The Face of the Enemy

After an indeterminable period of time, Adrian rose from the throne, armed with knowledge. Taking a deep breathe, he walked down the stairs, stopping once he'd reached the floor. With a sweep of his hand, Adrian summoned the Door.

It silently faded into existence in front of him, and stood there, casting no shadow despite the dim light. His face broke out into a small smile at his newfound abilities. He planned to put some of the others to the test in the near future.

"Pavuk, remain here for the time being. I will need your assistance in providing the Hall with a meal."

He'd sensed the realm's hunger, and knew he needed to act fast to secure sustenance for it or risk being consumed himself. Luckily he knew just where to go.

"As you wish, my lord." The masked man gave a simple bow and vanished behind one of the room's many columns.

Willing the Door open, Adrian stepped through and into his bedroom. It was still dark, but he heard the unmistakable sound of movement in the living room, accompanied by a muted conversation between two men. That and the light flooding in from under the doorway told him that he had uninvited guests. Evidently, the same group that tried to kidnap him earlier had given up on chasing him, and were now waiting in his apartment.

[Perfect. This was just what I was hoping for.]

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Caleb checked his watch for the fourth time in as many minutes. They'd arrived almost three hours ago, but there was still no sign of their target. He and David had already searched the entire apartment and found nothing of interest. Vance had told them to remain here until the kid showed up, but he was beginning to get nervous. Whatever the boss was looking for, Caleb wasn't certain it was worth pissing off the Veldts.

"There's something wrong with this kid. There's barely any furniture, no mementos or souvenirs, no books or magazines, and the refrigerator is virtually empty. If it wasn't for the toiletries and clothes, I would have a hard time believing anyone actually lived here." David was saying from the kitchen while he opening cupboards at random. "Oh look, a bottle of 'Devil's Flame' hot sauce. I think this might be the most interesting thing I've found so far."

With a shrug the man tossed it over his shoulder, causing the glass bottle to smash against the hardwood floors.

"David!" Caleb hissed. "We're trying to be low-key here. The last thing we need is the cops to become involved."

"Relax, man. This is a high end apartment, the walls and floors are thickly insulated and virtually soundproof. You could have a rock concert in one of these rooms, and no one would be the wiser. Besides, once the kid gets here, we were going to have to make some noise anyway, right?"

Caleb frowned, "You know what Vance said. We're to keep him intact until we can get him to McLean."

"Ha! Well, that bastard caught me by surprise on the street. I've got to make sure to pay him back before McLean gets ahold of him. Depending on how much of him is left once the 'persuasion' is done with, I might not get the chance again."

"Whatever. Just don't do anything too serious. The boss is already pissed about this whole scenario." Caleb said with a sigh. He went to sit down on the couch, but noticed a flash of movement in the corner of his eye as the overhead lights flickered and died. There was still enough illumination streaming in from the windows to bathe the room dimly in the red tinted light of the evening sun.

Their target was standing in the middle of the living room, showing no sign of when or how he got there. He was staring at the smashed bottle of hot sauce with an impassive expression.

For a moment, Caleb didn't know how to respond. Something about the target and the way he was standing so calmly was setting off alarms in his head. Fearing some kind of trap, he grabbed his 9mm from his shoulder holster, and pointed it at the young man.

"Don't move!" He yelled, garnering a glance from the otherwise unfazed target.

"Just stay right there. We need to….." There was a sudden gust of wind, and a flicker of nearly invisible motion in front of him. Confused he stopped in mid sentence, only to start screaming when he realized that both of his hands had been severed at the wrist. He fell to his knees once the pain hit.

"You son of a bitch!" David growled as he drew his own weapon and began firing at the target despite previous admonitions to the contrary. He got off two shots that embedded themselves in the wall.

With the sounds of a meat cleaver hitting bone, something slid past David, faster than the eye could see. Caleb could only watch as his partner simply fell apart, chunks of viscera forming a pile on the floor.

He felt his vision begin to narrow as the shock started settling in, there was a ringing in his ears, but he could still clearly hear the sound of footsteps approaching.

[I have to get away.]

Caleb fell onto his side, and tried to crawl towards the door. In the corner of his vision, he thought he saw the blood-colored shadows begin to twist and sway with frenzied abandon. He heard the sound of someone gibbering in terror, and it took him a few seconds to realize it was him.

