Princess Powerful

               Well. Vic didn’t want to go on with his life knowing that                he’d been given the chance to have     free donuts and                didn’t take it.                                       ‘          Alright. Only if you promise not to                                                              yell at me again, though. ’

             Malia let out a relieved sigh, thankful she wouldn’t have to              eat herself into a diabetic coma, and shifted the donuts onto              one arm so she could take his offered hand.

Oh damn.

She pushed her way quickly through the crowd and burst through the door and into the corridor,    searching for a sign of the couple. She  caught  a  glimpse of the hem of a dress disappear around a corner and groaned.   Yep,    they were heading right for his office. This  corridor  should  have  been  guarded  as  well,      and  was suspiciously quiet. The whole lack of guards thing was beginning  to worry Malia. That’s two down, what were the chances the rest were gone too?   Had they been paid off?   Hurt? Killed? Was this an inside job?

Now was not the time to be speculating. 

     ELIANE peeked her head into the flower shop at the address she’d gotten from Malia. There was a thick, humid, green smell to the shop, mixed with the earthy scent of fresh soil. 

     Did she really need another job? No. Certainly not with the kind of money that Jace and Malia were making on that last job. But she’d promised herself she was cutting back on her more illicit activities – the more dangerous aspects at least – and she could use something to fill up time.

     Besides, it didn’t hurt to check the place out, at least. She stepped deeper into the shop, looking for signs of animate life, rather than the more sessile greenery around the space. 

Malia lifted a hand into the air and waved above the fauna, hoping Eliane could see her signal,  before turning back to her original task.  A big,  beautiful outdoor vase.  That was ten  times  her  size  and  weighed  as  many  tons...    and needed to be moved.   She’d been trying very hard to keep her pewter use to a minimum ever since... well ever since thirteen  years  of  abusing  it  finally  caught  up to her and she’d almost died.   Still...  for something this little it would be alright                                                                        right?

She drunk down a small vial of pewter and began burning it low.  Wrapping her arms around the vase, she attempted to lift it, but even with the pewter, it was still to heavy.  

                                   ❝Damn.❞

It’s been awhile since Emalyn has started some trouble. She scoped out for some possible new…friends…There.

Down the street, an unsuspecting Malia stood. Grinning, Emalyn sprinted down the sidewalk, quickly grasping Malia’s hand as she ran by and slowing only slightly, so as not to rip the woman’s arm out of her socket.

It took an embarassingly short time for Malia to lose her breath,  but  that  probably had something to do with how hard she was laughing.

Ambitious was one way of putting it. Insane was another. Sure   she  was  hungry,   but  there  was  no  way  she’d manage  to  eat  all  twelve  donuts.  And while they were certainly delicious, they didn’t exactly keep for very long.

She  shook  her  head  at  her  own  stubbornness as she paid  for all of the donuts. Stupid, stubborn, prideful Malia. What   the   hell   was   she   supposed   to   do  now.  She glanced  at  the  man,  then  back  to the donuts, then back again,  offering  what she hoped  was  an apologetic smile.

                    ❝ Watch ou– shit! ❞         He’d ditched the unis a block back, but he’d turned the corner out of the alley right into          one of the busiest streets and–                                                                       Wow. Nice.                                                       Wait, why am I on the ground?

He came around the corner so fast, Malia barely had time   to   flare  her  pewter  to  brace  for  the  impact. With   a  grunt,   she   slid  her  foot  back,  preventing herself     from     being    knocked    backwards    too.

For a long moment, Malia  was  too  stunned  to reply. 

❝Damn right.❞  

Of course now that she could actually see the donuts, Malia  was  having  trouble  deciding  which  one  she wanted.  She scowled at them,  and then to the side at the  man,  hoping  he  was  still  half  asleep enough to not notice.  Especially  after she had been kind of rude.

Screw it. 

              ‘ Yeah, look, I’m gonna be honest with you here…                                         I didn’t hear a word you just said.              I got about three hours of sleep last night, and I’m                        runnin’ on fumes. Can you say that again? ’

                                           Well, that explained the dazed not-moving he was doing, Malia thought                                            as she tried and failed not to roll her eyes.

Anything he would have done would’ve aroused suspicion, really, so he offered no resistance as he arm slipped into his. He played the part, offering a small smile of his own as she turned them away. His wasn’t nearly as bright, but it’d do the trick.

Wait, what was that?

Something across the room caught her attention. Finally, she thought bitterly as she spotted a couple speaking covertly by the side-door on the other side of the dance floor. At first glance they looked like an ordinary couple sharing a romantic moment, but on closer inspection, it didn’t quite add up.

“There.”  She nodded in their direction, in case Jace had not already spotted them. There should have been a guard at that door, and yet Sien’s crappy private security was no where in sight. No wonder he’d put her in charge.

He heard Malia would be the head of security, which worked well in his favour. He didn’t have to deal with police at all if she was in charge. He trusted her to keep them away from him. 

Not taking very long to get ready, this particular tuxedo coming with several hidden inside pockets for vial storing, he’d started his rounds early. He tried to stay out of the way as much as possible, trying not to mingle.

He tugged at the ends of his suit, smoothing it out all over again for the hundredth time as he came down some steps, actively looking around for anything suspicious. There was nothing yet, thankfully. Granted it was still pretty early. 

Finally she met Jace's eyes and breathed a small sigh of relief. She noted the question in his eyes and once again wondered if she was being paranoid. If he didn't sense anything, maybe there was nothing to sense.

Before she really had an opportunity to think more on that, Malia spotted one of the police officers that had been hired to watch the perimeter eyeing Jace suspiciously. First of all, he should not have been in here and second of all, she'd promised she'd keep the cops away from Jace. She hadn't bothered to ask why, but since she technically owed him her life, she'd do her best to keep that promise.

As casually as she could manage she made her way to Jace, looped her arm through his and turned him away from the cop, steering him in the opposite direction.

He offered a small smile in return. He’s started to pick up on sarcasm. He inclined his head in a way that said he should have known that was coming. 

"I'm sorry, is that a smile? Did I actually get a smile out of you? I didn't even think you could!"

Not exactly her most professional moment, but given that she hadn't even got a smile when she was half-naked in a lake, this felt like a big moment for her. She had seen Grumpy Jace smile, sure it took half a million doxings to get it out of him, but it was a start.

Speaking of which... the catch. Yeah...

He raised his eyebrows as she choked, wondering if it was even possible to falter like that on a drink that light. It didn’t take him long to realise he was in for a social night. He sighed, taking a sip of his own drink—scotch by the looks of it. 

He gave a shrug at her thanks, “You didn’t do anything wrong.” He was sporting a rather nice bruise on his right cheek, though his whole face had hurt for a good bit. In retrospect, he had looked pretty suspicious. She’d reacted in a reasonable way, given the circumstances. Even if he didn’t appreciate it very much.

"I make no promises," she said with a smile so he was fully aware she was kidding. 

The water went down much easier than the fizzy cocktail and was even slightly soothing. Though that might have been the work of the pewter she had on a nice low burn to help her concussion along. She hoped she was all clear to work by Friday. That stupid Siens function was on and with the number of people that hated him she couldn't afford to not be at the top of her game.

Though, that gave her an idea.