|
"So I just have to find this guy and kill him, sounds simple enough to me."
He tried to ignore how this man was talking to him like he was some cute little kid. For some reason, he was already pumped and ready for his job. Usually he would want at least a day of down time before continuing onto another one, but this time all he felt was energy and excitement to go and kill this thing. He grabbed his jacket over the place where the dragon sat. This thing was doing something to him. He never felt any sort of bloodlust before... but now he was aching to go and kill something. Slowly, he loosened his grip on the material of his jacket and let his arm fall to his side. "I just have to go get payment from my last job... you can go to the room I have in the motel just on the outskirts of the town. It won't take me long. Here's the room key," he told Mavek as he reached into his pocket and took out the card. He tossed it to him and then started to walk away, again going to meet up with the other soldiers. The general who had assigned him the job was bound to be there by now, and he would have Shaun's payment. |
Snatching the cardkey out of the air, Mavek slipped it into his pocket after reading the name of the hotel. He could manage. All he had to do was find the room that smelled the most like him.. It would be so easy since he was already so familiar with this man's scent... Which was amazing since he hadn't been around him too much. He was sure that he wasn't going to have a problem finding the place or the room. Nodding his head, he shoved his hands into his pockets and started in the direction he'd stated. He had so many thoughts running through his mind as he walked, pretty familiar with the layout of a lot of cities and towns around here. He did a lot of traveling as it was and he even took some mercenary jobs like this man did for some of the money he had... Though, his jobs were usually to kill another demon. |
The group of soldiers was still there when he finally arrived, the one who had given Shaun the job there just like he thought.
"Hey Grieves, what took you so long?" one soldier asked him as a different said, "Grieves! That was amazing back there!" Completely differing attitudes. He ignored both of them and walked to the general. The general was a big man in his width, a strong body that took up more space than the usual person. The large man turned to face him with a stern look. "You did a good job here, all enemies were eliminated or captured." Shaun had to resist rolling his eyes. He knew what he had done and he knew from the beginning of this job that he would have been able to do it. He shifted his weight and crossed his arms over his chest. "Well then, I'm glad that you're satisfied. I will be too once I receive the rest of my payment," he told the general, not wanting to beat around the bush. The other man grunted and his eye twitched the tiniest bit. But instead of countering with a remark of his own he reached into a small bag he had with him and pulled out a large stack of bills. He held it out to Shaun and he took it willingly. "Thank you, I have another job to attend to immediately, so excuse me," he told him, then immediately turning on his heel and walked off. The soldiers he passed looked as though they wanted to have a chat with him or go get a drink. He wouldn't have any of it. He had never planned on staying in this area even if he hadn't gotten this new job. He would just be leaving tomorrow so why bother having idle chit-chat and possibly becoming buddies with these other men? The sun was still high in the sky, but afternoon had come and it was starting to tilt downwards towards the horizon. He didn't plan on leaving until tomorrow morning, the eagerness to get on with the next job had faded. Perhaps he had wanted to go was because of adrenaline or something of the sort. The cheap motel he was staying at wasn't too far away from the ex-headquarters of the raiders who had occupied this town. The place was quite an eye-sore, but it was the only place to stay in this haggard town. He walked down the length of the building until he came to his room, the wooden door faded and scratched. The demon had his room key so he had no choice but to knock and wait for him to let him in. |
It didn't take him too long to make it to the proper motel... Mainly because it was pretty much the only place to stay as it was. He slid the card key along the scanner and then stepped inside. He closed the door behind him and inhaled. It smelled strongly of that man in the room and it made him feel great. The smell was strong, pure, and rather intoxicating. He looked around the room as he walked over to the bed. He took the bag off of his shoulder and placed it on the floor. He always forgot he had that though because there was barely anything in it. Just some extra clothes and some extra money as well... He didn't have the need for weapons of any kind as it was... He had more than enough weapons on him even if someone were to take his bag from him. After he'd looked through all of the things in the room, including Shaun's, Mavek got a little bored... He then locked the door and went into the bathroom. He brought his bag in there and figured he could wash these clothes later as he stripped himself down. He turned on the shower and sighed when he stepped under the hot spray of water. He took a few minutes to just stand there and enjoy the relaxing way the water dripped down his shoulders and back. Then he began to wash, shaking his head at the tiny shampoo bottles and everything inside of the shower. He took a pretty long shower though, enjoying it like he always did. He loved to take showers because the water was just so damned relaxing. Sighing when he turned the water off, he stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. He ran it through his hair really quickly and violently, just wanting to get it mostly dry. He then dried off his skin and as he was pretty much done with that, he heard a knock at the door. It must be Shaun. He wrapped the towel around his waist in a hurry and then walked out of the bathroom. He opened the door and laughed. "I took advantage of the shower. Hope that doesn't bother you. The card key's on the bed," he said as he turned around and walked back to the bathroom to get dressed and finish drying off. |
He was just a little surprised to see that Mavek had completely made himself at home in his room. He definitely had not expected to be assaulted with a half-naked demon/man and he couldn't help the color that rushed to his cheeks when he was greeted by him.
