Minuit sans Musique
What can you do when the very world you know is falling apart?
When everything you've trained for has been for nothing?
Zeal's world is falling apart.
His only family is dead, his foster parents are secretly betraying him and everything he's ever known is crumbling along with his old life. Captured by his own fear he is condemned to a life of hatred and terror as he runs from the Night Walker who has a taste for his blood.
He is the 'Tainted One' as the Night Walkers claim but what the society calls him is the Bellator Mortis, the Latin word for 'Warrior of Death' He doesn't understand, even though prophecies speak of the name as well.
Zeal has no choice but to fight for his life, its kill or be killed now.
A hunter lives the easy life, but what happens when you’re the hunted?
“I’ve waited far too long to accept a chance like this.”
He stood there facing the woman, his hair hanging limply in his face while his outstretched arm held the gun aimed at her forehead. He had indeed waited far too long to take this chance and he would take it now. He watched her carefully as she scuffed the toe of her boot on the cement before she raised her gaze to meet his; he flinched and looked away but held the gun steady. He could see from his peripheral that she raised her hand to wipe her long blonde hair from her face before reaching out to him.
His finger applied pressure to the trigger, “Don’t come any closer.” He growled, his other hand tightening into a fist.
“Are you really going to shoot me, brother?” she asked, her voice smooth and yet poisonous.
“If I must.” He responded eyes closed while he tried to calm his breathing. He had watched her turn her back on the light to become one of the Night Walkers and now he had faced the consequences of letting her walk away unharmed. It pained him to see how much she had changed since she had betrayed him. Her pale skin, the hollow eyes, the aura of death that surrounded her and the cruelty to her expression. Even when she smiled it was as though she were planning a way to rip out your throat. Though he didn’t have to ponder as to why she was here, she was here to kill him.
“I don’t want to kill you.” She told him, as though reading his thoughts. Immediately he wondered if that had been the case, however he soon chastised himself for believing in the myths that Night Walkers possessed any kind of power.
“It’s funny, however, that you think I will believe the words coming from your vile mouth.” He told her, before opening his eyes and turning to look at her. He did not meet her eyes, as he licked his lips and applied a tad more pressure to the trigger. “I let you escape me once; I will not make the same mistake again.”
“I never meant to kill them.” She said, her voice seemingly choked with oncoming tears.
“Yea? How many other innocents did you mean to kill, Jezebel?” He shouted to her, all the betrayal coloring his voice. He looked her in the eyes this time, and her violet gaze was sparkling with unshed tears. “Night Walkers don’t care, that’s who you are now. An emotionless beast.” And he pulled the trigger.
She didn’t move, but she watched the bullet as it made its way towards her and then she closed her eyes. “I will never forget you, Zeal.” She breathed her hands clenched into fists at her sides as her instincts must have been fighting to dodge the threat. Just as the bullet made contact he heard her whispered words, like a promise. “I love you, brother.”
He watched as she crumpled to the ground before pulling the trigger once more this time entering the bullet in her heart. “Beasts of the likes of you have no emotions.”
It brought him to his knees to see his sister, now looking like her human self, on the ground in her own pools of blood. He could feel the tears sting at his eyes and he pressed a hand to her cheek. “Jezebel.” He moaned as he closed his eyes tightly. Carefully, as though he would wake her, he moved his hand from her cheek to take hers.
The sound of approaching footsteps didn’t bother him; they weren’t the footsteps of a Night Walker. If they had been there would have been a strange, unnatural rhythm to them rather than the clumsy stumbling of a human. “What are you doing?” asked a voice, it was calm and dangerous. “Remove your hands from the vile beast.”
Zeal complied, jerking back his hand and placing it at his side where it clenched into a fist. “Master.” He breathed, bowing his head as he turned towards the man.
“Congratulations on a job well done. I understand that it must have pained you to kill the Night Walker, considering she had been a loved one.”
Zeal ignored the tone of disapproval that rang in his master’s voice; it shamed him that he had had the nerve to touch the creature afterwards. It had not been his sister, it had been a monster.
“It did not pain me, Master. It was not my sister.” He said, flexing his long fingers. “It was but a monster impersonating the likes of her.”
“You are correct, my boy.” The man said as he reached out to touch Zeal’s shoulder in a comforting pat. “Come now, we must meet the others.”
Turning from his master, he reached down to retrieve the gun from where it lay at the monster’s side, the blood staining the silver in red. It was then that he noticed the piece of parchment that lay in the closed fist of the Night Walker. He slowly pried the fingers loose of it and once he’d straightened himself, he tucked both the gun and the piece of parchment into the inside of his duster.
