[u]Cicero part 1: Todd's story[/u]

“Bucket, you got eyes on the snatch-snatcher?” his radio buzzed. Todd held down the mic button before quietly replying.
“Eyes on the prize; wait for my command.”
Todd had seen snatchers before, dirty buggers, why did they have to go and steal the whores, why couldn’t they just leave them in the building. He had seen many snatchers before, some far too awful to recall, those who tied up their victims or murdered them in their basements, sadist pricks. These thoughts and others had raced through Todd Reddan’s mind that morning while he collected his equipment and necked down the last of his store of whisky in drunken preparation for his desperate, dark work. What he hadn’t expected was the incident unfolding through his magnified lens; or rather the lack of an incident; the snatcher and the whore were perched on the edge of a rooftop surveying the landscape. Todd opened his left eye keeping the right one pressed against the scope, and looked out over the myriad of rooftops that crowned the city like a giant intricate labyrinth. The setting sun covered the city’s crown in a layer of golden light which receded slowly with its descent through the sky; and the distant noises of life blurred into a background buzz making the entire scene reek of tranquility and calmness. It unnerved Todd, why would a snatcher come out here? Something’s gotta be wrong. From his vantage point in a small crevice a few rooftops back he could see and faintly hear the prostitute talk in rapid, smooth tones, her tongue rolling over each sound making an almost rhythmic and musical stream of words. 
“Bucket, you gonna go for the lucky bucket ricochet or are you gonna just sit there gawping?” He heard an ugly snigger and a deep unintelligent laugh through the buzzing radio before he pressed the mic button down firmly.
“Snatcher’s facin’ forwards; get into position and wait for my command.”
Todd almost felt sorry for the thief, from his stature and height behind that huge cloak he only looked 17 or 18. A brown leather trench coat covered him from his neck to his feet, leaving no trace for any memorable clothing or racial features, he would be completely unrecognizable but for a black silk hood which covered his head. An odd marker and a sign of descent or wealth he was sure. Unfortunately in Todd’s line of work morality didn’t hold much importance; a mercenary’s values were killing, taking or protecting whoever or whatever the employer wanted. In this instance it was Marv Deign the owner of ‘Deign’s Divine Dicking’ a subtle name for a subtle man; it was their job to hunt down any of the clients who ran off with Mr. Deign’s whores and kill them.
While he didn’t care much for what the whore was saying he was a little unnerved by the quietness and wanted all the information he could get.
“Skeever what’s she sayin’.”
“Dunno Bucket, it’s some different language…wait a sec, Reggie says it’s Spanish.”
Throughout the entire incident Todd kept his eye on the snatcher, the first rule of sharpshooting he had ever been taught is always keep your eye on the target. Now he took a proper look over the thief in search of any weapons he could be hiding, however despite the huge trench coat he couldn’t see any signs of a weapon secreted into the folds of his cloak nor could he see any sort of defensive items in his lap. The kid was either really naïve or really clever, and Todd had no idea how it could be the second.
“Bucket let me pass you to Reggie he’s translating for you…” Todd placed the radio nearer to his ear in the pause that followed, while always keeping his eagle eye on the target. 
When the radio buzzed into life again he caught Reggie in the middle of a sentence with his loud Latin voice booming through the speaker causing the startled Todd to remove it from his ear.
“…so special about rooftops? Are you just gonna sit there? I literally haven’t taken off one item of clothing? You really don’t say much for a vampire do you?”
The thief had just sat there unmoving and unresponsive to any of the whore’s questions until her last utterance when he turned his head towards her, inclining it to one side in silent question.
“Oh I knew, you’ve got ancient eyes, my mother told me that a person’s eyes are the windows to the soul…”
A sudden pause intercepted Reggie’s translation and the radio made indiscernible noises as it seemed to be passed between Reggie and Skeever. Suddenly Skeever shouted down the radio in immediate and hurried tones.
“Bucket! The kid’s a vampire!” Skeever had a habit of saying…no, shouting the obvious.
“We get loads of Vampiric kids everyday thinking that just from their newfound fangs they can get away with anything. We got a job to do, kill the fucker and get the girl.” Todd replied in a calm, resigned tone.
In an instant the girl was grabbed by the 6ft mountain of South American muscle the team liked to call Reggie; and the unmoving thief was held at gunpoint by a thin, lithe Skeever who hopped from foot to foot in excitement. Skeever placed the cap on the mic button with his left hand keeping Todd’s radio buzzing with live feed. 
“Get up slowly and turn around to face me, you fuckin’ snatch-snatcher!” Skeever’s voice was sharp and cruel through the speaker and immediately afterwards the prostitute’s smooth tones intervened in fast and scared screams.
