Day One: Diana (part one)

It was over in an instant.
It felt like an eternity. I stood frozen on the spot, staring at the body of the man who had been my protector and provider for the last 3 months. He had ensured I stayed safe, sheltered, and well-fed every moment I was with him.
His murderer was standing above him, momentarily unaware of my presence. How could he? How could he have rid the world of my provider?
That lecherous ball of slime, before I could do it myself?
He had funded every step of the journey I was taking, at the high price of his pitiful advances, and unbeknown to him, his own life. My skin crawled to think of how many times he had tried to touch me, my ears rang with his whining that he had given me everything, that I had given nothing in return. I should have killed him weeks earlier when his pleas became more insistent. He had become dangerous, but to have lost the chance to dispose of him in my own way made me furious.
So furious that for a moment, I forgot that there was another person between me and his body.
My eyes rose to meet his ... as red as mine were angry. I could feel him analyzing me, and I could almost feel the lie coming on. I knew he hadn't found the man that way. I had watched him drain the blood from the body and slit the throat to cover it.
"Shut up."
His eyes widened a little.
"Do you know...how long I had to follow him? How long I have had to put up with that pitiful, disgusting man? And now, I don't even get to finish his useless existence?! Gods, all for naught! I still feel the burns on my skin from his lecherous hands, and thanks to you, I don't get to rid him of them!"
"If it's any consolation, he didn't feel much." He shrugged. My temper boiled over.
"I wanted him to feel everything I was going to do! I was going to make him suffer for every little thing that he has done in his entire miserable life! And now I've got you to thank for taking that opportunity away from me!" I ranted and screamed before he interrupted me and apologized.
"Look. I'm sorry. I had no idea that you were after this guy. I just happened across him. If I had known, I would have asked you about it first. I mean, hell, aren't there tons of other worthwhile guys out there that you can go after?"
He had no idea how many men were deserving of my scorn. But I knew he could have chosen a better target. He must have been tired. "Aren't there plenty of other useless people that you could go sink your teeth into? Quite literally, I might add."
For someone I had just seen take the life of another human being, he seemed so nonthreatening. Almost amused by my sarcasm, even.
"Now. Look here. I apologize for raining on your little murder parade, darlin'. I never planned on getting in anyone's business. So I'm gonna go my way. I suggest you go yours. The fuss you've stirred up has no doubt caught someone's attention. The faster you get out of here, the better."
"But what about the body?" Was he just going to leave it laying there? "Even I would have given it a proper burial."
He insisted we didn't have time - before walking up to grab my shoulders. He intrigued me too much to die, so I jerked away. As I proceeded to make distance between the two of us, I walked face-first into the leather-clad chest of a town guard. I felt the murderer grab me again, pulling me away from the guard.
In another split second, the guard had flown through the air - propelled by a strong fist - into a brick building. We had a short amount of time to get away.
So I went with him.

Torin - Day One: Part 1

Yeah, I could have went and found and embittered drunk who was tired of living. I could have went hunting down a wanted criminal who didn't deserve a second chance and who probably wouldn't get one should he or she be caught. I could have found anyone more deserving, but for the first night in a long, long time, I just didn't want to.

I was bored, had a rough day, and most of all I was just tired. And the man I found was just standing there, not doing anything and the moment was perfect.

So I seized it.

I can say with certainty that he never expected, or saw a thing. I broke his neck in mid attack, and he was dead before he hit the ground, but I used every second of the time in between to drain him just shy of dry. To hide the mark I left upon his throat, I took one of my shorter knives and slit across the wounds, disfiguring the appearance to look like that of a open knife slash. I cleaned my blade on the back of my shirt and sheathed it.

When I turned around, I hadn't expected to see the girl standing there, looking past me to the dead man. In shock, she stood quite defensively when I turned in her direction, but it was in her eyes. She knew him. But oddly enough, I didn't see grief in those eyes. There was nothing about her that suggested that I had just killed a loved one, but rather... that I had taken something from her, like a cat that realized the mouse was dead and playtime was over. The silence hung around for longer than I'd liked, and I knew that it had more to do with her analyzing me than what I had done to the poor man. I decided that I should try to at least make it look like something it wasn't, so I spoke out.
"It's a damn shame. I found him there, and just from getting close and looking, I can tell you he's-"

"Shut up." She faintly snapped at me, "Do you know...how long I had to follow him? How long I have had to put up with that pitiful, disgusting man? And now, I don't even get to finish his useless existence?! Gods, all for naught! I still feel the burns on my skin from his lecherous hands, and thanks to you, I don't get to rid him of them!"

........Not many things shut me up. I've been known to have quite the witty repertoire, but again, for the first time in a long time, I couldn't speak. I thought for a few seconds, and the words that came out weren't the a-typical response that this situation needed. "If it's any consolation, he didn't feel much."

I saw her frustration and knew that's not what she wanted to hear.

"I wanted him to feel everything I was going to do! I was going to make him suffer for every little thing that he has done in his entire miserable life! And now I've got you to thank for taking that opportunity away from me!"

Apparently, you've upset her, old boy. Nice going there. "Look. I'm sorry. I had no idea that you were after this guy. I just happened across him. If I had known, I would have asked you about it first. I mean, hell, aren't there tons of other worthwhile guys out there that you can go after?"

She scoffed at me, smirking as she replied, "Aren't there plenty of other useless people that you could go sink your teeth into? Quite literally, I might add."

The look I gave her seemed to calm the anger she was directing my way. "Now. Look here. I apologize for raining on your little murder parade, darlin'. I never planned on getting in anyone's business. So I'm gonna go my way. I suggest you go yours. The fuss you've stirred up has no doubt caught someone's attention. The faster you get out of here, the better."

She stammered for a second. "But what about the body?"

"What do you expect to do with it?"

She shrugged, "Even I would have given him a proper burial."

"Well then the local guard will just have to be his pallbearers. We. Don't. Have. Time." I walked to her and grabbed her shoulders, "If you don't go, then I'll leave you here to take the fall." She looked at me for a moment and scoffed again, jerking free of my grasp. She turned around to leave and slammed straight into a guardsman. She stepped back as he glared down at her. His eyes shifted to me as I walked up behind her, taking her arm, "See, darlin'? Now we're gonna have to explain ourselves to this fine gentleman."

I think that he saw it coming. My free hand clenched tightly onto his face, sheer muscle propelling him into the building adjacent to us. Bricks crumbled at the force of his weight being forced into them. I turned to her again as the dust grew around us. "Come with me. NOW!"