Chapter 01: Hanvil, Beast of the Cresent Moon
The lock clicked, informing the empty apartment of the arrival of it's master, Tobias Zaiben. The door was pushed open a moment later, and the young man of twenty-six years walked into the room. Tobias had short, wild black hair and green, piercing eyes. He wasn't very tall, but his composure made him seem much more so than he truly was. It was perhaps a thing of character, for he appeared to be a man of much power. Indeed, all who knew him agreed that his appearence belied nothing. He was a strong, reliable man with a cool intellect and powerful sense of duty to his friends. He wore a blue, short-sleeved shirt and a pair of long jeans. The shirt revealed just barely the man was very well-built.
Tobias turned and locked the door behind him, dumping the keys on a small table by the door. He slumped into the sofa, his face landing in the cushion. He sighed in relief, finally resting after nine hours of work at the computer shop. His throat hurt from all the customers who came in and all the calls he had to take, but he was generally pleased with his work, and even more greatful to return home for a much deserved rest-nothing felt better than resting after hard work.
He sighed again after several moments, this time of relief, and stood up from the sofa. He walked over to the fridge and opened it up, examining the contents. A few cans of beer, some water and apple juice. He pulled out the cold water and took a long gulp.
Just as he put the water back into the fridge, his cell phone rang. Tobias pulled out the small device from his pocket and brought it to his ear.
"Hello?" Tobias asked,
"Mr. Tobias Zaiben?" A man's voice replied.
"Speaking," Tobias said.
"This is Mr. George Cranning from Cranning Computers," The man said, "you sent us an order for five computers a week ago, and I was supposed to let you know when we finish shipping it."
"I see," Tobias replied slowly,
"Yes, well, I just approved the shipping it, so we should have it sent over to you by tommorow." George Canning said.
"Okay, thank you." Tobias said. "If there are any difficulties, technical or otherwise, please let me know."
"Very well." Canning replied, "Goodbye, Mr. Zaiben."
Tobias hang up the call, but before he could slide it back to his pocket it rang again. Tobias accepted the call and heavily said,
"Hello?"
"Hello," Said a woman's voice. "Am I talking to a Mr.Wolf?"
Tobias groaned slightly at the sound of the name and his eyelids slid shut. When he opened them, he blinked a few times and then smiled amused.
"Yes, yes you are," Tobias replied, sounding much more relaxed than he was a moment ago. "thank you for calling me like I asked you, dear Garuda."
"Anytime," The woman replied. "as a reward, could you let me know where you're going today?"
"A little visit to the Greenwood Museum in New York," Tobias said slowly. "they're bringing this gorgeous necklace with a topaz in it. I think it comes from Japan, very precious."
The woman slightly giggled. It was almost like a witch's cackle.
"You, intrested in jewelry?" The woman asked, clearly amused.
"Normally, no," Tobias calmly replied, also amused, "but in this case, I am.. I hear they call it the 'Wolf's Eye'."
"Ah." Was the woman's reply.
"Yes," Tobias continued, "it should be rather intresting to add it to my collection."
--- --- ---
At midnight, the Greenwood Museum was usually closed. No one was inside the during the night, and things were silent. On the surface, this seemed to be the case at the night of July 16th, but in fact, the museum was very much disturbed. The power was down due to an area blackout, and so security was completely useless at the time.
A man in a grey, tight suit slithered through a ventilation shaft into the lobby. The man wore a grey mask of silk that covered his face completely, except for holes for eyes and his nose. The sneaking in was done very carefully and quietly, with precise movements. He stood for a moment, breathing heavily, turning his head here and there, as if trying to catch a scent. His eyes moved swiftly around the room, and then, as if on a whim, he passed through a set of doors on the left of the dark room. This new room was smaller than the lobby, with more selected exhibits that were probably not opened for the open croud. His eyes darted quickly around the room, trying to understand the objects in display despite the lack of light. He stopped and sniffed the air once more, than said quietly,
"This scent.."
He stepped up to one of the glass cases in the back of the room and narrowed his eyes, focusing on the object inside. Indeed, a small, ancient necklace of gold lay there, with a topaz inside.
"Indeed.." The man continued, obviously pleased. "This is the Ookami no Isha... The Japanese Jewel that was the prized possession of Keitai Tenno.."
"So, Hanvil is a wolf?" Asked a voice from the other corner of the room.
The man turned quickly aside, an angry growl starting to grow in his throat. He focused his eyes and saw the shape of a tall man, who was heavily dressed and masked.
"Who are you?" The man asked with a low, warning voice.
"That matters not.. Not yet." The voice slowly replied, "What does matter, Hanvil, is that you focus on the truly important things, rather than run around stealing jewelry from humans. Those of your kind are not thieves. They are rather honorable beasts."
"Speak not to me of my kind, foolish worshiper of the sun." Hanvil growled more threateningly.
"I admit, I would have never expected a wolf.." The man continued with the same slow, almost musing, tone. "And moreover, I would have never expected a wolf to steal worthless things. You truly are obsessed, aren't you?"
Hanvil's eyes glared at him, full of rage.
"Who are you?" He barked, almost madly.
