Memories of the Past

The place still smelled of spicy cinnamon and ginger. I inhaled deeply, all the memories came rushing back like the first time Nemo had brought me here, all covered in blood on the same night he had killed that gang of men. I could remember him carrying me like he was cradling a child, into the bathroom, and washed me off. At that point in time, Nemo both terrified and captivated me. He wouldn't let me in that far and I wanted to know so much more about him.
We all settled in and slowly parted ways, Alexander had transformed back into a human man and looked at me with kind eyes but an emotionless face, he was a small 5'3, but painted a fearsome figure with semi-short pure white hair, just long enough to tug on with your fingers. His eyes were probably the scariest and most interesting feature he had; one was as white as snow and the other an ice blue like the frozen oceans. He had a strong build, like that of a hardened war veteran; he bowed deeply to Nemo and padded silently into the room he was staying in. Jackson soon followed suit, stretching and scratching his bum, then mumbling something about chimichangas or some other Mexican delight before heading off to bed. I giggled softly as Jackson walked sleepily away and ran into the door frame of his room, Nemo just shook his head.
Once Jackson was safely in his room, Nemo found two goblets and poured some sweet red wine into them, we drank to the crackling of the fire as our shadows dance across the wall. Once we finished, he took the goblets and set them in the sink, then drew me up the stairs silently behind him so that he could feed without anyone looking in on us. I padded up the stairs silently behind him, running my fingertips over the smooth banister of the spiral staircase. Its crimson carpeting was plush and soft beneath my bare feet. "This old place holds a lot of power, doesn't it, Ren?" he asked after a moment of silence,
"Yes it does... it’s seen its fair share of tragedy and happiness... although it seems it's seen more death, lately... it’s like the house has emotions, like their burned into the walls." I said softly, looking at the portrait of Nemo's mother that hung at the beginning of the hallway. She truly was a beautiful woman, with pale skin like fresh snow, her hair like spun gold, and eyes like hazelnuts. She was truly a vision of an angel. Nemo caught me staring at her and ruffled my hair like an older brother would.
"Not if you have a child once we take out my father... I want you to have a child, to brighten up the place and your life." What he said had thrown me for a loop, and there was a question burning in my mind that I just had to ask him,
"But... with who? I'm not even sure I can have a baby, Nemo..." He cut me off,
"You are a beautiful young woman, Ren; I'm sure any man would love to have you."
"But I don't want men like that. I don't want a man that I would have to see die, besides, wouldn't you want a baby, Nemo? Why don't you have one?" I said I had never truly been sure of my feelings for Nemo.
"I'd be afraid of what I would do to it." He told me, leading me into his bedroom.
"You'd make a great father, Nemo, you protected me and I wasn't even related to you." He looked down then back up to my neck.
"You are someone every special to me." he walked up close to me and put one his hands around my hips, then pushed my hair out of the way with his nose. "You know, I love that purple in your hair, it matches your eyes perfectly, and your skin is so soft... it's comforting." he nuzzled down into my skin and sighed. I bared my neck to him.
"Drink, my lord." I growled, my eyes flaring bright purple; he sank his fangs deep into my neck. Taking in gulp after gulp; as he drank, I felt a warm sensation in my chest, he was enjoying himself. When he pulled back, my knees buckled a bit and he caught me effortlessly. I was gasping for breath; it was like he sucked the soul right out of me every time he did that.
"Your blood is still like nothing I can explain." I smiled weakly through my gasps; he scooped me up like a bride and placed me in his bed. The sheets were soft, as were the pillows,
"But where will you sleep?" I asked him, trying to protest his actions, but he stopped me with a hand,
"It's big enough for us both." He smiled, I knew there was something wrong because normally Nemo wouldn't allow anyone to grace his bed; he wasn't the type to be so talkative or touchy, but I just thought he wanted someone to be there with him so have he could feel the same protection and love he gave me. I curled up on my side with my back facing Nemo's and fell asleep there, listening to the sound of his calming breath.

I woke up that morning to Nemo walking in and waking me with a wine glass of deep red liquid. He greeted me with a soft smile and Alexander, who was holding a tray of delicious smelling food. Even though I didn't need food to survive, I still liked to eat because I loved to taste and to remind me of what it was like to feel human.
"Good morning, my lady, I've prepared a frittata with fluffy eggs, crisp potatoes, lightly sautéed shrimp and scallops with onions and sundried tomatoes, with a sriracha and goat cheese sauce. Nemo also insisted that I brew you some pomegranate green tea" Alexander announced in his pure British accent. I had always loved Alexander's cooking, and I smiled up at him as he set the tray of food down onto my lap.
