To be honest... I hate you

Night time, the point in Zoe's life where things got interesting. She battled monsters of all kinds. From Vampires, to Werewolves, and other creatures that walked around in human guise. She had even gotten up into the mountains on occasion, done research, and killed some giants. It wasn't easy... but she had gotten some younger ones, that weren't quite ready to go out and stomp on people. There was one thing she had learned about monsters of the night. Even when they weren't in their natural form, they still hung out at night. A lot of the people you saw in alleys, or just out at night in general, were Vampires, or Werewolves.

So Zoe was out again. Hand on her gun as she ran down the road, after a vampire who had been avoiding her for a long time. The girl turned into an alley, and Zoe grinned. It would be her death day. Staff in hand, she spun down the alley, and pulled off the tip of the staff, a wooden point stuck to the end, making it a spear instead of a staff now. Stuffing the top of the staff into her pocket, she held it out, and watched as the vampire hit the end of the alley, and stood staring up at the wall in front of her, tears glistening on her face. Suddenly she spun around, and bared her fangs at Zoe. Zoe froze, and then crouched down. "Today is your last day to live Vampire." She growled, and lunged forward. There was a struggle, in which Zoe nearly was bitten a few times. But the staff managed to save her each time. Until finally, the staff was stuck into the beast's heart, and the girl, stood, staring at her chest for a moment, before she fell to her knees. Zoe stood there, panting, the staff still deep in the monster's heart. She smiled, and pushed harder, feeling it crush into her, and the woman, gasped for breath, before going limp, only held up by the stake now in her heart. Zoe pressed a button, and the tip came off of her staff, and was replaced by another, and she took the cap out, putting it back on, and making the staff smaller again, putting it into her belt, before leaving the alley.

“I throw my hands up in the air sometimes...”

Watching his friend sing an array of Muggle Pop songs was probably the highlight of Ariel’s year. With a smirk, he brought his cigarette back to his lips and slung his arm around his companion’s waist, roping her back to him. She gave a shriek and he chuckled as she stumbled awkwardly in her sky scraper heels. Still, her incessant giggling and wandering hands weren’t enough to take Ariel’s attention off of his friend. By comparison, Ariel was sober - Ollie still had a bottle of Vodka in his hand and didn’t look as if he planned on stopping drinking any time soon. Ariel had decided even before they’d left the club that it was a good idea to stop Ollie and his ‘angels’ from killing themselves. At least though, Ariel wouldn’t have to worry about his friend trying to kill him any time soon. That was the worst thing about getting drunk with Ollie - especially back home. Thankfully there weren’t many bridges that Ollie and Ariel could stumble over the side of tonight.

“Ollie! Ollie - for Christ sake! Change songs!” Ariel called up to him, vaguely amused. Immediately, his friend began to belt out some sort of opera thing and Ariel had to try and resist the urge to roll his eyes. He didn’t though, and continued to lead the girl down the street despite his own precarious sway. “Come on, Oll! We’re going to get arrested for disturbing the peace!”

“Well if you stop bloody shouting for five minutes!” Ollie yelled back, a wide grin on his face. He turned back around again and continued to sing with wild abandon. Ariel smirked and flicked his cigarette into a gutter before leaning down and picking the girl up. She gave another scream and he sat her up on his shoulder.

“I’m a little birdy, Ari!” She squealed, shooting her arms out and flailing them like, supposedly, a bird would.

“Right, T, right. Ollie - how far are we away from the Leaky?” Ariel called.

“Too far and I’m running out of - I want to be a pretty birdie; flying free!”

“Is that a song?” Kate, the girl on Ollie’s arm asked.

“Probably not,” Ollie replied with a shrug.

Ariel sighed heavily. So this was what their night would consist of was it? Insanity.

Zoe froze in her alleyway. She pulled out her sunglasses, and even though it was nighttime, she could see fine with them on. Someone was singing.. loudly in the street not far from her. Loudly.. and badly, and it nearly hurt Zoe's ears, they must be on the street right at the entrance of the alley. She hadn't expected anyone around here... she couldn't be caught around the dead body of a Vampire, and Zoe immediately started to look up, looking for hand holds to jump up onto. Of course there wasn't right where she was, and the only way out of the alley was the entrance. She had planned it that way, to keep the Vampire from getting away.. but of course... she was now trapped herself. She had to get out of this alley, to get away from the now rotting body of the Vampire.

