The house was empty, or had been til he arrived. It had been a matter of time before the two of them would be forced to separate. Derrick pushed through the door and began the tedious work of straightening up the place. The dishes were put into the washer and run last night?s wine bottle was pitched into the trash. He didn't particularly like doing the household chores. In fact he had hired a housekeeper once. She had shacked up with the building's owner who had put an end to that association. He worked on the less desirable options first, wiping down the counters mopping the floor. After the kitchen he tackled the bathroom. It didn't require much effort; Derrick didn't spend much time in the apartment. The vacuum was run through the living room and along the furniture as well.

The bedroom was a different story, Derrick couldn?t bring himself to strip the bed though he knew it could use it. The easy stuff was done, vacuum the floor, then straighten the dresser. He opened the top drawer to a sea of underwear and socks. Derrick began to remove pieces of clothing from that drawer and take them to the nightstand. The closet door was opened then, outfits were pushed to the side and a space opened up. He had a lot of black in there he noticed, not that he hadn?t known that already but it really hit him in that moment exactly how dark his outfits had become. He looked back to the bed, he could see her there in his mind. The pillow still held the indentation of her head. He was fairly certain that he would find stray green hairs on that pillow if he were to search.

With great reluctance he stripped away the sheets and blankets redressing the bed in red. The blankets were sent down the laundry chute. She would be here soon?or at least he hoped it would be soon.

Sledge, he still liked the name. It still fit for the type of work he preferred. Whatever else happened that much remained true. Money used to drive him, an incessant need to accumulate more of it. In the end it still did, but the reasons differed. Once it had been money for the sake of money. Now he just needed it to keep up appearances. Hard to say now if it was a want or a need. Harder still to give up completely.

He'd laid low, perhaps too low but when you have a reputation sometimes you need to disappear for a while. He'd dropped out of sight, but not communications. He checked in now and again looking for an assignment from The Outsiders. They obliged him quite often, but their needs were information and lately he just wanted to gun down anything that posed a threat to himself, to them, to her.

She could handle herself. He knew that in his head, knew that it was likely she was better equipped to do so than he was. Where he was perhaps better equipped was in his ruthlessness. Better dead and accounted for than left alive to trouble him later. The pair of nine millimeter Glock pistols were present now, he couldn't remember a time when they were ever far from him. It was true that sometimes in this place pistols weren't enough, so he'd had altered ammo created.

There were a lot of vampires in Rhydin, a lot of were creatures too. UV capsules for one, mercury for the other. He had to pay extra for both, but his quicksilver supplier always charged him different rates. The man was going mad with his exposure to the heavy metal.

He had other beauties too, his belt had compartments all the way around with magazines filled with one kind of ammo or another. Best to be prepared for as many things as possible right? As dangerous as they were though, it was his mind that gave him the edge in most cases. The ability to appear as anyone, or as nothing at all. To be all but invisible to any mind he was close to. He still got the headaches though, Derrick's mind was evolving, something that had been suppressed for so long was now out of control.

The barriers had come down, and nearly left him mindless. Was that the point of his anger? He couldn't decide if he was angrier that they had been taken away or if it was that they existed in the first place? Was there a place in the world for him this way? He couldn't guarantee the safety of his friends, so he stayed away. She wouldn't let him though, not from her.

The gun was in his hand and the bullet flying towards its target. Before it had hit he'd already put re-holstered and turned his way down a blind alley. It wouldn't have mattered, no one saw him. No one ever did.