They used our powers part 2

Chapter 2: Somebody I used to know

‘’You really are pushing this, Gerald…’’, Till murmured to the blonde man, the leader of the agency, as he gave him his next missions, followed by an additional assignment.

‘’You should have seen it coming though.’’, he chuckled and straightened up. ‘’Isn’t she your friend?’’ Till pursed his lips and tried to search within himself for the reason of his reluctance.

‘’Yes, but this just feels out of place.’’

‘’Get over it.’’, the elder demon replied with a strict expression. ‘’This is a mission. Her new location and all the details are in the encrypted files.’’, he added and with a jump, stepped on top of the rails of Till’s balcony, the night breeze making it seem as if he would be thrown off. ‘’Begin immediately.’’, were his final words as he gave the younger demon a glare before jumping off the edge, disappearing into the night. The brunet male stepped back in the house and sat by the table, opening the coded files and scheduling his missions for the next two weeks. He had to bring Mia with him for the majority of them and felt more than nervous, not only because he had never been a trainer to a rookie, but also because of their past. Grabbing his phone in his hands, he opened the messenger app and noticed that Mia was actually online.

Till simply asked if he could come over to discuss agency issues and she replied with a single positive word. The male took his knives and kept everything he might need in the inside pockets of his jacket, before wearing it and heading out. Conveniently, the new location was only a twenty minute walk away from his own house. When the door opened, Till was met with a partially naked Mia, her raven locks sticking rebelliously around her head, her grey eyes dull and tired. She wore nothing but a pink t-shirt and her underwear and was barefoot. Till could only guess that moving in such a short period of time had taken its toll on her and she probably hadn’t got any sleep.

‘’The leader left a few hours ago, why are you here for the same reasons?’’, she muttered, but did step back, letting him walk in the house. ‘’Shoes please.’’, came under her breath and Till chuckled before removing his shoes and jacket and shutting the door behind him. The woman turned around and walked towards the kitchen section of the room, to the left. A small living room was on the other side and two doors next to it that probably led to her bedroom and bathroom. The only source of light came from the television that showed a night talk show and the lights of the town visible from the large open windows.

‘’Tea?’’, Mia asked as she approached the kitchen bench, filling the broiler with water.

‘’Yes, thank you.’’

Till tried to act as natural as possible, since he hadn’t seen his friend for so long and only engaged in conversation online. Yet his eyes kept travelling at her exposed legs, discomfort taking over him.

‘’Aw fuck…’’, she blatantly exclaimed and left the two cups on the bench as the water boiled aggressively. With a mortified expression, she sprinted through one of the partially open doors and came out wearing shorts. Her grey eyes landed on him as he realized what had happened.

‘’I apologize.’’, she murmured and scratched the back of her head, her gaze shifting away from him.

‘’It’s fine…’’, he began and chuckled. ‘’Listen, we have to talk…’’

‘’Yeah you are my trainer.’’, she suddenly blurted out and Till forced himself to not act surprised. Gerald would have informed her about the matter.

‘’I have a mission I want to start now, but you seem to be too tired…’’ The black-haired female lifted her brows and nodded to herself.

‘’I really am too tired, maybe tomorrow?’’, she spoke with a nearly pleading voice, suddenly seeming more like the Mia he had known. The male gave her a smile and sat on the single armchair around the coffee table, seeing how the couch was covered in blankets, indicating that she had been sleeping in the living room. She approached the kitchen and prepared the tea, carrying and placing both steaming cups on the coffee table, as well as some cookies. Till took the cup in his hand, his eyes never leaving her as she brought her own cup near her lips and blew the steam from the liquid surface.

‘’You keep staring Till, just spit it out.’’

‘’It just feels surreal that a person from my past ended up in the same position as me.’’, he spoke his mind and the female gave him a reassuring smile.

‘’Life can be tricky, can’t it? How did you awaken your powers?’’, she suddenly asked, forcing the male demon to recollect the memory he wanted to get rid of. He did not want to talk about it, but he did share the room with one of the people closest to him.

