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A lady never kills and tells....

The door swung wide open in her wake…her body clothed in black on black…the fabric hugging her curves like a second skin…her deep-set emerald eyes reflected the dim light of the bar interior…her sultry lips bore a sullen pout, offset by their rich ox-blood tone…she made her way to the bar proper…Kale happened to look up as she was nearing the end of the journey…his semi-filled bar was suddenly quite sparsely populated….he cursed vehemently under his breath and shook his head…he ran a hand through his shaggy mop of golden brown hair and glanced skyward, silently asking why God would choose to curse him…what the hell had he done in his former life to deserve this….he sighed deeply, letting his eyes fall to face the woman before him as she hitched her hip next to the edge of the bar top, placing her weight on one foot as she tucked the other onto the kick bar underneath…

"Well, well, well,…..Midnite Gracen….to what God-forsaken event do we owe this unconscionable visit from you to….." Kale said, the annoyance aparent in his sarcastic, slightly venomous tone…

"Awwww, now Kale, darlin'…no need to act like a petulant child…I'm just stopping in for a drink…." She purred in her low, Southern drawl…

He snorted…"Uh huh….well forgive me for worrying…you always seem to turn up… like a bad penny…when you're around we all know that the shit is about to hit the fan…"

"Ooooo, Kale…that's downright witty for you…but seriously darlin', no need to panties in a twist…I told you…I'm just here for a drink…." She said, a wicked gleam in her eye…

"Right…and the fact that people just happen to end up dead after meeting up with you is not supposed to worry me at all…" he said, bitterly, almost to himself, but just loud enough on purpose…

She leveled her gaze upon him, her gleaming green eyes boring a hole right through him…she arched one of her perfectly groomed eyebrows at him, showing her annoyance…

He fidgeted uncomfortably and busied himself for the moment cleaning a glass that didn't really need cleaning, all the while mumbling under his breath…he closed his eyes for a moment and willed himself to calm down…when he opened them, he met her gaze with his own…"Fine…what can I get you to drink, ma'am…." he said, a poisonous tone oozing from his every word…

"Double shot of Bourbon…strait up…if you please, darlin'…" she drawled, her temptress eyes never wavering from his…

Kale grumbled and pulled out the good stuff he kept stashed under the bar…he knew better than to offer her the usual drivel he stocked for the customers…he poured her her double shot and then poured one for himself too…he downed it, ending with a grasping breath as the liquid burned like fire down his throat…he poured another and slammed it back with no regard to the coming pain…she eyed his behavior, a slight smirk gracing her full lips…she tipped hers back and clapped the glasses down in front of him with no sign of the burning sensation she ought to be feeling…he sighed and poured her another…she tipped it back, clapping it in front of him once again…he glared at her…a frown creasing his brow deeply…he sighed and shook his head slightly…he filled it up again and watched her tip the glass, letting the liquid spill down the back of her throat, never once showing any sign of the liquid affecting her…this time, when she slammed the glass down, she tipped it upside down…

Kale inhaled and exhaled deeply…he screwed the cap back on the bottle and placed it under the bar…he knew she was done drinking for the night…he grabbed up her glass and busied himself cleaning it and wiping down the bar in front of her, trying to work up the nerve to ask the question burning through his mind…

Trying to sound non-chalant, he said "So….who'd yah kill this time…?"

Her gaze met his…a terrible fire blazed within her emerald eyes…a wicked smile slowly played across her lips…she stood, turned and walked toward the door…her body shifting and swaying in a motion that could rival a viper's path across sand….she stopped at the door, swiveling her tantalizing form around to face him, her hips and chest standing out provocatively as she struck a pose with practiced ease and grace to best show off her assets…She stood silently for a beat longer than necessary before she answered him…"Now now, Kale darlin'….a lady...never kills and tells…." She purred…her low voice rippling through the short distance between them…the tone sounding positively indecent when pouring from her pouting mouth…she winked at him, her jester's grin still wickedly perched on the her ox-blood stained lips as she turned and left the way she'd come in…Kale stood behind the bar…hands palm down on the bar top to brace himself against falling due to the shaking in his knees… he drew quick, panicked breaths, thanking God silently that she was gone…he'd seen a lot of terrible, crazy things in his life…but he'd be damned if that woman didn't scare him more than all of it combined…

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