Just Another Day at the Office {Open}

[Bael]

“Well, it's one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, cat, go.

But don't you step on my blue suede shoes.
You can do anything but lay off of my Blue suede shoes.

Well, you can knock me down,
Step in my face,
Slander my name
All over the place.

Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Honey, lay off of my shoes
Don't you step on my Blue suede shoes.
Well you can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

You can burn my house,
Steal my car,
Drink my liquor
From an old fruit jar.

Do anything that you want to do, but uh-uh,
Honey, lay off of my shoes”

There was something about a 7 feet tall demon wearing an overcoat, hat and scarf to hide his red skin singing Elvis Presley songs while taking a stroll in a cemetery at 4 am in the morning that broke through his usual scary and intimidating façade. But at this time should be was no one to witness that, what was a good thing because it was unlikely that anyone would hire him as a bounty-hunter if they thought he was a care bear, he would have to go around killing people if they started saying stuff like that about him.

“Don't you step on my blue suede shoes.
Well you can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

Well, it's one for the money,
Two for the show,
Three to get ready,
Now go, go, go.”

He was on the trail of bear shifter, a bad ass dude who was wanted by snacking on the occasional human and leaving the remains where anyone could see. Nasty stuff, not to mention he had annoyed a certain shifter with money on his pockets that didn’t want people to know about their existence. But for Bael, eating people was just downright disgusting.

“But don’t you step on my blue suede shoes,
Well you can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.

Well it's a blue blue blue suede shoes
Blue blue blue suede shoes…”

His nose started itching, and there was, he started to sneeze. “Oh crappy!”

A gigantic paw smacked him on the side of his chest, hurling all across the other side of the cemetery, his back smashing through several tombstones along the way before coming to a sudden stop as he crossed the cemetery gates and into the streets. One big fist came to wipe the blood from his mouth and he groaned pushing back to his feet. “No freaking respect for the King? Now I’m mad!”

As the gargantuan bear came at him again, his fist swing around hitting the shifter square in the jaw, leaving the creature to stumble and fall to the floor. Reaching for the bear’s feet, Bael raised the creature from the ground as if it was weightless only to smash it again violently against the ground…again and again, before he was forced to toss him away and started sneezing. “Jeez!”

When a furious growl sounded and the floor started shaking as the massive beast rushed towards him, the demon produced a large pistol from underneath his coat and smirked to the shifter as he aimed. “Come get some!”

Squeezing the trigger, he let the silver bullet soar and with a guttural scream form the shifter, Bael watched the creature become lifeless. However it was too close for him to avoid the impact that send him flying violently against a parked car across the street. When the world stopped spinning, Bael was alright…but the car wasn’t.

“Ouch! I hope the owner has insurance!”

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

Foxy had been tracking the vampires for a few days. After getting the lowdown from an old hunting acquaintance (who was too banged up to hunt at the moment) she’d discovered that a few of their females worked at a place called the Coven; a stripper joint that seemed to attract the supernatural sort like flies to crap. The bloodsuckers were using their bodies to lure the ‘johns’ back to their den with promises of something more than a lap dance, and leading them straight to the males hungry mouths.

Men were so stupid. Didn’t they know all the chicks that worked as strippers were lesbians?

Still, Memphis had leapt at the chance to get dressed up in one of her favorite get-ups. The school girl uniform was sexy as hell; a red and blue plaid skirt hung just beneath her bottom, exposing little white boy shorts if she bent even just a little. The top was a plain white button-down, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, tied at her middle and left open at the top so her white lacy bra played peek-a-boo. The shoes were the cherry on top though. Seven inch high black pole dancer platforms made to look like Mary-Janes with little white lacy socks with teeny black bows on the ankles. No one would even notice the black leather backpack she wore (which held her silver Sais). They went right along with the costume. Her dark locks were pulled underneath a bright red wig, which she’d carefully pinned into pigtails to keep it out of her face.

Did she look smokin’ hot? Yeah.
Could she kick some vampire butt in this outfit? Hell yeah.