‘’I was in a car accident. It was late at night and…’’, he began and shut his eyes, the image of the lights running up to him and the sudden pain flashed in his mind, forcing him to clench his teeth. He suddenly felt a gentle hand grip on his shoulder and opened his eyes to see a concerned expression on the female’s face.

‘’It’s alright.’’, she murmured and patted his back as if he was the one needed consolation.

‘’What about you?’’, Till awkwardly shifted the focus on her and noticed her face harden.

‘’I attempted to take my own life…’’ When the words came out of her mouth, the male widened his eyes and tried his best to not scream at her. ‘’When I came to I was covered in blood and it was not my own. A man was beneath me, his face and torso completely teared apart.’’, she added and took a deep breath before showing a bittersweet smile.

‘’My memories are a blur for some time after that and I was lucky my family didn’t get too worried about me, since it happened during vacation.’’, she kept on. Suddenly she cheered up. ‘’Well, here I am now! Full aware of what I am and ready to make some coin and enjoy life.’’

The switch in her character and beliefs seemed more than suspicious to the male demon. He knew her too well, her set of values, her opinions, her preferences, her psyche and those words didn’t match her at all. Yet she seemed willing to cooperate with the agency, even if she hid her true reasoning from him.

‘’I would like to explain how a mission usually carries out.’’, he switched to a more serious tone and the female followed suit, straightening up and staring at the files he had just unfolded from his pocket. It looked comical, considering the fact that she was wearing cute pajamas. She followed the explanation well, even making questions of her own and her intelligence and cunning nature shone through. Till felt confident that Mia could make it in the agency and get her life together, since living to hunt was no proper way to live. Suddenly, a thought came to his mind, as he recalled his own early agency days.

‘’Did you try the essence yet?’’, he suddenly asked her, clearly taking her by surprise as she swallowed the tea aggressively loud.

‘’I did.’’ A nervous laughter escaped her.

‘’It takes some time to get used to it, but not getting hunger pains and deliriums is well worth it.’’

The female shrugged.

‘’I’ll take your word for it.’’, she mumbled and the male gathered his papers and jacket, standing up from the armchair, but paused when he felt a hand grip around his forearm.

‘’Do you really have to go?’’, the female demon asked, a plea evident in her stance. She immediately released him and stared down. ‘’I mean, I know we haven’t spoken face to face in years, but talking with you has always calmed me down.’’ A knot formed in his stomach, but the male demon did not consider it any longer.

‘’Do you want me to stay the night?’’, he asked and her eyes lit up and blurred.

‘’Sorry...’’

‘’Don’t say that. I don’t mind. I had a tough time as well.’’

Till couldn’t help but smile, since he finally got to witness her soft side behind all the façade she put up when he first saw her covered in blood. With the male in the room, Mia fell asleep in no time, immediately beginning to toss and turn on the couch, throwing the blankets on the floor. Till had been offered the bed, but he somehow couldn’t leave her alone in the living room. He drifted to sleep eventually, his dreams a blur of blood and gore, making him wake up hungry. When he opened his eyes, he saw the ceiling of Mia’s new apartment, the morning sun casting rays in the room from the large windows to his left. The first thing he realized was the sweet smell that hit his nostrils, then the sound of movement from behind him.

Till sat up slowly, knocking down a small blanket that had been thrown over his body. He rubbed his head and got up, immediately stretching out his body, his muscles feeling sore. He looked forward to finishing his missions and spend some time in the gym. The brown haired male glanced to the side, a smirk rising up on his face upon noticing Mia cooking, dressed casually, her long thick locks caught up in a pony-tail.

‘’I see you are energetic.’’, the male commented and Mia turned around with a smile that reminded him the old days.

‘’You know I am an early bird after all.’’, she replied and turned her attention back to her cooking. ‘’You are having some breakfast with me. After that we can start on the missions.’’, Mia added. ‘’I don’t want to be taking up too much of your time.’’

