~Monsters~

1931

The cab pulled up to the sidewalk, exhaust spilling from its back into the cold winter's eve. Snow lightly peppered the ground, leaving a thin blanket of white amongst the buildings and sidewalk. Jacuzzi stepped out of the vehicle, a leather coat draped over his shoulders. Behind him, Nice also stepped into the cold evening, her high heels clacking onto the cement.

"To think it would snow in early August…" Nice complained, shielding her auburn hair from the weather. "And it rarely snows in Manhattan, too…"

"Well, it's nice every once in a while…" Jacuzzi said smiling and holding out his fingers to catch the snow. His sword-shaped facial tattoo glistened in the evening streetlight, making him look much more fearsome than he seemed. It was as if anyone could become a fearless brute with some facial tattoos.

"Well, let's quit standing out here in this blasted snow storm and go in already…" Nice batted away the falling ice crystals, hurrying into the small shop they had arrived at, Jacuzzi following her in.

"We'll just be a few minutes!" Jacuzzi quickly called to the cab driver, who lit a cigarette and leaned back in his cab.

The bell above the door jingled as Jacuzzi and Nice made their way inside, the smell of dust and mold rising from the dirty carpet. Countless books lined the shelves inside, each one as dustier as the next. Everything carried the stench of old paper and water stains with it like rotten food. A man idly sat behind a desk in the corner, completely unconcerned with any costumers that had entered his store previously.

"Jacuzzi, this place reeks. Hurry and get your silly book," Nice complained, making an effort not to inhale any of the dusty atmosphere.

"Alright, alright." Jacuzzi wavered through the aisles of the book store, the walls of knowledge almost claustrophobic.

What a dump…although, I'm sure the material here is quite satisfactory…Jacuzzi thought to himself, careful not to slander the place too much in his thoughts. As cowardly as he was, he also respected architecture quite thoroughly. The halls and archives to this backstreet bookstore seemed almost endless. It must have taken years to amass such a collection.

As he strolled down the hallways, he abruptly took a sharp turn between two shelves, and had no chance to stop himself from careening into the young gentleman who was standing in the aisles. They both almost lost their balance, although the man seemed to have amazing reflexes, and caught himself right away.

"Ah! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Jacuzzi sputtered, reaching out to brush off the man's coat.

"Oh, it's no problem. Just watch where you're going, alright?" The man said with a smile. Jacuzzi couldn't help but notice that he was probably only 17 or 18. He had quite handsome features, as well; his short, well-kept blond hair was hidden below a light green fedora, which perfectly matched his swede jacket. His eyes were wide, yet gentle, with deep brown irises. He seemed to be inspecting novels on roman warriors.

Commanding himself to stop bothering the stranger any further, Jacuzzi quietly slipped past the man and started picking at the spines on books farther down the shelf; just to seem like he was doing something. Jacuzzi had always possessed a great sixth-sense when it came to assessing others, so he could immediately tell what kind of person the stranger was. Just from the way he carried himself, Jacuzzi guessed he was probably involved with the mob somehow.

Just as Jacuzzi was about to move on to the next aisle, a sound from outside caught his attention. The stranger seemed to notice it as well, considering his head whipped to the window faster than a bullet. It almost sounded like the squeal of tires and the distant sound of gunshots.

What in the world? Is there a fight or something? Jacuzzi pondered in his head. Brushing past the stranger once more, Jacuzzi approached the window and peered outside. A large car was, indeed, careening down the street, every seat in the vehicle with a passenger. The car sped up to the side of the building, and began slowing.

"Watch out!" The stranger from before called out, grabbing Jacuzzi's jacket from behind and yanking him backwards. Just before Jacuzzi hit the ground, he caught a glimpse of glinting metal machine guns in the streetlight, and how they were being propped upon the windows of the car. Before Jacuzzi could even cover his head, a million BANGS! reverberated through the building.

The window was smashed to smithereens, the books behind him exploding in soft, white puffs of paper. He could hear the sound of something wet splattering against everything around him, and took a brief moment to wonder what it was. The horrible shooting sounds stopped, and the car drove away into the night. The streetlight shone into Jacuzzi's eyes from outside, so he dared take a peek. The sunlight was shining through a very small hole. In the stranger's abdomen.

"A-Ah!" Jacuzzi exclaimed, quickly standing up as the stranger fell backwards with a 'splat'. He could barely keep his heart from exploding out of his chest, as he saw that that was exactly what had happened to the stranger. He slowly swiveled his head and took in the mess around him. Everything was bathed in crimson, and pieces of the shelves and books were scattered everywhere.

