The two of them walked side by side down the alleyway. The taller of them shortened his step while the slightly shorter girl lengthened hers so they strode in steps that were synchronized and familiar.
"Here it is," the girl stopped. She placed a hand on her hip and tossed her mahogany waves over her shoulder.
"That's it?" the boy questioned incredulously. "It looks like a leftover set from The Crucible. It's practically a hut."
The girl had to admit that the place did look like it had a history behind it. She was sure that each rotting plank and all the mould that they could see had its own story to tell.
"You've seen bigger dives than this, Colt," the girl said as she began to map her way through rubble and broken debris.
"A dive from a board sixty foot high couldn't create enough splash to get this place clean," Colt returned as he followed her reluctantly. He neatly dodged the ruined remnants of the once glorious house behind his sister.
Iris Auroch ignored her brother studiously while she studied a door in front of her. It barely hung on its hinges and with a regretful shrug, she kicked it in.
"Whoa," she coughed, as clouds of dust filled not only the air, but also her nose and mouth. "Nasty."
Colt entered the house behind her and looked around. There was a silence as they took in their surroundings before Colt spoilt it. "Nasty alright," he agreed, coughing. "I haven't seen décor this ugly since you refurbished your room last spring."
"Hey," Iris argued, "I still maintain that it turned out okay."
Colt snorted but didn't reply. When Iris turned to ask what had inspired her brother's unusual decision not to have a go at her, she found him crouched down with his head bent over a pile of fallen books. It looked like the shelves they had belonged to had lost the war with the local termites.
Colt looked up at his sister's approach and his green eyes were clear yet emotionless as always. He held a leather bound book in his hands that he tapped gently.
Iris raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" she asked, unbelievingly. "It can't be that easy."
Colt shrugged and rose elegantly to his feet. "As easy as that blond chick from last night." He grinned menacingly and tucked the book into his black coat. "But not nearly as fun."
Iris scowled and led the way out again, kicking a few rotten planks out of the way just for the fun of it. "I've told you before that there are certain details of your life that can be left in the dark, brother dearest." She held a hand up to shield her eyes from the sudden piercing light and moved aside for Colt to get out.
Her brother clipped her lightly under the chin as he went past and mock pouted at her. "But sis," he moaned, "I thought we told each other everything."
"If we tell each other everything," Iris asked, her green eyes suddenly turning serious, "Then why won't you tell me what this book is for exactly." The book in question jutted from Colt's jacket and left a single square outline in the fabric.
Colt didn't turn around when he answered. "You just said certain details should be left in the dark." He kept walking away until there was a considerable distance between them. Finally, as she knew he would, he stopped and spun on a heel to yell at her to hurry up.
Iris Auroch shook her head and sped up to fall in step with her brother once again.
.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.
She was sitting in a small, dimly lit café called The Cave four hours later, sipping on a drink that was definitely laced with something alcoholic. The Cave was aptly named because it was in fact, partly underground.
It was situated on a hill, or in a hill, to be more exact. You went from the footpath, into a hall lined with paintings and lit with candles, and further along to the café itself. It was a large room covered with murals, writings and quotes with candles taking up room everywhere.
Iris twirled her fingers through the flames of the few candles set on her table absently with one hand while sipping her drink with the other. Over the rim of her glass, she surveyed the room through cool, green eyes.
Colt was talking to some girl at another table. His eyes were calm, his smile interested. She saw him lean over and whisper something in the girl's ear.
Nothing new there, Iris mused. If a girl had a bra on, her brother could be found searching for a way to find the clasp. He had his routine down to an art that girls' tended to enjoy viewing.
Meanwhile, here she was sitting on her lonesome as if she had nothing better to do.
"Hey babe," a voice said from behind her. A hand reached down under her chin to tilt her head back and then she was being thoroughly kissed. She closed her eyes and allowed the invasion until she was gently released.
Golden eyes looked down into hers. "What are you drinking?" Hex Redfern asked. He licked his lips. "It's tasty." He planted another kiss on her lips briefly. "So are you, though."
Iris rolled her eyes as he took a seat opposite her. "Flattery doesn't stop you from being late," she said.
Hex shrugged elegant shoulders and smiled lazily. "No, but I thought it might stop you noticing it."
Iris decided that she wouldn't be fighting a lost cause if she made a deal of it so tactfully let the matter drop. Luckily too because Hex didn't even bother to offer an excuse.
"It doesn't matter," she dismissed. "Some guy kept me company."
Hex' golden eyes snapped open wide and his lips thinned into a line as he glanced around him carefully. "Who exactly?" he enquired tersely. When he saw her teasing, and slightly triumphant smile, he relaxed.
He sent her a warning look as he rose a hand and snapped his finger so that someone came to serve them. It completely passed his attention that customers were meant to go up to the counter for drinks or maybe he didn't care.
Either way, someone had seen his gesture and like nearly everyone, had responded to the clear aura of authority and confidence by approaching them.
