Gideon's Love

A Kill

Gideon rubs his temples, looking up at the Prophet. The Prophet was an old woman with a direct line to the Realm of Gods. She gave him the heebies with her silver-grey hair, double-irised silver eyes, and teeth that looked like they belonged in a teenager's. She was ancient before he was born, so he has no idea how old she is now.

He leans back, taking in the information that she gave them. "So what you're saying is that if we kill the entire Alderate clan, many illegal organizations will fall? Why didn't we do that from the beginning?" He puts his arms out in frustration. "You've been having us run after these low-level criminals when we could just go after the heads."

The Prophet side eyes him in irritation. "Criminals will still find criminal activities even after a management change. They still had to go. And I didn't say the entire organization will fall; I'm saying it will extremely hamper them." She tsks as she sits back in her lounge chair and reaches for her tea. "They were nearly wiped out after Jake Alderate ratted his family out. Your parents went at them hard, but they still have their hands in almost everything related to the criminal underworld. They're about to make a resurgence in the political world, and we have to stop at all costs," She glares at Gideon and Achlys. "If you have to let Orias out, do it."

Gideon nods and looks over at Achlys, who shrugs her shoulders. The Prophet sighs and points to a side table near the exit. "We should have destroyed them when only two were left; now, there are seven of them. Addresses and names are in that journal. You may go."

Gideon lets out a deep breath while he stands up. Hopefully, these kills will be quick and easy. It's not that he doesn't like what he does because he enjoys it, but it would be nice to have a night off once in a while.

Orias mumbles under his breath, "Our show was on tonight, dammit." Gideon releases another sigh and silently agrees with Orias. Korean food and binge-watching shows would have been nice, even hitting a club afterward. It's been weeks since he's gotten laid.

He grabs the journal by the door, and with Achlys skipping manically behind him, they leave the room together.

Gideon looks down at Achlys, who seems lost in her little world. She's up to something or did something. Either way, it's going to be more work for him. He doesn't want to ask, and he almost doesn't, but the last time he just let it go, she nearly caused an international incident. "What's going on with you? Did you get into the prophet's snacks again? You know those aren't for you".

She shoots him a quick glare before spitting out, "I know! I'm not a damn child. I won't do that again." She slowly smiles and continues skipping. "I made a friend, well.... he doesn't know he's my friend yet, but he will be. I creeped him out today, and he ran away, but he'll be back." She smiles smugly and walks ahead of him.

Gideon scoffs. She doesn't make friends with anyone; she hates everyone except Orias, him, and the Moon Goddess. "I better not have to rescue this 'friend' from a basement," he grumbles.

She shoots him another glare and hisses, "I told you, that was an accident. I got caught in a demon trap, and she locked herself in....It.was.an.accident."

Orias cackles while Gideon internally winces, remembering that night. Accident or not, getting all the blood out of the walls took days.

He looks down at the journal in his hand and picks out a kill, the closest one to them just a few blocks away. If they hurry, he could catch his show.

He looks up at Achlys, who's spinning in a circle, calling out a name; he doesn't pay attention to who she's calling. He really doesn't care. She has moments of complete clarity and brilliance, and then, at times, she's like this...totally nuts. She might be centuries older than him, but half the time, he feels like he's babysitting. He loves her; he really does. She's like a nutty aunt who likes to get them into mischief.

Orias calls her an i***t savant, gifted in the art of killing, but can't figure out matching socks. He is worried about this new friend she made, for the friend...not her.

He lets her spin for a few more minutes before reeling her in. It's better to let her release some energy so she can focus on the task at hand. "Achlys, wanna go kill?"

She stops mid-spin. "Finnnnn-yeah, I could kill. Who's up first?" She straightens her cloak and puts her game face on while settling down.

Gideon looks back down at the journal, reading the names on the list. "James Alderate and his son. They live over on Hanover Street, in those row houses...3201 Hanover. It's an end unit."

Achly's face lights up. "James Alderate and son.." She chuckles, and a small, sweet smile crosses her face as she gets lost in memories. "I killed his dad, Luca, in cat form. It was pretty epic".

Gideon sighed. He knew what was coming next. Without a trace of irritation on his face except in his eyes, he sat down and waited for Achlys to get through her story. He'd heard this story his whole life and not just from her; it was a legendary story still passed around and told around campfires. And not just retold; the CCTV footage went viral for years. Memes and GIFs were created, and t-shirts have been sold in every gift shop. His mom has a magnet on the fridge to this day. The only difference with the retelling is the point of view and the fact his family had no idea their former pet cat was a demon.

Gideon tunes her out while he thinks about how they will do this kill. Orias clears his throat, and he realizes Achlys is watching him. He sighs again and listens.

"…. I think to myself, 'Wouldn't it be funny if I kicked him back down, and he started all over again?' So, I kick him right in the side. My chubby cat form just dropkicks him, but he gets tangled up and falls to his death, slamming into rebar, and the rope just kept spinning around him until he looked like this bloody snowball. He bounces through the air like ten feet, the rope gets caught on this metal beam, and he just hangs there... spinning. Your dad called him the Luca ball, and it stuck," She laughs and wipes a tear from her eye.

That part really stuck the Luca ball. For years, people made disco and New Year's Eve drop balls in the image of Luca. It was a humiliating way to go.

