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"So where can we find him these days anyway?" Alice asked.

"Probably one of his usual spots."

"Well that's helpful..."

I chuckled and rose, putting my sword through my belt, heading for the door. We both knew the kinds of places where our contact spent his time. The only thing to do now was to get there.

We left the bar and as we stepped from the mouth of the alley the crowds quickly parted. Most people knew that when Alice and I were out together it usually meant Hell would soon follow. A few of the newcomers to the city found themselves stranded in the middle of the streets. Though they quickly followed the others once they saw the look glittering in Alice's eyes.

"Can't take you anywhere..." I muttered as she stared down a rather brutish looking dragonkin. She just laughed playfully and some of the people brave enough to come close to us shuddered.

We made our way through the Heart of the City. Our contact favored false opulence and gaudy baubles. Unfortunately for us, most of those places were at the far side of the Heart from the bar. Alice once claimed she put the bar where it is because she couldn't stand the sort that frequented the restaurant district. "... People so far up themselves they were looking at the back of their eyes." is how she usually described them, when she was in a good mood. Also almost every place in the district had restraining orders on her, probably because of her habit of breaking things when she got bored, and not just objects at that.

Personally I usually settled for simply ignoring such people, unless they gave me a good reason not to. Unfortunately for me, much of my business requires me to deal with the affluent, or at least those that like to think of themselves as such. I never ceased to be surprised by the amount of legitimate information one can get from sifting through the mountains of gossip. All it takes is a few drunken words at a cocktail party or the petty mutterings of the petty and bored to give me just enough of a lead to make things happen.

Along the way to the restaurant district we ended up passing through one of the Heart's many (very) seedy districts areas, this particular one made the alleyway the bar was in look good. Clubs, lounges, and brothels of all sorts lined the streets. Their barkers all shouting the supposed allure of their respective hovels. Alice sneered as we passed one place that claimed to be an extreme BDSM den, she had worked there for less than a week before being fired for excessive cruelty. Hell, she even made the news after she landed several clients in the hospital with everything from sever lacerations to multiple broken bones. The club's bouncer tried to look tough as she met his gaze but his shaking knees gave him away. I simply flicked a quick glance at the bouncer before looking around at the other places, they change so often it can sometime be fun to take a stroll down the block just to see what new kind of depravity was making the rounds. A brothel staffed entirely by succubi sat next to an opium den while a club exclusive to those with multiple sets of arms or legs sat across the street. Next to that was a clinic for getting multiple of just about anything or everything, except heads, they haven't got a good track record when it comes to adding heads. The Sisters had been to the club a few time, they told me it really wasn't anything special. I myself had been to most of these places at one point or another. They're all just fleeting fantasies meant to distract from the trials and tribulations of life. For me they all lost their luster fairly quickly, even when the Heart was new there wasn't much I hadn't done before.

The rest of our walk through the red light district was equally amusing. Given the number of drunk and drugged out people stumbling about, thieves and pickpockets ran rampant though here. One poor bastard tried to pick Alice's pockets, she crushed his hand with as much effort as one would use to crush a potato chip. Another one attempted to grab my blade, he fell back with a pained yelp as the protective spells gave him a vicious shock. Further down the block an angry mob was busy trying to tear down a particularly foul place specializing in things even I would never touch. The clubs security and a private company were trying fruitlessly to push them back. Business as usual along the road to Hell.

The crowd grew still as Alice and I approached, reputations mean a lot here and ours carried plenty of weight. They slowly parted as we walked through the throng only to come back together after we passed.

I couldn't help but laugh as we left the dens of inequity behind.

Alice glanced and me and cocked her head.

"New trends and hellholes come and go but in the end it's still the same old dance." I told her between chuckles.

She shrugged. "That's nothing new, it's always been just a bunch of half-wits that think they can take the extreme but start crying when they get a taste of the real thing." Her lips curled in a half sneer as she thought about some of the clientele that frequented the BDSM den.

"Talking from experience aren't you?"

"Wouldn't you know." she purred, slipping her hand under my shirt and dragging a claw down my spine. I shivered with pleasure as I felt the cold steel bite into my hide. My flesh began to knit back together as soon as she pulled her claw free but it wasn't fast enough to keep a fair amount of blood from running down my back. Quite a few people twisted around to give us odd looks as they noticed the blood staining the back of my shirt and trousers.

A few minutes later we had reached the restaurant that our contact frequented. A steady trickle of people came and went around us. They all wore ill-fitting suits and dresses along with needless amounts of jewelry and other ornaments. One particularly grating example was a wolfkin woman who reeked of exotic perfume and wore a right mind-bender of a dress. It was cut to show off as much fur as possible but at the same time it attempted to maintain a cultured air of sophistication. To top it off she was laden with enough gold and precious stones to bankrupt a small nation.

