Vacuous Heart of Blood

Author: MoonStarDutchess

Chapter 10: Like Black Wings

Disclaimer: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist but I do own my plot and any OC's if any.

Like Black Wings

Marianna gripped the railing on the stairs tighter as she saw Lord Hawkeye walk out of his study. He stopped and glanced up at her. Her hand made a small squeaky sound as he skin slid roughly against the handrail as she walked down three more steps until she was closer to him. She stopped and squeezed the banister, her knuckles turning white and the lines of skin twisted along them delineating with red.

"How is she?" His voice didn't show any signs that he was mournful of his actions.

"She's sleeping, she's hurt, and she's angry. She's shocked that her father had that done to her." Her voice was harsh and spoken in a manner that an employee shouldn't use toward her employer. She just couldn't hide her tone when what she wanted to do most was take her hand off the banister beside her and punch him through a wall. Then she wanted to kick him between the legs a couple dozen times for pain sake.

He nodded. "I see."

She continued down to the bottom of the stairs and inclined, begrudgingly, toward him. She moved to turn around and go down the hall but paused when he spoke.

"Marianna."

She turned toward him, "Yes Lord Hawkeye?"

"Did you know that she was sleeping with that man?"

Marianna instantly shook her head and lied without hesitation. "No, I didn't."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No."

He chuckled. "You wouldn't tell me the truth anyway. Would you?"

She shook her head. "No."

"Very well, you may go," he said.

She inclined her head to him once more before heading down the hallway.

Hawkeye stood and watched her as she went into the kitchen, not so much as looking back at him.

"She's very loyal to Riza," Amelia said. She moved to stand beside her husband and glanced at him.

"More loyal that I thought. I know she was strict on Riza but something has happened between those two."

"Isn't that what you wanted? Someone that Riza could trust and might turn her into something society acceptable?"

"I seemed to underestimate Riza."

"What do you mean?"

"Instead Riza changed Marianna."

"And the cook, and the stable master, and footman, and the stable boys, and the gardener. I could go on from what I've observed."

Hawkeye nodded. "You know, I pity no man will accept a woman like Riza."

"She's just not wife material," Amelia said. "I supposed there's always one born." They looked at each other. "We need to get out of here soon. She's starting to influence us."

When Marianna walked into the kitchen, the frown on her face turned to one of an upward quirk of the lips. The wonderful smell of baking cake came to her nose. No one could frown when Jeremy baked a chocolate cake. She looked around for Jeremy and saw that he wasn't in the kitchen. He was going to end up burning his cake if he wasn't careful. She went over to the oven to check the confection and when satisfied it wasn't burning, closed the oven door. When the door behind her shut, she jumped and turned around.

"Careful Marianna, you can't eat a cake while it's still in the oven. If you stick your head in there you'll get hurt."

She straightened and placed both of her hands on her hips. "Very funny. You shouldn't leave the kitchen unattended."

"I have before. You didn't used to bother me this much so you never noticed." He walked over and sat some canned fruit and a basket full of vegetables on the worktable. He began chopping up some carrots.

Marianna walked over to the table and sat down in a chair. "That's only because you aren't boring."

"Glad to know. Things haven't been boring in this house very much lately."

"It's been too damned stressful around here. I wish Lord and Lady Hawkeye would just go back to Central."

"Yes, you have to lie too much to Lord Hawkeye," he replied, then laughed loudly and pointed the knife at her. "You're going to go to hell. You can take over there!"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So you listened in?"

"I couldn't resist. I was at the door that leads to the storage room. The one under the stairs."

"What's up with everyone's spying lately?"

"Human nature," Jeremy offered with a shrug.

Marianna sighed, "Tell me, would you have lied to him?"

"Without hesitation," he said.

"You going to be the devil's cook?"

Jeremy cracked a smile. "If that's what it takes to keep Miss Riza protected."

Marianna lifted her elbows to sit on the table and rested her chin in her hands. "The man she slept with. His name is Roy. It's a unique name. You go to the pub in town. Have you heard that name?"

Jeremy sat his knife down and drew his attention from the vegetables to the woman across from him. "Roy? How did you figure that out?"

"She said his name in her sleep."

"Roy. . . Roy. . . You know I have heard that name in Riri's Bar. The girls have questioned about him several times."

"So he does just want Riza for sex?"

"He can get sex anywhere. Besides, the way he was treating her in the cellar. It didn't seem like sex was all he wanted."

