Blood Red Hues: Chpt 1

“Stop it!”

Grey’s screams echoed in the damp alley. He had his hands cupped over his ears, his pure white hair falling over his small, dirt-covered face, covering his light pink eyes. A resounding slap interrupted Grey mid-scream.

“Shut your trap, boy!” A large and hulking man towered over Grey’s small and quivering frame. “Or I’ll sell you to the prostitution center, eh?” he threatened, bending down and grabbing Grey’s face harshly, inspecting his delicate and slightly feminine face. “Humph, you don’t look more than nine, but some people like small bastards like you so – wait… wha- what…?” The man backed away from Grey, his initial drunken demeanor taken over by total apprehension, and the reason for the sudden change literally stared straight back at him.

Grey's eyes now glowed deep crimson, and fear had been completely wiped from his face as his long milk coloured hair fanned out behind him as though caught in a non-existent wind.

Just a heartbeat too late, the drunkard, now significantly more sober, turned to flee. A mere heartbeat was all the time that Grey had needed.

Blood splattered the dark alley, some falling into puddles of water, the red liquid forming ominous crimson swirls, most splashed onto walls like some sinister paint, and a few flecks fell onto the white hair of the small child whose eyes gave a blood red glow, which slowly disappeared and faded back to innocent pink.

Grey sat, huddled in a corner, staring at the mangled remains of what he had done; bets of flesh littering the ground, once a part of a man who met his end by being exploded from the inside.

Within the next ten minutes, the area had been roped off by the police and Grey had been seated on a straight backed wooden chair with a steaming mug of hot chocolate, a tired looking policeman with a police’s cap sitting on his light brown hair in a similar chair in front of him.

“What’s your name, kid?” he queried, taking a sip from his own cup of coffee. Grey raised his eyes from the mug and looked at the officer with his big, round eyes.

“Grey,” he whispered, just loud enough for his interrogator to hear.

“Grey? Interesting name,” the officer commented casually, scribbling something on a clipboard. “What’s your last name?”

Grey’s eyes dropped to his unshod toes again as he shook his head, his miraculously sleek, bloodstained hair moving with his head.

“Hm,” the police mused as he wrote something else on the paper. “Well, in any case, I’m Joel, and I’m going to ask you a few questions. You have to answer honestly, okay, kiddo?”
When Grey did not give any sign that he had heard what Joel had said, the latter took another sip of his coffee to keep his eyelids from dropping as it always seemed to after midnight. He sighed and ploughed on.

“Did you see the culprit?”

There was a short pause before Grey muttered a small, soft “no”.

“Well then, what were you doing in the alley?” Joel’s brows were burrowed with concentration.

Silence answered his question. Joel sighed deeply, then continued on,

“Okay… let’s try a different track. What happened?”

There was another short pause before Grey spoke to his knees, his voice quivering.

“I-I was sitting in the alley. Th-then a man came and started yelling and hitting me. I- I- I yelled at him to stop, b-but… b-but he just slapped me and th-threatened me, and then… a-and then…”

As Grey’s hands curled into fists, Joel was hit by a sudden ridiculous suspicion. His blue eyes widened as he leant towards the eight year old. After all, it would not be the first the police had dealt with, he reasoned with himself. But he had to make sure.

“Did… Did you kill him?”

Grey did not response, but his small fists tightened. Joel stood up, the clipboard clattering to the floor.

“Did you-?”

"Yes.”Grey’s answer was in his usual small voice, yet now so definite, that Joel could do nothing but slump back into his seat, starting wonderingly at the boy in front of him. He remained in that position for a few minutes before he regained his composure. He seemed to steel himself before asking, “How? How did you kill him?”

Grey did not answer for a yet another moment, then he slowly raised his head again, so that he had eye contact with Joel.

“How did I kill him?” Grey repeated as Joel slid his chair back a foot, eyes widening in shock. Not only were Grey’s eyes darkening into red, but his voice was now not those of a child, but silky and soft, ringing with mystique. Ageless.

“Tell you what, Grey; you don’t have to answer,” Joel immediately said, whipping his walkie-talkie from his belt and switching it on. “Call the Viridian Order. This is out of my hands,” he called into the machine as Grey’s looked down, his hair covering his red eyes.

“Viridian Order? The Viridian Order?” a raspy voice laced with disbelief issued from the walkie-talkie.

“Yes, the Viridian one. Not fairy pink, or sunshine yellow or anything. Viridian. “

“Since when did the Order need to be called?”

“Just hurry up and call them, idiot, before-“

“Why thank you for your trust in us, Joel,”

A cool female voice cut suddenly into the conversation. Joel spun around to see a tall and elegant woman dressed all in immaculate white and platinum blonde curls hanging just above her shoulders.

“The door was locked, and how the hell do you know my name?” Joel found those words out of his mouth before he could do anything about it.