"Thank you very much, Alexander, you know you didn't have to cook for me." I smiled, taking a bit of the frittata and marveling in its deliciousness.
"I know, my lady, but I am a butler and it is my duty to serve. And I know you love the taste." I gave me a small smile, I giggled softly, and finishing the food happily, then he took the tray and retreated out of the room.
"Go get showered and dressed, we have a lot to talk about, we need to launch a counter attack as soon as possible." I nodded and did as Nemo told me, taking a nice, hot shower; then slipped into a grand dress Nemo had bought for me a long time ago. It was beautiful; he'd had it specially made for me as a gift. The sleeves flared out in the traditional Daxiushan style from the Tang Dynasty of China in 618-907, he thought it would look better than the traditional kimono sleeves of my native Japan, and he was right. The soft black cloth of the sleeve made me smile, and the low cut square top left just enough of my cleavage uncovered to get the imagination going. Next was the bustier, I tightened the black leather around my waist and positioned it as I saw fit, then fixed the skirt checking the back train to make sure that it wasn't wrinkled. I turned and flipped my hip length black and purple hair over my right shoulder and checked my appearance once more, seeing the beautiful black and purple fabric; satisfied with myself, I walked into the hall and down the steps to meet the 3 men in the den where they had plans spread out over the tables and pinned to the walls. Nemo looked up at me as I descended the steps. He was wearing a classic dark red button up shirt and black slacks. He met me at the steps and took my arm, walking me into the room.
"You look beautiful in that dress, Ren, then again, purple was always your color." Alexander bowed to me; he was a butler through and through. Jackson, however, in all of his finesse, decided to wolf whistle. I rolled my eyes and looked at all 3 of them,
"Okay, what's the plan?"
"Well, what we thought we would do was have you and Jackson takes out one of the bosses in London while Alexander and I gather more intelligence." Nemo told me, looking at Jackson with a raised eyebrow. "And after you two finish up there, I want you to go to Scotland and take down this man." Nemo turned a picture over on the table. It was a man with graying dark hair, a wrinkling face, and greedy, lifeless black eyes. "We have reason to believe that he's working for my father and he need to be eliminated."
"Understood, sir." I said, taking the sheets of information I needed, "When do we move out?" I asked, looking over at Jackson, and then elbowing him in the side to get his attention.
"Tomorrow, you should get all of your supplies packed and we can move out in the morning." Nemo looked at me, there seemed to be some fear in his eyes. I wanted to ask him directly about it, but I didn't want to make him feel like he was acting weird because I knew that if he knew I noticed him acting weird, then he would pull away from me completely.
Jackson smiled and tried to get the mood in the room to change, feeling that the air had become heavy with worry and different emotions.
"Well, girly, looks like me and you get to take a little road trip together." Jackson slid happily on the floor to my leg and looked up at me with his big blue eyes. He could almost be attractive if he wasn't completely insane. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it for me. "Now remember, there’s only one rule you absolutely, positively, must follow when traveling with me." I raise my eyebrows at him and sighed. "It puts the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again." He said happily, and then began singing a happy little song in German. I turned my head to Nemo; he could not even fathom the emotions coursing through my veins at that moment.
"I told you he was crazy, have fun on your trip!" Nemo waved at me and walked away, leaving me there with Jackson, who was hugging my leg while smoking and eating a pack of multicolored candies.
"Can I have a cigarette, Jackson?" I sighed, plopping down in a chair, looking at him with a slight smirk.
"Course you can, princess!" He laughed, and then started pulling a menagerie of things from his pockets. I saw a cell phone, an mp3 player, and 3 full bags of candy, a few cans of dip, a Twinkie, and a rubber chicken before finally finding his pack of cigarettes. Upon finding them, he held them up to the sky and sang a long note before plopping down suddenly on the floor. "Smoke away, missy." he laughed again, looking up at me with a look of pure joy that rivaled that of small children during Christmas. I chuckled a little and lit up,
"Why exactly did you have a rubber chicken?" The question seemed to catch him off guard, but he laughed whole heartedly and stuck some dip into his lip.
"For science and stuff." He answered; and he and I talked for a long time, he was very funny and quite smart, but he was just... crazy. He showed me the tattoos he had on his arms, legs, chest, and back. They were all beautiful and very well designed, Jackson had drawn all of them out himself, and he even did one of them himself. Even through all of that though, something told me that he and I would become pretty good friends. I took one final drag of my cigarette as he finished talking, then lit another one and asked him to tell me his story.

