[M e w]

Shaun just grunted in response, trying to hide that he recognized the double meaning. He pulled off his shoes and stuck them into his bag. It was weird to have to spend time with a client like this, normally he would get his assignment then be off, not having to worry about traveling with the person. He sighed quietly as he leaned against the headboard.

He decided to break the ice.
"So.... Mavek, I guess you might not be too intolerable after all," he said in a monotone voice. He was still unsure about the man, but after he relaxed he found him a lot easier to stand. He didn't think the peace would last too long though.

[#FFFFFF]

"I try to not be completely awful... Especially not to the person that I have to travel with for a few days at the least... You wouldn't be able to do this on your own. Sending you to do this with no assistance would be a suicide mission on your part," Mavek said with a shrug. He wasn't sure it Shaun knew what he was up against, but... Mavek did and that was all that mattered. He bit down on his lip ring for a moment, needing something to do that would keep his attention for a moment as he thought about a few things.

Sighing softly, he was actually kind of sad that the man hadn't called him out on his obvious double meaning of his prior statement. He shrugged that off as well though, not wanting to dwell on it too bad. The man probably wasn't interested in men... Or, at least, not Mavek.

[M e w]

"I'd probably be just fine on my own," he replied arrogantly, studying his fingers. He didn't like thinking that there was a job that he couldn't do, he would always complete his mission with accuracy. Even though this was a demon he was going to be facing he had a ridiculous amount of confidence that he would be fine, or perhaps it was foolishness.

They sat in silence for a while, and as the minutes passed Shaun caught himself staring at the other person in the room. He did so discretely, trying not to make it known to him. He found himself intrigued by his pale white skin, how it stretched tight over his lean muscles and bones. His features were actually quite delicate now that he studied them, very opposite of his own. His eyes traveled over his face and down to his jaw, continuing to search the pale skin of his throat and the top of his chest, where it disappeared underneath the fabric of his shirt. He swallowed slowly, feeling blood rush to his face.
Then he shook his head, trying to get rid of such thoughts. He needed to quit being stupid, this was his client after all... not some stranger to use for other things. He hated that he often found his mind running towards such things; he was a soldier, not a person who should think about indulging in pleasures such as that. All he was good for was killing after all, he wasn't a lover. He needed to keep his thoughts on the job ahead, not the sudden lust that had seeped into his brain. He quickly shook his head again, trying to ward off the train of thought completely.

[#FFFFFF]

The silence was awkward, but not nearly as awkward as the eyes that were on him. He sighed softly as he kept his gaze downwards until he hadn't felt this other person's eyes in this direction again. He then swallowed the accumulated dryness in his throat and he glanced up, noting the redness in this male's cheeks. That had him rather curious... Actually, it had him extremely curious. What could he be thinking about that made him blush like that? It was such a childish gesture, but there was nothing about this man that was childish in the least bit...

Slouching in his chair, he slowly crossed his arms over his chest as he shifted his tailbone to get more comfortable in this hard seat. He then found his own eyes being brought back to Shaun's body. He bit his lip discretely as he eyed this other man, much like he'd done him moments before. He couldn't help it though as his eyes started in the same place every time he looked up. They would trace the squareness of his jaw slowly, enjoying that part of this man very much... He'd then look at the shape of his torso, feeling slightly sad that he'd not had a chance to see this male shirtless as he'd had earlier... He didn't plan on himself to be seen shirtless... But it had happened that way and he couldn't help it at all now... Then again, he was pretty much more than shirtless. Towels didn't count for much any more... Though, finally his gaze was dropped again and silence was even more awkward than before... Since he knew they'd both been looking at each other in the same way. That realization made him feel slightly... Dirty for some odd reason, so he shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

[M e w]

Shaun thought he could feel the same sort of feelings coming from the other man, but he tried to not pay too much attention to it. Things were getting pretty awkward again, and he couldn't stand it. Awkwardness made him feel... awkward after all, and he liked feeling confident much more.
He coughed, a half-strangled, gravelly sound. He shifted around uncomfortably, then glanced at the small window, barely covered by the torn, dusty blinds that rested over it. The light was beginning to turn dark, the day starting to leave. However, they still had a couple hours before they would need to even think about getting to sleep. The awkwardness would be made completely obvious if they decided to eat and go to sleep now.

