tig trager

“You can see them now, but not before you had yourself a bite to eat.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Mama’s house, mama’s rules. It was the least he could do for the woman who had taken him under her wing. Besides. He wasn’t going to say no to food.

“Well ‘ll be damned– I’d threaten t’ spit in  it, but ‘m sure you’d like it, Tiggy.”

“Don’t make promises y’can’t keep. If you really wanna make my day, slip me a mickey or two.”

“Ouch!”  Throws full beer bottle back at.  

He ducks. Not that he’s had experience with it. “Hey! Have you lost your goddamn mind? We don’t waste beer here, c’mon.”

She clenched her fists against the bath tub, a sign she was soon to reveal herself from the bloodied waters, or snap this tub in two. Her mood while prickly had grown far worse over the past few hunters. “Hunters have broken and burned down yet another household.” She lost one in London, but this one was in Hungary. “They found my strong hold, freed or mercifully killed the servants shackled to the basement, before burning it down.” Those freed of course were hunted down as soon as word came to her. “There is no honor in those hunters. I simply wish to live a while along and I am the cruel one?”

She was in a mood. And for good reason. From the sound of it, things had only gone from bad to worse. When she gripped the sides of the tub, he took his cue and swiped her robe and held it up for her. It was a job for one of her bitches, but it seemed Tig was picking up all the slack these days. “Hunters hunt. Can’t change that. Get me whatever details you’ve got and I’ll hunt ‘em back.”

     ❝Maybe I can aim better if I imagine shooting your face…❞      Despite her mutter, she’s joking completely. She holds the      gun up, steadying her hands and getting in the proper stance      that’ll help her to aim it. A deep breath in, a heavy exhale      and she pulls the trigger. It pops and the bullet hits a can at      last.  ❝What d’ya know?❞

Tig hears the telling pop! and clink! of a pierced beer can and he jumps up to his feet. “Yeah! That’s what I’m talking about!” He moves over to her, lifts his palm, and says,“Up high, y’little psychopath.”

     ❝How the hell do you expect me to concentrate and      actually shoot something when you’re pressuring me      like that?❞ Sookie quips right back at him, annoyed      brown eyes shooting back at him over her shoulder.      She’s used a gun before. Never to kill, and it has      been a while. After all the shit that’s hit Charming,      she’d be a fool not to brush up on her skills…or lack      thereof.  

      Alright. So maybe this is that too tough love that Colleen       always used to chide him for. But Tig isn’t real great about       doing things the easy way.

“As I have informed you many times, many, many, many, times. You will leave behind DNA which will trace itself back to you and this household if you continue to fornicate with the corpses. You must leave those amorous feelings you have for the dead to professional males and females who will lie still for you.” If the authorities matched any semen he left in the corpse to him, this would all end. “Did you rinse?”

Tig hadn’t been back barely five minutes and she was already lecturing him. Well. That was what he got for shackling himself to a mother-figure. He couldn’t take the good parts of her maternal instincts and leave out the bad. He gave a small nod, realizing she wasn’t going to be good humored about it, and said, “Yeah, don’t worry about it.” He let a small silence lapse before adding, “You’re in a mood, huh?” He shot a crooked eyebrow her way--sure, the hard part was over, trouble-maker out of the picture, but she still seemed...bothered. And Tig was nothing if not protective.

“Yes, how shall I be? Delighted you never once phoned to reveal your whereabouts? Any news of whether you were digging a ditch for him or one was dug for you?” She clicked her tongue like a disappointed mother hen, and she was disappointed. “Not even his tongue? Shame, shame, shame.”

He cocked his head, keeping it light. Smirked. “What, and ruin the surprise?” Because around her, he tends to turn into a child again and playing it off as a joke is easier than dealing with letting her down. He props himself up against the wall, trying to relax, and shrugs. “Anyway, you wouldn’t want his tongue, I uh...already used it.” Because--whether or not he actually did the deed--skull fucking always made her smile, right?

“Perhaps it was better if it had killed you. You were gone quite a while.”

“Aw...c’mon. No need to be like that.” He tries a smile. Love me? There wasn’t a hell of a lot that scared Tig anymore. Disappointing her? That was one of them. “I’d have made a necklace outta his fingernails for you...but there wasn’t a hell of a lot of him left when I got done.”