"And then ... and then she fell into the water!" Jack tried to keep from getting a stomach stitch, but laughter was hitting him hard. "By the time we fished her out, it was too late. The dress, the hair, the make-up, it was all ruined."

Jack, the smaller of the two, was sitting on his friend's couch. A leather couch, Jack was sure, or some expensive derivative. The walls were a solid white but for the paintings framed in elegantly simple, smooth framework. The paintings themselves were of dark things, both in color and what they showed. Jack was sure many of them were of harsh moments from the bible, but he could never be sure.

Who was he to judge though? He preferred white walls without anything on them.

"Oh wow. And this was her high school prom?" Julias was also sitting on the couch across from Jack, a grin on his lips and a glass of red in his hand.

Julias was badass. There was no denying it. Jack was a little guy, he knew it, and while he certainly took care of his body and had become quite lean and strong, Julias was a big, built man. He was tall, with broad shoulders and pale complexion. His hair was blond and slicked back flat to his head. It was almost a surreal movie. No one did that with their hair. No one could pull off that hair.

Julias could. Even here in his home, on the couch with a glass of red wine in his hand, the man was wearing a really, really ... a really nice suit. Far nicer than Jack's own, that was for sure. He had at least undone the jacket and loosened his black tie, but with the black shoes, black socks, and the cuffs, Jack guessed the cost of his getup at two months his own salary, at least.

"Yeah. She was so upset, I took her home and she missed the whole thing," Jack said.

"Oh my, took her home?"

"Ha! Man I wish. No, within five minutes of getting her home, she dumped me in a fit of blind rage."

"Ouch. You have my sympathies." Julias was trying to not laugh, if only to not spill his drink as he sipped it. Jack doubted it would have really put much of a dent into his friend's money even if he did though.

Jack had to stand up. Seeing Julias's place was always a blast, complete with a massive TV on the wall and wall-window view overlooking the city. He paced a little as he looked over the buildings below him. Marble floors in an apartment. The floors alone made his shitty shoes seem inadequate.

"Ever date anyone after?"

Jack almost gasped at Julias's sudden appearance next to him. He hadn't made a sound. Those shoes and marble floors and not a sound. Damn smooth.

"No. Ashley was the first and last girl I ever dated. Dumped me before I ever got past second base either." A moment's embarrassment passed, Jack looked back out the window with his hands in his pockets. His own suit was a pale, dyed comparison of Julias's, and the two of them standing next to each other made the sad idealism apparent.

"Oooh I see. So that's what this was all about. You wanted me to find you a girl."

"No ... well, maybe."

"Jack, I drag your ass to the gym so many evenings. You even talk to people there. You're not the weak little piss ant you were five years ago. Thought you'd have some confidence." Julias swished his red wine around in his glass. It always looked so thick.

"I have confidence."

"Then what's the problem?"

"A hatred for the human race and the stupidity of its populace?" Jack said.

"Or perhaps too much time on the internet developing ridiculous standards."

"Yeah, that too."

They both laughed. It was a weird friendship, to be sure, like fire and water. Julias was cool, suave, smooth and built. Jack was a lean little guy with a bitter tongue and too much time on his hands. They always had something to talk about.

"So you got that promotion at Barksen's?" Julias took another sip of his drink before looking at Jack. He put his back to the window and leaned against it with his free arm folded against his chest, hand hooked underneath the other arm.

"You know I had plans to get into law school," Jack said with a shrug. "Apparently, I'm good at making people do what I want. Barksen wanted me under his thumb early."

"I can't blame him. You're a master at breaking people to your will." Julias's sarcasm was almost dripping from his lips, but Jack countered it with a classic wink.

"Barksen thinks I am! He hired me didn't he, right out of high school."

"Yeah but you've been stuck at that job for almost three years, Jack. Barksen got you under his thumb because he knew you'd be cheap. He'd have to pay twice what he pays you to get that job filled by someone with a license." Julias looked down to his drink and gently swished it around with tilts of his hand.

Jack looked up to the older man with a slow squint, before he gave his own grin.

"You're right, you're right. I have money aside and I have the connections now. Barksen doesn't realize one of his partners is looking to branch, and neither of them realize Mr. Turner is looking to expand into this district either. I got a foot in with him too."

Jack must have looked absolutely pleased with himself. Why wouldn't he? With this plan he'd have a secure and stable future. He'd get his jobs, his promotions, and retire at a comfortably early age all the while having a comfortable life.

That was good, right?

"You got your ducks in a row then."

"I like to think so."

"No risks?" Julias said.

"I ... I don't know. I mean, why would I take risks?"

