Soul Streets

Straight Shooters

"Death?" I said. My nervous laugh was only barely suppressed by the seriousness of the air that hung around the room. Trent smiled at me, but it was obvious from Razor and Sherry's stares that this was no laughing matter. Trent was perfectly serious about killing me, the other two were trying to warn me not to cross this man no matter how air-headed he seemed.

"Death." Trent said, giving a playful grin.

This was the kind of person that I had now become affiliated to, a man who smiles at the thought of killing his enemies.

I shook Trent's hand and said through clenched teeth, "looks like I don't have a choice do I?"

"Not really, my new companion. Your fate was sealed the moment you walked in that door. But who knows, maybe it was preordained that we would become allies?" The young heir said, and even though Sherry had showed me how to stop seeing the colors; Trent emitted a fierce red color that whipped and turned like the fire he had used to burn my friend Micheal. Then to Sherry, "What is he exactly?"

"We don't know what species of Neotha he is exactly, but his aura takes the form of a specialist."

"What elements?"

Sherry shook her head. "I can't even tell. Normally any Neotha of our level would be able to see any common man's aura, especially the aura of a fellow Neotha. But his aura is invisible to me, if its there I can't see it. I helped him move it away from his eyes, but I couldn't get a grasp of what exactly I felt coming from him."

"So he could be anything. An element check is one of the easiest ways to trim down the options, but if that can't be done then it gets questionable. Very well, the ceremony to bring him into the family will happen this evening, after that; we party."

Trent nodded at me and then returned back through the door the way he had came, a confused Razor at his side. It was just Sherry and me in the room again.

Sherry let out a low whistle before saying "looks like you got off easy, you must have left a pretty good impression."

A good impression? I thought. She calls that a good impression?

"What typically happens then?" I asked.

"You saw the trash cans outside right?" Sherry said, giving the sucker in her hand a lick of her small pink tongue. I nodded.

"Those aren't for the cafe." She said with a smile. I swallowed hard as I remembered Trent incinerating Micheal in an instant.

Sherry hopped up to her feet, her short skirt swaying yet again. What magic is it that her skirt manages to stay down all the time?

"Well it's like I told the boss, besides you being a specialist I have no idea about you or your powers. We have a few hours to burn so how about I show you around the base, most of us live here since we don't have families, what about you?"

I looked down at my feet, still sitting slouched on the couch. "I have a foster family, but I was probably going to get shipped off today anyway. I got kicked out of school. You could call me homeless at his point."

"Hmm. I've always been that way. Never been to school, and the Casadin family is the closest family I have; I was orphaned when I was little. What is it like? School that is."

"It's evil. I never thought I would be upset about never going back, but getting kicked out because my friend set me up is just horrible."

"That friend that Trent killed?"

"Yea. He stashed weed in my locker and framed me for it."

"Hmm. Never really liked weed. Even as a city gang we aren't particularly fond of drug trading. And besides: your 'friend' is dead now and you have a new family. Me, Razor, Trent, and the rest of our members are your new family."

"Thanks Sherry." I said, squeaking out a smile.

"Come on now" Sherry said, pulling me up by my hand, "the cafe girls are always glad when a hot new piece of meat walks into the family."

"Hot?" I said, raising my eyebrows as Sherry wrapped her arms around my arm and pulled me towards a door that led to the cafe.

"Don't forget the part where I called you a piece of meat. Let your guard down and those pretty girls will rip you apart. I remember when I moved into the dorms with them." She said, shivering visibly. "They were vicious in dealing with me."

"But you're a girl." I said, confused by what she ment by 'dealing with her'.

"I said hot new piece of meat. I didn't say hot guy. We aren't all straight shooters after all." Sherry said, smiling mischeviously.