Chapter 1

Heavy handed.

"Ah, yeah. It was the twelfth day of the Lucifer month," the black haired teen sighed as he walked through the building.

Everything was in order, the large spiders scuffled across the room as the harpies gripped their papers and flew through the buildings.

He walked through the silver and white halls of the building. Paying no mind to the small cubed rooms where many did their work. The entire building felt like a strange mixture of an office and a college campus. Rooms dedicated to gathering info with computers shoved into every corner were easy to spot. There were only three elevators in the whole building, however as he saw a mass of creatures stopped at the end of the hall. It was rather obvious they were waiting to be let on.

The teen loosened his collar as he unbuttoned his jacket. The elevator was cramped and hot, he would have to ride it to the eighth floor, times such as these the 19 year old wondered if it was a better idea to take the stairs. As someone of the Lamia species brushed their tail against his leg, they were of the snake variety as he shivered. He still wasn't use to that, though maybe people should learn to keep, claws, leg or legs, hooves and paws to themselves.

He finally reached the current floor, at this point he was the only one left on the elevator. He exited the cramped room as he headed down the halls, passing the many windows that was scattered about the wide walkway. The teen had to admit, the view of the city was amazing from his current always cloudy sky gave a sense of compaction to the city. It was rarely sunny, but the closed off feeling gave a sense of safety to the city. Though it reminded him that he should probably ride in more planes as he pushed in the double doors and entered the meeting hall.

The hall was outstretched as chairs littered a giant table. A man sitting on the opposite end of the room smiled. His hair was long and black, his eyes were a deep red that was similar to a pool of blood. The teen also took note on the length of the room, it was far too tall for its own good.

"You made it, Round, though everyone else is already here," no doubt he was referring to the boy in front of him. However that wasn't what got the black haired boy by surprise, no the comment the boy was shocked by was the fact that everyone was here.

"Yeah, idiot," a harsh voice echoed behind him as Round turned around. "We were waiting for you, but that was pointless in the end right? Since you'll probably be useless in the long run," the brown haired woman grumbled, her eyes glared at the person in front of him as Round sighed. Those belonging to the wolf-man family were always like that.

"Hi Choque." Round replied, he took note of the light armor Choque was wearing, it seemed it was dated by about seven hundred years. Though even round doubted that Choque was that old.

The red eyed girl gave a small grumble before she turned towards the dark corner of the room. Only now did Round notice how poorly lighten the room was, but none of that mattered since a close friend emerged. A silver haired teen appeared holding a parasol, to be fair, most boys don't hold parasols. However the teen had a very good reason to have such an item.

"Ah man, I rushed over here because I thought I was late, but in the end I arrived before anyone else, do you even know how much trouble it is for me to even go out during the day?" He was complaining as Round cut his eye, it didn't matter if they knew each other for awhile, most of his problems were his fault, plus...

"Maybe you should actually answer your phone when a friend is calling you, Harceleur... though I guess I shouldn't expect much from someone who enjoys soft-shelled tacos." Round replied to his friend with rather blunt, hate as the white haired teen winced before fixing his sweat shirt. He was about to give a wonderfully useless excuse for that situation.

"W-well, you see my sister was asleep when I got up and she would probably be pretty pissed off," that was a horrid excuse for a stupid idiot. But Round couldn't help but make a rather crude joke from a rather old book from about 2005? Which is odd, since he wondered why he would remember such an obscure book that most vampires took offense to.

"Hmm, as I recall vampires don't sleep. They just stay awake, staring at people though windows." Round smirked as Harceleur eyes sharpened at his friend, he knew exactly what he was referring to.

"Dude... that's not even funny," the silver haired demon grumbled. Before the young vampire could go on a rant about political correctness a small chuckled came from the ceiling. It seemed the last one in their squad had finally revealed themselves.

Something hanging from the ceiling as it unattached it's claws from before jumping down. Round wondered if the size and shaped of the room was designed for these kind of shenanigans. But he didn't think too much about as the cat like creature perched in the middle of the table. Or at least that is what most people would see. The creature looked like a normal woman in her early twenties. Though she had two extra ears and one less finger. She had long nails attached to each one of her appendages. Yellow eyes and black hair stared before giggling slightly.

"Hiya, just been...hanging around,"

And so the final person was there, as Choque gritted her teeth at the cat like creature. "Sode..."the relationship between the two was rather strained, but this really wasn't the time for worthless drama as the man at the head of the table gave a harsh cough getting everyone's attention.

