Chapter 2

The first man for the job lived in Scotland, so the brothers set off up north in Caiden's truck.

"What did he mean when Nevada said that you two had met?" Caiden asked his brother.

"Oh, it's a long story involving a murderer in Wales and a lot of wombats." Emerson grinned and Caiden decided not to ask.

"So, have you ever come across these Bloody Murderers?" asked Emerson.

"Not all of them at once but I've had encounters with Archie Bellows and Sickening. I've only heard stories about Villainous, the Scraper twins; well… let's just say we have a bit of a history…" By the look on Caiden's face, Emerson doubted it was a fun history.

"Any of them I couldn't beat?" Emerson asked jokingly.

"From what I've seen and heard, all of them."

"Oi, just 'cause your jealous of my magic." Emerson retorted.

"I'm jealous of your magic? Ha that's a new one, energy manipulation's overrated!" Caiden threw back.

"Yeah, and fire mastery isn't?" Emerson snorted.

"Actually, no."

"Well…" Emerson started. "Actually no, it isn't is it?"

"Not even remotely."

"I feel kind of silly now…"

"Not the first time that's happened."

They sat in silence for a while until Emerson asked, "What magic disciplines are they?"

"Well Sickening's just Sickening." Caiden began.

"What you mean he's disgusting?" Emerson asked confused.

"What? No, I mean he's unique; there isn't anyone or anything like him. He kind of springs around and stuff."

"Oh, I was gonna say."

"Archie Bellows is huge and so naturally strong, but he does earth mastery. The twins are seriously deadly with their respective weapons, Angela, her small throwing weapons and Angelo his two revolvers, but they're both naturally agile and fast. Finally, Villainous, no-one knows."

"What, no-one's ever seen him use magic?" Emerson asked.

"Apparently people have, but they haven't lived to tell the tale."

"Oh." Emerson said, having suddenly gone pale. "So you're basically saying that we're going up against a unique, murderous creature, a huge thuggish killing machine, a pair of twin psychopaths and a legend?" Emerson asked astonished.

"Pretty much, yep." Caiden said happily.

All of the cockiness drained from Emerson's face. "How exactly are we meant to defeat them?" he asked despairing.

"Cheer up, you haven't met the other members of our team yet, they could be the best magicians you've ever seen…"

"Well are they?"

"No." Caiden admitted, "but that's not the point!"

"What is the point?" Emerson asked.

"I'm not really sure… It's something like you shouldn't despair just because we're probably gonna die, you should ummmm… persevere or something."

"Very inspirational." Emerson said sarcastically.

"I thought so." Caiden agreed.

"But couldn't we just send in an army of magicians, maybe some Combat Mages or something?" Emerson asked hopefully.

"Well, firstly, we don't have the resources to just dispatch an army, and the Combat Mages are in disarray because they're without a leader. Secondly, this needs to be handled delicately and subtly and sending an army of magicians rampaging around isn't exactly inconspicuous. Finally, and most importantly, we have no idea where the heck they are, which is where we come in." Caiden explained.

"Oh, I get it; old Nevo doesn't like getting his hands dirty so he hires us out to do his dirty work for him." Emerson guessed.

"Almost, except we haven't exactly been hired out…"

"What!?" Emerson demanded.

"Well, the Guild couldn't spare any money 'cause they have to deal with all the damage that the Bloody Murderers have caused, so, we're kind of working on this for free…"

"What!?" Emerson repeated.

"Think of it this way, we're doing it out of the goodness of our heart." Caiden suggested.

"Yeah, but why for free?"

"Well, as I said, I have a history with the Scraper twins and sometimes, you've just gotta do things, I think…"

Emerson crossed his arms and pretended to sulk, muttering something along the lines of, "It's not like money grows on trees, soon we're gonna be left with zilch!"

For two hours there was no sound except the low, gentle hum of the engine, until Emerson broke the silence, saying, "So who is this mysterious first member of the team?"

"Oh, him, you'll love him, probably…" Caiden said doubtfully.

"You don't sound sure…"

"Well… He practises shadow magic."

"Aren't people who do shadow magic really creepy?"

"Yes." Caiden admitted forlornly.

"So I probably won't like him?"

"You might do?" Caiden said hopefully, but his brother just looked at him. "Probably not, no."

"If he isn't a likeable person, then why do we have him on the team?"

"First of all, you haven't even met him, so how do you know he isn't very likeable, he could be a lovely person. You shouldn't judge him before you even know him; I expected more from you Emerson." Caiden said disappointed.

"Is he a very likeable person?" Emerson asked.

"Well not really no…"

"Why do we need him then?"

"Because he's a very powerful magician and we're gonna need him if we're gonna want to stand a chance against the people we're facing."

