Skulduggery Pleasant Fan-fiction- Love Amongst The Cain (Sequel to The Cradle Of Magic)

Coffee with a Killer

Colour. That was the best way to describe it.
The city hummed in the essence of it, dripped with vibrant lights and foreign material, topped with extravagant perfumes and nonnative voices that were different and spiced to the ear.
This was Budapest and it was a good place to start.
A figure lingered on the edges of the colour, willing to not blend yet remain mundane and inconspicuous. She walked at a brisk pace avoiding eye contact with the mixed crowd around her and concentrating on the objective that she seemed to have. To stay invisible. The best way to avoid common contact, as she had been told, was to act as if there was a purpose. In this case her purpose remained unseen, yet, there was one she just wasn't entirely sure what is consisted of presently.
She cloaked her mouth and set her eyes to the ground, continuing to walk. It was not a place to be stopped and she had no intention of doing so.
She did not know her objective, her timings or her future whereabouts but the one thing she did know was that she was being followed. Who by, was the key.
A man trailed her, his head open and clear with no air of secret about him. He was an open book on first glance, but how little does the common eye know in hindsight? The funniest thing was that he was the most dangerous man in that hemisphere, yet he looked like a freshened traveller. One with an objective.
The girl daren't look over her shoulder, give a slightest glance to her stalker or she would be known. She knew he knew who she was but to give the slightest hint to an enemy was an immediate death wish for it gave them an excuse to act. You left them in the dark and they could not touch you until you reached a place of insecureness. So she dare not give him that chance. It was rather like a game, but what he didn't know was the cards she possessed.
She took a turn to the left down a rather quaint alleyway, her head down and pace quickening. She wanted to see if he could run for her. He turned a sharp left and caught the whip of her cloak as she turned the corner, his fast pace turning to a run.
The cracked façade of the backstreets replaced the new and bright one of the city centre and they soon found themselves alone and exposed. He'd trapped her.
She caught a railing and bolted over it, landing on hard concrete and cushioning her fall, the man soon followed after as she ran across a space and leapt to a roof, gliding across a gap and swinging upon a metal ladder that clung to a building edge. She climbed with him at her heels and swung her legs over to the roof above running and then slowing. The was no way down.
He chuckled and caught his breath, bending double and clasping his hands over his knees.
"Well, well. That sure was fun." He smiled and adjusted his thickly darkened glasses, brushing the dust off his jacket and moving into the space between them, placing his razor between his two index fingers and playing with the light as it glinted on his face.
"Mr Sanguine. What an absolute pleasure." She turned, taking the linen from her head and flicking her dark hair forwards, wrapping it in a spiral beside her face. She gave a slight bow and a cocky wink as the Texan gaped and backed away slowly.
"You... They didn't tell me it would be you."
She giggled and took out her gun, adjusting it in her grip and spinning it as a sort of party trick. "And who would 'they' be? May I ask? Y'know I'm fairly intrigued to know who wants me dead... Other than the regulars of course."
He shook his head and stumbled back a little, feeling the air behind him and taking the razor to his hand. "You died. I saw you die... They said you were dead..."
She pursed her lips and retrained a quiet laugh, "Really, 'They' seem to be saying a lot recently... I really am intrigued to know who these people are..."
"You..."
She advanced forward and took her gun to her pocket, her soft hand passing to his arm. "Yes, it's me. It's quite a long story. But the long and short of it is that I need your help. Well, assistance, I never really liked help."
"I'm sorry? Me? I was sent to kill you..."
"Precisely. I know that. Now, how about we go get a coffee Mr Sanguine?"
And from the day on he knew,
she took hers black.