"When you want something, and really, truly want it, it likely means something or someone is stopping you from getting it so easily. Thus, risks."

"True. I guess I just haven't found anything worth taking risks for."

Julias took a long, hard look at Jack after those words. He even took a lick of his teeth. With a sigh, the older man stepped away from the glass and walked toward his kitchen. The apartment was a seamless connection of entryway to living room to kitchen to stairway to bedroom. Surprisingly large and spacious, and it let Julias walk to his counter to grab his wine bottle and refill his drink without breaking conversation.

"And if you had one?"

"If I had ... something worth taking a risk for?"

"Yes. Let's say you were ... fighting for power. Politics. What would you stoop to do to win a campaign?" Julias leveled his gaze on his small friend, and waited. His eyes were steel, cold, and Jack found himself squirming a little at the sudden stare. Why the abrupt change of mood?

"I suppose it would depend on how I felt about my rivals."

"Oh, predators. Predators, a lot of them. Given the opportunity they'd kill you, let alone your campaign." Julias licked his teeth again and offered another grin before sipping his red. "Some of them you'll hate, some you won't, but all would be willing to kill you in your sleep for their own goals."

"Whoa, that's ... that's a lot of risk for political power."

"But the rewards, Jack. The rewards are ... real power. You have your domain, you have peace, you have your way with whatever you want. With whoever you wanted." He beckoned for the small man, and Jack came. He didn't plan to, didn't even want to, but Julias's eyes were open and unblinking. They looked upon him, gazed upon him with a strange resonance.

" ... what's this about, Julias?"

"Answer the question."

"No, seriously, you're asking some we-"

"Answer the question." Julias's eyes flared wide, and Jack took a step back. The air around Julias seemed almost darker, as if the lighting had dimmed in some ridiculously cheesy horror film. Not so cheesy when you're in it.

"I..." Jack's mouth moved on its own. Why was he talking? He didn't mean to answer that question, but he couldn't stop. "I ... for my own goals? I'd ruin them. For my own life? ... I'd kill them."

"Kill them? Harsh words." The older man motioned for Jack to sit across from him at the counter, and the younger one sat obediently. He felt small, very small. All of a sudden the dark apartment felt less a cool hangout, and more a spider's web.

"Well fuck, man, I've never been in that situation. We're talking about some fantasy world where I'm a goddamn monster. I'm just going off my gut here. What's ... what's going on, Julias?"

With a long and weary sigh, Julias put down his glass and sat down as well. He leaned forward, and with netted fingers, put his chin on top of his knuckles. He wasn't playing, or kidding or joking, he was just staring Jack straight in the eye until the young man was almost sweating.

This wasn't the Julias he knew. This was frightening.

"I need help. I need someone I can trust. I need someone who will have my back when shit hits the fan."

"When shit hits the fan like back at Omack's? Right?" Jack said with a grin, but found his grin fading when Julias did not smile back. The man across the counter from him was almost glaring, but his gaze was more cold, more hard and dead than angry.

"What if, Jack ... what if you could ... leave it all behind." He stopped. He didn't explain himself. He just left the statement on the air, and Jack tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"I uh ... what?"

"I need someone to help me, and I think that person is you." Despite the compliment, Jack found himself squirming. Julias was not complimenting him aimlessly. He wanted something; all the signs of a business proposition were apparent. Jack saw them, and Julias knew he saw them. The problem was that despite this, Julias was still effortlessly in control of the conversation, and Jack felt smaller by the minute.

"My help? Julias you ... you make enough money to buy ten of me. What could I possibly—"

"Trust. You are my friend. And you are far better at the dance than you think."

"Dance?"

"Politics ... of a sort." Julias gave his small friend a playful grin, like a fucking tiger might before the kill. "But to my point, I need a friend, and I have a proposition for you. The dilemma is you have to leave it all behind."

"What is all?"

"All."

"You can't ... I don't ... Julias you got to help me out here." Jack knew his words would frustrate Julias, but the sheer vagueness of it all was driving him insane.

"All." Neither frustrated or impatient, Julias kept his voice smooth but stern. "You will move on from your current friends and family. They'll think you're dead. You'll be working with me, here in the South Side. You will have a new place to stay, and you will be powerful ... very powerful." The fact Jack's mouth had dropped open did not stop Julias. "The money is great, the power greater, but it's not about that. Well, not just about that. It's about ... a whole different world, Jack. A world with risks, and rewards." If his friend was trying to make it sound romantic, he was failing hard. So far, Julias's speech was only making Jack shake in his shoes.

