The sun finally set, and the moon rose up into the heavily clouded sky. "Looks like it's gonna rain." Sam peered out the window. Amber played with her hair, wrapping it around her finger, "That makes this even more interesting." She said sarcastically. Sock had nodded off and was lightly snoring. His mouth open, with a string of drool trickling from the corner of his lip. "Sock, get up!" Amber smacked him on the thigh, making him jolt up, "Mommy?" He squealed and looked around, half asleep and smacking his lips. "No, stake out." Sam laughed.
Only about 10 minutes later, a shadowed figure came into sight, walking up the front yard of Amelia Taint's house. "Hey, look!" Amber whispered and patted Sam on the shoulder, pointing at the figure. "Get the vessel!" She nearly shouted. Sam reached under his seat and pulled out the BB gun. "This is your job, Amber. Go kick some soul ass." He handed her the gun and smiled. "Oh joy." Amber took the gun and quietly stepped out of the car. She hesitated back toward Sam. He waved his hands to shoo her on. The shadowed figure got closer to the porch. Amber huffed and stood up straight, "Hey Mason!" She called out, stepping around the front of the Prius. The figure jumped and turned around; standing crouched over like a Hockey goalie. Amber took a step closer, wielding the BB gun in front of her, now holding it with two arms like a rifle. She cocked the gun and aimed at the soul, but it was too dark she couldn't get a good shot. Suddenly the porch light flashed on, and revealed Robert Mason just enough. Amber and Mason stood face to face, several feet apart. She closed one eye and aimed with the other, her finger on the trigger. Within a split second, she pressed the trigger and a swirling black vortex shot out of the gun. It appeared to be a net of ectoplasm that blanketed over the escaped soul, and closed around him. It dragged him back to his doom, through the muzzle of the gun. Once the soul was sucked into the gun, Amber dropped it, stunned by her own eyes. "Dude! That is some serious gun powder to do something like that!"
Sam and Sock darted out of the car, "Congratulations! You caught your first escaped soul!" Sam said and patted her on the back. Sock just stood there grinning like an idiot, "That was AWESOME! Do it again!" He said.
Amber jumped up and squealed, "That was awesome!" She giggled. Sock wrapped his arms around Amber's torso and lifted her up into the air. She screamed and laughed at the same time, "Put me down!" She held onto his shoulders as he set her down. "You are now officially a Reaper." Sam smiled as he picked up the BB gun.
"What in the world is going on out here?" An older woman's voice broke through the celebration. Amelia Taint stood on the porch in her slippers and robe. Amber, Sam and Sock all turned their heads to face her, and then they rushed back to the car and got in, driving away, the tires shrieking as they turned out the neighborhood.
The next day…
"Place the vessel on the mat." Gladys said dully, sliding the black rubber mat out toward Amber, Sam and Sock. Amber set down the BB gun and smiled as Gladys picked it up and dropped it into a transparent tube that rose up out of the counter. She shut it with a lid, and the tube automatically went back into hiding inside the counter. "Cool, you're a demon?" Amber stared at Gladys's horns that rested beneath her brown bangs. "No duh." Gladys kept her dull tone. "This is Amber. She's new to the whole Reaper thing." Sam cocked his head toward Amber. "New, huh?" Gladys pulled the mat back over the hidden tube, and rested her elbows on it. "You must be tough for the boss to give you a gun for your first vessel." She slightly smiled. Amber raised her eyebrows, "Well it was just a BB gun… no big deal really." She shrugged. "Hey, his first was a mini-vac." Gladys shifted her eyes toward Sam and then back to Amber.
Amber looked at Sam and laughed, "A mini-vac?" She asked.
Sam folded his arms, "It was a Dirt Devil!" He whined. Amber stifled her laugh, "Three words: Ther-a-py." She coughed. Gladys let out a snicker, "Next!" She called out and stood up straight.
Amber, Sam and Sock made their way out of the DMV.
Later that night, Amber hung out with Sam, Sock, Ben and Andi at the bar.
They each bought Amber a shot, to celebrate her first catch.
"Chug chug, chug!" Everybody chanted as Amber sat facing a table lined with shots. She started with the first, and stopped halfway through. Everyone continued to chant, louder and louder. "CHUG CHUG, CHUG!"
Amber heard a familiar voice in the crowd, and turned around to find The Devil, chanting along with everyone else. She smirked and then finished off the rest of her shots. Everyone cheered and then resumed talking and drinking their own.
Amber turned back around and walked over to him. "See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" The Devil patted her on the shoulder as they made their way over to the counter, and sat down. "How'd you like the special effects?" He grinned.
"Ok… I have to admit… it was FREAKING AWESOME!" She laughed.
"Well, I'm proud of you. Good work, soldier." He saluted her and then ordered her a beer. "Ha ha, ha." Amber scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"I'm so gonna get wasted tonight." She said, cracked her knuckles. All The Devil could do in response to that was smile even more. "Don't get too hammered, because I have another job for you to do." Satan continued to grin.
"Yippee." Amber took a sip of her beer. "Well, do I get like a bazooka this time or something?" She wiped her lips with the sleeve of her AC/DC top.
"Something like that." He began to laugh, as Amber stared at him, perplexed.