Chapter 19

A few hours later in the bar...

"You want me to what?" Jade's eyes flared with annoyance directed at Logan who sat beside him at the bar.

"You heard me." Logan bluntly stated as he sipped at a glass of whiskey.

"Partnering up with someone else for a mission.. It sounds more like a sick joke coming from you." Jade's brows twitched as he debated over the thought of who might end up being paired with him. The people that worked for Logan were always colorful characters in their own aspects; at least the ones he met were.

"I'm not joking with you and it'll benefit you as well. He's also what you'd call a demi human like yourself.. well not the same species as you though. The guy comes straight from the Arcane Clan." Logan smirked slightly as he glanced at Jade from the corner of his eye. It was obvious that he was trying to rope Jade into the idea by putting the fact that his partner would be a demi human on the table.

"Who is he?" Jade asked as the curiosity got the better of himself regardless of how strongly he felt against working with someone else for a job.

"They call him Capricorn. You'll be working with him during your next mission. Ah, be sure to listen to him well." Logan smiled slightly as he gripped Jade's shoulder firmly with his hand as he spoke the last sentence. He knew Jade well enough to know that he would probably put up a fight when it came to working with someone else.

After they spoke a bit more about Jade's next mission it did not take long for Logan to get up to leave the bar. The man was not one for hanging out unless it involved something he had interest in or needed to speak about. It wasn't until after Logan was gone from the bar that Noel's silence finally broke. He could feel himself inching slightly further into Jade's direction so that he could speak easier to him. Jade was holding his head in his hand as if he felt distressed.

"Who-" Noel started to talk but a sharp glare from Jade cut him off as if warning him to not ask unnecessary questions again. It caused Noel's body to shiver as he debated on what to say or even do in the situation he was standing in.

"My boss.. you could say." Jade forced out a simple answer. He was not sure why he was giving him a simple answer about who Logan was but for some reason he could not help himself. The sight of Noel shivering nervously in front of him made his chest tighten. In his mind he'd compare the scared Noel with that of a scolded puppy. It almost seemed cute to him the more he thought about it.

What the hell am I thinking? Jade thought to himself as he tightly closed his eyes as if he had a headache to avoid looking any further for the moment.

"Oh." Noel's tension seemed to lessen after hearing those two words and even he wasn't aware of it himself. "I get the feeling he wasn't that fond of me."

"Of course he wasn't." Jade scoffed.

"You.." Noel wanted to retort back but could not find the words to say anything back. "Well, whatever, I have a question for you."

"Hm?" Jade glanced over in Noel's direction as if he was tired of talking already.

"You're always coming by the bar at night during your... work.. So, I was thinking tomorrow you will come with me somewhere! I never see you in the daylight and it'd be good for you to get out during something other than that." Noel forced out the words as if it was not even a question at all. As hard as he tried to hide how nervous he was for saying such a thing to Jade he could not stop himself from shaking.

Noel's chest tightened as he waited in the long awkward silence for Jade to respond back to him. There was no immediate rejection to the invitation that he had extended to him so a sliver of hope started to swell up inside of him. It was unclear exactly what kind of hopeful feeling he was having but it was hope regardless. For some reason Noel could not shake his desire to see Jade actually during the daylight and not just at night after he'd went out and killed someone. The longer the pause was the more he could feel his hope slipping away as he wondered if Jade was just going to ignore the words he'd said completely.

"One condition." Jade stated. His fingertips slowly traced up and down the cold glass of beer in front of him as he thought over his response.

"Wh-What condition?" Noel was taken aback by the fact that Jade had not bluntly refused him all together.

"If you start to intrude into my personal details I will leave immediately."

Jade's condition was straight to the point. He would go with Noel tomorrow but only if Noel refrained from asking him questions that had to do with his personal life. It was like he was slamming a wall down ahead of time that no matter whether or not he was with Noel during daylight or the moonlight that his life was a closed book that Noel was not welcome to access. Something about the condition caused Noel's heart to ache but at the same time he was glad that he was not refused.

"I can live with that." Noel smiled slightly at Jade as he tilted his head to the side with a sigh of relief. The smile for once was not one that he had to force upon his own face but one purely because he felt glad in that moment. A part of himself could not wait to see a new side to the mysterious man he'd been serving at the bar for so long. Tomorrow he would take Jade out with him and see him experience the day like a normal person should. He had already seen so many sides to Jade and he was certain that he would get to see something else that he'd yet to see when it came to Jade during the day.