The smartphone buzzed and an annoying little tune awoke Levi. He grumpily shut it off, nearly dropping the expensive phone and comfortably stretched under his bed sheets. It was only 8pm, but he had shit to do that day, there was no time for screwing around and sleeping in.
He heard Hanji already up and rustling somewhere in the kitchen. Sucks to be her, Levi thought, she had to get up almost every day at 7pm. Levi could barely handle waking up before 10pm, he couldn't imagine the torture Hanji went through.
"Wow would you look at this!" she said cheerily, watching as Levi stumbled in the kitchen with his saggy tee, old sweatpants and a grumpy expression. "Shit, this is huge, gotta alert the press! I can imagine the headline 'a once in a century occurrence: the bat is out of the coffin.' " she laughed. Hanji was already dressed in her dark tight pants, light blue shirt and the tight, dark blue vest, which she had to wear for work. Her hair was neatly tied in a high bun, except for the bangs which were too short to reach it. Levi frowned in confusion, Hanji's face was almost glowing, she was fully awake and energized. It was almost like she didn't mind getting up early. What a freak.
"Ha extra extra! How about you shut the fuck up." Levi started in fake amusement before dropping his voice to almost a growl.
"Oh! Or I can get a hold of Eren, I'm sure he'd write a nice story about you." Hanji kept teasing Levi. "Though it would probably be too explicit to publish in a public newspaper." She winked at him, while Levi groaned in frustration. It was too early for this shit.
Hanji of course knew about Eren staying over. She said his scent was all over the place, especially Levi's room. He told her what happened and that now he was gonna be in deep shit with Ymir and most likely Erwin. She listened with a serious face, but apparently none of that registered in her head. "I bet he was really fussy in bed." was the first thing she said. No matter how much Levi explained that no, in fact he did not hook up with the guy two minutes after he fucked up his life, it was like talking to a wall.
Levi's bitter reply got cut off by the beeping of a microwave. His eyes instinctively shot across the tiny kitchen to the top of the old and slightly rusty fridge, where the new rectangular piece of metal kept beeping.
"What is that?" Levi asked calmly.
"My breakfast." Hanji frowned taking out her cup out of it.
"We have a microwave?" he asked quietly frowning at the machine. Hanji burst out laughing, nearly spilling her cup.
"Yeah, for almost two years." She said through her laughter.
"Why?" his frown deepened.
"So I could have a nice warm breakfast that's why." Hanji rolled her eyes. Levi scrunched up his nose in distaste.
"You mean that's warm blood?"
"Yes! Want some? It's really good." She offered before her eyes turned white and she took a large sip of her drink.
"You're disgusting." He shook his head while looking like he was about to throw up. Hanji merely raised an eyebrow at him, looking at Levi's current pathetic state. She became considerably more sarcastic when she started living with Levi.
Hanji downed the entire cup in a few large gulps, wiped her mouth with a paper towel before taking her phone with her. "Okay I gotta head to the bar." She announced heading through the small narrow hallway to the door.
"So early?" Levi asked with only a hint of curiosity. But it was enough to let Hanji know he actually cared.
"Yeah, it's the end of the month and someone's gotta pay the bills." She threw a glance at Levi. The shorter one turned his gaze away to the floor. He felt guilty about this, Hanji was doing all the work, while Levi hadn't been able to get his shit together for almost 2 decades. But the thought of an actual job, where he had to sit and obey some obese sweaty guy in an ill fitted suit was making him want to run away again.
"I'll pay my share, I promise." Levi said quietly.
"Yeah, well you're a few years behind on that." Hanji dropped putting on her jacket. She wasn't mad, she actually liked her job. But the disappointment in her voice was unmistakable.
Both her and Erwin thought that by now Levi would be back on his feet, but The Incident fucked him up real good. Levi was always a bit promiscuous and a bit of a druggie, but ever since he ran away from his last group he had been going straight down to rock bottom. Meeting Hanji and living with her had at least stopped him from the risk of overdosing (though none of them were quite sure what would happen to Levi if he did), but those 12 years hadn't been enough for him to move on.
"I'll get the money, today." he added persistently. Hanji looked at him with a slightly worried look.
