Noir
Chapter 2

**TEN YEARS LATER**

Shoving the cage at Noir, I hastily asked, "Watch Atomic for me?"

Unable to do anything but grasp the cage as I had shoved it in his stomach, Noir peered at the twitching nose of the rodent behind the bars. "You want me to babysit a damn rat?"

Atomic chattered from within his cage and I glared at Noir. "Now you've gone and hurt his feelings! He doesn't like being called that!"

With a shrug, Noir set the cage on a nearby end-table, his amber eyes sparking with amusement as his lips twitched with held-back laughter. "Mmm-hmm. And I suppose you expect me to apologize to him?" Hands now on my hips, I nodded. "Sure I do! You don't like to be called a vampire, and he doesn't care for being called a rat. So yeah, apologize!"

"Dammit, Lyra, I am not saying I'm sorry to a filthy rat!" Noir laughed.

From his cage Atomic was now standing on his hind legs, his tiny paws wrapped around the bars as he loudly scolded Noir.

Noir, in return, glared at Atomic and growled, "If you don't want me sucking your ass dry, you better shut the hell up!"

Mouth pinching, I quickly stepped over to the cage, and swooping it up in my arms, I hurried to the door, then jerking it open, I hissed, "You'll not harm a hair on him, you hear me? You may be as old as hell, but I can still whoop your ass." Then, tuning, I marched out of the room, slamming the door behind me!

"Insufferable ass-hole," I muttered, and Atomic squeaked in agreement.

Now that I found myself out in the hall with no one to watch Atomic, I reconsidered my rash action. I needed someone to care for him in case I didn't come back from this assignment, and sadly, Noir was the only one I could ask, as no one else remained in the agency.

I glanced down at my watch, realizing I was running out of time, and drawing a breath, I turned back to the door I had just slammed. With a heavy sigh, I raised my hand and knocked.

Immediately, the door opened and Noir gazed at me, an eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Um... uh... Look, I really need your help here," I stuttered out.

Still staring at me, but now lounging against the door frame, Noir murmured, "That so?"

I nodded slowly as, holding out the cage in Noir's direction, I muttered, "Please?"

Straightening, Noir reached for the cage. "You're gonna owe me for this!"

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I gave my head a nod, at the same time resigning myself to my fate. I had been on the losing end to Noir before, and fully expected I wouldn't like the debt he would extract, but I could see no other option. With a quiet "Thank you," I hurried off down the hall, hearing the solid thunk of Noir's door closing.

I had just reached the end of the hall when I heard all hell breaking loose in Noir's room, and him snarling, "You little shit!" But as I was already running way behind schedule, I didn't have time to turn back around, and with a shake of my head, I tucked my dagger a little deeper into its casing and took the stairs two at a time until I reached the ground floor, then sprinting toward the door to the outside, I pulled it open and stepped out into the night. The dagger at my waist began glowing before I had stepped a hundred feet from the Steel Agency. The night's hunt had began.

Adrenaline pumped through my system as I made my way across the rain-wetted street. Hurricane Ike's winds buffeted my forward motion, and I laughed aloud as excitement sparked through every fiber of my being. Damn, but I loved an enjoyable challenge! I had never hunted in a freaking hurricane before and found myself invigorated as hell for the hunt ahead. Every sense within me was sensitized; amplified.

A grin stole across my lips. It was just like Chernobyl to pick almost impossible conditions to bring me out; however, I thrived on the difficulty. I was sure it was just the opposite of what he hoped to elicit from within me. However, the more challenging the job, the more I liked it.

With strands of my hair blowing about within the force of the wind and slapping me in the face, injecting pain on my skin as if it were being bitten by a den of vipers, I pushed forward. The clouds rumbled loudly above me and the rain began coming down even harder; sheets of doom that spat pellets of warning at those who dared to venture out.

Most of the residents of Galveston had taken heed of the predictions and had either moved further inland, or had secured everything they could. The Steel Agency took no such precautions, though. Our world was already dangerous. The wicked and the evil never rested. So we didn't either; instead, we forged forth into the maelstrom.

Chernobyl-a hunter such as myself and the agency had danced around one another for the last year, and I swore to myself tonight that the dance would end.

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught movement, and before I could react, a shadow stepped from within the darkness. My eyes widened, for I'd only ever seen a creature similar to the one I was gazing at in my dreams.

A set of wings unfolded from either side of the man/creature's large, imposing body and a whisper of a voice surged through the air in my direction. The sound wrapped around me, vibrated through me, holding me hostage where I stood. Unable to do anything to help myself, I watched helplessly as the creature's wings spread impossibly wider, before lifting slightly into the air as it launched straight at me.

Suddenly, I was tackled and shoved roughly to the ground from behind. I found myself laid flat out, a leaden weight sitting on my back and pushing me into the hard concrete beneath me.

Fear washed through me that the winged creature in front of me had merely been a distraction for another had lurked behind me, and without warning, had tackled me, now holding me penned beneath it.

I began struggling, fighting to get out from beneath its weight, but the action was useless because the creature sat perched atop my back was unmovable. Terror assaulted me, before suddenly the weight lifted off me, and I could hear the unmistakable flap of wings.

I had never encountered anything that controlled my body the way the winged-being just had. And for the first time I could recall since becoming a hunter, I doubted my abilities against such a creature. Slowly, I pushed off the ground, looking around apprehensively, for I could still hear the first creature's voice in the wind as it continued to call to me. "*Lyra... Lyra....*"