Engagements

So today I went to meet a man about a monster.

The girl, Trinity accompanied me. The Man was an ex-servant of the enemy. He had fled and stolen an item of great importance. An item that had kept him safe from the enemy and it's followers for years. Unfortunately for him I needed that item. Without it's protection he probably won't last a day. As such he probably won't be willing to hand it over but that's fine cause I'm not intending to just ask nicely. I didn't tell Trinity any of this and I tried to convince her not to come, but the stubborn idiot wouldn't listen. I'm sure she'll end up making this much more difficult then it has to be.

We arrived at his place of residence early in the morning. He lived in a small shack beside a garage in the south end of town. He made his living, what little of it he did, by fixing up crappy cars to look nice and selling them to idiots. I knocked on the door and he answered it promptly. He was about 60, balding, pot belly, smelled of some sort of cheap alcohol and had the unmistakable sleepless eyes of the hunted. The poor sucker probably hadn't had an uninterruped night of sleep in years. The item might have kept him safe physically but The Enemy had obviously still been tormenting him mentally.

He eyed me warily then his eyes fell on Trinity and he froze. "S... Stay back! I still have it! I'll use it! You... You can't come near me!" I wasn't sure why she scared him so much but it was an opening I could use. With his attention focused on Trinity I pushed forward forcing him backwards into the shop and pushing him up against a table full of car parts. He screamed in fear and drew the item from his pocket. I darted back and reached into my jacket when suddenly Trinity was grabbing me from behind restricting my arms.

"What the hell are you doing!?" She demanded as I tried to shake her off.

"Let go of me!" I protested. At this point he seemed to see an advantage and he struck with the item but Trinity twisted me out of the way at the last second and caught his hand.

"Stop it both of you! I will not allow violence." She seemed to only now notice what he was holding and her eyes narrowed.

"Aaron... Is this what we came here for?"

I pulled myself free of her grasp and nodded.

"Well now that makes sense." She turned to him. "Can we please have that little knife of yours, sir. We need it-"

"NO! IT'S THE ONLY THING PROTECTING ME I WON'T GIVE IT AWAY!"

"Oh but, sir. If you give it to us we intend to use it to kill The Slender Man and then you'll never need protection from him again."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "The moment you leave with it he'll come and kill me..."

Trinity smiled. "I promise you he will not harm you if you give us that knife."

She put out her hand and for a second it seemed like he was going to stab her but then he warily placed the knife into her hand. She turned to me then with a triumphant smile on her face. It froze immediately and his eyes widened as they both noticed the gun. I fired it before either could react.

He slammed backwards against the table knocking it over and falling on top of it. Trinity screamed and ran to his side. Moments later she turned back to look at me her eyes furious.

"Why did you do that? He gave us the knife!"

"He deserved to die. He was a servant of The Enemy."

"But, he wasn't! He fled from The Slender Man's service!"

"It doesn't matter. Once you've become a monster you don't become human again just because you stop doing monstrous things. You're still a monster on the inside."

"Then what does that make you!" she screamed at me and then immediately her eyes widened and she seemed afraid.

She turned away. "So that knife..."

"Forged in the path of black leaves by one of the denizens. Specifically a member of a group of creatures who once lived in the path and revered The Enemy as a god. They made the knife out of material found in the path intending it as some sort of present for it but instead it slaughtered them all. It's believed, by those who know the story, that he slaughtered them because they had unintentionally created a weapon that could kill him."

"You believe the rumor?"

"I happen to know it's true."

"How?"

"That's for me to know and you to never find out. Now come on we have more people to see before my plan is ready."

We left there together. I can tell she's still mad about me and I'll definitely have to address that strange outburst at some point...