He shook his head as Mavek walked away back into the bathroom. "Damn demon, burning my retinas..." he muttered under his breath, picking up the room key off of the bed. Then he went to grab the large duffel bag he always carried, but it wasn't under the bed where he had left it. Instead it was sitting on the wobbly chair next to the bed, and the zipper was slightly opened. Shaun wasn't the type who didn't mind if people just went through his things. He walked over to the bathroom and started banging on the door with his fist. "Hey, dammit demon! Who the fuck said you could look through my things huh?!" He was grinding his teeth now, getting more and more pissed with this guy. If he would be able to stand the idea of quitting a job he would quit right now out of complete dislike of his client. |
When he got back into the bathroom, he grinned broadly at the fact that his flesh had caused this man to blush. He then removed the towel from his waist and finished drying himself off. He then scrubbed the towel over his hair again to make sure it was dry enough. He pulled on his underwear and was in the middle of zipping up his pants when he heard Shaun banging on the door. He rolled his eyes as he zipped his fly, but then he stopped when he'd heard the word demon... It caused his eyes to slit and his hair to stand on end. Did it ever occur to this man that he didn't really like being a demon? That he hadn't always been a demon? That he wasn't really that bad? He felt his horns grow out of his head as he growled. His skin was turning a much paler color as he grabbed the doorknob and swung it open harshly. He was glaring down at Shaun as he stood there, his form still changing and the spikes beginning to protrude from his arm. His tail was already swishing behind him as he looked down through his messy hair. "Don't you dare call me a demon. I wasn't always like this you jack ass. I just shifted through your shit to see what kind of a person I was dealing with here. We don't exactly know each other. You need to calm the fuck down. I knew what weapons you had on your person, but I was curious to see what kinds you had in your bag," he growled out through his gritted teeth. He really wasn't happy right now and it was probably all too obvious... He didn't appreciate how this man continued to talk to him. |
When the man came out with horns growing out of his head and spikes out of his arms Shaun couldn't help but take a small step back. But after the small stumble he stood his ground and glared back at Mavek.
"Look, I don't know your story or anything, I'm sure you have issues just like anybody else. One of my issues is that I don't want people going through my shit. I don't give a fuck what your intentions were. I'm doing this job for you so just leave me and my stuff alone." He was pissed at him, but Shaun figured he wouldn't call him a demon anymore, as long as it would give him more privacy. He closed his eyes and sighed. This was getting ridiculous... hopefully once he was actually doing his job he wouldn't hate the situation as much. |
Crossing his arms over his chest, Mavek closed his eyes as he let out a heavy, weight sigh to hopefully cause his anger to dwindle down some. He then opened his eyes again and stared at this guy. "I'm not going to touch your shit again, god damn," he said and then turned and went back into the bathroom. "I apologize, I guess. Just, stop yelling about everything." He'd noticed that this man had a bit too much testosterone to expel when it came to most things. He then grabbed a shirt out of his bag and stared down at it. There was no way he was going to be able to put that on until he'd calmed down completely. It was hard to change back when he'd changed forcefully like this and not out of his own desire... Putting his clothes from before in a pile, he grabbed them and then walked out of the bathroom, flicking the light off. He walked back into the room and put his clothes on top of his bag on the floor. He then pulled out a chair and sat down on it, figuring the man didn't want to leave until tomorrow. Placing his gaze on the floor, he was trying to focus on calming himself down some. There was no way he was going to be able to revert without his nerves being settled. |
Shaun didn't know how he was going to get by if this kind of thing continued. He usually didn't have to deal with too many people... or at least ones who annoyed him so much.
There was still quite a bit of time in the day, so he figured he'd do what he would usually do when he needed to kill time; exercise. His own physical fitness was something that he was always trying to perfect. The healthier and more active you were the easier it was to get by. He sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled his heavy boots off, followed by his jacket and bullet-proof vest, leaving him in just a black undershirt and his black cargo pants. He rummaged through his duffel bag until he found his pair of light fitness pants. Reminding himself that he was ignoring his new visitor, he pulled his cargos off and pulled the workout pants on. He rolled his neck and cracked it, followed by stretching out his arms and legs. He could do his basic routine inside, so he laid down onto the floor and then pushed himself up and began doing his push-ups, feeling the slight strain in his arms. |
Not impressed by his attempt to ignore him, Mavek just sat there and allowed his anger to build back up as he watched this man exercise. He crossed his arms over his chest, making sure he didn't stab himself with any of the rather annoying spikes. His eyebrow was actually twitching as he watched this man. He was really started to annoy him. He wasn't sure why he even felt that way though. He was so very tempted to just leave. Not even ask him for his help anymore. He could just go and try to kill this demon again and get killed in the process. He'd been almost killed by this demon several times... Because he'd taken incapable humans to do a job. Though, the more he thought about leaving, the more he knew he couldn't yet because he looked like this. He didn't want to blatantly walk around a city like this because he looked exactly the same when he wasn't in his demon form... So they'd recognize him. He'd successfully killed everyone that had seen his demon form besides this man... But he didn't need to kill him because he wasn't going to freak out like those people would... Mavek placed his right ankle on his left knee, crossing his legs as he tried to calm himself. His skin was crawling right now though and it was getting to be annoying. He looked down at his tattoo and noticed that it was starting to break apart and travel over his skin to nest in another spot... |
100 push-ups was his basic work-out and he stopped once he got there, a light sheen of sweat now glistening on his skin. He switched to sit-ups next, doing 100 of them as well. He should really do more than this but he wasn't in the mood for a hardcore workout. Just one that would get his blood pumping.
