Loosing my way (Akee)

[Adrian]

Adrian stood, his eyes locked with those of his opponent, both staring at each other unflinchingly, the air thick with hate. Slowly, Adrian clenched and unclenched his fists, his quiet breathing the closest thing to an audiable sound in the room. Neither spoke, neither looked away, and neither showed anything but pure desire for the other's destruction. Adrian was stiff with rage, the look of that face always brough tout bad things in him, very bad things. The first blow drew blood, and Adrian kept hitting and hitting, barely feeling the skin being stripped from his knuckles or sensein the blood running down his hands. By the time his directed frenzy faded all there remained of his foe was a series of bloody stains on the wall and a pile of broken glass on the floor. Adrian couldn't help feeling a slight bit of regret at the sight, getting that mirror down here hadn't been easy.

Picking out a pair of tweezers, he got to work pulling out the glass fragments that had gotten stuck in his hands and tossing them down to where the rest of the mirror lay, blood freely dripping down to the floor and his shoes, being absorbed by either. The room this had all taken place in was the cellar of the Bullseye bar, a surprisingly large locale filled with all sorts of junk. Adrian had come here before, as evidenced by the series of blood splatters on the free walls. After having removed the final fragment Adrian desposited the pair of tweezers back in his pockets, and then he took a defensive position in front of a nearby spot of unstained wall. His first blow made him grimace as the skinless flesh met the rough, unpainted concrete, but he landed another, and another, and didn't stop until fresh blood was splattered over the no longer stainless wall. Afterwards he wrapped a pieace of cloth around each of his hands, feeling slightly better. The pain kept the anger at bay, and the skin would become hardened callouses whilst even the tiniest fracture in his knuckles would strengthen them greatly. However, through all of this, he had remained oblivious to the fact that he was not alone. When his nose caught the scent of someone besides himself in the room, he froze. "Roman?" He called, hoping that he would finally get his hands on that bloody demon. "Come on out, the show's over."

[Akeelah]

It had been awhile since Akeelah last came to this place to train. She had taken a week off of any serious training, or at least she tried to. She had hit a bit of a slump and tried to relax for the week but that never happened. She was restless, too pent up and needed to do something. She could not just relax but lately she felt like she had reached a slump in her skills. She was not progressing any higher than what she already knew and that was troubling. If she could not improve how could she ever hope to accomplish her goal? That’s why she was here in Bullseye, the old abandoned bar in town. It was the place she did a lot of her training when she did not do it at home. It was quiet, private the perfect place to go and train in peace since no one else bothered to come here.

Today though she was not the only one there. Akeelah stepped inside of the bar and was heading towards the cellar when she heard a noise. She stopped at the top of the stairs and strained her ears to hear what it was. Someone else was down there but what? She drew a one of her knives and quietly made her way downstairs keeping her eyes and ears open for any signs of movement from the uninvited guest. It could be a demon or maybe a human, she wasn’t sure but either ways whatever it was had entered her territory. She was not willing to share this spot with anyone else especially if it was a demon, if she had to she would fight for it but first she needed to see what she was dealing with first.

The first thing she noticed was the smell of blood hanging thick in the air making her more cautious in her approach. When she finally made her way down the stairs she saw the source of all the chaos. It was some boy that she did not know pounding his bleeding fist repeatedly into the wall either in some bizarre training method that she did not know of or to let out some anger she could not be sure.
Akeelah hid herself deep in the shadows out of sight of the other as she watched him at work. From the looks of the place he had been at this for quite some time now. There was blood all over the place, just what the hell was this guy doing? After a few minutes passed by the boy stopped to wrap himself up with. Guess he was done for the day; she would just wait for him to leave before she did anything. He was odd but he was not much a threat right now so there was no need to attack, so long as he did not notice her there was no need to worry. It was a good thing too that he did not hear her coming down the stairs. From where she was hiding now it would pretty difficult to see her. She blended into her surroundings well enough that to the untrained eye she was virtually in visible.