Till chuckled and sat on a tall chair of the bench that split the kitchen from the living room, resting his elbows on top of the marble.

‘’Are you still the same person I have been talking to all these years? Or have you been pretending?’’, she suddenly blurted out as she reached for two plates, refusing to turn around and acknowledge him. The male couldn’t help but recollect the recent memory of her smug, arrogant, blood covered face.

‘’I would like to throw that question back at you.’’

‘’I have been like this for a small amount of time.’’, her movements suddenly seized, the pan hovering over the plates, the spatula dangling from her hand, and Till was unable to see her eyes. He frowned and was about to get up. ‘’It was tough… acting like nothing had changed. I have no idea who I am anymore…’’, her voice cracked and the male stood up and took long strides to get to her, grabbing the pan and spatula from behind her, as her body shook violently.

Till placed the cooking equipment on the kitchen bench and turned his attention to her blurry, grey eyes and the redness of her face, as she struggled to keep her emotions inside her. Till had no idea what to do, as the female gritted her teeth, her irises turning crimson, tears streaming down her cheeks. She breathed heavily and her line of sight connected with the floor between them. He went in to hug her tightly, feeling her warmth and shaky cries and all he could think of was his own way of coming to terms with his demonic nature. Not a single tear came out of him, but rage did, rage he managed to use effectively before too late.

‘’You are still yourself, Mia. You are the Mia I know.’’, he muttered near her ear and noticed that the hair on her arm stood up. ‘’Being a demon does not robe us of who we are, as long as we do not let it consume us.’’, he added, speaking the words Gerald had once told him. Mia’s body immediately relaxed and he let her go, searching for her eyes, only to see her still avoiding him, a faint pink coloration now decorating her cheeks.

‘’Have another shot of essence.’’, he suddenly instructed her and went for her fridge, already guessing the hefty amount Gerald would have given her. All newbies were instructed to consume essence as often as required until their cravings subsided. He reached for a vial and gave it to the woman. She reluctantly opened it up and downed the insides, her eye lids falling for a split second, her plum lips opening slightly, unable to not express her pleasure. Something inside Till tingled and he tried his best to ignore it.

‘’Let’s eat and get going.’’, he announced and she nodded.

Mia walked beside him under a rare, sunny, sky of winter Montreal, her hands buried deep into her jacket pocket in her effort to keep them warmer. Her first mission was going to prove a very simple and easy one, considering she has killed before. The target was a fellow demon, recently turned, rampaging through the town. Gerald liked to give such missions to the newbies, to remind them what they could have become should he hadn’t picked them up.

‘’I will be nearby, in case things go downhill.’’, Till told her, eyeing her reactions carefully. She simply shrugged, an indifferent expression showing on her face.

‘’This is not my first time.’’

As a follow up of her words, the black haired woman sped up and walked in front of Till, already knowing where she was supposed to go. The target lived in a one room apartment in a downgraded area of Montreal. All kinds of odd humans and even demons eyed them out as they walked around the narrow streets that sun was unable to hit since the tall buildings surrounded them. They walked in the back alley where the fire escape ended and no eyes could see them. Till watched from the side, as Mia climbed up the fire escape seemingly soundless, like a feline and admired her ingrained abilities. She would definitely go far in the agency, should she desire to.

In a few seconds, she had reached the fourth floor where he lived and crept through the window. The male was alert for any sounds or signals of her needing help, but nothing was heard before Mia came back out, the head of the target dangling in her right arm as she hung from the bars of the fire escape.

‘’Is that sufficient?’’, she questioned from above and the male narrowed his eyes to see a kitchen knife piercing through his forehead, the best way to make sure a demon had died. He lifted his hand to give her a thumbs up and she disappeared in the house once more to leave the dismembered part, before landing back down. Her face was, unsurprisingly, still a mask of indifference.

‘’Let’s carry on with the rest of the missions.’’