He realized after he finished his sit-ups that he really wasn't getting the results he wanted. He just kept noticing Mavek sitting in the chair... ignoring him was pretty difficult when he had horns and shit growing out of him. He sighed and sat up, leaning him back against the wall and looking over at the other person in the room. He was thinking about asking him about his past but resisted the urge. No chick-flick moments. Instead he stood up and grabbed a white T-shirt, loose jeans, and a pair of underwear out of his bag. If exercise wasn't going to put his mind at ease then perhaps a shower would. Without glancing back at Mavek he went into the bathroom and closed the door. He quickly stripped down and his eye caught the new mark that was wriggling around on his chest in the filmy, cracked mirror. His brow furrowed and he gingerly touched the writhing tattoo. It squirmed under his touch and he lifted his finger. Shaun's body was covered in deforming scars and wounds from his nearly twenty years of fighting on this planet. He always ignored them except for when there was a fresh one that needed attending to; he didn't take pride in them like other warriors would have, in fact, he saw them as an ugly mark of the war-infested world he lived in. It wasn't right that a twenty-seven year old man looked like he had just ran through a battlefield and had gotten hit by everything that had been thrown at him. He turned the water on and stepped into it, the hot liquid filling the small room with steam in a matter of minutes. The shower actually did manage to calm him down and allowed him to gather his thoughts. He knew he could tolerate Mavek, as long as he just let his annoyances slide. They would be leaving for wherever tomorrow and after that it shouldn't be too long before this job was done with. "Just another job..." he whispered to himself as his soaked hair fell into his eyes. After washing himself off he turned the water off and stepped out of the shower, quickly grabbing a skimpy towel and drying himself off. He slipped on his clothes and rubbed the towel over his head. His hair was flat against his head on top, the back of it hanging down past his shoulders. He wondered if Mavek had left or if he was still there. Shaking the thought from his mind he turned the light off before opening the door and walking out of the bathroom. |
When the man finally got up and left, Mavek was able to calm down. He put his face in his hands as he leaned forward and groaned inwardly. He just needed to clear everything from his head and then he'd be able to calm down. He shook his head and then leaned back up. He closed his eyes and sighed out softly. He then opened them looked down at his arms as the spikes began to retract. He felt good then. He was so glad he was starting to change back. He could even feel his horns beginning to retreat as well... And his tail was beginning to swish and twist less often. He then noticed that his horns were almost all the way gone and that his spikes were just that. He pulled his shirt on over his head and crossed his arms over his chest as he waited for his skin to return to its normal hue. Thankfully, that didn't take too long either. He then looked around the room and found nothing to entertain himself with. He looked down at his bag and found his brush, flipping his hair forward and running his brush through it from the back. He got that done rather quickly, flipping his hair back. He was glad to notice that it was mostly all dry... So it meant it would layer and part correctly, without him having to do anything to it... He didn't much care about what he looked like as a whole, unless it came to his hair. He liked it to be neat and tidy... He finished running his brush through it and then tossed it down on his bag, looking around the room again with his arms crossed. He felt better... Now that he wasn't pissed off, his hair was fixed, and he had a shirt on. When he heard the water turn off in the bathroom, he was actually rather tempted to get up and leave... But it would be too much of an effort to put his socks and boots back on. He glanced over at them by his bag and then shook his head. He would fight through this. |
Mavek was still sitting there in the room, although now his shirt was on and his hair was brushed out and dry. Shaun combed his fingers through his own damp hair at the thought, a few strands coming out on his fingers. Now that he wasn't so annoyed he felt a bit awkward. He put his sweaty clothes into his bag and then went to lay down on the bed, his arms behind his head.
He still felt awkward and it just kept building so he started whistling a random tune, trying to fill the space with something. His stupid habit of chewing on his lip ring came back and he didn't notice it this time until he cut his lip with it. "Shit!" he said as he jumped, grabbing his lip and pulling it away from his teeth, trying to adjust the steel in it and dabbing at the bit of blood that had escaped. |
When he noticed the man looked much less hostile, it made him feel much better. He actually felt a little bad for going through this man's stuff, but in his head it was justified completely. He shrugged it off though, knowing this man just didn't want his privacy to be violated by a stranger... So, he had the right to be upset about it. He didn't like that he was starting to see from this guy's perspective though... but it happened when you had to stay here and just think with nothing else to do. "Have a nice shower?" he joked, right before he heard the man yell a cursed word. It made him jump slightly, but then when he saw how he was reacting, he knew exactly what had happened and it made him laugh a little. He'd done that himself. |
He took the ring out so that he could get a better look, and it wasn't that bad, so he just licked the small cut and stuck the ring back in.
He glanced up at Mavek and raised his eyebrow at him. "What did you say?" he asked him, hadn't having heard what the other man had said. The tension eased a little bit, and Shaun could feel the muscles in his shoulders relaxing. |
That was even more amusing and it caused him to laugh. "I asked if you'd had a nice shower," he said as he shook his head and then looked at the man again. It caused him to fiddle with his own lip ring for a few moments, but not nearly bad enough for him to cause himself harm by it. He then distinctively rubbed his fingers over his eyebrow ring just to make sure it was still there. The little fucker had a tendency to fall out anyway. |
The question was a bit strange but Shaun just shrugged.
"Umm, it was nice? I guess," he said... starting to feel awkwards again. He cleared his throat rather loudly and shifted around on the bed. "Where are you going to be going anyways? You said it would only take a couple of days so it's not too far away..." he mused. He would typically either hitchhike and take a bus to wherever his new destination was. He didn't own a car or any sort of vehicle and he had no desire to. It was much easier to just find whatever transportation was available in the world around. And he never had to worry about leaving anything behind him since all he ever traveled with was his duffel bag of clothes and weapons. |
The awkwardness of his question was even more comical to him as he grinned and shook his head. He then shifted his shoulders and sighed. "It's about two towns over. A small little town called Marian. He's usually in the woods around there... I'll be able to tell where he is though, so even if he isn't in that town it would be very easy for another demon to track him. I tend to not travel too far away from where he stays," he explained. He was glad most of the tension and awkwardness was down. They were actually talking to each other without yelling. That was an improvement. |
He sighed quietly and leaned back down against the flat pillow, his arms behind his head again.