"Okay, if we are done with catching up, I would like to tell you about your current mission. Of course, this assumes if you choose to accept it," the black haired man smirked as the four nodded, there wasn't any hesitation in their decision. They have been through this task before. Once the man confirmed their action he pressed a button on the table, putting up a sort of hologram screen.

It was amazing how far technology had advanced in the two-hundred years. Not that any of the people there other than the man that put up the screen could appreciate it.

The blue transparent surface showed a large building with woods surrounding the area. These were the woods located right outside the city as Round blinked. As he recalled the forest was located south, and the building they were most likely attacking belonged to someone that he knew a little too well.

"Well, the building here is owned by a rather wealthy woman. From my research, she's smuggling weapons and other illegal items from outside the city into it, if you could capture their leader, that would be helpful...but that isn't the main reason you are going. You see something important was taken, and I wish for you to take it back."

It was a simple enough task for the group, even if it was a little odd, though a question sprung into all of their heads, and it would be foolish not to ask it. "Hey, what are we even suppose to be looking for?" Harceleur asked, as the black haired man gave a low chuckle.

"Do not worry about that, you'll know when you find it." That answer wasn't very reassuring, but none of them made the rules, they simply followed them. "Anyway, the plan is rather simple you see. Sode shall mark targets while the rest of you cut through the forest. Please be warned however, there probably will be guards patrolling the closer you get to the building, you'll leave after sunset."

The explanation was quick and to the point, as the four nodded and left the room in a rather orderly fashion. This made sense since they all had to act professional at least a few times. However when the group wasn't in front of their superiors the atmosphere was a mixture of relaxed and hostile, if that was even possible.

"At sunset right? That means we have way too much time to kill," Harceleur complained as he looked out the window. It was probably noon, as the brown haired teen slowly started to split off from the group.

"Hmm, whatever I do not have time for this, I must get prepared," Choque was as friendly as ever, if your definition of friendly was being embraced by a cactus.

Round closed one of his eyes, actually out of all the people in their group she was the one he knew the least.

That was something Round was pondering, it probably wasn't something that was worth thinking about as the cat like creature bounced in front of him and smiled. "No need to worry about someone like her, she's just in a prissy mood," the yellow eyed girl grinned as her tail twitched. It seemed like she was being careful not to look towards the window, maybe it was because the light really would mess with her eyes. Harceleur simply blinked, he was thinking about something that he could do at the moment, it was far too much trouble going back home.

It was sunny so having to use a parasol outdoors would be annoying and damaging to his pride, "well I'm stuck here until sunset no matter what. So do you two want to do anything?" Harceleur asked as Sode jumped towards the top of the hallway before shrugging lightly. Her blue and black clothing matched her perfectly.

"Nope, that's an impossibility right now. I have important matters to attend to, so see you loves," with little more than a sentence she took off down the hall on all fours.

"I guess it's just you and me." Round shoved his hands into his pockets before Harceleur, sighed.

"Yeah, it seems like it, if this is going to take as long as I think it's going to take. We should probably get something to eat," actually that was a good idea. Round recalled there was a cafeteria on the sixth floor, now the only thing that was left was to decide to take the stairs. It was a small thing to think about in the grand scheme of life, but it was still a decision the duo had to make.

"It's not far enough to warrant using the elevator," Round pointed this out as Harceleur shrugged. It really wasn't a long walk and walking was good for the body. Though the two would be doing plenty of walking when their mission started.

As the two descended the stairs the red carpet that was stained across the walkways. They took note of the large numbers and letters that told the two what floor, they were currently on, once they finally see the large six and the word floor under it, they understood they reached their destination.

The room was like a large dome, it was originally planed to have a glass ceiling, but was later removed for the species that disliked or was harmed by sunlight. It was just something that had to be done for everyone to be comfortable. On the end crust of the area were many shops scattered about, since everyone had different tastes and ate different things it was necessary. "Ah, I guess I'll go over there." Harceleur stated, pointing towards the shop, Round wondered if it was because the shop was made for vampires or because there was a cute girl working it.

As for Round himself, he wondered what he was going to order. Probably something that wasn't very heavy. The waiting in line was the most dullest part, he didn't notice before, but the area was packed with all kinds of creatures. When he finally reached the front he noticed a Lamia was working the stand. She was of the horse variant her brown hair fell limply down her shoulders. She tilted her head as she spoke. "Hello, what would you like today?" She was soft spoken as Round scratched the back of his head.

