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  Lupa turned and looked at the other Hunter, fuck, she was pathetic. “Aint my problem. I’m not dating him, but if he actually wanted you maybe he’d do something about it. Get over it, love isn’t a guarantee in life. Take some time off, Brianna, you look like a fucking mess.”

  Lupa didn’t bother to wait for a response, she slammed the door and went back upstairs. What a fucked up few weeks she was having.

  ⃝

  Dameon had left by the time Lupa had woken up again, she’d had a joint to calm herself down and fallen asleep on the couch with the TV on. Dameon had left a note on top of her cigarette packet.

  See you tonight. Don’t stress, Dad’s cool.

  Lupa groaned. She really didn’t feel like seeing people, but hey, she had the whole day to herself. And if she could get through that, she could get through dinner. Besides, Dameon’s Gran was lovely, if his dad made her uncomfortable she could just engage Gran as much as possible.

  Sitting up, she grabbed her notebook off the messy table. First things first, she needed to do some shopping, she only had a few beers and the dregs of some OJ left in the fridge, jotting down a quick list, she went to go get changed. Looking at the mess on the floor she figured she may as well go do her washing too. Great, a fucking domestic day. She sighed and grabbed a t-shirt and jeans to put on, then chucked all her washing in a basket.

  Lupa walked down to the laundromat and shoved all her clothes into the big industrial machine, then she wandered out and headed to the stop-in-mart. Cigarettes. Beer. Vodka. Razors. Juice. Fuck this was boring. Was there anything else she needed? Ugh.

  With her basket loaded up she went to the check out. Lupa paid the sullen looking cashier and walked back up to the laundromat, checking her washing before taking her shopping home. Dropping everything on the floor, she grabbed a six-pack out and headed back to wait for her clothes to finish. She sat on one of the broken chairs and opened a beer, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

  “Mind’n if I have one too hey, hey?”

  She opened her eyes to see her skinny neighbour twitching next to her. “Sure, Janice, here,” she handed over a beer.

  “Thanks, Little Red,” Janice looked around the empty room nervously, “Hey, hey, hey, my boyfriend said he dun seen a wolfblood in his building, hey, hey.”

  Lupa waited patiently, no need to rush. She knew Janice had some… problems. It always took her a while to get things out, but Lupa didn’t mind. Janice was probably really pretty once, but a life of drugs and beatings had killed her looks and her spirit.

  “Mmmhmmm he did, yes,” taking a swig of the beer and fixed her erratic eyes on Lupa, “You come looksy hey, hey? He gets some money for tellings you hey, hey?”

  “You or he would have to file a report, and if he was a wolfblood then yes you would get some money.”

  “No, no, no reports hey, hey. Can you doing it?”

  “Sorry Janice, you won’t get any money if I deal with it off the books and you don’t make any report. I can come have a look if he’s feeling unsafe, but you really need to report it either before or after if he needs some cash.”

  Janice bit her nails and looked around the room some more. Anyone who made a report that ended in a successful wolfblood killing or capturing, got a cash bonus for their information. Many people made false reports hoping that it would lead to something. Sometimes it did, but not often. It wasn’t against the Rule to hunt a wolfblood without a report, Hunters and Protectors still got paid, but anyone who assisted got nothing but a ‘thank you very much, citizen.’ Unless of course a body was involved, then anyone with info got cash, so long as they stuck around to fill out a report, which didn’t happen all the time in Black City.

  “Ok, Little Red, I seein’ whats he wants to do hey, hey.”

  Janice slunk out still drinking her beer. Fucking strange… maybe her boyfriend needed some cash, or owed someone. Whatever. Not Lupa’s problem, at least not yet. Hopefully not at all. The washing machine beeped, she took out the washing and stuffed it into the dryer and sighed. Fucking. Boring.

  Chapter Ten

  “Observe and react accordingly…”

  “Dinner was great last night,” Lupa said, as her and Dameon walked up to Slasher’s front door, “Your Gran has such a way of making people comfortable. And your dad is really nice too.”

