Los Angeles, CA
My partner dials a number and speaks Latin into the phone, as that was all that they spoke. Within minutes, two Aevis show up. They all have the same look; long, silvery, matted hair and long, black, thick fingernails, paler than pale white skin that seemed to glisten with every movement, and frightening, ethereal blue eyes. Aevis were skinny, but not so skinny that they look emaciated, and they all had sharp, angular faces. They wore clothes made from whatever they found in the sewers, often made of trash and rat and toad skins sewn together. They had the look of being constantly wet. If they wanted to, they could pass for human on a rainy day in a very dark club. There were men and women Aevis alike, and there was no differentiating between them, as they all looked genderless. Just as well, they never stayed long enough to chat. The two that showed up gave us a quick once over, nodded, then grabbed the body and disappeared without a word, their movements seeming so graceful and fluid it looked like I just watched a ballet. Once they were gone, I felt a shiver run up my spine and settle in the base of my skull. They live in the sewers in every major city all over the world, and feed on decaying flesh, preferably human. They made our job much easier once the Association found out about their existence. It was a symbiotic relationship, us helping them and them helping us. They didn't like to kill, not saying that they never did, and killing was all that we did. They would often find substitutes like toads and rats until someone from the Association gave them a fresh body, or they found one dumped from a murderer. The Association tried recruiting some of the Aevis, but they had a deep dislike for murder and they refused to learn English. They also refused to wear socially acceptable clothing. Turning to my partner, mostly to get my mind off the creepy Aevis, I ask, "Where to next?"