VILLAINS: Heart Of Man

To sin against thy self

Azeal rushes into the 10 story building as Magnus follows slowly behind, his pattner saying all the mumbo jombo officers say when they invade a building. By the time magnus was climbing the first flight of stairs Azeal could be heard on the fifth.

Magnus completes the third flight and its all quiet and a little dark as the stairs lead into a long corridor with no source of light but the windows at both ends of the corridor. Although the sun rays from the left window reach in deep like its summer on that side and on the other cold winter breeze sooths in with  ice cold day light.

As it turns out the building isnt completly deserted as tvs set could be heard, kitchen utensils hitting each other, people chatter just basically everday life noise and as always something  stands out in the chatter.

A heavy breathing from the cold side of the narrow hall. The lady with the grey hair steps into the corridor staring towards his direction. Magnus just stairs back at her before Azeal calls out to him asking if he found anything. Magnus takes sometime before answer "nothing yet". He turns his back to the lady and faces the other direction but before he gets far she hits him with a snow ball hitting him right below his head with enough graident to slide down his kneck and into shirt. Man slowly turns back with the most displeased face he could muster up, she just giggles and beckons him to follow her as she walks into on of the door.

Magnus wasnt in the mood and he just stands  there watching. The lady walks back into the corridor confused, she claps her hand twice, waves and uses both hands to beckon him to come. Magnus  just slides his hands into his pockets and raises an eyebrow. Azeal starts to make his way down the stairs and she begins to get restless beckoning  to come, this time he decides to follow.

He walks to the door, takes a good look around without moving an inch turns back and faces the exit. Just then Azeal appears in the doorway

"Magnus? You got me worried!"

Magnus replied with a look that says "are you serious?"

Before Azeal burst into laughter "like hell i am! So whats going? What did you find?"

Azeal walks into the apartment and starts asking a million questions, touching things, picking them up and not replacing them to their former position which really begins to get to Magnus. He stumbles on a picture frame and he seems to shut up.

He picks it up, examines it "Magnus. Why are you in this picture? Or why is your picture here?"

"I used to live here, the lady next to me is my late wife"

"Oh. Wait you mean you have an apartment?! but choose to live in that dirty trailer?"

"I know right?" A female voice echoes from the dark part of the apartment which looked like dining section. The two men turn to look in her direction.

"who are you? What are you doing here? " Azeal asks as he pulls a chair

Her steel blue cold eyes, dim but bright enough to glow in the dark room. Her breath heavy and exhales accompanied by some steam like thing escaped her lips as she spoke "Does he ever shut up?"

Magnus takes a sit, "what do you know about the Marshals in the SUV downstairs?"

"Rouges on Black ice's payroll" she replied
"So i guess that makes it okay for you to act on behalf of the law"

"I didn't say i did anything. I only told you more about your colleagues. If I were you i would be concerned with why I am in your old apartment"

Magnus leans forward "okay lets start with your name"

"Its Halsey"

"Okay Halsey, why are you here?" Azeal joins in

"Well firstly am hiding"
"and secondly?" Magnus follows up
"To deliver a warning" she replies as the room goes silent.

Her blue-iced eyes gray hair gives her a cold personality, the kind this town knows and dreads.

"So... whats this warning?" Magnus breaks silence

"Well winter might be over but the storm, is yet to come" silence befalls the room again.

Azeal chuckles abit "what kinda storm are we talking? Rain? More Snow...?"

"The storm is relative, as you will soon find out" she says as turns on an intense gaze towards Magnus then looks past hims into a room behind him.

The winters cold creeps in with the silence from the said room, like it had been waiting patiently for an introduction and Halsey's gaze was its que. The cold had manifested it srlf into the atmosphere like an unsaid presence not seen but duely and well felt.
Magnus slowly and unwilly stood up from his chair as the occassion demanded, like an ice staue slowly unmelting he moves with such slugish approach at times its hardto tell if he was still moving or at a stand still.

Finally he gets to the room and looks in. Its the masters bedroom and it barely takes him a second, he doesnt need to look around  cause its right staring him in the face, the image wrong with this picture.

The small safe in the wardrope is open and empty. His late wife would occassionaly put her jeweries, certificates money and all sorts  as long as she felt it was worth keeping at the same time same content she would leave scatthered on the bed.  Originally the safe was for  him to put his gun in but after they got married and she moved in he just took over it aswell as many other things she also occasionally changed the code and wouldnt tell him. "Wo-man of the house" he  whispered as playbacks flash in head of him saying it to his wife as she would carry the safe and turn it upside down over the bed.

Back to reality he walked up to the safe, examines it and deduced there was no sign of tampering or forced entry. He shuts it and tries to open it with the last combination which was is his wifes birthday but it doesnt budge. Its been changed.

A sudden rush of fresh hot steel blood rushed through his veins like his heart just started beating anew. His flashed with maddness and his voice was coated with blood. In his mind his thoughts were "they might as well have dug her up from her grave" as an image of his wifes decaying body hung out over a hip of sand. He puts his hand over is his eyes shaking his head vigorously like it had been encased in webs.

In a bloody bistarous voice "who dares?!!" The windows rattle.

He walks back into the dinning buts its empty as Azeal walks out of the kitchen.
"Where is she?" a raging voice demanded

Azeal raises his shoulders to say he doesnt know just before an unoticed silhouette figure standing in the doorway decides to move back out of the apartment, its a woman not the girl her height and well defined curves cut out of the straight shadow. Although her face cant be seen as she runs out her robe catches some sunlight and the red material glistens. Like a mad bull Magnus gives chase all speed and no control he bumbs into everything in his part  they either break or move but non derailed him from his direction.

A window is heard shatering as he makes a sharp turn into the hallway slaming his shoulders into the opposite wall leaving the carved out hole oh a man in it. Her red robe is seen dispearing, droping down from outside the window and without thinking or looking he leaps. With a thundering land he crashes into the frozen SUV still on both feet.

He looks around but doesnt see the fleeing woman. He looks back up to realize somehow she managed to climd into she forth floor window has she leaped from the sixth.

Azeal comes rushing outside running past him, magnus turns around to see Halsey getting into a taxi.

"What do we do now?" Azeal asks
"We are paying my brother-in-law a visit?" .