Chapter 3
“I can't believe this,” Anna said softly into the bottom of her drink. It wasn't that she couldn't believe she'd downed her drink already. That was totally understandable. The fact she’d lost her job, wasn’t. “How could I be so unlucky?”
A few more patrons entered the bar, all somehow looking grittier than the last. From black leather boots with hex-wards scribbled into the soles, to magic-protecting shades - they were a far cry from the law enforcement she was used to.
“Why exactly have you taken us to this massively displeasing bounty-hunter bar?” Luminaria suddenly popped her head out of Anna's patchwork-quilt bag and shot the nearest patron a death glare.
“Because it's preferable to a dark-arts bar.”
“To you, maybe. But you always have been a soppy girl. When are you going to open your black wings and embrace the dark, glorious side of life?”
“Never. I don't have enough money for anything right now. And I know for a fact that the dark arts require a lot of candles and black-velvet cloaks. That stuff can add up real quick.”
“You are a soppy witch,” Luminaria declared as she flashed her tail like an executioner wielding an axe.
“Yeah, I suppose I am.” Anna rested one of her arms on the bar, propped her head with the other, and stared at her empty glass.
“You look like you need another,” the bar woman said as she walked up and slapped her hand on the bench.
Anna blinked back her surprise.
The bar woman was everything Anna wasn't: statuesque, slim, confident, and with looks that could melt a mirror.
“Ah, thanks, but I better leave it at that. I only have enough for one drink.”
“It's on the house.” The woman flourished a liquor bottle from somewhere, and poured Anna a drink before she could protest.
“Ah, I, oh, I couldn't.”
“Just drink it, sweetie. Now I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with your demon cat.” The bar woman smiled, her crimson-red lips curling with the languid ease of a snake slipping through grass.
“Oh, no - she's not illegal,” Anna jumped to her defense immediately, “she hasn't committed a crime since she died. She's an heirloom contract.”
“Relax,” the woman shook a slender finger at Anna, “I don't care about that, sugar. Now let me introduce myself. Meredith.” She leaned over the bar, grabbed Anna's hand, and shook it.
Her handshake was strong, and suspiciously crackly. Either Meredith was packing a Tesla ball somewhere in her slim-fit black leather jeans, or she was magical. Really magical.
Anna pried her hand back and squeaked “Anna Hope Summersville.”
“Pretty name. Now, what do you do Anna? I can sense you're a witch.”
“Oh, I'm a police witch. At least I was. I just lost my job actually. Well, I lost it before I had it, I guess,” she babbled.
Meredith raised a sculpted eyebrow. “Sorry, I missed that - did you say police witch?”
“Ah, yeah. I used to work in Vale.”
Silence catapulted through the bar. Though silence usually wasn't a projectile, the way it slammed its way around each patron was so fast and violent, you'd be forgiven for thinking it hadn't been shot from a gun.
Anna swallowed. Audibly. Visibly. Loudly.
Meredith leaned in, crumpling her long arms in front of her as she brought her face as close to Anna as the wide bench would allow. “Vale?” she pushed her glistening teeth into her lip with relish. “You were a police witch in Vale?”
“Yes,” Anna squeaked. She sounded exactly like a mouse.
“And you're out of work?” Meredith's eyes glittered with a particularly unsettling combination of magic and shrewd calculation.
“... Yeah?”
“Well, Anna Hope Summersville, you've walked into the right bar. I've got a job for you. Great pay, free drinks, and fantastic future prospects.”
“S-sorry?”
“I'm offering you a job, kid.” Meredith grabbed a piece of yellow-gold parchment from somewhere under the bar and slid it towards Anna with the practiced ease of a croupier revealing an ace. “Sign on the dotted line.” She tapped the right spot with one of her carefully manicured nails, the click-click-click somehow louder than the rowdy patrons.
“B-but ... I just met you.” Anna shrunk away from the bar. She wasn't scared of Meredith. Though the woman cut a striking figure in her tight patent leather and knife-thin heels, she was imposing, not evil. No, Anna's reluctance came from simple confusion. This kind of stuff didn't happen to a girl like her. She was slow, patient, and, well, boring. And boring never got offered jobs in seedy bounty-hunter bars.
“Don't matter. You need a job, honey. And I've got one for you. With your extensive experience, it'll be a breeze.”
“Extensive experience. Wait no, I only worked a couple of months for Vale Police Department. And anyhow, how would that help me be a bar mistress?”
“Sweetie, I'm not offering you a bar mistress job,” Meredith chuckled melodiously, “I want you as a bounty hunter. With your experience, you'd be able to pile up the bounties quicker than one of Arana's boys. And god knows I could do with a proficient hunter.”
“Ah ... you hire bounty hunters?”
Meredith arched her back and patted a hand to her chest. “I'm a licenser, hon. You clearly don't know how this town works,” she flicked her gaze over Anna's ankle-length skirt and patchwork bag, “so I'll give you a crash course. We don't have a police force. Magical crime enforcement gets foisted onto any magical creature who can hold it together long enough to pass a character check. But even if you can prove you’re not the Devil herself, you still have to have a licenser. That’s where people like me come in. You could call us sub-contractors, I guess. We own the bounty hunting licenses, and we can astutely pick employees to carry out our bounties.”