He was going to order something that has never betrayed him, something that he happily devoured in an instant, but was so simple that even a child could make. "I would like a cheese pizza," something as simple as that would always taste good.

"Yes sir," the Lamia nodded as she turned away from Round who was looking at his silver haired friend from across the room. It seemed he already found a seat in the crowd as the Lamia girl gave a light cough,trying to gain Round's attention.

"Your food is done, sir," Round turned around as he reached into his pocket and took out a credit card like object, he wondered how much money he had in his vault. He wouldn't get paid again until after the mission was complete though, he was paid by the amount of missions he finished and how dangerous said missions were. The payment was amazing though.

As Round took his plate with the small personal pan pizza, he wondered what Harceleur ordered. He didn't need blood that day, so he was free to let his taste buds do the picking. When Round finally reached the table, he frowned, Harceleur plate was holding the most disgusting food on the planet. Macaroni salad.

Round didn't like Macaroni salad, he enjoyed Macaroni and enjoyed salad, he did not like Macaroni salad. It was cold and the taste was far too strong for him to handle. Which meant that Harceleur had to eat it all, and eat it often,

"Really, why do you have to eat that garbage. It's not salad, it's awful! It lies...it's food that lies to you!" Round couldn't accept any food that actively lied to him. As he sat in the seat that was adjacent to Harceleur's the silver haired vampire scoffed.

"Why do you eat that garbage known as garlic?" He had a point as Round took a piece of the large circular dish and taking a bite from it.

"Hey, how's your sister doing?" Round asked a random question as Harceleur sighed.

"She's doing her best to be as inconsiderate as possible. Maybe it's because she's older or something, all she does is lay on the couch and smoke all day, everything always smells like smoke," Round recalled Vampires could smoke all they want and not have to worry about things such as lung cancer among the other faults.

"Oh, I was going to ask if she was single," Round closed his eyes as Harceleur simply blinked, his eyes widening only slightly.

"No man, she's single, but you don't want to date her. She's the kind of chain smoker that steals your money, plus she's a little older than me and a lot older than you," Harceleur stated as Round simply shrugged.

"I wasn't trying to date her, I just wanted to know what was going on in her life. Since you aren't doing anything important," Round smirked as his silver haired friend slumped his shoulders. It probably wasn't something you should do too someone like that.

"Harsh, actually I was wondering how your mom was doing. I haven't heard from her lately," Round sighed, actually he wanted to visit his mom the upcoming holiday, which was in two months. If nothing came up, he would have happily gone visit her.

"She's doing better from the last time she called, you can visit her with me," Round pointed out, he really couldn't think of anyone else to go with him.

"Hah, I can't make it, my dad is coming down here. He would be pissed if I wasn't there, though I think he just visits us after obligation."

From there the conversation went about pointless things like what they've been doing despite the fact they saw each other almost everyday. Though times like this Round wondered what like was like before demons, humans and holy ones made the pack. It seemed inconceivable, considering how many half-demons were running around now.

Though he had to wonder how someone could have sex with a creature like a Lamia, but he never really knew much. Before Round could continue his thoughts he remembered something important.

"Ah...shit, we have to go!" Round jumped up from his seat as Harceleur cocked his eye from a moment before his face fell into utter disrepair.

"Damn, if we're late again, they're going to yell at us." That probably should have been the least of his worries. The duo was so caught up in their conversation that the time flew. The duo jumped up from their seats and raced to the stairs, hoping they would make it in time for their meeting.

"You worthless bastards, you're late!" Choque growled as the duo sighed, they knew if the boss didn't chew them out she would.

Once again, Round, Harceleur, Sode and Choque were standing around the long table as the long haired man rubbed his temples. It wasn't a big deal, they were late. It was only by five minutes, though those five minutes may be important later, "we don't have time for this, you've got you're weapons and radios right?" The boss asked them as they all nodded.

Round and Harceleur held their holsters that was equipped with loaded guns. Apparently the guns belonged to an ancestor of Harceleur's. It goes without saying that Choque wielded a sword, even if something like that was stupid to use, maybe it was because she felt some lacking connection to her ancestry.

Sode didn't even use a weapon, she was only there for a scout. Go and check the places out and leave as soon as possible.

Everyone then put their radios on their belt, everyone except Sode, who attached her to her ear as if it was some kind of blue-tooth.

"You know your mission, don't fail and best wishes."

With those words, the group left the room, preparing for the difficult mission ahead.