It was a girl that Hex barely glanced at. "I'll have two of what she's drinking thanks," he ordered dismissively before waving her away. The girl went silently like she was meant to. "You did want another one didn't you?" Hex checked as an afterthought.
Iris sighed and nodded. What was another drink? Hex could drive her home if she didn't feel like it.
"Have you heard any news from the conclave?" Iris asked. She slipped a cube of ice in her mouth and bit into it. The cracking sound was kind of nice. Not as dull sounding as bones cracking but it had that nice ringing tone to it all the same.
Hex scowled. "Maybe," he answered. "It sounds like they've all gone to ruin. All the young people have left and the ones left are as unprepared to set foot in today's world as Neo was from the Matrix."
"I loved that movie," Iris commented absently as she twirled her straw in the now empty glass.
Hex either didn't hear her or chose not to. Instead, he leaned forward onto the table and folded his arms, leaning on them for support. The look in his eyes caused Iris to pause her twirling to fix him with an unwavering gaze of question.
"What?"
Hex smiled slightly. His hawk eyes were intent as he gazed at her. "I heard something interesting today," he invited.
Iris narrowed her eyes impatiently. "Care to expand on that?"
Hex smiled. "The elders at the conclave," he began slowly, teasingly, "Want us back."
Iris frowned. "Us?" she repeated.
Hex nodded. "Us." He confirmed. "My devastating self, you're brother and his shocking dress sense and of course," he winked flirtatiously, "You're beautiful self as well."
Iris let her breath hiss between her teeth in a fashion that made Hex catch his breath. She shook her mahogany colored curls back from her face. "What for? They gave us permission to leave in the first place."
It was true. They had. The three of them had petitioned the elders a year and a half ago and they had granted them their request of freedom. They had made their way into the big bad world and survived and Iris, for one, was unwilling to return to the confines of her former home.
"Now here's the strange part," Hex warned, frowning slightly himself, "We don't know why. I only heard this from some of the guys I went hunting with last night. The elders haven't actually sent word out yet, but it sounds like their serious."
Iris didn't care how serious they were. There could be a mass spread of the plague and she still wouldn't pause to consider going back. Going back was retracing footsteps that had been left behind to fade and she refused to go treading that familiar path again.
She said as much to Hex.
Her boyfriend agreed readily. He enjoyed his life away from the conclave. Humans walking around like a lunch just waiting to be sliced and diced were a joy to see after a hard night on the town. The memory of prepackaged blood was not a pretty one.
"I'm not saying we're going back there," he denied vehemently. "I'm just saying that that's the deal."
"It's not a deal until it's cut and dried and we're not going to give them the chance," Iris snapped. "I'm done with the conclave. I'll marry vermin before I stop in there for a chat."
Hex laughed. He liked Iris' sarcastic humour and the way her emerald eyes flashed when she used it. It was so damn refreshing.
He pulled a packet of cigarettes from his pocket and tapped the bottom of the box sharply so that one fell out. Scooping it up with one hand, he wielded a lighter with the other and took a long drag.
Iris sent him a look reminding him that she definitely did not approve of his habit but who was she to judge him? Hex could look after himself and he looked after her so she figured if he wanted to stink like an ashtray, it was his choice.
"Don't think you can go kissing me after that," she said lightly.
Hex just shrugged his shoulders with a smile and took another drag, spilling his smoke in her direction just to see her eyes flash again in annoyance.
"You're drinks sir," the waitress appeared at their side again bearing two identical drinks that she placed in front of both of them. "Here you are."
Hex ignored her and kept smoking. When she didn't move from her place, he flickered a glance up at her impatiently.
"Are you waiting for something?" Iris asked in a cool voice. Gods, she hoped the girl wasn't going to try flirting with Hex. That happened far too many times and right now she wasn't in the mood to put up with a sideshow.
"Cat got your tongue sweetheart?" Hex inquired silkily. Amusement lit his eyes as he ran his tongue across his lips suggestively.
"I just wanted to say that, uh," the girl stumbled across her newfound confidence. "Well, I mean to say that, uh…" she trailed off again and shuffled her feet awkwardly. Iris knew she was regretting opening her mouth.
"Spit it out darlin'," Hex drawled. He sounded bored now and all traces of amusement were gone. Unlucky humans died for less than this.
"Well, sir," the girl began. She caught Iris' icy glare and kept going boldly. "You shouldn't be smoking," she said finally. "It's a really bad habit and it can cause lung cancer."
Hex choked on his smoke. Iris started coughing. Both were having a hard time containing their laughter.
The girl didn't seem aware of their reactions. "It's true," she attested. "I learnt it today in class. You've got a much higher chance of getting lung cancer the longer you smoke."
Hex seemed to find composure while Iris was still searching for hers. "Thanks for that little token fact, dear," he said coolly but with laughter in his usual impassive eyes. "Now run along. Keep up the good work and earn us an A will you?"
The girl gave them both a bewildered look and hurried away back to her place behind the counter.