"You think I don't know where your money comes from, do you?" she asked with a frown "Don't bother, Levi. I got this." She reassured him with a softer look. Levi scoffed under his breath in annoyance, he was offering to help after all. If she wasn't willing to take the money, why did she have to get all whiny about paying the bills all by herself?
Hanji was gone a second later and Levi was left all alone in their tiny apartment. Erwin bought the apartment for him when Levi showed up back into his life. Levi had wanted to pay him back, but Erwin brushed it off saying he was repaying an old debt to him. Problem was, Levi couldn't remember what that debt was and he was seriously doubting it ever existed.
The wallpapers used to be of a creamy color but with time they got dirty and now the entire apartment seemed grey and lifeless because of it.
There was a large contrast between Levi's room and Hanji's. Levi's had almost no additional furniture, no posters, just a few old oil paintings that Erwin put in his room because he claimed there was no more room for them in his place. The furniture itself was mainly of dark heavy wood. His bed frame, closet and desk were made out of it, giving it an ever gloomier look. What the room lacked in furniture and color it made up in its tidiness. There were never loose jackets lying on the back of chairs, dusty desks or crumpled carpets. Levi's life might have been a mess but letting his room become a war zone was stepping over the line even on his terms.
Hanji's room was the exact opposite. Levi had gone in there perhaps 5 times overall and was disgusted every single time. Her clothes were scattered everywhere along with various papers and dust bunnies. She took the liberty of peeling off the ugly wallpapers and painting the walls in vibrant colors, yellow and red. The first years she spent most of her saved up money on decorating her room, at first she bought a disco ball and a lava lamp because she said she had always wanted one of those. After some time those got locked away in the closet as she followed the trends and got herself something new. However, deep at heart she never got out of her 80's phase: she kept collections of records and cassettes in her room and let them continue gathering dust out of sentiment.
Levi took a quick shower and proceeded to dress himself appropriately. Instead of his usual dark pants, loose tee and another punkish jacket he obtained from a rock star, he chose traditional clothes, simple grey tee with a blue blazer and well fitting dark blue jeans. He had to play a role today so his appearance had to be perfect. He went by his desk where in the first drawer was the only item, a small notebook. He flipped it quickly through all the crossed out names and found the one which hadn't been crossed out yet.
The silence in the room was disrupted by his laptop turning on. Levi quickly went through his files to find said person with his current address, job and charges. The target of today was a mister Matthew Hemmings, a 43 year old car mechanic who was accused of raping his step daughter until the age of 14. Never convicted. Still lived with said step daughter.
Levi merely frowned in disgust before turning to his wine collection cabinet and took three empty bottles. Out of the six that he had he was down to only one. The vampire fixed his look for the last time in front of his mirror, making sure his hair was parted neatly and there were no loose strands before heading outside.
The sun was already down but it was still considerably light. Levi squinted uncomfortably once stepping outside, but it wasn't enough to damage his skin. After a while he got used to it. The house in question was a few miles away, but Levi walked nonetheless. By the time he could already see the small, yellowish house, Levi was fully awake and cheerily humming a catchy tune he heard while passing the store.
Without missing a beat he simply went up and knocked on the door. He remembered that decades ago it would take him time to prepare what he was going to say and how was going to go through with everything. Now his entire body was like on autopilot.
A grumpy man with a balding head and a piggish face opened up the door. He was twice the size of Levi, but the vampire smiled politely nonetheless.
"Hello, uhm I'm really sorry to bother you, I realize it's late." he said with a perfectly crafted apologetic face "But I was on my way to New Jersey when my car broke down."
"So?" the man bellowed annoyed. Levi showed no sign of offence however.
"Well… all of the car services I've called are already closed and frankly I don't have any clue about cars and engines myself." Levi laughed slightly embarrassed. "But perhaps you could help me, just take a look at it, let me know if it's fixable or I should just rent a car." He pulled out his best puppy eyes.
The man stood there dragging his thumb over his forehead while thinking.
"Please, I wouldn't be asking if it wasn't an emergency. My car is parked right over there." Levi pleaded again pointing blindly to the narrow alley nearby where there was indeed a car parked in it, they could see the front of it. Levi was pleasantly surprised to see an actual car there. How convenient.