"Doesn't sound too bad, we can leave first thing in the morning. I was actually planning on going by the weapons shop this town has, see if there's anything worth picking up," he said, mostly to himself. He would go do that soon actually... after his hair dried off a bit more. He wasn't expecting it to have much of a selection, but little poor towns like this could sometimes hold treasures that they weren't aware of. He was in need of a new knife actually... his current one was getting dull and rusted even though he always made sure to clean and sharpen it. Eventually they would all wear out. He rubbed his hand through his hair quickly to check how dry it was; still a bit damp. |
Nodding his head, Mavek sighed softly. Looking at the weapons sounded like a decent idea... He wouldn't mind doing that himself. He always liked to see what kinds of weapons he might have to slightly protect himself from. There were some rather nasty things that made him need to take some more time trying to heal himself. He had a hard time healing certain types of wounds... Like a raggedy cut would take him a little longer to heal than a clean cut... So, he much preferred it when things were cut with precision... These thoughts made him sigh, but he then shrugged it off and looked back at Shaun. "Leaving tomorrow sounds fine. Marian is a decent little place as well and when we get there, then we can go to the hotel I usually stay in. There's always a nice little room on hold for when I pass by, seeing as how it's pretty frequent." |
He nodded slightly and then got up and grabbed the damp towel off of the doorknob to the bathroom. He rubbed it over his head quickly, then combed through it with his fingers. His hair was pretty dry now, so he went to his duffel bag and took out his large clip of money.
"Might as well go now," he said to Mavek, sticking the money clip into his jeans pocket and heading for the door. The weapons store wasn't that far from the motel, but there were still plenty of starving people they had to pass by before they got there. Apparently they weren't as scared anymore since they were out walking around, though they did give the two men a wide berth as they walked through the town. The shop was small and rusted, the tin roof looking as though it was about to slip off. Shaun entered the building casually and immediately went to look at the collection of hunting knives. They were all in about the same condition as his own, so an annoyed sigh escaped his lips. This town was definitely one of the worst he had been to... nothing here looked like it was in very good condition. But he felt bad for the shop-owner; you could tell he was starving as much as the rest of the residents here, his cheeks hollowed and his eyes bulging out of his head. He grabbed the most expensive knife and set it on the counter. "I'll buy this," he told the man as he slapped down a couple of bills in front of him. The man almost smiled, but couldn't pull it off. Shaun nodded to him, grabbed the knife, and turned to Mavek. "Come on, there's nothing else here," he told him, walking for the door to leave. The knife he had bought was one of the worst ones there actually... Shaun would just sell it for scrap at another town or find the nearest junkyard to add to. |
Stuffing his feet into his boots since it seemed like Shaun wanted to go now, Mavek was correct. He zipped up the sides of his shoes and then followed him there, avoiding the gaze of the starving people around. He didn't like to look at them. It was odd and awkward... Not to mention, he wasn't much for being in the middle of people like this. He was mainly only around like one person... And mostly other demons. He didn't mingle very well, but if he wanted to get something done it wasn't nearly as bad. When they got to the store Shaun was speaking of, Mavek shivered. It was just as awful as the rest of the town. He didn't see anything within the shop that he found interesting and when he saw what Shaun was buying, it made him confused. Why would be buy that? It wasn't going to do him any good. But then when he looked up at the hollowed cheeks of the store owner, he pretty much understood... You had to eat sometimes. Following the man out of the store, he glanced back at the people, noticing they were insanely happy to have made a sale. He then shook his head and turned around to leave. "What you did back there was insanely compassionate," he mused. This guy wasn't too much of an asshole after all. The thought made him laugh, honestly. |
He didn't say anything to Mavek's words, he didn't deserve them. Compassion? Ya right. You couldn't be called compassionate when you went around killing people so that you could survive yourself.
They made their way back to the motel, and there was still several hours until night fell. Shaun unlocked the door and sat down on the bed. "I'm sorry if you are bored around me, I don't do much entertaining," he said with a hint of a smirk as he watched Mavek walk in behind him. |
Since Shaun hadn't said anything to him about his word choice, Mavek shrugged it off. He figured the man just didn't want to take a compliment that had to do with how he felt about people... Because, well... He really didn't seem that compassionate at all most of the time... But that just made Mavek figure he had to be closer to people for him to show any feeling at all. He could understand that because he usually didn't feel for people in the slightest for some reason... He'd lost touch with his human side most of the time. "Boring? It doesn't matter... I'm sure there's some way we could entertain ourselves..." he said, more innuendo in that sentence than was first meant. He shook it off though and walked over to the chair he'd been sitting in before, taking his claim to it once more. |
Shaun just grunted in response, trying to hide that he recognized the double meaning. He pulled off his shoes and stuck them into his bag. It was weird to have to spend time with a client like this, normally he would get his assignment then be off, not having to worry about traveling with the person. He sighed quietly as he leaned against the headboard.
He decided to break the ice. "So.... Mavek, I guess you might not be too intolerable after all," he said in a monotone voice. He was still unsure about the man, but after he relaxed he found him a lot easier to stand. He didn't think the peace would last too long though. |
"I try to not be completely awful... Especially not to the person that I have to travel with for a few days at the least... You wouldn't be able to do this on your own. Sending you to do this with no assistance would be a suicide mission on your part," Mavek said with a shrug. He wasn't sure it Shaun knew what he was up against, but... Mavek did and that was all that mattered. He bit down on his lip ring for a moment, needing something to do that would keep his attention for a moment as he thought about a few things. Sighing softly, he was actually kind of sad that the man hadn't called him out on his obvious double meaning of his prior statement. He shrugged that off as well though, not wanting to dwell on it too bad. The man probably wasn't interested in men... Or, at least, not Mavek. |
"I'd probably be just fine on my own," he replied arrogantly, studying his fingers. He didn't like thinking that there was a job that he couldn't do, he would always complete his mission with accuracy. Even though this was a demon he was going to be facing he had a ridiculous amount of confidence that he would be fine, or perhaps it was foolishness.