"Huh?"

"You don't kiss a woman, especially like that, when you just want sex from her. I could have sworn I mentioned that after it first happened."

"I don't remember."

"You're getting dementia?"

She grabbed a cucumber and held it up. "Don't make me shove this down your throat! I'm only forty!"

Jeremy chuckled. He picked his knife back up, grabbed the vegetable away from her, and began chopping it. "You know, just because his name is Roy doesn't mean it's the same Roy that the girls know at the pub."

"Oh, okay. Let's not pay any attention to the fact that Roy isn't a common name and you just happen to hear about it at the pub right when we discover the name of Riza's mystery man."

Jeremy looked up at her. "You want me to ask questions about this Roy? To find him?"

She smiled nervously. "Would you?"

"Don't you think its going to look weird if I ask about him?"

"Not at all. If the Roy they are asking about were the same one, it would be great. We should at least try for Miss Riza's sake. I think he could help her if he comes."

"And you want to sneak him into the house and up to her room?"

"If that's what it takes to help Miss Riza."

"And if he won't come with you?"

"Then he's not worthy of her and we will find another way to help her."

Jeremy nodded. "This evening then, we'll go down to the pub. I'll ask about him around the bar while you stay in the carriage."

"Wait a second. Why do I have to go?"

"If we find out where he is, you are going to be the one to talk to him. I won't. Got it?"

"What but..."

"I'm not going to mentioned what happened to her. You are going to have to do it."

"Fine, if that's the way you want it."

"I just think it would be easier for you to talk to him about it. If it's the same guy that is."

"Why?"

"Because when I think about it, I want to take that meat cleaver on the wall and go find the doctor and . . ."

"Okay Okay, I get it. Go no further or you'll tempt me to do it."

"There's something I've been wondering about."
"What's that?"

"Well, how did Lord Hawkeye find out? Did someone else see them?"

"That would be impossible. I'm the only one that has a key to the—"

"Lord Archer saw her with the man when he was out spotting rabbits," a voice said. They turned to the door and blanched as they watched Amelia walk into the room. She evidently noticed the looks. "I just heard that question. I didn't hear the rest of your conversation. But about Archer, he saw fit to make what he saw known. Then my husband looked through the spyglasses and saw them having their relations. After that, he ordered that Archer's servant go get the doctor. However crude my husband's decision was." She spoke her last sentence with a distaste and venom that surprised Jeremy and Marianna.

Marianna's face turned even pallider upon hearing about the situation. "What? What do you mean ordered his servant? Lord Hawkeye didn't retrieve the doctor himself?"

"No, of course not. Why?"

Marianna shook her head. "No reason. Never mind Ma'am."

Amelia looked at her suspiciously but just let it go. She turned to Jeremy. "Please make us some tea and have one of the maids bring it to the study. Also, please make some biscuits as an accompaniment to dinner tonight."

Jeremy nodded. "Yes, alright Ma'am. I'm making stew for dinner so I have the biscuit dough rising in a warm place."

She turned and walked to the door without saying a word and then left the kitchen."

"Still don't like her," he said, "even if she did defend lady Riza this time."

"Hum . . ."

"She's only being polite because she thinks Lady Riza is going to ruin their positions in society. You know, right now if what happens gets out, it could very well cripple their status. Lady Riza is holding a good hand of cards right now. She could ruin them if she wanted.

Marianna shook her head. "She may think that but it's not really the case."

"What do you mean?"

"Riza won't do anything like that. She'll suffer in silence. She doesn't want to destroy her father or stepmother. She just desires to live her life the way she wants. She wants to be happy and that's something I've come to realize."

"I see."

"And she won't be able to be happy until she gets away from here."

Jeremy pushed open the bar's double doors and walked inside the building. Closing the doors behind him, he then raked his sight across the room, studying the current patrons and the women either sitting on the tables, serving the men, or the occasional tipsy woman residing on the lap of a drunken man. It was the typical night in the most popular bar in town. He directed his sights to the bar and looked for the familiar black hair that piled atop the head of Riri, the owner and barkeep. The right side of his lip quirked up when he spotted her and he walked over to the bar and sat down.

She turned and smiled her crooked grin when she spotted him. She grabbed a glass and filled it with beer before walking over and sitting it down on the bar, the contents splashing and a drop falling onto the smooth oak surface. "Why you sitting here? You usually go over to tables in the corner." Her accent was clearly from a different country and was one of the things that made all the men in the bar so fond of her.

