How I Met The Brothers

Butch

-I entered the room at Darius’s house that I would always remember like the back of my hand. Some things sear themselves into your brain and you just don’t forget them. Typically true of bad memories but that wasn’t the case this time. I closed the door behind me and sat down on the edge of the bed. I still had my phone in my hand and my thumb immediately hit number one on list, Vishous. I leaned back on the bed and brought the phone to my ear.- Hey, baby. I’m not going to be able to make it back to the Pit tonight. I’m stuck at Darius’s playing babysitter for the King. Love you Vishous. -I hit the ‘end’ button before I started going off on how sappy I was feeling right now. There was more than one reason why I came here to pull my shit together when my mind was shattered into a million pieces. This was where it had all started. Where I met the Brotherhood and more importantly where I met Vishous. The calm one in the back of the room with the Red Sox cap. It was strange how things ended up that night. I know now that the only reason I wasn’t immediately wiped and sent on my way was because of V. I shuddered to think what my life would have been like if he hadn’t stepped in. I would have ended up back at my shitty apartment, living out my life as a cop with a death wish; waiting for the bullet that had my name on it. I stood up from the bed, took off my coat and followed it up with my weapons that I slung over a chair. It was a twisted road that brought me to this house. I had been pursuing a case that wasn’t exactly mine, something that I did with frightening frequency. I bucked the system whenever I had the scent and this time I was tracking down some punk kid that I had arrested a few nights before for beating up a chick. If there was anything that I couldn’t stand, that was it. The self entitled bastard acted like he was god’s gift to women and she should have been grateful that he had taken an interest in her. Pair that up with the fact that his dad was loaded and it was a sure bet that I would follow him to hell and back to see that justice was served. It pissed me off when idiots like that got off just because they had the cash and the connections. The story took a whole different turn when the kid went missing though. I knew now that he’d been turned into a lesser but at the time I had no clue that anything like that even existed. I had tracked him down to some martial arts training center until I lost the trail. When I talked to the pale bastard running the joint every instinct in me told me that his story was bullshit. So I did what any good cop would, I followed him. Knowing now what I do I could look back on it and laugh at what an idiot I was. Here I was, a human cop, following around the forelesser. I really did have a death wish. It was a bizarre trip that ended up just outside this house. The albino freak threw on a uniform like he was someone from the gas or electric company and started skulking around the house like he was casing the place. Of course at that point all of the bells and whistles were going off and it didn’t matter how the guy might be tied to the kid I was looking for. I flew out of my car like a there was a spring under my ass. I didn’t exactly come at the lesser with my gun drawn but I certainly had the safety off and my hand on the thing. I threw out a snarky question that had something to do with moonlighting as a utility worker and that was as far as I got. The guy chucked his clipboard at me and started running. I suggested that he should stop in the nicest possible way and when he didn’t I fired a shot into his shoulder. I could still remember the wild thoughts that ran through my head when I saw the black blood blossom out like an oil covered flower. My first conclusion was that he was a robot and so logically he would bleed oil. I could laugh now at how my brain rationalized the whole sitch. As soon as I saw the substance all bets were off and he turned around with a look of complete hatred. He spewed some shit about how I was protecting ‘them’ and came at me like a demon unleashed. The fight is somewhat of a blur in my head because at the time I was still disbelieving what was going on; that and I’m pretty sure I had my bell rung more than once. Bright stars and tweety birds make it hard to remember things as clearly as you should. The forelesser took bullet after bullet and just kept coming at me. At some point I do remember giving up on the gun altogether and tangling with him up close and personal. The sickly sweet smell that rolled off of him told me that the shit oozing from him wasn’t actually oil but that’s about as far as I got on the understanding front. A full clip of bullets and still he was wailing on me with the force of a mack truck at top speed. I would have been a dead man if it hadn’t been for some doddering old man that came out of the house waving around a knife. I now know him as Fritz but at the time I was just glad that he handed me another weapon that I could use on the freak show in front of me. I was beyond caring about much else at that point but the old man insisted that I aim for the heart. Sure why not, you take care of zombies by chopping their head off why not take out a robot by stabbing it in the heart? Made perfect sense at the time. Later I realized that the only reason a house full of vampires didn’t come out to aid me was because the sun was still in the sky. My world had just exploded into the realm of shit that you only saw in movies. A smarter man might have run the other direction but I courted death like a mistress that I wanted to get into bed with. I laughed at the thought now as I laid on the bed staring up at the ceiling. Death and I have danced more times than is imaginable for someone that’s still above ground. It was a train that I didn’t want to ride anymore. I had something to live for now and I met him as soon as the sun set. I did exactly what Fritz instructed me to do, I ran that knife straight through the heart of the lesser and watched in stunned silence as the body vanished from the face of the earth. I’m pretty sure I passed out at that point. My brain shut down along with the rest of my battered body and when I opened my eyes again I was staring up at a darkened sky. The old guy was a nervous wreck as he tried to tend to my wounds. I know now why he didn’t immediately call 911 but at the time it was all a confusing blur. I got my feet under me with his help and he showed me into the house. A million questions raced through my head and it seemed like maybe whatever was in the house would answer them. I certainly wasn’t going to leave until I had them. I hated puzzles with no answers. When I stepped through the front door I took in everything at once from the opulent surroundings to the small group of muscle bound biker/gangsters. I’d jumped directly from the frying pan into the fire. Even then I wasn’t scared, I should have been but I wasn’t. My gaze ran over each of them in turn until I landed on HIM. Even then I felt the tug toward Vishous. I could look back on it now and see it for what it was. Piercing crystal clear eyes that followed me like the hunter that he was. I picked a fight with the biggest guy in the room not because I thought I would win but just to let them know that I wouldn’t go down without throwing my own punches. I stood no chance against Rhage, I still didn’t to this day but that didn’t stop me. And somehow we came out of it laughing and joking around. I remember walking up to Vishous, saying something about his hat and immediately the connection was made. I wasn’t exactly what someone would call the social type but I fell in instantly with the Brotherhood and especially with V. We spent all night in this very room laughing, joking, talking about anything and everything until we both passed out on the bed. It was like we had known each other our whole lives and were only just now meeting up again. The term soul mates is often tossed around to describe every relationship but there is no doubt in my mind that it is what V and I have. Even when his mother tried to rip us apart by wiping away our memories we found each other. We were bound to find the other half of our soul. I turned my head and almost expected to see him laying there next to me. There would always be a part of me that was with him just as I carried him with me everywhere I went.-