They sat in silence for a while, and as the minutes passed Shaun caught himself staring at the other person in the room. He did so discretely, trying not to make it known to him. He found himself intrigued by his pale white skin, how it stretched tight over his lean muscles and bones. His features were actually quite delicate now that he studied them, very opposite of his own. His eyes traveled over his face and down to his jaw, continuing to search the pale skin of his throat and the top of his chest, where it disappeared underneath the fabric of his shirt. He swallowed slowly, feeling blood rush to his face. Then he shook his head, trying to get rid of such thoughts. He needed to quit being stupid, this was his client after all... not some stranger to use for other things. He hated that he often found his mind running towards such things; he was a soldier, not a person who should think about indulging in pleasures such as that. All he was good for was killing after all, he wasn't a lover. He needed to keep his thoughts on the job ahead, not the sudden lust that had seeped into his brain. He quickly shook his head again, trying to ward off the train of thought completely. |
The silence was awkward, but not nearly as awkward as the eyes that were on him. He sighed softly as he kept his gaze downwards until he hadn't felt this other person's eyes in this direction again. He then swallowed the accumulated dryness in his throat and he glanced up, noting the redness in this male's cheeks. That had him rather curious... Actually, it had him extremely curious. What could he be thinking about that made him blush like that? It was such a childish gesture, but there was nothing about this man that was childish in the least bit... Slouching in his chair, he slowly crossed his arms over his chest as he shifted his tailbone to get more comfortable in this hard seat. He then found his own eyes being brought back to Shaun's body. He bit his lip discretely as he eyed this other man, much like he'd done him moments before. He couldn't help it though as his eyes started in the same place every time he looked up. They would trace the squareness of his jaw slowly, enjoying that part of this man very much... He'd then look at the shape of his torso, feeling slightly sad that he'd not had a chance to see this male shirtless as he'd had earlier... He didn't plan on himself to be seen shirtless... But it had happened that way and he couldn't help it at all now... Then again, he was pretty much more than shirtless. Towels didn't count for much any more... Though, finally his gaze was dropped again and silence was even more awkward than before... Since he knew they'd both been looking at each other in the same way. That realization made him feel slightly... Dirty for some odd reason, so he shifted uncomfortably in his chair. |
Shaun thought he could feel the same sort of feelings coming from the other man, but he tried to not pay too much attention to it. Things were getting pretty awkward again, and he couldn't stand it. Awkwardness made him feel... awkward after all, and he liked feeling confident much more.
He coughed, a half-strangled, gravelly sound. He shifted around uncomfortably, then glanced at the small window, barely covered by the torn, dusty blinds that rested over it. The light was beginning to turn dark, the day starting to leave. However, they still had a couple hours before they would need to even think about getting to sleep. The awkwardness would be made completely obvious if they decided to eat and go to sleep now. That thought brought another one into his mind. They had to eat... Shaun wondered what Mavek was planning on having. He kept plenty of dried meals in his bag for when he needed a meal, nothing pretty or even tasty, but it was sustenance. They did the job they were meant to do, and he hadn't worried about having a nice hot meal for a very long time. Then a thought clicked into his brain. Mavek was a demon... which meant he probably didn't eat human foods right? The torn apart carcass in the woods, Mavek showing up there. The obvious picture only now formed in his mind. Some wild beast hadn't done that, the man sitting right in front of him had. Without thinking about it, Shaun jumped off the bed and spread his feet apart in a defensive stance. He immediately relaxed his position once he realized what he was doing, but he still could feel the wariness in his eyes. "That body in the woods... that was you right?" he asked Mavek without any hesitation in his voice. He knew he was right, but the words came out of his mouth anyways. |
Looking up at him quickly when he jumped off of the bed, Mavek actually leaned back some. He was confused by that gesture, but then it was made all too clear as his expression turned from slightly awkward, to not too happy. Of course he'd eaten that carcass in the woods... He couldn't eat human food, lest he throw it right back up... His body wasn't capable of digesting that which was cooked... Or that which wasn't living. His body wanted blood and if he didn't give it to it, then it was going to take control of him and take blood and meat itself... And it wasn't going to be an animal... It was going to be a human no matter what he did. It's not like he enjoyed eating people... He used to be human after all and that was why he honestly had to eat more often than these other higher up demons. Sure, he was pretty damn powerful now, but... He couldn't help that he needed to eat more to be able to have the will power to keep his demon side under control. He huffed out rather heavily at that question since it was fairly obvious that this man already knew the answer without it being volunteered to him. He didn't know why he even asked it when he could have just made the realization and just kept it to himself and be correct the entire time. But, he knew he was still going to want an answer, so Mavek's gaze slowly went up from the floor and back to Shaun. "Of course it was me... There was no way some animal did that... It was definitely the work of a demon... This demon..." he said, trying to keep his demon side under control now that it had been brought into the conversation. Sometimes it was hard to not change when it was mentioned because when it was made known, that side wanted out... He didn't know why it was always like that though... He couldn't help it. He sighed softly as he looked back down, rather defiantly. He didn't want to be labeled some awful killer that ate humans, but he was definitely going to be now... |
Surprising himself, Shaun just relaxed his shoulders. For some reason, the fact that he was in the same room as a demon who ate human flesh didn't bother him that much. Wasn't Mavek just doing what he had to in order to survive as well? Shaun couldn't say he had never taken the consideration of actually eating another human being. Back when he was just a child living in a war-torn world, he had almost had to resort to such a thing if he wanted to survive. Luckily he had managed to avoid such a terrible fate, but he could still remember thinking how unashamed he had been during those desperate times. It was survival, and those who didn't have the will to stomach such things would be the first to die.
