Femme Fatale

Had Dex been a better man, he might have tried to resist that familiar pull, one that he’d been on the receiving end of more than once. But he was not a better man, would never be, and wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he was, so he leaned into that magic, allowed it to seduce him. He smiled and ran a hand down the length of him as if to answer her question with, all of this, obviously. “Now give me a hard question,” he crooned.

“Oh I’m sure I could make something hard.” Flirting for Syn was like second nature to her, bad flirting was the best though. She enjoyed watching men fall for her horrible flirting just because of who she was. “But that’s really up to you.” While flirting was fun she also knew some people while they did fall for her flirting, they didn’t really want to but couldn’t help themselves and Syn wasn’t really in the mood to deal with the fall out from that today.

Gabe wiped at his eyes wearily, rubbing any remaining sleep out of them. Thank God it was his weekend. Monday nights were slower at the nightclub so he could rely on the manager to take care of everything. But that meant Gabe would have to take to the streets dressed as his alter ego, metaphorical ear to the metaphorical door to get some intel on what the hunters would be planning for this upcoming moon.

He almost missed Syndra’s question and blinked when he realised he was expected to respond. “I’m sorry…” He mumbled before looking at her somewhat incredulously. Syndra owned the strip club in town, a very similar establishment to the one he owned. “Syndra, you’ve lived here probably as long as I have.” He pointed out.

“Probably longer.” Though she wasn’t exactly sure on the timeline, she just liked being right. It was really a problem for her, she liked to be right and she would make sure that she was by any means necessary. “But that doesn’t mean that I’m not wrong there’s like nothing to do in this town.” She had probably been spending way too much time at her club, she just needed to make sure everything was perfect for her reopening. “What do you do for fun?”

=

Dex flipped his ninety day chip between his fingers, his eyes a twinkle of amusement despite the lingering hangover. He stopped to run his thumb over the front of it, his own little inside joke with himself. He’d gotten three free shots from three different bars last night alone with that little chip. Honesty, it was pretty fucked up that the bartenders were offering free drinks to someone that appeared to be trying to stay sober, but he wasn’t going to complain since he’d directly benefited from it.

The silken voice pulled him from his thoughts, eyes glancing over his dark sunglasses as he took her in. His lips curved into a slow smile, his eyes darkening. “I can think of a few. The obvious answer here being me.”

“Oh really?” Syn said turning to look at the person who spoke to her. Oh this was going to be fun, she loved either making people regret talking to her or making it the best thing that had ever happened to them. “And what makes you so much fun?” She asked turning up her power just a little bit. Not enough to get into trouble with the law just enough to make sure that things would go her way. 

Astrid was grumpy. Which was to say… it was a normal day for the werewolf. Despite her reservations about joining a pack, her day to day hadn’t really changed. She wasn’t going to say things were good, but they certainly weren’t bleak. Although, if the line in the coffee shop didn’t start moving soon, that was certain to change. 

The question came from in front of her and she bristled. She casually surveyed her cuticles and didn’t bother to look up as she said with a shrug, “No one’s stopping you from leaving.”

“I was just  asking a question.” Who did this girl think she was? Did she not know who Syn was? Okay she had to stop getting ahead of herself but she really couldn’t help it either. She had been in this town for almost fifty years by now she knew how to work it to her advantage and she wasn’t going to stop doing it either. “Could have kept your mouth shut.”

James stiffened at her question. It felt like she was implying something and he wasn’t too keen on how misinformed that subtle, possible accusation was. But then again, maybe he was being paranoid. No, he knew he was. It was hard to not constantly be on edge after what he had just endured and still had to swallow. He had to be a puppet for an organization that at one point didn’t care if he lived or died. It didn’t care if he was happy or healthy. They just wanted to push their product without getting sued. And here he was, trading his dignity just to walk around freely. Was this even really freedom?

“New Mexico at some testing facility. Hamlin Group.” He said, eyes looking away. He couldn’t say anything negative about his experience. Like his mama taught him, if you had nothing nice to say, it was better to tighten your lips. “I’m cured.” He said, glancing out of the corner of his eyes at her. Hopefully she could read between the lines of what he was and wasn’t saying. “Glad to hear it. Sounds like things have been quiet here, then, if you’re bored.”

