This Black And White World

||Chapter 1|| A Not-So-Wholesome Reunion

"Ow! Okay, I deserved that.."

"Mhm."

"Yeah, but I didn't activate the curse. What I'm saying is if I shot you, you'd react so I would have time to register not to activate the curse." Hitoryia crossed his arms and walked over to the group.

"Don't pretend to be clever, Hitoryia. Anytime you say 'calculated risk' it's just a risk that you took out of impulse."

"And maybe that's true, but you're not dead, are you?" Hitoryia said with his usual over the top sarcasm

"I suppose not."

Hitoryia looked around for a minute. His eyes became fixed on one of the bodies that lie on the ground.

"Hey old man?"

"Yes?"

"Mind if I borrow your sword real quick?" Hitoryia said while holding his hand out to Luscious so he could grab Luscious' sword.

Luscious shrugged and tossed his sword to Hitoryia. By convenience, Hitoryia caught it by the hilt. Hitoryia kneeled down to the ground and inspected the body. He used his gloved right hand to poke it a bit with the sharp claws "of the gloves". Seemingly abruptly to everyone else, Hitoryia lifted the body up by the neck with his right hand and held the sword to its neck, just under his hand.

"..Odd.. You're still alive.. I could have sworn I shot all of you filthy creatures.." Hitoryia said while his grip on the monster's neck tightened. "I wonder why that is.."

"Sheesh, maybe be lighter on the dissing of monsters while I'm right here." Luscious said. A hand on his hip while he watched Hitoryia basically threaten the monster in front of him.

Zyra and Maya started walking closer to the group while this was occurring. They watched as Hitoryia handed Luscious back his sword, the monster's neck still in his hand as he took out one of his guns and placed it on the monster's forehead.

"If you don't start talking I'm going to blow a bullet through your head." He threatened as his gaze got sharp and deadly. His red eyes staring intensely at the monster, it felt like he was looking at the monster so intensely he was looking through it.

Everyone else was silent. Maya, Lux, and Zyra were holding their breath for the monster to speak and spare their own life. They didn't think much about it when Luscious was unbothered..Perhaps it was a stereotype because he was a monster that they never assumed Luscious felt human emotions. They especially never stopped to consider if Luscious even possessed empathy. It was Hitoryia that concerned them.. Because despite his humanity, he seemed to be more brutal than monsters.. More unhinged to kill as he pleased.

The silence was broken when the loud sound of a gunshot being fired roared through the abandoned city and Hitoryia tossed the body aside. His right hand was drenched in blood that had dripped onto it. Hitoryia put his gun back in its holster and rubbed his temples in frustration.

"CLANK"

They heard the noise of swords clashing and quickly turned around. A figure in a white cloak was clashing swords with Luscious.

The figure was only illuminated by his own eyes. Their blue hue glowed brightly, one eye a different shade of blue than the other. Hitoryia felt his own eyes widen as a flash of his past ran through his mind.

"..I remember you.." Hitoryia said as he stepped closer. The vampire's hood fell down as he pulled back from the combat he had initiated.

"You were that vampire I met all that time ago.." Hitoryia said while pausing in his tracks. He realized the vampire wasn't looking at him. The vampire's bright blue eyes were locked onto Luscious. They slowly backed the vampire up into the corner of an alleyway. The vampire's blue eyes glowed brightly in the darkness.. And so did Luscious'. The only reminder that Luscious' eyes were actually an extremely dark red and not brown was when he entered a dark space and they glowed red.

"Hitoryia, maybe don't initiate conversation with someone who is clearly hostile." Luscious said as he looked at Hitoryia who was only slightly in front of him.

"Shut up Luscious. I'm doing something." Hitoryia said while looking at the vampire still.

Hitoryia pulled out his gun and aimed it at the vampire. Right before he could pull the trigger he felt Luscious knock it out of his hand.

"Luscious what the–" Hitoryia paused when he saw Luscious step over to the vampire and hold his hand out to him.

"Come on, don't be afraid, Xander. You can come with me and stop worrying about the monsters ordering you around." He said while the vampire, Xander, reached out his hand and placed it in Luscious'.

"There you go.. Now then, sorry in advance!" Luscious said as he tugged Xander forward and hit him on the back of his neck, hitting a nerve to knock him unconscious.

Hitoryia leaned down; picking up his weapon that Luscious had previously knocked out of his hand and placing it in its holster. Luscious carefully lifted Xander and held him while beginning to walk back without a care in the world for what he'd just done.

"I can't wait to see my beautiful husband again!" Luscious said while carrying Xander over his shoulder.

"Why were you even working today? It's his birthday! Shouldn't you be spending time with your husband that you've been married to for like, what.. Nine years?" Hitoryia said while walking behind Luscious while everyone else slowly and anxiously followed behind them.

"Wait, husband?" Maya basically yelled from behind them.

"Oh yeah. Luscious is married to Xylo." Lux pitched in calmly. Maya seemed so surprised by what she was hearing that she was too stunned to speak. "Did you never notice the matching wedding rings?" Lux added with a questioning look on his face.

Maya shook her head.

"No! I've only seen them a handful of times! I wasn't really paying attention to if they were married or not!" She yelled back in response. Her thoughts raced with questions and confusion. She mainly wondered how she could have possibly neglected the wedding rings the two wore.. Everyone else seemed to handle this information so calmly, and yet she felt like this was world changing news that could have never been foretold.

"Oh yeah, you haven't.. My bad, I forgot about that part." Lux said with a lighthearted chuckle.

Hitoryia was in the background next to Maya rolling his eyes with his arms crossed like usual. He seemed minorly annoyed yet amused. After all, it was Hitoryia.

"Wait- But lieutenant, you said earlier that they were just good friends?!" Maya yelled, she sounded slightly confused as she did so.

Authors note!  Hello again everyone! I'm trying so hard not to fall behind and stuff.. Life being life and holiday being over is really kicking my butt.. This part is actually the one that was meant to post today..I'm just a bit slow, of course. Next week I will hopefully have the part updated. I really don't feel like scheduling four parts at once today, so I'm not going to! Hehe.. I'm just going to hope for the best and try to remember that the part needs to be posted. ALSO!! I'm so happy about the Luscious and Xylo reveal! Which, I really think it should've been easy to tell before, or maybe it was just easy to tell in the original draft of the story..(Which is written in a little notebook that I'm still going through for more lore and story elements..And sometimes still actively writing in when I get the chance. If you were curious that's how I plan the events to my stories.. I write them on a notebook while I'm out and then retype them as many times as I have to until it sounds good in my head. I also just tend to connect things in the lore on accident. I'm apparently really good at planning lore on accident. Atleast that's what it looks like to me when I reread my creations. But usually I avoid rereading it unless I have to, because my mind will automatically think my work is bad.)