#tracemarshall

The demon had made them wait until the earliest hours of morning, when nothing innocent stirred if it had a mind not to. The chill of the coming autumn seeped into his coat as he silently pulled the brown cloth up further to his neck, blues staying trained on the house’s door. There were no pets inside, no security system either. Unfortunate, really. For the family at least. Fortunate for his hunter and himself. It made it all that easier to slip in and slip out unnoticed. No hacking required, no hisses or drowning of the family pet to ensure silence. All they had to rely on was themselves. This home belonged to someone he had made a deal with years ago, and it was time to collect. Especially after he had seen the person attempting to find ways to possibly get out of the deal, or even kill Alek. It was what had tipped Alek off in the first place that it was time to collect, the fact that this man was trying to find a way to break the deal. Something that had been agreed upon that he would not do.

With a soundless flick of his fingers and wrist as a signal to his human he began forward across the lawn, crouching down to easily pick the lock of the door before looking up to the man following him. He was still being taught, at least in Alek’s opinion. Kornilov knew he was capable, quite capable in fact. But that did not override the fact that the Russian still did not know exactly all that he was capable of. Now was the time for that to change. The couple he had them hunting were capable of fighting back, and the demon knew that all too well. A smirk worked its way to his lips as he remembered when he had originally made the deal with the husband... It had actually started as a bar brawl. A bar brawl that had wound up with the human selling his soul to a demon. There were reasons why Alek frequented bars. Stupid, easy decisions made in drunk stupor were always the best deals for him. Speaking of which, that was exactly how he had gotten Trace into his possession... The wife, on the other hand, he only knew could put up a fight because the husband had said so during the previously mentioned brawl. Something about her taking taek won do back in high school...

“Just do it”

Motherfucker. It had been as humane as he could make it -- what more did they want. ‘I imagine their dead wolf friend back...’ Well it was too late now to fix that; he was just going to have to run. The only thing that fucking sucked was that they were very obviously wolves. Much faster than him for sure but he wasn’t stupid. He’d waited until after the rain stopped to make the kill, just in case this kind of thing went down. They might be able to catch him, but they sure as hell wouldn’t be able to track him. Sprinting through the nearest doorway, Trace raced through the abandoned warehouse, turning as many corners and barreling over as many obstacles as he could to impede the three wolves’ paths. Before he knew he was back on the streets, holding his crossbow against his shoulder as much as possible to keep it from getting in his way as he raced through the next alleyway, this time being sure not to leave as much of a trail. As often as he could the man moved through streets that would branch off at a four-way intersection. If he was lucky he’d lose them at one of these turns. The only thing was his lungs were already on fire and his old wounds were already throbbing as if they were brand new. Once again, he founded himself stranded in the middle of town, blocks away from his bike, and miles away from his camp.

Quickly assessing his surroundings, the hit man realized he knew exactly where he was.  ‘You’re really going to bring her into this? Really?!....Does it look like I have much of a choice though?’ He gritted his teeth as he debated in his mind over the better choice of action, his eyes darting every which way to make sure his pursuers were still hunting for him. Trace couldn’t stay here though -- he was running out of time and the rain only gave him so much time. Worst came to worst they found him with the girl; at least then he would have a true incentive to kill them all if they hurt her with a clear conscience. A moment later and he was at the door, buzzing her room number until she finally answered, quickly telling her it was him. With the door unlocked, he jerked it open before stepping inside, making sure it shut behind him before he moved to her apartment door, sliding in when opened it for him. Soaking wet, he paced about, checking that the backdoor was locked and the curtains were drawn before he moved back to her, “Hi.” he muttered, pecking her cheek before he immediately went back to the front door, double checking that it was now locked before doing the same with the ones he had just checked. One could never be too careful...

                                             Teagan & Trace

The fact he was spending so much time in his car’s side mirror was ridiculous. Clothes had never meant anything to him before but today?...well it was hard to decide. Part of him was sure that he should dress the same way he had the night they had met. Not for some profound reason of making sure she knew it was him, but for the stupidest reason of he had nothing better. But there was another side to the coin too. Trace didn’t want to disappoint her if later she realized he wasn’t anything better than a man who slept in his car in the woods. If he didn’t want to play games -- he was going to have to show her the real him. Well...a part of the real Trace anyways. There was one other factor to consider too, and that was comfort. Honestly -- he shouldn’t have even been out and about. Being impaled and stitching yourself up was not a comfortable situation, and he was definitely still sore every time he moved. He hadn’t exactly thought that part out when he had decided to meet with her. Too late now; he’d have to grin and bear it. Smoothing out the bandages under his shirt made him wince, but he dropped his wrinkled and baggy plain black t-shirt anyways over it, checking his blue jean pockets for his keys. Just to be safe, he didn’t unfasten his knife from the belt around his waist. Leaving without a weapon at all only made him feel naked. He was almost a full hour early, but Trace didn’t want to run the risk of being even a second late. He was already more than sure she would have second thoughts when she realized how he really dressed, surely being late would have sealed the deal on a “Nope”. Sitting against the side of the building, he took a drag of a cigarette to keep himself calm, trying to remind himself constantly that he was still early and that she hadn’t ditched him. He would be lying if he also hadn’t thought about forgetting the whole thing altogether. He should have just been satisfied with the one good night they did have, not still stubbornly trying to make something out of it... The hunter couldn’t think this way now. It was too late. It was 9:47am now and she’d be here any minute.

With Trace assured that Alek was no longer in the room, Trace looked back to his phone, squinting at the bright screen in the dark room as he scrolled through to find her number. He took a deep breath before he finally typed in his simple text -- though even that took him a minute.

Now if only being in a dress hadn't given her massive stage fright, she would've marched over to the nearest person and simply started a conversation. But the dress threw her off. Maybe it's sapping away all of my badass powers. Note to self. Throw into back of closet and don't look at again until next year. Maybe find a witch to see if it's enchanted.