Or so she thought… while he was wrapping his hands up he froze suddenly. Her grip on her knife tightened slightly, did he catch onto her? He called out which only confirmed her suspicisions. Crap he did know she was there. Well, he knew that someone was here. The name Roman did not ring a bell but he was obviously this guy’s enemy. He probably did not know where she was right now. Akeelah stood her ground for a minute debating what to do. If she did not say anything than the boy would start sniffing around it would only be a matter of time before he found her. If that happened then there would be a fight. If she showed herself she could not be sure if he would try anything, the odds might be better that he wouldn’t attack her if she did show herself. If he did though she was more than capable of defending herself. It was worth the shot since she did not have many options left. Taking what she would hope would be the less violent route Akeelah put away her weapon, concealing it underneath her clothing and stepped out of the darkness. If she was going to take the less violent route she had to show that she was harmless. She doubted that this guy would be willing to trust her if he saw the weapon. Even if he attacked her she could easily pull it out again or any of the other knives she had hidden underneath her clothing. Akeelah never left the house without some weapon on her for instances like this, she was prepared for the worst.

“Didn’t mean to interrupt.” She said coolly as she revealed herself. “You seemed pretty busy so I didn’t want to disturb you.” Akeelah did her best to look as harmless as she possibly could which wasn’t such a hard thing to do for someone as small as she was. This better work or else I might get into so serious shit.

[Adrian]

An african-american girl came out of the shadows, one of Roman's disguises? He clenched his fists, his entire body trembling with suppressed rage for a few seconds before he managed to calm himself down. The girl, for her scent bore no trace of Roman's corruption, would never know how close she had come to die. "Busy, yeah." He spoke slowly, using the word she herself had used a not long ago. As he spoke he lifted one of his now covered hands to study the emerging spots of blood through the cloth. "I was hoping I was the only one who knew about this place." Or that at least that marks of my previous business would have scared off those who found it. He had been here a few times before, starting a few weeks after he had re-located his parents here. That had been a rather stressfull time for him.

He gazed from his hand to the observer and put on a weary smile. "Bad day." He would say, using one of his more calming smiles, the mirrorbreaking had served it's function. "I come down here sometimes when I need to... react, away from the outside world. People don't understand, sometimes you need to work outside the box. Look, sorry, you didn't ask for this. Just, please, don't tell anyone, the last thing I need are a bunch of fucked-up psycologist-wannabes with hard-ons for messing up other people's lives to take a personal interest in me. There's enough shit going on and I really don't need that, alright?" Technically, he wasn't lying, but he took care not to reveal the true depths to which the stress had taken him, as well as the severity of its origin. "It's... It's just been one bucket of shit after another these past few weeks, you know? This is one of the closest things I get to relaxing." This time, he was telling the truth.

[Akeelah]

Her own body tensed slightly when the boy said nothing preparing for a sudden attack. She had really caught this guy at a bad time; he looked like he would blow at any moment if she was not careful. But soon he relaxed and she relaxed her own guard slightly and listened to him talk. So it was not his first time here from what he was saying he had been around in this place for a few weeks. Around the time that Akeelah had not return here for training. Bullseye was just one of the few places that she trained in. Switching locations up was very important in her line of work; she did it to ensure that no one could track her down if they started to nose in on her business. That’s why she had not been around here for a few weeks and now she might have permanently lost one of her spots. It was a shame really, sure she had other locations but she had grown accustom to this place and liked coming here when she had the time. To lose it now would be a shame but what else could she do? She could tell him to get the fuck out but that would only end in an unnecessary fight and this guy did not seem like an easy guy to fend off. Akeelah was tougher than she looked but that did not mean she was invincible, and this guy looked tough and she could bet that he was a vicious fighter so fighting was a no. Even if she did drive him out he would still know about this place and that would defeat the purpose of switching locations as often as she did. Leave as little trace as possible that was the rules she had to stick with those rules. Maybe there was another way to deal with this little problem that she had not thought of yet.

“Don’t worry I won’t tell anyone.” She replied to his request. “Not like I have anyone to gossip to about things like this.” Akeelah was not exactly the talkative type anyway so the likelihood of her ratting him out to anyone was zero to none. Even if she wanted to she had no clue who this guy was so the most she could say was she met some guy down here. No one would ever know his identity; his secret would be safe with her. “Besides I sometimes come here for the same thing.” That was slightly true, training was a great way to relieve stress it kept you focused and let you let out some anger. The reason she had come down here was partly because she needed to do just that, didn’t look like she would be able to do so today. She also needed to say it to give herself an excuse to be down here. That question would come up soon enough wouldn’t it? Better to get it out of the way now, and in such a matter that she could avoid revealing too much about herself to someone she did not even know.