  Dameon beamed in spite of himself, he’d been sullen and quiet the whole trip over, despite her best efforts to reassure him that she would be fine. Lupa smiled back at him and then knocked on the door, it was quickly opened by Tank.

  “Come in, guys!” He boomed, patting Dameon on the back and rubbing Lupa’s shoulder in his version of gentle.

  They walked through to the lounge room where Slasher was looking over paperwork. “Hey Little Red, hey Dameon or is it Hawk now?” she raised an eyebrow and grinned. Dameon shrugged, colouring slightly. “Hawk works then, good work Red, I thought he’d end up with something terrible,” she winked at them, “So how was dinner with Mr Baxtor?”

  “Fucking hell,” Lupa rolled her eyes and sat in an armchair, “Awful. Boring. Waste of time. The food was fucking disgusting. So what’s the plan? I suggested to Dameon that I have a text ready to send in case anything feels suss, how do you guys feel about that?”

  Tank nodded curtly from his position leaning against the wall, Slasher looked to him and nodded too. Dameon just stiffened and put that fucking blank look back on his face. Whatever.

  “Tank was thinking of parking up just out of Blackwater, where Hammer’s men won’t know that he is there, but it will only be a couple of minutes away from you; he’s fast when he needs to be.”

  Tank snorted and smiled a little. “Can be there in less if I be needin’, Little Red, if not feelin’ right I be there quick smart, me, Slasher an’ Hawk can come an’ fuck shit up.”

  Dameon seemed to relax a little, not much, but enough to make Lupa relax completely. Good, everyone was satisfied, now she could get the fuck on with it. “Ok. Should I drive down there in my car, Tank? Or come in yours and walk up?”

  “Nah, you be takin’ your car, don’t want you wanderin’ them streets, ey.”

  “Right, well let’s do this then.”

  They all went out to the street, Tank and Slasher went to Tank’s car while Dameon stayed by her side and walked Lupa to her own. “Ok,” Lupa said, “Guess we better get this done, you ok?”

  “I’m ok. Be safe. If there’s anything at all not right, get the fuck outa of there and message us, alright?”

  “Of course.” She gave his hand a squeeze and jumped into her car, waving as she took off and feeling guilty about the excitement in her stomach.

  ⃝

  Maccabee was standing out the front watching the street, walking up to him, Lupa went to explain to him why she was there, but he just opened the door and nodded at her. Hesitantly, she walked in to see a small, very beautiful Asian girl waiting.

  “You must be Little Red?” She said as she stepped closer and shook Lupa’s hand. Small, yes, but still taller than Lupa.

  “Um, yeah that’s me.”

  “I’m Chui,” the girl said, turning and walking to the right, off the main hallway, “Hammer is waiting for you, but I’ll need to search you for weapons first.”

  Lupa stopped. She hadn’t been searched the first time, why the fuck did she need to be searched this time? Chui turned impatiently and waited. “Why-”

  “Because. Are you coming with me, or are you leaving?”

  Lupa sighed and caught up with her, following her to a dim, soft pink room that looked like it was big enough for several women to change in. The rose coloured screens were evidence enough…. Fuck.

  “Put your bag here so I can check for weapons, and you can strip off behind there.”

  Lupa put her bag down, her face burning as she went and stripped off. What a fucking pain in the ass. She bet that Hammer was just doing this to show her who was in control. She already fucking knew, why humiliate her too? Right
. He probably got off on it.

  Stepping out from the behind the changing screen, she chose to stand uncovered and proud. She knew the woman would check her either way, may as well pretend she didn’t give a fuck. But Chui didn’t come over and check her, just handed her a green satin robe, or was it real fucking silk? Then gave Lupa her bag back, minus her knife.

  “You come back here afterwards to dress and get your knife back, go through the door at the back.”

  Chui turned away from her and began folding Lupa’s things. Lupa pulled the soft fabric over her and tied the waist sash, heading for the almost invisible door that matched the walls. What was in store for her this time?

  “Little Red,” Hammer greeted her, getting up off a bed as she entered and sitting on the long lounge running down the wall. “Welcome, welcome, you look rather stunning in that colour, I thought you might.”

