Who am I?  My name is Crow.
…

What?  You want more?  I wouldn’t.  I’m bad luck, pal.  You might not want to stick around.
…

Still there, eh?  Fine then.  You want to know about me?  Let me tell you about it.
I’m just like you.  It’s not satisfying, knowing that a man who’s wanted for assassination on several continents says he’s just like you, but deal with it.  I do what I do to protect you.  You may not like it, you may not respect it, but face facts: the world isn’t nice, and that’s just what you know.  The parts I know would make you cry home to your mother and never come back.

What do I know that makes it scarier?  If only you knew, if only I’d tell you.  That’s what you want to know.  No, I don’t read minds.  Met someone who did once.  Funny guy.  No, I know because you’re human, like me.  It’s the same reason people watch horror flicks or read scary books.  You want to be scared, but at a safe distance.  It’s fine as long as it’s ‘there’ and not ‘here.’

But what if you were in a horror movie?  What if the monsters were real?  Yah, silly, right?  Or is it?

That’s what I do, what I am.  I fight the monsters.  Of course, to fight monsters, it becomes hard to draw the line.  Where do I become what I fight?  Or am I already the monster?

Don’t know.  Don’t care.  I’m no saint.  I prefer to deal with my prey from a distance.  A mile or so with a high power rifle works nicely.  Not nice, not clean, not pretty, but effective.  And I stay alive.

Hiding?  Never said that.  But cautious…yah, I’m cautious.  I need to be.  I’m dealing with things humanity only remembers as nightmares and superstition.  You’d laugh at me if I mentioned most of them.  Or maybe, if you believed me, you’d just piss your pants.

No, it’s not lies.  I live between your nice, safe world, and the world just past the real.  Call it twilight, if you will: between light and darkness.  It’s past the edge of the map, friend.  Here, there be monsters.

But I have my own tricks.  Monsters aren’t the only ones out there with power.  Yah, immortality is a kick, but I can end that quick.  See, I know how to work magic.
Oh, now you laugh?  Well, screw it, then.  Keep going?  Fine, but hold that giggle, or I’ll punch you, so help me God.

Magic is what makes me different from you.  I don’t know what it is.  I leave that for people with bigger brains and who don’t sleep as much as I do.  I just know it works, and that’s good for me.  I’m good at teleporting.  Faster than flying, safer than walking, and more cost efficient than driving.  And that’s the level in the playing field.  Monsters may have strength, but magic makes me just as dangerous as them.

Alone?  Hell no.  Do I look stupid?  Don’t answer that.  I’ve got allies in this little game.

That guy over there?  He’s about a million years old?  Don’t believe me?  Ask him yourself then.  Be sure to get details on the time he met Plato.  He helps me out a lot.  Crazy bastard knows about a million styles of martial arts, and he can use fire magic to boot.  Nasty stuff, but that’s for another time.  The girl he’s talking to now, the one you were ogling earlier, she’s a little more interesting.  Hey, don’t try to hide it.  She does that, drawing in attention.  It’s natural for her, but then, she’s not entirely human.  Has a little magic worked in her.

These are just the ones who will come drinking with me.  I know some real crazy bastards.  Got one guy who prays to God every day for forgiveness, and spends his nights out killing his own kind.  Then there’s this guy I met a while back who works a smithy, but prefers to use a ripped up piece of cement on a pole to fight.  Don’t believe me?  Maybe I’ll introduce you to him sometime.  He’s a good guy, actually.

‘Why am I telling you this’ is what’s going through your head right now, right?  Well, I’ll put it simply.  You aren’t going to tell anyone.  They’ll just think you’re crazy.  When I walk out that door, I can be in any one of a thousand places anywhere in the world.  Moscow, London, Chicago, Tokyo; they’re all the same to me.  We have laws of secrecy, sure, but what’s the harm?  Besides, I like to break the rules every now and then.  Makes life interesting, don’t you think?
I think it’s time that I left.  Here, take this.  Buy yourself a drink.  It’s on me.  Don’t gamble anytime soon, either.  I am bad luck, that bit was serious, but that’s why I’m named Crow.  I may be hated, I may be feared, and I may do it all to protect some bastards who can’t even return the favor.

But screw it.  I can still fly.