Dark Hearts

[sugakookie]

Matthew and Mason Savage are simply brothers who kept up the family business. A business of being hitmen, like their father. To everyone on the outside world, Mason is a successful Olympic Track & Field star, and Matthew is a current University student who just finished a three year contract with the US Marine Corps. They and their family are humans in a normal world. The existence of vampires and other creatures never really crossed their minds. Well, until a certain job caused them to meet a certain person.


@Dragongal

 

[Dragongal]

For her part, Emmalia LaFaren had merely been a bystander at first, in the wrong place and at the wrong time. Normally she worked as a florist; once she had been an EMT on an ambulance, but her days of that mess had passed. All she had been doing was going for a walk through the park late at night - she was always up late anyway. And as fate typically did for her, it threw her a curveball with undeserved punishment, as she witnessed a murder.

 

[sugakookie]

"Ambrose said this dude finishes work in like ten minutes, right? And he comes through the front door?" Mason speaks to his brother as they walk through the shadows. It's 12:19AM, the streets are silent. The owner of a small bookstore stays late to organize new shipments every Wednesday and Saturday. He leaves at 12:30, gets in his car, and is home by 12:47.


Matthew has been watching him since the Sunday prior to that week.


"That's right. The lights are still on, too. Hopefully he doesn't take longer than before... I still don't trust Ambrose. He kept backing out of the contract and coming back in. I swear, if that guy doesn't give us our money, I'm going to be royally pissed off," Matt says with a sigh. The brothers are dressed in all black with their masks on. They pull on their gloves and wait on the side of the street across from the bookstore where the man's car is parked. Sure enough, at exactly 12:30, the middle aged man walks out and locks up his store. He unlocks his car and walks across the street. Matt looks around briefly to make sure nobody is at the park or wandering about. He thinks he sees a figure in the shadows of bushes, but when he does a double take and goes a few steps closer, he can't see it anymore. Mason holds up his gone and turns off the safety.


As the man gets closer and sees the brothers standing just outside the light of a streetlamp, he freezes. It's as if he knew it was coming. As if he's been getting threats already. "No- no, please, I promise I'll pay off the-" A soft thud, then silence. It wasn't Mason who shot the man, it was Matthew. The suppressor on his gun did wonders for masking most of the sound. In their line of work, it was necessary to move like shadows if they wanted to be successful. The two didn't seem phased by the pleading or death. Matt turns the safety on and gets out his phone. "Ambrose asked to put the body by his car so his family sees him easily," Matt looks at his younger brother expectantly. Mason nods and goes to the man, somewhat easily dragging him to lay by the passenger side door.


They had a drill. Fulfill the client's request, double check that nobody is around to see, then bolt. Matt wanders around the sidewalk and goes toward the park. His gun was still in his hand. He checks out the area he thought he saw a figure before. His body gets cold and he raises his gun.


There is a woman standing behind a tree, her hands on her mouth. Matt raises his gun to be level with her skull and turns off the safety. He puts his finger on the trigger and locks eyes with her.

 

[Dragongal]

Emmalia stood in silence and watched the scene unfold. Two men in masks killed the bookkeeper.... It was a brutal murder in the first and she had seen it all. This wasn't the first murder she'd seen - not in the least - but that didn't make it any less horrendous. She kept her hands over her mouth in shock, to keep herself from making any noise or attracting any attention - yet she failed. The one man saw her, and slowly raised his gun. Oddly enough, she didn't even flinch - so what if he shot her? She was running on borrowed time anyway, she wasn't supposed to be alive, she was living a cursed existence. And for some reason the thought that his blue eyes... sky blue with a clear, crystal shining quality, the thought that those would be the last eyes she met, she was okay with that. Slowly, she lowered her hands from her mouth to clasped in front of her.

 

[sugakookie]

Matt finds himself stuck in the position of his gun raised and his eyes locked on the woman. For some odd reason, he couldn't shoot her. He just couldn't. Her eyes mesmerized him and her expression wasn't exactly afraid.


Mason finishes with the dead body and calls over, "Bro, you done yet? Let's hurry." Matt comes back to reality at the sound of his brother's voice and takes a couple moments before lowering his gun and keeping eye contact with the woman. He kicked himself and wondered why he can't seem to shoot her. Maybe because he tries not to kill women and children, especially innocents. Though he's killed women before. Whether they were innocent or not was debatable depending on who was asked.


