Vae Victus

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Grey Sant stared at the blood flowing through his fingers and then down and the bodies that surrounded him. He wasn't sorry. He wished there were more. In the moments of silence he wished he had done so much more. 
His back was on fire but he couldn't stop now. There was so much left to do. He put a match between his teeth and began to walk. He could hear them outside. The sirens. How stupid could they be? He'd told them. The gasoline was heavy in the air and so was the smell of natural gas. They'd learn. 
"Gr...Grey...st...op." There was a weak cry from a man behind him. 
"Still alive?" He purred, clenching the match tighter as he spoke. "Let's fix that." The gunshot slammed into the man's forehead. 
The gunshot was enough. The building and everything in it went up leaving nothing inside.

"He's finally here!" Amy Alberston ran down the hall to her Chief's office, waving the file over her head. The entire station of the Rest In Peace Division was privy to the small read head who was rather worriedly running past the desks toward the office at the back. 
Finally she arrived, gasping as she rested her hand on the knob. "Sir...Grey Sant...he's finally dead..."

"You can't kill him." The quartermaster said, looking up from his paperwork. "You'll answer to those above Remus if you do." His words were soft and almost uncertain. 

Grey stepped onto the elevator with a small group, his fingers shaking wildly. He couldn't handle the noise in his head. Once the people stepped off and he was alone, the noise stayed. On the next floor he was sure he was certain he was where he needed to be. Instead, he found himself face to face with Lilith.

"Oh she knows." Bright yellow eyes met Amy's green ones. The tiny woman dropped her head. She'd never told anyone the story of her demise. The fact that Raybourne kept popping up made it all the worse.

“Hello stranger.” Lilith purred, lips curling into a grin before she returned to chewing her gum. “A girl could get a real complex when a guy runs out on her like that you know.” She added, well aware how frustrated Grey probably felt with his failed escape.

“What did I just tell you?” Remus growled. Raybourne was lucky Remus was unarmed, else he would have risked everything just to shoot him. “You don’t look at her. She doesn’t exist to you. You can keep chewing on The entire precinct for all I care… just do it quietly!”

Grey's lips thinned and he looked over her head. "What kind of trick is this?" He growled, his fingers hovering over the buttons. After a moment he stepped back and closed the doors deciding to try another floor. Maybe one higher up? 
Once again the doors opened up and Lilith stood there. "What the fuck?!" He roared, glaring at her in rage. "Why can't I leave? I want to go home!" That statement wasn't at all true...at least not that he knew. He wasn't even sure where home was. "Get that gun off me or I'll make you regret it." He hissed.

"How long are you gonna keep me here?" Raybourne snarled, tossing out Erebus' finger so that it landed at Amy's feet. Taylor was collecting his partner's parts, shaking his head. He was not at all impressed. "I thought you said I was going to have a trial." Again his eyes turned on Amy. "It's not like it's my first."

Lilith simply watched him, then took a loud bite of the crisp apple she was now holding, yet there had been no sign of on the previous encounter. “You men and your promises.” She finally remarked after several infuriatingly silent moments. “What do you think you will do? You’re working on the assumption that you scare me. I’ve had shits that were scarier than you, pudding.”

Remus stepped in front of Raybourne, again blocking his view of Amy. “Awful eager to head downstairs, aren’t you?” He snorted. “We both know you wouldn’t come out of a trial intact.”

Grey's eyes narrowed but he simply shook his head. "Fine I get it. I can't leave without my handler. So? Where to?" His fingers were itching again. He needed to know why.

Raybourne smiled, licking his monstrous lips. "We both know I would already be down there...you need something from me...how interesting...am I to help hunt another serial killer like my self? How delicious!" Behind Remus there was a loud shattering of glass and then soft apologies as Amy swept up what she'd dropped.

“Not handler, owner.” Lilith snorted, tossing the remains of her apple over her shoulder at Grey as she walked away. “Well? Thought you wanted to get out of here?” She called back to him when she didn’t hear footsteps.

“Hunt would be the wrong phrase… sniff out if more appropriate.” Remus commented coolly.that is what animals do, don’t they?” He knew better than to turn away and aid whatever had just happened to Amy. He wouldn’t give Raybourne anything to use against him.

Grey followed Lilith the two of them walking out to what seemed like a normal parking lot and then sliding into a dark unmarked car. They rode in silence until the car took to the air. Grey did his best not to react to it, but given the memory of the fact that he was afraid of heights, he closed his eyes and took in several deep breaths. "I rode a rollercoaster once." He grunted. "I was a teenager. My father said only pussies didn't ride so...I rode all day..." He muttered, not sure why he was telling her this. The part he left out was that when he got home, his father was dead.

"You're not the first to call me an animal, Remus." Raybourne purred. "And who do you propose be my handler? You can't send just anyone you know. Certainly not that weakling, Erebus." He added with a chuckle. "I'd like someone with a bit of meat on their bones."

Lilith heard the strain to his voice and spun the car over several times with a grin tugging at her lips. “Rollercoasters are child’s play.” She teased. “Of course, that’s what you are.:. A child.” She purred.

“One hour with Lilith and you’ll be begging for Erebus!” Remus warned. “Don’t think I won’t do it!”

"You are the one playing games." Grey muttered, his eyes still firmly shut as the car rolled. After a moment he opened them, forcing his mind down a new path. He was going to stay with Lilith. It seemed she hated him and for reason making her miserable seemed to make him smile. Or...maybe it didn't. 
Once the car landed he looked over the file, raising an eyebrow at the idea of going after a lawyer. It seemed a little too easy. 
"Okay...So Arthur Markus?" He asked, looking around at a city he felt he'd been to at least once in his life. "What's the deal with this guy? How hard is he to catch?" 

