Beneath The Darkness

Out For Lunch

    Shadow

    I stared at the beaten man laying in the pool of blood with his own sword stabbed trough his chest. I looked down at my blood covered hands.

    ''My sweet boy, what have you done?'' My mother grabbed my face and looked into my eyes. ''Run. My son, run. Find Havi. Find the Aesir clan. And never, never look back.''

    I ran and ran through the moonless night until I could no longer stand. But I still pushed on. I stumbled through the woods towards a light in the distance. I breached the clearing and saw a man sat by a fire. He turned and looked at me.

    ''I must find Havi.'' I panted. He stood and walked towards me. I fell face first into the snow.

    I snapped my eyes open and stared at the ceiling. I heard Misery's soft breathing next to me. This is why I hated sleeping. I reached down for my pants and put them on. I stood and walked out to the balcony, lighting a cigarette as I went. I took a deep drag and let it out slowly staring at the sleepy mountain town below me. I pulled the phone out of my pocket, sent a message, then put it away.

    I looked over my shoulder towards Misery. ''Levi, have Tian prepare for our guests tomorrow.''

    ''It's about time. It's been two weeks since both of you came back.'' I heard in my ear.

    ''Don't sass me, Sloth.''

    ''Calm down Lust. I was a little worried when you and Wrath were MIA for two months.''

    ''Look just make sure everything is set for tomorrow. Because we will be welcoming our new Sins.''

    ''Yes, sir.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Jenny

    It's been two weeks since my fathers passing. No one remembers Kaze or Mizore. I can't find any evidence they existed, except the book I found in Kaze's room. I became withdrawn. Rose has been silent since Kaze left. I lost myself in my depression. I became a husk. Just drifting along in the flow of my daily life. So when my phone dinged with a message I ignored it. Juliette picked it up and looked at it.

    ''Jen, you're going to want to look at this.'' she said handing my phone to me. I looked at the message from the unknown number.

    'You want answers. I have them. Come to The Sunkin' Norwegian. Bring the Beta girl and the fairy. Tell the maître d' 'Landgrave'.' I looked at the message dumbstruck.

    ''It says it's a restaurant for scoundrels and brigands and ne'er-do-wells and creatures dragged up from the black pits of hell.' Franky said.

    ''So it's a place for supernaturals?'' Juliette asked.

    ''Yeah. But it's the kind of place that money is exchanged for blood. A dark place.'' Franky replied. ''You're not thinking of going are you?'' He looked at me.

    "I need information. So yes I'm going, with or with out the both of you.'' I said firmly.

    They looked at each other for a moment. ''Is there anything we can say to stop you?'' Franky asked. I shook my head and he sighed. "Then I guess we're going with you. Besides, our mysterious message sender said to bring us as well.''

    I called us a ride from outside the pack, then went outside to wait for it.

    The car pulled up to a shabby looking dive bar. We got out and went inside. It was like walking into a different world. The inside looked like a very fine three star restaurant where your meal would cost you a couple thousand dollars. While we were standing in the doorway a man came up to us.

    ''So you have a reservation?'' he asked.

    ''Uh.. Landgrave.'' I stuttered.

    ''Ah, I see. Right here, Landgrave, party of seven. Follow me.'' Then he turned around without grabbing any menus and led us through the mostly empty place.

    ''Party of seven? But there's only three of us.'' I said following behind the man.

    ''The other members of your party have already arrived. We were just waiting on you. This way.'' He gestured to a curtained off section.

    I stepped through into a small outdoor garden. I followed the pathway to a table set with two people already sitting there. I couldn't see their faces as they both were reading from what looked like confidential government files. As I got closer I could see the covers were stamped with iron eagles and german writing.

    ''Have a seat.'' the man said setting down his teacup. We sat down and another man came out and served us tea.

    ''The food shall be out momentarily.'' he said before walking away.

    ''Thank you Tian.'' the man said in a familiar voice.

    ''What information do you-'' I was cut off when he suddenly held up his hand. The waiter brought out food and set it before us. The pair finally closed the files they were reading and handed them to the waiter who walked away. To my surprise the pair were Kaze and Mizore. I went to speak but Kaze held up a hand.

    '' Eat. I'm sure you're all hungry.'' he said. ''I'm sure you're surprised that we were the ones to have called you here. It's rather simple. We killed your father. And before you get all bent out of shape about it, let me first tell you that he already knew it was coming. He signed the contract, made his preparations and everything. Including handing you, Jen, to us. Now before we continue the explanation of what is happening, we feel we should clear up some misunderstandings.'' I nodded. ''First off my name isn't Kaze, it's Shadow. And her name is Misery, not Mizore. As I'm sure you've figured out we're not exactly who we told you we were. We are part of an elite group designed to infiltrate and remove specific individuals of the supernatural underworld. I assume you've heard of the Seven Virtues that protect the royal families at all times?'' The three of us nodded. ''We're kind of like that, except for a few things, we are known as the Seven Sins. The biggest difference between us and them is that all of our members are very dangerous criminals, capable of destroying everything and turning the supernatural world into chaos. The royal council knows this, so they keep us close where they can keep an eye on us.''

    ''Wait, wait, wait.'' Franky interrupted. ''If the royals know that you're as dangerous as you say, why do they let you walk free?''

    ''Remember when I said that each of us could turn the world to chaos? Imagine if you tried to contain something like that. You would only hasten your demise.'' Shadow said.

    ''Okay, but what does that have to do with us, and furthermore you killing my father?'' I asked.

    ''Because your mother was the Sin of Gluttony, and she named you her replacement.'' Shadow replied.