Black and White Ch. 01

"Oh stop with your smart ass replies for once. Why don't you just give it a chance?"

"He's probably straight you nut! You just want me to get a black eye. I have never met a single gay guy in this place even once! The probability that he caters to my kind is absolutely minimal!"

"Stop thinking with your logical head for once. Why the hell won't you go and make a pass at him! It's not like he'll think you are from outer space or something. Even if he is straight, I am sure he has heard of gay guys to figure out where you are coming from."

Tinka took a deep breath. She still had more to say, "Stop saving yourself for that Dominic Paige."

2 more minutes of exasperated arguing later Aiden got up, straightened his shirt and advanced slowly towards the subject of their argument muttering and cursing Tinka under his breath. But he knew better than to argue with her when she was in those headstrong moods. "Just do as she says." He murmured to himself and cautiously approached the blond guy.

"Hi, can I buy you a drink?" Aiden looked questioningly towards the blond dude sitting seemingly alone on a barstool who returned his inquiring look with a puzzled one.

Aiden extended his hand. "My name's Aiden." The guy shook the offered hand hesitatingly, his puzzled countenance morphing into a slight scowl.

"So what's your name?" Aiden was wondering if he would have to do all the talking.

"Josh." He said and then shut his mouth. Aiden noticed how beautiful his lips were. The guy had a dimple only on his left cheek, the one Aiden had seen before and none on the other. It made him look real cute to Aiden. The music in the club boomed really loud by now and Aiden found it difficult to listen to what Josh was saying, if he was saying anything that was.

"Listen, are you waiting for someone or can I take this seat here?"

"Whatever, take it." he replied nonchalantly, not seeming too pleased that this over-friendly guy was piling onto him.

Aiden looked at Josh's face and thought for a moment, but decided to sit down cause he had already come this far.

"No." he stated flatly, before Aiden could initiate further conversation. "You don't need to buy me a drink."

"Oh, Alrighty then," Aiden said a little taken aback, "So anyway Josh, what do you do?"

"Why, is it any business of yours?" he replied churlishly.

Aiden wanted to leave the table just then but his mouth was not listening to his mind and decided to talk on.

"No, just asking if you study in some university around this place."

"Yeah, am an architecture student at Misoha." He replied not so ever glancing at Aiden but looking straight ahead.

"Architecture eh? Used to sleepless nights, A3 sheets and T-squares?"

"Why, are you an architect too?" he asked with an annoyed expression on his face.

"No, it's just that some of my very good friends are. I'm an engineering student."

The guy looked away once again. Aiden was not sure how to proceed any more. Should he try to talk to this guy once more or should he just politely leave while he still wore his dignity. Was Tinka's guess right that this Josh was interested in him? Hardly seemed so. He would try to talk just once more and if things did not get any warmer, he would just have to leave this chap.

"So your submissions and viva's must be coming up right?"

Josh firmly placed his mug on the table and rotated to face Aiden. "Listen buddy, go play your homo games with someone else. I AM NOT INTERESTED. If you feel I was looking at you earlier, it's because you look a lot like my cousin, so please would you just get lost?"

Aiden looked him squarely in the face, "thanks for clearing that up." Not at all showing the hurt he felt inside on his face he got up to leave. Tinka Appeared behind the two suddenly.

"Hey you guys, what's going on?"

"Your ugly homo friend out here was hitting on me."

"And what makes you think he was hitting on you? Did he ask you for a blowjob or something?" Tinka sure knew how to put someone in a spot.

"No but he... just fuck off you two!"

"Not everyone comes from a respectful household I guess," Tinka stated as she grabbed Aiden by the arm and pulled him back over to where they were initially seated. Aiden felt like a pile of shit and Tinka felt even worse.

"Shit, Sorry Ade, never meant to get you humiliated like that."

Aiden looked over at Tinka's apologetic expression. He tried to put a smile on his face but could barely muster the courage for one.

"It's fine," he squeaked and cleared his throat to get his voice out, "it's just that I looked like his cousin so he was giving me the look over earlier."

"It's all my fault, please let me buy you a drink."