His father had left him and his mother when Jackson was only 2 months old; she'd had problem after problem with her young son, with him being able to stop and start time at his own will and his amazing ability to regenerate any wound he received made for a very interesting childhood. His mother had had enough of him by the time he was 4 and left him at an orphanage. He grew up there until he ran off at 12, making a living by pickpocketing. After that, he moved up to more valuable prizes until the Irish government scooped him up and trained him as a mercenary to do their dirty work. He eventually became a bit too good at his job, and the people who raised him were trying to kill him. That was when the attacks started and he called out for Nemo.
"Well that's quite a life." I said, blowing out a puff of smoke. "How old are you right now?"
"18 at the current moment." he laughed, spitting his used dip into a cup. I mentally retched and turned my head from the brown liquid swirling around in the glass.
"Do you have any idea how absolutely disgusting that looks? And why do you dip if you smoke too? That makes absolutely no sense to me." I stated, taking the can of dip and sniffing it after I had extinguished my cigarette. The can of dip smelled like wet cigarettes and mint, not pleasant at all.
"I like the way it smells and tastes." He said simply with a smile, taking the can between his thumb and forefinger. Then started to flick his wrist so his other fingers slapped against the can,
"What are you doing?" I asked, taking a sip of red liquid from the wine glass at my side that Alexander had brought to me.
"I'm packing the dip. You want to try some?!" The look on his face was so hopeful, the way a child would look at its mother when it wanted to play or have a book read to it; his eyes were such a mad blue it was difficult to say no, so I tried to improvise.
"I... don't know how to dip." I said quietly, wishing upon whichever God's name crossed my mind that he would stop staring at me with such hunger. The intensity in his stare was phenomenal; it was almost like he was looking right through me.
"I can teach you. C'mon, give it a try; we can bond better this way." His eyes never left mine, and I caved.
"Okay, okay, I'll do it! Just stop with the eyes! I can't take it! What do I have to do?" I sighed, finally able to break his line of sight.
"Well, you'll need one cup, one filled with water and the other empty." He started off, getting the two cups from the cupboard and filling one with water for me to drink. "The second cup is for you to spit in." He told me simply. "Now that we have that taken care of, I want you to pull out your bottom lip." I frowned and lifted one eyebrow.
"Um... what?" I asked, not completely understanding what it was he wanted me to do, but it sounded slightly dirty, he saw the expression on my face and just laughed.
"Like this," he giggled, placing his thumbs at the bottom of his lip, and pulled it out. I copied his movements and he leaned close to me, taking a little bit of his dip and packing it into the left side of my lip. "Okay, just use your tongue to keep the little scoobies from going down your throat. Oh, and once you feel the urge to spit, spit; don't hold it because it might make you puke. Drink some water when your mouth starts to feel dry." He closed his eyes and smiled a smile that rivaled that of royalty. He looked so happy and carefree, like nothing in the world could bother him at that moment.
I started tasting a slight minty flavor mixed with a stale sweetness as the flavor of the dip moved through my mouth. I spit a little bit into the cup, seeing that my saliva was brown. It scared me for a moment because I wasn't used to see a clear liquid as brown, when Jackson saw my face he just laughed at my alarm.
"How does it taste, Princess?" He asked me, putting his hand over my clothed knee.
"It's... interesting, I'm not sure how exactly to explain this taste." I laughed a little, covering my mouth because I was salivating. After about 10 more minutes, he had me spit it all out into the cup, then took the glass from me and washed it out thoroughly before putting it away in the cupboard. I sat there on the stool watching him, watching the way that I moved, the finesse and clumsiness he somehow made so adorable, just absent mindedly starting at him.
"Hey" I wasn't paying his words any attention, "Princess" I was lost to him until he grabbed my attention by waving his hand in front of my face. I jumped a little bit and caught his hand with lightning fast reflexes,
"Sorry, I was daydreaming." I tilted my head to the side and giggled slightly, but then I realized that Jackson looked forlorned, like there was something big weighing on his mind. "What's the matter?" I asked, lifting his head with my fingers so that I could meet his gaze.
"Um... well... to be honest... this is the biggest, grandest house I've ever been in without... you know, stealing something... and you and Nemo look so grand here... um... I actually wanted to ask you... could... you teach me how to dance?" He asked he looked bashful, embarrassed, and hopeful that I couldn't help myself from smiling and nodding. "I know I'm just a simple little Irish boy, I'm very sorry if I have made you feel awkward." For a moment I could see a small snippet of a young, fragile boy hidden under that tough exterior. He was completely melting my heart.
