You were so tired. You seemed to always be tired these days but right now you were exhausted. Loretta had you working day and night, but you couldn't complain. You were happy to do it. You were happy to oblige the Cristiano family and Bastard. And the small cash rewards they paid helped keep food in your mouth and a roof over your head.
Tonight had been a rather quiet one. There were a few small disturbances here and there, but otherwise uneventful. Loretta kept you around even when there wasn't much going on, and for that you were grateful. Not only did you find solace in being able to watch over the girls even on a slow night, the work reminded you that you were indeed, needed.
"(f/n), Come quick! It's Ariel. Her client ain't treating her right. He's trying to leave without payment." One of the girls said to you, out of breath. You merely nodded in agreement and followed her.
On the inside, Bastard was a lot bigger than it looked. The upstairs was almost a labyrinth of small rooms side by side, some separated only by worn shoji screen dividers. The place wasn't necessarily falling apart, but it had seen better days. You knew each Bastard mistress by name, knew which room they occupied. The younger woman who'd came to get you was Sienna, and she had since gone back to her own room, knowing you would handle the cheap miscreant set on a futile diner dash. Before you could round the corner of the corridor of the room Ariel occupied, a small, sharp knife made its way into the room, flying past the customers face and coming into contact with the wall beside him. You entered the room, cool and nonchalant, a mane of long, wavy (h/c) hair flowing behind you. As you leaned against the opposing wall, Ariel ripped herself from the man's clutches, and crawled onto the bed beside you, pulling her knees to her chest. The man looked unfamiliar, whether or not he was from Ergastulum, he certainly wasn't a usual.
"Look, I'm gonna let you off with a warning, since I've never seen you around here before." You said, without meeting the man's eyes. You pulled a small throwing knife from your side, using it to pick at the dirt under your nails.
"You gotta be kiddin' me. This is the Cristiano's pathetic excuse for a bodyguard? No wonder there family ain't doing so well. Listen here bitch, I don't take orders from no one. That whore in the corner doesn't deserve to be paid for her services. It's what she does, she ain't good for nothing else. Why should I pay her for opening her legs? Fuckin' whore." The man spat. You rolled your eyes. Every once in a blue moon Bastard would get some joker who thought a girl was good enough to wrap herself around his cock, but wasn't good enough to be paid for her services when the time came. You hated dogs like these. Good for nothing useless pathetic men who could barely pull themselves up by the bootstraps to face their pathetic lives every day yet had the audacity to judge these women for trying to make a decent living.
"Men like you make me sick. And quite frankly I have better things to do than sit here and entertain your ignorance. Just pay up or I'll take my payment from you how I see fit." You said.
"I told you I ain't paying no Bastard whore." The man retaliated. You sighed heavily, moving to stand in front of the bedroom door. "Outta my way." The man sneered, standing in front of you. His face was mere inches away from your own. You could smell the sour bourbon on his breath. You could see the yellow tinge of his teeth and the scars that littered his face. It was easy to see that this man had pissed off countless others, times before. It was then that you averted your eyes and looked past the vile man, noticing Ariel cradling the side of her head. Blood trickled down her forehead. Your body grew hot with anger.
"Oh you really, really shouldn't have done that." You announced through gritted teeth. Before the man was able to protest, you'd thrown a heavy kick into his chest knocking him back into the wall behind him. The throwing knife you previously had in hand was gone, and made a loud thud against the wall. A light cracking sound immediately followed and the man slid to the floor, screaming.
"You crazy bitch!" He yelled, cradling his injured right hand, now one finger short. His pointer finger was pinned to the wall under your blade, small drops of blood seeping where skin and bone detached. Ariel screamed herself, the action scaring her slightly as she pulled herself farther into the corner of the room.
"That was for the doubt and unnecessary name calling." You said, a slow grin stretching across your face. Your (e/c) eyes were bright with the sensation of adrenaline as you bit your lip and crossed the room to approach the man. You grabbed his right arm, flipping him with ease and pulling the bloodied limb behind his back. He screamed in pain once more. "This," you said, grabbing his thumb and easily running another sharp blade across it, severing another digit from his hand as he screamed into the night. "...is for harming Ariel."
The next finger came and went in an instant as you snipped the man's pinky off, a satisfying crunching sound following.
"Agh, please! No more! I'll pay! I'm sorry!" The man yelled, squirming under your hold. The blood from the hand you held sprayed everywhere.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Hey Ariel, how much does this guy owe you?" You said, looking over at the obviously horrified girl in the bed beside you.
"H-he's b-been here awhile. F-four hours h-he's b-been with me." She stuttered out.
"And that's a hundred an hour amiright?" You replied. The girl merely nodded her head. "You heard her. Four hundred dollars you sick fuck. I'm gonna need more collateral." You sneered, grabbing the man's ring finger and ripping it off with another small knife and the final satisfying sound of the digit tugging from the man's body. "Now I'll leave you with your middle finger, a big fuck you to capitalism eh?" You giggled just a bit. "If you'd like to keep that finger and whatever's left of your pathetic life I'd recommend digging the cash outta your pocket right now and getting the hell outta here." The man did as told, struggling to pull his wounded body from the floor with all of the blood loss. You helped haul him up, slapping him on the back. The man threw the wad of money on the bed, pushed you away from him and staggered out of the door.
"Fucking psycho bitch!" He yelled, clutching his severely injured hand as he ran out of the building.
"You alright?" You asked, your foot pressed firmly against the wall as you attempted to pull the sharp knife from it. Ariel nodded her head again, speechless. "Aw c'mon I got you your money didn't I?" You asked, smiling and trying to make light of the situation.
"You didn't have to be so morbid about it." She said, grabbing the cash from the bed and beginning to count it.
"Well where's the fun in that?" You countered, but Ariel sent you a darting glare. You put your hands up in defeat, backing out the door. "I'll go grab you a hot wash cloth, okay?" you offered, and Ariel mumbled a light "Thanks," her eyes refusing to meet your own as she continued to count her money. Can't have any fun around here without upsetting one person or another...