1 --- 3

Reality flickered in and out amidst thundering pounding in his head. He groaned.

"He is awake." He heard someone say and snap fingers in front of him. "Hey there."

He fully recovered counciousness. It look him a while to understand his posture.

His hands and legs were bound to a wall. He struggled to free himself but to no avail.

"Don't bother." It was the man with the long white hair. He pointed to his wrists. "Black ivory."

He relaxed and looked down at the man. He was in his late twenties. He had thin lips, a small nose and bright eyes.

"Nate, was it?"

He nodded. "Where am I?" He asked in a croaked voice.

"My place." Victor answered simply, like it was supposed to explain everything.

"Well, where is your place?"

"Don't worry, we are still in New York."

"New York." He repeated softly. Finding it weird that he knew everything he needed to know about the city but nothing about himself.

A small frown marred Victor's face but disappeared as soon as it came. "You don't know where you are?"

Nate sighed and looked down at his feet. "I don't know anything. I just woke in that alley without any recollection of anything."

Victor looked straight into his eyes. "Before or after you killed those people."

"I didn't kill anyone. They were both dead when I woke up or at least the man was."

"And the woman?"

"She was alive for a few seconds after I woke. I got my name from her before she died."

"If you were innocent, why did you attack those cops?"

"The woman told me to run."

"From cops?"

"Look, I just woke up in a alley with dead people and I can't remember anything. Then cops pulled guns on me and started yelling. I got scared and did what anybody would have done."

"You didn't look scared."

"What?"

"You did not fight scared either. You took on two of my best guys with composure of a veteran willer. So tell me how you woke up without memories and even know that you are a willer not to talk of how to you can use it so effectively."

He hung his head. "I don't know. It's like I remember everything else except who I am."

Victor continued to look at his face for what seemed like hours without speaking. Nate knew he was wondering whether to believe him or not.

"What are you going to do to me?" Nate asked, breaking the silence.

"There are three options." Victor said, holding up three fingers. "One, I turn you over to the council and they imprison you for the killing of humans. Offences like that usually involve long sentences, fifty years if you are lucky." He paused, waiting for a reaction but got none.

"Two." He continued. "I hire you and you work under me. All events that occurred in that alley are swept under the rug and you stay under my protection."

"And the third option?"

"Oh, I simply kill you and forget any of this ever happened." He said matter-of-factly.

Nate took a long look at Victor and knew he was not bluffing. He was really going to kill him if he needed to. Nate considered his options. All he wanted was to get back his memories and find out who he really was. He could not do that if he was dead or in prison.

"One would think this would be an easy decision for you." Victor broke into his thoughts.

"Is it? I mean what does working for you really mean?"

"It is really simple, you just have to do whatever I  tell you to do."

"And what would you be telling me to do?"

His face hardened a bit. "That is entirely up to me."

Nate considered his options again and realised that he did not really have a choice. He sighed.

"I don't have all day, kid. What would it be?"

"I would work with you under one condition."

Victor frowned deeply at that. "What would that be?"

"I would have the freedom to find a way to get back my memories."

Victor pondered that for a while before shrugging. "Okay, as long as it does not affect any work or assignment I give to you."

"Fine."

Victor smiled a little and it looked a little scary on his face. "Good to have you on the team."

"Yeah, that is very nice. Hey, do you think you could free my hands and legs. They are starting to hurt."

Victor moved to him and unlocked the binds in a fluid motion. Nate stood straight and massaged his wrists.

Victor reached into his pockets and brought out a familiar necklace. "This was found in your pockets."

Nate took it from him and examined it properly in the light. It had a chain of gold and silver intertwined with each other and its pendant was a small ruby encrusted in gold. It looked expensive but it did not really look pretty.

Victor's phone beeped. He took it out of his jacket and read the message with no expression on his face. "I've got to go." He said returning his phone. "I will send someone to get you ready and show you around. Do exactly as she says and for your sake, don't do anything you would regret."

Nate nodded and Victor left.

He watched him go and somehow he knew he had just made a deal with the devil.

He looked at the necklace in his hand and tried to see if he could remember anything about it. Nothing. He sighed and put it around his neck.

The door opened and a girl stepped in. Her appearance was really confusing. Her hair was dyed so pink it looked plastic. She put on heavy make-up with thick lipstick. She wore a jumpsuit that looked like a rainbow.

She looked at him for a second before giving him a wide grin he recognised all too well.

"You." He growled at her.

"Me?" Her grin widened.

"What are you doing here?"

"Victor sent me. I am your guide." She replied without dropping her grin.

He disliked her immediately and he hardly knew her. It was probably because she knocked him out without him putting up a fight.

Yeah, that was probably it.

"So what to do first?" She chewed her lip and looked thoughtfully like she was checking some imaginary checklist.

"Right. Introductions." She coughed and straightened. "Hi. My  name is Minx. Your name is Nate. It is nice to meet you." She made the introduction like he wasn't there.

"Victor said you lost something in your head and I have to always be with you."

"My memories."

"What?"

"I lost my memories."

"Oh, that's what Victor said."

"Well, can we start?"

"Start what?"

"You were gonna show me around."

"Yeah right, let's go."

He watched her go. He could not remember the people he had met before but he doubted he had met someone weirder than her.