Slipping past the bouncers at the door, the huntress gave them a playful wave; pretending that she fit right in here. Memphis wasn’t surprised when they let her go right to the back, even though she wasn’t familiar to them. The turn around with girls in this business was like a revolving door. When one left, another was right behind to take her place.

She made nice with the other girls in the dressing room, not wanting to stir the pot before the real action began, and peeked through one of the curtains that gave her full view to the stage area, the dance floor, and the bar.

She’d been tipped off that at least one of the bartenders was a leech too, and when her eye caught on a pretty brunette that matched the description, the huntress knew the fun was about to begin.

Memphis backed up a step to exit the dressing room and moved to make her way to a corner where she could lay low until the tick took a break or whatever, but as soon as she turned around a pale faced gentleman with mean eyes grabbed her by the wrist.

“Where ya’ goin’ Tootsie?” he asked with a hint of contemptuousness. “Don’t you know the new girls gotta’ go on before the senor girls can do their thing?” With that he dragged her towards another curtain that lead out to a small side stage with a shiny black pole. He pushed her forward, slapping her on the rear as she was hit in the face by a bright white spotlight. “Show us whatcha got Britney!” He called, and the music started; Britney Spears ‘Hit Me Baby’...

At first Foxy was all deer in the headlights; a bit staggered by the sudden performance she’d been forced into. After a moment she was calmer, moving over to the pole with a deliberate slowness. She’d been a dancer before and she was a hunter. She could do this. She could do anything.

Working the pole in time with the music, Memphis kept her gaze focused on the vampire bartender and some muscle-head she was keeping time with. Hell, maybe the guy would get lucky. Maybe she would save his life.

She tracked them to the dance floor, making sure not to be too obvious about it, thankful when the song ended just in time to see the bartender led the musclehead away with a suggestive wiggle of her finger.

Hopping off the stage she made her outside to follow them. It was still a few hours until sunrise, and thus, the sky was pitch black and the streets were deserted.
Memphis found the pair in the back alley behind the strip club; the male pressed up against the damp brick wall as the leech made a meal of his neck.

Sneaking up on them with practiced ease, Memphis fisted her hand in the vampire’s hair and drew her head back away from the male. A hiss escaped from her fanged mouth, but was silenced as Foxy’s steel blade came across the throat in one swift motion.

The tick was dead, but the man, woozy from loss of blood but still coherent enough that he knew the situation was fucked up, staggered towards her with anger in his eyes.
One swift blow to the nose put him on the ground and out of her hair. She clicked her tongue impatiently, bending to one knee so that she could rub a bit of the seeping vampire blood over her fingers. Memphis then rubbed the crimson onto the human’s wound, proficiently sealing the gash so the male wouldn’t bleed out and die.

With a heavy heave the huntress picked up the body of the dead leech and threw it over her shoulder. It was only a few blocks to the cemetery, where she figured she could dump the leech into a tomb so that it wouldn’t be discovered.

Memphis was only human, so by the time that deed was done, she sagged resignedly against a large marble tombstone.
Taking in heavy lungfuls of air the huntress tried to gather enough strength to make it back to her bike outside of the club.

It was then that she heard a commotion at the front of the graveyard. Seizing all the will she had left the woman pulled herself up and sprinted towards the sound; skidding to a halt at the sight of a huge red demon discharging a mini cannon sized bullet into the body of a bear. The charge sent the demon flying, and when he landed on top of a car, Memphis pursed; pulling both Sais from backpack and crouching down defensively as she pointed them at the creature.

“Make a move big red, and I’ll cut your freakin' paws off. I may be small, but I’m fast, and I’ll detach them from your body before you have a chance to aim. Now drop the gun on the ground. Now.”

{ sorry its a book >.< First post here with her, so I thought she needed a bit of intro xD }

[Bael]

There was something about 5’10 foot stripper dressed as a schoolgirl pointing a pairs of sai to him that seemed off. Shouldn’t she be dancing into a pole or something? And shouldn’t he be drooling at those long legs of hers instead of looking at a pair of shiny toothpicks? Giving her an annoyed glance, he shrugged and nodded. “Ok,” he said ad tossed his pistol to her.