"Stand up." I commanded him, moving the chairs out of the way of the floor. He looked quite happy when I finished. "Okay, now put your right hand on the curve of my hip, and with the other, I want you to grab my hand." I told him, taking my position with my left hand on his shoulder and my right clasped in his. "Now, step forward a few inches with your left foot." I told him, and we began to dance. He was a quick learner, but it didn't come without fault or frustration, and seeing him rage like that was amusing to say the least.
As we twirled around the marble floors, I saw a shadow at the door, Jackson spun me around to it where Nemo was waiting; leaned up against the door with a bemused smirk.
"You two look to be having fun." He chuckled softly. "May I steal her away from you for a dance?" Jackson swung me around into Nemo, who caught me effortlessly. "You forgot something this morning." I looked at him, confused, until he produced a small top hat that was black with long purple ribbons. "I had it made for you." He said simply, as he placed it on the side of my head.
We danced a traditional Venetian waltz then transitioned into the Argentine tango, and to end we finished with a little pasodoble. When we finished, I looked to Jackson, who was stunned.
"Where did you two learn to do that so seamlessly?"
"Nemo is a great leader." I smiled. "Once he decided to change the dance, he will spin me and lead me into a new dance. It's all about chemistry." I told him, the three of us talked together for the rest of the night, Alexander even spent the night with us. As we departed for the night, I felt that we all knew a little bit more about each other.

I woke early that next day, putting on my black leather corset over a loose fitting purple shirt, a pair of tight, but moveable black leather pants, and my knee high black boots. I pulled my hair into a loose ponytail about 6 inches shy of the ends and threw my bag over my shoulder before I went to meet Nemo, Alexander, and Jackson downstairs in the foyer; when I got down there, I saw Nemo standing at the door waiting, I looked at him with surprise.
"Where is everyone else?"
"Alexander had to pee, but I have no idea where the hell Jackson got himself off too." I sighed and left my bag with Nemo and went to go check Jackson's room. When I opened the door with a heavy creak, I saw him sitting on the floor, cross-legged, and tinkering with something.
"Jackson, what the hell are you doing? We need to be leaving." He looked up at me with a smile of pure triumph with a cigarette hanging from his lips.
"I was making us something."
"If it's a 'BFF' bracelet, I swear I will kill you and hide your body in the back yard." He laughed and shook his head, holding up a can of dip with wires coming out of it haphazardly and a few blinking lights. "Are those... bombs?" I asked, amazed, taking one and inspecting it.
"Copenhagen bombs! Pretty cool, huh? They’re little remote controlled C4 bombs." I smirked and packed them away, then helped Jackson up off the floor. We walked back to the entryway where Nemo and Alexander were waiting for us; I stole a glance at Nemo with a slight smirk and turned to Jackson,
"Wait just a minute, Jackson; we have something that we want to give to you." I pulled a small box from my coat pocket and looked at him.
"Is this a proposal? You guys shouldn't have! This is so exciting! Yes!" I sighed and looked at him,
"No you silly little Irish boy. It's a necklace, but it serves the same purpose as my tattoo, it will give you both mine and Nemo's powers if you need it." I pulled a steel chain out of the box and let the charm on it dangle down my arm; Jackson looked at it in awe, a Celtic knot black on the outside, with a swirling vortex of red on the inside. "The red is a mixture of his blood and mine kept separate by black magic. This thing will never break, and if you ever need to use it, all you need to do is grab it tight and say our names, and then we will know exactly where you are in the world." I put it around his neck and smiled at him, then grabbed my bag and followed Nemo out into the snow. The blistering cold whipped my clothes and hair around my body. I sighed, knowing it was useless to try and contain it, and turned my eyes to the pure white landscape as I lit a cigarette and blew out a breath of smoke.
"Alexander and I are heading to Siberia while you and Jackson take down that cell and accomplish in Europe. Meet here when you guys get done." We all needed, then Jackson threw a pile of snow onto Alexander and ran off, they began playing and I sighed, knowing that the journey ahead of all of us wouldn't be easy at all. Nemo turned to me and looked at me seriously. "Ren, I'm not sure what it is I'm sending you two into," He started out, "But I want you to promise me that no matter what, you will come home to me." He leaned forward and kissed me on my forehead; it made me feel cared for, but also like there was something he wasn't telling me. I blushed a deep red, but simply nodded and zipped up my parka. We walked together to find Jackson and Alexander, and to whatever else awaited us.