"I need to ask you something," he said, the volume of his speech lowering slightly.

She leaned forward. "Is it secret?" she asked, the volume of her speech also depressing.

"Yeah. Who is this Roy that some of the girls ask about?"

"Oh. Don't know much about he."

"What do you know about him?"

"Don't know much, just that he comes here."

Jeremy sighed. "That doesn't help me at all."

She patted his shoulder and smiled. "I be right back," she said, The girls upstairs know him. I'll ask one."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

She nodded and walked away from him and through a door. Jeremy managed to drink half his beer before she returned and leaned over to speak in the low voice. "The girls said he come through back entrance every Friday night to hava drink with them."

"Tonight's Friday," he said.

"Yes, they are expecting him."

"What's with the special treatment he gets?"

"Didn't ask. They brothel upstairs lets me run my bar here free so they get customers drinks. I don't ask questions."

"I see, thank you for the information." He laid some money on the counter and stood but paused from turning when Riri poured him more beer. "Drink the rest of this. I don't want to hava pour it out."

Jeremy sat back down. It wouldn't take long to finish the drink and it would be a waste to leave it."

Marianna growled and glanced up at the small clock tower residing in that area of the town. Was the bar really busy enough to warrant being in there for half an hour? She scooted back against the uncomfortable seat wondering if perhaps Jeremy just got distracted with one of the women in there, this Riri in particular. She was surprised when a bit of jealousy flared up and she had to thoroughly squelch it. She adjusted her dress and then moved her hand to the handle beside her. She began tapping her fingers on the old wood, the pressure and noise of the taps increasing the longer she waited. After a while longer, she had to once again squelch a feeling. She wanted to go in there but it would be hazardous to her job if someone told of her being in such a place. If she lost her job, then Miss Riza would have no other woman to depend on. No, she would have to wait and have faith in Jeremy. He hadn't let her down yet and she didn't think that this would be an exception.

Looking around the area, she shuddered to think that there were people that actually lived there. That people actually came there to have fun. Everything was lit dimly with the barely burning orange gas lanterns that lined the broken sidewalks. There were bottles and trash beside the houses; the trashcans spilling their contents in lines like someone dragged them into their formations. The evening moon shone above, casting grey light to the places the lamps emitting light didn't touch.

She wrapped her shawl tighter around her shoulders as another tremor left her body. If she wasn't in an encased carriage, there was no way she would ever be sitting there alone at night. She jumped when the horses neighed and she looked ahead. Her eyes fell upon a man slowly walking down the street. His gaze was looking straight at her, as if trying to burn holes right through her skin and innards and out the other side of her body. She knew he couldn't see her but that fact didn't ease her speeding heart.

The man enraptured her eyes. His walk was nothing odd, his boots touching the ground like any normal person. No, it wasn't the movement of his legs that made him seem so breathtakingly unparalleled. It was his posture, so gallant and egotistical, that made it appear as though he was floating across the sidewalk; too estimable to be walking on such foulness. He came to the front of the carriage and looked at the horses. Reaching up to pet them, a smile crossed his lips as they completely relaxed. It was when he looked up from the horses that he spotted Marianna in the back. Now his gaze was quizzical but the dark orb still made her skin prickle . . . with familiarity.

She took a deep sigh of relief when he took his gaze off her and wrinkled his nose in disgust. She huffed. Maybe she wasn't a young, beautiful woman but the least he could have done was incline his head like a gentleman. When he turned to cross the street, when she saw his profile, she realized where the familiarity came from. He was the man that Riza was with!

She hurriedly moved to open the door to the carriage and get out, cursing when her dress caught on the side. She pulled with all of her strength, the fabric giving way, ripping a long tear in it. That didn't matter, she could fix a dress but finding him was truly a miracle.

She rushed across the street and down an alley after him, paying no mind of the dangers that a lone woman could face when out in the city, in that section at night. The only thing on her mind was helping Riza. She found a part of her, in her mind, chuckling. Not long ago, she doubted that she would be doing what she was. It wasn't until Riza finally broke down that she saw exactly how bad things were on the young woman, and how she was once one of those women.

Stepping over an old wooden box, she followed the man through the alleyway. Her nose wrinkled at the sour smells coming to her nose and down her throat, giving her the sensation that she was drinking the scent. She could taste it on her tongue but didn't dare open her mouth to smack her lips, afraid the taste would only increase in its potency. She navigated over piles of liquor bottles, nearly caught her dress on more old wooden crates, and almost fell a few times before shouting to him.