"Hush, Hanvil, you would not want to alert anyone to your presence.." Said the man, and Hanvil could almost hear the muscles in his face curving to form a cruel smile. "I'm afraid you must learn to control your emotions, my friend... But is it not your nature to strike at those who pose a threat?"
"Why don't you come and find out?" Hanvil said quietly, still purring his threatening growl.
"It wouldn't matter even if I would.." The man merely shrugged, "But I came merely to tell whoever's been doing this buisness to pick up the pace. The Drop would soon be out of reach, and I doubt you could force yourself to chase it around the world. It can be quiet elusive."
"And now," the man said and gave a fairly long pause, "I suggest you take your little prize and leave. In about four minutes, I will pick up the payphone outside and call the police to report I have seen a shady character going into the museum. I would recommend you take the time to distance yourself from the place."
A wry grin quickly grew on Hanvil's lips,
"And if I choose to murder you here and now?" he asked.
"You will both fail and more than likely will be caught due to the noise you'll make, and arrested and imprisoned for several robberies and an attempted assault." Said the man and paused. "I believe a minute has passed... You have three minutes left to leave."
Hanvil growled with rage, the dillema burning in his mind, but didn't dwell upon it. He merely picked up the glass case with his gloved hands, gently placed it on the floor, took the jewel and very carefully placed in a nylon bag he took out of his pocket, which he pocketed a moment later, and just as delicatly placed the case back in it's place.
"One minute," The man said slowly, as Hanvil quietly crept away from the room and slithered back into the shaft, placing the vent's shutter carefully inside. Within half a minute Hanvil had already left, and a minute later, true to his word, the mysterious man picked up the payphone outside to find the phone's wire was ripped apart savagely. Snickering, the man slowly walked to another one down the street, and alerted the police of a suspicous presence by the museum. By the time they arrived, Hanvil was long gone, and the last thing he thought before his conciosuness slipped from him was who the man was, how he knew what he knew and why did his presence feel so threatening...
--- --- ---
Tobias opened his eyes, as morning sunshine streamed through the window and lit the room. Specks of dust floated lazily in the rays of sunshine, seeming drowsy as if they, too, have awakened from sleep. Tobias lay on his side for several minutes, his left hand on his left temple, feeling the monotonous, ever-repeating beat of the blood shooting through his veins. After a while, Tobias sat up and stretched, sighing heavily as he did so. He wore a white, sleevless shirt and a pair of black boxers. His face seemed long and tired, for this night his sleep was strewn with disturbing dreams. Each dream seemed to consist of growls, whispers and a maddening cackling. Moreover, these dreams only made him half-asleep, because while he dreamt he could hear things of real life-the drone of the computer that stood two meters from his bed, the barking of dogs outside, the door to the bathroom slamming gently and then swinging open... It was not very pleasing, to say the least. Tobias was relieved to remember today was sunday.
Tobias rose from his bed, rubbing his eyes slowly and went into the bathroom, examining his face in the mirror. A gloomy, tired reflection returned him an exahusted glance, and he bowed his head, turning the faucet open with his left and letting the water flow on the other. He washed his face thoroughly, and then turned to brush his teeth. While washing up did awaken his body, it did not clear his mind. The dreams still disturbed him.
However, he pushed the concern apart and walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge and pulling out a glass bottle full of milk, stopping at the cupboard to take out a box of cereal.
As he sat at the scrubbed table, his cereal ready, he gave his apartment an examining glance. It was not extremely decorated, in fact, it was even quite simplistic. The walls were a dull white without only a few pictures and decorations here and there-a picture of a younger Tobias on graduation night with three of his friends and a picture of a child Tobias with his father, with a few souvenirs of other places-a wall scroll of Hawaii, and a large framed picture of the Empire State Building, and finally, a large, grey framed clock ticked on the walls somberly. His apartment itself was very small, with only three rooms-a combined living room and kitchen corner, a bathroom and a bedroom. The living room had two small sofas and a large comfortable, cushioned chair. perched in front of the television. On the floor around the sofas was a red, circular rug. Everything was was very neat and organized, which seemed to defy the natural order of apartments of men his age.
While Tobias was halfway through his cornflakes, Tobias' cellphone started vibrating. He picked it up and accepted the call.
"Hello?" He asked,
"Hey, Tobe." a familiar voice replied,
"Ah, hey, Tom." Tobias said, recognising the voice to be that of his best friend, Tom.
"So what's up?" Tom asked, "You sound like you've been run over by a steamroller."
"Thanks for the encouragement, buddy," Tobias muttered. "I just had a bad night."
"Do you have any good nights?" Tom asked and Tobias could almsot hear his friend's eyes rolling in their sockets.
"Not lately, no," Tobias replied tiredly,
"Well, I've been wondering if there are any chances you're free tonight," Tom continued, ignoring Tobias' remark. "I'm thinking of going out with the guys tonight for a drink. Feel like coming?"
Tobias considered for a moment, then replied, "Sure... Why not? Hope I won't get drunk, though."
"Great!" Tom exclaimed, "We'll be meeting over in my place, alright?"
"Sure.." Tobias muttered.
"Well, bye, then." Tom said and put down the phone.
Tobias gave the cellphone a very long look of disapproval, as if trying to pass the sentiment over the phone, and put it down, shaking his head tiredly.