  Lupa glanced around the room, it was fucking gorgeous. A big, king bed, beautiful golden wallpaper, and a single rose lamp was lit. She moved her gaze to Hammer, who was dressed in a similar silk robe of deep red. He lit a smoke and patted the spot next to him. With a fake smile she sat down, not too close though.

  “I apologise for the search, but if I have someone entering one of my private rooms then I like to be on equal footing. Thank you for obliging and not deciding to depart.” Taking her hand he kissed it, then let it go and passed her a long cigarette, lighting it.

  “Um, thank you. It was awkward but… well, not too embarrassing.”

  “I doubt you have anything to be embarrassed about, Little Red, you are a young and beautiful woman, you should be proud to show off your body, it will not be youthful forever… or does the wolfblood keep you youthful too?”

  Lupa hesitated, she didn’t really know if the wolfblood in her veins was strong enough to give her longevity or youthfulness. “I have no idea, actually.” She smiled, resisting the urge to batt her eyelashes like she suspected he would like her to.

  “Well, I guess there is only one way to discover if it does, and that is to live your life.” He leaned back, placing his arm along the back of the couch, his fingernails brushing her shoulder. She felt her nipples harden against her will and crossed her arms to cover them. “So, I expect we should organise a day for myself to take you down to the supposed dwelling of the creatures?”

  “That would be really cool, thank you,” she responded, careful to not look him too closely in the eye, why was sitting here like this turning her on so fucking much?

  “Excellent, shall we say… Tuesday at ten am?”

  Lupa pulled out a small notebook from her bag and wrote it in, not that she was likely to forget, but whatever. “That’d be great, thank you, Hammer.”

  “Excellent. Well, we have that out of the way now, so we can sit and get to know each other a little better, I was slightly dissatisfied with our last encounter, but I did not wish to upset your Protector any more than I had already.”

  Fuck, she had hoped this would be a quick meeting and be over and done with. Lupa took another drag of her smoke to stop herself from saying anything. She knew there would be no point, he could easily revoke taking her to this place where they saw the wolfbloods. And then she’d be left with nothing.

  “So, Little Red, would you care for a refreshment?” Hammer stood up, and went over to a beautiful wood and glass cabinet full of a variety of liquors.

  “Uh, sure, thank you. I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

  He raised a delicate well shaped eyebrow and nodded, filling two crystal glasses with a green liquid. Fuck, this guy had it all, didn’t he? Bringing the glass to her, he then returned for his own and the bottle. Fuck. How long was he expecting her to stay here? Shit.

  “Thank you… um, how long did you want me to hang around? It’s just that… well…”

  “Protector Hawk is waiting somewhere for you?” Hammer sounded amused.

  “Yeah, he is,” she took a sip of her drink, damn it was good. “Should I message him or …?”

  “Yes, that would be pertinent, tell him you shall be keeping me company for some time. And that I will send someone to engage them in some delightful conversation.”

  Yeah right. Lupa took another sip and placed her glass on the small table in front of them, messaging Dameon that she was ok but it would take longer than she expected. She half listened as Hammer phoned one of his men to ask them to see how the ‘troops’ were going. Fuck, he probably knew they were all waiting for her signal should anything go wrong. She got a quick response from Dameon. An unimpressed response. She sighed and took another drink, fuck this drink was good.

  “So, Little Red, I have sent Marcus to attended to your Protector, has he responded to you?”

  “Yeah, he’s not happy about it, but at least he won’t worry that you’ve murdered me or something. If you don’t mind I’ll try keep him updated regularly so he doesn’t stress…”

  “If that is what you desire, beautiful witch. Now shall we converse on subjects more pleasant?”

  He wasn’t really asking her, Lupa knew that, he just wanted to distract her. But ah well, she nodded and finished her drink, placing it on the table and pulling out a smoke. She felt warm and at ease now. That drink didn’t taste it, but she suspected it was pretty damn strong. Lupa watched as Hammer finished his and refilled their glasses.

  “So, Little Red wolf witch, tell me more about your power, especially the marvellous display from the evening of your friends passing, I am ever so intrigued by witches and their ways.”

