Vices and Maces

Chapter 2: Are We Sure Virgil and Janus Aren't Brothers?

A fancy black bowler hat sat on the store shelf, surrounded by identical ones. The price tag on it said it was 120 dollars, plus tax. A dark hand reached for it, and as they grabbed it, it changed to white.

Janus pulled off the tag on the hat as the rest of him changed so they looked like a white man. Though, they weren't even a man, they were genderfluid but it would be easier to steal as a white man, and they were feeling masculine that day. They looked around to make sure no one was there before tearing off the tag, dropping it and kicking it under the shelf as he put the hat on, walking away.

He had a bag on his arm from another shop, so no one batted an eye as they walked out of the store without going through the check out. Realistically, they didn't need to go to the mall to get what they needed. But Janus can't resist stealing from a fancy shop, even if he had the money to actually pay for it.

They already had plenty of bags in his car, most of which he wasn't paying with his money. That's what he gets for being a gopher, but it's still better than being one of the muscle guys. He easily could, being a shapeshifter and all. They also weren't that bad of a fighter, especially with the dagger they kept on their hip at all times.

But then he wouldn't have been able to befriend the gang's weapons smith. It was far too fun annoying him to stop now. How could he leave behind a guy that had such a stick up his-

An alarm on his phone went off, and he silenced it. He was supposed to be back by now with what the weaponsmith needed. Luckily he wasn't working on a time sensitive project, this time... Doesn't mean Virgil was going to be any happier.

Janus threw the bag that was on his arm into the car before taking off. He knew that it was an hour drive to the factory Virgil worked at. It was on the outskirts of town, mostly to avoid suspicion of police. It poses as a car factory, and the police are often turned away if they were to head down the road that leads to the factory. Most are corrupted anyway and are turned away with a bribe.

Janus played their music as they drove down the highway. They went under a bridge, and as they went through the shadows he changed back to how they were earlier. Dark skin and a mohawk of black dreads falling down the side of his head and into their face. His ears were pointed and his teeth sharpened. He started down the road with his yellow glowing eyes as he pressed his tongue against the back of his snakebite piercings.

Halfway there, he couldn't help but be surprised that Virgil hadn't called yet. Being such an anxious man, he usually calls when Janus is so late. It caused their carefree attitude to sour, and the shifter found himself tapping their steering wheel.

He glanced down at their arm at the golden bracelet. It was of Virgil's design, a bit clunky in Janus's opinion, but important. It had two small lights that you wouldn't have known were lights if you didn't look closely. One was yellow and the other was purple, and there was a button between the two that was flushed against the bracelet so it wasn't accidentally pressed.

If Janus pressed his button, the yellow light would flash. Virgil had a similar bracelet, though it was silver and not gold. When he pressed his button, the purple light would blink, no matter how far away they were from each other. Virgil had created it so if any of the two were in trouble, all they had to do was press the button, and the other would immediately search for them.

Working in any gang made it dangerous to live regularly. Working for Wolfsbane... well... whether it made it safer or worse could be debated. It was the biggest gang, so police that weren't corrupt went after them, as well as their rival gang Burning Rose. However, because they were the biggest, it was harder to harm any members and get away with it.

Though Virgil is known to hate the leader of Wolfsbane, and would be one of the first to get himself in trouble. There were many different rumors, however everyone knew that the hatred for Samael Black was there. The most believable rumor for why he worked for Wolfsbane was because of blackmail. No one can agree on what, and Virgil refuses to speak about it. Or maybe he can't speak about it.