One More Bite, One More Lie

Chapter 1

It was a normal day inside the headquarters of the metropolitan police station. Chief Commissioner Granger had the curtains shut, hiding away from the deadly sunlight outside, shuffling through his papers. There was a lot of work to do, as always, and he wasn‘t exactly pleased about lazing around. His silence was disturbed by a knock at the door; without much further do the redhaired male beckoned his guest to come in. However, what he did not expect, was the up and coming future of the police department to put a letter down in front of his nose.

"I quit."

"...what?"

Percy stood awkwardly inside Grangers office, trying to adapt his eyes to the dim lights in the room that had the blinds shut completely. He couldn‘t quite imagine the life as a vampire, without being able to withstand a single sunray, and he was glad he wouldn‘t be able to experience that.

It was sheer luck he felt comfortable in Granger‘s near… he had grown up with him at his side, after all, and this vampire had been like an uncle to him his entire life, even now when he had come to apply to his police station in hopes of rising higher than his own father had come. Forest green eyes stared determined into his boss‘ dumbfounded face- he did not just do that, did he? Granger flashed a quick look through the letter of resignation to make sure his ears hadn‘t betrayed him and yet, he seemed to have heard right.

What in god‘s name?

"Well not completely," the lad finally added, shuffling his feet, "I want to go on an undercover mission."
Granger perked up, a bit of relief flooding his veins. So Percy was going to come back at some point, right? He knew this boy since quite a while, just up and quitting his dream job wasn‘t like him at all. In all honesty, the Commissioner was glad to know this lad had a plan, and even though he was quite young, he reminded himself how Percy‘s father had been at the same age- full of a burning passion for justice.

"...I see."

After a long and tiring discussion, Percy left the office, taking along a copy of his letter of resignation. He knew that he would need it sooner or later, at least for what he was about to do. It was time.

Quietly, Percy got to work, emptying his locker in the changing rooms. He was alone with his thoughts, and it gave him a good chance to think about his further steps. Now that he had put his letter of resignation in, there was nowhere for him to go, and since Granger had to make it official for his enemies to be fooled, there was no way he was going to receive any benefits from his job as a policeman… and no financial aid. With a mere nineteen years, that would prove to become difficult to the man.

Percy was busy moving his things into his car as he felt the gentle slap of an all too familiar hand on his shoulder.
"Hey Percy! See you tomorrow?"
He looked up to meet the eyes of one of his best friends and colleagues, Sam West. A troublemaker and a year younger than him, but that guy had a fire inside him not even he himself could ever hope to control. Percy felt actually bad that he could not reciprocate that same genuine smile of his, after all, he wasn‘t going to see him again so soon.

"Actually, no."
"Wait what?! What do you mean? You got an emergency or something?“ The smile fell and was promptly replaced by a soft frown. Now Percy felt even more awful but his face kept a perfect pokerface.
"I resigned. I'll move away and we won't see each other for some time. Don't try to convince me otherwise, Sam." Sam stared at his friend with an indescribable expression, unable to move or say a word. Percy, just up and quitting? Something wasn‘t right there.

"Oi oi, why so sudden? You can‘t just drop that bombshell on me and expect me to just be fine with it.“
"Because I had no choice. I‘m done packing, and I‘m going to leave now. There are some things to organize and- sorry I didn‘t tell you earlier. I didn‘t exactly want to sour the mood."
Percy opened his car door to swing himself onto the seat, yet a firm hand on his shoulder held him back. Why did Sammy have to make this so much more difficult than it already was? Percy froze, shaking his hand off in a gentle but firm way.