As I walked towards the diner, I really wish I would've put on a sweater. The sun had already gone down, and Nevada had some cold nights. I wasn't sure if the chill I felt was entirely from the chilly air, or if it was because of what I was about to sit down across.
I saw the diner in front of me, large glass panes and neon lights stared back. It was like the building itself was taunting me. Through the windows, my eyes met a pair of silvery blue ones.
Well, now that he knows I'm here there's no sense of putting it off any longer, I thought.
I tried to calm down my racing heart. I have faced enemies all over the United States. I am one of the world's best trained killers, I am on the list of best assassins the Association has ever seen. I am a cold blooded murderer.
Yet I am terrified of one thing.
Stop being such a scaredy cat. You're really a giant pussy. Seriously, get it together, I thought to myself.
I took one more deep breath and opened the door. I made my heavy feet move over to the booths the Aevis sat at. He stood up as I approached, then sat with me. Face to face. The only thing between us was the cheap wood of the table, the metal of the legs.
"I don't think I properly introduced myself last time," he said as we sat. "My name is Ignus."
"Frida," I nodded. What a weird name for someone to have, Ignus sounded like some kind of hard liquor. As if he could sense my confusion, he answered my thoughts.
"The elders named me Ignus because in my... culture, it means 'fire,' and I always had a passion for learning new things. I find humans to be very interesting," he said, his voice so deep and hushed I almost had to strain to hear him.
"Is that why you learned English?" I asked. Even though he was creepy as hell, my curiosity was peaked. Why did he seem so different than the other Aevis I've met? Even now, he was wearing regular street clothes, had his silvery long hair tied up into a low ponytail, showing off his neck.
"That's one of the reasons," he said. Then he picked up the menu in front of him. His actions were so... human. I wonder if he studied us from afar, or if he was just naturally like that. Truth be told, I never really spent time with any Aevis. What a shocker.
After a few minutes looking over the menu, I sort of relaxed. I tried to convince myself that Ignus wasn't an Aevis, that he was just some regular dude. He didn't make that hard, he copied human gestures and motions fluidly, but in the back of my mind I still knew what he was and I kept my guard up.