That thought brought another one into his mind. They had to eat... Shaun wondered what Mavek was planning on having. He kept plenty of dried meals in his bag for when he needed a meal, nothing pretty or even tasty, but it was sustenance. They did the job they were meant to do, and he hadn't worried about having a nice hot meal for a very long time. Then a thought clicked into his brain.
Mavek was a demon... which meant he probably didn't eat human foods right? The torn apart carcass in the woods, Mavek showing up there. The obvious picture only now formed in his mind. Some wild beast hadn't done that, the man sitting right in front of him had.

Without thinking about it, Shaun jumped off the bed and spread his feet apart in a defensive stance. He immediately relaxed his position once he realized what he was doing, but he still could feel the wariness in his eyes.
"That body in the woods... that was you right?" he asked Mavek without any hesitation in his voice. He knew he was right, but the words came out of his mouth anyways.

[#FFFFFF]

Looking up at him quickly when he jumped off of the bed, Mavek actually leaned back some. He was confused by that gesture, but then it was made all too clear as his expression turned from slightly awkward, to not too happy. Of course he'd eaten that carcass in the woods... He couldn't eat human food, lest he throw it right back up... His body wasn't capable of digesting that which was cooked... Or that which wasn't living. His body wanted blood and if he didn't give it to it, then it was going to take control of him and take blood and meat itself... And it wasn't going to be an animal... It was going to be a human no matter what he did.

It's not like he enjoyed eating people... He used to be human after all and that was why he honestly had to eat more often than these other higher up demons. Sure, he was pretty damn powerful now, but... He couldn't help that he needed to eat more to be able to have the will power to keep his demon side under control. He huffed out rather heavily at that question since it was fairly obvious that this man already knew the answer without it being volunteered to him. He didn't know why he even asked it when he could have just made the realization and just kept it to himself and be correct the entire time. But, he knew he was still going to want an answer, so Mavek's gaze slowly went up from the floor and back to Shaun.

"Of course it was me... There was no way some animal did that... It was definitely the work of a demon... This demon..." he said, trying to keep his demon side under control now that it had been brought into the conversation. Sometimes it was hard to not change when it was mentioned because when it was made known, that side wanted out... He didn't know why it was always like that though... He couldn't help it. He sighed softly as he looked back down, rather defiantly. He didn't want to be labeled some awful killer that ate humans, but he was definitely going to be now...

[M e w]

Surprising himself, Shaun just relaxed his shoulders. For some reason, the fact that he was in the same room as a demon who ate human flesh didn't bother him that much. Wasn't Mavek just doing what he had to in order to survive as well? Shaun couldn't say he had never taken the consideration of actually eating another human being. Back when he was just a child living in a war-torn world, he had almost had to resort to such a thing if he wanted to survive. Luckily he had managed to avoid such a terrible fate, but he could still remember thinking how unashamed he had been during those desperate times. It was survival, and those who didn't have the will to stomach such things would be the first to die.

He sighed and met Mavek's stare.
"Sorry about that... my body reacted faster than my brain. It's fine," he said to him, his voice low and careful.
Now he actually found himself curious about the things that came with being a demon. He was going to forget about even asking but his curiosity won out.
"So... how does that work exactly? How often to you have to... umm... feed? Do you always have to kill the person?" he asked in a huff of breath. The unknown was always interesting to human beings, and Shaun was no different. He stood, still and straight, waiting to see if Mavek would even answer his questions.

[#FFFFFF]

Bringing his gaze back down when Shaun apologized, Mavek understood. Sometimes people didn't take too kindly to the idea of humans being eaten... Despite that fact that this man pretty much killed humans for a living, he wouldn't be a different in that aspect. He then sighed softly as he adjusted himself in the chair some, wanting to be able to sit comfortably again after he was extremely confused by Shaun's actions. He'd gotten over it though, since he was fine with him putting two and two together. He was surprised he had even remembered that carcass in the woods though... He'd forgotten about having fed, actually. He was surprised he'd forgotten that quickly though.

