Chapter 4:Pearls

(This is a very Oc heavy chapter. I hope you all enjoy it regardless)

Leo arrived at a run down apartment building located in one of the busiest areas of Notamafia town. He anxiously pulled at his tie as if it was strangling him. He never could understand how to tie in correctly no matter how many instruction videos he looked up online. He despised ties. It always itched his gills like sandpaper. But the boss demanded his men looked uniform so he had to comply. Everyone had to wear similar colors and branding to give off a more intimidating presence. He growled as he walked through the decaying hallways as felt the eyes of various demons staring back at him. It's been a long time since he's had a one on one meeting with the boss of the Knolastname Crime family, but he was concerned about Sugar. He hasn't gotten a call or text from her since the incident at the dinner party and he couldn't handle another girl disappearing from working with Crimson. He started shaking nervously as he entered Crimson's office.

"How many times do I have to tell ya to knock before entering?" Crimson's voice was raspy and breathless.

Leo could hear the sounds of panting and mumbling as stepped through the door. Despite this, he hesitantly continued to walk inside. Crimson grinning widely as he sat at his desk. Standing next to Crimson was a hellhound girl with golden fur. Leo grimaced at the situation he walked into. He slowly sat at the old brown chair adjacent, folded his arms, and leaned back.

"Boss, what the fuck happened to Sugar? I haven't seen her in days and now I see ya fucking around with this bitch?" Leo snarled at the hellhound girl then looked back at Crimson. "Did you-"

"I gave her a little break. The poor girl was acting hysterical lately. Must be the stress of adjusting to the environment of this town. Ya got nothing to worry about your pretty little head about. Sugar-Doll will be all fixed up and ready to keep working by next week. In the meantime, you can go get the various payments from some of the shops around town that we've generously helped" Crimson laughed to himself as he stroked the hellhound girl's tail.

Leo thought deeply about what could have possibly happened or what Crimson could be implying. If Sugar isn't dead, then she was most likely going through something a lot knew he wasn't supposed to get attached to anyone but he couldn't help but be concerned about someone his age working in this business.

"Cool. That's totally fine. I just wanted to know if the little siren and I were still in a partnership with each other. Sugar is a fun girl and I'd hate to lose her. It's funny how much she enjoys her work."

"Don't start falling for her idiot. I know yer history with 's pathetic" Crimson sneered.

"Eh? I like my women to be slightly feral." Leo grins as he looks over at the hellhound girl again "instead of a lap dog that would take any demon that will give them a little treat."

The hellhound girl begins to growl at Leo but Crimson grabs her arm and signals her to leave the office. Alessio appeared from out of the dark corner of the office and pushed the girl out the door. Leo was unfazed by Alessio's sudden was famous for appearing out of nowhere whenever Crimson was around. It was expected.

"Listen. If yer so worried about Sugar's well being, I'll give you the opportunity to spend some time with her. But you'll owe me a favor. Ok kid?" Crimson looked at Leo up and down. He was curious about how he would respond to the idea being with his new girl outside of work.

"Ya seriously letting me take her out for free? Why?"

"Did I say free? Dumbass, nothing is free. Time with Sugar is time I lose money. So I have a simple task for you. I want you,Alessio, and Cherry to go scoop out some of my competition. I'm trying to break into a new industry and Sugar-" Crimson paused for a minute and then chuckled. "She's how I'm experimenting with that. The problem is, her only value is that she's a mixed demon. She's horrible at flirting and a dumb broad whose only talent is being able to track down what a discount is going on at what store. So I want to figure out how the other bosses in the escort game do business. I wanna see who I need to take care of. Got it?"

"Ya want me to go spy on some pimps? Is that it? Easy. I know a few of them." Leo thought about what Crimson was asking of him. Scoping other escorts in town was a smart idea and didn't seem like an idea his boss would come up with on his own. He looked over at Alessio, who was now by Crimson's side lighting his cigar.

"Correct. I want my girl to get famous around here. I don't want my investment in her to be wasted." Crimson the smoke directly towards Leo's face and continued smiling.