“The others are waiting for us?” He asked before grabbing a small round item and pressing one of the symbols and tossing it onto the Night Walker’s body and watching as it heated to a glowing orange before engulfing the body in flames.
“Yes, there was an unexpected message the night before and we are needed for a business call from a new informant.”
“You mean a new boss, Master?” asked Zeal, taking his time kicking the ashes to scatter them before retrieving the metal object that lay resting on the ground in the center of the pile.
“I do.” Zeal watched his master carefully, there were no signs of anger but there was obvious tension to the way the man walked. The boy kept silent, not wanting to interrupt his master’s thoughts with his own nonsense that would surely aggravate him.
As they walked, Zeal watched the streetlights flicker ominously over-looking the streets and breaking apart small circles of the darkness. He cocked his head to the side a moment, listening. He could hear the soft sound of distant cars tearing down the streets, burning rubber against the cement and the distant sounds of two men mugging a woman for her purse but there was something else. Something he was having trouble distinguishing; the sound of a growl and a low keening wail. He had just opened his eyes to watch his master sprint down towards the sound. He knew better than to shout if his master we’re off to battle in case he alerted the damned Night Walkers.
Zeal walked with a certain grace that was uncommon to the societies who were the likes of others like himself, and it was better than having to leave an echo of noise but it was strange that his own walk had made him seem like a Night Walker to the others.
His master too, was silent in the way he walked or ran, his feet seemingly never touched the ground and as Zeal ran to follow he heard sounds other than his own heartbeat and footsteps. He heard the sound of growling but now it was louder than the wailing, the wail had dimmed to a soft whimper.
He reached into his duster, grabbing the gun he had only just put away and tore down the street, catching up with his master and prepared himself for what he knew would be another meeting with the Night Walkers. He tried to see if there were more than one, but it had gone silent.
The streetlights ahead flickered and went out, plunging the rest of the street ahead into darkness. Zeal’s eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness, the faint outlines he had seen before were becoming sharper and more in focus as he concentrated while he hoped that his master had enough time to think to do such a thing.
He swallowed thickly; he would not show fear now it was his chance to prove himself again to his master that he had enough training to kill these damned creatures without hesitation.
“Uhng!” a loud grunt echoed ahead of him, and he sped up until he was pressed against the wall that was just before the entrance of the alley way. He reached into his duster and grabbed another object this one was spiraled and colored in red and yellow. He tossed it into the alley and light exploded from the small bobble. He could hear the screams of the Night Walkers and he lunged into the opening.
A human male lay slumped against the side of the building his eyes blank and staring at nothing, his clothes covered in fresh blood.Two of the creatures lay on the ground, motionless, with blood seeping from their empty eye sockets. Another crouched in the corner, her black hair like a veil before her face and her watchful red gaze was threatening as she smiled at him. “Child blood is pure.” She hissed, and he shook his head in disappointment. These were the worst of vampires, those who had lost all trace of humanity. Who felt bloodlust no matter how many they kill.
He smiled; taking the small blade that was strapped to the gun and made a small incision on the inside of his wrist. “You want blood?” he crooned, his eyes narrowed. He held out his wrist, watching as the blood fell to the ground making a soft plop.
The Night Walker rose shakily to her feet, “Kill you not like other bringer of death?” she asked her voice poisonous.
Zeal shook his head, “I do not kill a starving Night Walker.” He lied, looking sincere. The first lesson the society taught them was to lie. It was mandatory to lie, if you could not you were lowered a rank.
She swayed, looking at the blood in a trance-like state and reached for his wrist. He let her take it while inside he panicked though he kept his pulse and breathing normal his eyes were narrowed and gleaming with panic. Her tongue flicked out, licking the inside of his wrist as she tasted his blood.
Immediately she flung herself backwards just as he tore his hand from behind his back and fired the gun. It hit her shoulder, not what he was aiming for. His lip curled back from his teeth, as she lifted her bony finger and pointed at him. “Tainted One!” she shrieked, ignoring her wound which was already healing.
He was already raising his gun for another shot when he paused, “Tainted One?” he growled, confusion written on his face. “Explain what you mean by Tainted One, Night Walker.” He snarled, advancing while she stood still.
“Never.” She hissed at him while crouching, the tension of her body telling him that he needed to either kill her or die.
“Do it now.” He snapped, firing at her leg and she stumbled to the ground. She looked up at him her lip curling back from her teeth to reveal to delicate fangs. He didn’t flinch, he’d seen a Night Walker’s fangs before, and it had never fazed him before.