Julias had gotten up at this point, and was walking around with his glass in his hand. He gestured with his words, but his cold gaze never left Jack. The smaller man couldn't help but take quick glances to his friend's drink, if only to avoid Julias's gaze. Has his red wine always been so thick?

"You'll be joining me in a long career, my good friend. You will have everything you've ever wanted, and more."

"I, I just, I ... I don't know! I mean, just ... abandon everything?"

"Everything. The only thing you'll keep from your old life is my friendship."

"But my fucking family, Julias! My mother, my sister, my fucking dog. My friends..."

"You don't have any close friends besides me, and you know you're not close with your family." Julias took another sip.

"Hey, I got ... yeah I got nothing." Jack slumped into a stool at the counter. "Holy fuck Julias. This is a pretty big goddamn thing you just dumped on me."

"A secret thing, by the way."

"Well yeah, considering the lead-up to your question, I get the impression I tell anyone about this and I'll have snipers at my back." Jack let his buzzed head fall to the counter, and lightly rolled it side to side.

"That is ... possible."

"Oh fuck. Oh god fuck fuck, I didn't believe it until you just said it."

"Jack. Take a breath. I'm not forcing you into anything. This is not an offer you can't refuse." Jack stirred lightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but otherwise kept his forehead on the counter "Think on it. Take a few days."

"A few days? Yeah ... yeah I think I'll do that." He pushed himself from the counter and stood there for a moment. Julias was standing across from him, the counter between them, and was kinda smiling, and kinda frowning. His expression alien and unreadable, Jack only grew more nervous, and eventually turned around.

"And here I thought we were going to talk about random shit." Jack walked to the door, put his hand on the handle, and took a glance back.

"Sorry," Julias said, and the man gave an apologetic shrug.

"So, this change, this job ... anything illegal?"

"Illegal? Not ... really. Different world, my friend. Different rules."

" ... mafia. This sounds like mafia stuff. That's why you have all these suits." Jack's words apparently caught the big guy off guard, cause Julias laughed and set his drink down.

"Cherry on top. Agree to join me, and I'll hook you up with a bunch of suits."

"Damn man. That..." Jack almost removed his hand from the door handle. "I'll definitely have to think about that. Cya."

It was a cold night. Jack couldn't help but shiver a little when his feet hit the sidewalk. The sun had set hours ago, and the moon was clear in the sky. At least as can be clear in a dense city. Even at this hour, people were walking the streets. Business suits and classy dresses were common. Sharks and call girls no doubt, but at least it wasn't as obvious or dirty as his neighborhood in the Alley.

"Even the prostitutes make me look like a low-class pleb," he said. He couldn't help but laugh at himself and adjust his tie. Presentation, presentation.

The bus station was a good twenty-minute walk, but the streets were crowded and the police didn't exactly sleep. Jack didn't worry, at least not about the people. The cold was starting to set in, and he could feel his toes starting to go numb. Business shoes were not good with cold.

"Excuse me."

Jack almost jumped. The voice beside him was smooth, alluring, feminine and inviting, but extremely unanticipated.

"Shit! Sorry, uh ... yes?" He turned to face the mysterious woman, and struggled to keep his jaw from dropping. She was gorgeous. Long red hair, pale skin, sharp blue eyes, and dark lips. It was unfair how gorgeous she was. The coat she wore, black and long, hugged her figure nicely and highlighted her thin physique. She was standing in an alley between two of the buildings, and her eyes almost glowed in the darkness.

"Do you know Julias?" She spoke so smoothly, so softly, that Jack found himself taking a step toward her. What was so inviting about that voice? At eye level with him, her gaze was unrelenting, but intoxicating. It pulled him, and almost as if a hand was tugging at his neck, she took another step forward.

Her eyes were just like Julias's.

"Uh ... yes..."

She grinned at him and licked at her lips in a not-so-subtle way, just like Julias would when flirting with a girl. With a raised hand, she beckoned the boy into the darkness. The cold was suddenly not a problem, and Jack stepped toward her yet again. The background shuffling of others grew quiet as he went deeper into the darkness toward the woman, and quieter yet again when his mind grew hazy.

"Did he ask for your help?" One of her fingers pressed to his chest, but it only magnetized him. Attached to her finger, Jack was deep into the darkness now. Any light that would normally line the walls in the alley were blown, yet the stranger's eyes were still clear in the black, like how a cat's eyes caught light.

"He ... did..." The words just came out. No resisting, nothing.

"Then you're the one I've been looking for."

He didn't even see the knife.

"I wonder if he took me seriously." Julias paced back and forth from his window, and only occasionally glanced out to look at the city lights. His eyes were fixed on his drink of red. His last attempt at maintaining at least somewhat normal eating habits.