The man shot him a glare before sighing tiredly.
"Sure, lead the way, kid." He said and Levi went on to thank him about a thousand times while he got out of the house. The moment he turned around from the man to lead the way to the small alley his mask dropped, there was no point in keeping up his act anymore. The neighborhood was empty and quiet so Levi took out his wine bottles from the inside of his blazer pockets before fully entering the alley.
"It's your lucky day kid, you happened to come across the best fucking mechanic in the block." The man said proudly "You know they call me a- are those fucking wine bottles?" he asked suddenly stopping in his tracks. But they were already in the small narrow alley and it was nearly completely dark. The fish was in the net.
"I don't know about my luck, but yours just ran out." Levi stated calmly with a stone cold face while setting the bottles on the ground and putting on his gloves. The man was staring at him wide eyed and realizing only then that the car Levi was leading him to had been standing there for a few months now. He'd scoff at it every time he went home from work about not being in its right place and blocking the way for other cars.
"Now listen here you fucking shrimp. I don't know who you think you are, but-" the man started bellowing, his face was going red. Levi frowned, he was being too loud so he thrust his hand out for the man's throat, squeezing just at the right spot to suppress his vocal chords. The man gasped in surprise and instinctively swung his fist at Levi. The vampire managed to dodge the first hit while he was looking for his knife, but the second one hit home or rather right in Levi's abdomen. He frowned a bit, fuck that stung, but not enough for Levi to loosen his grip even though the man hit with his entire strength.
The man's eyes went wide and his face drained of color. It could've been because of Levi's reaction to taking his hit or the pocket knife that he finally found or, and this was just a wild guess, the fact that Levi's eyes were already white and a sharp set of fangs were growing out on top of his regular teeth.
Levi gave a swift kick to the man's legs making him fall on his knees. Levi hated dealing with people who were that much taller than him.
"Consider this as payment for what you did to your step-daughter. You took her body and I'll take your life." He stated simply like he was talking about the weather at a boring lunch with his relatives.
The man at least deserved to know why he was going to die. Before the old man could start to whine out a plea, Levi rammed his pocket knife through the back of his head. Levi left the knife in so he wouldn't get his nice clothes covered in nasty blood and waited for the last kicks and breaths of the creepy rapist. Levi then skillfully took out the knife after walking around him, tore off his shirt by the neck and expertly slid his knife through the main artery. The almost black blood started pouring out immediately in large gushes as Levi quickly scrambled to reach for one of the bottles and stuck the tip of it right on the wound.
He kept humming the catchy store tune as the bottles filled up. The blood itself wasn't of the richest taste or smell Levi decided as he took a small bite on the other side of his fat neck while the bottles were filling. These bottles were going to be saved for a day when he craved something a bit more bitter.
Throughout the entire mess he managed to get only a few drops of blood on himself or more specifically on the gloves he wore, which were dispensable. Levi was walking away from the scene, leaving the man just lying there before he remembered something. He quickly went back and found the man's wallet in his back pocket. He had a few hundred bills in there, which Levi thought should be enough to cover for this month.
Levi sighed in contempt, the ugliest part of the night was done. He took out a simple bag to put all the bottles in as it was too uncomfortable to carry them in his jacket now.
The trip back home seemed quicker as it always does. Even though Levi was kind of in a hurry to get everything done tonight, he still took off his shoes and took the time to burn the gloves and neatly collect the ashes. It was fully dark outside now and Levi rolled up the blinds.
He genuinely loved the night view of the city. It was calm, mysterious, even sort of beautiful. Levi never liked or understood poetry, in fact he often made fun of it, but if he had to guess, he'd say it was made out of something like that.
He turned his gaze away with a sigh and took his notebook where he crossed out Mr. Hemmings name. May that sick fuck never rest in peace.
It was nearly 10pm, Erwin was probably still sleeping so he had another hour to spare. Levi's hand twitched as he realized what he was actually craving at the moment. A small voice inside him asked why was he even fighting and moments later the text was sent out and a meeting was arranged.