I faked a coughing fit as she passed, her perfume was utterly foul. That got me a dirty look which I returned with a sly grin, Alice gave her a look that could have melted a hole through steel. The woman's companion tried to come forward all full of blustering outrage but Alice buried her fist in his gut. That ended that pretty quickly. Luckily for him she used her left hand but the blow was still enough to drive him to the ground. If she had used her cybernetic arm they'd have been scraping his organs off the walls. After that the rest of the folk in line gave us plenty of space, well the ones that didn't run off did at any rate. We pushed passed them and into the restaurant proper. The host gave us a rather scathing look. It might have been because of the way we were dressed, it's a classy joint and we were dressed very casually, or more likely because we just scared off most of the lunch crowd.

"Can I help you?" He asked through clenched teeth.

"Nope, we're here to meet someone." I told him while scanning over the dining room. "And it seems he's already here."

We pushed past the host, ignoring his stuttering protests, Alice smiled slyly at him as we went by and he quickly went silent. Our contact was at one of the center tables. A heavy set and well-dressed dragonkin, he wore a suit of only slightly better quality than the rest of the diners, and a few heavy gold rings clung to his fingers. He was currently entertaining a group of guests, a mix of men and women of various kin, all but one of them looked as if they would rather be somewhere else.

He looked up and saw us standing in the background, only a few feet from the table. He stopped in mid gesture, his mouth hanging open. I gave him a cheeky wave while Alice just gave him a wicked grin. After a few seconds he got over the shock.

"Well, fuck." He dismissed his guests and we took their seats.

"That's hardly a way to greet a few old friends." I told him.

"Since when were we friends? Last time I saw the two of you your crazy bitch beat me senseless and left me dangling from a fourth story window." he said indignantly.

"Wasn't hard to do that first part." Alice said, tossing back the bourbon that the person who was originally sitting at her spot had ordered. He glared at her as she tossed the now empty glass to the floor, a passing waitress flinched as it shattered.

"That's all water under the bridge now don't you think? Besides you have you hands in almost every pie in this city..." I let my voice trail off.

"That explains a lot." muttered Alice.

I chose not to follow up on that though the corners of my muzzle curled up into a grin. "and I happen to be in the market." I added after a brief pause.

"Bullshit! After the stunt you two pulled last time you're lucky I'm still talking with either of you." he slammed a fist down on the table, the only thing to rattle was his fork.

"Oh? We're the lucky ones?" Alice asked, leaning forward. The light gleamed on the tips of her steel fangs as she gave him a smile that could curdle milk.

Our contact went still and I could have sworn his scales turned a few shades lighter as his wings quivered.

"Fine... fine! What do you want?" The pitch of his voice did some interesting things as he tried not to panic.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Alice purred. Funny how that noise can be so sexy at times and so disquieting at others.

We talked for nearly a half hour. Turns out our contact was at least somewhat familiar with my client, though not very well. Most of his information concerned the Boy's parents and their company. Apparently they had cut some rather odd deals to get started and to keep their contracts coming. Unfortunately their most recent deals were perfectly normal and the more interesting things they did were far enough into the past to probably not matter, though they'd still be worth looking into if everything else fell through. As for my client himself, the most suspect thing he did was go into work on a Sunday.

By the end of it all I still had very little to go off of and Alice had gotten bored and had snatched a bottle of wine from a nearby table. I sighed and dropped a few bills on to the table as I rose. Our contact seemed relieved we were finally leaving and eagerly snatched up the cash, and thumbed through it. His greedy eyes widened as he saw they were all hundreds. As we left Alice passed the mostly empty wine bottle to the host. "Put it on his tab." she told him, nodding towards our contact.

"So what next?" she asked as we stepped out in to the cool night air.

"Got a few more contacts to try and then we'll have to start getting our hands dirty."

Alice pouted before saying, a

"So who next?"

I sighed, "Just follow me and try not to kill anyone."

"You're no fun." I tried to remember that a drunk Alice was even more dangerous than a sober Alice.

She laughed and it sounded like razor blades rattling around in a crystal glass. I was glad to join her before we set off down the street, working our way towards the business district. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you ask, our walk there was much more uneventful than our trip to the restaurant district. Mostly because it was just a few blocks over. The place we were looking for was an unassuming and very bland looking high-rise tower, it was the kind of thing that was loaned out on a floor by floor basis. And it just so happened the place we were going was near the top. Given my effect on technology it also mean the elevator was out of the question. Alice hopped in any way and gave me a cheery wave as the doors slid shut. I took to the stairs, it was probably the longest part of the walk here. I reached the right floor, floor 13, and found Alice lounging on one of the chairs in the lobby.

