Date: Mon, 20 Jul 2015 08:37:41 +0000 (UTC)
From: Gaia Farnese <snoringsoftly@yahoo.com>
Subject: Koi no Yokan 2

A/N: Leathers and Digital Bath by Deftones. I promise to write more next time.

Standard disclaimer and copyright notices apply.
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One by one, the four bikes parked near the dead end of the narrow
cul-de-sac, the last of noise dying out with the crunch of a fallen tree
trunk under a pair of boots. Majestic and murderous, Nocens stepped up to
the frightened man in the corner and stared him down.

"What are you doing here?" he asked the trembling figure. The cripple
raised his head, showing the Wolves his empty eyes and droopy mouth. An
unintelligible noise forced its way out of his throat, causing Nocens to
frown and crouch down closer to the man.

Cipher followed his example. "What brings all of you to District II?" he
asked the man softly. They both inspected him closely, noting that he
seemed to be very ill and severely crippled. It was a wonder that he
managed to navigate the busy streets of D.II in the middle of the day. On
top of that, he appeared fully blind, and he reeked.

After a prolonged silence Nocens stood up, never taking his eyes off the
filthy figure in front of him. "I suspect he's been brain-washed."

An unuttered agreement passed among the four of them following the
statement. The homeless man was going to be of no use. Even if he had some
information, he seemed too brain-dead to share it. None of them had an idea
about how the rebels did it, but their project seemed to be partially
successful if the last few `victims' were anything to go by.

As soon as the Wolves had decided the destiny of the man, a new type of
quiet fell over them. The wind had stopped and the street had already
started absorbing the smell of death and decay. Anticipating bloodshed, the
nighttime creatures skittered away, leaving behind a dull nothing.

Nocens walked closer to the man, nose scrunching up at the overpowering
stench. He extended his hand and grabbed the torn collar, seemingly unable
to decide on how to kill the pathetic excuse for a human being. The heat
between them rose with the ticking seconds.

"Just get it over and done with," Chris told him impatiently. Nocens
inclined his head to get a better look of his colleague, then, in one swift
movement, he broke the neck under his hand.

They all knew there was no need to set an example tonight, not with such
poor material.

As they moved to return to their bikes, an odd sound reached their ears,
making Nocens and the other Wolves turn around rapidly, to come face to
face with yet another of the homeless people.

The old man had tried to hide his companion; however, the woman couldn't
help but react when she saw him get murdered. Her eyes blazed with fury at
Nocens, screaming everything her mouth couldn't. In her hands she held a
knife, rusty but sharp enough. She held it like she was unused to
threatening people with it. Chris chuckled darkly and watched Nocens'
reaction.

"I thought they'd start getting angry anytime now," a comment sounded
somewhere behind.

A statue of impassivity, Nocens stood in front of the woman, undetected
tension rippling the muscles under his skin. He looked so bored, yet his
mind was going over various scenarios of victory and defeat as his heart
pumped furiously. He loved adrenaline; he loved the danger and the idea of
getting hurt, if only because it hadn't happened to him so far. No matter
the physical strength of the person across from him, he felt the rush of
his survival instinct.

Smiling wide, he opened his arms -- beckoning the woman forward, asking her
to drive her miserable knife in his chest and unleash all her fury at the
system.

Chris started picking his nails as Cipher thought of the possibility of
extracting some information from the woman. Would she calm down enough to
tell them what was going on with the homeless? Would she know anything
about the so called Project Calypso and their forces? She seemed lost to
her anger.

"What made you choose District II?" he tried anyway.

But she paid him no mind, thoroughly focused on the wolf mocking her. In a
moment of frenzy, she let out a raw sound and rushed toward Nocens, hands
gripping the knife steadily. The moment she was within arm length he
grabbed her by the elbows, cruelly twisting them in their sockets, and
managed to catch the falling knife. In two seconds flat her throat was torn
open with her own weapon and she fell down gurgling, eyes wide open and
shocked.

Daniel watched her with passivity born from watching one too many people
die at the hands of Nocens over the century. There was nothing to be done
about it. Some people were born to die, the whole period between their
birth and death being a sheer torture for the body and mind. A waste,
really.

Their society knew no mercy; they were given no mercy when they begged
themselves. Thus, saddled with the responsibility of cleaning up the
government's mess and watching over the denizens, they had made their peace
with the fact that they would have to get rid of some of them.

Or had they?

A small spark brightened the dark brown when the dying woman looked him
square in the eye. Within a beat it was gone and buried under years of
pretense, leaving behind the usual coolness. She died looking at a pair of
eyes showing no kindness or pity. The Wolves were satisfied with saying
that there was none left and that's all there was to it.

Nocens shook his hand and dropped the knife by the weak body of the
woman. She convulsed several times, then gave way to the severity of her
wound.

"Do you think that some of them can actually help us level up our knowledge
tonight?" he asked Cipher, voice and posture unaffected. Chris handled him
a towel to wipe his hands.

