“Agreed upon jobs?” Kaeleth asked warily.

  Lemuria smirked in response and slid into the booth next to the bounty hunter, pushing Jaeger deeper in. Kaeleth stared at the lamia for a moment before turning her gaze to him and staring intensely. Jaeger didn’t enjoy having his business aired, but he didn’t consider it much of a secret.

  “During my last job, I made a deal with the FRC.” Kaeleth didn’t find that enough of an explanation, or so he thought, considering the raised brow and deepening glare. “I offered them my bounty hunting services. I get to pick my jobs, except for one.”

  Kaeleth nodded as he finished before turning to Lemuria.

  “You would use his one mandatory job now?”

  Lemuria gave a low, tittering laugh.

  “Why not? I need this job done, and this way I don’t have to pay anyone.”

  Kaeleth’s expression went blank, and one of her hands slid beneath the table. Lemuria waved her off.

  “What you want isn’t something I have to pay for. Don’t worry, you will still get your reward.”

  Jaeger rapped on the table with his fist, drawing their attention.

  “Can you do this? Do you have the power to call in my job offer? If this is some roundabout way to trick me into working for free, I will kill you.”

  Tension rose as he asked his question and made his declaration; the two listeners' attention locked onto him. Kaeleth had a bloodthirsty smile on her face as her mesmerizing eyes tried to drink from him deeply. While Lemuria simply stared at him, a measured and calculating look on her face. Then she smiled.

  “I see why Melinda and Kaeleth have taken such a liking to you, not many men could resist my magic, and even less could make a threat while in contact with my scales.”

  Jaeger hadn’t paid much attention when her large serpentine form had rubbed against his legs, nor when she’d filled the booth, literally, with her form. Given her size, that wasn’t too surprising. With her words, though he was aware of how much of her was on or against him. He also felt a warmth that seemed to radiate from her, and for a second, he felt like he was floating away. He wanted nothing more than to enter her warm embrace and do whatever she asked.

  Then, like a set of rusted manacles, it broke, and he returned to himself. Her warmth remained, but the intense feelings were gone, leaving nothing but empty promises in their wake.

  “I don’t much appreciate people trying to manipulate my mind. Explain why I shouldn’t leave.”

  Lemuria grinned, her expression losing the jovial seduction she’d been presenting and revealing a cold and hungry predator.

  “What makes you think you can?”

  In response, Jaeger placed the muzzle of her pistol against her chest and filled the gun with his mana; its runes and sigils lighting up.

  “This.”

  Across from them, Kaeleth watched the standoff and didn’t speak. She knew that Jaeger needed to prove himself to the lamia, or the ageless seductress would never stop trying to devour him. She idly wondered what she’d do if he didn’t stop and went through with his threat. She’d seen what that magic weapon of his could do, and while she knew Lemuria was hard to injure, Kaeleth doubted that even the lamia’s defenses would survive unscathed.

  “That’s a fascinating toy you have there, does it do more than light up?”

  Lemuria said in a teasing tone.

  “Yes.”

  Jaeger let the pistol fill up fully, the iconography on it seeming to burn the very air itself as they sat fully saturated.

  “Kaeleth, you should leave. There’s no need for you to get dragged into the aftermath of this.”

  Lemuria laughed.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I don’t plan to hurt Kaeleth; she’s been a good earner.”

  “You’ll be a dead afterthought whose head I take to the guild for a bounty. I’m worried about Kaeleth’s ability to come back to the Black Rose club.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  Something in his tone must have warned the lamia about the danger she was in. Maybe it was the certainty with which he spoke, or the surety of his statement. Something set off her danger sense, and for the first time, she looked at him and his weapon. What she saw almost made her cringe away.

  “By the goddess, what are you, and why would you use such a thing to prove a point?” Lemuria froze, her cold tone dropping to one of confusion.

  Jaeger raised an eyebrow in response.

  “That weapon,” she spat the word. “It is a device of utmost destruction. It’s not something you bring out to make a point, you use it to kill.”

  “Yes.”

  With that simple word, Lemuria found her understanding widening and questions she had answered. She and he had been on been playing two different games. She’d been playing a game of cloak and daggers, threats and tests of power, while he’d been playing with her life, no tests or threats, simply promises.

  “I see why Melinda brought you in. Please put away your weapon, you’ve more than proven yourself to me.” She withdrew her tail from him, still not moving her torso.

  The bounty hunter didn’t move. Kaeleth could practically taste his next move, so she spoke.

  “Jaeger, I brought you here for a job, not to kill my employer. Does your creed not have a rule about this?”

  Sighing, the bounty hunter put away his pistol.

  “It does, but it's more on how to deal with employers who don’t pay.”