"Hello, Mr. Derleth. Is Mr. Nirranen expecting you?" asked the rather chipper secretary.

"No, but I'm here to see him anyway."

"I believe he is free right now, go on back." she hit a button under her desk and a buzzer sounded as the door behind her swung open.

We walked through a maze of sterile whitewashed hallways. I could never figure out why someone like Kouta liked this kind of style, or lack thereof. I had worked with the old wolf before and this was the last place I would have imagined him ending up. He hailed from the northern tribes and had a healthy dose of berserker blood in him. We worked together for a time before he settled down and he was one of the fiercest brawlers I had ever met. I had been here often enough to have memorized exactly where his office was in the mess of identical doors. I knocked and walked in without waiting for a response.

"Alex you old bastard, how the hell you been?!" Kouta called as I entered. Old as he was, he was built like a brick outhouse. Heavy slabs of muscle covered his squat frame and he looked as if he spent his free time head-butting bulls. Faint red markings crisscrossed his pale grey fur and his golden eyes glowed in the stark fluorescent light. He was always cheerful, whether it was while beating down some thugs with their own arms or while enjoying a good drink, it sometimes got annoying.

"Same as always."

"Like that's every going to change, eh. Lucky bastard. So what you need from me today?"

I told him. And he spent some time shuffling through files. His business dealt with money, where it went, where it's going, and what happens to it along the way. If there's been anything involving large amounts of money changing hands he'd know about it. Once again, not the kind of thing I expected from him when I heard he was finally going to settle down.

"Ahh, here we are." he pulled out a pair of reading glasses and began to skim through the small pile of papers. "Let's see, you client's parents paid for him to go to some pretty expensive private schools, even hired a tutor while he was in elementary school. Ivy League college, also covered by his parents. As for his business, hang on, this doesn't add up..."

He made a few quick phone calls and seemed more agitated with each one.

"Well, this is obnoxious. Seems a chunk of his finances simply disappeared around the time he started his business. Most of the money was from loans and some wise investments, all legitimate, however..."

Some more phone calls and a few moments later a middle aged human woman hurried in with another stack of papers.

"Thank you." Kouta quickly flipped through the new stack and came across a few spots that he marked off with a red pen. "Yep, about three months after he started his company a huge portion of the money just vanished. Then, six months later, he received a mysterious donation equal to three times what he lost. You ask me, he and his company isn't quite on the level. And someone's pretty bitter 'bout that."

"So you're saying he put down a lot of money for something that someone was pretty eager to keep of the books? And then once they were done they rewarded him with a pretty penny?"

"Aye. Doubt it was for charity work at that." the old wolf muttered.

"Rarely is, any clue as to who?"

"Not in the slightest but there's only a few people in the city that can move around that much money without anyone making a fuss. And you already know most of them."

"Sadly. Thank again old man."

"Oh shove it, you're over twice my age." He gave a rich, hearty laugh as we left.

Once again Alice took the elevator, leaving me to sprint down the stairs. At least it gave me a few moments to think. This news was certainly unsettling, if whoever moved the cash about did so in a way that no one noticed until this long after the fact then that meant they had more than a fair share of power. Unfortunately most of those people seemed to have made a sport of shooting me on sight. I sighed, something told me this was going to be a lot hard than just finding a pissed off sorcerer and giving them a good whack. Well, no point and standing around in the lobby for the sun to rise. I met Alice at the elevators and we headed back out.

We spent close to an hour wandering the streets while I tried to work out where to go from here. I could tell Alice was thinking just as hard. While we both had a good idea of where to start neither of us wanted to go there without as much information as we could get. Almost in unison our heads snapped up and we traded a glance. Without a word we turned and started back towards the bar. Might as well start with the source. We were half way there when I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand on end. Alice felt it too and silently split off, sliding down a trash choked alley. We were being followed.

I kept going, taking a winding and roundabout path that actually took me away from the bar. After a few minutes I stopped and turned to see a group of six men wearing drab and unassuming clothes, exactly the kind of forgettable look you want for hit men these days. They were mostly dragonkin but there were a few others in the mix as well, standing about half a block behind me. Two of them produced assault rifles from somewhere while another held a talisman in each hand. The rest pulled out everything from knives to bike chains. Sadly they were too stupid to notice two things. First; I had lead them to a residential part of the Heart and there was practically no one around. Second; Alice had circled around behind them and was crouched amongst a cluster of rose bushes, her black clothing blending with the dark stems while the white flowers obscured her face.

