Charmer (MxM)

CHAPTER 6

BloodBinders (n): A subsection of human with the ability to manipulate the physiology of another sentient individual.

BloodBinders were part of a genetically modified team of soldiers, utilized in the Blood War as foot soldiers, being deployed for melee combat. Three units of Blood Binders survived, they would then come to overthrow the current government with the other units of modified soldiers from the other continents, the Silks, Entals and Shadows, reestablishing the monarchy with each type ruling their respective regions. The ruling family of Reinkei, the Zarka's are the surviving descendants of the original BloodBinders unit and have inherited their abilities.

Excerpt from the Reinkei's Scientific Museum. Exhibit 12 d

Damhair, 22, 07421

At present moment Atlas currently loathed existence. Far more than he usually did. He was currently at Rion's penthouse apartment. Standing in a darkened corner of her livingroom he toyed with one of the zips on his leather jacket, it was getting kind of warm, but he didn't feel like taking it off, not many people saw his tattoos, it drew too much unwanted attention. Someone once asked him why he got them if he didn't like people commenting on them; Atlas had shrugged and pointed out that he got them for himself not for others. Scanning his surroundings Atlas's vision had quickly adapted to the light, or lack of it thereof, one of the perks of the modified genetics, better night vision. Despite his desire to be anywhere else but here he had to admit that Rion did a great job setting up. Blue lights cast strange shadows over every surface, creating twisted figures that sat in the corner of your eye, unsettling you, exciting you. It created an illusion that you were never really alone, whether that was a good thing or not Atlas hadn't decided yet. The music, if you could call it that, was loud but not so much that people wouldn't be able to have a conversation. Atlas could definitely say that he hated it.

Modern music was just noise. It was rather unfortunate that not many people remained who would appreciate the true art of music from the early days after the war. About a hundred years ago came what Atlas considered to be the Golden Age of music. But the world evolved, and mass production of music destroyed the soul of the industry rendering everything into synthetics and garbled words. Atlas himself had been tempted to pick up the electric guitar and pay tribute to the music he loved so dearly, but the violin had bonded to him, and the piano was versatile enough to help him cover all the bases. While he adored older music, he also had a love for an art form much older than that, an ancient form of music. No one ever listened to it anymore, instead having modified the related instruments to be more suited to the production of the current music scene. His own piano had been custom ordered after many hours and an exorbitant amount of money handed over much to the bewilderment of the maker. What Atlas played was some sort of hybrid of the two, harsh ballads on the piano, sharp riffs on his violin. Uncommon and made of a blend that was unpopular enough to not warrant any attention. Except he did capture someone's attention. At least he would be contributing to the music scene now, trying to purify the cesspool of noise that had been created.

"Are you still annoyed with the music choice?" Rion sidled up to him, the blue lighting tinting her skin making her look alien like.

"I wouldn't go so far as to call this music." Atlas muttered hiding the fact that she had startled him, another one of Rion's annoying abilities was that she could just pop out of nowhere.

"Would you chill out? Have a drink, socialize a little." She prompted him.

"I'm only here to practice, I don't wanna risk anything if I'm somewhat inebriated."

"Lightweight." She teased, full well knowing that the jab was not true, she had witnessed Atlas finish whole bottles of Kovak in one sitting and still be fully functional. "It's too early to start, we need people to be hazy, that way they can chalk any realizations up to the mild poison that they so enjoy ingesting."