“Blood is black…” her sentence ended when a silver arrow protruded from her chest.
“A disgrace, boy!” roared a voice behind him, and he whirled to face the man who stood shaking his fist in rage.
“Master, I did but what I had to.” He responded, closing his eyes and bowing his head in shame.
“You fed the vile creature your blood!” spat his master, his eyes a glowing green as he raised his hand to strike Zeal.
“I did but what I had…” he was interrupted by his master’s hand striking his face.
“You did not have to do any such thing.” He growled, “You had the gun aimed and she had no chance of surviving until you decided to clip her shoulder and leg to make her talk.”
Zeal raised a hand to his face and touched the raw skin from where his master had struck him and he turned his back on the man. “I apologize, Master.” He responded, his voice cold.
“You apology means nothing, that hell-bound creature could have had you killed!” he shouted, there seemed to be no calming his rage.
The boy blinked back his tears at disappointing his master and raised his head to meet his master’s angry gaze. “You should have let me be killed then.” He responded, brushing past his master while forcefully shoving him away and marching onto the street.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he heard his master shout, but Zeal didn’t look back. He knew he would be punished for his disrespect but he would deal with that later. At the moment he was going to return to the place that was the closest to a home he could get.
Zeal listened hard for any sound of pursuit but there was no sound to warn him of anything. For that, he was grateful. He wasn’t sure he could face his master again without his own anger snapping. He was tired, drained both physically and mentally. The killing of the monster resembling his sister had broken something inside of him, knowing that the last of his family was dead.
He looked up to the sky, the black clouds covered every inch of blue sky giving an ominous feel to the atmosphere. He only wanted to get home and rest, if only that were possible.
His cell phone rang, breaking the gloom he had settled himself in and he reached inside of his jeans pocket to pull it out. Pressing the glowing green talk button he pressed the phone to his ear.
“Zee?” asked the voice on the other end, a voice he recognized.
“Your speaking to him.” He replied, picking at some dirt under his finger nails on the opposite hand as he trudged down the streets.
“Where are you?” growled a man’s voice now, the woman gone.
“Nowhere.” Grumbled Zeal, “Why do you care, Aachen?”
“I don’t. Your mother does.” He responded coldly and Zeal’s temper flared.
“She’s not my mother.” Zeal snapped, removing the phone from his ear and glaring down at the phone.
“She’s the best you got.” Aachen’s voice snarled from the small voice box.
Zeal laughed, it was a harsh sound. “I don’t need anyone to care for me, Aachen.” He replied, “If you try and find me, you’d best be ready to knock me unconscious if you’re plan is to get me back there.” And then he slammed the phone to the ground.
Behind the threats that Aachen sputtered out a woman’s voice broke through the commotion in the background, “Zeal? Is that him?” and then he planted his foot on the cell and ground it into the cement.
Once he was satisfied with his work he turned on his heel and went down a side street, planning on going to the only other safe house he knew where he could rest. It would certainly take him a while.
At some point he realized the sound of pursuing footsteps and he picked up the pace, raising his hand to brush the greasy strands of hair from his face. “Wait!” a voice called from behind him, it was another woman.
It seemed strange but he wasn’t really paying attention, so he paused. Trying to identify which street he was supposed to turn down. Turner, Finch, Kenzie. He eventually decided to go down Finch and if it were the wrong one he’d turn back.
The footsteps were closer now and he turned to face the woman, “Hello.” She smiled politely, and he nodded in greeting before continuing towards his destination.
“What are you doing walking alone, madam?” it seemed the right thing to do by calling this woman madam rather than nothing and she smiled when he did.
“Such manners.” She murmured to him before waving her hand, dismissing the question. “I was actually wondering if you’d walk me to my building?” she asked, “My ex husband is quite the violent and I’m afraid for myself that he will hurt me.”
He frowned, stopping to look her in the eyes. “Where is your building?” he asked his eyelids drooping from exhaustion.
She didn’t seem to notice how tired he was and pointed down a night blackened street. “Down there. A few blocks away.” She told him then returned her gaze to his. “I left the children at my mother’s but I had to return home for work in the morning. You see, I’m afraid of being mugged.” It seemed she kept giving him useless details to the reason as to why she needed a walk home but he was too tired to notice anything wrong with her story.
He nodded dazedly before turning in the direction she had pointed him in. “Then we’ll go. I’ve nothing else to do, may as well walk a lovely lady to her door.” That was the last he spoke as they walked down the blackened street.
Please keep in mind that I'm critiquing this as I go, so I'll most likely ask some questions that will be answered later in the story. 
Remember to only include what's relevant to the story. 
Overall