“Why doesn’t the Magical Enforcement Council just hire bounty hunters? Why do they need you guys?”
“Because we do the paper work and … mop up after things,” she smiled through her words. “We make the process run smoother. Plus, the Council is way too busy to deal with your average bum bounty hunter. No insult intended, boys,” she waved a hand at the assembled bar before continuing, “they need licensors like us to deal with the day-to-day work. We’re the ones ultimately reportable to them. Bounty hunters like you only have to deal with people like me.”
Bounty hunters like you? Meredith was already acting as if Anna had accepted.
“All you have to do is sign there,” she tapped the contract again, “and then start bringing in the bounties. Easy as,” she purred.
Anna opened her mouth to say no.
She could never be a bounty hunter. She’d barely managed to scrape by as a police witch in Vale, and only with the welcome help of Benjamin Tate.
She wouldn’t have a Benjamin in Marchtown. There’d be no police back up. She’d be on her own.
“Just think about it, kid,” Meredith winked, “you need money, and you can clearly do the work. I promise you, knowing what you put up with in Vale, police work in this old hole of a town will be a walk in the park.”
Considering the evil that had lurked in Vale City Park, that wasn’t as reassuring as it should have been. “Ah … look, thanks, but—”
“She accepts,” Luminaria spat as she jammed her head out of the bag like an aggressive meerkat.
Meredith tilted her head and laughed. “Well that’s a deal then. I’m glad to have a witch like you on the team.” She offered her bony, elegant hand to Anna.
“Hold on, I—”
“I make the decisions around here,” Luminaria cut in, “and I accept this offer.”
“But—” Anna stuttered.
“This witch,” Luminaria gestured to Anna with a clawed paw, “is under my heirloom contract. She is indebted to me. She is magically bound to care for my every need. And she is currently out of work,” she spat, her long whiskers bristling. “So she accepts this job. Because
if she doesn’t, I’ll break her leg.”
Anna winced. She got the threat. While she wouldn’t put it past Luminaria to attack her, that’s not what the cursed cat meant. Oh no, she was referring to the contract. It really would crush a bone or two if Anna didn’t keep up her end of the bargain.
Meredith chuckled. “I can’t say I usually like demon cats – but maybe I’ll make an exception for you.”
“I am not a demon cat, madam.” Luminaria pulled herself up to her full height. Though she was as tall as a garden gnome, she held herself like Mount Everest incarnate. “I am possessed.”
“Yeah, there’s no difference. You still claw the couch and drag in the occasional angel through the cat flap. But what I’m really interested in, is getting a signature.” Meredith shoved the contract under Anna’s nose again. “Dotted line, sweetie. Come on now, I’ve got a whole bar to keep happy here.”
Anna wanted to protest. She wanted to point out she couldn’t be a bounty hunter.
Yet she couldn’t afford not to be. She needed the money, and she very much needed to appease the contract before it started breaking her legs.
Driving her teeth into her lip until the pain cut out her nerves, she cautiously pulled the contract towards her.
She took a calming breath, then jammed her thumb onto the bottom of the contract. A few sparks of magic jumped over her flesh, flashing along her nail and sinking into the parchment.
Immediately, she sneezed.
“Bless you, if you’re into blessings, of course,” Meredith mumbled as she snatched up the signed contract and stuffed it under the counter. “Right,” she clasped her hands together and leaned in, “pleased to have you on board, Ms Summersville. You begin tonight, right after I knock off work at 3 AM. Bring your hexes, your weapons, your blessings, and your balls. We’re taking down a kingpin.”
“S-sorry a kingpin?”
Meredith shrugged, the silver rings embellishing her fingers clinking together as she ran her pinkie over her teeth. “Runs a dark establishment in Course Street. Up to all sorts of no good. I don’t have all the specifics – the MEC don’t always share their reasons with us. From my own experience, though, I know this guy’s a real low life. All we have to do is force our way in the front door, deal with his hired muscle, and drag him back to MEC HQ. Simple and quick. Trust me.”
“Ah, how much hired muscle? And what is this guy? A wizard, a magician, a troll? And do we have backup?”
“Questions, questions, questions. They can wait. Now I have to deal with my customers. See you, sweetie.” Meredith waved and sashayed off.
“… Oh my god, what have I just done?” Anna put her hand up to her head, suddenly feeling faint.
“You did what I told you to do, fool. Now take me home. I wish to be comfortably in bed before you go out and get yourself killed tonight.”
Anna crumpled her hand over her mouth and tried to breathe. “B-but you told me to accept the job.”
“Of course I did – we need the money. Other than that, though, it’s a goddamn terrible idea. You are the worst witch in the world, and you have severe magical allergies.” Luminaria tipped her small furry head back and cackled like only a possessed cat could. “You are most definitely going to get yourself killed. I suppose I shall be handed back to your mother for safekeeping. Which will be infinitely better than you – your mother can cook.”
Anna closed her hands over her eyes and slumped against the bar.
Things couldn’t get any worse.
Oh, wait, they could.
And tonight, they would.