Under the beaming moonlight, a man walked through the deserted streets, a gray hat was pressed against his face. His gold rimmed glasses glimmered against the light as he made his way to his apartment.
His eyes were shifty, darting sideways every time he took a stride.
Finally, he arrived in front of his door. His hands reached inside his pockets as he drew a keychain. Flipping through each of the keys, he muttered bitterly, "Goddamn chess match, I was supposed to be out of Loen tonight! Fuck that guy, who was that hustler?! I hope he finds an obsessed girlfriend and gets his dick cut off, bloody rascal."
The man pushed the door in and hung his coat on the coatrack. He stretched his arms and let out a deep sigh.
As his arms dropped, the room remained shrouded in darkness.
He hadn't heard a sound, yet as he turned fully from the coatrack, a single, brass lamp in the corner of his living room flickered on. It cast a sickly yellowish-orange pool of light that illuminated a heavy, wing-backed armchair where a figure seated in it.
The man took a step back, surprised.
The intruder's face was completely covered in a dead, shocking white. Two sharp, crimson lines, drawn with deliberate malice curved the corners of his mouth.
"Hello, Merxises." The figure said with a grin, his mouth contouring into a child-like grin.
Instinctively, the man — Merxises reached into his pocket, placing his hand on his revolver.
The figure's face went dead, sighing, he pulled out his own revolver and placed it on his lap.
"Sit the hell down," he commanded coldly.
Merxises' eyes darkened as he drew his gun with frightening speed — but the figure was faster.
In an instant he unleashed two shots hitting him straight in his arm, the revolver fell to the ground in a loud thump as he howled in pain.
…
Casper sighed, it wasn't that he was surprised — he had expected it but still, he hoped Merxises was smarter than that.
Well, he couldn't really blame him. Even he would try to resist if some random person intruded upon his home, wearing such a horrifying costume to boot too.
Casper got up from his seat, walking towards the wailing man, he didn't feel an ounce of sympathy.
He helped the man up before throwing him to the chair opposite to him. "Sit, bastard."
Following that, he took his place facing him.
"Why?.... Why?" Merxises asked, pleadingly.
Casper laughed, "Isn't that funny…..," he muttered before his face turned serious.
He reached into his coat and produced an envelope and threw it to the swine.
"Read." He ordered.
Merxises grit his teeth, and with great struggle opened the letter. His eyes flew by the pages, before finally resting upon the final line.
"What is the meaning of this!" He yelled, the colour draining from his face.
Merxises turned his letter around, pointing at it, he barked once again. "Tell me!"
Casper glanced at the letter before bursting in a fit of laughter, "Why are you acting so presumptuous? Merxises, you act like you've never done anything wrong, that you are a good person. But we both know that's not the truth."
His face steeled as he continued.
"I'm a violent man, I've hurt people, I've killed people. I don't deny that. But, I've only taken a life that requires it.
"Although, I do it because it's required. In that moment, another part of me dies along with them. When I was young, I romanticized the life of an outlaw, bad guys…. it was a long time ago. Now, I'll do anything to get away from it."
Casper paused before leaning towards him.
"I'm not telling this to act scary…or cool. I'm telling you this because you need to understand the fundamental difference between us. You hurt because you can, I do it because I have no other choice."
Saying that, he clicked his tongue. "You attacked a bright, young girl who had her entire future ahead of her. Who was striving to make money to support her mother who took care of her throughout her life.
"You battered her so badly that you broke five of her ribs, her face was disfigured beyond measure that her own mother couldn't recognise her…. you stole the last bit of closure her mother had."
After saying that, he fell silent.
"Please! I—I didn't mean to! I wasn't thinking stra—" Merxises choked out before his body went cold.
Casper puckered his lips and three shots into the man's chest, ending his life then and there.
Merxises' hand went dead, dropping the letter on the ground. It fluttered down, landing on the ground where fresh blood from his wounds pooled.
The last line of the handwritten note, now cloaked in blood, shone darkly.
"I want you to kill him, Mister Casper."
____
A/N - I'm back!! How's the new chapter? I tried a new dialogue style because the old one felt a little clunky. Also there's a slight timeline adjustment I forgot to tell you about. Klein's death will happen the following Sunday, in cannon it already happened before the Tarot Meeting in the first few chapters.
I did this because so that Daly would feel motivated to join the hmmm I have no names for Casper's organisation. So any recommendations? Anyways for now let's call it C. I did it because I wanted Daly to have some motivation for joining C, and another thing that I can't reveal rn cause it'll ruin the surprise.