Breaking the Ice

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[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
It was late when the black haired male stepped out of the clinic, glancing up at the dark, star filled sky before letting out a long breath. It had been a long day at work, his day fully booked by clients who had issues of their own. At least, Liam thought, I helped solve a few of their issues. However there was that gnawing doubt at the back of his mind. Did he really?

Pushing those thoughts aside, he shook his head. Those were thoughts for another day. It was already late, and his dog was probably already whining and scratching at the door, impatiently waiting for his return. Just the thought of Roxy missing him was already making him smile. Shoving his hands into the worn pockets of the jumper he had thrown over his professional clothing, he began the trek home. It was cold out, and nearing 9, so he decided to take the shortcut through the twisting alleyways instead.

It was a cloudless night, stars and streetlights illuminating his path. He kept his head up, however he wasn't scared of possible attackers. The neighbourhood he was walking in was mostly free of danger, and he had other means to protect himself. Sometimes however, he wondered if he should. No one would miss him, would they? Scowling, the grey eyed male tried to force those thoughts out of his head as well. They kept intruding into his every day life, as much as he tried to stop thinking about it. Maybe he should get some help. That thought made him chuckle. A therapist going to another for help. How they would laugh at him.

Finally entering the alley, he strolled down it with an air of fake confidence, his eyes and ears alert. As much as he'd like to think that the place was safe, you could never be certain. And that night, he was glad that he had been as alert as he was.[/fieldbox]
 
Normally when people were out this late they were doing one of two things. Number one, coming home from a long day of work. Number two, enjoy a peaceful nighttime walk. Vere was doing neither of those, in fact, she was on her way to work.

Vere had been this town for around a week now, two weeks ago she got an email from a potential client. It was the usual, kill this person by this time for this amount of money, except it wasn't the usual. To say Vere was aware of the.... unnatural was an understatement. She had run into her fair share of vampires, werewolves, even a few wendigos. She had been hired to kill those very creatures in the past, but it had been awhile since she had been given one of these supernaturals as a target, so she was a little rusty. She had spent a week relearning everything she knew to make sure she was still qualified, then taken up the job and gotten in her car to drive to the town listed in the email. The next week had been spent observing this male, learning about his routes home and work hours, trying to get as much information as possible to make the kill quick and easy. These things never were quick or easy, though, even for professional killers like her.

It was late, and the night was rather pretty, even Vere had to admit that the nights around here were calm and nice for long walks. Vere had been stood in the alleyway she noticed her target would often use to make his way home. As cliche as it was to attack someone in an alley, it was a pretty smart idea, and besides Vere didn't feel like attacking him in his own home, not when he had a dog as well. She didn't feel like having to kill a dog as well, she might be a killer but she wasn't heartless. She had some form of morals.

The white haired female heard the approaching footsteps, she was leaning against the wall on her phone, the lighting illuminating her face and highlighting her pale skin and freckles. Vere looked a normal girl just chilling whilst on her phone, you weren't able to see the guns and knives she had hidden on her person. As her target got closer she let her eyes flicker up from her phone to look at him, giving a kind smile before looking down once more. She would wait for him to walk past, then shoot him in the heart from behind. The gun had a silencer on. It would be quick and simple, then she could leave and move on.

(not too sure if I like this one >.< I couldn't really think of anything though so it'll have to do for now)
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
Turning the corner, Liam noticed the girl on her phone leaning against the wall. Her hair was white, the phone illuminating her face. What was a girl like her doing here? She seemed pretty, but also unfamiliar. He had never seen her around this area before, was she new? And even if she was new, just why exactly was she in a dark alley by herself? As he walked closer, she gave him a smile. Liam almost blushed, but in his mind he was wondering what he should do as well.

Should he smile? Nod in acknowledgement? His window of opportunity was closing fast, and he had no idea what to do. Blushing, he simply smiled at the girl, wondering if she would think he was a creep or something. He was male, and she was in a dark alley. Who knows what could happen. Hesitating, he glanced up and down the alley. What if someone else came down? He knew the neighborhood, but he was still nervous about leaving her here by herself.

