Storm of Shadows Ch. 02

While he was masquerading as Kothari, he mustn't do anything that would permanently damage the fragile soul hiding deep within his mind. Kothari often infuriated him with his rambling internal debates, but he was patently aware that he required both parts of his soul otherwise he would truly cross over. The cat within, he ignored completely. It was weak and useless, and not worthy of consideration. He had easily subjugated the animal many years ago and though it still lived, it was the true submissive in their co-joined existence.

No, he would not do something that would upset the child within, not by laying with another woman other than his angel. He had promised him that he would find their parents, and that he was there for him, and he would do his utmost to keep his word.

Once over in Europe though...he would do much that would most likely upset Kothari. As long as the end goal was a success however, he was sure Kothari would understand the end justified the means. If he couldn't come to terms with it...then the upshot of that would be that Agony would become the dominant personality forever. He wouldn't be too unhappy if that came to pass, though he was fairly certain the rest of the pack would be.

Regretfully he stepped past the blonde, heading towards the door without a word. He entered and waited for the male within to look up from his laptop. "You're Carl? Faraday sent me. I need brown contact lenses."

He was surprised to note that the man was human, his wizened face and white hair putting him at around his seventh decade. "It'll cost you a thousand."

"For a pair of contact lenses?" Agony couldn't keep his tone measured he was so surprised.

"Take it or leave it. That's my price."

For a long moment, he just stared at the human and then he started to laugh, a cold humourless sound. "You have balls old man. I like that. Here's your price. Now give me my lenses. I don't have time to hang around."

The transaction complete, Kothari retraced his steps back to the alleyway, shadowing himself once more and confusing the hell out of the new vampire on guard at Faraday's. He wanted to leave as little evidence as possible of his visit to the forger. When he entered the office, he unshadowed and pulled off his glasses to put in the contact lenses.

"Are you ready?" he asked, blinking a few times to become accustomed to the strangeness of having something in his eyes. The lenses were clear glass so they didn't affect his sight. He was certain that had they been the real lenses that some humans required that his own vision would have adapted anyway. "Is this better?"

Faraday nodded though Agony wasn't sure to which question he was answering. Perhaps it was both as he motioned him towards the wall on the right where there was now a plain white sheet.

"Stand over there against the white background."

Agony did as instructed, patiently waiting for Faraday to snap a photograph with an expensive looking camera. His patience was tested while he waited for the forger to mess around with printers and images, but before too long he was being handed a driver's licence, passport and social security card. The documents were flawless, a testament to why Faraday had the highest reputation on the black market. It appeared that Kothari was now one Simon Ducat, a Canadian national from Toronto, Ontario.

Even if he hadn't known the documents were counterfeit, Agony was certain that he wouldn't have been able to distinguish the real thing from the fakes, despite his preternatural senses. Faraday really was a master at his craft. "How much?" he asked, opening the black bag and stuffing the ID inside.

"As it was a rush job, fifteen thousand."

Agony's hand stilled on the bundle of cash he'd been about to take out of the bag, looking up to pierce Faraday with an intent stare. "And I thought the old man had balls asking for a grand for the contact lenses." Pulling out a wad of bills, he tossed them onto the desk. "There's nine grand there. I'm only prepared to pay a maximum of ten for this job. If you want to take the difference from the human, that's between you two."

He zipped up the bag and tossed it over his shoulder. "Oh, and Faraday...if anyone comes here looking for me... I was never here."

Swallowing hard as he scooped up the cash, the vampire met his gaze without flinching. "None of my customers ever are. I wouldn't still be alive, let alone in business, if I gave them up so easily."

Nodding Agony turned to leave, halting and turning back with a thoughtful expression on his face. Inside him Kothari was whispering, one word over and over. He was going to ignore him, but changed his mind in a fraction of a second. If he didn't concede this one thing then Kothari would whisper endlessly and that would seriously piss him off.

"One person may come...one like me, with hair of gold and eyes of warm chocolate. You may answer her and only her, but only if she gives you one word...angel. If any others track me through you apart from her...you will not see me when I take your head." Shadowing once more, Agony left the room without a backward glance. He knew he didn't need to threaten the vampire but it had felt satisfying to see the expression of abject terror that had crossed his face.

Humming under his breath, he made his way back down the dank alleyway, turning to the left and the main shopping area of the city. If he was to catch a plane then he had to blend in and look like one of the human holidaymakers. It shouldn't take him long to purchase the bare essentials that security would expect to see of someone going abroad on vacation.

To be continued...