Before leaving Levi changed back into his normal clothes, making him look like a cross between a 90's rock star and someone not to be messed with. Levi was forever grateful for the late 80's and early 90's fashion for that, it was hard trying to look both intimidating and attractive in the 1800's. He cringed remembering the dirty shirts and vests.
"What's up dude, it's been a while." The giggling voice greeted him when Levi crossed the street and came close enough to see his sandy messy hair and horrible complexion, which only made his unsymmetrical face features even more distinct. The man reached for a handshake.
"Hey." Levi replied simply, keeping his hands in his pockets. There was no way in hell he was going to touch him.
The hand fell back to the man's side a bit awkwardly and slight tension settled in between them.
"So, I don't know if you've heard," the man started in a hushed tone "but we've been getting in some new stuff lately, it's the fucking bomb dude!" he exclaimed shakily, his entire frame was shaking a little. Whatever this new bomb was, it was clear that he was on it.
"Works for me." Levi shrugged. He just wanted his stuff already.
"Awesome dude awesome." He nodded his head a bit too enthusiastically. "So the usual amount, uh, what was your name again?" He asked. Levi huffed annoyed.
"It's- Larry." He said in a defeated tone. The man scrambled in his back pocket before taking out a small plastic bag with his drug inside. Levi was reaching out to take it when the dealer suddenly drew back his hand.
"Like I said Larry, it's a new product, a whole new type of breed of this shit." His eyes were a bit crazed just like Ymir's was nights ago "So it's a bit pricier, but I'm sure a man like yourself will have no problem with it." He watched carefully to see how Levi would react. Fucking shithead.
"How much?"
"It's up to 300, but as our old time client I can cut it down for you to 275." He was smiling and making it seem like he was offering him the deal of the week. Levi didn't have that sort of money, he patted his back pocket and realized he had no money at all. All of it was left in his other pants.
"This isn't what we agreed." Levi stated calmly looking into his saggy brown eyes. It was enough to slightly intimidate him.
"I realize that, but what I'm offering you now is real high class shit man. You're not gonna get anything like this in the entire city." He pressed desperately. Levi raised an eyebrow curiously.
"Is that so? Can I see it up close then?" he asked extending his hand.
"You know the drill Larry, money first." He said apologetically.
"Don't you trust me?" Levi asked a bit shocked. "I'm your most loyal client, I'm not going to throw stupid stunts now." He reassured him. The guy hesitated for a moment before giving him the bag.
"Hm… it doesn't look any different." Levi said disappointed after inspecting it.
"It is, man, it is!" the dealer was quick to contradict.
"Either way, I don't feel like paying today." Levi concluded, putting the bag in his jacket pocket.
"What the fuck dude, this ain't something you borrow." His twisted face features turned into an angry frown. "Quit screwing around and spill it." He threatened. Levi meanwhile looked like he was growing bored of him.
"Nah."
"Then give back the product you fuck!"
The dealer went up close and tried to take the bag out of his jacket, Levi pushed him away with one simple shove and turned to walk away. The man caught up with him after a short moment though, turned him around by his arm and served a punch to his stomach. Levi however didn't move an inch after the hit, his eye merely twitched in annoyance because it was the second punch he received today.
The dealer stared dumbly at his hand, not understanding what had happened to it, while Levi took the liberty of taking hold of his dirtied shirt collar and shoving him against the wall. The vampire heard one of his bones crack from the impact. The man's face was even more twisted than usual, this time in fear. Levi got up an close to his large nose and disgustingly big mouth, before letting his eyes turn white for a split second and dropping his now former dealer on the ground.
The man was shaking and scrambling to get up before nearly running away. Levi scrunched up his nose in disgust while staring at his hand, he hated coming into contact with junkies.
He hurried to Erwin's place which was not far from there, partly because he wanted to get the conversation over with, mostly because he could use his bathroom to wash his hands from the junkie stink.
The moment the heavy oak doors opened to Erwin's small apartment, Levi went inside without as much as a hello.
"Nice to see you too, Levi." He heard him call while Levi was rinsing his hands.
