Alcohol & Economics - Something Dangerous - Part 17

In the hours following Deceit’s not exactly restful night, she wouldn’t be able to recall exactly what she dreamt of. The closest she could discern was the caw of a lone raven and the inability to feel warmth. She shook off the feeling of unknowing as the mid-morning wore on, the effects of so little rest quickly taking a toll on her.

She was never a big fan of work in the daylight, a habit she adopted from her mother, but unfortunately her profession of choice was no nine-to-five deal. Deceit nearly always on call, and she enjoyed the freedom most days. Today, however, was not one of those days. She was stuck doing the past month’s worth of paperwork that she’d been avoiding rather artfully. After nearly two hours, she’d decimated the stack of relocation forms that required both her signature and seal. Sighing, she threw yet another dying pen, hitting her subordinate’s peg board with precision. If she excelled in anything, it was definitely throwing things.

“Hey Case, we gotta problem down at the stables.” There was more static in the receiver than usual, but Deceit paid it no notice. She was a bit busy trying to remember which mythical creatures were currently being housed in the stabled, awaiting the nocturnal transport team for one reason or another.

“On my way, Spade.” She didn’t waste time, slipping into her favorite pair of knee high boots. Fashion be damned, they were comfortable and could withstand being used as a werewolf’s chew toy. They weren’t allowed in the office, however. Spade seemed to have an issue with the whole shoe thing, though Deceit couldn’t begin to fathom why.

“It took you long enough,” Spade shot at her with a grin when she arrived. “Finished your makeup?”

“I was busy moving your desk out of my way,” Deceit deadpanned, making Spade frown before pushing her toward a very unhappy pegasus. She ducked quickly to avoid a mass of hooves and wings directed at her, taking a moment to shoot a glare at Spade.

“Rayln noticed a disturbance before she left. This is what I found and it’s your problem now.”

“Y’know,” Deceit caught the coil of rope Spade sent her way. “You should really get over your fear of pegasi.”

“I don’t fear them, okay.” Spade gave her an exasperated look, but took several steps back when one of the pegasus’ wings came within a few feet of him.

“Right, I’m sure you’re just dying to come over here and help me with ‘im.” Deceit took careful, small steps toward the winged horse. “Do you know what set her off?”

“Not a clue.”

“That’s strange,” She managed to get a hold of the reins, and quickly tied one end of the rope to them before throwing the other back toward Spade. Deceit guessed that she’d hit him with it, just by the way he sighed. Oh well, he should’ve just gotten out of her way to begin with. She sidestepped another attempted stomp of hooves. “Keep a good grip on that, she’ll bolt if that door opens and we’ll be fucked if she hits that sky.”

“Sweetheart, I’m pure Native, grip is one of our strong points.” The eloquence in his voice was nearly palpable. Deceit just suppressed an ill-times smile and the urge to punch him into the pegasus’ stall for calling her sweetheart.

“I’m sure-” The rest of her retort died before escaping her throat. There was someone in that stall. A human someone, passed out in the corner. ‘Fuck. Why is it always on my watch that things like this happen?’ Humans were illegal, and she was a part of the High Court. ‘To hell with it, I haven’t done anything too illegal in awhile…”

“Spade, I have good news and bad news for you.”

“Why does that sound like I’m getting the short end of the stick?”

“’Cause you are.”

“Well, fuck, gimme the good news first, at the very least.”

“The good news is that I figured out why…” Deceit struggled to remember the name. She could recall that the winged horse was afraid of humans, but not its name. She’d just signed the form, for Christ’s sake! Then it hit her, hard. “…Rolanda’s having a fit.”

“Okay, and the bad news?”

“You’re going to have to get over your fear of pegasi.”

“Uhm, fuck, waitta second, Deceit, can’t we discuss this over-” Spade tried to reason with her, but Deceit had other plans. She gave a slight tug on the reins. Not hard enough to harm the poor creature, but just enough to signal it to move toward Spade. Sure enough, the closer Rolanda cane to him, the calmer she became… and the more Spade froze, a panic attack looming in his near future. She couldn’t dwell on that, however; she had bigger problems to handle, like illegal aliens. Or in this case, illegal human, as aliens hadn’t made an appearance yet in recent times. Climbing onto the wall of a nearby stall, she jumped into the back of Rolanda’s temporary one- only feet away from the human. Deceit barely registered his ragged appearance or his bright red hair, instead opting to poke him with her boot once, twice, and finally a third time until he began to stir. She could not fathom why this human had thought a pegasus- a creature he should’ve only ever seen in mythology books- was even remotely safe to approach, let alone sleep near. To be fair, pegasi were generally very gentle creatures, but there was no way in hell he should have known that. He didn’t seem to have any sense of self preservation- even for a human.

