Life as a spy, chapter two: interlude 1/3
These interludes will help me help you get to know the new characters, and show how the old ones have changed. This one is admittedly short, but the others will be longer..

"Koga! Koga, where the hell are you!?" Ryu yelled. He needed to talk to the wolf about the alcohol he had brought with him. They would be leaving for headquarters soon, and he wasn't going to let him bring the drinks. It would cause too many problems while they planned how to accomplish the mission.

"Damn it Koga, if I find out your ignoring me, I'll smash all your booze!" he roared, small jets of flame leaving his mouth as he grew angrier. Just where the hell was that wolf?!

Koga hid in the attic, his alcohol bag under his arm. Nikko had been following him, and he had only barely escaped. He could hear Ryu calling for him, but was too scared to try and follow his voice to safety. Sighing, he looked around the small room. It was full of old boxes and such, and plenty of placed to hide booze. It was the perfect room for him.

Grinning, he started to rearrange the boxes and such, making his new room over to his liking. He was nearly finished when a hand touched him roughly on the shoulder. Turning swiftly, he saw Nortra, the spider demon, hanging from the ceiling, her eyes heavy with sleep. Realizing this must be her room, he swallowed in fear.

Nortra had a fondness for blood, whips, and chains. She had owned a very…unique bar in Italy before joining the W.M.E.S. Fear in his eyes and his tail tucked between his legs, Koga whimpered and retreated. Nortra had bested him in training many times, and he knew he was no match for her.

But she didn't attack him. Instead, she hooked an arm, which at this point resembled spider legs, under his bag of alcohol, and drew it up into her web. She grinned evilly at him, and then hissed loudly at him the words "Get out of my room." Koga quickly turned and fled, Nikko entirely forgotten. He searched for Ryu, he now needed some money.

While Koga was being wordlessly threatened by Nortra, Raven and Rayya were talking in the queen's bedroom. Or rather, Rayya was talking while Raven did her best to ignore her. Suddenly, Rayya said something so extraordinary, that Raven stopped her work and stared in surprise.

"What?" she said, puzzled by what she had thought she had heard. There was no way she had heard right…

"This isn't my hand." Rayya repeated. Groaning, Raven admitted she had heard right.

"What do ya mean, that isn't your hand?" Raven said. Rayya was crazy, but she had never said anything like this. Maybe rat experimentation was messing with her head even more than it had already been messed up.

"I mean, this isn't my hand. It is someone else's hand." Rayya said, as if Raven were an idiot. As she said this, she studied her "new" hand from every angle, a thoughtful expression on her face. It was as if she were trying to decide something.

"Rayya, that is you hand. The same hand you have had for years" Raven said tiredly. She wasn't in the mood for Rayya's antics today; she had a lot of work to finish. Running a kingdom for her friend was hard.

"THIS ISN'T MY HAND!!" Rayya yelled, losing her patience with her cynical friend. She never believed anything she said. Though, in Ravens defense, a lot of what Rayya said was utter crap.

Deciding that confrontation wasn't a good idea, Raven sighed and shook her head, irritated. "Fine. It isn't your hand then." She said, returning to her desk and mountain of papers. She quickly lost herself in the work, nearly forgetting about what Rayya had said, until Rayya spoke again.

"Raven, I need a jewel for my new hand." She said as she continued to admire her appendage.

"Well, go get one! You own tons!" Raven snapped. God, why had she been cursed to be Rayya's slave! It was all that damn dragon Ryu's fault!

"I don't want one of mine." She responded through gritted teeth, as if Raven should have already known that. "I want the pink panther." Rayya continued her voice still
full of anger at her friend's ignorance.

"No." Raven said immediately. "No way. I may be a thief, but I am not that good." she said, her voice full of conviction. There was nothing Rayya could do to make her steal the pink panther diamond.

Rayya pouted as she thought about this. She knew her friend pretty well, so it didn't take her long to realize what she had to do. Reaching to a portrait of her above her canopy bed, she made it swing forward, reveling a wall safe. Quickly disengaging the lock, she removed a huge wad of bills, enough to fill three entire suitcases.

"Ten million dollars." She said smugly. "That should turn some heads and let you get the diamond. Oh, and you may keep the left over money." She said winking playfully at her friend, knowing that she would now acquire the jewel no matter what. Raven was a sucker for cold hard cash.