AN: Did you catch Cobra's last name from chapter 5? If you didn't, the ending to this chapter might be a bit surprising. ^.^ I love plot twists, but I always foreshadow.

"The story is in the details."

Chapter 9: When Neighbors, Come A-Calling

Lucy glanced down at herself, pretty proud of what she accomplished by using the old table cloth as the base for a new shawl. Levy even managed to round up some sequence and beads to embed in the flowery design. The dress underneath was a simple lavender dress she brought with her from home two years ago. Sure, it was a bit old, but Mira had touched up the design with lace from the drapes in the conservatory. The tight collar had to be taken off leading to a good amount of bosom to be shown. Luckily, the lace trimming and the shawl helped to cover the more inappropriate areas. The lace also covered the ends of the elbow length sleeves. She wore a pearl cameo chocker that belonged to her Aunt Anna. Levy tied a darker violet sash around a her waist to off set the solid dress color.

Lucy stared at herself in the mirror. The dress was lovely but even though the bust line was tighter than it had been when she left home.

"Knock 'em dead Lu!"

"This dress might kill me before I get there."

"Don't be shy! You look amazing." Levy hugged Lucy to calm the poor girl.

Today was the day she was to meet with the bank. They needed money to bring on out of town workers for the cattle drive since everyone and his brother knew about Love and Phantom's feuding. Since they did not have any and would not get paid until the herd was sold at market, the bank needed to give the ranch a loan. Lucy had been pleading for months for a loan, but because she wasn't a man or a reputable land owner, she had no luck.

This was the last chance, and Lucy was prepared to use any means necessary. Hopefully, her sex appeal still worked.

Elfman was suppose to drive her into town, but hadn't arrived yet. She looked at the clock.

Where was he?

Levy smiled at Lucy. "Just think if you fail, you can always send Sting."

"Is Bora into men? Not sure if that would work."

Mira held up her hands in defeat, "Don't look at me. No man wants to be seduce by someone with a bun in the oven."

Levy agreed. "And I don't have the curves for the job. And I can't fake it since everyone in town knows I'm built like a carpenter's dream."

"Carpenters dream?"

"Yea, straight and narrow."

The girls tittered at the joke before Lucy began watching the clock again.

The boys should have been done an hour ago. If they didn't get back soon, she would have to wake Jellal up to take her.

Natsu's eyes narrowed as a couple of chestnut mares appeared from the trees.

One carried a female with green hair pulled back into a braid that traveled over her shoulder, ending at her stomach. Her red cowgirl hat covered most of her face, but he could see that she had large lips currently talking to her partner. With her bikini top and red vest, Natsu could already imagine her as one of those mermaids, Zeref had painted in his study. Except those mermaids were topless because his brother was a secret pervert.

Next to the woman was a man who wore a light brown poncho. Around his neck was tied a mountain lion tooth. His black hair was kind of messy with a green feather stuck in the side, but other than that he had the general Alvarezian features.

The ranger exhaled slowly as he thought about the number one rule Lucy told him before taking him out on the tour. Nobody was suppose to associate with Phantom S. This was always a good plan in Natsu's mind. He didn't need more trouble.

Seemed as if not talking to them was going to be a problem because the two newcomers headed straight for Love and Lucky's little group.

"Lookie here Alzacks. Love and Lucky gone and found new workers."

The man guffawed at the remark, "Where did they find you chumps? The stock house? I didn't think that little girl could afford new help?"

"Maybe she's giving them other forms of payment?" The woman snickered. "She could do worse. They actually are pretty cute like that Jellal."

The man, clearly annoyed, gritted his teeth, "Please reframe from calling other men other than me cute, Bisca."

"Snuggles, are you jealous?"

"Yes very."

"Aww. You don't have to bellyache, sugar." Bisca leaned toward the other man, blowing him a kiss. "You know I only have eyes for you."

"Elfman!" Bisca waved her hand., merrily despite the growing tension between the four men.