"Sir! Hello Sir! Please wait! I'd like to speak with you please."

Her target stopped and looked over his shoulder, his pale skin looking even paler under the moonlight and his eyes looking more menacing thanks to the shadows being casts over him courtesy of his long bangs. She swallowed nervously and pushed down the urge to turn in the other direction. Forcing her feet forward even quicker, she didn't stop until she was standing before him, breathing heavily.

"I'm not interested in old whores. Go find someone else to get your business from."

She glanced up at him, her green eyes narrowed into slits, as if she could scare him. Her chest was heaving as she spoke, "I'm not a whore. Do I look like one to you?"

"Ma'am. My honor as a gentleman of the night forbids me to answer that question. Of course, the answer can be inferred by my statement."

Marianna straightened and slicked back her hair that was coming undone from its pinned back style. She rolled her eyes. Other than his looks and posture, she now knew why Miss Riza let the man get as far as he did. Both of them had venomous, facetious, disrespectful tongues, and immaculate wits about them. "I'm not a whore," she said.

"I see. Well stop following me. You have no reason. If you were anything respectable, you wouldn't be out here at night. Now, if you excuse me, I have matters to tend to," he said, turning to walk away. Marianna grabbed his arm before he could go.

"Please, I really must speak to you about something very important."

"I don't have time to waste talking to someone like you Madam," he said. He jerked his arm from her grasp, causing her to stumble forward. She managed to right herself just in time and she yelled to him.

"Please, do you know Lady Riza Hawkeye?"

Roy stopped and turned to her. "What if I do? What does she have to do with you?"

Marianna leaned against the wall, not caring if the back of her dress got filthy with the grime and mold. She was getting much too old to be running around an alley. It wasn't in her job description to be abnormally physically active. "She's my mistress. She's been hurt."

Roy raised an eyebrow. "Hurt? Is that really so?"

"I wouldn't lie about such a thing. I have no reason to do such."

"Why in the hell would I care about her being hurt?" He turned to her fully and crossed his arms.

"You and she have a relationship, do you not?"

He laughed aloud, his vocal display not carrying pure joy, only a sarcastic amusement along the lilts. He lowered his gaze levelly at Marianna. "She was a good lay. I'll also admit that she intrigues me more than any woman that I've ever met. However, I don't care that, nor does it concern me if she gets hurt."

Marianna felt he stabbed her through the heart. "You don't love her? At all?"

He laughed again. "Love? I love her yes. About as much as any woman that spreads her legs so easily. She's interesting, and staggeringly good to fuck, but if she dropped dead I wouldn't give a damn."

Tears began pooling in Marianna's eyes. It was clear that Riza's feelings were unrequited and it broke her heart. "I. . . I see."

Roy took a step toward the woman. "Tell me, what has she told you of me? My name? My rank? Did she send you after me?"

She shook her head, tears falling off her jaws and onto the dirty ground. "It doesn't matter now that I know how you feel about her." She looked up at him, "concern yourself with her no longer."

She turned to walk away but screeched when she felt a hand grab her neck and a cold concrete wall against her back. His iron grip tightened around her throat. "I asked you a question. I expect an answer!" He jerked her away from the wall and threw her to the ground. Marianna grabbed her throat and started coughing. "I will not hesitate to do far worse to you if you don't answer."

Marianna looked up at him and scooted back against the wall of the building. She could now make out his eyes fully. As the moonlight shone down upon him, they glinted off the dark orbs revealing they were of a dark blue. When he turned slightly, the orange shone down, making them glisten with satanic appearing glints.

"I saw you two in the cellar. Then—"

"So you told on her?" he interrupted.

"No!" she protested. She grabbed on to the wall and tried to stand. She was so full of fear that she couldn't force her legs to steady so that she could rise. Roy grabbed her and pulled her to her feet. Placing one hand on the wall, she gripped it and forced herself to calm down. This man wasn't nearly as violent with Riza, as far as she could tell. "You . . . You were spotted outside with her by her father."

"I see, well. You meant emotional hurt. That is no concern of mine either."

"But you are the man that has done it. Don't you take value of what my mistress has given up to you? You should at least go see her after what was done to her!"

