I'm back! How are my lovely readers!? Hope ya'll didn't miss me too much, lol, just kidding. But I did say I had another fanfic with this ship and here it is.

Disclaimer: I only own this story, not PhofOp itself.

Erik is Ace in this, like usual, there are different types of Ace.

On with the chapter!

First Impressions

Erik woke to the sound of pounding. He groaned and lifted his hand to reach out for his clock. He pressed a familiar button.

"The time is 2:48 am." A robotic male voice informed him.

With another groan he sat up, his cat, Ayesha, meowing in protest as she was disturbed from her place on his stomach. Erik felt her get off of him and swung his legs over his bed. He stood and walked towards the door, easily finding the door knob and opened the door.

The pounding on the door paused and Erik thought for a second that the person had left but then the noise began again, telling him that it was not so. He heard the sound of another door opening down the hall and turned his head towards it.

"Did you order a late night pizza or something?" he asked as the sounds of footsteps got closer.

"Ha, ha." Nadir grumbled sarcastically. Erik heard him stop a few feet away from him and a hand took his shoulder. "Go back to bed, I'll deal with them."

"I cannot." Erik countered, getting away from his best friend's hold. "The curiosity would keep me up."

"It's probably some drunk that got lost trying to find their apartment." Nadir countered. He headed towards the door and Erik followed after him.

Erik could tell that Ayesha was trailing after him, she was an extremely curious cat. However, when he entered the living room, she suddenly hissed. The sound startled Erik, his head tilting towards where he heard Ayesha. She was not an unfriendly cat, the idea that she would hiss was a disturbing one.

"Nadir." Erik warned, stopping at the entrance to the room.

"I know." Nadir acknowledged, the frown in his tone.

The pounding continued, the noise sounding a lot more threatening now that Ayesha was on guard.

"Christine!" a male voice yelled from behind the door. "Come on! Open up! I forgot my keys again!"

Erik relaxed slightly. "You are right, he's just a lost drunk."

He heard Nadir go towards the door and stopped. "Still doesn't explain why Ayesha's fur is standing at its end and she looks about to kill whoever is on the other side."

Erik could not see that, but he had a good idea since Ayesha was growling loudly next to him.

"Get out of sight, I'll get rid of him." Nadir ordered.

Erik did as asked and stepped from the living room and back into the hallway. He turned around and pressed his back to the wall.

"You got the wrong apartment." Nadir's voice called out. The door remained shut. He voice was probably muffled by it, but why open the door if you can get things done with a door closed?

Apparently the man was too drunk to hear or didn't understand the words because a few knocks answered.

"Christine! Open the door, I want some french-fries! We have those right?! If not, can we go get some?"

Erik snickered softly from his spot. The situation was completely ridiculous. If it was not for Ayesha freaking out, Erik would be laughing.

"I heard that." Nadir informed Erik softly, making him grin. Then to the man, "This isn't your apartment!"

There was silence on the other side. Erik thought this time the man had left.

"Is this because I messed up earlier?" The man's voice came through the door. The tone taking on serious note. "I told you it was an accident."

"For god's sake, Nadir, open the door! The man probably will not go away until he sees that it's not his apartment." Erik suggested.

"Fine, but you stay hidden." Nadir commanded.

Erik went a couple steps deeper in the hall to make sure he would not be seen. He heard Nadir unlock the door, but the chain lock remained on. The door was cracked opened.

"This isn't your apartment, go away." Nadir stated firmly to the man outside.

"Oh!" the man replied in shock. "Crap! This isn't mine, sorry man."

"It's fine." Nadir replied easily.

"I'm new here, you see." The man continued sheepishly. "Moved in last week."

"Fascinating." Nadir drawled. Erik heard the sound of Ayesha fleeing from the room back towards his bedroom which made him frown. He turned towards the entrance again, wishing that he could let Nadir know but could not without giving his presence away.

"Raoul!" a female voice suddenly called out. "I've been looking everywhere for you!"

"Christine!" the man named Raoul, beamed. "You won't believe what happened—"

There was a sound of gagging before a heave. Erik heard it splatter across the pavement. Nadir let out a horrified gasp and Erik straightened up. He could smell a metallic and rusty scent in the air.

"What the—? Is that—?" Nadir panicked.

"No." The female, Christine, cut off in a firm voice that made Erik shiver. It left no room for argument and sounded cold. "It's just regular puke, that's all it is. I'm sorry about the mess, but we best be going. Come along Raoul."

"Fine." Raoul grumbled and Erik heard two pairs of feet walk away.

As soon as they were far enough, Erik rushed out of the hallway and into the living room. The odor was strong in the air, piercing his nostrils.

"Nadir?" Erik asked cautiously. He could not see him, but his silence was unnerving. Nadir was not one to back down easily, especially when he sounded so disturbed earlier, he was a cop after all. The fact that Nadir had allowed the girl to completely talk over him was unusual.

Plus, the scent certainly did not smell like puke.

"What is it?" Nadir asked, finally speaking. He sound completely normal, which relaxed Erik a bit, but he remained worried.

"What happened?" Erik asked, heading towards him.