While the large pistol flew towards the woman, Bael rushed to her and slammed his 7’ body into hers. Picking the sai, he looked at her and rolled his eyes. “Thanks, I had chicken for dinner and I still have some between my teeth.”

Using the small oriental swords as a toothpick, he then tossed it to the ground next her. “Thanks lady, that’s better.”

What? Just because he was hunky and red he was evil? Pffft. Didn’t he used the electrical sander on his horns this morning to keep them trimmed and fit in looking less devilish? Come on, why couldn’t she simply confuse him for a big red pole and started dancing instead?

“I don’t get paid for sending you to stripper heaven…”

“Stripper heaven”, he repeated his own words and wasted a few seconds thinking about what those words implied. There was a stripper heaven? Man! If he died, he wanted to go there. “Oh, sorry, what was I saying? I kind of got distracted for a bit…oh right, you’re not in my ‘to do’ list…uh I mean, ‘to kill’.” Great, would he sound like a horny demon now due to a bad choice of words? How classy.

“So why don’t you skip back to the Japanese anime land? I’ve got a cheque to collect.”

Pulling a cigar from his coat pocket, he placed upon his lips and lighted it.


_{(Let me know if that works, otherwise I can change it. I just can't see Bael simply standing there and doing a monologue.)}

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

For a moment Foxy’s lips were drawing up into a familiar smirk; the beast was giving in without a fight. She didn’t think it would be so easy. The creature was massive as a building with skin the color of blood and though his horns were filed down he looked as frightening as Lucifer the Prince of hell himself.
But the human was not so easily frightened. Her day to day job was nothing short of a suicide mission and since the murder of her mother at the hands of a blood sucking vampire, she’d gotten just as used to the idea of things that went bump in the night going bump in the middle of the afternoon too.
Nothing surprised her.

...Save the creature tossing the weapon at her and then moving as swift as a shadow to knock her on the ground.

Foxy cursed as the air was knocked out of her lungs. For a moment all she could see was stars and her head spun in circles of disorientation. The huntress leaned back on her arms and took a few deep breaths in and out; one red platform shoe landing a couple of yards away and the pig-tailed wig sitting askance on her crown of russet hair. When she finally regained her sense of balance, she shook her head to clear the remaining haze and narrowed dark eyes on the beast.

Oh no he didn’t.

“If you even think about sticking those near your gnarly teeth I’m going to kick you in the balls so hard you’ll be pulling them up out of your throat tomorrow.” Memphis told him through gritted teeth and then added spitefully. “If your kind even -has- balls.”

She pulled herself up to standing and ripped the wig off her head, shaking out the messy russet inverted bob that was much longer in the front than in the back. With a toss over her shoulder the red hair went flying backwards to land on an unadorned gravestone, and she stalked with a rough limp to retrieve the stacked heel she had lost in the assault.
Shoving the shoe back onto her foot Memphis gasped and then growled as the demon
actually did use the sais as a toothpick, and the huntress scowled as she crossed her arms over her slight chest.

“You fuck. What the hell do you mean you don’t get paid? What the hell are you up to here? What were you doing with that bear and don’t tell me its hunting season ‘cause I know it ain’t that time of year and this ain’t the Smoky Mountains.”

She took a few unintimidated steps toward him, hands still crossed, and the glower still present on her face as he fumbled over words that were more fitting for a human playboy, a fine dark eyebrow arching dubiously over her chocolate eyes.

“Anime? Are you freaking kidding me? Do I have stars in my big eyes and a stick up my ass? What do you mean cheque? God help me if you’re here to collect human souls for that Brimstone sucker I’m sending you right back down to the pits.”

With that she pulled a concealed pistol from the waistband of her skirt and aimed it right at his head. She’d never taken down one of satan’s henchmen, but everyday was a new day, no?