"Bisca. Alzacks." Elfman greeted.

"That's rude Elfman. Here I was wanting an introduction to these young men."

Elfman ignored the statment, but sweat poured down his face that has nothing to do with the temperature. He maneuvered the mallet on his shoulder to lean on his leg.

Sting looked over at Natsu, still having not moved from his position. "These are the enemies? I have seen scarier things in Lucy's stuffed animal collection. Like her plush toy, Plue." Sting shivered as Natsu rolled his eyes at the boy.

The woman, Bisca he thought the man called her, turned to Sting winking at him. "Those must be some scary looking animals. So who might you be, handsome?"

The question surprised Natsu because he had assumed most Phantom S members would recognize one of the owners. Maybe they didn't Sting because he had been gone for so long so they must be new to the area.

Sting's eyes raised suspiciously, he walked right up to the female, taking her hand, "Name's Eucliffe."

Natsu almost corrected him but caught himself long enough to send Elfman an unreadable expression.

"Well that's a funny name." The lady laughed as she shook his hand.

Sting cocked his head toward Natsu. "Not as weird as his name, though."

"And your name is?"

"Natsu."

"Natsu and Eucliffe. Sounds like something you would see in a theater."

Alzacks glared at Natsu when he heard the name. The man turned his horse toward the ranger, who hovered his hand over his gun.

"Natsu? Natsu what?"

"Natsu Dragneel."

Bisca put her chin in her hand. "Dragneel. That name sounds familiar."

Her face was thoughtful as she became lost in her own thinking. Alzacks, on the other hand, twitched nervously, "Isn't that the name of one of the Phantom S investors?"

"Hmmm. It might be."

"No doubt."

"Wonder if their any kin? Hey Pinky, do you know Acnologia Dragneel?"

Jellal woke up with a feeling as if someone had walked over his grave. He wasn't sure why he felt that way. Usually being up every night screwed with his circadian rhythm, making him toss and turn, but lately his inner clock worked just fine. He had been sleeping through the day like a baby.

The blue haired man opened one eye enough to peep out. The room wasn't dark, just dim. Sunshine managed to infiltrate through the thin drapes around the window, casting the room in this intricate floral pattern. His skin crawled as if someone was watching him, but nobody should be in the bunk house with him. Elfman and Natsu would be working during the day, and the ladies knew not to disturb his sleep. Was it Sting? Laxus was too sick to walk the distance.

A hand stroked his head. Fast as a rattler, he grabbed the arm earning a small gasp then a chuckle from a very familiar voice, he pulled the person down to his level so they were both laying on their sides. That's when he noticed the redhead that had been sitting on his bed.

"Why are you here?"

"Wanted to see you."

"Not a good enough reason to be here. Is it worth the risk of sneaking on Love and Lucky's property?"

She laughed, "Please. It was almost too easy."

"Does that mean I'm lucky to have caught you?"

"My precious Jellal, what do you think?." She kissed him soundly, pushing him back against the bed before straddling his waist. Something was strange about her today. They had just saw each other last night, but she seemed different. Her kiss was different. Maybe it was whatever had caused her to come to him during broad daylight. He decided to shake up her self control a bit.

"I think I figured out who you are. You're not just a Phantom S worker."

"Oh...?" Her eyes twinkled with delight.

"Phantom S. It's you."

"Hmm?"

"The S stands for Scarlet. The color of your hair. I have never met Eric's sister, but I imagine she has red hair like him. His ranch didn't start aggressively buying up the surrounding land until she came. And you are a phantom, sneaking where you aren't suppose to go. From our conversations, you have only moved here recently. Most likely about the same time Phantom S started harassing Love's workers. I first became suspicious when you told me your first name and not your last. I never heard of the name of Eric's sister, but I bet it would be Erza. Why because I believe your full name is Erza Bellsione."

