THE MOMENT
"Amber, huh?' he smiled at the lovely woman with flaming orange-red hair. She was on the higher end of 'gorgeous' as far as he was concerned, and it boosted his confidence that she approached him to say hi. "You can call me Clocker, everyone else does. What's a pretty thing like you doing on this side of town?" He almost hated to kill her.
"I'm looking for someone," she said.
"I hope it's me," Clocker grinned. He pulled the black hoodie down to show off his short blonde hair. He had a touch of orange at the tips almost like hers, and he hoped to lower her guard even more with the coincidence.
"Oh," Amber's grin grew broader once he revealed himself. "It just might be," she winked at him. "But, I need to know. Have you met someone named 'Mundo'?" she asked. " He runs a bar a couple towns over."
"I wish I knew what answer you were looking for, honey. But I'm afraid all I've got is the truth," he chose his words to highlight how trustworthy he was. "Sorry to say I've never met the guy." he didn't think she could get more beautiful but her smile widened.
"Then, I guess you are who I'm looking for, Mr. Clocker," she stepped closer to his card table as he chuckled. Now, he was confident he would hate to kill her, and he considered postponing it until after he got to know her.
"Just 'Clocker'," he chuckled. "It's a nickname, no one on the street needs to know my real name. But, maybe if we weren't on the street, I could introduce myself properly?"
"That does sound appealing...," Amber nodded. "Why 'Clocker' though? Why not...," she made a point to look him up and down. "... Handsome. Or maybe even Big Clock?"
"Honey, you're gonna make me blush," he chuckled. He absolutely hated to kill her; but, she was making it too easy. "They call me, 'Clocker' because I'm the fastest...," he laid out three cards and shuffled them around lightly to show what he meant. "I kind of set the bar and anyone else joining this racket has to compare themselves to me; I 'Clock' them in a roundabout way."
"Very roundabout," Amber giggled. "I do like the sound of it; but, are you really that fast? It didn't look like it to me...," she said.
"That was nothing, I was just moving cards around, not trying to win." Her eyes sparkled with challenge. He regretted having to kill her now; but, if she wanted to play the choice was practically made for him. It was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
"Well, let's play," Amber giggled. "I want to see how fast those hands can be."
"Are you SURE you want to play?" It was a shame he had to kill her. Amber nodded her head at the shady man wearing a black hoodie. He flipped over a card to show her a queen of diamonds, then flipped it down to begin moving them around. "The name of the game is three-card monte. Follow the pretty queen." he shuffled them as fast as he could; he was genuinely talented at it even without his special power.
Clocker could stop time. He hadn't found much use for the ability by itself, he couldn't manipulate time other than stopping and starting it. But, he did discover an interesting side effect. It took some trial and error to learn the intricacies but the gist was he could steal someone's soul to make himself stronger. The major requirements were they had to 'agree' in some form to give him their life, and time had to be stopped when he killed them. He also figured out that people 'blinked' whenever he froze time, so he tried not to do it too often. Once at the end of his shuffle was enough to win.
"Oh, and if you lose, your LIFE is mine," Clocker grinned. At best, she would agree thinking it was a joke. At worst, she would walk away after he announced the terms. It'd happened before and he couldn't take their soul if they rejected it. But, something told him she would agree.
"You're on, handsome. I guess that's the same for me, right?"
"Sure thing, honey," Clocker nodded. She had no idea how serious the situation was.
"Here we go," he swapped the cards around in one quick, final burst, then stood back. "Find the queen and win your prize," he said. He didn't know which one was the queen at that point; but, he didn't have to.
"Hmmm... I think it's this -," she froze as her hand hovered over the card on the left. Time stopped everywhere and Clocker checked the card she was aiming for.
"Huh, not even close," he chuckled. She was on the wrong end; but, Clocker removed the card altogether and put it into his back pocket. She could still change her mind mid-pick, and he could replace it before he had to show which one was the real queen. "You are gorgeous though...," Clocker chuckled to himself. He walked around the table to get a closer look. He wasn't planning to try anything more than just looking though it was a view he very much wanted to appreciate for a moment. He got close enough to breathe on her as he admired her tan skin. "Alright, might as well get to it...," he sighed and turned to get back to his spot.
"Found the queen." Clocker didn't know if he heard the voice before or after he blinked. But, he opened his eyes again to see Amber standing in front of him with the queen card. "I win."
"What?" Clocker took a step back and glanced around. Time was still stopped. The cars weren't moving and he could still feel his ability active. His mind filled with variations of the same question. Who was she? How did she do what he could? What else could she do? He asked dozens of questions all at once. "What's going on?"
"The short version is...," Amber winked at him. "...I get stronger if I kill you. And I get a lot stronger if I do it when you're using your Ability." An intense burning sensation flared up at his feet and by the time he looked down his lower half was covered with blazing flames climbing higher. His legs disintegrated into smoldering ashes and he fell face-first before he could start running. "Sorry, no time to explain it in more detail," Amber giggled. "It's a shame though...," she shook her head as she stared down at him. He blacked out before he heard anything else; but, Amber still finished her thought. "You were kind of a hunk, I hated to kill you."