Gideon exhales deeply while watching her cackle to herself, "Can we focus now and do this kill?"

"Oh, yeah. Let's go." She fixes the Velcro on her light-up shoes and straightens out her cloak. "I'm ready"

Gideon rolls his eyes, and they phase into a shadow coming out behind the Alderate's home. He looks down at his watch. It's 4 p.m. They just need to take out these two easy peasy and go home before Lilah cheats on her husband at 7 p.m.

Achlys takes off her cloak, hangs it on a nearby tree's branch, and then limbers up with a few stretches.

"You're not going in there to win a gold medal." With his voice laced with amusement and eyes twinkling, he continues to watch her.

She snorts and pops her neck. "I read an article online about the importance of stretching before strenuous activities, especially for people over the age of fifty." She reaches her toes and counts to ten. "I wouldn't want to pull a hammy."

He knows better than to interrupt her when she gets an idea in her head. Gideon stands by until she's finished, and then they phase through a shadow into an empty room. They can hear a TV playing loudly in the living room some distance away and a dog barking next door. The room across should have the boy. They cross the hall and open the door. They both stopped in confusion, looking at the blood-covered room. At first glance, the room looked empty until Gideon spotted the small hand on the other side of the bed. He walked over to the hand and slid around the side of the bed, looking down at the small, blood-covered body.

He knelt down thinking the boy was dead; he was on his stomach with blood pooling out, large slashes crisscrossed his back, and, if he had to guess, his front too. He moved the blood-soaked hair out of the kid's face, looking down at deep, painful gashes. As he was about to get up, the boy's fingers twitched and crept to his shoe. A small pain-filled gasp came out of the kid, and Gideon rolled him over. Large tears worked their way out of the sides of the boys' eyes. He took in a racking breath that gurgled. The sound was a good sign that a lung had been punctured.

For once, Gideon felt compassion for one of his targets. He didn't realize just how young this kid was going to be. He gently eased his arm under his head and lifted his body halfway off the floor, preparing to snap the kid's neck. It was the least cruel way he could kill this child. The boy's eyes opened, looking deeply into Gideons. A tiny spark hit his soul that left him confused. In a low whisper, the boy asked Gideon to kill him.

Gideon's heart lurched; he could feel Orias shift uncomfortably, equally upset. Orias wanted to leave; he didn't understand this feeling. Even in this state, he could tell the boy was beautiful. His sky-blue eyes were red from the lack of oxygen, but something in those eyes spoke to him. He lifted the boy up and turned with him in his arms. Achlys turned towards him and gasped. Rage slowly built up in her eyes as they filled with tears. Gideon was now perplexed.

She stepped to him, "No, no! Finn..." She shuffled her feet, trying to figure out what direction to take. Was this the 'friend' she was talking about? Her breathing became erratic as she closed the space between them, tugging her hair. She placed a hand on his head while her eyes turned to pitch black. He knew she was sifting through his memories to find out what happened. She removed her hand, and he listened to her body crackling as she shifted into her complete demon form.

Black, charred skin and demonic eyes looked down at him. In her entire form, she was a terrifying beast. Half solid, half shadow. She rarely became enraged enough to go this far into her state. "Save him, he's good". With that, she jumped into a shadow, and seconds later, a blood-curdling scream of pain and fear echoed throughout the house.

He looked down at the small body in his arms and pulled him closer; he was already so cold. He needed to move quickly. His mind linked to his dad as he jumped into the shadows coming out in front of the pack hospital. Running through the doors of the emergency room, he called for help.

A woman grabbed a bed and pulled it to him while staff surrounded Finn. He struggled to let go of him. He wanted to hold him until the end but knew he had to let them take him. He wasn't sure why he reacted so strongly to someone he was ready to kill, not even a few moments ago. He called a nurse to him; he knew they would need lycan blood if they were going to save him. Finn's wounds were almost too far gone. A few drops of a powerful lycan can drastically speed up the healing process, so he hoped it would make a difference.

When the nurse finished, Gideon sat in an empty hallway alone. He knew it could be hours before he heard anything, but he felt he should wait for Finn. Someone should wait for Finn.

Achlys popped into the seat next to him out of thin air, back in her humanoid form. She was soaked in blood and sat quietly beside him for a few minutes. "Take care of him for me, hm? I've been watching him for almost a year now. He has a kind heart and a pure soul. I wanted to keep him like that, but it's too late now." She rolls the back of her head against the wall behind her, leaving a streak of blood. "The little s**t keeps trying to pet me and feed me chicken," she chuckles without humor. "I really did just want to be friends with him."

Gideon looks at her with eyes full of concern and understanding, "Where are you going?"

She lifts the journal up and gives it a little shake. "Hunting," she gave him a humorless smile, "I ripped his dad in half; he's probably not going to want to be my friend."

Gideon gave her knee a slight squeeze. "We know nothing yet; let's give him some time... if he survives."

"Your dad is here." Gideon looks towards the entrance as his dad walks in. He looks back at Achlys, but she's already gone. He knew he wouldn't see her for a while. He silently prayed for her as his dad walked to him and sat down.

He took a deep breath and explained what he could to his dad. His dad may not be able to know every detail, but with this, he knew his dad could help. The Gamma has a lot of connections still.