[Bael]

Taking a drag of his cigar, Bael watched the spunky woman and held back a laugh. Man, she was pissed! She would probably make a lot of big guys scream for their mommy…that is, unless the big guy was a 7 foot badass bounty hunter demon with lots of attitude. Heck, he had faced things twice his own size and didn’t even bat an eye, but kudos for her attitude. Most people was all ‘Ahh don’t kill me!’ but she stood her ground and acted bitchy, got to respect that.

“Aren’t you a regular ray and sunshine lady?” he asked her and pulled his cigar between two fingers.

No on the hunting season excuse? Damn, there goes his line. “No…no star in your eyes. You mind twirling around so I can check the detail about your ass?” he added with a twirling motion of his wrist, “No? What a shame.”

Shrugging, he took another long drag of his cigar. Ah Cuban, that was the best.

“And what would I do with a used soul anyway? Geez, did you ever ask before you start threatening people? At all? Just because I look this good I have to be sinful? Come on! I was paid to bring down Yogi there because he was taking midnight snacks out of nice people. What do you know? It was hunting season!”

Giving a chuckle, Bael shook his head. What was a stripper ninja wannabe doing meddling with his business anyways? That was plain prejudice to assume that just because he was a demon he was up to no good and he had no patience for those types. It was enough with some people throwing holy water at him and expecting him to sizzle like a steak in the grill, really, the nerve of some people!

“Are you serious? You’re going to point that pea-shooter at me?” speaking with an annoyed tone, Bael took another long drag of his cigar and leaned down and brought his face closer to hers. “You better put that down before I make you eat it,” he continued and blew the smoke into her face.

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

Memphis arched an eyebrow, still holding her gun at the ready as she planted a hand on her cocked hip. A smirk ghosted across her face as he commented on her very non sunny attitude, but what the hell did she care? The woman hunted things like him for shits and giggles, not to mention the big plate of vengeance that she feasted on every night before saying prayers to a god she didn’t believe in and then closing her eyes to monster filled dreams. So what if he had a somewhat sardonic sense of humor that she found quite amusing. He was a demon, plain and simple. Demons weren’t good; at least she’d never known one to be.

At his fleeting request that she twirl so he could check her rear, the huntress’ mouth dropped at the sheer pluck he had while a weapon, albeit a ‘peashooter’ was aimed at his testicles.
It dropped even wider and her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates as he continued on with his tantrum about being discriminated against and how he’d actually been paid to take the rabid creature down. Huhn. He was a bounty hunter? A demon bounty hunter that got paid to take down the nasties? Memphis suddenly had an epiphany.

Before she got a chance to inquire more on his employer, the big thug blew a heavy puff of thick cigar smoke into her face. It was a nice spicy smell despite the tickle it caused her throat, but she choked on it, waving a hand in front of her nose to clear the smog.

“You shit!” Memphis cursed and unconcerned about the fact he was big enough to bite her head clean off her neck, she stood up on tip-toes to push roughly at his shoulder. “Did you know that second hand smoke kills more than 3800 people each year in the United States alone!”
She coughed again to make her point and then tucked her revolver back into the waist band of her skirt.

Letting her eyes wander over the large red male, Memphis remembered her epiphany and was more concerned with getting that info than arguing the dangers of cigarette smoke since she smoked herself, a lot. She crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head at him.
“So…you’re a death dealer, like me.” She said in a tone that was more statement than question, and then nodded her head in approval. “So you get paid to off the evil fuckers? Who’s your boss? Does Satan pay real well?”

She had to laugh at the latter question, surprised at her own curiosity. What the hell was she thinking considering working for the prince of hell for a little cash on the side? No way in…pardon the pun, but no way in hell would she ever stoop that low.
Before the demon even had a chance to answer she was moving quickly towards the carcass of the dead bear shifter. The huntress looked over her shoulder at Red as she went with a curious grin on her face. “I wanna’ see what kinda’ hole that cannon leaves in a shifter…”

[Bael]

She was sure she wasn’t from Japanese anime land? Because it seemed her eyes were about to fall off her head anytime now and he had to fight hard to hold back his laughter. He loved to see the face of the smartasses that pointed fingers at him and went all ‘Aaaaaah! A demon!’. Granted she pointed a gun and had way nicer legs than the average, but still.