“POR FAVOR, POR FAVOUR, QUE NO ES MI CULPA, ME DIJO QUE LO SIGUIERA A CABO, NO ME MATES!” Tears streamed down her Spanish, tanned face; she looked only 18, young and beautiful, now turned into a frightening ghoul by the black running mascara shadowing her eyes and cheeks. Her captor turned to her calmly and spoke in a soft, mellow voice with the same fluid language.
“Y pense que nuestra relacion profunda sobreviviria nuestra terrible experiencia actual, gracias por su intento mas honorable para salvarme.”
“SHUT UP YOU SCUM! Now get on your knees.” Skeever replied in his insulting nasal voice.
The thief turned slowly towards his oppressor his face, a mask of little emotion, “Please leave me be gentlemen, I wish you no harm, I apologetically return to you the lady and I shall leave you.” He spoke in a sincere tone boring into Skeever’s eyes like they were a pair of rare jewels.
“No one’s goin’ anywhere, get on your knees!” Skeever shouted, his eyes flaring in anger at the man’s ignorance of his apparent danger.
“Please take this peaceful solution, do not harm this beautiful young lady and we will never cross paths again.” The Vampire implored with eyes, his body had not changed; with his arms firmly at his sides, only his tiny facial differences had to communicate the man’s emotions.
Rather than showing any sign of submission Skeever spat in the poor man’s face before telling him in a low, cruel voice.”How about you get on your knees and rather than shoot you, I’m gonna beat you to death. Then afterwards, me and my friend Reggie here, are gonna fuck your ‘lady’ bloody.”
Cold fury shaped the Vampire’s face instantly, his jaw clenched and his eyes portrayed a dark flame, like nothing Todd had ever seen.  “Abrenuntias satanae et corpore et animo” He muttered, struggling visibly not to go into some blinding rage. 
“What you calling for your mother?” Skeever said in a comical, mimicking manner.
“No I’m creating excuses.”
“What?” He called out bluntly with a gawping mouth filling the majority of his face.
“To inflict Inferno on your senses.” The man lashed out in the blink of an eye punching the skinny mercenary in the throat and leaving him writhing in pain on the ground, whimpering as his neck twitched. 
“You fuckin’…Snatcher….I’m gonna claw your eyes out.” He sobbed, pointing at him accusingly, the gun he once held thrown across the rooftop.
“YOU SPEAK TO A LORD AMONGST MEN, DO NOT PRESUME POWER SCUM, YOU CANNOT TAKE POWER IT IS GIVEN TO THE WORTHY, LEAVE NOW OR FACE THE WRATH OF INFERNO.” The Vampire proclaimed his voice a low and deep utterance articulated in the most complete fashion.
“Oh, you’re a vampire lord... and I’m a harpy…everyone knows Vampire lords only reveal their true identity…to the dead.” Skeever gasped between twinges of pain.
Reggie stood there astonished, his arms had lost their titanic grip on the girl, but she stood their equally surprised; Todd on the other hand had watched the entire thing frozen in amazement and even now down the magnified lens the events unfolding seemed like some kind of twisted film rather than the truth. 
The Vampire grabbed Skeever by the throat making him gurgle in pain at his throttling grip; he wriggled like a fish caught on a line. “You made a fatal mistake in that poor excuse of a sentence, you claim that you aren’t a dead man.” His face grew taut and pale in readiness for his next cruel act. 
Bang. A loud cracking sound of a shot rebounded off the rooftops penetrating the scene’s calmness. In bracing himself for the shot Todd shut his eyes for a split second, in which he heard another shot and a body slump to the floor.
When he found the scene down his scope again; the white trail of his tracer round flew just over the Vampire’s shoulder, DAMN IT I MISSED WE’RE GONNA DIE! Todd’s heart started to race as he saw the slumped dead body of Reggie on the floor next to a whimpering prostitute.  Skeever still struggled in the thief’s clutch, as he looked down in horror at his fallen teammate; in another instant his legs were torn off by a hooked arm that seemed to appear from nowhere. The ripped and shredded remains of his thighs started to flood the floor with blood as he tried to stand; he screamed out his lungs in horror and tried to run but only seemed to fall onto his belly into a puddle of his own blood. The grown man’s screams brought Todd to the present and his left hand started to fumble with the lock and load system to ready another shot for the rifle. His hands didn’t seem his own as he tried to complete a simple action of cocking the rifle but he couldn’t push the bolt back in. Keep your eye on the target, Todd told himself as he watched the vampire slowly bend over to whisper in Skeever’s ear. Muffled by the blood pooling around Skeever’s body, the radio only just picked up the Vampire’s farewell. “Fly little harpy, fly…”