[Adrian]

This one had spirit, and as much as a fight would help release some of that pent-up rage, but it wouldn't be right, the code of those precious few rules he restrained himself with would be broken. He did not want to see himself unrestrained, not under this much pressure, bad things would happen. "Thanks." He didn't imagine her running off to tell anyone in a hurry, if what she said was true she had no one she'd get cheap thrills out of gossiping with and she didn't know him well enough to pretend to care about his mental health. A lost cause, that last one, and he was becoming more acutely aware of it lately.

"Really?" She claimed to come here for the same reasons. He assumed she meant either through screaming or hard workouts, since her knuckles were relatively unmarred, if still hard, and the only blood splatters on the walls belonged to him. At least, the ones on the visible parts of the wall. Then he remembered something. "I take it you were using the sandbag, then?" There was a sandbag that he had taken down and set aside not long ago, seeing as it was in the way and did not offer enough resistance. He had planned on using it later. "It's just back there, I took it down since it was in the way." He stuck his thumb over his shoulder, indicating the training object in the shadows behind him. The he got curious. "Any particular reason that you don't go to the gym? No to be nosy, but they should have some very apt facilities there, I hear." He himself had two prime reasons not to go; he did not want others to see what he was capable of, and neither to see the true him, the one that lurked just below his skin-deep facade of intellectual eccentricity.

[Akeelah]

“Yeah that’s mine.” She said, looking over to where the sand bag normal was only to find out it was no longer there. He probably moved it somewhere else. Of course Akeelah never bothered to take the thing with her; this was her training spot so why remove the equipment. Now though she might have to take the thing back with her. It was a pain to bring it here in the first place and now it would be a pain to remove it. Then the thought struck her, maybe she could share this place. At first she was unwilling to do so but as strange as this guy might be he was not much of a threat to her. All he wanted was a place to blow off steam and as much of a people person that she was she could understand and even empathize with that. This guy seemed different to the other morons that she had to deal with in the past. Unstable yes but interesting, as odd as that sounded it was enough that she did not hate him on sight. That was saying a lot. It still raised the same problem though, if she was really going to go for that option she needed to make sure that he was no threat to her directly or indirectly. Even if he would not raise a hand against her he might have enemies that would try to come after her if they saw them together or going to the same place. This Roman guy sounded like an enemy to him, she just needed to know if it was from simple dislike or something far more dangerous.

He asked her a question that stopped her from being able to ask her own for the time being. Thankfully it was not that hard of a question for her to answer. Lying was something she was good at, she already covered her tracks earlier on and now she just had to continue with that angle to avoid revealing the truth. “I like my privacy.” She said, “I am not much of a people person so gyms bother me.” That also had a small ring of truth to it. She did not like people and went out of her way to avoid them. Though the real reason for avoiding them was simply she could not practice her knife wielding skills in any local gym. If she could not practice to the fullest there was no point in going to a place like that. Not like he needed to know that.

“Who is this Roman guy, is he the reason you are down here right now?” she asked, it was obvious he did not like the guy but now was the moment to find out just how deep that hatred lied. No doubt she would touch a nerve by asking this question and she was prepared for it but unless she got the answer to this she could not possibly ask what she wanted to next.

[Adrian]

So, it was hers. Those were still good when you practiced hitting someone, seeing for one's inner eyes a myriad of hands and arms blocking your path, finding the flaws in their parries, the holes in their defenses to their kidneys, airways and other soft spots. But for hardening your knuckles they could only do so much, and he had surpassed that boundary a few years ago. Walls and mirrors had done the trick since.

He listened as she continued to speak, trying to glean as much from her words as he could. She really did not seem to like people around her, she wanted to hide something from them. Whether this was a dark power or simply beause she was tired of lewd comments from guys who thought their bloated muscles infused their lives with some sort of meaning, he decided he didn't care at the moment. She disliked being surrounded by morons, and he could relate to that. But her question, the mention of Roman's name, drew his face into a fixed mask of disdain. He forced himself to smile, though the smile came out without showing any hint of warmth or humour. Mostly, it just showed teeth.

