Get onto Jules

“I thought I told you to stay out of it.” Alex gave her a look.

“I wasn't about to let you get shot in the back.” She glanced back pulling the clothe from her face.

“I had it handled.” Alex shook his head

“Yeah keep telling yourself that. I am not just going to sit and do nothing while my brother is missing, you know me better then that.” She smirked. Alex wanted to yell at her but knew he have better luck talking to the alley wall which was the only thing thicker then that hard head of hers.

“Are you okay?” She asked looking at his chest.

“Better then the other guys. At-least we got a lead.”

“Lets get you patched up first and then we can go look for Jon.” Jules said. Alex started to protest but Jules gave him a look. “We can't go running around asking people questions if your in a bloody shirt.”

“Fine.” Alex shook his head. It didn't take long to get to the apartment Jules and Jon where living in. Not the nicest of places in the city but it was livable. They would be able to move into the dorms around the start of the school year but until then they had to pay for room and board in the city out of their own pocket.

“Here we are, home sweet home.” Jules said pulling out her key.

“Want me to go speak with the concierge about getting you an upgrade?” Alex joked and suddenly barking came through the door as well as a loud bang. “You got a dog. I thought Jon had allergies.”

“Sort of a compromised. Sit Rover.” She said and unlocked the door. Alex was surprised to see a small mechanical dog that had four wheels in place of feet and an antenna for a tail.

“Cute.” Alex smiled. Jules was always a bit of an animal person. He guessed this was probably as close as they could get. They headed inside to find Jonathan standing in the kitchen munching on a sandwich.

“Oh hey guys. Its good to see you Alex.” He said with half a mouthful as if being missing for three days was just part of his daily routine and he had just seen the two of them yesterday. That was Jon for you.

“Jon.” Jules said as she ran up to him and hugged him. “I have been looking every where for you.”

“Sorry. Some guys wanted me to work on their Automata.”

“How did you get free?” Alex said as he walked forward.

“I had some help.” He shrugged.

“He is being modest, by the time I got there the Golem had turned on its owner and was holding him prisoner.” A voice said coming down the hall. A voice Alex knew all to well.

“Alice.” Alex said as she came around the corner. A chill running down his spin. Alex got ready to pull the gun if she made a mood. The two of them had been some what close but that was many years ago.

“Hello Nick.” Allison smiled. Alex felt his body tense up at the mention of his nick name and the memories that came with it. She looked different now then how he remembered her but he had been just a boy when they had last seen each other. She wasn't the teenager he knew anymore but was now very much a woman. She was still beautiful as she had been but Alex could see the small scars on her lip and across one eye brow. Last time he had seen her she had left to fight in the war.

“I go by Alex now.” Alex shook his head referring to his middle name Alexander. Nick had died the day Alex left the compound never looking back.

“Relax. I am not here to pick a fight.” Alice smiled and showed her hands. “Quiet the opposite.”

“You two know each other?” Jules asked looking back and forth.

“She was a friend of my sisters. She is with the order.” Alex said. Alex felt a chill run down his spine even to say the word sister. He had very few fond memories of his time at the compound, Especially since he was a half blood bastard which no one ever let him forget, but Alice and his sister where among the few people he did trust and care about, or at least he had. After his sister and mothers **** Alex ran-away from that life as fast and as far as he could never looking back.

“Was. Once upon a time.” Alice smiled. “I work as a freelancer now. I was hired by the sentinel to investigate the recent rash of witch disappearances.”

“The newspaper?” Alex said giving her a puzzled look. She just nodded and smiled.

“Is there somewhere we can talk in private?”

“We will leave you two alone.” Jules nodded.

“But I just made a sandwich.” Jon said holding up the sandwich he was eating when they had came in.

“Bring it with you.” Jules smiled as she pinched his ear. “You can tell me where you have been for the last few days.”

“Owe, okay I'm going.” Jon said as he begrudgingly followed.

“Their is a small med kit under the kitchen sink.” Jules pointed towards the kitchen. Alex nodded in response. “Thanks for bringing my brother home.”

“Glad I could help.” Alice smiled at her and they made their way out the door. Alex headed for the kitchen. “Looks like you had quit a day yourself.” She said looking at his chest as she followed.

“Nothing I couldn't handle.” Alex shrugged and reached under the sink to grab the med kit.

“Sit down and take off your shirt.” Alice said taking it from him. Alice gave him a look as he was about to protest. He sat down at the small table and pulled off his shirt like she had said. “Looks like you don't need stitches but it will leave a scar.”

“I can live with that. So what did your fiance think about you leaving the Order?”

