Sin's room was covered in paper. Stacks of documents towered on his desk, burying the small laptop underneath. The vampire was sitting on the middle of his bed, surrounded by open books filled with colorful markers. He didn't bother looking up as I entered the room.
"Hi, Sin. Have you found something?" I asked nonchalantly as I pulled a chair up to the bed so I could see what Sin was looking at, but he jumped away with superhuman speed, throwing the book on the others.
"I haven't found anything yet. I apologize." He mumbled and turned to his desk to arrange some papers that nearly fell to the floor from his momentum.
"You're acting weird."
"I'm just giving you the respect you deserve."
What?
"Since when? And why? Do you give this kind of "respect" to every cop you meet?"
"You are not a cop." He whispered to himself, the shuffling of the pages nearly covering his voice.
"That's true, but I solve crimes and keep the bad guys at bay." I said proudly.
Sin stayed silent, reading through the pages. Something was very clearly off.
I walked up to him, and pulling firmly on his shoulder I spun him around. Anger flashed in his eyes.
"Look, I normally wouldn't care about your inner demons but now they're clearly messing with my job. So what's your problem?" I snapped.
"You're a sanctioned murderer. You all are." Sin hissed at me, knocking my hand off.
That came out of the left field.
"We uphold the law. We put our lives on the line so that you pompous assholes can play being the 'saviors of humanity' and prance around on your oh-so-high horses." I yelled in his face and altered my stance in case I have to fight.
He suddenly jumped away and threw a stack of documents at me. I dodged to the side, only to have my back battered with heavy books. The bastard was quick, and I had to finish this before my aura overheats and the papers turn into kindling.
"How are you upholding the laws when you don't even obey them? You fucking torture people." He yelled back, constantly moving around.
"And why does that matter to you, huh? It's not like you're getting your hands dirty."
I didn't wait for his answer. I dove to the side of the bed for cover, then lifted the massive bedframe on its footboard. A couple more books hit the mattress before it flipped out to the ground, taking up nearly the whole room. I quickly jumped across it, tackling the surprised vampire to the ground.
I kept his arms in place with one hand, grabbing his neck with the other. I felt his pulse flutter under my fingertips.
I wasn't sure what to do. If this were a real combat situation, I'd strangle him until he passes out, but it's not like he hurt me too badly. Plus, it was me who started yelling.
"What now?" Sin's voice was muffled by the thick carpet.
"I don't want to hurt you." I said.
"Why's my face on the floor then? Out of love and care?"
I released his nape, slowly pulling him up into a sitting position. At this point he could spring up and run away, although with my hand firmly around his wrists, it would hurt like hell.
"You're all mindless brutes who think every problem can be solved with your fists." Sin rumbled.
"And you're all sociopathic hypocrites who want to handle everything through talks and pacts." I rebuked.
"We don't torture people."
"No, you just order us to do it."
I let him go. He immediately turned to face me. He had no injuries but he was angry.
Heavy silence settled on us. Still, it was better that his feigned respect.
"Have you heard about the Reid case?" He finally spoke. I shook my head.
"No, we barely discuss work, and I'm not a big fan of TV."
Sin's gaze wandered into the room. We caused a good bit of damage.
"It was the first case where my father allowed me to go with him. The vampire… the criminal was already in shackles, but this Hunter kept hitting him, over and over. Bits of flesh and bones scattered across the walls." Sin's fists clenched as he recalled the events. "I wanted to endure it, to prove myself, but I couldn't. I ran out the room and threw up in the corridor, then passed out from the blood loss."
Sin's tale was disturbing to hear. He staggered to the mattress, sitting down abruptly.
"Why did he do that?" I asked.
"I doubt he needed motivation." He cackled.
I sat beside Sin, trying to break the after-fight barrier we both put up. There's no discussing with a distant, angry man.
"Look into it. I'm sure there was a good reason for it. Maybe a hostage situation. Or a bomb threat. Or something. We aren't sadists."
Sin quietly sat looking at the torn papers on the floor.
"Plus, you said it best. We solve problems with our fists. So if there are fists, there's a problem."
This seemed to have convinced him, as he slightly nodded and went to open his laptop. Hopefully it was still in one piece.
I got up and put the bedframe back in its place. It was a solid chunk of wood to have survived me.
"Any other problems with Hunters? I'd rather have us fight it out before we get the room back into shape." I said, putting back the mattress.
"How about we stop fighting altogether and I figure out a better way to go about this. Secret or not this has to be documented somewhere in case we fail."
"Sure, whatever, just make sure it doesn't get into enemy hands. We can't fully trust anyone around here." I shrugged. I don't think I could dissuade him right now.
I finished throwing all the pillows and other slippery things onto the bed. The vampire was looking at my shoddy bed design, no doubt judging the heck out of it.
"Avalynn,"
"Hmm?"
"Why did you trust me of all people?" Sin asked.
It was a great question. Too bad I don't have a great answer.
"Hunter's hunch." I replied.
"That's not a thing."
"How would you know?" I asked mysteriously, then headed to the door.
"Where are you going? The room's still a mess." He asked, slightly alarmed.
"I cleaned up what I threw around, you clean your mess. See you tomorrow, Sin."
He grumbled as I left.