He sighed and met Mavek's stare. "Sorry about that... my body reacted faster than my brain. It's fine," he said to him, his voice low and careful. Now he actually found himself curious about the things that came with being a demon. He was going to forget about even asking but his curiosity won out. "So... how does that work exactly? How often to you have to... umm... feed? Do you always have to kill the person?" he asked in a huff of breath. The unknown was always interesting to human beings, and Shaun was no different. He stood, still and straight, waiting to see if Mavek would even answer his questions. |
Bringing his gaze back down when Shaun apologized, Mavek understood. Sometimes people didn't take too kindly to the idea of humans being eaten... Despite that fact that this man pretty much killed humans for a living, he wouldn't be a different in that aspect. He then sighed softly as he adjusted himself in the chair some, wanting to be able to sit comfortably again after he was extremely confused by Shaun's actions. He'd gotten over it though, since he was fine with him putting two and two together. He was surprised he had even remembered that carcass in the woods though... He'd forgotten about having fed, actually. He was surprised he'd forgotten that quickly though. Turning his gaze back up, he didn't really want to answer that question at all, but he figured he may as well... "I wasn't always a demon, you know. I used to be a human. But then this demon we're going after killed me... And a demon that was very, very close to me... He gave his life to save mine. But at that expense, I became the very thing he was... So I fled knowing that I wouldn't be able to kill that demon. Now, I have to feed on the flesh of the mortals to keep my demon side at bay. I have to ingest the flesh and the blood of humans... Or my demon side will take over and eat much more than I do when I feed... I have to eat about once every five days... And yes. I do always have to kill the person because I do in fact eat a lot of them. They'd never survive." |
After hearing all of this information, Shaun had brought his hand up to his chin, thinking. It was definitely interesting, and he couldn't say that he didn't want to know more. He was about to push the subject further but when he saw that Mavek wasn't really comfortable with the conversation he stopped himself. They would be spending plenty of time together these next few days, so he would have plenty of time to ask more questions.
The next few hours were a mix of silence and scattered words. Most of them were forced to try and appease the awkwardness and boredom. It didn't work most of the time. Shaun was grateful when it was finally time to go to bed. The next day would be work, so it wouldn't be full of this dreadful waiting. He looked around the room and noticed the only bed. He crossed his arms and looked over at Mavek. He figured he should be a bit courteous to his new client. "Would you like to have the bed?" He couldn't deny that he was hoping that the other man didn't. Of course sleeping in uncomfortable places and positions wasn't new to Shaun, but when he had a bed before him he always preferred to sleep on it. |
It was fairly obvious that he was thankful this man didn't ask any more questions about his life. He hunched his shoulders and sighed softly... But then the next few hours were rather odd and they were filled with awkward glances towards the other to fill his wondering mind through the silences. He couldn't help that he kept looking at the other though... He liked how he looked and it there was also nothing to do in the silence. He would fiddle with his lip ring and his tongue ring, but that was pretty much his only entertainment through the scattered words and the glances. When he heard that question, he laughed lightly. "We could always share the bed," he said, with equally as much innuendo as when they'd come into the room. He'd been looking towards Shaun in those same ways the entire time, and he was pretty sure this man had been looking at him the same way. Though, he didn't want to overstep his boundaries. "I guess I could just sleep in this chair." He then shrugged and slouched down in it some more. It wasn't very comfortable, but he'd slept in worse. |
Blood rushed to his face again after Mavek's suggestion. He quickly turned his face away and gave a forced chuckle. He nodded approvingly at Mavek's choice of the chair.
He probably should insist on him using the bed but he didn't want to push it, he really did want to sleep in a real bed, even if this one was lumpy and smelled a bit. He honestly hadn't slept in an actual bed in months, and he was eager to get up under the sheets and get a decent sleep. "Well, good night. I assume we're getting up rather early," he started talking as he grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up over his head. He should probably be too embarrassed to sleep half-naked but he was too excited for sleeping more comfortably than he had in months so he pushed it aside. He looked down at his chest the see the new tattoo still squirming. He scratched at it briefly before returning to his task. He unbuttoned his jeans in a swift movement of his hands and pulled them down to his ankles, then kicked them off, leaving him in just his black briefs. He bent down to pick the clothes up and tucked them into his duffel bag, then ran his hands over his bare arms to warm them up, the air slightly cooler since there was no fabric to protect them anymore. He could feel the many scratches, bumps, and indentions in his flesh from the nearly two decades he had been fighting for his life. The rest of his body was scarred up in quite the same way, but with some wounds larger than others; including several bullet wounds, burn scars, and stab wounds. On reflex, he reached around to feel his right shoulder blade with his left hand, rubbing it against the ink he already had there. He had gotten the fairly large tattoo when he was about nineteen or so, three years after he had become a mercenary. The mark meant a great deal to him, even though he couldn't see it unless he was contorting in front of a mirror. It pretty much summarized his entire life; the war would never end, and he would fight in it until he was dead. Finally, he took out his lip ring, he always managed to snag it when he slept with it in, and set it safely in a small pocket on his bag. He ran his tongue over the now bare area before sitting on the bed. "I tend to wake up shortly after the sun comes up on reflex so I would prefer to leave shortly after that. Is that okay with you?" he asked Mavek, hoping he would agree. Shaun was tired of waiting around, he would want to be up and moving as soon as he woke up. |