Roy looked at Marianna with distaste. "I have very little interest in the girl, as I have said. She merely sated my curiosity for a time. I took some of what I want from her and will take more when I see fit. She gave herself willingly. I see no reason why I should go see her."

"Please. She wants to see you! She said so in her sleep!"

Roy shook his head and turned his back to her. "Get out of my sight." He took a few steps but stopped when she screamed at him.

"You should be ashamed!" He turned back to her, a murderous look on his face. She didn't let his look stop her from continuing her scolding. "She went through mortification because of what happened! She was checked for her innocence because of you and by someone that only looks at common whores!"

He stomped over to her, a beer bottle shattering under the weight of his boot crashing onto it. He bent until his eyes were glancing directly into hers, his face only a mere inch away. "Checked? What in the hell do you mean checked?"

"Her father sent for a doctor but the man wasn't a doctor. He was . . ."

"I see. I shall handle this issue."

"You will come see the mistress?"

He grabbed Marianna by the upper arm, his fingers pressing tightly against her flesh. He escorted her through the alley back to where she entered, paying no mind to her tripping and stumbling on the way.

Looking ahead of them, she saw Jeremy shouting her name, looking quite distraught. When he spotted them, his eyes instantly narrowed in anger. She was going to get a lecture from him on the way home. She found herself thrown against Jeremy.

"Take that woman and keep her away from this area. You didn't speak to me and you've never saw me no matter what happens. Got it?"

Jeremy looked into the man's eyes and recognized the fury within them. "Got it."

Roy turned back toward the alley, took a step, but stopped. He looked back over his shoulder. "That so called doctor. What was his name?"

"I'm not really sure. I remember something like Carvier or Carvia. It was something that sounded like Caviar."

"Fine. Take care of your mistress. She won't be seeing me again. I want no one that's been touched by scum." He didn't go back into the alley, instead opting to walk down the street and turning up another where there were no lights glowing.

"That's him?"

"Yes, and he's a bastard. He doesn't care for Miss Riza at all."

"No, I think you are wrong?"

She turned her head to look at the man that was still gripping both of her shoulders with his hands. "What makes you say that?"

"A look that men get when women they care about have been hurt. Its nothing you could see even if you looked hard."

"Let's go home," Jeremy said and guided Marianna back to the carriage.

"Miss Riza will be heartbroken if she never sees him again."

"Do you really think he'll stay away?" Jeremy asked, as the carriage made its way out of the city and up the hill toward the estate.

"He said that . . ."

"A man can speak anything but following through is a different matter altogether."

Roy fell onto a soft red couch and leaned his head back. He closed his eyes and let his lungs actually breathe. He found that letting his body function as a human's at times tended to wrangle his outrageous temper. He stopped the actions when he felt smooth, cold arms wrap around his neck from behind.

"Lord Mustang darling! It's been a while since you've come here."

He raised his head and smirked at hearing the familiar voice; a voice that always calmed him from his tempestuous rages. Of course, up until he met that stupid human, she could do many other things that calmed his rage. She slowly trailed her hands down his chest and to the front of his pants, managing to loosen his belt before he grabbed her wrists.

"Synnith, I didn't come here for that," he said.

She sighed, walked around the couch, and over to a small bar, her hips swinging so sensually that any normal man would be at her mercy. She poured a drink at the bar and leaned against it, giving him an excellent look at her cleavage. "Really, you never come here for that anymore. I have to be too gentle with human men. I need a wild rough sex once in a while too!"

"Have you ever heard of a Doctor Carvier or Carvia?" Roy asked, getting straight to the point at why he came. That bastard touched what was his, something he claimed for his own until he wanted to get rid of it. He didn't like people touching his property.

"You are talking about Cavanka," Synnith said, wrinkling her nose. "I'm not big on human careers but to call that man a doctor would be insulting the medical profession."

"So he's not in the medical profession?"

"Lord Mustang!" a perky voice said. A petite redhead woman sat down on his right leg and wrapped her arms around his neck. "It's been so long since you've come here!"

"Yes, yes, Synnith said the same thing."

"Get off of him Coralenn. He's obviously come to see me!" another woman said, grabbing his arm and sitting on his left knee.

"Hello Daralenn," he said. One twin was bad enough, both together was like asking someone to come and stick splinters under ones nails. Unless they were in bed, but that was an entirely different matter that he found himself not caring about.

"Get off of him," Coralenn said, pushing the other woman.

"No! You get off of him!" Daralenn said, pushing her back.