Aiden looked at Tinka, thankful that even though he had no one to share his life with consummately, he at least had Tinka.

~~~

Not too far away from the booming music of the disco, in a dark alley, the view got nebulous as a naked human form gradually 'shimmered' onto the material plane. The deserted alley felt the presence of one the most powerful dark Perpetuals. The form was crouched, the body wrapped into itself as if in a cocoon. Black had arrived into the human world. He slowly un-entangled himself and stood up to his full height. A towering figure with a forbidding presence. The thew of his torso apparent at just a glance with ridges along the abdomen descending into powerful pubes. The strapping arms appeared mighty but actually showed no signs of the superhuman feats they were capable of. Sturdy legs lofted him to an impressive verticality. His back was sinewy and rippled with each muscular form palpating under the slightest movement.

The human encased dark Seraph extended one arm outwards with the palms facing upwards and slowly closed his palm in the shape of a claw as each muscle in the arm tensed.

"Stealth Ability 37; Shadowy Specter," Black voiced out. And as soon as those words left his mouth his form was morphed to a black velvet which burgeoned in all directions and then rapidly fell to the ground. The Stealth spell would allow Black to move about undetected as he searched for methods to blend into the surroundings and found his target. A dark blackness now moved about on the earth as it left the deserted alley and moved along streets in which people strayed.

The shadow soon glided along to the entrance of an edifice which possessed a miscellany of clothes displayed on a myriad of mannequins. The structure appeared to be isolated as was common for a facility of its kind for this time of the night. The shadowy form sailed under the locked glass doors. Black was now inside a clothing and accessories shop.

Once inside, the shadow resumed the form of a naked man; one in search of garbs. Black came over to a mannequin set adorned in the latest styles and looked over them. The mannequins were skinny and not up to his height. Finding an attire would be difficult. Just then he noticed a male species mannequin in the centre enclosed in a glass casing which appeared to be larger than the others. Adorned in dark denim with a cross gartering white string extending from head to toe on either side. Black shoes of leather of the most upmarket kind and a white gossamer shirt diaphanous to some extent.

Black proceeded to disrobe the lifeless model as he put on each garment on his own body. He would have to do this manually as his powers were of no use in such circumstances. In fact, the extent of his powers would be greatly suppressed when he would be in this form. Just then black's noticed he was not alone in the huge room. A security guard stood gaping at him as soon as he finished attiring himself. Black cursed himself in his mind. His abilities were restrained and would take some time to recover and even then would not return to their full efficiency till he assumed his original form. That explained how a security guard had gotten so close without him sensing it.

"Hey you!" the man in uniform bellowed. "What the fuck are you doing in here?"

Black knew he would have to take matters into his own hands now. He extended his left arm forward, bending it into a V shape and placed his right hand across it creating a cross structure. Black opened his mouth to cant.

"Internecine Ability 60; BlackFang Slash." Black rapidly moved his right arm across as if slashing the left with two fingers. Simultaneously A black streak appeared just above the nape of the security guard and slashed diagonally across the neck. A grimace remained painted across the victim's face as his head was severed off and a chunk of his body slowly slipped off from the bottom half. Both parts fell to the floor. Blood sputtered in all directions. The security guard would never understand how this entity had managed to cut him in two from a distance of more than 40 feet.

Black reeled under the recoil effect of the mutually destructive 'internecine' spell. The recoil was immense for a spell of such low caliber, but the dark seraph was itself devoid of his powers. A few seconds later, Black, Shaking off the effects of the recoil headed towards the main entrance. Fully attired in clothes he could now proceed on his quest to find the Alchemist.

9 hours later detectives and forensic experts would examine the macabre homicide of a clothesline store security guard. The body, in 2 parts, one consisting of the head, neck, a shoulder blade and part of an arm and the other part consisting of whatever else a human body comprises of, would leave them dumbfounded. What force could slice the human body like this, as if it were a mere vegetable?

~~~

Aiden stared into the mirror ahead of him. He was still at the disc, in the toilet that is. He had excused himself for a moment from Tinka to come to the men's restroom. The music thumped in muffled tones as Aiden sadly looked at his own reflection.

Was he that ugly? He sure had had his share of one-nighters, all thanks to the internet. He could meet guys who were not so blessed with looks and carry out his release with them. In fact the last 2 years had seen him indulge in many one night stands, thanks to easy get away procedures from the frat rooms. But relationships were another world apart.