Noticing the red color right before he turned his head, Mavek grinned to himself and looked down, feeling rather accomplished that that. His eyes then went back up as he watched the man remove his shirt. It was his turn now as the redness rose to his cheeks slowly, just a light pink tint to his cheeks as he tore his gaze away from the man... But that only happened for a moment before his eyes went right back to him to watch him remove yet another article of clothing. He couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to him. He'd spent the last few hours trying to figure out what this man looked like under his clothes and now it was being offered to him free of charge... This was definitely an offer he couldn't pass up. When Shaun then moved under the sheets, he sighed softly and looked back down at the floor, trying to keep his mind off of other things. He then looked and noticed a cabinet. He stood and walked over to it, wondering if it was what he thought. He opened it up and we very pleased to find a throw that he could cover up with. It would be much better than sleeping in that chair all night. He was glad the floor wasn't too terribly hard... He shrugged his shoulders lightly as he walked back over to where the chair was and pushed it under the desk. He then pulled his bag out and rolled it over to the softer side where most of his clothes were. That would do for a pillow. He then laid down on the floor and sighed as he pulled the blanket over himself. He then closed his eyes and settled in. "Yeah. That sounds fine," he said and then shrugged his shoulders some in hopes of getting more comfortable. He didn't mind getting up so early in the morning. He usually had to sleep in places that demanded him be up when the sun came up, so he would probably even wake up at that time as well. He didn't mind that in the least, since it was second nature to him. He did slightly mind sleeping on the floor, but he figured he would be able to sleep in a bed the next night... And that was all that mattered. He would be able to get the soreness out of his body then. |
As soon as the thin sheets fell against his body Shaun felt relaxed. He could tell that sleep would come easy tonight, no tossing and turning before his mind could rest. The day had been full of more surprises than normal and his brain and body were ready to rest up.
Almost as soon as his eyes shut he found sleep. Even though he had been fighting and killing others for most of his life, the nightmares never seemed to fade during sleep. He had accepted the fact that all he was good for was killing, and he lived his life without regret, but his deep conscience always found a way to drag up the unpleasant memories in his head. Tonight was one of the bad nights. Hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies littered the streets in front of him, blood soaking the ground. He stood with a semi-automatic in his hands, his finger on the trigger. As he looked down at his hands he saw that they were covered in red. The thick, sticky liquid was all over him actually, he could feel it coat his skin, could smell that rust and salt odor of it. In horror he dropped the weapon and stared at his hands, then tried to rub the crimson from them on the dust-covered ground. It did no good, he was still bathing in the stuff. Warily he looked out across the sea of carcasses and immediately took in every detail of them. Some still had blood gushing from their wounds, others were missing limbs, their arms or legs ending in ragged stumps. One body, a young boy of maybe thirteen, was missing half of his face, his features blown off by a blast of bullets. His one remaining eye stared at Shaun, the fear and pain still evident in it. Suddenly, Shaun was sick, puking up his guts up onto the dirt. HE had done this... he had killed all of these people. A monster, he was a monster... Tears began pouring out of his eyes, and then he was a child again, catching his reflection in the shining black metal of the gun. The scene shifted; he was back at his childhood home, staring at the broken, mangled bodies of his parents. He was standing there, staring at their lifeless eyes, not believing what he saw. Then a man, a dirty, bloodied man loomed over him, the barrel of a pistol pointed at Shaun's head. He pulled the trigger and Shaun was now looking at himself from above, seeing his head explode into a million shreds of muscle, skin, and bone. His headless body fell with a thump to the floor, next to his dead parents. He flashed forward to another time, another place, seeing himself kill person after person. Soon he saw himself as he was now, a twenty-seven year old man, the blood of hundreds of lives stained on his hands. Back in his own body now, he watched, no control over himself, as he slaughtered even more people. The starving, hopeless people he had come to live around ran at him, their faces twisted in fear. He would shoot them in the face, move to the next, take out his hunting knife and slice a child's neck, move on to the next. An endless cycle of murder and bloodshed. He wanted control of his body so that he could end this, stop the senseless killing and misery. Stop it... stop it... I can't take this anymore. STOOOOOP! he screamed, trying to take hold of himself, but he couldn't. All he could do was watch as the violence escalated and he screamed. The bodies piled up until only one person remained; himself from when he was nine years old. He could feel his face grin, though he was not controlling it. He saw his hand lift up, holding a pistol, aimed straight for his own head. The boy that was him had tears flowing down his face, the horror filling his eyes. His finger was on the trigger, he squeezed, and the bullet flew, sinking into the boy's flesh right between his scared, wide eyes. Shaun's eyes flew open as he jerked awake, his breath coming fast and hard. He hadn't had a nightmare that bad in a long time, and his body was covered in a film of sweat, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths. He looked down at his hands to find that they were shaking slightly and forced them to still. Even though the nightmare had plagued him all night he had managed to sleep his normal cycle. Soft, gray light filtered in through the cracks in the blinds, showing that it was just after sunrise. Finally, it was time to start his new job, no more waiting. |