"In a sense, yes." He raised his bloodied fist and stared at it intently, balling it up into a tight fist, the little ripples of pain causing his smile to widen. "Can't do this in the gym, either. Mind you, next time I find him I'm not letting him get away." During their last, and second, encounter, the demon had faded to nothingness in the initial confusion caused by Adrian's homemade smoke-bomb. He was still looking for some kind of compound that he could add to the bomb to prevent his target from escaping again. "Besides, only goes to show the incompetence of the Guards, wouldn't you say? Letting a demon like that run around and shank elderly school-teachers?" One thing Adrian was not about to do was getting marked down by this one as a psycho-killer. He had already revelaed too much of his intentions about Roman, so letting it slip that Roman just happened to be a demon would make him look less like a homicidal maniac and more like an overly enthustiastic hunter. At least, he hoped so. The only reason that he cared whether or not Roman was a demon was that had he not bee none, he would most likely have died that night. Next time, it wouldn't matter.

[Akeelah]

She listened to him talk about Roman, noting the forced smile he gave her as he talked. That smile was enough to tell her just how much he disliked the other. No, more like despised him. This feeling of hatred was too strong to be simple dislike of the other. Then he said the word ‘demon’ and it drew her interest even more. This boy was planning to take on a demon? She observed him carefully; he did not seem like a hunter. He certainly had the potential; he looked like a fighter but not a demon hunter. Then again neither did she but still if he had no experience in slaying demons he would not stand a chance against such creatures alone.

“You shouldn’t be messing around with demons unless you know what you are doing.” She said flatly. “Or at least not alone, especially if its strong.” She wasn’t going to stop his boy from taking on the demon if he was that adamant on taking him out, but the hunter in her could not just leave him to his own devices. Of course there was more to her desire to stop him from getting killed. Akeelah had an interest in this demon now, he could be the one that she was searching for or related to the one who slaughtered her family. If he was the one she wanted then she will take this boy’s kill without a second thought. She had more of a beef against that monster than this boy could ever have. It would not be a complete waste either if she was wrong. This guy had a lot of potential to become a great hunter. With a bit of training he could become a good fighter if he wasn’t one already. As much as she hated dealing with people she could not let that kind of potential go to waste. He probably would not mind the offer either if she gave it to him if he knew what she did for a living. But first she needed to know just what he was.

“So tell me, do you have any experience in demon slaying?”

[Adrian]

His fist clenched tightly at her statement and his face twisted into another v-shaped smile. Arrogance, he couldn't stand it, least of all from those with nothing to back up their bloated egos which seemed to be the rule rather than the exception. But he relaxed himself, knowing that now was not the time nor the place for a fight. Making an enemy of this one would be both stupid and short-sighted, and at the very least she was right in that nobody should go after game they could not take on. But he had yet to meet such game.

A moment of silence past in which they were both looking each other over. No, she could definitely fight, her muscles were sufficient to take and deliver punishment whilst not being big enough to get in the way of her mobility, but most importantly, she had the air of a warrior, she knew how to handle herself. Perhaps, she thought that her experience was great than his. Time would tell.

And it did, her next question revealed it through her half-hidden patronizing tone. She did have some experience, her confidence seemed solid and so it was well-grounded. Either that or she was delusional. "I've had my share of scraps with demons, both humans and otherwise." The greatest threat to humanity was not the demons, oh no, it was the people who had summoned them there to the uman world for their own petty wants and desires. They were the cancer that needed to be cut out before humanity could reach its true potential. "Yourself?" He needed to know just how much experience she had, because killing the little demons were just plain easy, something a child could do. Roman, on the other hand, could very well require... special attention.

[Akeelah]

The anger Adrian felt over what she said was painfully obvious just by the way he acted. It was the subtle things, the clenched fist, the awkward silence, and of course that fake smile. That smile was enough to frighten any normal person. But unfortunately for him Akeelah was not ‘normal’. It did worry her a little though; this kid could be a scary opponent to fight when he was angry. She would have to make a note to watch what she said or did around him….nah, she would not willingly bend to his will just to stay on his good side. If he didn’t like her then that was his own problem. If he went as far as to attack her she could handle it. Nothing that this guy could do would ever be as traumatizing than what she had to deal with when she was a child. Back then she was weak and helpless, just learning how to fight but had never been in a real fight before. Now she had that experience, she had the power to defend herself, this guy did not worry her.