Turning his gaze back up, he didn't really want to answer that question at all, but he figured he may as well... "I wasn't always a demon, you know. I used to be a human. But then this demon we're going after killed me... And a demon that was very, very close to me... He gave his life to save mine. But at that expense, I became the very thing he was... So I fled knowing that I wouldn't be able to kill that demon. Now, I have to feed on the flesh of the mortals to keep my demon side at bay. I have to ingest the flesh and the blood of humans... Or my demon side will take over and eat much more than I do when I feed... I have to eat about once every five days... And yes. I do always have to kill the person because I do in fact eat a lot of them. They'd never survive."

[M e w]

After hearing all of this information, Shaun had brought his hand up to his chin, thinking. It was definitely interesting, and he couldn't say that he didn't want to know more. He was about to push the subject further but when he saw that Mavek wasn't really comfortable with the conversation he stopped himself. They would be spending plenty of time together these next few days, so he would have plenty of time to ask more questions.

The next few hours were a mix of silence and scattered words. Most of them were forced to try and appease the awkwardness and boredom. It didn't work most of the time. Shaun was grateful when it was finally time to go to bed. The next day would be work, so it wouldn't be full of this dreadful waiting.
He looked around the room and noticed the only bed. He crossed his arms and looked over at Mavek. He figured he should be a bit courteous to his new client.
"Would you like to have the bed?"
He couldn't deny that he was hoping that the other man didn't. Of course sleeping in uncomfortable places and positions wasn't new to Shaun, but when he had a bed before him he always preferred to sleep on it.

[#FFFFFF]

It was fairly obvious that he was thankful this man didn't ask any more questions about his life. He hunched his shoulders and sighed softly... But then the next few hours were rather odd and they were filled with awkward glances towards the other to fill his wondering mind through the silences. He couldn't help that he kept looking at the other though... He liked how he looked and it there was also nothing to do in the silence. He would fiddle with his lip ring and his tongue ring, but that was pretty much his only entertainment through the scattered words and the glances.

When he heard that question, he laughed lightly. "We could always share the bed," he said, with equally as much innuendo as when they'd come into the room. He'd been looking towards Shaun in those same ways the entire time, and he was pretty sure this man had been looking at him the same way. Though, he didn't want to overstep his boundaries. "I guess I could just sleep in this chair." He then shrugged and slouched down in it some more. It wasn't very comfortable, but he'd slept in worse.

[M e w]

Blood rushed to his face again after Mavek's suggestion. He quickly turned his face away and gave a forced chuckle. He nodded approvingly at Mavek's choice of the chair.
He probably should insist on him using the bed but he didn't want to push it, he really did want to sleep in a real bed, even if this one was lumpy and smelled a bit.
He honestly hadn't slept in an actual bed in months, and he was eager to get up under the sheets and get a decent sleep.

"Well, good night. I assume we're getting up rather early," he started talking as he grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and pulled it up over his head. He should probably be too embarrassed to sleep half-naked but he was too excited for sleeping more comfortably than he had in months so he pushed it aside. He looked down at his chest the see the new tattoo still squirming. He scratched at it briefly before returning to his task. He unbuttoned his jeans in a swift movement of his hands and pulled them down to his ankles, then kicked them off, leaving him in just his black briefs. He bent down to pick the clothes up and tucked them into his duffel bag, then ran his hands over his bare arms to warm them up, the air slightly cooler since there was no fabric to protect them anymore. He could feel the many scratches, bumps, and indentions in his flesh from the nearly two decades he had been fighting for his life. The rest of his body was scarred up in quite the same way, but with some wounds larger than others; including several bullet wounds, burn scars, and stab wounds. On reflex, he reached around to feel his right shoulder blade with his left hand, rubbing it against the ink he already had there. He had gotten the fairly large tattoo when he was about nineteen or so, three years after he had become a mercenary. The mark meant a great deal to him, even though he couldn't see it unless he was contorting in front of a mirror. It pretty much summarized his entire life; the war would never end, and he would fight in it until he was dead.

