The Beautiful Year

Chapter 1

It was at this time that a certain raven-haired young man was walking to the agreed meeting point. His broad shoulders were hunched in an effort to preserve body heat, and his hands were jammed in his pockets, except for the occasional withdrawal of his right hand to flick ashes off of his cigarette that he held loosely between his lips. He was dressed in the all-black uniform -that of a City "Keeper" (most closely related to the old-world police officers), but he was a Keeper with a story unlike most people. He was following someone now, a man named Kent. Kent knew he was being followed, and he also knew why.

Kent began to walk faster, and the Keeper that followed him sped up to match the pace. Kent had anticipated something like this would happen, and he was prepared. Kent rounded the corner and broke into a run. The Keeper ran after him, throwing his cigarette on the ground, he quickly caught up with Kent, but before he could grab him, he dashed into a narrow ally. The Keeper slid on the sidewalk and backtracked, running into the ally.

Kent was standing in the ally, a gun pointed towards the Keeper. He pulled the trigger, and the gun misfired. The Keeper leapt on Kent, knocking him over in addiction to a nearby trashcan. Kent struggled wildly against the Keeper, who pulled a knife from inside his jacket.

"No!" Kent said, grabbing the Keeper's arm. "No! I have kids! Please! I have little girl-"

He was cut off as the Keeper slashed through his neck's cartilage, some blood spurting up onto his face, and covering his hands. He stood up as Kent shook, staring up at him with fear in his eyes. The Keeper dropped the knife and walked out to the mouth of the ally. He pulled a cellphone from his pocket and dialed a number.

"Hello?" A man's voice answered on the other end.

"It's done." Said the Keeper.

"Aedan," Said the man. "You're at the location?"

"Yeah."

"I'll send someone over. Hang out there until he comes."

"Okay."

Aedan hung up the phone and leaned against the bricks of the nearby building. Kent was still twitching, and Aedan reached into his pocket, removing a rag he had put in there ahead of time to clean off his face and hands the best he could. A minute later a black car pulled up and a tall man Aedan knew as Jeff emerged.

"Where's the body?" He asked.

"Back there." Aedan nodded with his head. "Do you need help?"

"No."

"See you around." Aedan left and went to his apartment, not far from where the murder had occurred. He took off all his clothes and put them in the washer right away before showering. Once finished, he dressed again and ate a dinner of leftover rice and some cold sausage. His phone beeped around eight, and he picked it up. It was a message from the House, saying the payment had been transferred to his account. He set the phone back down and got up to get a glass of water, then his other phone rang. He picked it up, answering it.

"Hello?" He said.

"Marcus?"

"Yes." He answered.

"It's Mario. Listen, I know tonight is your night off but I need you to pick up a shift. Mark's got appendicitis. He just got rushed to the hospital an hour ago. Can you come?"

"Yeah."

"Alright, when can you be here?"

"Give me a half hour?"

"Yep. See ya."

He hung up and walked over to his wardrobe, sorting through his things for a clean Keeper's uniform when his other phone rang. He picked it up.