"Yeah, but couldn't we have got someone other than a shadow magician?" Emerson whined.

"No!" Caiden snapped at him.

"Why not?"

"Because other magicians don't owe me favours."

"Why would they have to owe you favours?"

"Who else would willingly come on a clearly suicidal mission?"

"Good point." Emerson agreed.

"Especially with someone as annoying as you." Caiden continued.

"Yeah, wait, hey!" Emerson shouted and Caiden laughed.

There was a moments silence until Emerson asked, "Why exactly does he owe you a favour?"

"Oh, well I was doing some things for the Italian Guild, in Italy, tracking down killers, that sort of thing."

Emerson nodded.

"I worked out he was one of the murderer's next victims so I rushed over to the hotel he was staying at to stop the killer before he could strike…"

"So he owes because you stopped someone from trying to kill him, fair enough." Emerson interjected.

"No." Caiden said. "I got to the hotel that he was staying at and he'd already battered the killer, he owes me because I fed his gerbil while he was away."

Emerson stared at his brother.

"I hate you!" Emerson said.

"I know." Caiden grinned.

After a few minutes of more silence, Emerson asked, "Wasn't there that one shadow magician that you met once, what was his name? Ummmm…"

"Ryker Crow?" Caiden answered.

"Yeah, that's it, absolutely horrible man, didn't like me for some reason." Emerson said, genuinely confused.

"Yeah, baffling." Caiden said sarcastically, but Emerson was too busy frowning to himself to notice.

"Anyway," Caiden continued. "There's one thing you haven't asked me yet."

"What?" Emerson asked leaning forward in expectation.

"What his name is." Caiden said, a smile beginning to creep onto his lips.

"Oh, oh no."

"Our first team member's name is…"

"Please no, I really don't like him."

"Ryker Crow!" Caiden announced triumphantly, and Emerson groaned.

"But he doesn't like me." Emerson whined.

"Uhuh." Caiden agreed.

"And I don't like him."

"You said."

"What if he says no?" Emerson asked, changing his tack.

"Well, we'll have to hope he doesn't."

"But last time he said he didn't like my suit."

"Well for the sake of your amazingly enormous ego, let's hope that that's changed."

"He might hit me."

"Let's hope so yes."

"If he does, I'll hit him back." Emerson decided, completely ignoring his older brother's comment.

"Fair enough."

"I'm ok with it then." Emerson decided.

"Good."

"When we arrive, you ring his doorbell and then I'll step out and say hello. If he hits me then I'll have to hit him back, harder." Emerson continued.

"Ok."

"Ok, let's go."

"We're going."

"Good." Emerson said and slumped back into his seat.

"This could be interesting." Caiden muttered.

After what felt like years of driving down country roads that all looked exactly the same, they pulled into a small driveway where a tiny cottage stood, lonely and detached, just like its inhabitant. The house itself had white bricks; however at every other chance it had got, it had been painted black, it all looked freshly painted. The windowsills, the doors, even the roof, typical shadow magician. There was a small garden with minimal amounts of flowers, in fact there weren't actually any flowers so to speak, but there were a lot of plants, especially spiked bushes. Emerson looked at Caiden quizzically,

"It's a Shadow Magician thing." His brother answered.

Caiden trudged up to the front door, with Emerson, like a dog at his heels. Caiden went to press the doorbell but realised that there wasn't one, instead a heavy dark knocker hung there ready to be swung. Caiden grabbed it and swung it forward making a load banging sound on the door. They could hear the sound of someone getting up and a door opening and then closing. They heard footsteps getting closer until they stopped, and there was the sound of a bolt being pushed aside, the handle turned and the door creaked open.

Standing in the doorway, was a huge intimidating man, dressed all in black. The man wore a long jacket that reached down to his ankles, and below there were a huge pair of black walking boots.

"Yes?" Ryker Crow grumbled, his deep voice ringing in the ears of the two brothers.

"Ryker Crow, my name is Caiden Tate, you might remember me." Caiden explained."

"I do." Crow confirmed.

"May I come in?" Caiden asked hopefully.

"Why are you here?" Crow asked, ignoring Caiden's question.

"To ask you for a favour."

Emerson picked just the wrong moment to chip in and he stepped out from behind Caiden and said, "Hello Ryker, I know we may have got off on the wrong foot, but I'm willing to put aside our differences and…" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Ryker Crow's fist slammed into his face and he toppled backwards into a bush.

"Come in," Ryker said to Caiden. "Would you like tea or coffee?"

A/N: So as I said in the last A/N, here's Ryker, as you can see, he and Emerson are close, hope you like him. Please review and if you want, read on, there are already other chapters up; I'll be updating steadily, the usual. More should be happening in the next chapter, a little violence maybe? Anyway, thanks for reading.

Mangobean.