"Yeah, I'm done." He doesn't break eye contact until he turns around and clicks the safety on, tucking his gun in his belt. "I'll collect the money. You go home and get some rest." Matt gives the strange woman one last glance before getting into an unmarked black Ford and driving off into the night.

 

[Dragongal]

Alone again, Em breathed a huge sigh of relief and looked after that Ford that had driven away. Why hadn't he shot her?Was he just merciful... or had he felt what she had? She couldn't say, but it was enough to upset her for the night, so she returned to her little apartment as quickly as she possibly could. 

 

[sugakookie]

The rest of the night, guilt for not shooting the woman at the park eats away at Matt. He wouldn't dare tell Mason what he did. Matt drops Mason off at his home then drives to Steven Ambrose's house to pick up their reward. As he's nearing his own apartment, Matt decides he won't let thoughts of the woman bother him. It wasn't like he'd see her again if he hasn't seen her up until now. And she couldn't be a threat to him and Mace because of all of the lengths they went to to make sure they are untraceable after doing work.


By the time Matt gets in his bed in his apartment, he takes a deep breath. Letting one witness go wasn't going to jeopardize his career. The woman had no idea who he was. No name, no nothing. As for the car, it was already unmarked and he keeps it in a junk car garage owned by his uncle about a mile away from his apartment building. He has to walk a mile usually after using that car, but it didn't bother him. 


Yeah, Matt thinks to himself. I shouldn't be so worried. With that, he drifts off to sleep at 2:21 in the morning.

 

[Dragongal]

The next morning was a Saturday - Em didn't have to work until later in the day, so she went to a small cafe for breakfast. Outside, in the early autumn air, she slowly drank her tea and read from the newspaper in front of her - there was the story about the murder with no witness....

 

[sugakookie]

Mason and Matthew wander around Saturday morning after Mason's practice session that morning. Matt had offered to buy Mason breakfast on their free time, so they walk to town and find a cafe that a friend recommended. "Everyone's so butthurt about this bookstore owner being murdered, but the fact that he's a thief can't be seen anywhere. Unless Ambrose was lying," Matt says casually to his brother.


"I don't think I've ever heard you use the word 'butthurt.' You should do it more often." Mason laughs and holds the door to the cafe open for him. Matt chuckles and goes through the door. The brothers come out minutes later with coffee and food and find a place outside to sit.


"I love this weather. We should go play basketball or something later," Mason looks up at the sky, smiling to himself. "You just got done running all morning, and you want more exercise? Calm down," Matt laughs at his brother and throws a toothpick at him before starting to eat his pancakes. It was a very nice day, one that seemed bright and happy.

 

[Dragongal]

Em looked up at the next table over, then looked down at the newspaper again. Her Long-sleeve flannel top and skinny jeans didn't seem to stand out, luckily, though her pale skin looked like it would burn in the sun. She folded her paper its a quiet sigh and started writing notes on a notepad in front of her. It was a list of what kinds of flowers she had to research to see if the shop she worked for could afford them. 

 

[sugakookie]

The boys finish their food quickly and Mason gets up. "I'm gonna take a piss, then let's go," he says and pats Matt's head before heading back inside. Matt chuckles and finishes up his coffee. When Mason gets up and leaves, Matt has a clear view of the table by them. He thinks nothing of the girl with the notepad, then freezes while moving his mug from his mouth. That was the girl who saw him yesterday. Matt gulps and casually sets his mug down and goes on his phone. Hopefully she didn't recognize him. Tons of people had light blue eyes, he wasn't special.

 

[Dragongal]

Em glanced up at the man who stood to leave, then his companion, who sudden averted his eyes. Had he been looking at her? Maybe. Just for good measure, she flashed him a friendly smile and turned back to her tea. She paused and glanced at him again. His eyes... they were very blue....

 

[sugakookie]

Shit. She saw me and smiled. Matt shifts his feet. If she recognizes him somehow, he needs to tell her to keep her mouth shut. If not, he needs to keep his mouth shut. His mind was conflicted as it had been just after the job- and now, he had no idea what to do. He couldn't tell Mason, Mason would get mad that Matt didn't kill her when he had the chance. His best bet was to assume she didn't connect any dots.

 

[Dragongal]

Slowly, the recognition began to dawn on Em who Matt was. But if she gave herself away, would he kill her? He hadn't before, but what had that meant? Frantically she flipped through her notepad and scribbled something down on a piece of paper, then walked over silently and pressed it in front of him on the table before returning to her own. On the piece of paper was her phone number. If he thought she was flirting, that was fine. If he knew she knew, they could safely speak over the phone at a later time.