Slowly, and quietly, she slipped down the alley, and stopped just in the shadows of the entrance. Some boys and girls were heading home from the bar, and she watched them carefully. She was a good judge of character, and knew who most of the werewolves, and vampires were in town. She scanned the group, and her eyes came to rest upon one male in particular, her heart shot into her throat, and her hand closed around her staff tighter. Ariel Greyback.. in human form.. unguarded, and very near drunk, if not completely drunk. With a little group of friend who were also drunk. She grinned slightly, and grabbed her gun, being careful to keep it hidden, and smothered, she checked her bullets, and reloaded it. Tonight was the best night.. a Vampire, and a werewolf in one go.. because Ariel Greyback.. was going to die tonight.

That feeling was so distinctive; the feeling of fear, of course. The hairs on the back of Ariel’s neck stood to attention and his footsteps slowed, his grip tightening ever so slightly on what’s-her-faces’ waist. He released her soon after though, and pushed her up the road towards Ollie. He knew he wasn’t imagining things - there was no way. He heard the retreating heels of the woman and the giggles that soon followed but he decided to pay little attention for there was something much more interesting surrounding him, watching him like a panther sizing up his prey.

Ariel turned around, his eyes scanning the scenery, and soon enough, he found the alleyway that Zoe had concealed herself in. Ariel stopped walking and leaned against the lamp post that dropped its golden glow onto the pavement. He crossed one ankle over the other and folded his arms over his chest, not quite finding himself able to keep the smirk on his chest. Ollie had always commented that Ariel was more humane when he was drunk. What he’d also seemingly missed that Ariel was perhaps more intuitive when drunk too. How had he known she was there?

Well, he didn’t. He was merely winging it and hoping for the best.

Zoe smirked when Greyback suddenly slowed, and leaned against a pole. His friends walked on, not realizing he had stopped, and she smiled at how perfect it was. He obviously knew she was there, and was waiting for her. So once she could no longer see his friends, she stepped out of the alley, and walked right up to him, standing side by side with him, one hand on her gun, the other gripping her staff, which still had some dried blood on it. She kept her face turned away from him, and looking into the darkness, she just stood there though, not moving, "Greyback?" She asked simply, her cloak billowing in the small wind that picked up, and she wrinkled her nose. He smelt like the dog he was, and it sickened her.

"Do you know who I am?" She asked simply, her finger poised on the trigger, ready for any sudden movement on his part. She always made sure that if she killed something, they were the ones to make the first move towards her. Otherwise she could be put at fault for killing them. It just happened to be that she was out where monsters would likely kill her. So... she killed a lot of them. That Vampire for example, had been feeding that night, and it was obvious they were a seasoned hunter, the second Zoe had walked up, she had bared her fangs, and Zoe had taken out her staff, one quick movement towards her, and a shot from Zoe's gun had put the Vampire on the run, and she had lost her life in an alleyway.

It was dark, and there didn't seem to be anyone around for miles, the only light in the area was the one directly over them, and so they were lit by the soft glow in a perfect circle around the two. Zoe was on the edge of the light though, with her face turned away. This boy.. she had a feeling about him, and it disturbed her.. a lot. But.. she couldn't kill him if he didn't attack first.. it was her policy.. so she waited, breathing shallow, heart pounding, waiting for him to respond.

And there she was, in all her glory, proud and tall trying to look imposing. Admittedly, this wasn’t Ariel’s forte - talking to hunters of his kind - but it was better late than never. Fenrir could do it. He could talk them out of cold blooded murder and Ariel wondered if he could do the same. It was unlikely though. It was incredibly unlikely. Perhaps he’d survive his encounter long enough to actually tell his father he’d run into someone as vicious as he was assuming she was. He could smell blood on her, blood that belonged to two people; a human and a vampire. Oh dear. How quaint. Well, he could condone that. Vampires weren’t exactly selective when they chose their meals.

“Did he put up much of a fight?” Ariel asked, turning his head to look at her. “The Vampire, I mean.” He didn’t particularly want to guess who she was. Magical Creature hunter, yes, most definitely. He needed to find a way to keep his life though. He needed to find away to make it so she actually wanted to keep him alive - for her gain or so she could give better chase. Ariel didn’t care which. The latter gave him a chance to escape and she’d gain from the former. “So two in one night then? Success. Are you going to gut me or shall we make it interesting? Look lady, I’m not entirely sure who you are but you’re bad news, I can smell that on you. I don’t intend on losing my life tonight and neither, I assume, do you so shall we work on some sort of compromise? Why worry about me when you could instead have a werewolf that is actually causing the world some serious grief. My infamous sister, perhaps?”