Slowing down, he came to a stop near her. "Hey, what are you doing here this time of night? It's not always safe," he said, before suddenly realizing he could also come off as threatening. Rubbing the back of his neck, he looked around again. "I could walk you home, if you'd like? If you're going home anyway..." He cursed himself after that. Why would she be going home? If she was, she'd be walking or something. No, she was leaning against the wall on her phone, almost as if she was waiting for someone. "Or wait with you, if you're waiting on someone."
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere had really fucking hoped the male would just walk past, he didn't though. Instead, he stopped and began talking to her, she brought her eyes up to him and shut off her phone, putting it away. She had to look on the bright side, this could work in her favour. So, Vere gave a kind but fake smile, not that he would be able to notice, and stopped leaning against the wall, looking around as if embarrassed. "Well, it does seem like I've been stood up by this guy I was supposed to meet and it would be nice to get home safely... Are you sure you have nowhere you need to be? I would hate to be an inconvenience..."

Vere's eyes flickered up to look at him before she looked down once more and awkwardly clicked a stray stone, fiddling with her wrists and biting her bottom lip. She was a really good actress, you had to be in her line of work. She was a paid killer, after all, an assassin, a mercenary, whatever anyone else wished to call her. Vere was pretty damn good at it, too, and she wasn't going to let an unexpected event change whether of not the job got done tonight,
 
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[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
Thank god she hadn't taken it the wrong way. Liam relaxed, the awkwardness fading ever so slightly. He felt bad for her, being stood up by some asshole who couldn't even be bothered to make sure she was safe. "That's a shame. I'd be happy to walk you home, I have nothing on tonight," Liam said with a smile, however he wondered if he was coming off as something other than he intended to be.

"Whereabouts do you live? If it's far, I'd be okay to drive you," Liam offered, as his own place wasn't too far away. Roxy would be okay for a little longer to drive this nice girl home, and he didn't want anything bad to happen to her. "Sorry about the guy. No idea why he'd stand up a pretty girl like you," he added honestly. All the words he had so far said could easily have been taken as something else other than what he meant, though it seemed she was taking it fine. Perhaps he could learn a bit more about her while they headed to her place.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere returned the smiled and shoved her hands in her pocket, one wrapping around the silver knife she had in there. "I don't live far from here, I'm staying in a hotel that's around a ten-minute walk from here." She smiled and then looked down and forced a blush to come to her cheeks, she was used to being called pretty or gorgeous or any other form of beautiful so it didn't really phase her anymore, he didn't know that, though. She gestured for him to follow her as she began walking, hands in her pockets and gaze on the ground.

"Thank you for this, it's not every day a handsome man like yourself is willing to help somebody like me. My name is Vere, what might your's be?" She dragged her eyes away from the ground to look at him, lightly chewing on her bottom lip. She had many possibilities on how she could kill him, she could do it right now if she really wanted to, or wait until they got into another alleyway, or try to lead him into her 'home' which might be a little riskier but it would give her a reason to get out. For now, she would play the innocent and interested girl, the time would come when an opportunity would open up and then she'd be able to kill him and go collect her money, why the person wanted him dead she didn't know, she did ask questions to her clients but... She was curious. The guy didn't set off any red alarms, other than not being completely human.
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
The oblivious Liam smiled again, waiting for her. At least she lived close, ten minutes was perfectly fine and he could easily walk back and still have time to spare for Roxy. He began to walk, speeding up a little until he was standing next to her. He'd be happy to find out more about the girl anyway, surely his dog would approve.

"My name is Liam," he replied, looking down at her. "No problem! It's nice to help out people," he added with a smile. Thinking about something to chat about while they walked, he spoke again. "What's someone like you doing all the way out here? Did you arrive recently?" He asked, wanting to know more about this stranger. She was almost entrancing, at least that's how he saw it.

As they were nearing the end of the street, there was another dark figure leaning against the wall. Liam looked up, a bit curious as to why there were so many people in this one particular alley at this time of night. He was a bit cautious, but simply smiled at the man as they came closer. The man was wearing a hat that obscured most of his face, however when they neared he looked up and Liam caught a flash of silver. A knife was thrown his way, and he twisted just barely in time for it to miss his chest and instead sink into his arm.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere smiled, of course, she knew his name was Liam, she knew what he worked as, where he lived, that he had a pet dog, you had to know everything about a target in order for the best kill, but you also had to act normal. That was why she tried not to pay attention to the person at the end of the alley, or not noticeable attention to them. "Only around a month or so, I'm visiting a friend who then tried to set me up with a friend of theirs and... well, you know how that went." She answered with a smile, only to suddenly jump back when a knife went flying. Vere gave a soft gasp and move to Liam's side, her instinct is to stay in role unless the person is proven to be her client, which is who it might be since it had taken her a little while and she knew he was an impatient man.