  “I thought you said more pleasant subjects,” she responded guardedly, lifting her eyebrow at him, “Karl’s death, and the events surrounding it, was hardly fucking pleasant.”

  “Of course, but you must understand, I enjoy engaging people about things they love, and I can sense you love your work, I am sure you would also delight in being able to find, and harness, that wonderful gift?”

  Lupa considered him, smiling that damned alluring smile of his, his fingers holding the glass ever so delicately, his nails long and pointed…. Sure, she’d like to fucking know how to fucking blow up wolfbloods, but it just wasn’t a likely possibility. And she knew he’d have no fucking chance of helping her, after all, he was only a drug lord with a small amount of magick in him.

  “Well… yes. But I don’t think it’ll happen. I think it was just an emotional reaction kind of thing, and I don’t plan on having people I care about fucking die each time I need to use it. But…” she peered at him carefully, the arrogant ass would probably enjoy hearing her scores, “I’m pretty strong as it is. I’m the highest scoring Hunter The Organization has had in years. No one else has really come that close. There was one other stronger than me in a few scores the year before I joined the fighting, but she went into the Dark Squad.”

  Lupa took a long drink, yeah, Hammer would fucking like to know a powerful witch owed him. Not that her magick was probably of any use to him, but he seemed like the type that didn’t come across people with power that he couldn’t take from them. And her magick… no one could ever take that from her.

  “How marvellous. I believed you were strong, but my, you are just a wonder!” He finished off his drink and pulled out another one of those long cigarettes, “Beautiful woman, I find you truly fascinating. Have you ever used your magick in sex?”

  Lupa almost spat her drink out, quickly swallowing, coughing and almost chocking. “Excuse me?”

  “Have you ever used-”

  “No, I heard what you said, I just… what?”

  Hammer refilled his glass slowly, and then topped hers up. His fingers brushing against hers. “My mother, not Tank’s mother, we only share the same father, she taught me the magickal ways of her people. She was a witch, but her family was never a part of The Organization. My people used their magick for far more… pleasurable affairs. They accumulated wealth and enchanted many a man to do their bidding. My mother told me that magickal sex was the most delectable thing. And if I ever had the op
portunity to experience such a thing with a powerful witch, that I should take it.”

  Lupa felt her heart beating a little too hard. She had heard tales of witches using their magick to benefit themselves, but it was against The Organization’s Rule. They were told it was because their power was needed to fight the monsters that was ever threatening to take over, and it was a very risky type of magick. She’d never cared much about the idea though. Not when killing wolfbloods was so much damn fun.

  “Have you never used your myriad of powers this way?”

  “No,” she threw back the rest of her drink, feeling warm between her legs, “It’s against Rule to use our powers for our own benefit… as far as we are taught it’s not a… safe magickal use. Whole lot of fuckery that can go with it.”

  “Of course, when not handled correctly, it can have rather adverse effects, but my mother’s knowledge was instilled by previous generations before, I could demonstrate for you if you were ever interested?” Hammer poured them both another drink, still fucking smiling.

  Shit. This was getting too intense. Her phone beeped. Thank fuck. A distraction. “Sorry, Hammer, just let me get this.”

  Lupa pulled her phone out, Dameon again. He wasn’t fucking happy about Marcus being there and wanted to know how much longer she’d be. She responded saying she didn’t know, and he should try stay calm; she was safe.

  “So, is Protector Hawk placated?”

  Lupa laughed, feeling the drunkenness starting to work its way into her. She was enjoying herself in spite of the intense conversation. “Yeah, not too happy about your man finding them. But he’ll be ok.”

  “Can I assist in calming his dragon?”

  “Probably not,” she laughed again, feeling a little apprehensive.

  “And so, would you be interested in learning my ancestor’s ways some time? Or is this ‘Rule’ you speak of, one that cannot be broken?”

  Hesitating, the answer on her tongue was yes, but what exactly were the fucking adverse effects? And did… wait, what the fuck was she thinking? This was a fucking drug dealer for fucks sake. A man she knew nothing about except one side of his bloodline. Fucking hell.