Zoe smirked when he asked her about the Vampire. "She ran... after feeding on an innocent person not to far from here.... a small fight, I've had better." She said, her voice a hiss in the dark, her eyes trained away from him. If he wasn't going to attack her... this might be bad... but as it was, she really wanted to kill a Greyback.. and to be honest, at this point she wasn't really caring if he made the first move. One wrong move on his part would result in death anyway. He spoke, and she was happy to hear he didn't know who she was. If he had... well that would have been interesting. But one thing that really interested her, was his choice of getting out of it tonight.. he was offering his sister up for grabs.. if she spared him? Somehow her heart skipped a beat. It was werewolves like Naomi Greyback that set her hair on end.

They killed for no reason, hunted, and destroyed things for no reason at all. Ariel Greyback on the other hand, hadn't really done anything, and she could feel the truth settle on her instantly. She didn't want him dead, if he could help her get his sister. "What do you know about her, Greyback?" She hissed, head turning slight so she could see him better. He was looking at her, and she made sure to keep the most of her face in shadows, her eyes at this angle would look like black pits, her clothes like death's own cloak. She was the bringer of death at night, it was simply her selection was smaller then his.

"Why offer up your dear sister?" She asked and spat on the ground after she said dear, as though she couldn't stand the word dear when it was relating to his sister. Obviously he didn't know who she was, but this was a deal she couldn't resist making.. she had to do it. If it spared the life of one werewolf... but got her the life of Naomi Greyback.. well... she could always kill Ariel later. "And what do you gain out of it?" She asked softly. "How do I know you won't just.. run away with your tail between your legs after our little chat here.." She said said and then stopped. "Actually.. I know how.." she slowly turned to face him, so her face was clearly visible to him. "I'll give you a job." She said, frowning, her hood falling back away from her face, to reveal the face of Zoe Gould, the head of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

It was a widely accepted notion that werewolves did not like vampires. Ariel, though the exception too many rules, did not fall out of this sorting bin. No, he hated vampires just as much as the Magical Creature Hunter before him did. Ariel took his hands from his pockets and crossed his arms over his chest. It was a show that he had no plans to attack her, and certainly no plans tucked up the sleeves of his t-shirt. He was waiting for her to make her move. He was vaguely confident that if he bartered his way out then she would leave him alone. He couldn’t help but think it ironic and very classic of Ollie’s character that the young man would forget about his best friend and wander off down the road with two buxom women and completely miss the fact that Ariel was potentially knocking on death’s door. He was far more relaxed about that than he should have been, though. It was almost as if he were embracing it.

“What a shame you couldn’t be sated by her death,” Ariel responded as a slow, sardonic smile spread across his lips. Ariel raised an eyebrow at the woman and chuckled coldly before shaking his head and looking about himself. “Depends...” he began after taking his eyes from the lamppost across the street to the alley she emerged from to the woman herself. “What do you want to know?”

It was soon clear though, why she was so interested in werewolves. Ariel’s eyes widened as she pulled her hood back and his eyebrows shot to his hairline. “Well, I certainly didn’t expect that,” he allowed after a moment. “How interesting. A job though, you say? As what, pray tell?”

Zoe couldn't help but smirk at his reaction to seeing her face. There was a moment of silence as they stood staring at each other, his expression one of surprise, her expression of amusement. She couldn't help but smirk as he asked what kind of job. "Why as a Werewolf expert of course." She purred, moving around so that she was in front of him. The light from the lamp hit her face perfectly, and she watched his face, frowning slightly. "Obviously, being what you are." She said her eyebrows raising slightly, and she took a small step towards him, one hand on her staff, the other gesturing towards him.

"You know everything there is to know about werewolves, you know how they act, why they act the way they do. What is going on in the werewolf mind.. it would make it appear that I am able to hire any types of people, it will make ME look better as a person, AND give you a way to get money, I know how hard that is for Werewolves... I've been giving them jobs, and giving a Greyback a job will just be great." She smiled at him. "And besides, you know about your sister, I want to know, and I'm giving you a reason to live." She said simply. "And you get to improve your life at the same time..." She smirked and took her hand off her staff, showing she wasn't going to hurt him now. "What do you say? You work for me, and you tell me more about your little sister." She smiled at him and let her hands fall to her sides, no threat in her movements anymore.