  “Consider this a chance to amend your creed, then.”

  He nodded to Kaeleth before turning his attention back to Lemuria, who separated herself from him before speaking.

  “Thank you, dear. Now, as for your original question, the answer is yes, I can call in your job offer. Theoretically, anyone high enough in the gentlemen’s club hierarchy could. Most wouldn’t because calling this in means owing a favor to the Ship Taker. I’m on good enough terms with her where I’m not worried, but if I weren’t, that favor might cost me more than this job would give me.”

  Jaeger nodded as he spoke. It made sense. The contract made no mention of who could call in the job; he’d simply assumed it would be Melinda.

  “Alright then. What’s the job?”

  The lamia gave a wide smile, showing off her fangs.

  “Quite simple really. I need you to kill someone and take back what is mine.”

  “A former compatriot of mine has absconded with something quite precious to me. In his bid to flee my wrath, he also damaged valued property and injured a few of my employees. Normally, I wouldn’t have outsiders, even ones like yourselves, do this, and I’d simply go to his little hideaway and kill everything and everyone there.

  “The problem is that he managed to garner himself a bit of a reputation and endear himself to Duke Chevalia of the Danse Macre Merchantocracy. The duke himself has just enough connections to the FRC that I cannot get my hands dirty; directly, that is. Which is where you two come in.

  “You two are unknown to the wider FRC, so neither the duke nor Jean will be on the lookout for you.”

  Jaeger tapped the table as he spoke.

  “You say we’re unknowns, but you recognized me, and even if we are unknowns, how does that help us kill this guy or avoid the duke’s retaliation?”

  Kaeleth spoke up before Lemuria.

  “The duke is holding a masquerade to celebrate a major deal he is finalizing. People from far and wide have been invited, from other dukes to powerful adventurers. All we need are invites and disguises to get in.”

  “The duke won’t be checking his guests? Because sneaking into a masked event like this never goes as you think it should.”

  “The duke doesn’t care,” Lemuria stated. “These masquerades are full of people sneaking in and conducting nefarious business. It’s a grand game that the Merchantocracy plays. I doubt if half the attendants will be who they say they are.”

  Jaeger pulled out a cigarette.

  “You mind?” The other two shook their heads so he lit it up. “So we’ve got our way in, I’m assuming you’ve got disguises or access to them. I guess the only parts left are identifying Jean and the thing you want. So what do they look like?”

  Lemuria placed a rendered portrait on the table.

  “I had this made. As you can see, Jean is a naga-kin; never trust a naga or their lesser kin. He can change most of his features, hiding most of his naga influence, except his snake eyes and inner arm scales. His eyes are a deep pink, and his inner arm scales are an azure blue. Everything else, aside from his presenting gender, will be a toss-up; he loves to change his appearance.”

  Kaeleth’s brow furrowed as she frowned.

  “He is likely to have a full face mask and arm covers. How are we to find him then?”

  Lemuria stared at the elf with a sickly sweet smile.

  “There are only two things Jean loves, himself and beautiful, powerful elven women. He enjoys debasing them, if he hadn’t been so good at his job I’d have killed him for his reprehensible habits.” She shrugged. “But money talks.”

  Kaeleth’s frown turned to a scowl.

  “So I am to present myself as some piece of meat to garner his attention?”

  Jaeger took a drag and blew it out as he spoke.

  “Nah, you're the decoy before a trap; like a mangler fish’s lantern. If he’s got a lust for powerful and beautiful elven women, you’re bound to be his type. We’ll show up, dance or mingle, and once he sees you, we lead him off to a side room and end him.”

  “Mangler fish?” The two women asked.

  “You don’t have those? Be thankful.” Blowing a ring of smoke out, he described them. “Those mean bastards live in deep, ancient rivers and lakes. They lure things, other fish, people, whatever, to them with their head lanterns, and once you get close enough, they attack, chomping down. They kill more people than you’d expect.”

  “That sounds horrifying. They just live in rivers and lakes? How do you deal with them?” Kaeleth asked.

  Jaeger shrugged.

  “Their ambush predators, so mostly just ignore the light. They make good eating if you catch them, though.”

  Lemuria clapped, drawing their attention back.

  “As interesting as that is, let us focus. Yes, Kaeleth, you are bait. I needed a strong and deadly elven woman to do this job. The fact that I don’t have to pay you money is a bonus.”

  “Kaeleth’s distracted expression returned to a scowl.

  “I don’t like it, but as long as I do not have to let him touch me, I will do this.”

  “No touching required. Although you might have to touch him to find my precious.” She leaned forward and hissed. “The bassstard took Momiko, my orochi.”