"A-are you okay?" She asked, glancing from the knife to the person, then to Liam whilst keeping a expression of fear on her face.
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
"You're working with him now? Pathetic. I hired you to kill him, not to make friends. Guess it was good I came down to make sure you finished the job, so I can do it myself. And if a hunter like you can't even kill a shifter like him, then I don't think you deserve to live either." The man took out another knife, this one longer and definitely sharper looking. Liam hissed in pain, pulling the knife from his shoulder and throwing it to the ground when it burned his hand. She had been there to kill him? "I... I'm fine..." Liam thought back to a few minutes ago. Why hadn't she killed him there? A knife to the back would've been easiest, yet she hadn't done anything of the sort. Blood was running down his arm, and he grimaced at the sight of it. However, the main thing that stuck with him was that she hadn't killed him when she could've.

Stepping in front of Vere, Liam gave the man a look. "Whatever your problem with her, take it up with me. I'm the shifter, not her, there's no need to take any more lives." He wasn't quite sure why he was doing this, considering she could very well just shoot him in the head then and there. But the male had a feeling she wouldn't, and perhaps things could go differently than they had planned. The man laughed.

"I'll kill you first then." He said, before he lunged.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere didn't flinch and went from being a scared girl to an indifferent killer in a matter of seconds, she stood up straighter and her eyes became dull, lips forming a straight line. She didn't even bother looking at Liam, instead too busy focusing on the moron she had let hire her. Vere had been about to show the man who he was really messing with when Liam stepped in front of her, to be honest, it took her off guard a little. She hadn't expected that, especially not when it had just be revealed she had been sent to kill him. The female hid her surprise well. Vere watched as her client rushed forward and gave a roll of her eyes, pulling out one of the knives she had hidden on her and stepping around Liam so she was stood in front, her leg swung up and connected with her client's jaw hard and without a moment of hesitance she swung her body around to perform a high kick that hit him directly in the face, no doubt breaking or at the very least popping his nose.

She gave a quick punch to the chest to wind him and then kicked his legs out from under him, making the knife known and leaning down to press the blade against his throat, hard enough to break the skin and cause a few beads of crimson to leak out. It was high quality and professionally made and sharpened, it also had the logo of the assassination company she worked for. "How pathetic of you to hire a part-time hunter full-time killer without even knowing her methods. I'm professional, the best of the best, as proven by the people I work for, but you couldn't be assed to your research. I take thee time to get to know my targets, and he would have been dead by the end of the night had you not gotten impatient and ruined this entire thing, putting the last week of my work and time to waste. Now, I'm sure you know that us assassins don't take kindly to being interrupted, and I have my rights to kill you now and take all of your money, but I won't because I'm one of the kinder assassins and I don't like having an audience." Unlike some. She stood up straight and spun her blade around her fingers, backing away from the man and fixing him with a cold, emotionless stare.

"Now, get lost before I decide to take out my stress on a human punching bag."
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
Liam hadn't known what to expect, however his eyes widened in surprise as the girl stepped out in front of him. He could only watch as she beat the man to the ground, with one arm trying to prevent the blood from flowing out too much. She would've killed him, had the other not appeared, and that thought sent shivers down Liam's spine. He almost felt bad for the man, but the throbbing pain in his shoulder reminded him of what had just happened.

"Fuck you," the man hissed from his position on the ground, sitting up and holding a broken nose. "Riding off the coattails of your mother; pathetic." He unsteadily got to his feet, cursing them the entire time. Finally he stood, glaring at them with brown eyes. Liam regarded him unsure, a bit nervous that he would still try to kill both of them. Which happened to be correct.

The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun, aiming it at Vere and fired. Liam had seen the movement, pushing Vere but not enough to escape the bullet. As soon as he saw the bullet hit, the man turned and ran down the alley, leaving them there. He would no doubt come back at a later date, to finish off the job. However at that moment, it was clear he was frightened of the revenge the white haired assassin would no doubt be after.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere had begun walking off, but his words made her tense up before anger suddenly filled her entire being. She gave a low, animal sounding growl as she spun on her heels, planning on slicing open his throat. She didn't get too, though, because he shot at her and Vere felt herse;f get pushed, it didn't help though because Vere still felt a sharp pain in her side. The female gave a sharp yelp and stumbled back, falling on her ass and clutching her side as blood began seeping through her clothes and fingers. She grit her teeth to hold back any more pained sounds, clenching her eyes shut and trying to keep her breathing steady. "Ah... Son of a bitch..." She growled, opening her eyes and looking down at the blood that was soaking through her shirt and fingers, staining everything crimson. Fuck sake, this was a new shirt too.

