampires and werewolves."
They go back on the elevator and go to Level 3. Reizo and Michio smile and talk in unison. "The best level here!"
They slap five as the elevator doors open. It's smaller than the previous two levels and almost everyone is armed with all sorts of weapons. "Level 3 consists of high ranked FOXes. They take care of more dangerous assignments, ones that include hostages and/or stronger targets. As you can probably tell, these two are Level 3's."
Michio waves to some people sitting around a table. "Hey guys! Guess who's back!" The guys walk over and take Ayaka with them. A young girl eating a sandwich at the table waves back.
"Hey! Look, they're back!" At the table, a guy is cleaning a gun, a werewolf girl is sharpening a knife, and two guys are playing some card game.
Ayaka notices that everyone around the table has the same tattoo of the weird symbol on their neck.
The young girl smiles and looks at Ayaka. "Hiya! My name's Harumi Terada! Wow! I wish I was as pretty as you! What's your name?"
The highly energetic young girl wore a beige sweater and red plaid skirt with calf-high brown boots. Her almost-shoulder length, light brown hair was covered by a beige, cat-eared hat. Harumi's big, bright violet eyes were focused on Ayaka's ice blue ones.
Ayaka smiles. "My name's Ayaka Idane." The guy cleaning his gun stops. "Ayaka?" He turns and she sees that the guy is Takai.
"Takai? You're a FOX?" He stands up, blushing. "Y-yeah. The job gets very stressful sometimes and soo...yesterday, I decided to go to the club."
Ayaka notices that he, along with the other guys in the room, was staring at her. She then remembers that she was wearing her favorite dress. Despite this, she didn't feel nervous. She was used to guys staring endlessly at her.
Harumi looks shocked. "Nii-chan? That was the hostess girl you were talking about? The one you said was so beautiful and so nice and caring and--"
Takai stops her from going on. "Uh, yea. So why are you here?"
Ayaka begins to speak, but Chikato's deep voice is heard and everyone gets quiet. He is talking to a young girl who had just came in crying and bruised up, covered with blood and wearing a black hood.
"What do you mean the target killed Yuri?"
The girl tries to talk through the tears. "The target was a Level 4 job. We couldn't handle it, but Yuri wanted to do it for The Agency and..." She tries to hold her emotions in with no success. "The target got away! She died for nothing! NOTHING!!" The girl breaks down, crying uncontrollably and Chikato hugs her.
"It's alright. We should have known it was a Level 4 job. I'm sorry this happened," says Chikato soothingly.
A couple of people escort the girl out onto the elevator. The room becomes somber. Reizo looks in disbelief. "Yuri died? She was a really good person."
Michio is actually quiet.
Harumi starts crying hard. "Nee-chan! Nooo! Why did Nee-chan have to die?!" The werewolf girl who was sharpening a knife comforts her. "It's alright, Harumi. Think of it like this, she's in a better place now, with no evil vampires or werewolves."
Harumi continues to cry and Ayaka goes over to Chikato. "What is Level 4?" Chikato rests his hand on his gun holester. "Level 4 is only the elite FOXes. They handle psychopatic or insanely strong targets."
The hostess thinks hard. Yuri...why does that name sound so familiar? Now that I think about it, I feel like I've met Harumi before...
She talks to Takai. "Who was Yuri?" He thinks for a moment and asks Harumi for a picture of Yuri. The young girl goes into her pocket, pulling out a picture and handing it to Takai. She wipes her tears and goes to the bathroom.
He shows Ayaka the picture. It's of a young girl in a school uniform with long dirty blond hair.
Ayaka realizes who the girl in the picture is and almost falls over.
"No...that's...Seita's little sister..." She starts to cry and Takai hugs her. "How? How did she...?"
Chikato reads from a paper he was just handed. "She was killed by a vampire. From this report of how the vampire looked when he fled, it sounds like she fought hard."
Ayaka wipes her tears. "So...how do I join?"