"We'll need to check with Mike. It's busy downtown so he might have heard
something useful."

"I'll go check up on him," Daniel volunteered. The rest of the guys nodded
at him.

"Let's go patrol Main Residential," Cipher suggested. Nocens didn't look
like he wanted to go back there, but it was his assigned area, and they
needed to be certain there would be no illicit activity in that part of the
city for the rest of the night. Chris followed them quietly.

No one glanced back to the dead bodies behind. The guards would pick them
up in the morning.



Soft light illuminated the deserted common room of The Dwelling. Morning
had come and with it the singing birds, perched on the trees surrounding
the house. Not one of its inhabitants was willing to break the haziness, so
they mainly shuffled, quietly, in and out of various rooms.

According to yet another unspoken agreement it was Mike's turn to make
breakfast. That is why morning found him making tea and sandwiches in the
kitchen. They had had a tedious night working and looked forward to
spending the day leisurely. Once breakfast was ready, Mike turned on the
radio, signaling that everyone was expected to come downstairs for it.

On the table, surrounded by the happy tunes of jazz, they discussed Project
Calypso and the impact it would have on society, should the offenders ever
realise their goals. Lately, it seemed like it was the only thing going
on. Their lives had turned static and dusty, much like the world they lived
in. Project Calypso ruffled their feathers because it stood for everything
they stood against. The rules were clear, but there always seemed to be
somebody willing to break them.

There were seldom fights in The Dwelling, not only because they were old
and wise, but because the Wolves knew the ways of their own so they were
mostly prepared.

This morning, however, entertained a low-voiced fight between Nocens and
Jon. The latter had implied that Nocens was growing a softie, and a slob,
to which Nocens replied scathingly. It didn't end with fists and furious
displays of strength, as it sometimes happened, but both were pretty pissed
off. Daniel tried to calm them down but he didn't accomplish much. Their
quiet contempt filled the room with bitterness and put everyone off eating
their breakfast.

The Wolves didn't believe in division, but they expressed support according
to their system of values and sense of justice, both of which were quite
developed and represented some of the main driving forces in their lives.

One could say they were a perfect example of the contradictory nature of
people, what with being traditional yet striving for liberal approach to
things as time progressed. Nocens was, interestingly enough, far more
open-minded than Jon, which had caused their hostile spirits in the first
place.

Revolted and weary, Nocens rose from the table and headed up to his room.

The Dwelling wasn't huge but it was comfortable for all eight
Wolves. Everyone had their own room, modestly sized, and there were two
bathrooms. Besides, lately, Chris and Bartholomew were hardly ever seen in
the house. Chris had a mate and he stayed over at her place, while
Bartholomew, the oldest among them, chose to linger in places that had more
shadows.

Nocens' room was the first one on the left, next to the stairs. The door
led to a surprisingly cramped attic bedroom, featuring a bed which took up
80% of the room, a chest of drawers and a PlayStation. A round window gave
way to some light, filtered by the numerous trees surrounding the house.

One could say that the Wolves lived in the very best of the Estéril wood
camps.

Upon entering his room, Nocens took off his boots and stretched on the
bed. Blanking out, he occupied himself by staring out of the window at a
flock of coal tits. He could hear their chatter and that helped him
compartmentalize all the events of the night. When he reached a particular
memory of wide eyes and sweets breath he smiled into the pillow.

What an unexpected treat, he mused.



Miles away, Eiri sat in his bed, drinking his milk. He couldn't fall asleep
after the excitement of the night. Only after he had taken a bath had he
realised that Mr Bernard was probably dead and that Mallory could be
eternally lost.

Neko had said that there were evil people out on the streets that
night. Eiri wondered if an evil man, or woman, took Mallory away, never to
be seen again.

These scary thoughts kept Eiri from sleeping the remainder of the night. It
didn't help that he could hear his grandma's snores from the living room
and it was worse than most nights. She'd fallen asleep on the couch, shaken
and teary-eyed, so as soon as the morning light reached the apartment, Eiri
had got up and warmed some milk for himself.

He only made a little mess in the kitchen, and he was quick to clean it
up. Once he had his warmed milk, he tiptoed back to his room and settled
comfortably under the warm blankets.

He left the door open just in case. Sometimes he had these irrational fears
that some monster would come out of the closet, or from behind the
curtains. In that case, he thought it best to leave the door open so that
his grandmother could hear his screams for help.

He contemplated sneaking off to take his father's laptop and turn it on,
but realised that he felt far too tired to play LEGO Racers. As a matter of
fact, he would only close his eyes for a bit and think about Neko's
smile. He wouldn't fall asleep and let those monsters win with their scary
dream weaving. He would dream of pointy teeth and friendly smiles, and the
strength of a certain pair of arms as they held him. He would be safe.

Once he went back to school he would try to find out more about his
mysterious hero.

*~*