The Prelude (3)

[JUNE 18XX]

"I-I'm Alexander Liam Hope."

A shorter man introduced himself in front of Leon and Olivia. He had very soft features that did not suit this line of work at all. If Leon didn't know better, he would have thought that this man was from an established family.

Alexander had curly locks of copper hair and bright blue eyes. His posture looked practiced despite the slight slouch he was doing.

Leon held out his gloved hand with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry about Ryu," he said, "...He's not good with people."

Olivia snorted. "An understatement."

Ryu's chair screeched when he pushed himself up from his chair, towering over Alexander. The other hunter took a step back from his presence. "Tsk, shut up," he grumbled.

Leon took a sip of his drink. "So, any idea why they moved you to our humble unit?" he asked.

Alexander shook his head. "Well, um, I'm not really sure." He was cut off when Ryu's dagger flew right past him. Leon's eyes followed the blade, ready to defend the new member, but Alexander dodged the blade with ease.

"Impressive," Olivia hummed beside Leon.

"He's capable enough," Ryu added.

More than enough, Leon noted to himself since Alexander was able to track Ryu's attacks.

"S-Sir Ryu, please refrain from attacking me," Alexander frowned, adjusting his wrinkled coat.

With a sigh, Olivia stood from her chair, giving Leon a glance. "I need a smoke," she announced as she grabbed Leon's sleeve to drag him outside the pub.

She looked at Alexander. "Want to come?" she offered.

The copper-haired man shook his head no. "It's fine, I can stay inside," he reassured. "What about Sir Ryu?"

"I don't put shit in my body," was Ryu's reply before Olivia dragged Leon towards the pub's entrance.

The warm air instantly met Leon's skin as he leaned back against the wall with a tired groan. It had been a stressful few days since they had been hunting vampires with barely any rest.

Leon could easily take it. He was not human, after all.

He wasn't sure about Olivia.

The brown-haired woman took out a half-empty pack of cigarettes from her pocket. Leon could see the way her eyes sparkled at the sight.

"Finally," she muttered with a relieved sigh. She rummaged her pockets once again to look for her lighter, her brows furrowing slightly at the realization. "Damn. I probably dropped it somewhere."

Leon chuckled as he took out a lighter from his jacket, something he kept with him for situations like this. "Here," he handed it to Olivia.

"Oh, you're a lifesaver!" Olivia praised as she flicked the lighter multiple times to light a flame. The weak flame illuminated her face momentarily as she inhaled a deep breath, the tip of her cigarette burned.

She handed it back to Leon, along with a single cigarette.

Leon accepted the cigarette with a grateful smile, trying to light it, but no flame came out of the lighter.

Olivia laughed softly, a wisp of smoke escaping her lips. "Ha, I got lucky with that old thing." She leaned closer to Leon, her lit cigarette on her pale lips.

Leon leaned in, their foreheads touching as he tried to catch the flame from her cigarette. It took a few seconds, their faces inches apart, before he managed to light it.

The first drag of smoke felt like heaven.

"It's going to be hard," Leon began. "Having a new member on the team... we aren't exactly the best group that The Order could offer him."

Another huff of smoke from Olivia as she snorted out, "We are a special unit, the one they send when normal hunters can't take missions. He probably has a secret talent or something."

"He's young."

"We were once young, Leon," Olivia reminded him. "We were younger when they first formed the unit."

A flash of memory entered Leon's mind. He didn't get younger; he didn't age. But he supposed that he'd changed a lot these past few years.

Not necessarily for the better, but it was still change.

It was better than having no memories at all.

"Besides, this isn't the first time Silver Cross put someone young in the field," Olivia added.

There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two. Olivia's cigarette dimmed as she took one last drag before flicking it onto the ground.

She put it out with her dark boot. "Great talk," she said cheerfully, patting Leon's shoulder before she playfully took the cigarette from his lips.

"Liv!" Leon whined at the loss, watching his friend put it in hers. The remaining embers flew around the air. "Sorry, needed more," she winked at him.

Leon sighed. He could survive without it.

Olivia couldn't.

The night was a blur of drinking and talking with the new member. It ended with them dragging Olivia back to the inn, with Ryu grumbling in annoyance the entire way.

Leon was the first one to take a quick bath, washing the scent of smoke and alcohol from him. His blonde hair fell down behind his back, still dripping with water as he stepped out of the bath.

"I heated the water, Liv," he told Olivia, who was lounging on the sofa, barely awake. She groaned, mumbling something incoherent in response.

Ryu sighed and walked over to her, bending down to easily scoop her up from the sofa. She yelped in surprise, struggling from his grip. "Put me down," she protested.

"You reek," Ryu glared at her before dragging her to the bathroom. There was a splash of water and a screech before Ryu stepped out.

Leon chuckled as he dried his hair with a towel, leaning on the bed.

Ryu's sharp eyes glared at Alexander, who was awkwardly sitting in the corner. "You're next. Make it quick."

Alexander nodded his head enthusiastically.

It took a while before Olivia stepped out, her bare skin covered with a towel. Her cheeks were slightly flushed. "Leon, the water was too hot," she complained.

"Oops."

Alexander glanced at her for a quick second, not saying anything, but his eyes were more focused on the raised scar on her chest—a diagonal line from her collarbone down to her stomach.

"Stop scaring him," Leon sighed.

"Sorry."

It was small moments like these that made Leon appreciate being a hunter. It made him feel closer to humans and connected to them.

It made him feel like he belonged.

Even if he didn't.

Even if he wasn't one of them.

Leon would protect these fragile moments. He had the right to be selfish in his own way.