Rainy Days

Aidan rubbed at her eyes harshly as she leaned against the side of a building. Her whole being was trembling as she attempted to control the wetness that escaped from her eyes. She had never been so terrified in her life. That man... Deirdre McGunner... she never in a million years imagined that she would actually come face to face with him. She never imagined the first day of exploring she would run into him, be pinned down, and feel the brush of lips upon her throat. In fact, she had been surprised by the softness of his lips on her, the heat of his breath, and the rich smell that drifted from him. Her whole being had burned and it left her breathless. It made her dizzy and unable to even think. Her brain had gone completely blank.

Swallowing thickly, her hand slipped down her eyes and moved down her throat. Her fingers brushed upon her flesh as she allowed for her to trace where his lips had been. Her flesh still burned, and the coolness of the wind did little to help her. In fact, it only made her shiver as she finally made way to her shoulder. He had bitten her there, but there was no longer any pain. His tongue had cooled it to leave a dull ache. What had happened? It was the third time she had asked herself that same question.

Aidan shook herself harshly as she yanked her hands away and turned her eyes down the street she had found herself at. She flickered two eyes back and forth as she examined where she was. Her feet had carried her to the unknown which left her confused and unsure of herself. She could not leave the Faction until she had gained an ID to do so. That meant she needed to find someone to get her out of here. It would seem she would be stuck for tonight and with no idea what to do she bit down upon her bottom lip. She crossed her hands against her chest and begun to walk forward along the street once more.

It was not long before several hours had passed by and the sun had begun to go down. The painted sky turning breath taking pinks, yellows, and rose as the sun bid its goodbyes. The moon had begun to say hello, but was still to shy to fully appear. It had been a clear day though, so it was easy to get a slight glimpse of it. Even a few stars had come to play, but as they did street lights begun to flick on. The grey sidewalk darkening against the black of the roads. Hardly any cars passed by any longer, but rather people had come out to play along the local businesses. There were only a few that had a clear closed sign here and there. The worrisome problem though was a red sky meant devils would come out to play.

Which in return meant Aidan needed to find a place to stay. She had visited several hotels in the area, but one look at her they had thrown her out. It made no sense. How could every single place be full? Not willing to accept her? How did she not have enough money for a room? She just needed one damn room for one night! Ugh! The women in her frustration kicked out to allow it to crash into a trashcan. It slammed onto the concrete before watching it roll away into the darkness of the alleyway. Her narrowed abnormal eyes watching the silver can as it disappeared before she turned away to stare forward again. By now, it had grown darker. It would not be long before the last of the natural light died away. Not to mention, the air had become thicker. It choked her. "What have I gotten myself into?"

The women whimpered as she moved to plop herself down onto the stairs of a library. She had come to finally give way to the burning in her legs and the ache of realization there was no where to go. Why was it that the bad luck was picking on her today? Why? "'When ill luck begins, it does not come in sprinkles, but in showers.'" Aidan quoted Mark Twain's Pudd'nhead Wilson under her breath as she moved to pull her knees up. Her elbow placing itself onto her knee before placing her chin upon her upon palm. Signing, she closed her eyes just as it indeed begun to pour.

She did not even look up when the water covered her. She did not care anymore. She had been kicked out of her house, could no longer go back to her hotel, she was lost, pissed off a mafia boss, could not get a hotel, and now she was being rained on. Aidan was at a complete loss, and she had no idea what else to do. At this point she debated on if the library would let her sleep there. "You sure are a women marked for sorrow." A voice finally broke out from the silence causing for the women to snap her head upwards. The women stared back at the man who had spoken. It was the man she had seen in the club on his phone. He had pulled back his short length brown hair into a pony tail, and he held an umbrella in his hand. The man's brow eyes looked almost bored, but his lips had curled into an amused smile.

"Don't bother running. You won't make it far." An accent brushed the words. It was a rich accent that she guessed was from the Kingdom of Flame, but she was unsure. What impressed her further was the fact he had guessed her intentions before the thought even formed. Aidan had known he was with the man, yet when he moved the umbrella to cover her she felt all the fight leave her. "Come with me." The women swallowed and without hesitation she stood.

The man had turned away, but she gripped the end of his shirt as she spoke. "Why? Why is this happening to me?" She cried slightly causing the man to look back.

His eyes had softened at the young women. He guessed she was only in her 20's and to never had experienced such a hardship meant she was a lucky one. If it was up to him, Hunter, he would have allowed her to escape... leave and never look back. However, that was not his orders. "Because you have caught the eye of a lion, and now you must pay the price."

Without turning back to her, he begun to head back. He did not even have to look at her to know Aidan was following right behind him.

---

"'Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!' I shrieked, upstarting—

'Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian shore!

Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath spoken!

Leave my loneliness unbroken!—quit the bust above my door!

Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off my door!'

Quoth the Raven "'Nevermore.'

And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting

On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;

And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,

And the lamp-light o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;

And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor

Shall be lifted—nevermore!'"

Deirdre quoted Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven under his breath as he gazed down from the window of his office. Blue eyes gazing at the world below that he had created. His own little paradise. It was a pride and joy of his. It was one of the very few things that he solely owned that he had crafted with his heart... the brittle darkness that had long frozen over only to calm when he found himself here. Nevermore, a club in the darkness of the city. Looking down upon the level below, his eyes danced around the stage that laid towards the far back wall of the stage. The black stage looked almost like a diamond against the deep royal purple carpet. Three poles lived on the middle stage, yet it left a great amount of room for movement. Behind the stage though was a door that lead to a backroom for the dancers, strippers, and entertainers.

Chairs were curled around it including couches and a tables. Four more smaller stages were placed in a 'square' formation around that. They had removal poles. To to the right is a large bar area. It was set up to be out of the way, but with enough view for people to enjoy the view of the stages. To the back of the club by the stage was several doors, although most of them had a guard by them or had a red rope to block them. To the left was what seemed to be stairs that had a sign that said 'employees only" next to it. No one guarded it, however it was an unsaid rule to not go up them. That was where the... elite went. This was evident by the sight of the tables on the balcony that curled around the upper level.

The club was purposely shadowed in darkness with the lights of greens, pinks, whites, blues, and other colors flickered along the stage and throughout the club. The area in the middle of the stage created in order to allow for movement, dancing, and simply movement. It was a rare point in time that it was used for DJs and music. Deirdre was fond of such things, but his favorite was the Friday nights costumes. He enjoyed it greatly, and it was one of the few times he was able to enjoy himself.

Smirking a bit, he turned his eyes away from the window and moved to look along the office. It was part of the second floor which had allowed him to look down to the ground below. He had a rather large office after all which included a desk to the far back wall which he was now sitting at with the window behind him. The office had dark wooden hardwood floors and two beautiful pictures that hung on each side of the office. Deirdre had picked two paintings. One was a black raven while the second was a white raven. Good and evil, light and dark, yin and yang.

The left side of the room held a door that led to his own room. Often he kept it locked though with the key hidden in his desk. Although, what did stand out was a simple fake wooden tree. A pure white bird sat upon it, a hawk actually, that was asleep... silent and calm. The male moved from his chair and stepped forward to start his way towards the door, but he stopped when he heard the ring of his phone. Deirdre reached in his pocket before yanking the black phone out to look at the screen. Pressing the answer button he spoke. "McGunner."

It took only a second before his lips turned up in a slow seductive smirk. His hand brushing along his silver hair to pull the strands from his blue eyes. "Excellent."