He looked at his scruffy black hair. Tousled. It was always like that. He never combed it. Did he need a hair-cut? Usually it was cut short and hardly required much combing but right now it was long and disheveled. It just looked un-maintained. His hair-cut was at least a couple of months overdue. Then he looked at his glasses. Did glasses make him look over-nerdy? Some of his one one-night 'Johns' enjoyed his nerdy look. They loved it when the nerdy guy turned into an animal in bed. And he had worn glasses all his life. Switching over to contacts or something would be a harrowing experience. He looked at his face. Ordinary; Painfully so. And right now there was a zit above his left brow which made him grimace even more. Aiden contemplated his own looks. He remembered Josh's words calling him, well, ugly. He felt lower than a pug's testicles.

Then he scanned his eyes over his own body in the mirror. At least that was in good shape. He loved keeping fit. All the daily push-ups and tennis made his body streamlined and well proportioned, though he felt he was a little too skinny. 5'11" was not a bad height either. His teeth looked okay as well. Thank God he had had braces for a year when he was 17.Aiden thought back to the days when his looks never mattered.

A toilet stall door swung open behind him with a clang as someone strolled out. Aiden quickly left the mirror to get back into the noisy bacchanal ambience. He was now in no mood to stay and would leave immediately, after informing Tinka and the others. He would have to come up with some excuse for Chas and Aditi, but he was sure Tinka would accompany him out of this wretched place.

"Hey Tinka." He called out to her in a soft voice as he neared her, "I don't much feel like staying here. I think I'll leave."

Tinka looked at him sorrowfully. She knew most of this was her fault. She should not have coaxed Aiden to go and talk to that blonde asshole. Seeing the saturnine look on Aiden's face, she decided she would have to accompany him. She no longer felt like staying on in this dump either.

"You know what, I'm gonna come too. Let's just get away from here."

Tinka raised herself from the barstool as Aiden told her to wait a moment as he went over and informed Jason and Aditi who were now busy dancing away to the cadence, gyrating on the dance floor. Aiden felt a little better to see that at least Jason was having a good time. As Aiden approached the couple, he noticed that Aditi's movements suddenly got slower and she almost stopped dancing, her eyes fixated towards the entrance of the disc. Aiden followed her gaze, looking across the sea of people drinking, swinging and laughing till his eyes rested on Him.

He stood there, as if searching for someone, his face expressionless. A tall man with the looks of a comic book superhero. With a diaphanous white top that accentuated his perfect muscular torso and denim clad legs with lacings on the sides the man looked drop dead gorgeous. Aiden stood transfixed for 5 seconds. He had never in his life laid eyes on someone so strikingly handsome. Then he remembered the incident with that Josh character and sighed inwards. Aiden progressed towards Aditi who was apparently still gazing at 'Mr. Knock you dead with one look', as Aiden now referred to him in his mind. Aiden looked around to notice that by now, many people had their eyes riveted towards the new entry.

"Hey Aditi," Aiden screamed above the deafening music, shaking the girl out her staring stupor. "Tinka and me are leaving. You guys have a nice time."

"Uh... yeah. Ok." Was all she replied. Then she blushed and smiled and diverted her attention back to Jason who was still dancing unaware of what was going on around. That was just like Jason's character, Aiden thought to himself.

Aiden made his way back to Tinka who had noticed the new arrival too. "Super hot guy eh?" she questioned, motioning towards the centre of more than half the club's attention.

"Yeah." Aiden muttered softly under his breath, not raising his eyes to look in the pointed direction. Tinka decided to not pursue this line any further. She felt a sudden rise of desire to stay back and try to approach the guy but then decided against it remembering the state Aiden was in. She quietly followed Aiden as he headed towards the door.

"Hey!" a voice called out to Aiden just as he was about to exit the club. Aiden whirled around to see if it was him being called out to. It was the white shirt hunky guy. And he signaled Aiden to stop as he made his way across the sea of people towards him. People turned their heads as he passed them, envious, fascinated and some openly drooling at the sight of such beauty. Aiden looked at Tinka's face with a questioning look on his face. She shrugged her shoulders and returned him a puzzled look.

"Hi! I'm Will. Can I buy you a drink?"