Smiling, she reached up to let down her long hair fall around her shoulders. Jellal couldn't tell in the dim light, but he was almost positive it was longer than it had been the previous night when they met under the moonlight. Suspicions more than raised, he pulled his pillow around so that he could slip his hand underneath for his gun in an emergency."Very good Fernandez. Am impressed with your logic. You are very close but still wrong."

"How?"

"Hmmm?"

"How am I wrong?"

"Well do I look 19 to you?"

She rubbed his lips almost affectionately, but Jellal noticed her touches had more to deal with cold calculation than actual care.

"You aren't Erza?"

She leaned down next to his ear. The breath on his skin tickled. She whispered the thing he dreaded most, "No."

Jellal sat up, pushing her away from him. He reached under his pillow but something cold was pressed against his head. As delicately as he could manage so not to alarm her, he moved to make eye contact."Who are you?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out darling."

"Why the mystery?"

"Same family. Almost same girl, just older. A good bit older, in fact. Points for effort, at least."

He heard the tell-tale click of the revolver loading a chamber. "Lucky me."

"Don't make this hard, handsome. I just need you to tell me about the pink haired rider, and the mini-Laxus who showed up yesterday. Neither have left your ranch yet."

"How would I know? I'm just the hired help."

"You seem like someone who would have all the answers."

"Why should I tell you anything? Erza didn't ask me last night. Why do you want to know?"

"For starters, I'm not Erza. Different women. Different goals in life. Erza wants to jump your bones. I want to buy this ranch. People blame her because they know Eric's sister is home, but they don't even realize that I am here. And the funny thing is that I have always been here. Before Eric owned the ranch. He's my figure head. That's what the true meaning of Phantom S." She laughed a bit eerily before continuing, "Second, Erza doesn't know about your visitors because I'm the one with men station all around your little camp here. You're an oasis in the middle of a territory that I control. As for why should you tell me anything... I guess telling your employers of your secret nightly rendezvous with the enemy is pretty good blackmail material." There was a pause. She removed the gun and backed away to sit on the nearest bed. "No? Or do you think they would approve of your relationship?"

The cowboy just stared, frowning as he tried to plan.

"Even if you didn't know who she was, you still knew Erza was Phantom S. You knew she was one of the ones who took down the fence under your watch might I add."

Jellal's hand clenched the pillowcase. He knew he was going to get bitten in the ass by his inability to control his desire for the fascinating stranger he met that one night. He knew she tried seducing him to distract him from what her partners had been doing, but he let her tempt him. For weeks, the two had been returning to the same spot. He had not known her name until recently. That's when he saw how Erza and Eric could almost be twin names and was reminded how nobody had ever seen Cobra's sister since her return to the area.

"In the chess world, I think this would be called checkmate."

"Checkmate means you still can move. The game isn't over."

"Yes you can choose, but your choices are limited. The real reason you should help me is because of your life here. Old lives have bad ways of creeping up. Things that are buried might become unburied. What if your old gang learned about your life here? Don't you know that Trinity Raven has been looking for you even before your arrest? Isn't that why the law released you early? You handed over state's evidence for a reduced sentence?"

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I have friends in high places. And interesting enough, it was those 'friends' of mine that told me your old buddies," The woman leaned back, smirking before crossing her legs, "use to be called something else before they were outlaws. Twenty odd years ago, they were a band of mercenaries named Raven Tail. You already know the hate Laxus bears for his father after Ivan killed his mother. What do you think him and his family will feel if he learns your gang was the one that took the hit his father put out on his grandfather Markarov?"

Both tense when a knock came at the from the front door. Jellal closed his eyes in dread as the sweet voice echoed in the dark room, "Jellal I hate to wake you, but can you take me into town, Elf's still not back."

Lucy had come to fetch him.

The redhaired woman turned slowly and pointed her gun at the door even as it started to open.

Next Chapter: Heading Out

Thanks to these reviewers. I know there have been issues with reviews lately on the site.

- pu3Alisyah - NaluFTFanatic - JC - Phiafairy - Guest - Emperor Zeref Dragneel