Finally, he took out his lip ring, he always managed to snag it when he slept with it in, and set it safely in a small pocket on his bag. He ran his tongue over the now bare area before sitting on the bed.
"I tend to wake up shortly after the sun comes up on reflex so I would prefer to leave shortly after that. Is that okay with you?" he asked Mavek, hoping he would agree. Shaun was tired of waiting around, he would want to be up and moving as soon as he woke up.

[#FFFFFF]

Noticing the red color right before he turned his head, Mavek grinned to himself and looked down, feeling rather accomplished that that. His eyes then went back up as he watched the man remove his shirt. It was his turn now as the redness rose to his cheeks slowly, just a light pink tint to his cheeks as he tore his gaze away from the man... But that only happened for a moment before his eyes went right back to him to watch him remove yet another article of clothing. He couldn't help that his eyes were drawn to him. He'd spent the last few hours trying to figure out what this man looked like under his clothes and now it was being offered to him free of charge... This was definitely an offer he couldn't pass up.

When Shaun then moved under the sheets, he sighed softly and looked back down at the floor, trying to keep his mind off of other things. He then looked and noticed a cabinet. He stood and walked over to it, wondering if it was what he thought. He opened it up and we very pleased to find a throw that he could cover up with. It would be much better than sleeping in that chair all night. He was glad the floor wasn't too terribly hard... He shrugged his shoulders lightly as he walked back over to where the chair was and pushed it under the desk. He then pulled his bag out and rolled it over to the softer side where most of his clothes were. That would do for a pillow. He then laid down on the floor and sighed as he pulled the blanket over himself. He then closed his eyes and settled in.

"Yeah. That sounds fine," he said and then shrugged his shoulders some in hopes of getting more comfortable. He didn't mind getting up so early in the morning. He usually had to sleep in places that demanded him be up when the sun came up, so he would probably even wake up at that time as well. He didn't mind that in the least, since it was second nature to him. He did slightly mind sleeping on the floor, but he figured he would be able to sleep in a bed the next night... And that was all that mattered. He would be able to get the soreness out of his body then.

[M e w]

As soon as the thin sheets fell against his body Shaun felt relaxed. He could tell that sleep would come easy tonight, no tossing and turning before his mind could rest. The day had been full of more surprises than normal and his brain and body were ready to rest up.
Almost as soon as his eyes shut he found sleep.

Even though he had been fighting and killing others for most of his life, the nightmares never seemed to fade during sleep. He had accepted the fact that all he was good for was killing, and he lived his life without regret, but his deep conscience always found a way to drag up the unpleasant memories in his head. Tonight was one of the bad nights.

Hundreds upon hundreds of dead bodies littered the streets in front of him, blood soaking the ground. He stood with a semi-automatic in his hands, his finger on the trigger. As he looked down at his hands he saw that they were covered in red. The thick, sticky liquid was all over him actually, he could feel it coat his skin, could smell that rust and salt odor of it. In horror he dropped the weapon and stared at his hands, then tried to rub the crimson from them on the dust-covered ground. It did no good, he was still bathing in the stuff.
Warily he looked out across the sea of carcasses and immediately took in every detail of them. Some still had blood gushing from their wounds, others were missing limbs, their arms or legs ending in ragged stumps. One body, a young boy of maybe thirteen, was missing half of his face, his features blown off by a blast of bullets. His one remaining eye stared at Shaun, the fear and pain still evident in it.
Suddenly, Shaun was sick, puking up his guts up onto the dirt.
HE had done this... he had killed all of these people. A monster, he was a monster...

Tears began pouring out of his eyes, and then he was a child again, catching his reflection in the shining black metal of the gun.
The scene shifted; he was back at his childhood home, staring at the broken, mangled bodies of his parents. He was standing there, staring at their lifeless eyes, not believing what he saw. Then a man, a dirty, bloodied man loomed over him, the barrel of a pistol pointed at Shaun's head. He pulled the trigger and Shaun was now looking at himself from above, seeing his head explode into a million shreds of muscle, skin, and bone. His headless body fell with a thump to the floor, next to his dead parents.