"What about you?" Raybourne asked. "When's the last time you used a gun old man?" He was grinning like a fool, a thick line of slobber sliding down his chin and dripping down to the floor. 
Amy had cleaned up the mess and gathered herself, now trying to ignore what was happening at the cages across the room. The monster Raybourne had become was exactly like the one he'd been in life. He really hadn't changed all that much.

“Catching isn’t the hard part, it’s getting an audience with his majesty.” Lilith snorted. “That’s where your brute muscle comes in.” She added, smiling sweetly and she leaned on the roof of the car,  joker eyes seeming to be watching Grey closely.

“I’ve done my time, boy.” Remus replied coolly,  not rising to the goad. “Unlike you, I can see where my path leads me.”

Grey raised an eyebrow. He was sure she was simply placating him to keep him from making a break for it. He was more than a little aware a woman like her believed that she could handle this all on her own. "What if I don't believe brute is the way to go?" He asked, looking down at his large hands. "What if I think you can do this all on your own? I'll sit back and...learn...right?" 

"What if I said I won't work with anyone but you and...her?" Raybourne asked, knowing this time Amy couldn't hear him. He'd seen her heading back into Remus' office. "You need me. It's not much of a negotiation is it?" He chuckled.

Lilith shrugged and blew a bubble with the gum she always seemed to have. “What makes you think I don’t have brute strength of my own?” She asked, though was turning away before he could answer, dark hair swinging out behind her.

“I need you only so long as you’re useful, which could change at any given moment.” Remus warned. “You so much as breathe near Amy, and that use does, along with your hopes of avoiding downstairs.”

Arthur Markus was a tall man with dark hair and a tan. He had brilliant blue eyes and a smile that would send women swooning. The horrible part was, he had died more than four years ago and was simply refusing to accept it. Unlike many others, he was lucky. No one had found his body. It was on the bottom of a lake where he'd driven drunk after an office party. A reaper had come to retrieve him and he'd hid. It was rare but it happened. 
Grey stood next to Lilith as Arthur stood talking during a press conference. "That asshole is full of himself." He grunted. "How do they not see the shit spewing out of his mouth? Dead or not, he's a fucker."

"So we're agreed." Raybourne said, sticking long fingers through the bars of his cage. "You and little red. All to myself." The wide grin returned. "Just like old times...Oh I can tasted h...it..."

Lilith glanced up from the tabloid paper she was reading, several photos of Markus with different models and actresses covering the pages. “Think of the poor bitches who had no idea they were fucking a corpse.” She snorted, rolling her eyes when Markus paused to wink at a woman in the front row. “How do they fall for it?”

Remus has been extending his hand when suddenly he snatched it back. “You seem to have already forgot the condition of your release. Amy is off limits!” He warned, his grey eyes losing their gentle playfulness.

Markus turned in their direction, a strange golden flash appearing in his eyes. Grey's fingers twitched again. 
"He's not a normal dead person..." He muttered, making sure the other man saw him as he began to push through the crowd. "Be careful."

"Ain't you got a pretty leash." Raybourne said through his teeth. "How long do you think it's going to be before they jerk it tight?"
Erebus' finally pulled the Chief away and out into the hall. " Sorry about him, sir. If you want to know the truth, that was Grey. He started the whole thing. Well...no. it was Lilith. She kepth filling his head full of things and he attacked. However, Taylor and I will take on Raybourne. There's no need for you to worry." He laughed, his tone painfully false as always. " We'll head out in the morning."

“Careful doesn’t get the job done, rookie.” Lilith mused as she watched Grey push people aside like they were rag dolls. She hates to admit it, but this was a vast improvement on all the other saps the chief had tried to palm off on her. Soon she too was flitting through the crowd, violet eyes always keeping Markus in their sights.

Remus glanced down to where Erebus had pulled his arm, and removed the other man’s fingers were they lingered against his suit sleeve. “Yes, because you did such a wonderful job of handling him up until now. How many times has he gotten the best of you now?”

Markus noticed how often Arthur's hands touched women on their shoulders and they stumbled into their path. The well spoken lawyer was moving faster, yet no one seemed to notice. They were all crowding together, laughing and talking as if they were waiting for another speech to begin. 
He had no idea that not only was the man escaping his capture, but he'd been on the podium announcing the death of a cop killer named Grey Sant. 
Arthur grabbed a tiny blonde woman and all at once she was leading him to her car with nothing more than a hand on the small of her back. Grey was still shuffling through people like they were nothing more than stacks of cards. Behind Lilith they were beginning to mutter, as if they had no idea why they were even there. 

"Do numbers really matter?" Erebus grumbled. "Taylor is a good boy with a good head on his shoulders. A mobster, I think you said." He waved a hand in dismissal. "Besides, I'm up for a review in a month. We'll be done with him by then and I'll be on my way upstairs. Fuck Lil and her shit. She can rot here forever." He added with a snort.

It didn’t bother Lilith to learn what crime Grey was guilty of, she knew better than most how even men who claimed to act in the name of justice where often the most corrupt. She was keeping eyes on Arthur when suddenly she slammed nose first into a man who was apparently his bodyguard. The tall man lifted her like a rag doll and tossed her back into the crowd who were beginning to panic.

“You say that like it would be a punishment for her.” Remus remarked. “Or do you forget how many times she had gritted herself put on probation to avoid the end of her sentence?” Despite his words he waved a dismissive had. “Fine, take the job if it means that much to you.”