Aiden stood a little befuddled. Why was this Adonis type character approaching him, who had all but left the bar, asking to buy him a drink. His thoughts were running even hazier as he realized that this guy had severe green eyes whose hues were even noticeable in the lights of the disc. He just looked at the guy's mouth moving till he realized the man had stopped talking a few moments ago.

"Uhh... drink?"

"Yeah sure! I'd love to buy you a drink, if you have the time that is!"

Aiden was flustered. Why was this guy so adamant to buy him a drink? Why would such an awesomely handsome chap be interested in him? Was someone playing a trick on him or something?

Unknown to Aiden, his thoughts were being read. His mind was rummaged along as Black, who had assumed the name of Will had found his target. Powerful Perpetuals often possessed the ability to read the minds of lesser humans. Black was presently scouring the Alchemist's mind perusing each and every thought that came up.

Aiden composed himself. "Hey man, I really appreciate the offer, but I was just about to leave. I have to drop my friend back too." He gestured towards Tinka

"Cool, can I tag along?" Will asked with an innocent expression.

"You? Err..." Aiden was dumbfounded.

"Of course you can!" Tinka interpolated forcefully. "We'd love to have your company...err, Will. I'm Tinka and this here is Aiden."

Aiden shrugged his shoulders in a 'sure-join-us' gesture and then headed outside with his best friend and the hottest dude on the planet in tow. A couple of girls entering the club in the opposite directions ogled at the new collection to the pair.

"Hey Handsome," one of them cooed at Will, "Wanna buy me a drink."

"No, I'll buy you one!" interjected the other. And then both of them giggled as the trio walked by, Will ignoring the tittering pair.

The three walked out into the relatively warmer temperature of the night; Aiden was finding it hard to keep his eyes of the man walking beside him but at the same time did not understand what to say to him. Tinka was trying to figure out this new person and Black aka Will was busy skimming along Aiden's thoughts. Yes. This was the alchemist. There was a subtle difference in the way his mind and thoughts felt when compared to other humans. His task was now to win over the usage of the Alchemist's powers. Seduction was the easiest way, but as he combed Aiden's mind he realized that his prey was in an emotionally unstable state right now. It was too bad that his psychic abilities would only allow him to probe at surfacing thoughts and not allow him to delve into the mind as his Empress could. If he had her abilities, he would effortlessly have been able to plant the thought of sex directly into the boy's brain.

"Really nice Weather today." Will started sensing the awkwardness going through Aiden's head. "A good thing it rained in the afternoon; really cooled the atmosphere."

"Yeah A much needed respite from the relentless heat." Tinka added smiling.

"Easy for the two of you to say. I was outside and got caught in the rain in the morning. Got totally drenched." Aiden stated with a mock frown on his face.

"Sorry to hear that." Will replied.

"No, actually I love getting soaked in the rain. Just that I had my bag and all. My books got steeped."

"Then good riddance eh? Get rid of all the college books and all?" Will's smile widened and Aiden could not help noting his perfectly straight immaculate teeth. "Some people sure have it all", he thought to himself, and to Black as well.

"Yup, sure did, but I had one of my frat mate's books too. Boy was he furious!" Aiden was laughing hard as he pictured Jason seething with rage at him in the morning.

"Frat mate? You guys are students in one of the universities nearby?" Will knew that asking such a question would immediately give rise to thoughts in Aiden's mind which would give him a little more information to help his aims.

"Yeah," Aiden replied, I am an engineering student and Tinka here is struggling to become an architect."

"What do you mean struggling?" asked an irked Tinka. "Will, take note that Aiden here is the phoniest of engineers you'll ever get to meet. These engineers are all no good con artistes that dupe people out of their money in exchange for nothing."

"Don't even get me started on the bitchy work you architects do..." and the two were once again lost I their arguments, forgetting all about their surroundings.

Black pretended to be enjoying their banter and put a smile on his face. Inside he felt absolutely revolted. These humans were so lowly and pathetic. Their pass times and habits were contemptible. Why do the alchemy powers only surface in a human soul? Black had a slight urge to use one of the Internecine Ability spells to wipe out both these pathetic creatures right there on the spot. Even this Alchemist boy seemed over vulnerable. He wondered if seducing him would work.