Chapter 1

It was raining outside again. The rain washed over the diner window and into the garden bed below. It wasn’t your normal kind of summer shower either; the rain seemed to be pelting down on the earth harder than ever, though the only patrons inside didn’t seem to flinch. Three young gentlemen sat in the back corner, barely noticeable to anyone who didn’t pay close attention. All three of them looked to be in their early 20’s and while all looking completely different, they shared one common trait. All three men had dark purple irises, suggesting they were siblings.  They sat in a typical diner in the middle of the country. It was a quiet little area, not a lot to see really. Just close enough to the beach for summer but still far enough from the city so it remained peaceful.  That’s what they liked about living in Australia, peace and quiet.

The tallest of the group was delved so far into his book, a large hard-back with a typical brown cover etched with red and gold markings, which seemed at any second he may be sucked inside to enact whatever fantasies hid beyond the covers.  His shaggy dark brown hair hid under a brown fedora, with a pair of retro anti-UV sunglasses that sat on the brim. Across from him sat two more gentlemen, the one on the left had short-length black hair, styled into a faux-hawk with a pair of silver-coated aviator sunglasses sitting on his forehead, and wore a black t-shirt with an army jacket over it. The other one, a shorter gentleman, sported a black hooded jumper with a red dragon on the front, while his normal light brown hair was hidden under a black beanie.

‘I hate this weather. It’s so vile and wet.’ the shorter man said.

‘I find it quite soothing actually’ replied the man next to him,

‘Just cos you’re born of water doesn’t mean I am’

‘Would you two please shut the hell up? I'm trying to read.’ shot in the third man, not even glancing away from his book to shoot them both an evil stare.

‘You know, it’s a good thing Hax stepped in when he did. I was going to take you out side and show you what’s what.’ said the shorter man, giving a wry smile as he did.

‘Well then, come on! Let’s go and you can show me’ said the taller one. The smile fell from the other man’s face, realising his mistake.

‘Hax,’ said the short one, ‘aren’t you going to say something?’

‘You’re right, Seth,’ Hax replied, turning to his taller counterpart ‘Dylan, remember to aim for the throat. It might stop him talking for a while.’

‘I'm going to kick your butt all the way back to hell’ Dylan said under his breath, so as to make sure none of the waitresses heard the weird language he suddenly spoke in.

‘I’m shaking, you servant of Azathoth’ replied Seth, doing the same for common courtesy. As both men walked outside, Hax slipped back into the realm of his book until he was interrupted by a small voice.

‘Excuse me?’ Hax slammed his book down with the anger of a thousand suns, and looked up into a pair of light blue eyes that seemed to calm him down.

In front of Hax stood a very attractive girl wearing a parka that seemed to be soaked, and tight black jeans that showed off her curves. She had long red hair, around shoulder length, and from her complexion of freckles on her pale skin, she seemed to be of Irish decent. In her hands she held a collection tin. Hax realised he couldn’t be angry at her, she just wanted to help others.

‘What can I do for you?’ he asked

‘I'm collecting money for the red shield appeal. I was wondering if you could donate some money.’ She replied, the sweetness in her voice having the power to give auditory diabetes to anyone.

‘Of course I can donate some money’ and with that, Hax turn to his back pack and reached down to find his wallet. He wondered how much other people donated, and what the right amount was to make her swoon over him, but not too much for her to feel like a common prostitute.  Ten dollars seems alright, he thought to himself.

He turned back around to find not only the girl gone, but also his book. The one thing that made him slightly sane enough to put up with Dylan and Seth. He looked around only to notice Dylan and Seth walking through the door, both looking a little worse for wear, covered in mud with cuts and bruises all over their faces, but all in all still alive. Hax got up as they approached.

‘Where are you going now? We haven’t even ordered yet? Seth asked.

 ‘I'm just going out for some fresh air’ hax replied. And with that he was out the door.

‘Don’t worry about him,’ Dylan said ‘he is just being moody.’

The rain outside seemed to be letting up, which she felt was a good sign. She kept walking down the side on the road, thumb up, trying to hitch a ride somewhere. She kept playing back what had happened in the diner, she knew this was just another job. It was easy, go in, bat your eyes at some lonely little sap and grab anything of value while you can, she kept telling herself, then why did I steal this book? It’s probably worthless. Cars drove past her, not even giving her a second glance, and she felt disheartened.  Not another night on the streets, she thought.  Suddenly she heard a honk; she turned to see someone had pulled over. Aww yeah!, she thought while running up to the car. It was a dark green station wagon, an old Nissan Skyline ’88 model and it looked like someone had taken real care of it. As she approached the open passenger side window, she looked in to thank the driver, but he was nowhere to be found.

She was seriously frightened now, in the middle of nowhere with an empty car. Oh god, its Texas chainsaw massacre all over again…, she thought. She considered running, until she heard

‘Ahem…’

She stood up to see where the voice had come from, and there sitting on the roof of the car was the man from the diner.

‘How’s it going’ he said, his eyes now hiding behind a pair retro sunglasses

‘How…what the…where the fuck did you come from?’ she asked, stammering in her words ‘are you a fucking vampire like in “twilight”’

‘Uuuuh no. but that is not the concern right now is it. I kind of want to finish my book, and you seem to have taken it.’

‘No I haven’t. You just want to blame me for your problems.’

‘Well if you did steal this book, you wouldn’t be able to read it-’

‘Are you calling me dumb?’ she yelled. Hax realised he had hit a soft spot, so with his better judgement, he powered on.

‘Nooo…? It’s in a different language.’ She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She grabbed the book out of her satchel and opened it. The writing inside, if you could call it that was written in some sort of code.

‘It’s Italian.’ He said, noticing her face scrunch up in confusion.

‘Fine,’ she said, throwing the book at him ‘take your piece of crap then.’

Hax grabbed the book mid flight, inches from his face.

‘Now don’t act that way. I'm not here to pick a fight, and no one really got hurt. Now let’s get in my car.’

‘What? Do you really think I'm going to get in the car with a stranger?’

‘Fine. Let’s start over. Hello, I’m Hax. Nice to meet you.’

‘What kind of name is “hax”? Did your parents hate you so much that they chose random letters? And what makes you think I need your help anyway? I'm fine on my own.’

‘Yeah, you really seem fine don’t you?’ Hax said, sliding off the roof of his car ‘I mean, stealing from others, hitchhiking on a major highway. I bet you have even had a proper meal in what, a week?’ he strolled over to the driver’s side door and looked at her ‘all I'm asking is that you come back up to the diner with me, I will buy you something to eat and if you still feel like I'm a threat after that, then I will let you go on your way. No questions asked.’

She stood there, contemplating the move she was about to make.

‘You promise no questions asked if I just leave?’ he nodded ‘fine. But I swear to god, if you try to touch me inappropriately, I'm going to kick you in the balls.’

‘Noted. Now get in. My brothers are waiting and I'm hungry enough to eat a h-‘he stopped himself short.

‘A horse?’ she asked.

‘Yeah. A horse. Sorry, kind of went blank there. By the way, you never did tell me your name?’

She looked at him, studying his face for a while before saying, ‘Its eve.’ And with that she jumped into the front seat.