Hellhound

Chapter 2

The view from the top of the sky scraper was hideous in Raven's eyes. So hideous, it had its own beauty, woven tightly.

'There is a thin line between beauty and ugliness.' He thought, and with a small jump he was back onto the roof, away from the far end of the building. He would always go there to think, maybe sometimes even talk to the wind to share his burdens. He would go up the ledge and stand completely still for minutes, even hours at times, and have the silent wind play with his hair and long coat as he whispered the first three words of his confessions, 'So today I...'. That was how he would always start, and he would continue on until his throat went dry, or his legs couldn't bear the stillness anymore. You see, it is easy to always run around, even if you have nowhere to be, since to be still means to face your demons head on. And that, Raven hated. Because his demons were especially playful and sadistic.

Raven had always wondered how it would be down there, when his body would collide with the cold pavement and break into thousand small pieces, blood splatting everywhere. One could describe him as suicidal. If one were to ask him, he would say it was relief he felt when he thought about all those things. He didn't want them to win, but he had no choice.

Before he went down the stairs, back to his hellish world, he looked behind his back to the city lights that extended on forever. That forever was so pretty, but it missed something as well. An end. Infinity can never end, can it? It is trapped in repeating again and again, until it loses its meaning, until there is nothing left and it only wishes for the end that will never ever come. Such a cruel story, that is. Such a sadistic epilogue. An end that will never come...

"Truly hideous." Raven whispered under his breath and turned around. He started to go down the stairs quickly, eager to get away from the stars that criticized him, to the low wind, the one that roamed around the streets that accepted him. Still he knew that the next day, when he would finally have the night for himself he would go back there.

That day was not a good day for him. Not that any day was. And that night was even worse. The city of New York seemed and felt suffocating to him, he had trouble breathing. It had been like that since the start of his time, but even more so those last few years he had joined the scientists and his group. He knew they were taking advantage of their powers, he knew that this was not the right side to be, but he had nowhere else to go. No one would accept him. No one but those monsters. Once you become a monster, you can't expect the angels to accept you back. You can only find refuge in your own sins.

"Oh, Ravey! Why did I have this slight hunch that I would find you here?" A tall girl, almost as tall as Raven, stood before him smiling brightly. She was part of his group, his small group of gifted the scientists had put together.

"Oh, I wonder why, Iris." Raven faked being impressed; his ironic tone was one nobody could ignore. The girl narrowed her green eyes at him, and punched his arm with no power at all.

"It may be my power, but you have no right to make fun of it! I have saved your little butt many times." She crossed her arms and pouted her lips; she was especially cheerful that day. Raven could never handle cheerful people, one reason he couldn't go along with her at all. She was all talk and jokes, something Raven despised.

"I didn't make fun of it." Raven said and put his hands in his coat's pockets, then started to walk away from her, not even throwing her a glance. Iris rolled her eyes and ran behind him, quickly catching up to his quick walking pace.

"Raven, are you okay? You seem a bit out of it tonight." She asked and looked at him, or at least tried to, in the eyes. He quickly averted them.

"I'm fine. I'm always like this." He replied and started to walk even faster than before in hopes of escaping her.

"No you're not. Liar~" She said, but she took no answer.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone." She added and walked the other way. Raven sighed and felt relief flowing through him.

"Finally." He muttered as he reached his apartment complex. He had denied living with the rest of the team, he liked to be isolated. There was this charming thing about silence he was drawn to and did his best to preserve.

His apartment was at the lowest level, which he had no problems with since it was easy to reach after a long day of work. He got the key out of his black pants' pocket and unlocked the door. He stepped inside and a familiar scent filled his nostrils. A black Bombay cat with beautiful blue eyes mewed as a welcoming greeting and went to rub itself on Raven's legs. For the first time that day, a small smile played on his lips, but soon disappeared. He grabbed the cat, which showed no resistance and went to lie down on the black sofa. Everything was black and white in his apartment. No grey, nothing in between. He placed the cat on top of his legs, and it purred with satisfaction when he started to caress its fur. He could finally relax.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?" He asked the cat.

"I hope you liked the new food I left you to eat today... Alexia, you are the only one with me..." He added and let the cat leave from his lap.

He didn't even have the time to take off his coat, as a new message was delivered to his phone making it vibrate. He took it out and opened the message with a huff.

*Sent you an email about a new case the boss wants you to work on.

Indigo

Raven rubbed his temples; he was exhausted. Still, he got up, not even bothering to answer Indigo, and grabbed his laptop from the kitchen table. He turned it on, and sat back on the sofa.

"Let's see..." He muttered as he logged into his email. He opened the attachment and rolled his eyes at all the unnecessary information it contained. Part of him was curious about who his target was and why he had to kill him, and part of him just wanted his name and address so he could get it over with. And one, tiny part of him didn't want to kill them at all. At the top left there was a picture of the soon to be dead, apparently a girl. Raven flinched as his eyes lay upon the reason he had to kill her, and chills ran down his spine.

...Number 259 had been subject to the various serums our scientists have developed in hopes of control over the gifted. Not even one of them managed to gain her control, and she recently escaped. She is a dangerous ability user, and must be eliminated before she comes back with more gifted for a counterattack...

Raven flinched at the reminder of the serums. He had been once the subject of those experiments, and hopefully for him he had managed to convince them they had worked on him, so he wasn't eliminated. After that, he had acted obediently to their orders for them to realize he was a successful experiment, and since then, as he was the most powerful, he was put in charge of the gifted group the scientists had handpicked. All of his subordinates were weaker and could be manipulated by the serums anytime. As for him, he had successfully passed any tests the scientists had prepared to check for any effects of the serums. What they were exactly, even Raven wasn't sure of. All he knew was that they were special drugs given to them so they could neutralize their powers anytime, in case they turned against the scientists per se. There were also other things they did that he wasn't aware of, and frankly he didn't want to know. It was best if he didn't.

Raven sighed and closed his computer. He picked up his phone and dialed Indigo's number. As always, he picked it up right after the first ring.

"Hello, did you get the email?" Indigo asked, his loud and obnoxious voice almost deafening Raven.

"Yes, I did. Do I have to start now, or can it wait?" Raved asked, hoping the answer would be the latter.

"It would be great if you could start now. The Boss wants it resolved as soon as possible." Indigo replied. Raven cursed under his breath and ran his hand through his hair. He had pulled back his long fringe covering his right eye, revealing it. On the contrary to his left that was pitch black, the right was almost white.

"Got it." Raven said and ended the call.

"Looks like this will be one hell of a long night." He whispered and got up, running to the front door. He caressed Alexia once more, and then closed the door behind him with a thud.