Determinants of Demand
Ch. 5 – Metro Kills the Thrills
"Where the hell are we even going?"
Despite his previous experiences with employers, Charon easily found the freedom to be a smart-ass and share his opinion whenever he felt like it, and it was more than liberating. His newest employer didn't much care for his crude questions and commentary, but hell if it wasn't refreshing to share.
Speaking of which, the girl threw one of those spine-tingling glares over her shoulder in the darkness before answering, "How many times do I have to say it? We aren't actually GOING ANYWHERE." She whipped her head back around, raising her rifle up slightly. He had heard the sound as well, and he cocked his shotgun, rolling his shoulders in anticipation. A shot rang out, surprising him, and he glared at the girl in front of him, who lowered the rifle back to her side. He could hear her snicker. "My kill." Charon growled angrily at the challenge and adjusted the pack on his back in irritation.
"Like I was saying, we aren't going anywhere specific. Just scavenging."
Charon snorted, refusing to respond.
As they walked on, he saw the corpse of a feral ghoul laying off to the side of the metro tracks. The damn girl had put a bullet right through its head even in the darkness of the metro. He had to hand it to her, albeit a bit begrudgingly: she was a good shot. Of course, that didn't make up for the fact that she sucked at everything else. She may as well have been a dying yao guai for all the success she had in staying hidden sometimes; when it came to disarming traps, Charon had had to risk his own skin way too many times just to fix what she screwed up. That doesn't mean he didn't love it every time she messed up and ran away from a beeping landmine before it went off.
Travelling with her was obviously going to require his constant vigilance.
Which is what helped him spot the ammo box partially hidden underneath a stone bench.
"Mistress, I found something," he piped up, annoyed at himself for his own polite tone. She stopped and her ears noticeably pricked up, to his disgust, and she spun around. "Where?" He crossed his arms, nodding toward the bench. She hurried past him and, working with a bobby pin and screwdriver, she picked the lock. That was another thing, besides shooting, that she had a knack for. He was lost in thought, waiting patiently, when she bounded over to him. Charon looked down at her, only slightly amused at the content expression on her face, then looked down at his hands. His employer had shoved a box of shotgun shells into them with a smile. "There ya go."
His eyes followed her backside as she resumed walking. Then he smirked and picked up the trail as well, tucking the box into his pack. His employer, Rose, was definitely meant for the scavenging life. Any other time, they were either at each others' throats or mildly in agreement. But when it came to finding what she called treasure… Charon's skin prickled. 'I don't give a damn about her, so why do I even bother to pick apart her quirks? The less I know about her, the easier it'll be to kick her ass when the contract is voided.'
He chuckled quietly, thinking back to the epiphany he'd had two weeks before. It was difficult, but he was still brainstorming ways that he could get her to hit him first. Who knows, maybe he could even have a little fun with her once it was voided. MAN, that'd be great. Watching the back of her head with growing animosity, he smirked at his own filthy mind. 'Boy, am I sick…' He'd given up getting on to himself for his more perverted thoughts, writing them off as a product of loneliness and pent-up anger.
The girl stopped dead in her tracks, forcing him to do the same just to keep from running into her. "Hey-" The girl turned to him, and he could tell she'd been deep in thought the whole time by the way that the space between her eyebrows was still smoothing out. "Did you call me mistress earlier?"
He frowned. "Yes, I did." The girl's expression changed; hell, now she looked guilty. "You don't have to call me that. Can't you call me by my name?"
"What's your name?" he asked mockingly.
Her eyes flared with rage, and she crossed her arms over her chest angrily, causing Charon's gaze to float downward for just a moment. "You KNOW my name, I've told you five times already since we met! Do you just like picking on me?"
He chuckled gravely. "Maybe so."
"Yeah, well, it's ROSE. ROSE. You got it now? ROSE. Say it with me."
She prepared to repeat her name once more, but Charon clapped his rough hand over her mouth to keep her quiet. "I got it," he growled.
The girl blinked in surprise, then smacked his hand away lightly. "Don't do that!" she shouted, her voice echoing down the metro tunnel. Angrily, he covered her mouth again, grabbing her upper arm with his other hand. "Fuckin' moron, you want any more enemies to come along? I can assure you, there are plenty down here that would just love to tear you to pieces!" She shook with rage, her steely eyes cutting into his. Then he realized how hard he was holding her arm. He dropped his hands to his sides, suddenly a slave again, mentally preparing for yelling and screaming and some kind of order to kill himself or something.
Thankfully, she still had that armored vault suit, so he couldn't see what kind of damage he had done.
Shocked, she rubbed at her arm in an attempt to ease the soreness.
"You could have just told me to be quiet," she murmured, her voice betraying the hurt that she was expertly keeping from her face.
He barely registered her voice; Charon's mind was on pieces of his past that floated into his vision: memories of Azrukhal, of the first time he ordered him to kill an innocent ghoul, of the first time he tossed a full glass of whiskey in his face "accidentally", the time when he'd sold him to a ghoulette for a night.
"Charon." Her voice pulled him out of his reverie, and he hesitantly looked at her. The look on her face was too much; he didn't want that FUCKING PITY.
"Sorry." He growled out the apology, venom laced in the word, and pushed past her.
Ugh, cliffhangers make me hot.
Ahem...here's chapter 5, kiddies! REVIEW IT. NOW.
You know you want to! Haha, don't you like short chapter updates?