"It was an emergency." He explained coming out of the bathroom. Erwin stood there in the hallway, arms folded and a piercing expression on his face which hadn't lost its intensity in the last 2 centuries. His blond hair was combed back neatly, nicely framing his strong and defined face features which were often composed in a soft and reassuring expression. Even after all this time Levi felt slightly intimidated by the fact that he was a head taller than him, not to mention twice his size. The white shirt he was wearing wasn't doing his torso and arms any justice as he knew what was hiding under there. Oh Levi knew quite well.
"The hand washing or whatever happened with Ymir's group?" Erwin asked leading him to the kitchen.
"You already know about that?" he asked taking a seat at the table. His kitchen was even smaller than his, but everything was new in it, making it seem like one of those ads for one room apartments in the magazine.
"I just know they're not happy and they're expecting some kind of compensation." Erwin shot him a look to explain what happened.
"I made a rushed decision and saved a kid they were about to kill." Levi stated simply. Erwin looked shocked.
"You saved someone? Why?"
"Wow, I actually do something good for a human being and you're asking me for the reasoning?" Levi shot back sarcastically. "He just didn't deserve to die, not at that particular moment at least." Levi sighed.
"Did you know him?" Erwin frowned because all of this sounded unbelievable.
"I talked to him for a minute in Hanji's bar that's all." Levi shrugged. "I told Ymir and the others that he was a junkie, but I guess eventually she saw that it was bullshit."
"Well it's the 21st century and the kid's a writer, so yeah it was easy for them to find out." Erwin nodded. "Did the kid see anything though?"
"Don't think so. He remembered the encounter, but nothing specific about it." Levi brushed it off but Erwin's face tensed up.
"Levi we can't bet this on 'don't think so'. You know our policy about exposure." He said seriously. Levi briefly remembered his dealer, but half a second could barely be counted as exposure. Besides, no one would believe him.
"Yeah I do. Don't worry, if he does remember, I'll gladly kill him myself." Levi said like he'd be relieved to do this task.
"I hope it doesn't come down to that." Erwin said leaning back against the kitchen counter and taking a steaming cup in his hand. "Now we have to figure out wha-"
"Please don't tell me that's warm blood." Levi said closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"What? Oh this?" Erwin lifted the cup. "Yeah, Hanji taught me how to do it, it's surprisingly tasty." He said with a smile.
"Oh god." Levi sighed in defeat. "Don't tell me she's also planning to open a night Starbucks for vamps." He rolled his eyes.
"You haven't even tried it." Erwin shot him an all-knowing look. "Anyway Levi, I'm proud of what you did." Erwin's face softened. Levi's face remained indifferent, but he turned his head away nonetheless.
"Well I'm not, the kid fucked everything up." Levi returned bitterly.
"It was you that made the move Levi." Erwin pointed out calmly. "Are you that unwilling to admit that you care?"
"Oh can we not do this?" Levi talked on top of Erwin in a pleading tone. "Fine. I screwed up. We don't have to make it into some unnecessarily deep subconscious movement."
Erwin simply sipped his blood, his white eyes actually went really well with his hair. Levi remembered how a century back he thought it was the hottest thing ever.
"How long are you going to keep punishing yourself Levi?" Erwin spoke ignoring Levi's comment. "Until she dies?"
"And how long did you punish yourself even after your family died?" Levi bit back squinting his eyes. He regretted the words as soon as they had left him. It was too far, even for him. Erwin's gaze remained the same though. His eyes turned back to their natural warm brown color. "Sorry." he hushed under his breath quietly as the silence settled in.
"I think I have a few bags of AB- in storage that I can get my hands on. It should be enough for Ymir." Erwin said seriously like he was talking to a business associate rather than a friend.
"I don't think she's going to accept it. You know how she's like with bagged blood. She calls you guys vegan." Levi explained not daring to look at Erwin.
"Even Ymir isn't going to say no to AB-." Erwin sounded as confident as ever and Levi didn't question him. Erwin was the leader of their group after all and it was extremely rare for his gut instinct to be wrong.
"Thank you." Levi said almost humbly while getting up.
"I'll walk you out." Erwin suggested setting down his cup and walking behind Levi.