Finally, after he'd gotten himself comfortable, he was able to close his eyes and get into a light sleep. It always took him a long time to fall down into the third level of sleep, where the dreams actually happened... But if you didn't get down to that level, then you'd never get a good night's sleep... To his surprise, he actually made it down to that level of mental hell, his nightmares always plaguing his sadistic mind... Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy... He couldn't help it though. When someone had been through as much as he had... The memories and the lies fill your brain and need to get out somehow... This is how his mind would taunt him... Pulling his legs up towards his chest more, the nightmares began. He was in the desert... Sad blowing into his face, causing him the need to squint. He'd lick his dry lips, only to have his tongue and throat get even dryer... He looked down at himself, realizing he was human right now... He didn't have to feed his demon side, but his demon side also wasn't there to save him from dehydration... He started to panic as he ran through the sand, his feet sinking and hindering his progress... Then he saw something fly in front of the sun, blocking it partly. He put his hand up in front of his face and gazed up at it, trying to figure out what it was... As it got bigger and bigger, headed straight for him. His eyes would then widen as he realized it was after him... And just before it did to him what he did to humans... The scene changed as he dove into the dirt... Before him now as he looked up from the very moist leaves, his skin so obviously pale below him was a lifeless corpse. He moved himself back away from it, his legs hitting another figure that caused him to turn his head and peer up at the person... Or, rather, the creature. He slowly got on his feet, looking down at the man. Mavek smiled softly as he looked down at the demon that had saved his life before. This creature plagued his nightmares often... And he always felt the need to be able to properly thank this man for what he did... But he also didn't want to see him at all... He didn't like what he was... So, his smile soon faded to a frown as he looked down at his feet. He opened his mouth to say something, but no voice would come out. Looking back up, his eyes wide, he tried to speak more, but nothing came out. He was so confused, but no matter what he did... There was no sound being expelled from his throat. He was starting to get frustrated as he dark blue tail swished and twisted behind him in annoyance. Then, Ureck would look at him, his expression changing from nostalgic to rather sadistic. Familiar hands wrapped around Mavek's throat and he wasn't sure what to think about that as he tugged on the much stronger wrists. He suddenly felt much younger than he really was as he closed his eyes, struggling to breathe. Just as everything was about to hit a more drastic dark, he opened his eyes and took in a deep breath. Everything was different once again as he inhaled air deeply and quickly, trying to refill his lungs. He was caressing his throat as if it were damaged, but it really wasn't in the least. He stood, but then he slipped and fell into the water before him... But as he pushed himself back out of it, he realized it wasn't water at all. His looked down at the liquid that was not covering his skin. It was much too thick to be water... He spit the blood from his mouth and looked over at the pile of bodies. He shook his head, backing away from them, thinking he would be able to get out of this puddle... But as he stood and looked around, the only thing that existed in this dream were the puddle... The pile, and himself. He felt so disgusting for the fact that his stomach was rumbling because of this pile of bodies... This pile of obviously freshly killed bodies... And then his body was moving without his permission... He moved forward and began to devour the flesh, his demon side having obviously taken over him completely. He didn't want to eat this flesh, but he couldn't stop himself... He just could as he swallowed the meat and the blood. He was trying to gain control... He was trying to, but he just kept eating... Savoring the flavor... Actually enjoying it... He wished desperately to be human again and that was all his dreams ever told him... Sitting up straight off of the floor, he looked around the room. He bit down on his lip ring and tried to figure everything out. He moved his arm and looked down at the thick film of sweat that covered his body. He shook his head and then placed his hand on the back of his forehead, looking towards the window. It wasn't even daylight yet. He slowly and quietly stood, peering out of the curtains. He noticed that he couldn't even see if peeking over the horizon. He sighed and looked over at Shaun for a moment. He then shook his head and went into the bathroom. His muscles were so sore from the floor... He just needed to take a shower and everything would be perfect again... He turned on the hot water and stripped from his clothes. He then stepped into the shower and sighed. He felt better after about ten minutes of just standing there, so he washed himself quickly and stepped out. By the time he was drying himself, the sun was peeking into the window. He didn't want to put these clothes back on and he'd forgotten to bring his bag back in here. He sighed and wrapped the towel around his waist in case Shaun was awake. He walked out and noticed that he indeed was. He shrugged it off and walked over to his bag, grabbing it from the floor. |
This was getting quite ridiculous. Mavek continued to make Shaun feel embarrassed and flushed, and it was getting tiring to be honest. He was especially irritable after his nightmare-filled sleep, so he groaned rather loudly when he saw the man walking around half-naked again.
He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and looked up at Mavek with a hint of annoyance. "Do you HAVE to walk around without any clothes on all the time?" he growled at him, not even caring that he was being... well, a dick. He finally got to sleep on a bed and his worst dreams plagued him. Obviously he was not a very happy camper this morning. Yanking off the sheets he stretched his arms high over his head, trying to get the stiffness out of them. The dreams were still fresh and vivid in his mind, haunting him like a vengeful ghost. He just had to shake them off, there was no point in moping around crying like a baby. "How do you plan on traveling to this place?" he asked, an annoyed tone still filling his voice. He needed to be on the move, doing what he did best. Ironically, doing his job as a mercenary seemed to keep the thoughts of the nightmares away. But later those nightmares would just multiply when he was trying to enjoy a break from the violent lifestyle. |
Flinching from this man's tone of voice, Mavek's gaze stayed on the floor as his mind was filled with the thoughts from the night before. He couldn't help the solemn expression on his face since the man had been so harsh with him first thing in the morning. He didn't even look up to see him in his underwear again... He was too intent on his dreams to do that. He just grabbed his bag and walked back into the bathroom, pulling on all of the clothes he would need to complete the day, including his socks. "Sorry that my nudity offends," he said in a rather small voice as he stepped back out of the bathroom and walked over to the chair. He pulled it out and pulled his boots on, keeping his gaze down. "I don't really know... I walk everywhere..." he stated as he stuffed his belongings into his bag. He was obviously not very happy right now. All he could think about was the fact that he wished they didn't even have to kill this demon in the first place. He wished he didn't know about the demon world... Or anything that had to do with a demon. He was tired of being a slave to his hunger... And a slave to his past that he wasn't even too familiar with. He was trying to push these thoughts aside, but it was easier said than done. |
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