"I wouldn't get any closer if I was you." Nadir stated, Erik paused. The sound of the door closing and Nadir heading towards the kitchen echoed in Erik's ears. "The damn boy puked on the front steps and it splattered a bit. Didn't get inside but I know how sensitive your nose is."

Erik stayed where he was, but could not help but think that Nadir was acting too calmly about the situation. He could hear Nadir getting paper towels to clean up the mess outside. The smell was cut off by the door being close, but he remembered it well enough. When Nadir came back out of the kitchen, Erik spoke.

"That smell, it did not smell like it." Erik began, hearing Nadir unlock the chain lock to open the door all the way. He could smell it again and his thoughts were further confirmed.

"Oh? What does it smell like?" Nadir questioned in a light tone that told Erik he was amusing him.

"Blood." Erik announced, taking a couple steps forward. "It smells like blood. Plus, the way you reacted—"

"Erik." Nadir interrupted. "There's no blood. I freaked out because some drunk puked on our doorstep."

Erik furrowed his eyebrows down in confusion. The scent was of blood, he knew that, but Nadir was telling him there was not any. Nadir could certainly lie, but he was not the type of person to, especially when it came towards Erik. More often than not, Nadir was Erik's eyes in the world and because of that, he would never lie about a sight.

"Alright." Erik finally accepted reluctantly.

"Good. Now go to bed. I need to get rid of this mess and go to bed to get up in the morning." Nadir told him softly.

Erik nodded and left the living room. Upon entering his bedroom, Ayesha let out a loud meow. From the position, Erik could tell she was on his bed and was careful to not lay on her as he laid down. She crawled up towards him and settled on his stomach, purring. He raised his hand and began to stroke her fur.

"Why are you calm now?" Erik wondered quietly to her.

She had freaked out when Raoul had shown up and then bolted right before Christine arrived. That was most curious and far too perfect on timing to be a coincidence.

Plus there was the fact that Nadir changed when Erik persisted in his questions about the 'blood.' His tone had completely become dead and monotone, like he had not been the one talking. Nadir had been panicked, that much Erik knew for sure, but then the girl, Christine, had spoken and suddenly it was like nothing had happened. Erik did not know what to think about that but he did know that he was going to stay away from the two of them.

That should be easy enough, neither of them had seen him. As a result, they did not know he even existed. If he heard their voices, he would make sure that he avoided them. It was not the most promising plan, but it was all he could do.

"I can't believe you!" Christine hissed, her hands clenched tightly into fists as she glared down at Raoul. "You almost exposed us!"

Raoul shifted uncomfortably on the couch. "No we weren't, I would have compelled him after."

"Oh really? Would you have been able to in your state?" Christine growled in frustration. "You were barely able to stand when I got there. You are lucky that we can't be drunk for long!"

Raoul gained a sheepish look. "I'm sorry."

Christine sighed heavily through her nose. She knew that she was angrier because of their earlier fight than what had happened that night. A few nights ago, they had fought about Raoul's new job and how it would help him drink easier. Christine had argued that it was too much of a risk while Raoul had thought otherwise. When Raoul had tried out his new plan, it almost didn't work and Christine had found him in time.

She had blown up at him, and he had disappeared.

Christine spent the past few days worried and tried to find him but couldn't. She was grateful that she had found him trying to come back, even if it had been at the wrong apartment.

"I'm sorry too." Christine apologized. "It's my fault that you left anyway, I shouldn't have yelled at you."

Raoul quickly stood up and clasped his hands over her arms. "No, no. You had every right to be mad at me. I messed up. Big time. I couldn't see it at the time and left."

Christine gave him a weak grin, placing her hands on his chest. "Where have you been?"

Raoul shrugged. "Here and there. Luckily, I was off of work, which made it easier to cool down. After I did, I felt guilty and couldn't come back right away. How is she?"

Christine knew exactly who he was talking about and nodded. "She's fine."

Raoul let out a breath of relief, placing his forehead against hers. "What about that guy at the apartment?"

"He'll forever believe that he cleaned up puke and only that." Christine told him confidently. She raised her hands from his chest to around his neck. "I don't think we made a good first impression on our new neighbor."

Raoul snorted lightly. "Better than him trying to send me to the hospital for puking up blood or later trying to kill us if he found out that I am perfectly healthy."

"That hasn't happened in a while, let's try to not have that happen within at least a decade." Christine grinned.

Raoul chuckled and closed his eyes. "What about the other one?"

Christine frowned. "What other one?"

Raoul eyes snapped open and he lifted his head from hers in disbelief. "The other man in the apartment? Did you get him?"

Christine took a quick step back out of his arms with a wide stare. "There was another one?"

"Yes!" Raoul breathed out.

Both of them looked at each other in panic. If the man they didn't compel saw the blood, he would be able to break the other man's compel and both of them would come after them.

They needed to find the other man.

There we go! Hope everyone enjoyed the first chapter of this new story. I wonder how many of ya'll noticed a little something something regarding Erik…hmmm. Be sure to let me know in the reviews! Or leave one if you just enjoyed the chapter in general! I love hearing from my readers! Next chapter will be in Raoul's POV. See ya next time!