Levi had just turned around when he felt hands on his sides which quickly traveled into his pockets.
"Hey what the fuck?" Levi turned around outraged. Erwin however was standing there with an angry frown on his face and the bag of cocaine in his hand.
"Your hand was slightly twitching the entire time." Erwin explained Levi's unanswered question. "I thought we agreed you're going to quit for good." Erwin raised his voice in anger.
"What's the big fucking deal if I don't?" Levi asked heatedly. "Have I got a nice reputation to keep? Should I be worried about ruining my precious fucking future? Erwin we don't have a future, we don't have anything to look forward to, we are literally stuck in time." Levi ranted. He had no fucking idea where all of this came from, was it because he was craving his drug? Either way the words kept pouring out "So what difference does it make if I drink my blood with a kick? The answer is there is no difference. Like there's no difference if I kill people or drink blood out of a bag. People are still going to die even without me." Levi took a few deep breaths as Erwin stood there unmoving waiting for him to finish "If being immortal has taught me anything is that the longer you live, the less your actions actually matter."
Levi didn't wait for Erwin to reply, nor did he fight back for the bag of coke. He could probably take Erwin down in a fight, but he definitely wasn't up for it.
"You can make a difference Levi." Erwin called after him. "You already made one in Eren's life." Levi managed to catch the words as he was closing the door behind him.
Half of Levi's frustration faded away on the walk back home. Now most of all he felt stupid for not fighting for his coke and scaring off his dealer. It was going to be a pain to find a good source now. Levi was daydreaming, no nightdreaming about his soft bed again. It was nearly 4am and he was getting drowsy. Nights like these were rare, when more than two things piled up for one night, most of all it was tiring.
Hanji was already home when Levi got back. She looked pretty beat as well, must've been a heavy night at the bar. Either way she still smiled, greeted Levi and ranted about her day. Levi tuned most of it out as she followed him into his room and still didn't stop blubbering while he was on his laptop. Levi opened up his notebook again and flipped the pages to the very back where the last names were written. He had a rule, one name got crossed out and another was added.
There was a blog that Levi visited to get the names. The blog was run by some fresh out of college writer wannabe, who often put up stories about criminals who were never sentenced. By publishing their crimes on the internet the writer felt like he was doing justice, by at least exposing their crimes to the public eye. Levi thought that was about the dumbest thing to do with your life, but he didn't particularly care, as long as he could read about the crimes and get the names of the assholes that was all that mattered.
Levi scrolled through the blog to the latest post which was a bit longer than usual. He sighed as he skimmed through it searching for the juicy bits. Though, his eyes caught up on something strange though so he slowed down to read.
But dangers lurk everywhere. Sometimes a friendly gesture can be more traitorous than a dark shadow. I never thought that I would have to come face to face with the things I write about. Perhaps because none of us think they are going to become the subjects of the real life horror stories. Silently we wish it would happen to someone else rather than yourself, right up until the point when it happens.
Levi skipped through another few paragraphs vaguely describing crimes and probability to the part which caught his eye.
I didn't realize the danger I was in until the next morning. It was very unlikely I would have realized it at all if Levi hadn't explained it to me. For that I solely blame alcohol. But now I can see it clearly in my head, even though it still feels like it didn't actually happen to me, that it was some news story I was replaying in my head. However Ymir's sugar sweet voice of calling me to her like I was a dog still echoes in my head and the reality of it hits back, demanding to be remembered.
Vague memories come back to me, where Ymir's almost animalistic nature spills through when Levi confronts her. I remember nothing of the words shared between them, only the heavy tension radiating through their eyes, which seemed to flicker white like a lightning bolt. Levi stood there bravely however, even when Ymir refused to stand down and kept spitting out the words in a tone almost as sharp as her teeth.
"Fuck." Levi cursed under his breath not bothering to read the rest of it.
"What?" Hanji stopped her rambling noting Levi's wide eyed expression.
"That fucking dick!" he yelled getting up from his seat and storming across his room. Hanji frowned and turned her head to the laptop's screen. Her smile dropped as she skimmed through the text.
"Shit." She whispered under her breath as Levi kicked over the chair by the table.