He flashed forward to another time, another place, seeing himself kill person after person. Soon he saw himself as he was now, a twenty-seven year old man, the blood of hundreds of lives stained on his hands. Back in his own body now, he watched, no control over himself, as he slaughtered even more people. The starving, hopeless people he had come to live around ran at him, their faces twisted in fear. He would shoot them in the face, move to the next, take out his hunting knife and slice a child's neck, move on to the next. An endless cycle of murder and bloodshed. He wanted control of his body so that he could end this, stop the senseless killing and misery.
Stop it... stop it... I can't take this anymore. STOOOOOP! he screamed, trying to take hold of himself, but he couldn't. All he could do was watch as the violence escalated and he screamed. The bodies piled up until only one person remained; himself from when he was nine years old. He could feel his face grin, though he was not controlling it. He saw his hand lift up, holding a pistol, aimed straight for his own head.
The boy that was him had tears flowing down his face, the horror filling his eyes. His finger was on the trigger, he squeezed, and the bullet flew, sinking into the boy's flesh right between his scared, wide eyes.

Shaun's eyes flew open as he jerked awake, his breath coming fast and hard. He hadn't had a nightmare that bad in a long time, and his body was covered in a film of sweat, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths. He looked down at his hands to find that they were shaking slightly and forced them to still. Even though the nightmare had plagued him all night he had managed to sleep his normal cycle. Soft, gray light filtered in through the cracks in the blinds, showing that it was just after sunrise. Finally, it was time to start his new job, no more waiting.

[#FFFFFF]

Finally, after he'd gotten himself comfortable, he was able to close his eyes and get into a light sleep. It always took him a long time to fall down into the third level of sleep, where the dreams actually happened... But if you didn't get down to that level, then you'd never get a good night's sleep... To his surprise, he actually made it down to that level of mental hell, his nightmares always plaguing his sadistic mind... Blurring the lines between reality and fantasy... He couldn't help it though. When someone had been through as much as he had... The memories and the lies fill your brain and need to get out somehow... This is how his mind would taunt him...

Pulling his legs up towards his chest more, the nightmares began. He was in the desert... Sad blowing into his face, causing him the need to squint. He'd lick his dry lips, only to have his tongue and throat get even dryer... He looked down at himself, realizing he was human right now... He didn't have to feed his demon side, but his demon side also wasn't there to save him from dehydration... He started to panic as he ran through the sand, his feet sinking and hindering his progress... Then he saw something fly in front of the sun, blocking it partly. He put his hand up in front of his face and gazed up at it, trying to figure out what it was... As it got bigger and bigger, headed straight for him. His eyes would then widen as he realized it was after him... And just before it did to him what he did to humans... The scene changed as he dove into the dirt...

Before him now as he looked up from the very moist leaves, his skin so obviously pale below him was a lifeless corpse. He moved himself back away from it, his legs hitting another figure that caused him to turn his head and peer up at the person... Or, rather, the creature. He slowly got on his feet, looking down at the man. Mavek smiled softly as he looked down at the demon that had saved his life before. This creature plagued his nightmares often... And he always felt the need to be able to properly thank this man for what he did... But he also didn't want to see him at all... He didn't like what he was... So, his smile soon faded to a frown as he looked down at his feet. He opened his mouth to say something, but no voice would come out.
Looking back up, his eyes wide, he tried to speak more, but nothing came out. He was so confused, but no matter what he did... There was no sound being expelled from his throat. He was starting to get frustrated as he dark blue tail swished and twisted behind him in annoyance. Then, Ureck would look at him, his expression changing from nostalgic to rather sadistic. Familiar hands wrapped around Mavek's throat and he wasn't sure what to think about that as he tugged on the much stronger wrists. He suddenly felt much younger than he really was as he closed his eyes, struggling to breathe. Just as everything was about to hit a more drastic dark, he opened his eyes and took in a deep breath.

