William Verderben

Alleyways

A hooded figure thumped through the rain, his head covered by a soaked grey hoodie, a black bag hung across his shoulder. The street was lit by the shops, as the dark clouds in the sky blocked the sun. The old clock on the bakery hit 9:00, he sped up. Sliding to a halt in front of an alley, he hurried through, stopping at a shabby door, dark red paint chipping off as more rain fell. He shifted his bag and opened the door.

As he closed the door behind him, he pulled his hood down. Dark blue hair stuck to the sides of his head, which he quickly fixed to his normal style. He made his way down the hall, passing different doors. Sounds came from some, a growl about an "Aaron", ranting about a "black haired little potato" and others similar. He finally made it to the final door, shifting his glance back he entered. 

"You're right on time, I didn't think you'd show up", a voice came from the opposite end of the room.

"My apologies, the rain held me up" the man said, unzipping his hoodie, a dark green dress shirt underneath.

"Will, you are the only one that can do anything with them," he paused, then stood up walking to the end of the room, his red eyes flashing under his dark brown hair, even if he was partly missing his power, Ivan was intimidating, "You made the proposal, so act on it"

"Fine", Will said, following Ivan to the table, he didn't fear Ivan, he had no reason to.

The men took a seat across from each other, both not breaking eye contact. Ivan reached down and set a case on the table, black with silver trims, and looked at the note attached.

"29 flasks, two full bottles of love poison, four powders, and all the equipment needed to fully use", he looked up from the note, "What in the Divine's name do you need all these for?"

Will smiled, "There are a lot of people I need, forever."

He smirked at his little joke, Ivan scoffed as he pushed the case forward. Will grabbed the handle and clicked the latch. He opened it, looking at the vials of forever potion, he grabbed a bottle, inspected it, the silvery green liquid shifted as the bottle leaned from side to side. As Will placed it back, he stopped.

"There's only 28..." he said, looking up, "where's the last one?"

Ivan narrowed his eyes, excused himself and left the room, after some bangs, a growl, and lots of yelling, Ivan walked back in, slamming the door behind him , his shirt ripped. He handed the stolen vial to Will, who calmly put the flask back in the wooden box with all the rest. There was a sharp bark from the other side of the wall, the two ignored the wails and continued the deal.

Will grabbed another of the holding boxes, and lifted the lid, "These are the trinkets, yes, I specifically stated everything"

"I know," Ivan pulled out another note, "Glass stirrers, looking pendants, speaking pendants, and necklace chains"

Will grinned, narrowing his pale yellow eyes, closing the wooden box and packing up his things, Ivan stood up with him. Will zipped his hoody again and flipped up the hood, his blue bangs barely peaking through. The depowered warlock walked over, and held out his hand. Will reached into his bag and gave Ivan a stack of bills, then thanked him and walked out of the room.

As he walked down the hall, he passed the living room, where two people were chatting, one was a white haired young woman, the other, a greying old man. They were pleasantly talking, but as Will passed, the older man stopped and turned.

"Those things aren't for playing with" he said, holding a tea cup, his hair was held back by a headband.

Will nodded, "True, but I intend to use them", the man furrowed his eyebrows.

"Humf, call Sasha when your eyes melt, I want to hear about it", he turned back to the girl and started on again.

Will opened the door, it was still pouring, at least it would make the next part easy. He grinned again as he set out in the rain, looking forward to the little gift he had left Ivan. The clock hit 11:30, he had to stick to the plan, one more hour until he had to be there. He pulled out the pendent he had made while Ivan was dealing with the animal, and tapped the centre, it glowed.

Perfect. 

_____________________________________

Will put on his best panicked face and rung the doorbell of his first house on his list. After a short wait the door opened to a tall blond man, he looked rather disheveled, it was 12:30 AM.

"Um, can I help you?", he said yawning. His hair was sticking in all directions, and his shirt had seen better days.

"Yes, you can, see I lived about a block away and I was thrown out by my roommates. I was wondering if you could tell me if there's a hotel anywhere around here" Will said, shifting his bags.

"Nowhere around here, but you can sleep on the couch inside if you need it", he gestured inside, Will internally laughed, but still hurried inside.

Blondie walked over to the couch and pulled out a bed, explaining that he was used to friends staying the night, so it was cool if Will stayed. Will thanked him repeatedly, trying to find a good place for his things.

"I'm Garroth, by the way" he said, tossing a pillow into the fold out.

"Will," he said, looking around, "Is there a place I can put these so their safe?"

Garroth looked up, "Sure, in the corner would be fine, can I ask what's in there?"

Will staged embarrassment, "Just my clothes and some stuff for work, i couldn't bring much"

He put the case carefully down, then dropped his bag onto the floor. He had put the pendant on earlier, and hid it under his jacket, so it hid the glow. Garroth stretched, saying that he would see him in the morning if Will needed anything, then trudged up the stairs. Will watched him leave, waiting until his door closed, then opening his case. He quickly grabbed one of the flasks and one of the grey gems set in silver, he carefully poured a drop onto the smooth glassy jewel. It swirled with green, shining in the early morning moonbeams. Will then put them back, letting his eyes glow their faint yellow. There was a bump, he froze, a figure made their way slowly down the stairs, and into the next room. Water started to run, then quiet, then the shadow when back up.

Will exhaled, then got back to work, dropping bits of green into the grey, stringing them, then placing them into the box. He smiled as he noticed the folded paper in the corner, perfect. He grabbed the pen and started writing, his plan was perfect, better than that Ein. Unlike the deranged psycho, Will did his research.  He wasn't going to lose any part of himself, that old man didn't know anything, he'd dealt with these things before. Will had heard about that old man's son from one of their many tea times, listening to them as often as he could. He'd learned of this guy, Travis, and formulated his first move.

Will packed up all his things, moving them back into the corner, thinking about how this game will play out. He covered himself with the sheet given to him, his navy hair covering his eyes, he'll deal with his puppets later.