 

[sugakookie]

Matt looks at the paper, then at the woman. He wasn't sure if she was trying to pick him up or if she recognized him. Regardless, he stuffs the paper in his pocket. Another glance at her made him realize that she wasn't bad looking. If she had no idea who she was and just wanted to flirt, he wouldn't mind. At that thought, Matt casually rests his chin on his hands to hide his blush.

 

[Dragongal]

Against her better judgment, Emmalia looked over at him and smiled again, blushing slightly, before returning to writing the flower names she needed to research. In the back of her mind, she was pondering. Was the man who had been with him the other hitman, or someone who had no idea? It was best to play it safe....

 

[sugakookie]

Mason comes back moments later and is ready to go. Matt stands and pops back into the cafe to pay, then leaves with his brother. Matt sends a glance at Emmalia before looking towards their car, which is a gray BMW. Mason catches his brother's glance and smiles at him. "She's cute," Mason says and elbows Matt gently. Matt has a girlfriend, though she is very abusive. The only reason Matt stays with her is because she's a family friend. They go their separate ways usually, and end up pretending they're not even dating. Matt looks at Mason and purses his lips. "Yeah." He says simply before getting into the driver's seat of the car.

 

[Dragongal]

Em watched them leave and gave Matt a slight wave good-bye, then packed up her stuff in her leather messenger bag and left. On her way back to her apartment, she fed four alleycats and spent some time with each, petting them and telling them how sweet they were. She had always had a fondness for cats, and alleycats especially. They were drifters, like herself. They had been tossed about by life, but usually still managed to keep a sweetness about their souls, again, like herself. When she made it home, she curled up in her little corner nook with a book and her phone to the side - as much as she didn't want to admit it, she was kind of hoping the hitman would call her....

 

[sugakookie]

About two hours later, after a game of basketball and a lot of chatting, the brothers part ways. Matt goes to his apartment and takes a quick shower then changes. He sits by his window and stares outside at the alley. He has been thinking about that girl, and grabbed the paper she gave him on the way to the window. Without him realizing, his phone was suddenly unlocked and in his hand. Maybe he should call her. Just to see what her intentions were.


He dials her number in, presses the call button, and holds the phone to his ear. He finds himself holding his breath while waiting for an answer.

 

[Dragongal]

The sound of her phone buzzing pulled Em's attention away from her book and to her phone. It was an unknown number.... She set her book aside and answered it, hoping it's the hitman. "Hello?"

 

[sugakookie]

"Hello, it's... um... I'm the guy from the cafe earlier." Matt wasn't sure how to introduce himself and hoped that was sufficient. She didn't know his name, after all. "My name is Matthew." Okay, now she knew. Matt didn't understand why his heart was beating so fast. He was probably afraid of being found out.

 

[Dragongal]

Hearing his voice for the first time, directed at her at least, sent a thrill through Emmalia. He was a murderer, he had killed someone in cold blood... but doe some reason he interested her intensely. "Hi Matthew! I was hoping you'd call. I'm Emmalia. I just, um...." What to say? That she saw him murder a man? Was it him, though? The height and stature and eyes were right... but could she be wrong? "I wanted to talk to you, I guess. Your eyes caught my attention and I... couldn't resist giving you my number. And you seem really sweet and all...." Maybe he would know by what she said about his eyes that she knew what he'd done.

 

[sugakookie]

Matt understood then that she knew. The comment about his eyes and her tone of voice gave it away. Her comment about him being sweet, too. She hardly knew him, and he was anything but sweet. There was a pause before he spoke. "What did you see?" He asks, his voice now grim. Not threatening, but grim. Almost solemn. As if he is preparing for the worst.

 

[Dragongal]

Reflexively, Em shrugged on her side of the phone, then recalled that he couldn't see her. It wasn't often that she got phone calls. "You and another man... you killed the bookkeeper." The words hung heavy on the silence of the phoneline, before she softly added, "Yet oddly enough I can't find myself to hold it against you...."

 

[sugakookie]

Matt frowns deeply. He ignored the second part of what she said. "You understand that if you breathe a word to anyone, I'll have to kill you, right?" He didn't want that. If he couldn't kill her the first time, why the hell would he be able to do it on a second try? He'd probably have to get someone else to kill her.