Christopher and Arina
Very few people take the while to sit down and watch: simply rest and watch the world pass before them. If you do this however, you’ll notice many new things; details and subtle treaties between each and every human being. If you pass someone you’ll be forever engraved in their memory; although they probably won’t remember you the next time you cross their path.
They do not desire to remember you.
You do not desire to remember them.
This is our covenant. You merely pass by and carry on your merry way, oblivious to the fact you’ve transformed them into an entirely different person.
New York, it was the city of ruined dreams. The real life Sin City – years back it was run by gangs who spilt more blood than Hitler in turf wars. But then one Atlas Vella rolled in – taking control of the city under a new wing of the Mafia. In just a few years, he held the respect of even the most notorious gangs on the street.
New Yorks’s underworld, or more commonly known, the inner city, was a dangerous place at night; hell, New York was dangerous, period. There was always a dealer or a thug lurking in the shadows. It was normally the time when the world came to life; the gangs came out to play and business was done during the cover of darkness.
This is why the Lécuyer siblings weren’t surprised to hear of the attack on one of Alas’ bigger drug labs. They had taken the news in their stride – sure, Chris might have shot that one guy he was interrogating, but he was a dick anyway… so it didn’t matter… much.
The two stood before the building, staring up at the flames which were beginning to die down. Their heads simultaneously tilted slightly to the right and Arina opened her mouth to make a comment, but lost her words. So, she simply closed her mouth and folded her arms over her chest. It could be assumed that the siblings were thinking the same things at that particular moment, like – how did this even happen? Or, this is the third lab this month. Perhaps even, why are we always the first ones to arrive on scene? And that the word “Napkins” was pretty cool… scratch that, Arina’s train of thought had snapped elsewhere – indicating her lack of conscience.
Their heads tilted back upright as their attention was drawn to a man who was stumbling out of the rubble. He was burnt and beaten – Arina raised a perfectly curved eyebrow as he attempted to limp past the Lécuyer siblings. Christopher’s had shot out, gripping him by the remnants of his collar, his hazel eyes narrowing into the man’s dull brown ones. Arina was sure she heard a growl from the depths of her brother’s throat, but she didn’t question it as she flattened the white fabric of her thigh length dress before clasping her hands behind her back. The two looked out of place – a lady like her didn’t belong in such a grungy area, much less in front of a demolished meth lab.
“What the hell happened?” Christopher’s words were sharp and held a particular threatening demeanour to them. The beaten man stared up at him wide eyed – he was feeling weak, and the last thing he needed was an interrogation.
“I… I don’t know… a group … in black… and then…” he trailed off, hardly able to utter the words, but that was all Chris needed to hear as he released the man just in time for him to collapse beside him, his face making a ‘splat’ sound as it was greeted with open arms by the pavement.
A small smile played on Arina’s features as her animated irises flickered from the unconscious man to the building. There was a silence as a large piece of wood crashed to the ground from the third storey; adding to the rubble. “That wasn’t nice Chris, you could have caught him.” Her voice was stoic, however, few could pick the amusement laced in her words.
He completely ignored his sister as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, the flame glowed against his hard features as he lit it up, before taking a deep breath in – savouring the nicotine that entered his lungs. He placed the lighter back in the pocket of his jeans before speaking, the smoke exiting his mouth with every word. “A group in black… shit.” He cursed under his breath and his words were barely a whisper, but Arina heard them.
“The Triads, I assume.”
His eyes narrowed into slits as he shot his sister a sideways glare, even the name pissed him off. Those asshole had cost them a lot of time and money. The sooner they were put in the ground, the sooner they could get on with their lives. He and Arina had better things to be do than run around clean up their messes.
Arina could feel her brother tense up at the mention of the Chinese, not that she would guess that their main goal was to just take Atlas down – simply because their methods weren’t so honourable. They’d put plenty of innocent men in the ground over the last couple of months… well, perhaps innocent was the wrong word; but she would go as far as saying they didn’t really deserve death. So she wondered if they meant to extinguish the whole Mafia completely from the city. Her vibrant green eyes glanced down to Christopher’s hand, his knuckles were turning white, emphasizing the pressure which was put upon them. She could tell he was visibly ticked off by this group who seemed to be gaining the upper hand on the Mafia. Day by day, their influence grew weaker, not that it was noticeable… yet.
Chris noticed his sister staring at his hand, he didn’t even realise he was visibly angry – and he released his fist, opening his palm to allow the circulation to flow freely through it once more. His face was free of emotion, but he was fuming. They had no information on the members of the Triads whatsoever, only that they operated as a group in black and they were targeting the Mafia for some reason. How, after so many months, could they still be pulling up jack for these guys?
He glanced at his sister for a moment, and it crossed his mind that perhaps she knew more about this group than she had originally stated. What her motive for withholding information like what was, he’d never know. She was strange and he couldn’t decipher what went through her head. And if she was hiding such information, he imagined Alexei would be less than pleased. But that wasn’t his problem – she would deserve it anyway.
She met his gaze and a small smirk tugged at the corner of her lips, “Chris, if I truly had any more information on this guy, I’d share it.” She assured, and he frowned, wondering if she’d somehow developed telepathy overnight… or was he just that easy to read? He didn't like either of those ideas.
Ash fluttered off the end of his cigarette which was still in his mouth, handing slack. He ran a hand through his brown hair before exhaling a deep sigh… this was all too much.
He turned away from the building and strode towards the Aston Martin, placing his hands in his pockets. His brow still scrunched in a troubled frown, this guy would be in the ground by the time Chris was through with him… he could count on that.
Arina’s features were care free as she spun around and gracefully glided towards the passenger door of the car. “Can we get ice cream on the way home?” she questioned, and he glanced up at her, over the car.
“No.”