Vere's eyes slowly moved over to Liam. "You should probably get out of here... He might send somebody to finish the job he told me to do, wouldn't want your dog to be left without somebody to feed it." She did like dogs. She had one, once... Well, it had been the organisations, but she played with him often. Vere used the wall and slowly pulled herself up, legs shaking a little. Something was in that bullet, because it was agitating her more that nay other bullet she had been shot with, and she had been shot more times than she could count on one hands.
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
She got shot. Liam's eyes widened as the blood began to spread, and he panicked. "Shit shit shit," he muttered, kneeling down next to her, completely unsure about what to do. He probably couldn't take her to a hospital, they would ask too many questions about the weapons. But she was bleeding so much, maybe it would be necessary.

"Should we head to the hospital or something..?" Liam was trying not to let the panic in his voice, but it was hard. Hooking one arm under her leg, and the other under her arms, he picked her up gently. Either way, he didn't want her walking in case it agitated the wound more.

"They might not like all the weapons and stuff, and the blood flow seems to be stopping... I'll take you to my place, it's closer," Liam muttered, already moving at a brisk pace. The blood was soaking into his jumper already, but his main focus was on saving the girl. "I can take care of myself... You should be worried more about the bullet," he mumured in reply.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere gave an unhappy growl at the thought of going to the hospital, fixing Liam with a glare when he mentioned it. She gave an unhappy huff when he picked her up, but sighed and dealt with it. "Nah, I'll be fine. I've walked off worse injuries and I've continued doing my job with worse injuries, I can take care of it myself so I'll be out of your hair in no time and on my merry way to find and kill that prick." She growled, letting her head resting against his chest with a thud and grunt. She kept any pain she was feeling hidden, she was good at that. Hiding pain. It was practically her super power.

As they walked, Vere let her mind wander off into the dark corners of her own mind, letting random thought after random thought wash over her. After a moment she gave a small hum and brought her pale blue eyes to look up at him, watching him. "Why are you helping me?"
 
c[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
They were nearing his place now, the small house on the corner of the street. There was a dog barking already, and Liam could tell it was Roxy. A smile twitched at his lips before disappearing, and then she spoke. Looking down at her quizzically, he answered. "You could've killed me at any point after I stepped into that alley... But honestly I don't know. You could kill me now for all I know, but if I had left you to die back there then you might've died." He wasn't too sure about his reasoning either, but he wanted to save people. That was the driving force behind his choice of work as a therapist. Helping people.

Once they arrived at his place, he shifted her slightly so he could open the door. There was a rattle of keys as he unlocked it, using his shoulder to push it open. Roxy was inside, and she came running as soon as the two stepped inside. Strangely enough however, the border collie began to growl at Vere. Her hackles were raising, as if she could tell the assassin was a threat. Frowning, Liam looked at his dog cautiously. "Back down Roxy." It didn't seem to work, as Roxy continued to growl at Vere. His eyes flashed, animal like, and his voice took on a different tone. "Back. Down."

With a whine, the border collie crouched and her ears went flat against her head. Liam stepped past her, placing Vere on the couch and heading towards his medical cabinet. It was a small house; the couch was old and covered in dog hair, facing a newish TV. There was a food and water bowl in the corner, and the kitchen was connected to the living room via an arch. There was a hallway that led to his room and the bathroom. Roxy bounded over to the dog bed in the corner, but it seemed rarely used. She kept a watchful eye on the stranger.

As Liam rummaged through his stuff, lots of thoughts were running through his head. Why was he helping her? He had no clue, but he wasn't going to have her die on his watch. There was nagging doubt however, dark thoughts intruding on his regular ones that he tried to push away. What if she killed him? Well, only Roxy would miss him. What if she saw the horrible scars on his inner thighs? He hoped not, but who knew how extensive her research had gone. She'd already known about the dog, but what else? Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate on getting the things he needed. Soon enough he was heading back to the couch with medical supplies in hand.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere grunted and rolled her eyes, she kept her mouth shut though, not wanting to argue with him over it. She stayed silently the rest of the walk, beginning to get tired due to bloodloss, she needed to stitch herself up and fast.

