Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Angel's Gift ❯ Chapter 10

Angel's Gift Part Ten

The door banged open loudly, and the men inside jerked in alarm. She leapt inside the room, tucking into a roll even as energy blasts were fired at her. She reached cover and raised her weapon, her own gun discharging loudly. There were several yelps of pain as weapons were struck, then clattered loudly to the floor.

The dark haired woman rose, a particularly irritable look on her boyish face. Her long coat fluttered around her legs, her shirt bound tightly across her chest by straps of leather. She raised her gun again smoothly, meeting the frightened eyes of the three men cooly.

"I have had about enough of this," Amara said simply, "surrender now, or I will not be responsible for the consequences."

The men exchanged glances, there was a long moment of absolute silence, then as one they raised their hands in surrender.

"You know," Amara said to the bail officer as she handed them over to collect her bounty, "a few years ago, I wouldn't have even given them a chance."

"Oh come on," her business manager Jack scoffed from her seat at her desk as the men were taken away, "you were never that bad." The woman pushed her short red hair back as she added, "If so, I wouldn't be here right now."

"You were a special case," Amara smiled back slightly. Quietly she asked, "Any rumors about the Princess Jenna case?"

"X'orn's coming," Jack said simply.

"X'orn?!" Amara repeated in surprise. "He's a stone cold killer. Why would he be taking on a bounty like this?" she scowled.

"I understand that the Queen is.. displeased with her daughter's running away," Jack sighed, "displeased enough that she's not insisting on Jenna being brought back to her alive."

"Son of a bitch," Amara murmured.

"X'orn is that," Jack agreed.

"That's not what I meant," Amara scowled. She walked to the office window, looking out at the bad part of town they were based in as she considered what to do. "I've got to go warn Allison," she finally sighed.

"Look," Jack said, "I didn't argue with you when you said you had to drop out of the hunt for Princess Jenna for personal reasons." A breath and a nervous hand run through short red hair, "But crossing X'orn is suicide."

"Maybe so," Amara said in dead seriousness, "but I also owe Allison, and it's a debt that I'm determined to repay."

"What do you owe her that's so important?" Jack asked softly.

Amara stopped in the doorway long enough to simply say, "She gave me her Twinkie."

The door swung shut behind the bounty hunter, leaving Jack sitting there with the oddest look on her face. Finally she managed, "What?"

Over at the bookstore Allison was going over the accounts, casually fending off Jenna's persistant attempts to cuddle, and also watching her two newest employees busy at work. They both had different styles of selling, but both seemed to work quite well.

Roma calmly talked to the customers, quickly determined what they were looking for, then zoomed in on it with a great deal of efficiency. She didn't talk to them muuch, and they seemed to like that. A certain type of scholarly customer seemed to be drawn to her, appreciating that sort of impersonal service.

On the other end of the spectrum was Marilyn. Her basic mode of operation was to nearly adopt the customer, bowling them over with cheerful chatter about their potential purchase or anything else that might pop into her head. Oddly, people rather liked that, and Allison suspected they were getting repeat customers based on Marilyn's entertainment value alone.

Jenna leaned into her ear to quietly ask Allison, "Do you want me to wear the pink nightie or the blue one tonight?"

Allison blushed, and noticed Kat grinning at her impishly. 'Am I ever going to get teased,' she thought, 'I wish I could control my blushing better.'

"Or maybe the new nightgown," Jenna added, mentioning a nearly transparent piece of nightwear she had startled Allison with a few nights ago.

"One of the nighties, please," Allison managed weakly. 'I can't believe I'm in this situation,' she thought to herself.

The front bell rang and Sharin cautiously made her way inside the bookstore, looking around her cautiously every step of the way.

After a few moments of watching this Jenna just had to ask, "What's wrong?"

"Guess I was sor of expecting Milly to jump on me again," Sharin admitted. An odd expression appeared on the blonde haired woman's face as she softly murmured, "I kind of miss it."

"Banzai!" came from above her.

Thump! Sharin sprawled to the floor, stunned.

"Got you," Milly grinned from her perch on her back. The redheaded catgirl got up, brushing off her maid's uniform before offering Sharin her hand.

"I knew I spoke too soon," Sharin grumbled good naturedly as Milly easily pulled her to her feet. 'She's strong,' she filed that fact away.

"Hey," Allison gave Jenna's friend and occasional sparring partner a wave before asking, "what can we do for you?"

"More like what I can do for you," Sharin sighed, "it seems that there's another bounty hunter who's after Jenna."

"Do you know who it is?" Marilyn asked worriedly.

"Not yet," Sharin sighed, "but I've got my souce working on it."

"I know," the cool and very familiar voice of Amara spoke up from the front door of the store. She closed the door behind her then locked it quite deliberately.

"How did you find us again?" Allison blinked in surprise.

Amara smiled slightly, "Your name is on the lease."

Allison blinked, "Oh."

"Are you still after the price on Jenna's head?" Sharin asked, stepping between Amara and Jenna. She wasn't surprised, somehow, by Milly mirroring her move to stand beside her.

"No," Amara shook her head firmly, "I dropped out because of my personal connection to the case."

"Personal connection?" Kat slid up beside Allison to ask her suggestively.

Allison went red, "It's not like that, you pervert."

"Too bad," Kat sighed. She looked over at Amara admiringly, "So who is it, then?"

"X'orn," Amara said bleakly.

To be continued...