He leaned forward and put his free hand against the window, but still his eyes stayed on his drink. The swirling pool of red was not transparent, and his gaze drowned in it.

"How am I going to do it? How could I explain ... I mean ... with Viktor it was ... Yeah, I don't want that." With a weary sigh, Julias walked back into his kitchen and put the glass on his counter. "I don't want to hurt him, and now I just left this bombshell on him ... he doesn't deserve that. I can't give him half-truths. Fuck Viktor. None of that manipulative shit." The whole conversation had been a horrible attempt to recreate Viktor's proposal, and just like then, the proposal had been terrifying. Smart. Way to ruin everything, Julias.

He snatched the glass up and raised it with his sights set on the sink. With a strained hand and tight grip, he slowly, very slowly lowered the glass back down.

"Don't smash the glass, control yourself," he said between clenched teeth. After putting the glass down, he walked toward the door, all the while looking at his shaking hand. He flexed and released it while his skin grew more and more pale. "Blood stains are a bitch."

"Where's that kid gone?" Julias strolled down the street as fast as he could without drawing attention. It was a cold night, but he didn't mind. While most everyone was in trench coats of some shape or another, Julias stuck with the suit. It was a nice suit; he felt good wearing it. He felt tall around these people. They were just sheep, after all.

"Yeah, I wonder ... how he'll feel walking down this street after it's done." A woman walked by and took a moment to glance Julias up and down. She was attractive, with her blond hair tied into some fashionable shape against her skull's crown. Julias managed a small nod and kept walking. "Never the same. He could shut himself up even more, or ... become cold and dead. I don't want another Viktor. If this is going to work, he needs to want it. I can't trick him into this."

He kept walking. That was it then. He'd have to explain to Jack tonight what this was really about, instead of letting the man stew for days with all his half-truths.

"I wonder if he'll hate me. I wonder if he'll tell anyone. If he told anyone, and I had to clean up that mess, and kill him..." No, don't think about it. Jack was a smart man, and a disturbingly tenacious little man at that. He could trust him. But shit happens, and if Jack did indeed try to spread the truth once the secrets were out, it would be on Julias's head.

"Fuck, not just my head. This isn't just a business deal. He's your friend. He's your—" His voice stopped, and he came to a dead halt in the street and looked around. Something wasn't right. His insides clawed at his ribs and demanded aggression. Someone was inside the domain. Someone was on the hunt inside his domain.

He broke into a run. People in his way were quick to move, and those that didn't were tossed aside. A few unlucky people found themselves more than knocked aside, and more than one crashed into nearby members of the street crowd with loud hollers of pain. He got faster, and bulldozed through a couple holding hands, each getting pushed to either side and landing against the sidewalk with bone crunching noises.

There was no way someone would have picked this night of all nights. Someone must have known, someone was watching him. Fuck, where's a Mekhet when you need one. Jack couldn't have gone far, he had only one possible route to walk, and he could glance down the alley of each as he ran by, but it was a long shot. Whoever was in his domain could have just taken Jack and run, or pulled him into the sewers, or worse.

Rage built inside him. Whoever it was, he was going to tear them apart. He was going to sink his fingers into their limbs and rip them out of their sockets. You do not just walk into someone's domain without permission, and there was no way this was done by accident, especially not on this night.

Finally, he could smell his friend. Jackpot. He had only to glance down an alley to see the coat of a woman, and the falling body of a boy. Oh god, if he was too late.

"Get away from him!"

The woman pulled away with a jolt. She gave him a glance, only one, before she turned and ran. She was like liquid. Her motions were beyond fluid and her speed was beyond his grasp. Daeva bitch. It had to be. She must have drawn Jack in and ... and...

"Jack! Shit, Jack!" Julias got to his knees and looked down over his little friend. "Fucking hell Jack, can you hear me?"

The small man coughed up blood, curled up on his side, and splattered some of it onto the street. He was always tiny, but now he looked like a spec against the dirty asphalt. Just a kid with a buzzed head in a bad suit, bleeding everywhere.

"I ... I just got stabbed, didn't I?" Blood was seeping out of where Jack kept his hands to his stomach. Julias fought to keep his eyes from staring at the growing pool. He would kill that Daeva with his bare fucking hands, with his teeth! No, not now, he had to focus.

"Move your hands, I have to see." Julias wrapped his grip around his friend's hands and pulled them away. Jack fought against him, groaned and moaned in pain, but Julias's strength easily overpowered him. "Hold still! I have to see how bad it is."