The rain was a fine, freezing mist. It clung to the skin and soaked through the shoulders of Jin's uniform. He walked down the narrow pavement of the commercial district. The streetlights overhead buzzed. They cast a sickly yellow glow on the wet asphalt.
He held a plastic convenience store bag in his right hand. The handles dug into his cold fingers. Inside was a carton of milk and a single red apple.
He kept his chin tucked down against the collar of his jacket. He watched the reflections in the puddles.
Footsteps.
They were precise. The sound of leather boots hitting the wet pavement exactly two seconds after his own sneakers.
Jin did not turn his head. He adjusted his grip on the plastic bag. The plastic stretched. His knuckles were pale.
He kept his breathing steady.
In.
Out.
The street grew darker. The neon signs of the main road faded behind him. Closed storefronts. Rusted metal shutters.
The footsteps behind him maintained the exact same distance.
He reached an intersection. To the left was a wider street with a chance of passing cars. To the right was an alleyway between two brick buildings.
The air grew heavy. The temperature dropped.
Jin turned right, into the dark alley.
The pavement ended. It turned into cracked concrete and wet gravel. He walked ten paces. Fifteen. The smell of damp earth filled his lungs.
He stopped.
A chain-link fence stood at the end of the alley. It was topped with rusted wire. A dead end.
The footsteps behind him stopped.
The silence that followed was absolute.
Jin turned around.
A man stood under the broken light at the entrance of the alley. He wore a dark trench coat. The shadows behind his shoulders did not behave like normal shadows. They writhed. They stretched upward and outward, solidifying into massive, oil-black feathers.
The man tilted his head. His eyes were a flat, dead violet.
"You turned away from the main road." The man said. His voice echoed off the wet brick walls. "Usually, they run toward the light. You walked into a corner."
Jin swallowed. His throat was dry. "It was the shorter route."
The man laughed. A short, breathy sound. He raised his right hand.
The air around his palm distorted. Violet light sparked. It snapped with the sound of static electricity. The light stretched into a long, jagged spear. The glow illuminated the wet bricks.
The spear emitted a low vibration. Jin felt it in his teeth.
"I needed something to break tonight." The man said. He took a slow step forward. His boots crushed the gravel.
Jin's lungs demanded air. The space between them felt too thick to breathe.
A heavy pressure manifested behind his left eye. Cold, jagged fragments of thought forced their way into his mind.
Lethal threat.Transaction required.Payment: Neural tissue. Oxygen. Memory.Accept.
Just a crushing headache and the absolute certainty of the cost.
Jin looked at the glowing spear. He looked at the man's violet eyes.
His grip slipped.
The bag hit the ground. The milk carton burst. White liquid spilled out, mixing with the muddy water. The red apple rolled out and stopped against his sneaker.
He didn't move.
"...Fine."
His jaw locked. A spike of pure, freezing iron drove directly into his left optic nerve.
Jin grabbed his own left shoulder with his right hand. His fingers dug into his jacket. He leaned heavily against the damp brick wall. His knees shook violently.
A thick, hot liquid spilled over his lower eyelid. It slid down his cheek. It tasted like copper.
Inside his head, the fire started. A piece of his mind tore away. White, burning static erased the recent past.
He opened his left eye.
The rain stopped.
It just... hung there.
He looked at the man.
The man stopped mid-step.
The air in the alley shifted. The puddles on the ground vibrated.
Jin kept his lips pressed tightly together. The blood dripped steadily from his chin, staining his white uniform shirt. His left eye was a pool of luminous crimson. A single black comma spun slowly in the center of the red iris.
The man stared at the eye.
The violet spear in his hand wavered. The light flickered.
"What are you." The man's voice cracked.
Jin did not answer.
The man's hand tightened on the spear.
Then loosened.
The feathers on his back folded inward.
Silence was heavy. Jin let it sit.
Ten seconds passed.
The man took a step back. His boot splashed in a puddle.
Jin took a single step forward. The gravel crunched under his shoe. He stepped over the apple.
The man flinched. The violet spear shattered into harmless sparks of light.
"This territory belongs to the Grigori." The man said. The words tumbled over each other. "We do not want a war."
Jin tasted the blood on his lips. His left leg was going numb.
He looked at the man with absolute, hollow indifference.
"Run." Jin said.
A dry rasp.
The black wings snapped open. A violent gust of wind hit the alley, knocking over an empty dumpster. The man launched himself into the dark sky.
Jin stood in the center of the alley. He kept his crimson eye fixed on the clouds.
He kept counting.
Lost track.
Started again.
The air remained clear.
Jin closed his left eye. He severed the pressure in his mind.
The crimson light vanished.
Gravity returned all at once. Jin's legs collapsed. He hit the wet gravel. The sharp stones tore through his trousers.
He curled onto his side. He wrapped his arms around his stomach and retched violently. Nothing came up. He gagged until his throat burned, spitting bile and blood onto the ground next to the spilled milk.
He lay there, shivering uncontrollably. The rain soaked through his clothes.
He pressed a trembling, ice-cold hand over his left eye.
It hurt.
He pressed harder.
He reached into his mind, looking for the inside of the store. Looking for the reason he had gone there.
There was nothing. Just a cold, blank space.
He opened his right eye.
The red apple was sitting in the mud a few feet away. Perfectly round.
He looked at it.
It meant nothing.