Reaching out with his stubs, he pulled himself forward again, only to see a pair of dark leather boots standing in front of him.

An animalistic dread filled him as he looked up into the cold eyes of his target.

"Monster…" He whispered.

Adrian grinned. "Where are you going? We're not finished yet. I still have a great deal of use left for you."

Caleb stared in horror as the shadows began flowing towards him like some kind of living ink blot. As soon as they touched his skin, he felt a bone-chilling cold. He swatted at the swarm of darkness with his stumps, as it started to envelop him, leeching the heat from his body.

"Argh! No! I'm sorry. I'm sor-"

The shadows closed over his mouth, drowning out the rest.

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Adrian dropped the shadow wrapped bundle on the red carpet of the throne room. It twitched feebly before returning to stillness. He nodded to Pavuk, who had been waiting for his arrival, "Take this one to the Altar for processing. When you are done, I'll need you take care of the mess in my apartment."

The masked man replied with a simple bow, lifted the package with one arm, and carried it into the shadows to the right of the throne.

Adrian felt a touch of regret about the second thug. He'd been startled when the man had started firing, and reacted instinctively, leading to a waste of potential resources.

[I'll have to practice more with my abilities. Next time I'll need to disable them more efficiently.]

A small part of him wondered if he should be concerned about his indifference to the suffering and death of the two thugs, but he quickly dismissed the thought as unproductive.

Pavuk soon returned. "It is done, my lord, although it is hard to say what value that man has. His soul is tainted and weak. Taken forcefully, it will not provide much in the way of sustenance."

"I understand. The throne has taught me as much. In time I will seek out potential....supplicants." It took Adrian a few moments to think of an appropriate term. "For now, however, I will be forced to take more direct measures."

"Luckily, I have some newfound enemies that seem willing to donate to the cause, so to speak." He turned and headed back towards the Door, and laid his ankh carved hand upon its cool surface. With a thought he found a new destination, on a quiet part of campus. Once set, he stepped out into the chilly October evening.

He removed the thug's cell phone from his pocket and pulled up the number that had called several times in the last thirty minutes.

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Vance was pacing again in the lobby of the small office building that served as their current hideout. He had been angry when the bastard had given them the slip in the subway, but now he was beginning to panic. The Veldts were known for their long reach in this city, and if they has started mobilizing in response to the kidnapping attempt, the boss would have his hide.

He glanced down at his phone again, and grimaced at the lack of messages. The two men he'd stationed in the kid's apartment had gone silent. Caleb wouldn't or couldn't answer, and David's went straight to voicemail. He'd worked with the two of them for many years, and while they could be a little irresponsible, they knew better than to not return his calls while on a job. It made him think that something might have happened to the pair.

The phone in his hand rang with Caleb's number showing. He answered it angrily, but felt a wash of relief. "Caleb! What the hell! Why didn't you answer me? And where's David, I can't get him to answer either."

A cold, unnaturally calm voice answered from the other side of the line. "I'm afraid Caleb is indisposed at the moment."

Vance recognized it as belonging to Adrian Veldt, but the young man's tone gave him chills. "What do you want?" He growled.

"I've changed my mind about accepting your invitation. We have much to discuss, and I would prefer to speak face-to-face. With any luck, there will be a great deal of profit to be made."

Vance's mind whirled. Was he really supposed to believe that the kid suddenly wanted to cooperate? Especially after two of his enforcers had apparently been neutralized in some manner. It had to be a trap.

However....if he handled it carefully, it could be a second chance to secure the package.

"Where are you? I'll send a car." He answered, trying hard to keep his voice calm.

"I'll be waiting on the street where you tried to kidnap me the first time. Don't be late." The call ended.

Vance let out a shuddering gasp, hands trembling. He didn't know what was going on or what the kid was after, but the whole situation gave him the creeps. Briefly, he considered simply leaving, getting out of the city before the confrontation his instincts told him was the way.

However, he'd worked too hard, done too much, to just give it all up now. With renewed resolved, he called another team up and directed to the street just off of campus. Once preparations were finally made, he calmed down.

"Let's see what this Adrian Veldt has to offer."