"Lovely night for a stroll, isn't it?" I called resting the tip of my sword's scabbard on the ground between my feet.

They didn't answer, you never get good banter from thugs anymore, kinda takes some of the fun away. Instead the two with rifles both fired off a series of short bursts. The bullets caught me a cross the chest and my sword clattered to the ground as I staggered back. I didn't care; I wouldn't be needing it yet anyway. Warm blood dripped slowly from the holes and my nerves sparked and I ran a finger over the wounds. While I was distracted the one with crowbar rushed forward and swung it hard into my gut. I chuckled as I spat up blood. Another blow caught me in the knee and I dropped. The one with the knives jabbed me in side of my neck. I grabbed his hand and pushed the blade further in before wrenching it out with a vicious twist, smiling as I did it. The hardened thug looked somewhat shocked as I licked my blood from the blade, letting the razor sharp edge bite into my tongue. His friend took that moment to hit me across the side of my head with his crowbar and I went down. I could have easily gotten back up but I might as well let them have some fun first. Though who would enjoy it most?

The world went black as their mage shouted a few words and a pair of conjured spikes buried themselves in my eyes. I gasped and trembled from the exquisite pain. The hit men continued their onslaught, bones broke and I was pretty sure several organs burst under the force of their blows. By the time they were done I was pretty sure I was little more than a bloody smear across the pavement. If I could I would have been laughing madly, it's been too long since I've had a good beat down. Though my body was beyond broken by now, I still felt waves of delightful agony washing over me. Alice was still hiding, she would be until I gave her a signal; she knew just how much I enjoyed this.

Thinking their work was done the hit men turned away and I felt their presence being to drift away. Such a shame they were leaving, they'd miss the best part of the show. My shattered and broken bones snapped back together, some of the pieces clattering across the pavement to rejoin their brethren. The eerie sound got attention of some of the hitmen, I sensed a few of them turning around and gasping in shock and horror. Organs and blood slithered over the ground to rejoin my body, like so many serpents gathering around their helpless prey. Muscles and tendons reattached themselves and I rose, picking up the mass of mangled flesh and bone that was once my head. Fibers reached up from my ragged neck and twisted around the tattered strands hanging from the stump, the muscles and veins knitting back together. The world snapped back into view as my eyes regrew. I gave them a deranged smile through torn lips as I picked up my sword, giggling softly as my raw muscles scrapped against the rough pavement. Every movement brought fresh agony and it would continue until my flesh finished regenerating, this was the best time to fight.

"My turn." I rasped through my still ruined throat. I drew the blade with a flourish and the head of the thug closest to me rolled across the ground. The two with guns fumbled with their weapons but they never got a chance to ready them and fire. Alice jumped them from behind and drove her own blade through the head of one. As he went down she drew her handgun and she shot the other twice through the head. The one armed with the chain got himself together enough to catch my sword between the links as I swung for his head. It didn't do him much good, I thrust forward, digging the tip into his throat. As he stumbled back I brought the heavy blade around and took off him clean in half. The one with the crowbar put up a better fight, he managed to defend himself pretty well until I muttered an old and vicious spell. An ugly red glow spread out from the runes carved into the blade and spread slowly across the metal, only to drip like blood to the ground. The enchanted sword sliced cleanly through the crowbar, the man screaming as droplets of the spell splashed onto his flesh and began to burn. I pushed forward, cleanly cutting off chunks of the dragonkin before impaling him through the heart. As the enchanted steel entered his body he let out one final piercing scream as the spell consumed him. A charred skeleton hit the ground and crumbled to ash.

Alice slugged the remaining man across the face, her cybernetic arm could hit with the force of a jackhammer. But she held back; only hitting hard enough to daze him. As he stumbled about she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him off his feet. With the harsh sound of steel on steel, followed by a soft thump, her blade burst through the man's back. She tossed him aside, her arm blade coming lose with a wet pop.

By now most of my skin had grown back. I ran my hands through my blood soaked fur as I casually looked about for my clothes but found that they had been torn to shreds during the assault. I sighed and looked for something clean enough to wipe my blade on. Alice did the same, eventually settling on wiping hers off on her own shirt. I ended up using the shirt of one of the gunmen. Alice looked me over and smiled.

"You seem to have enjoyed that quite a bit."

"Wasn't bad but they lacked a certain..."

"Finesse?"

"I was going to say wickedness, but that too."

We laughed giddily and resumed our trek back to the bar. Well, it seems I've found out enough to make someone want to kill me, or at least try to scare me. Now if only I could figure out who and what.