Akeelah could tell that he was studying her which only helped to confirm that he had to have some fighting experience. Only the inexperienced would not take the time to observe their potential opponent. If he was like most of the brain dead idiots in town he wouldn’t have bothered to do so, he would have easily dismissed her as a threat. It gave her some confidence that maybe; just maybe this guy was stronger than she thought. What he said confirmed her suspicions, so he did. That was good, that meant he was not just jumping head first into a fight he could not possibly win. Akeelah did not know who this Roman was but he was probably a strong creature, not something to take lightly. With any luck he could be the one that she was looking for or had some relations to the one that she was looking for. All she needed to do was get as much information as she could about him. She just needed to persuade this guy to give it to her.

“I was born and raised as a demon hunter.” She answered bluntly. “I kill those things for a living.” There was no need to hide it anymore or dance around what she did for a living. If she was going to get this guy on her side and maybe even help him accomplish his goal without telling him the truth. “Listen, I don’t know how strong either you or this demon is and I won’t stop you from chasing after him. You obviously have some vendetta against this Roman guy and I can relate but I would like to offer my assistance. That is if you are willing to take it?” The choice was his in the end to make, Akeelah wouldn’t force him to take her help but she wasn’t going to turn a blind eye to this even if he did she would still keep tabs on this.

[Adrian]

Raised to hunt? Killing for a living? For fuck's sake, get it into your head: THAT'S NOT ROMAN! NO KILLING! He shook his head, clearing it. He really needed to get back to hunting again, his mind was being clouded by his desire to kill, and he was seeing Roman everywhere. He needed to react on something again, and soon or he would make a mistake and someone, perhaps an innocent, would pay for it.

"So, you're one big happy family of hunters, living the American dream and doing what you love for a living? Does the mayor pay you or do you simply sell of the corpses?" He wasn't sure what he was digging at, but he was in a bad mood and wanted to hurt someone. If he could provoke her to take the first swing, in his mind then beating the living shit out of her would be okay.

[Akeelah]

She stood frozen in her spot for a moment and just stared at the boy as if confused by what he said. Then the weight of those hit her like a brick and she was almost consumed by rage. That ignorant son of a bitch! Akeelah glared at the other with a cold fury powerful enough to still serpents in their dens. She entertained herself with the idea of plunging a knife through his pin-size head and had to her damned best to not do so now. Those words had stung in a way that this fool could never understand. Akeelah never gained any pleasure from what she did, no glory or even any sense of honor. There was no honor in revenge; if she wasn’t chasing down a ghost from her past to avenge those that she had loved she would have given all of this up long ago.

Even her father who was the reason she became a hunter in the first place did not do what he did for fame or fortune. He did what he did because he cared for his community. Her father wanted to protect those that could not protect themselves and taught his children to do the same. He was a kind and caring man that put the lives of others above his own. And what did he get in return for his deeds? Death. It was unfair that someone who worked so hard for others to receive nothing but pain and demise in the end. Akeelah tried to take his place but in the long run her need for vengeance far outweighed the need to help others. And now the one time she did willingly offer to help someone for reasons beyond her own personal gain (she could not deny that was one of her reasons to help in the first place) only to have that person not just insult her but the memory of her father.

This was why she hated people and never wanted to deal with them on a daily basis. They did and said stupid, sometimes insensitive things to one another. Akeelah had been a loner even before the incident and had become even more withdrawn from society. This guy reinforced that hatred of others, she was mad enough to kill him but she knew that she couldn’t. Unless he was a demon in disguise he wasn’t worth the effort, there was only one person worthy of that and this bastard wasn’t it.

“If you think that I am shallow enough to risk my life to be famous or make money out of this then you are a fucking idiot.” She said flatly. This asshole was no different than all the other jerks that she tried to avoid. It was painful to think that her father sacrificed himself for people like this. Did this boy even know true pain and suffering? No, probably not. Not like she would tell him the truth about how she had ended up on this path. Like such an asshole could ever sympathize with that, nor would she want him to. She shook her head, fuck this he wasn’t worth the annoyance he was bringing. “I’m just wasting my time.” She mumbled more to herself but it was loud enough that he could pick it up. Her eyes met his once again, the rage in them was still just as intense as before but her voice had turned cold.