Everything was different once again as he inhaled air deeply and quickly, trying to refill his lungs. He was caressing his throat as if it were damaged, but it really wasn't in the least. He stood, but then he slipped and fell into the water before him... But as he pushed himself back out of it, he realized it wasn't water at all. His looked down at the liquid that was not covering his skin. It was much too thick to be water... He spit the blood from his mouth and looked over at the pile of bodies. He shook his head, backing away from them, thinking he would be able to get out of this puddle... But as he stood and looked around, the only thing that existed in this dream were the puddle... The pile, and himself. He felt so disgusting for the fact that his stomach was rumbling because of this pile of bodies... This pile of obviously freshly killed bodies... And then his body was moving without his permission... He moved forward and began to devour the flesh, his demon side having obviously taken over him completely. He didn't want to eat this flesh, but he couldn't stop himself... He just could as he swallowed the meat and the blood. He was trying to gain control... He was trying to, but he just kept eating... Savoring the flavor... Actually enjoying it... He wished desperately to be human again and that was all his dreams ever told him...

Sitting up straight off of the floor, he looked around the room. He bit down on his lip ring and tried to figure everything out. He moved his arm and looked down at the thick film of sweat that covered his body. He shook his head and then placed his hand on the back of his forehead, looking towards the window. It wasn't even daylight yet. He slowly and quietly stood, peering out of the curtains. He noticed that he couldn't even see if peeking over the horizon. He sighed and looked over at Shaun for a moment. He then shook his head and went into the bathroom. His muscles were so sore from the floor... He just needed to take a shower and everything would be perfect again... He turned on the hot water and stripped from his clothes. He then stepped into the shower and sighed. He felt better after about ten minutes of just standing there, so he washed himself quickly and stepped out.

By the time he was drying himself, the sun was peeking into the window. He didn't want to put these clothes back on and he'd forgotten to bring his bag back in here. He sighed and wrapped the towel around his waist in case Shaun was awake. He walked out and noticed that he indeed was. He shrugged it off and walked over to his bag, grabbing it from the floor.

[M e w]

This was getting quite ridiculous. Mavek continued to make Shaun feel embarrassed and flushed, and it was getting tiring to be honest. He was especially irritable after his nightmare-filled sleep, so he groaned rather loudly when he saw the man walking around half-naked again.
He rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand and looked up at Mavek with a hint of annoyance.
"Do you HAVE to walk around without any clothes on all the time?" he growled at him, not even caring that he was being... well, a dick. He finally got to sleep on a bed and his worst dreams plagued him. Obviously he was not a very happy camper this morning.

Yanking off the sheets he stretched his arms high over his head, trying to get the stiffness out of them. The dreams were still fresh and vivid in his mind, haunting him like a vengeful ghost. He just had to shake them off, there was no point in moping around crying like a baby.
"How do you plan on traveling to this place?" he asked, an annoyed tone still filling his voice. He needed to be on the move, doing what he did best. Ironically, doing his job as a mercenary seemed to keep the thoughts of the nightmares away. But later those nightmares would just multiply when he was trying to enjoy a break from the violent lifestyle.

[#FFFFFF]

Flinching from this man's tone of voice, Mavek's gaze stayed on the floor as his mind was filled with the thoughts from the night before. He couldn't help the solemn expression on his face since the man had been so harsh with him first thing in the morning. He didn't even look up to see him in his underwear again... He was too intent on his dreams to do that. He just grabbed his bag and walked back into the bathroom, pulling on all of the clothes he would need to complete the day, including his socks.

"Sorry that my nudity offends," he said in a rather small voice as he stepped back out of the bathroom and walked over to the chair. He pulled it out and pulled his boots on, keeping his gaze down.
"I don't really know... I walk everywhere..." he stated as he stuffed his belongings into his bag. He was obviously not very happy right now. All he could think about was the fact that he wished they didn't even have to kill this demon in the first place. He wished he didn't know about the demon world... Or anything that had to do with a demon. He was tired of being a slave to his hunger... And a slave to his past that he wasn't even too familiar with. He was trying to push these thoughts aside, but it was easier said than done.