Iris traded a look with Hex in her wake and their faces broke into smiles. Hex shook his head regretfully and stubbed his cigarette out on the table. "They've really got to stop hiring vermin here."
He took a swallow of his drink and then placed it firmly back on the table. His golden eyes glanced around the room absently then stopped when they reached Colt's familiar figure.
"You're brother needs to settle down," he remarked.
"He's not the marrying type, Hex, you know that."
Hex shook his head. "No, I mean really. In five minutes he's going to get done for indecent exposure and that girl is going to end up in the slammer with him if she doesn't pull her skirt down."
"What?" Iris leaned around Hex to wear her brother was sitting. Correction. Had been sitting. Now he was almost on the floor and the girl with him didn't look like she minded. In fact, it looked as if she was dragging him down herself.
"That's disgusting," Iris wrinkled her nose.
"You think? She's got great legs if you ask me."
Iris narrowed her eyes dangerously at the guy that was supposed to be her boyfriend. "Ask her for a go after she's finished with Colt," she invited sarcastically. "She looks like she could go for a second round."
"Nah," Hex dismissed with a wave of his hand, a look of mock regret on his handsome face. "After the work out Colt will get her through, she'll be useless."
"Ha ha ha."
Hex' face broke into a heartbreaking smile. He reached across the table and touched her cheek lightly. "I love it when you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous," Iris contradicted. It was true. She wasn't jealous. She was just annoyed that Hex' full attention wasn't honed directly on her.
"Yeah, I know." He almost sounded disappointed.
That was a strange factor in their relationship. Iris knew full well that Hex got some of his kicks elsewhere. Namely, in other people's beds and it didn't bother her in the slightest. He could do what he wanted.
And she knew that the girls' he took to his bed were simply toys and that he would always come back to her. He always had and always would and it was the way she liked it.
She on the other hand, didn't look elsewhere let alone go there. It wasn't from lack of offers that she didn't stray; it was just that there was never anyone worth while to stray with.
It was a relationship that worked for both of them and Iris was comfortable with him. It helped that it was blindingly obvious that the guy was in love with her anyway.
Hex sighed tiredly and finished his drink. "I'm bored," he whined.
A smile threatened to tug at the ends of Iris' perfectly curved lips. She finished her drink in a swallow and they stood together. Hex reached out to take her hand and led her around the table and across the café, passing Colt's still very busy figure on the way.
"Hungry?" he asked while smiling.
"Very," she returned with a smile of equal measure.
.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.~`*`~.
Colt Auroch noticed his sister and Hex leaving from the corner of his eye. He had to push down the girl's mass of blond hair to see them but that didn't bother him since it sent a fresh wave of apple smelling scent his way.
He pressed his lips to the girl's in a last lingering kiss and then abruptly went to his feet, letting her waist go so that she ended up sprawled on the floor.
The girl cried out angrily and glared up at him. Colt looked down at her furious form and smiled in amusement. "Sorry," he apologized, not meaning a word of it. "I've decided that public displays of affection really aren't for me."
With that parting line, he turned and left, leaving the girl and her angry words behind him. He sighed to himself. It was a shame to part on such bad terms, he thought with a grin.
The girl had been a welcome diversion from keeping a constant vigil over his feisty wee sister and he could admit that he was more than a little annoyed that his sibling had chosen to leave at such an inconvenient time but he supposed she wasn't to know.
He had been waiting for her to leave for at least an hour and a half, a time frame that grew because of Hex' usual problem with punctuality. The guy desperately needed a watch. The boy might be brilliant when it come to hunting out the latest dish on the ever growing human menu, but with time management he was a definite loser.
Colt whistled to himself, winked at a passing girl and her friend, smiled arrogantly at the giggles he left in his wake and made his way to his car.
As usual it was parked on the curb and was shining proudly. He had been waiting for Iris to leave because he knew that she was waiting to see what he would do next. Or more to the point, what he would do next with his newly found tool. The Book of Vlath.
Of course, he couldn't let her know because that would be giving the game away far too early. So he had waited until Hex had come and neatly occupied her time so he could get away without a family entourage.
He opened the door to the car and his satisfied smile was instantly wiped from his face as he leaned under his seat and found empty space. Cold, moving air that made it patently obvious that his precious book was not there.
"What the fuck?" he yelled furiously. He leaned further into the car to peer under the seat and what his hand hadn't found, his eyes couldn't find either.
It was gone.
He swore again and slammed a tight fist again the steering wheel of his car. A passerby looked across at him in startlement and moved away from him. The look in the boy's eyes was one that sent a shiver down her spine.
Those eyes were dark, chips of stone that were blazing with an anger that she had never seen before and wasn't likely to see again unless she happened to cross the stranger again.
Colt Auroch jumped his car and turned the ignition sharply. The car squealed away with a scattering of loose gravel and the squealing of tyres. A heavy metal tune blared from the powerful stereo before it was quickly turned off. The only evidence of him was the smell of exhaust fume and petrol.