“I was thinking about helping you but it’s obvious that you want to fuck yourself over so I’ll leave you to your own demise. I can only hope you don’t condemn anyone that you are close to just to fight a battle you cannot win.” He was probably too stupid to consider the danger he would bring upon his friends and family if Roman decided to emotionally hurt him. At least she could have ensured that that much would not happen. Maybe draw more of the heat onto her since she had nothing to lose but right now she was too angry to care. “Have fun getting your ass beat.” With that she turned to leave. If he was going to attack her for what she said she was ready for it but as it stood now he was probably wouldn’t. If he did though she would be glad, it would give her an excuse to kick his ass for insulting her and taking her spot. I hope you die.

[Adrian]

Adrian would not want to admit it, but her anger took him by surprise. Oh, he had exptected to make her angry, prodding at the flaws in her armour, but this? This was on a wholly different level. More reluctantly, he came to realize that she was right. He knew very little about Roman, and the fact that he had been able to escape him like he had meant that, at the very least, he'd probably be able to do that again, never mind what other tricks he had up his smoky sleeves. When the girl turned to leave, Adrian resolved to do something he very rarely did, and almost never had done with any kind of spirit. It felt awkward, it was an uncommon thing for him to do, and the self-applied gauze made it sound weird. He began clapping.

He clapped, lifting his hands and slapping them against each other. It hurt a little bit, though the wounds were not directly disturbed and he had felt much worse. He clapped, and walked forwards, towards her. He would be just outside of her immediate range when he stopped, but it was a gap that wouldn't take too long to close. "I don't know who trained you, and I can't tell how good a fighter you are, but whoever did, however it was done, I've never seen a mind so perfectly honed for what you do. I respect that." It was a weird, warm feeling, it felt as though a pod inside him had broken and something warm and soft was making its way out. It wasn't entirely unpleasant, but it was new. "I needed to see that you weren't just the run-of-the-mill sociopath who turned on demons thinking to make a name for yourself, and I can see now that you are not. You have spirit, and guts. I'd be glad to go hunting with you." It was weird, weird and dangerous, but still somehow, it felt right. Of course, she might still opt to disembowel him, but he was ready for that too. He might be loosing his mind, but he wasn't that stupid.

[Akeelah]

Akeelah let out a hiss of annoyance when she heard the clapping. What the hell was he trying to pull with this shit? Was this some bizarre attempt to seem witty and sarcastic? Well if the aim was to piss her off even more so then he was doing a damn good job of it. She flashed him another death glare just as she got one foot on the stairs. The thought of stabbing the fool in between the eyes was still present, until he spoke that is and when he did she was surprised. She couldn’t help but look at him with a mixture of hatred and confusion as she weighed his words and tried to judge what he really meant. Those words could easily be mistaken as sarcasm and at first that was what she believed and she was debating on telling him how many ways she could make him eat those words before he could think of uttering an apology, but there was something there that made her stop. It was faint but there was this small feeling of genuine behind those words. Maybe he really meant what he was saying…

And maybe pigs could fly…anything was fucking possible wasn’t it?

“Are you fucking with me?” she asked, her guard was shaken by his actions but it had by no means disappeared. Even if he was being serious Akeelah was still unsure if she should forgive him or not for what he said. After all how was he to know what kind of damage his words would do but it didn’t absolve the fact that it did hurt, and had brought him dangerously close to getting killed. If this was some kind of test she didn’t appreciate it.

[Adrian]

The anger was to be expected, he had not used the most tactful means to retain her attention, but tact was not his strong side and seeing as he'd managed to keep her from leaving he would call it a success. He decided to go with the truth, well, at least some of it. "I'm dead serious, now that I see that you have the will and motivation to do what you do. Had you been without those, you would have been useless to me." Again, he wasn't exactly being polite, but he had a feeling that being anything less than brutality honest would only hurt his cause.

"Roman, he calls himself. He's supposed to be some really old bugger who can take human shape and bend the wills of people merely by looking at them. Also, I think there was something about him being linked to fire in some way, but which demons aren't? I don't know that much more about him, except of course that he can teleport and take the shapes of other people. Overall, a pretty big pain in this city's backside. Couldn't tell you what his exact goals are, but I have a hard time imagining it being anything for the betterment of human living conditions. Saw him stab an old guy last time I ran into him." There, he had told her all he knew, except for his little 'encounter' with Angel. That was his beef, and his alone.