When she threw a temper tantrum at him because of blowing his cigar in her face, the corners of his lips trembled faintly as he held back a laughter. The stripper had spunk, he liked that. And some brains because she pulled the gun down, good because even if it was a peashooter the thought of a bullet in the family jewels didn’t please him at all.

Pulling his cigar into between two fingers he glanced at it. “Guess what, my cigar is more lethal than that peashooter than yours!” he said and placed the cigar back into his lips for along long drag.

And then she started asking questions about the big boss downstairs. Well, he couldn’t really say about the Devil accounting books because he didn’t really worked for him. She had called him a ‘death dealer’, it wasn’t a tremendously accurate term since sometimes he was paid to bring targets alive, but he always had to pick his targets. Bael tried to make a point of not going after innocents for evil dudes, he didn’t need that on his conscience.

Before he opened his mouth to speak however, she walked towards Yogi and grinned before checking the big hole he had carved on the shifter. “Lady, you like to look at blood and guts? You freak me out! What happened to the nice sexy strippers that danced at poles? When did you girls start to carry sais and guns? I got to say, I think that is kind of hot...what the hell is wrong with me?”

Leaning down, he reclaimed his pistol and placed it securely on the interior of his coat and let the girl do her thing. What you know…she didn’t have a stick up her ass, but it was a definitively a nice ass. Would the stripper take credit cards if he asked for a dance?

“Yeah, I’m a bounty hunter. Lots of types pay me for jobs, but I only work for the good…errr, the guys that aren’t after innocents. I can’t say how much the Devil pays because we aren’t really at speaking terms…you know how daddy’s are, they have all this future planned for their sons…want them to be doctors, politicians? Well, he wanted me to destroy the world and I found out that it wasn’t really my thing so I fled home, came to the big city and became a bounty-hunter. But enough about how awesome I am, why don’t you tell me what kind of weird stripper you are…and most importantly…do you take credit cards for lap dances?”

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

Memphis was immune to the blood and the guts; of course she was. First of all, she’d been a fan of horror flicks for as long as she could remember even though her mama would get onto her ass when she got caught watching them. Second of all, since she caught a blood-sucking vampire draining the life out of her mother, she’d taken to the role of hunter like a fly on shit. She loved it. It got her all hot and bothered, and helped her escape the reality of her shitty life. All she needed was her iPod and her fists, maybe a cigarette after the deed was done, and she was happy as a clam.

For the Vegas girl, seeing the mess the mini cannon had made of the were-fucker was like getting the end of a good fight scene in a bad movie. Especially since the red devil had clued her into how this particular were-fucker had been making happy meals out of good people. Damn. Where could she get a gun like that?!

Foxy arched a dark brow when the big guy started talking about the ‘good ole’ days’ when exotic dancers dry humped poles instead of toting around big blades, but when he confessed that it turned him on, the huntress let out a sardonic snort.

“Okay, Red, lets get this straight first. I’m not really a stripper, so no, there wont be any lap dances, but I’d gladly take that credit card off your hands ‘cause mama could use a new pair of shoes to go with a brand new gun like the one you got there…” Memphis pushed her messy hair out of her face and then crossed her arms over her cleavage to keep his gaze directed at her face. “When I said a Death Dealer, I meant I was like you…I go hunting around for all the squishy, nasty, or sometimes furry things that go bump in the night, and put a bullet between their eyes before they can do any harm to those nice people you’re so fond of.”

She pursed her lips and let her eyes wander up and down Big, Red, and Horny-- well, sort of horny since his ‘horns’ were sanded down to blunt edges, and lifted a brow in interest. “Thing is…my sort of hunting doesn’t come with a pay check. I do it out of the goodness of my heart.” The latter three words were said with a phony saccharine accent as to express there was no real truth in it. She didn’t do it out of goodness, kindness, or heart, but selfishness and the need for retribution.