****
-Bliv

I rolled my eyes and bit down hard on my lip, looking away from the eyes that speculated my every move. I was no monster, I knew that as I knew myself.
"You seem to be ignoring the  fact that I basically saved your skin, so I would be very much obliged if you stop questioning my very existence, Mr Pleasant."
I smirked and looked away from him as he gave a quiet laugh and patted my hands. "That's my girl. You're set. Just keep eye contact with the judge and pay absolutely no attention to the fat Englishman because he is a dick not worthy of your oxygen." I smiled and moved from my seat, getting up and pecking a soft kiss on his jawline. "Thank you, Skulduggery. It's nice to know someone's on my side, here."
He caught my chin with his index finger an looked directly into my eyes, the cold, dead backness of his voids wandering into my thoughts. "You. Are innocent. You have done absolutely nothing wrong, Bliv. You'll be fine."
Taking my jacket from the desk I took an exit, smiling at his one last time before exiting the lobby and into the hum of the corridor and, God, was it a hum.
By this time word had caught the vine and everyone knew about the events of last month. People had flocked in from across the world, demanding their explanations and in the centre of it all was the girl that scorned attention. The girl who had spend her entire existence hiding from the light, which seemed to be flickering by this stage. The girl walked through the corridors, taking a right and passing a shattered fire alarm, walking through a passage black with burnt out fire and a smashed window that had not yet been repaired; the wall had gained new plaster but the memories were still etched into it.
I gritted my teeth and took a final breath before merging into the crowd and joining the men I had once called my friends into the room that would destine the rest of my life. The floor was wooden and I was wearing heels.

****
The collision of the spoon with the china gave a slight chime as the coffee was brewed and the drink poured. Her watched her gaze like a rabbit caught in headlights, frozen and wary of it's next move.
"You take sugar?" She smiled politely and triggered her hand over the bowl, her eyes flicking to his dark shades. He was lent forward and ready for her to strike at him, do something for he knew she would.
"Two. With milk." He muttered after a substantial pause, softening his shoulders a little to look at ease. He continued to keep alert.
She placed the teacup before him, haziness lifting from the creamed darkness inside and warming his face. His gaze was still locked on hers.
She smiled and looked down picking up her cup and sitting forward unto her arms; smirking at his expression.
"It's only coffee."
He continued to watch her as she sipped the dark liquid from her mug, setting it down on the table and flicking her eyes to the inkiness of his glasses.
"Budapest." She stated, her fingers linking rather automatically.
He tilted his head and opened his mouth to speak, suddenly realising how parched his throat was, "I told you... I was sent here to..."
"No..." She cut him off suddenly, her eyes flicking to the table adjacent then back to his; her expression one of annoyance. "Why Budapest?"
"They tracked you here. They told me to kill you."
"And yet here we are... Having coffee." She smirked and patted his hand lightly, "Now I know who not to employ when I want a job done."
In one quick action his grip fastened around the razor off his palm and she found him lunging at her from across the table.
She sat where she was, no reaction except one of a smile and a loose, uneasy look at the table next to her. She chuckled a little and sat back in her chair, watching his determined expression falter and die.
He returned to his seat, no blood wetting his blade like the hot coffee before him; which had now become still once more.
She breathed out deeply upon her drink, taking a sip and holding the cup at the mere tips of her fingers. "So, Mr Sanguine. Why aren't I dead?"
He set down his knife on the table edge and cracked his knuckles with a sharp click, shaking his hands.
"I was hoping you'd tell me. I'm intrigued you see, intrigued to know how you kept dead for so long."
She smiled and looked out the window, watching the leaves fall towards the gutter and swept across the street with the light breeze.
"I'm still working on that I'm afraid." Her voice turned hushed, "To be perfectly honest I only have a very vague idea myself. Odd that, but then again the world is a very odd place."
He gave a vague nod and checked his watch, anxiously looking towards the street behind them through the glass plated door.
"Make this quick. I'm a dead man within the ha' hour." He turned back to her and he saw her face soften, mellowed and sweet.
"You're going to help me?" She furrowed her brow, scanning his face for any faults in emotions.
He gave a quick nod and rubbed the back of his neck, placing his hand over hers automatically. "It's bout' time I did somethin' good for this world. Besides, I owe you my life don' I?"
She bit her lip and smiled a little, bowing her head and signalling him to do so.
"I need you to kill someone." His brow furrowed and he drew away a little, thinking for a moment before responding.
"And who would tha' be?" He asked softly.
She smirked and chuckled a little, lifting her lips to his ear and whispering softly one of the three names that had been circumvolving the world this last few months; the flickering flame,
"Oblivion Armageddon."

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