Vere didn't react to the dog growling at her, she was used to it. Instead she just sughed and shut her eyes, she was barely able to keep herself awake, and it hopes of waking herself up some more she pulled off her blood soaked shirt and pressed it against her wound, applying pressure.

She gave a small sigh qhen Liam finally walked it, pulling her shirt away from her side and tilting her head back. "You got any tweezers? I need to get the bullet out before we do any disinfecting or stitching." She tilted her head to the sofe and looked at the medical suppkies he had, if they had gone back to her apartment this would've been easier and she wouldn't have a dog staring her down.
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
"There's one in the pack," Liam gestured, before sitting down on the armrest of the couch. "Do you need me to help?" He asked, anxiously fidgeting. Roxy moved and nudged his arm, causing him to jump. He was clearly nervous, as he had never dealt with a bullet wound before.

Stroking Roxy, he wracked his mind for what to do. He didn't know if he was safe anymore, seeing as he had an actual assassin lying on his couch. That had been about to kill him, had the other guy not shown up. He wasn't sure if she was still going to kill him, but he hoped not. There was likely nothing he could do about it either way.

Feeling something drip down his arm, his eyes darted down to his shoulder. Oh. The would in his shoulder. It would heal fast, but he still needed to stitch it up. However, glancing at the female assassin on his couch, he realised he would definitely had to wait.
[/fieldbox]
 
Vere grabbed the pack and pulled out the tweezers, looking down at the bullet wound with a growl. "Nah, I've dealt with worse. You just try not to pass out, I might need you to clean the wound for me." Depended on how tired removing the bullet would make her. She took a deep breath and then got to work, clenching her teeth together roughly in hopes and holding back any screams of pain, whimpers and strangled sounds managed to escape but she refused to let anything louder out as she didn't want to spook the dog. The bullet came out easily enough and Vere placed the tweezers away and let her head fall back, her breathing ragged and uneven.

She gave herself a few minutes to recover before sighing and beginning to clean her wound, flinching and hissing at the sting of the disinfectant. It didn't take her too long to finish clean the wound, thankfully the bullet hadn't hit anything too important and she'd heal fine once she stitched the damn thing up. Vere got to work on that, no longer reacting to the pain as her body adapted to it, something she had been trained to do. Once she was done she turned to face Liam and looked at his arm. "You might want to stitch that up now." She stated plainly before tossing the kit to him and standing up, grunting in pain. "Now that my client fucked things up I have no reason to kill you, I don't kill for the pleasure of it and there's no point if I'm not getting paid since you haven't fucked me over in the past. I'll be out of your hair and out of this town by the end of tonight. It would be good for you not to tell anybody about this." She glanced down at her blood stained shirt with a small grunt, she would have to clean that before she left, she didn't feel like walking to her hotel in a bra.
 
[fieldbox=Liam Wright, #7f68d1, solid]
Each strangled sound made Liam jump, worried she was going to croak and die on the couch every time. He definitely did not know what to do with a dead body... Luckily however, it didn't come to that. The bullet popped out and Liam breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn't fathom the pain she was going through. He would get painkillers for her as soon as he stitched up his own arm.

Liam caught the pack, about to start on himself until she spoke. His eyes widened a little. "Don't go. He could still be out there. Might be safer to sleep on the couch tonight or something." He didn't really know whether the other guy had done his research on Liam as well as Vere had, however it would be riskier to be caught on the streets again. Plus, Roxy was a good alarm dog.

Roxy barked at Vere, before cautiously wandering over to her. Her tail was tucked between her legs, but she sniffed the assassin carefully. Liam was pretty certain she wouldn't attack, but he moved closer just to make sure.[/fieldbox]
 
Vere blinked at Liam, a little taken back by his response. "I'll be fine, if he knows what's good for him he'll stay away... Though I will need to clean my shirt before I leave." She grumbled unhappily, glaring at the material before relaxing as Roxy began sniffing at her. Vere slowly sat down and held her hand out for Roxy to sniff at, moving slowly so the dog wouldn't feel threatened. She was fine with the dog sniffing at her, she liked dogs, and she would also be fine if the dog decided she didn't like her and bit her.

Vere's eyes slowly moved up to Liam. "I'll stay for tonight since walking home without a clean shirt and a freshly stitched wound would be a pain, but I'm leaving in the morning." She stated in a monotone voice before turning to face Roxy once more, the hand she was letting the dog sniff moved to slowly and gently run along her head and scratch behind her ears before she brought it back and set it in her lap.
 
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