“What I’d like is the name of your employer so maybe -I- can get in on this bounty for duty thing.” Memphis gave him another once over, tilting her head in curiosity. “So…what do you think?”

[Bael]

Tilting his head as she spoke, Bael made a ‘no-no’ motion with his finger. “Sorry sweet cheeks, but no work no pay. And this one here,” he patted the side of this coat where his pistol was safely tucked inside, “Is a custom made beauty, one of a kind, so you won’t find another one laying around in the nearest gun shop.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, he kept eyeing her.

“And nope, I don’t go around hunting every ugly bastard out there, only the ones that I get paid for and those who piss me off. If you want charity, go seek a priest.”

He acted more though and uncaring that he really was, truth was he was a softy inside and did help those in need. But that wouldn’t do if people that actually hired him knew that a sad history might sway him. So he had to act like the cold bastard, it made more people shake in their boots that way, so why don’t keep it that way?

A smile appeared in his lips when he heard her speak that she wanted in the wonderful business of getting paid to kick ass. It was good for the soul, and helped take off his frustrations…just ask the dead Yogi there with a rocket sized hole in his chest.

“What I think? That you’d get eaten up. You jumped the gun on me even before you knew what was going on…you pull your gun at any good looking chap that cross your way? Because some of the paying customers look way worse than the ones they want you to hunt. Once I worked for a seven-headed demoness…seven heads that only a blind pit demon mommy could love. And she came on to me…only the idea still gives me nightmares sometimes.”

Truth was, he was worried that she would actually get eaten. It wasn’t the safest line of work out there.

Leaning down, he picked a rock in his large hand. “Tell you what grasshopper, you take that rock out of my hand and I might feel more talkative AND if you can actually do so, I want ten percent of your first five paychecks.”

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

Memphis’ dark eyes narrowed in skepticism as the big red finger wagged in front of her like she was a little fat kid with her hand in the cookie jar and crumbs all over her face.
Smirking, she gave a little nod in mock understanding, though now that she’d seen the ‘baby’ it wasn’t likely the gun would remain one of a kind for very long.
As a huntress with all sorts of connections, namely ones that produced her other off the wall weapons, she would most certainly be sniffing around to find the fortunate sucker that would reproduce the firearm like the one he was keeping hidden inside his coat pocket.

The hunter nodded her head once again when he confessed he only killed for the paycheck or when some unlucky son-of-a-bitch pissed him off, thinking that she definitely didn’t want to get on this guy’s bad side. He seemed decent enough now that she’d gotten past his likeness to the Prince of Darkness, but he was hella’ big and Fox imaged that huge fist could knock her head clean off her neck. Damn. What a mental picture.

When Big Red laughed in Memphis' face and told her she’d get eaten up, the huntress drew in a deep breath and balled her hands into fists. She really REALLY hated it when people formed the impression that she couldn’t handle her business. Fine, okay, so maybe she had offed a few weres that didn’t deserve it, and she’d almost sliced off a think chunk from the demons ass, but hey, everyone screwed up now and then, didn’t they?!

So the challenge was on. Foxy eyed the rock, ignoring the remark about ten percent of her pay for the moment, trying to get a hold on her desire to throttle him for the ‘get eaten’ comment.
With deliberate slowness, Memphis tilted her head to observe him; coffee colored eyes going back and forth from the stone in his hand to his smarmy expression. She pulled a soft pack of Marlboro's from her pocket and tugged one out with her lips, retrieving a silver Zippo from her cleavage to light it up. Memphis took a long pull and blew the smoke out of the side of her mouth, and then several more drags as if his time meant nothing to her.

Finally, she flicked the cigarette on the ground and crushed it with the toe of her stripper shoe, glancing back up at the demon with a sly grin.
Her hands went up to her white button-down shirt just below the curve of her breasts, and with the practiced ease of an exotic dancer Fox tugged the shirt apart to show off her goodies.