“Locked doors do not hinder me in the slightest, Joel,” she chuckled, teasing the confused and tired officer by avoiding the last question. “My name is Tera. You may have heard of me,” she continued, not looking at Joel, but cocking her head at the ragged figure of Grey sitting on his chair, holding a steaming mug.

And indeed Joel did. A memory of hearing the name rose in his mind. It was from his superior, Officer Regeld. “That Tera! She took away the suspect again?” he had yelled one night after the rotting remains of a body which had seemingly committed suicide had been found. “When will she give us a chance to at least talk to the suspects? She must have enough power to whisk them away after that! I mean, she doesn’t belong to the Viridian Order for nothing!” Well, Joel thought. She gave us a chance now.

“Jo? Is everything alright down your end?” the anxious voice issued from the walkie-talkie.

“Everything’s fine. Forget about calling the Order. A representative is already here,” Joel answered as Tera started walking toward Grey, her high heels clicking on the concrete with each step.

“Hello, child,” she greeted as she knelt down before Grey so that she could see his face despite it still looking at his knees. “What colour did his eyes change into?”

“Eh… Red,” Joel answered, assuming that the question was directed at him.

“Red…” Tera mused, softly stroking Grey’s long, white hair. His eyes had reverted to pink. “How very rare…” Tera stood up so suddenly that Joel was surprised she did not fall over on her high heels. She took Grey’s hand gently in hers.

“I’ll be taking him then, Joel,” she stated. It was not a question. Joel sighed and stepped aside as Tera led Grey to the door. Just before opening it, she looked back.

“Thank you for your co-operation. Regeld would have shrieked the whole place down before letting me pass through this door, and I appreciate your unlikeness to him. On that trait at least,” And with that, she opened the door and passed through it. Grey looked back as he walked tentatively through the doorway, raised his free hand and waved Joel goodbye. Joel, not knowing what else to do, gave a small smile and waved back.

Joel slumped back into the chair as the door slammed shut again. He could only hope Regeld would not blame him for what he had done, letting Tera take a suspect – no - a culprit – so easily.

But then, Joel thought as he looked at the ceiling, Regeld had died protecting the Viridian Order after all.


Outside, Tera guided a silent Grey to a posh black car. She opened the door for him, standing aside to let Grey in before stepping swiftly into it and shutting the door with a snap.

“Did you get him?” the driver spoke with a raspy voice, sounding as though he had recently swallowed a porcupine.

“Yes, Bryar. Now, if you don’t mind, take us to the headquarters please,” Tera replied curtly.

“Right you are, Miss, right you are,” Bryar replied in his husky voice, stepping on the pedals. Tera inclined her head toward Grey and gave him a small smile as the car eased into motion, and the journey was spent in silence, although Tera silently observed the albino boy from the corner of her ultramarine eyes.

When the vehicle pulled up in front of a large, five floored hospital-like building, Tera once again opened the door and stepped aside for Grey to jump nimbly out of the car.

“Well, Grey. Here we are,” Tera said, barely inclining her head down to look at Grey, but a kind smile adorning her sharp features. “Viridian House. It is your new home now, Grey,”

“Home?” The small eight year old looked up at the mention of the word, as though he had never heard of such a thing before. Or rather, he had heard of it, but never knew such a thing existed. Tera continued smiling serenely and nodded, stepping forwards, gesturing Grey to do the same, which he did rather timidly.

“You got her, Tera?” A man’s voice called once Tera had stepped through the glass, automatic sliding doors, leading to a nearly all-white room which, too, resembled a hospital waiting room, with rows of unoccupied chairs and a counter at the far end.

“Yes, I’ve got him. It’s a boy, Ren. I told you not to trust that mangy drunk’s information,” Tera scolded a young man who was lolling against a wall near the door. Grey took an instant liking to the bright, friendly looking green eyes and the soft features of the man, Ren’s face topped with short, tousled black hair of the exact same colour as his leather jacket and jeans.

“Come off it, Tera. At least you got him out of the police station; you know how hard that can be sometimes. So, what’s his Colour?” Ren queried, giving Grey a wide grin, showing a wisdom tooth on the left side of his mouth.

“Red. Get him in with Criye,” Tera walked briskly towards the counter and peered over the top, reaching over and rummaging through the table behind's contents.

“Red! Red and you’re going to put him with Criye! Criye’s just a Black! This kid’s the only Red for miles! Don’t you think it would be better if-“

“Criye will be fine,” Tera cut across Ren mid-sentence firmly, extracting a piece of paper and a pen from the counter with difficulty. “I assure you,” She added at a doubtful look that Ren was giving.

Ren chewed on his lips for a moment more, sighed resignedly and sauntered out of the room after giving Grey an encouraging smile and a quick thumbs-up.