“I didn't leave, I was excommunicated and he didn't come back from the war.” Alice said not making eyes contact.

“I am sorry...I didn't know” Alex shook his head feeling like a idiot. Those of the order didn't marry for love. They where breed like animals. In the order mates where chosen by the elders by what they felt would create the best offspring as it had been done fer centuries. Alice however had been one of the lucky ones. She truly did love the man that was selected to be her husband. Alex would have never been allowed to marry into the order since he was considered tainted by his fathers mundane blood.

“It's okay you couldn't have known.” Alice said as she poured some **** on cloth and applied it to his wound to clean it.

“Son of a... You could have warned me.” Alex hissed through his teeth. Alice just smiled.

“Sorry.”

“How did you find Jon?”

“The scrap yard. Two guys looking for rare parts. I was hoping it would be somehow connected to the witches that went missing but it looks like just another dead end.” Alice shrugged. “Your friend is as close as I have come, every lead I have run down has come up empty and whomever it was seems to have wised up or moved on somewhere else.”

“Why do you care about a bunch of witches?” Alex asked giving her a puzzled look.

“The last time they started going missing it lead to war. Either someone is trying to start the war back up by **** witches for who knows what or the witches are organizing in secret, neither of which can lead to anything good.” Alice said. “Besides their not all the monsters we where raised to believe.”

“Tell that to my sister.” Alex said loudly. He didn't mean to say it but it just came out.

“Alex I know...” She began to say before he cut her off.

“No, you don't know. I had to watch my sister die, to see her beg for mercy, I had to leave her body to be consumed in the fire because of how badly messed up my arm was. Had to have my arm sawed off. I am not like you and the others. I feel pain.” Alex could feel hot tears roll down his face.

“You think I don't feel pain? She was as close as I had to a sister in this world after my parents died. She was taken from me as well. My parents, my fiance, my friends I grew up with. All dead. We kill them, they kill us. Over and over. Its an endless cycle that needs to end.” Alice said as she stood up and walked away trying to calm herself the way they had been taught. To bury their emotions. “I am sorry. I don't want to fight with you. You are as close as family as I have left in this world. The only one I knew from before the war.” Alice shook her head.

“I didn't want to fight at all. I ran because I was afraid.” Alex wiped the tears from his face. Alex had never stopped running.

“You where just a child.” Alice looked at him. “We where all just children trained to hate people we had never meet.” Alice came back and sat back down applying the gauze over the wound. Their was a brief silence before she finally spoke.

“What if I was to offer you a better option then spending your life on the run?” She said putting the tape away.

“Like?”

“A new identity and a full scholarship to Ravencraft.” Alice gave him a look.

“Your joking right?” Alex looked at her. “And who will be paying for all of this?”

“I have friends who can take care of all of that.” Alice shrugged.

“Whats the catch?” Alex smirked. It wasn't that he didn't trust Alice. It was that he knew well enough that nothing in life was free. Everyone had an agenda.

“The University will be excepting Imperial students this year.” Alice looked up. “As well as witches from both sides.”

“Are they crazy, teaching imperials and witches at that? What's next Chimera.” Alex couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was barley less then ten years ago the Commonwealth and the Empire where at each others throats. Some of the greatest students from Ravencraft had become legends during the war.

“You think the imperials haven't already started making their own golems from all the damaged units found on the battle-field. Luckily they haven't total cracked the code yet though it is only a matter of time before they do.”

“Anything else I should know?” Alex gave her a look.

“Yes. Duke Jakov Volkov will be attending the school as well.” Alex felt something at the mention of the name. Though he had never meet him in person he knew about him and his family. The Volkov's where the ruling family of the empire.

The duke had a claim to the imperial throne though not the power to take. Some in the empire secretly supported him over his uncle, the current emperor who had allegedly ordered the **** of his own brother and seized his claim to the throne. The Emperors hands may have been clean but the man who had killed the then Duke in fair combat had been greatly rewarded with the title and lands of the former duke.

Though no one dared move against the emperor openly Alex had heard rumors of noble families that despised the emperor and the war he had **** the empire into. Anything that divided the empire was a good thing in Alex's book.

“And you want me to keep an eye on all of them.” Alex shook his head.

“Yes, as well as get an education. You may be the son of a witch hunter but you are also the son of an artificer and are more then smart enough to get in.” Alice smiled closing the med-kit. That was about as much as his mother had ever told Alex about his father. “I need someone I can trust.” Alice smiled.

“You really are scrapping the bottom of the barrel you know.” Alex laughed.

“I don't think the order will come looking for you but if they ever do you will not be alone. Just think it over.” Alice stood up.