Yeah, it was shameless. Who gave a fuck? While his eyes were bugging out of his big red head and focused on the cookies, Memphis dove for the rock, taking it easily from his outstretched palm. She waggled her brows in amusement at the surprised expression on his face. “So, ten percent huh? Can we negotiate this Red?” Memphis asked with a hand on her hip and a satisfied smile on her lips.

(( I know I kind moved him, with the ogling and all that…but hey, she’s damn sexy and he’s well…he’s male. If you don’t like this I can totally change it. Just let me know. xD ))

[Bael]

Come on, he would be checking his wrist watch by now if he carried one. Was she going for boring him to death? Because he had a paycheck to collect on Yogi over there and then some left over pasta waiting for him in the fridge. So if she wasn’t going to make a move or shake her little cute booty for a dance he would just…

Talk about instant distraction.

His eyes went twice their size when he watched her open her shirt and expose her breasts to him. Crap, what he was thinking about? He couldn’t quite remember nor stop that foolish smile that appeared on his lips. Damn, that was freaking sweet…

And while he was ogling her, the stone left his hands.

With a frown, he glared at her. “Hey! You cheated!” there was a certain tone of annoyance in his voice, of someone who doesn’t like to be bested but then a lazy smirk came back to grace his lips. “Nice, you can improvise at least.”

When she next spoke he tilted his head a little to the side. “Uh, maybe if you show me these again…” and then he coughed and regained his composure, “I mean NO! Not even then, be happy I don’t raise it to fifteen percent because you cheated!”

Rolling his eyes, he couldn’t prevent an amused expression to show up in his face.

“Tell you what, help me get Yogi there into my car trunk and we will collect my paycheck and I will introduce you to my contractor and you can see if he has any beginner jobs for you. Or, if you want the big bucks, you can come with me and have a beer and some great leftover pasta while we wait a phone call from one of my contacts. She says she has a high paying job for me and you can prove you can handle yourself in a team work. Since you’re a beginner, I would give you 30% of the pay.” – careful, or if she was smart she’d notice his nice side was showing -

Bael was trying to get her to work with him on a job to see if she could do it without killing herself and if things got too dangerous, he would be her best hope of walking out in one piece.

[Memphis Gracie Fox]

Memphis pulled her shirt back over her ‘goodies’ and untied the knot at her stomach so she could begin buttoning it up from the bottom. Now that her identity was out of the bag there was no reason to keep up the stripper persona, and so she fastened the cotton shirt up and left it untucked to hang half way down the short plaid skirt. What she wouldn’t give for her comfy motorcycle boots right now. Her feet were hurting something fierce!

Tossing the rock up into the air with a smirk, Memphis shook her head in disagreement. “I don’t follow the rules Red, and who says there are rules anyway. I didn’t cheat, just played dirty. That’s different.” Foxy replied and tucked the stone into the pocket of her skirt. A little snort of approval escaped her at the comment that followed, and she nodded in agreement. Improvision was her middle name.

She bent to pull up one of her knee socks that had begun to sag a little, pausing when he threatened to raise his share to thirty percent. No fucking way. She’d been hunting way too long and was too damned good to let someone take money that she earned out of her pocket as easily as snatching a lollipop from a toddler.
When she straightened it was with a relieved sigh that she found the playful expression on his face. He was joking. Okay. Get a sense of humor, Foxy.

The second deal seemed a better one to the huntress, and for now she chose to ignore the ‘beginner’ remark. All it would take was seeing her in action and the demon would find out she was no apprentice at the hunting game, but an all out expert. Besides, she was hungry and a beer sounded real good; free meals were her favorite. The lint in her pocket wasn’t about to put rations in her belly.

The big demon wasn’t so bad after all. Surprising as it was the huntress kinda’ liked him; stupid smarmy grin and attitude and to boot.

“You got a deal Big Red. Is it okay if I call you Big Red?” Memphis held out her hand with a playful grin and pitched her thumb toward the dead bear. “But you get the rear end. I think he shit himself when you shot him…”

(( And…I think we can fade out here? Pm BTW!! ))