The Backroom

Bookshelves upon bookshelves.

Damon and Aria entered the musty old back room of the bookstore. Bookshelves lined the walls, as a musty old paper smell floated across the air. They looked from corner to corner, boxes stacked on boxes, books, and weapons in between. They saw a door leading to a bathroom and a fireplace lightly lit under a flatscreen tv.

As they walked closer, a red leathered chair appeared in the corner of their vision. Damon jumped straight to it. As Aria walked alongside the bookshelves, reading the labels and writing on the spines of each book.

Creak!

A blonde woman in a green blood-stained tracksuit walked out of the bathroom, her hair wet and steamy. She stopped at the sight of two people.

"Who are you two?" she asked, with her machete over her shoulder, as she stood opposite the room.

Damon leaned back in the red-leathered chair as Aria looked across the empty orange-lit space, stopping at the woman.

"I'd like to ask the same to you? What's your name?"

She sat on the armrest of the red-leathered chair. Damon looked up at her with confusion as she leaned over his head, wrapping her arm around him.

The lady in the green tracksuit slowly walked to the other end of the room. She looked at the boxes, the countless weapons, the hundreds of books, covering from shelf after shelf.

"You know Marcus, lady?" she asked.

Aria got up, "yeah, we go a bit back. He's helped me out before."

"Can you tell me about him? I heard about him through some bounty hunters, so I don't know much about him? Is he a good guy? He does look super plain though."

"What? Do you like him or something?" asked Aria.

The woman jumped back, her emotions in full view.

"What! No no... I... Well... No! Just no!"

She picked up one of the daggers, flipping it through her fingers.

Aria walked up from behind.

"Are you sure about that? You're looking flustered."

"Aria you should stop taunting-"

The lady in the tracksuit started tapping her fingers together, "well... I do sort of fall in love easily. It's a bad habit of mine. Love at first sight. You know?"

Aria's face curled in a look of odd disgust, "you're weird."

She walked back to Damon as the door to the room opened up wide.

Marcus entered.

"Ok, should we get this-" He stopped at the sight of the two woman's stares, "have you two not gotten along with each other yet?"

The lady in the tracksuit looked up with an embarrassed smile like her crush had just caught her talking about him, "ummm... Hi Marcus... We've been getting along fine."

Marcus looked over with concern as Aria jumped back onto the leather chair, leaning on Damon's sleeping head.

"Is that your boyfriend Aria?" he asked.

She quickly looked down at Damon. He was fast asleep, without a care in the world.

"Nah, he's just a partner in crime."

"He a Witch?" asked Marcus as he walked closer to the flat screen tv hanging over the dimly lit fireplace.

"Is he a Witch...? Well... I don't know. But we shouldn't get into that while we're here. Let's just get right into the plan."

Marcus turned on the tv. He flipped through the channels until he landed on an image of pegasus.

"What is this?" asked the woman in the tracksuit, as she sat on a small box in the center of the room, adjacent to the tall bookshelves.

Marcus slowly turned back around, facing the two girls.

"Before we start. You two women should get to know each other better." He pointed to the green tracksuit lady, "Aria, this is Luna. She's from a secretive Witch family. She's a Creation Witch."

"Hey Marcus, don't just give out my info like that! And how did you know about-"

"Ohhh? She's a Creation Witch? I've never met one before. Supposedly they hide in castles in the Netherlands, but I didn't know they came to the United States? How rare."

Luna stood up, her face filled with pride, "you bet I'm amazing. I'm one-of-a-kind. A special breed!"

She lifted up her shirt pointing to the mark of Creation. An imprint of a long sword on her stomach.

"See, I even have the mark to prove it."

Aria leaned over and whispered into Marcus's ear, "she's an idiot."

He chuckled under his breath, "I know."

"Huh? Marcus...? Marcus what did you say? Wait... Are you guys making fun of me?"

"Nothing nothing." Marcus continued on with Aria, "now let's move on to the other. Luna this is Aurora or Aria for short. She's from a Family of Gravity Witches. And like you, she's aiming for the sixth spot in the Immortal Horses."

Luna stood up from the box, her blonde hair flowing across her bloodied tracksuit.

"Well, I'm not letting her take my spot," she said in a strict intense voice, trying to sound menacing, but accidentally turning cute since she has a naturally soft high pitched voice.

"No Luna, you two are gonna be working together," said Marcus.

"But how? There's only one spot?"

"One of you could always become a lesser Immortal if you want? Or you could work together in the organization."

She looked at Marcus, then back at Aria, "oh... Well, it's good to meet you partner."

She got up and shook hands with Aria.

Then she suddenly turned to the scruffed-up man in the old suit, sleeping in the leather chair.

"Who's he?" she asked pointing at Damon.

Marcus looked over at the leathered chair, he looked at the man in the old suit, his face squished against the hard red cushions, sleeping.

"Aria who is this guy?" he asked.

She quickly slapped Damon across the head. He woke up.

"Huh? Who woke me-" He looked at the two new people standing before him, "who are you two?"

"Damon introduce yourself," commanded Aria.

He slowly sat up, his face still stiff and tired, "umm... Ok... Well, where do I start? Oh yeah... My name is Damon, and I'm an immor- An immmazing cook. And I like to kill people. Not kill people... I'm not a serial killer... I like to kill... Immortals. Yes, no... Yes! Wait... I don't want to kill immortals. I want to become an immortal. Yes, that's it. That's me."

Aria and Marcus bother shook their heads at the same time. Their faces stricken with regret and cringe as Luna slowly leaned forward, still trying to piece together everything he had just said.

"So... Your saying... You're an... Amazing cook! That's so cool! You want to become immortal so that you can cook forever and hone your craft for all of time!"

"Yup that's exactly right," replied Damon as he slowly drifted back to sleep.

Luna smiled as Aria slowly leaned back over to Marcus, "thank god this girl is an idiot."