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Chapter 1- Prologue

No stars were visible that night. The only light came from further down the docks, where men could be heard loading cargo onto a ship. The sky was filled with fat black clouds, threatening to burst and drown the city. The wind coming off the water was bitterly cold. A figure sat huddled in the shadows, leant against stacks of crates.

That had been close. Too close. He'd almost been seen. It had been three days since he'd crashed, and his injuries hadn't fully healed yet. He'd killed three humans, but he needed more in order to keep up his strength. However, he couldn't risk drawing too much attention, not before he'd found help. Nothing of his ship had survived the crash; it had all fried upon entering the atmosphere, or been destroyed on impact. He couldn't even send a distress signal. Not that it would probably be answered, no one would be in this remote part of space unnecessarily, he thought bitterly. He sighed inwardly and adjusted his cloak again. A few more days, then he would have enough strength to explore, try to find some help, or at least some parts to make a transmitter, to send a message to someone. He froze as he heard sounds. Footsteps, coming from nearby. Hopefully they won't come around here. The footsteps came closer. No such luck.

"Hello~," called a voice. Silence. "Now really, that's just plain rude. I know you're there, so why don't you come on out? I just want to have a little chat, that's all."

He debated with himself for a few minutes, before deciding maybe this human would help him. He would see what he had to say, and if things turned ugly, he could always kill him. He had enough strength to overcome a single human. He got stiffly to his feet, and walked out from behind the crates towards the human, pulling his cowl forward to hide his face. The human stood a few metres away with a bemused smile on his face. The man didn't seem particularly threatening, so he allowed himself to relax a little.

"There you are. I must say, you're a hard man to find. Well, I say man..." he paused, as if expecting an answer. When he didn't receive one, he sighed and continued. "I'll just get straight to the point then, shall I? I've seen your work , and it's good. Very good, in fact. So, I'd like you to come and work for me. Do as I say, kill who I tell you to kill, and in return I'll offer you protection. Somewhere a bit nicer than a bunch of mouldy old crates to live. So, what do you say? Shall we go?" He turned and began to walk away.

"And what if I choose to say no?" he asked warily.

The man stopped, then turned back around slowly, grinning. Suddenly he seemed a lot more threatening. Dozens of red dots were dancing over his body.

"My dear, who said anything about having a choice?"