Cured. James had been cured. Syn didn’t know what to make of that? One of her regulars had been trying to talk to her into it but she hadn’t thought that any one would ever get the cure? They weren’t wrong for being a supernatural, they were just as good as humans even better in most cases. Humans were just so drab and boring, why would anyone become one voluntarily? He had to volunteer for this, right? He hadn’t been forced into had he because that opened a whole new can of worms Syn didn’t want to think about.  “You’re cured? and you willingly did so?” She didn’t know what to say about it. 

Amari laughed lightly and shrugged.  “Times are changing, Syn,” she told her with a grin.  “I’ve been good, busy.  The store keeps me very busy.”  She loved that about her shop.  Having things to do was good, it made times keep moving.  “It has been!  How’ve you been?  How’s the club?”

“I’m actually having it renovated right now, figured it was time to update the decor.” The 90s were over and she couldn’t just keep relying on nostalgia with her regulars since she wanted new ones, she was getting bored with the same people over and over. She needed something new to happen. “I’m gonna have a grand reopening soon, you should come to it. It’s going to be amazing.” Or at least she was planning on it to be amazing. 

James sat with his hands curled around a cup of chamomile tea, a feeble attempt to ease his nerves. Caffeine was the last thing he needed, but his case workers suggested he put something in his stomach before seeing anyone who would give him an emotional rise. Namely, his family, his former pack. The tea was fine, but he thought even a horse tranquilizer wouldn’t calm him down. When Syndra spoke, James felt his hear skip a beat from the sheer familiarity of it. He turned so she could more easily see his face.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that?” he asked, a tight smile on his lips. “I’m the one who was gone for four months. How’ve you been, Syn?”

“And where were you exactly?” Syn said pulling out the chair to sit in front of him. Now this was interesting, she had been pretty he was dead. Since who would have left a pregnant wife/girlfriend behind? Though did he know about the baby? Syn wasn’t actually sure about the whole pack situation that had been going on. It would be interesting to see the fall out of James coming home. “But to answer your question, I’ve been good.”

Amari knew more than most that this was not an overly exciting city.  She’d stopped by the local coffee shop in the hopes of getting a caffeine hit, despite the fact that coffee didn’t do a whole lot for her. 

When she heard Syndra speak, Amari chuckled.  “Oh come on, Syn, you’ve been here long enough to know the ins and outs of this town even better than I do.”

“Yeah and it seems like everything that was fun doesn’t exist anymore.” She knew things didn’t last forever but she thought that they would last longer than they actually did. When did she get so old with thoughts like that. “But anyways, how have you been. Seems like forever since I’ve last seen you.” She asked the other women. There were some people in the town, Syn didn’t like but Amari wasn’t one of them.

“Honestly is there anything fun to do in this town?” Syn ask the person who was behind her in the coffee shop. She needed her caffeine as she was dealing with the final consultants for her club and if they messed anything up their heads would be on a platter.  

This was ridiculous. In all his years as an Incubus, he had never known a hunger quite like this. His stomach gurgled loudly, as if he’d been starving himself for the past couple of days, instead of gorging on snack foods from the dollar store. So what if he was in the money now? He couldn’t just go flaunting it around, hell no, it’d raise way too many suspicions. Especially considering his new status in town. New bachelor buys out the town of Shadow Falls’ steak and caviar stock? Yeah, no. Honestly, being human sucked ass. Gaze roaming the sidewalk, he approached the first person just a few inches before him. “Listen, we’ll skip the formalities for now. What I’m dying to know, is where can a guy get a good hot dog? And I don’t mean the ‘Oh, I’ll just throw it in the pot of weiner water we keep in the back’, 'cause I know the difference, alright? I mean genuine grilled, packed tight, dripping with relish,” Heaving an exaggerated sigh, he gripped at the jacket material over his stomach for emphasis. “I’m basically starving here, if it wasn’t obvious. Help a guy out, maybe?”

“Wow.. that’s a way to introduce yourself.” Syn ran her eyes up and down the young man who had just approached her. Was he trying to talk to her? Who just came up to a person and asked a question like that? Did he not know who she was? Well probably not if he didn’t know where to find food like that was basic life shit to know. 

“How about you try a better greeting and maybe I’ll tell you.” She couldn’t just give out the information for free. She had a reputation to maintain and she couldn’t just be seen giving out help. Plus he was a human and they were just so boring.