"How about both of you get off me!" he growled. He got to his feet, sending the two girls tumbling onto the floor.

"My Lord! That actually hurt!"

"Yeah!"

"I'm trying to have a conversation and the two of you are interrupting!" He showed his fangs and the girls scooted backward against the couch.

"Meanie!" they both yelled.

Roy studied the twins for a moment. Coralenn and Daralenn always reminded him of spoiled cats. If they didn't get their way, with someone other than him, there was likely going to be lots of bodily harm. They were amusing at times but now wasn't one of those times. He wanted to get some information and they were hindering that process. "I'll let you know when being called a meanie damages my self esteem," he said flatly before going over to the bar. He sat down on a stool and Synnith poured him a drink. "About Cavanka," he prompted.

"Medical school reject. Knows a lot about these new sexual diseases coming out so he examines most of the whores. He has three women working for him that aren't anything close to being the nurses that they claim. They are just there for show and paid well for their so-called services. He gets far more fun out of his examinations than he should, if you catch my drift. "

Roy gripped the glass in his hand tightly. "So, a young woman who is not a whore. He would get particular enjoyment out of touching her, Yes?"

"Likely very much so. I even feel sorry for the whores he examines."

"Do you know where he is?"

"Not exactly no. I know he's in the east of town somewhere. Works out of his house."

"We know where he lives!" Coralenn said.

Roy turned to them. "Where?"

"We aren't telling! You growled at us," Daralenn said.

They both stood and in perfect unison, folded their arms stubbornly. He sat his drink down and stood. He approached the two girls and smirked sensually as he placed one hand on each of their cheeks. "Cora, Dara," he said as sweetly as he could.

"Yes?" They both said, a smile lighting their lips as they heard Roy's tone of voice.

"There are times when I adore you two, you know that already right?"

"Yes," they both said.

Roy's eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth. "But now isn't one of those times," he growled. "Tell me where the doctor lives or I'll bash your heads together so hard it will take you ten years to gain consciousness!"

Their eyes widened but they made no move to pull away from him. "Billfry Street," Coralenn said.

"He's in a big white two story house with green shutters. It's the only one of its kind on the block! You can't miss it!"

"Thank you girls," he said, pulling his hands away from them. "You know I wouldn't have gotten violent with you if I didn't desperately need to know."

Coralenn giggled. "Its fun when you get violent sometimes."

"Wait a moment," Synnith said, causing everyone to look at her. "Just how do you know where that doctor lives anyway?"

"We have a human friend that works at the brothel that he examined," Coralenn said.

"He nearly did worse than that!" Daralenn snapped. "She was so devastated that we tracked him there and was going to kill him."

"You girls know we should refrain from killing anyone! It's too risky. If it is traced back to us it would ruin our way of life!" Synnith scolded.

"That's exactly why we didn't!" Daralenn said.

Roy nodded and turned toward the door.

"Are you planning on killing him?"

Roy turned slightly and met her dark gaze with his, "Don't worry. It won't be traced back to you."

"Oh I wasn't worried. I know the way you do things. Nothing will be traceable."

Roy smirked. "If it is, I was here with you all night."

"Oh? You were? What's in it for me if I play alibi?"

Roy stalked over to her, grabbed the back of her head and kissed her while biting his tongue. He let the blood run thickly into her mouth as he worked is lips against hers. When she moaned and began kissing him back, he pulled away. "Good enough?"

"For now," she said and licked her lips. "I'd like more than a bloody kiss but I can be patient. Besides, that's best blood I've had in a while. You puries are so damned tasty. "

Roy laughed.

"Hey, don't we get anything?" Coralenn and Daralenn asked.

Roy removed a knife from his boot. He took the glass that previously held his drink and sliced his wrist, the skin slowly opening as the knife raked across his flesh. The blood dripped into what remained of the liquid, the amber quickly congealing into a thick red drink of a milkshake texture.

He returned the dagger to his boot as Synnith grabbed his wrist to lick it, the wound closing as she did so.

"Half that between you two," he said. The twins rushed to the bar as Synnith sat down another glass. The twins quickly divided the blood and began drinking it.

"So, just why are you going to kill that bastard?" Synnith asked.

"That's a private matter. Besides, the less you know the better," Roy said.

Roy's eyes narrowed as he focused on his task. He turned and walked out of the bar, his cape wafting menacing behind him in waves of dark fabric, like black wings.