"No, count me out Ace, I'm not doing it. She's innocent. Miss Cheryl was nice to me every day since she moved here a month ago!"
"Jimmy you are a Viper. You don't have a say in this, you are part of us. We search and hunt witches since we first established as a clan three hundred years ago."
"What about the pact we have with the witches from here in Greendale,huh? You're willing to go to war with them for a hunch?"
"The pact states that we can't hurt witches with Greendale blood. Witches that are born from the founding families. She's a nobody, a stranger. No one's gonna say shit about it, in fact they will even thanks us. You know how they are about strangers moving in our town."
Ace Andrews was a hunter, and he was proud of it. He killed black magic since he was ten years old and after his father bailed the clan, he fought to become the leader. It was something in their genetics that made them sensible to witches. The Viper clan could smell them, see particles of white and black around them. It was actually quite simple, if the witch was practising black magic, black particles were dancing all around them, it was the same for the white ones. What he couldn't understand and never saw on any witch before, were red particles. And Cheryl Bllosom, his new neighbour had them all around her.
"All I'm asking, is if you see her around town, snooping or doing something sketchy, to report everything to me, kid. Something's off about this one and I can't pin point what exactly, yet."
"She never leaves her apartment, when she moved she installed three bolted locks on her door. She only talks with me, when she orders food it's always at late hours,when it's less crowded. I think she's innocent, she even seems like she's running away of something." Jimmy's continues plea for her was starting to annoy Ace to no end.
"I gave you a order, you are bound by blood to carry it out, kid. Now go home, it's almost the witchy hours."
"Fine, but I'm not hurting that woman, bro. Fuck your order!"
Hearing his little brother slamming the door on his way out made him sigh. Ace knew that his little brother needed more time to grow up, but the cruel world didn't have time for that. The world wanted to eat you up, leaving nothing behind. Tired, he collapsed on the couch looking at the fan above. His apartment was simple, a bedroom, a kitchen, bathroom and a living room. But the living room was usually where he stayed the most. His bedroom became a studio for his paintings a long time ago. He never brought women home, he went to their apartment to loose some steam. His apartment was his, and only his. Ever since he broke up with Imen, the only women to got a glimpse of him, he couldn't let anyone else in. And Ace learned that the hard way.
He felt Aishteru, the wolf he found in the woods a couple of years back, getting on the couch, resting her head on his legs. He knew she was judging him with her green eyes, even if he wasn't looking down at her. She was telling him to let it go, but that was the thing. He couldn't, and he wouldn't.
"Life's are at stake, babygirl. I can't lose sight of that. The Viper's depend on me, it's my duty to know if she's a threat or not." And while he scratched her behind her black ears, he has trying to convince himselft that, that was the only reason why he wanted to know who Cheryl Blossom really was.