Crimson's hesitancy to kill Sugar would seem strange to those who have a history with him. If someone fucked up, they're usually dead the next day. He was famous for the mountain of bodies that littered his past. Many old friends had drowned deep into the murky waters of , in Leo's eyes, sparing Sugar meant he was planning something big that no ordinary imp would bother doing. He was planning to get involved in the industry of Lust.

As soon as Leo came to his conclusion, he cracked a wicked and toothy smile. A imp being the leader of a gang of sharks was one thing, but getting into competition with upper level lust demons was another. He walked out of the office quietly and put his hands in his pockets.

"He's getting suspicious of you" Alessio spoke in a monotone voice as he started to walk behind Leo.

"I don't really give a shit what that old imp thinks. He looks like he's gonna have a heart attack any minute"

"Shut up. Without him, you'd be dead by now. Just do your job and he'll barely bother you."

Leo sighed loudly at Alessio's statement. He mostly did things like petty thief and stalking. Some days,he would get rid of the dead bodies of special demons who couldn't easily be killed off by being dumped in the river. It was grunt work but it was easy work. He knew what his place was but it still frustrated him."I'm just pissed I gotta look after a little hybrid while she fucks around with old men. It's damn depressing. Anyways, we're headed to Ransom town right? That's where most of the succubi in this Ring live."

"Yea. We're meeting Cherry at the train station" Alessio pat Leo on the back and then gently push him out the building.

The two shark demons exited the complex and headed down the street towards the station. The streets were litter with a few dead imp bodies and had a very somber atmosphere. The cars zoomed loudly and recklessly. The walls had sentences like "Satan help us" and "death to the jester" written in black and inky blood. Both Leo and Alessio were unfazed by the sight and skipped over the bodies. They approached a staircase on the side of the road that led them down to the darkly light train station. In the center of the station was a green ticket booth bordered with golden lines. On top of it was a sign that read "The Marionette's booth". It was quiet, decaying, and had a few homeless demons shuffling around. It's been a long time since Leo stepped inside the station. He remembered coming down here as a child and how bustling and crowded the station used to be. He remembered the sounds of circus music that used to blare through the speakers and the smell of cotton candy everywhere. It showed how much the area had changed since then.

"Took ya'll long enough! I've been waiting for ages for you two to show." A female imp with a southern accent approached Leo and Alessio. She wore a navy blue suit and long black pants. Her white hair had hints of black streaks that she tried to keep hidden with a ponytail. She smiled and gestured for them to follow her to the ticket booth "I think the booth is broken. I tried knocking on it several times but it ain't budging."

"Did ya try to shoot it?" Alessio spoke in a monotone voice as he glanced at the old booth.

"What? No! Don't shoot her! Ya just gotta give her a good strong kick. It always worked when I was a pup." Leo walked over and gave the booth a sharp kick.

The ticket booth started to light up and a figure jumped out from the booth. The figure appeared to be a woman with curly, short, rose colored hair and ball jointed limbs. Small sparks went off from the woman's neck and her head tilted slightly.

"Ticketsssssss." The woman said in a glitchy and echoey voice. She sounded as if she was singing. "Tickets. Tickets. Tickets."

"Yea. Three tickets to Ransom." Leo smiled softly at the old robot woman. He looked fondly at the cracks on her arms and face. A reached out his claws to hand her a set of crumbled up dollars.

"L-Leo. You can have money? Good boy. No more stealing. Tickets. Tickets. Tickets." The robot, called Marinette, seemed to recognize Leo. Her eyes glowed a shade of red as she looked at him up and down.

Alessio and Cherry took glances at each other. They were both uncomfortable with how this robot was acting towards Leo but tried to ignore it. He walked over to them and happily gave them the tickets.

"Such a shame nobody comes down here anymore. It's weird. You'd think this place would be packed since the train still stops here"

"The trains down in Wrath are a lot faster and not as gaudy. No need for fancy robots and lights." Cherry tapped her foot and her tail swayed impatiently.

The bright, moss colored, train zoomed through the tunnels. The screeched as it stopped. As the train doors opened, Leo noticed the train was packed with enormous dinosaur demons of various kinds .

Leo smirked and lifted Cherry up onto his shoulders "Come on. It's ain't that bad. It's part of the job."