“What’s your name?” Deceit demanded, poking him once more. When he didn’t answer, she lifted the sleepy teenager from his resting place by his elbow to speed up the process. She preferred using wrists but his height required her to take a different route to attain the whole feet off the ground thing, which in her experience, made answers more forthcoming and generally more truthful.

“W-what?” He stumbled over the word in his half conscious state, not recognizing the woman before him or his surroundings.

“What. Is. Your. Name.” She bit the words out, for Deceit absolutely despised repeating herself, among other things.

“S-sean.” He stuttered, Deceit’s particularly violent look putting him on edge. Just who in the hell was she, anyway? He’d also have to get around to asking what on earth she was; Sean had never known a girl to be able to hold him off the ground for any amount of time, much less one who didn’t so much as blink an eye at the feat.

“’Ciet, you alright over there?”

‘Fuck.’ Deceit growled. She hadn’t expected Spade to regain his voice so quickly, and she was kind of busy breaking some serious fundamental laws of their plain at the moment to deal with him.

“Alright, Human, this is what you’re going to do.” She spoke with a quiet, dangerous tone and he strained to hear her next words. “You are going to stay where I put you and wait for my return. Then you’re going to come with me.” His survival instincts begged to differ.

“Why should I trust you?” She was a stranger with blue hair in an even more foreign environment. He must have been dreaming. He had to be dreaming. It was the only logical explanation that Sean could coax to life in such short notice, but he couldn’t force himself to believe it. This mess or whatever he had unwillingly gotten himself mixed up in this time felt way too real for fantasy.

“You’re a little short on options that don’t include dying.” Sean had to admit that she was right… and nodded in response, partly in fear of the lady before him who was definitely stronger than her small frame let on. “Good,” Without so much as a warning, she grabbed his wrist and tossed him into the neighboring stall behind her, absently hoping that there was hay or something to break his fall. Broken bones were such a nuisance.

“What set her off?” Spade asked as she coaxed Rolanda away from him and back into her unoccupied stall with the promise of fresh radishes.

“I dunno.”

“But you said-”

“I thought I saw something, but I was mistaken.” It wasn’t a complete lie; Deceit had seen something besides the Human. She just couldn’t put a name to it at that moment. She locked Rolanda’s stall and whatever retort Spade was about to say was interrupted by the singing from her back pocket. Or rather, the godly artifact turned cell phone that was in it. After a few moments of fishing out one of Osiris’ Mirrors of Resurrection, she answered the call, fielding thoughts about how strange it was that an unlisted number was calling her of all people. Deceit made a point to keeping track of exactly who had her number.

“Hm. You answered on the third ring.” It just had to be the arrogant stranger from last night. She ground her teeth in attempts to swallow any and all variations of the phrase ‘go fuck yourself’.

“How did you get this number?”

“Oh, that’s not important.”

“What do you want?” Spade, sensing the increasing hostility in her voice, silently excused himself under the pretense of paperwork. He did not want to be around her when her temper finally flared, much less within arm’s reach.

“Such hostility, Deceit. It’s rather hurtful, you know.” He feigned a hurt tine, and she was willing to put money on the possibility of theatrics on the other end.

“At least tell me your name.”

“When you see me again, you’ll know. I’ll be waiting at the same place in half an hour.” The line went dead. ‘Such drama,’ and Deceit had no choice but to be a part of it. Today was shaping up to be such an amazing day, and it was a Monday no less.

“Well, fuck,” Deceit groaned. She was supposed to have a lunch meeting with St. Raph in forty-five minutes, but this guy was not going away… and, on top of that, she kind of had an illegal human to hide. Deceit quickly postponed her lunch with Raph via text and hurried back inside to get her bag.

“You’re leaving already?” Spade gave her a distasteful look as her muddy boots made contact with the white carpet. Deceit made quick work of crossing the room and removing her bag from its newest victim- his leg. She was really going to have to purchase something else for Merci to practice her destructive animation magic on. Her bag already growled and moved on its own, on top of biting ankles and chewing on antique furniture. It couldn’t be healthy for the already battered canvas.

“Lunch with Raph,” She lied. “I’ve got meetings all afternoon; I trust you can handle everything here?”

“Will you be back in time for the night transport?”

“If I’m not, I’ll make sure Rayln or Lux is,” She assured him. “I’ll double check the stables before I go.” He nodded and dug a deck of cards out of his desk as she shut the door. She slipped across the compound to the stables and silently thanked her better judgment for parking in the back.