He then turned his head to the stranger lying on the ground, in shambles. His hat and coat, or what was left of them, were stained with blood and covered in holes. The man who lay on the ground wasn't even recognizable anymore. Jacuzzi couldn't help but feel that he would have met the same fate if it were not for the stranger's jumping in front of him.

"Jacuzzi…Jacuzzi!" Nice's voice warbled through the ringing in Jacuzzi's ears as he took in all that was around him. He slowly turned his head, to see his friend rushing towards him through all the calamity. Luckily, she looked unscathed. Jacuzzi breathed out a sigh of relief as Nice caught his face between her hands, examining him for any abrasions.

"Jacuzzi, please tell me you're alright…" Nice demanded.

"Yes, I'm fine…thanks to him…" Jacuzzi murmured in a daze, looking once more at the broken figure crumpled on the filthy carpet.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Nice breathed, exasperated. She began dragging Jacuzzi from the store, but something caught his eye on the corpse.

"Wait!" He exclaimed, tugging his sleeve free of his friend's efforts. She was about to protest, until she saw what it was that had caught his eye. They both looked on in horror as the blood spattered all over the window and the bookshelves began moving. The liquid ran from its whereabouts towards the corpse, bypassing all obstacles in its way. The blood absorbed itself back into the corpse, as if time were rewinding itself, making the stranger anew.

"What…what in the world?!" Nice gasped, almost falling backwards as the stranger rose from the floor. He looked completely unscathed, aside from the many holes in his outfit. The blood that had previously ruined his attire was now gone, his clothes back to their soft, mint green. The man looked down at his hands, as if mystified that he was still alive.

"So it really does work…" he whispered, dazed by his survival.

"What….what are you?!" Jacuzzi whispered, too mortified to make a sound. The stranger turned towards him, almost mechanically. His eye was still in pieces, so Jacuzzi had the pleasure of watching the stranger's flesh mend itself back together, his face just as handsome as it was 3 minutes ago.

"That was close. You almost got killed!" The stranger laughed, as if someone had shot water balloons at him instead of bullets.

"YOU! YOU just got killed! What…what is this?! You-Y-Yo-You were in pieces, and-and now you're NOT and-"Jacuzzi sputtered, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Ah, so you must have seen all that, huh? Well, I'm impressed you haven't fainted by now!" The man chuckled as Jacuzzi leaned against a disheveled bookcase, gasping for air. "I'm Firo. And you are…?" The man asked, holding out his hand.

"J…Jacuzzi…" he murmured, taking the other's hand in his. He still could hardly believe what he had just seen. The man, or Firo, was smiling like a cat, as if nothing had happened.

"Can you keep a secret, Jacuzzi?" Firo asked him, looking as innocent and pure as a small child.

"Ah…" Jacuzzi tried to say, but just ended up nodding instead.

"Well…I'm immortal." Firo said with a smile, as if it were as simple as saying 'I'm going to the store'.

"I…Immortal? How…?" Jacuzzi sputtered, sliding down the bookshelf so that he was sitting on the floor. Firo crouched down so that he stayed eye-level with Jacuzzi.

"Well, it's really complicated. You would never belie-" Firo began but was stopped short. "That tattoo…you wouldn't happen to be Jacuzzi Splot by any chance?"

"Th…that's me…" he murmured, afraid of what would be said next. He knew that he was on the wanted list of many different mobs, so he was preparing himself to bolt out the window at any moment.

"Ah, I saw you on a wanted sign. Heh, you little trouble-maker," Firo chuckled, standing up. "Well, you must be quite traumatized, but I must ask you to forget you saw it. It's quite…confidential." Firo reached his hand towards Jacuzzi, who grabbed it gratefully.

"Well, what now?" Nice asked, who had been busy bribing the cab driver to forget everything he had seen.

"Well, I don't know about you two, but I'm absolutely starving. Let's find a café somewhere!" He suggested cheerily, repositioning the hat on his head. The three left the ruined building, afraid it would fall any minute.

"So, Mr. Jacuzzi Splot, you're quite well renown amongst the mobs of this area," Firo chattered away as they walked down the cobblestone pathway.

"it's their fault, though…they're always messing with our group, right Jacuzzi?" Nice asked the boy skittering along the road.

"Y-Yeah…" he murmured, trying to keep himself from tripping.

"Well don't worry, I won't tell anyone we've met. It's actually pretty funny, how you run around, blowing up back alleys and such," Firo laughed, patting the shaking Jacuzzi on the back.

"Heh…heh…" Jacuzzi muttered, wondering just what he had gotten himself into.