Revenant's Kiss (Chronicles of the Afterlife) (13 page)

"‘It’s a Get Ur Freak On remix," Phineas answered her over the thrum of the music.

"You know the song," Marcia asked over the throbbing speakers, she was surprised, there was
something about him that the music just didn’t fit, despite his fantastic ability to dance to it. She smiled at
him anyway just to keep him interested incase he thought she was trying to insult him.

"I have a niece who is a huge Missy Elliot fan, I’ve probably heard every song she’s ever
made."

"Cute," she said while watching him move to the music still despite her presence. She wasn’t
sure who was more of the distraction, him or her, she was the one supposed to be distracting him, but he
was distracting himself. She knew what he was, he should have been terrifying whether he had a niece
or not, but he wasn’t

"What do ya need," he asked leaning unto the counter to hear her better.

"Just you," she answered, she wasn’t sure if he heard her or not but he smiled at her like he had.
As soft spoken as she had been just then no one should have overheard her but given what he was it
was no surprise.
"What have you got back there," she batted her eyes at him. Hitting on him in every
physical way she was aware of other than throwing herself at him and ravishing him behind the counter,
which for reasons that she didn’t understand was more tempting then terrifying. He smiled at her now
like she was more than just another customer come to call for drinks, she liked that a lot. This smile was
even better than the first one, it made him look younger, ravishing him definitely wouldn’t be a bad idea
at all.

"Anything that you want," he stopped dancing as the song changed to one that he didn’t seem to
recognize. She didn’t mind and leaned farther over the bar as if to speak more privately with him. He
did the same and it left very little space between them.

"Anything," her voice she knew was nothing more than a seductive breath in his ear. He seemed
to jump a little with the one word, and she was surprised, she would have thought that she should be
reacting that way, when she leaned back to a more comfortable position across from him she definitely
saw a heat in his eyes that hadn’t been there before. She could practically feel his lust rubbing against
her skin in hot waves, it was intoxicating. Jennifer would be very angry at her if she went just a little
beyond what she was expected to do. She wanted to reach across the bar and kiss the handsome
monster, he was in reachable distance and it would be a great distraction. She knew that he would let
her, that it was probably even what he wanted which was why she restrained herself. She knew what
Jennifer would think if she saw that, she would think that he’d forced his way into her mind, that he had
taken control of her so easily, and that was not what this was.

 
The bar tender pushed the sleeves of the silk dress shirt he was wearing up before leaning
farther over to reach her. He put his hand over hers and she smiled, "if you like." She blushed at his
words, a soft glow under her perfect olive skin. As distractions went these seemed to be going well, but
when she saw Jennifer coming up behind him he must have noticed that her eyes were no longer on him
because he shifted away toward Jennifer. "Hey you can’t be back here," he warned.

Chapter 10

Jenny grabbed his shirt and tugged him away from Marcia before he could get out another word.
She tossed him awkwardly back against the bar, pressing her Bowie knife into his stomach when he
tried to move away. She’d watched Marcia with him for just a moment and their interaction had
worried her. In all truth Marcia’s apparent attraction to Phineas may have caused her to over react just
a little when she did step in. So sue her for being over protective of the woman, nice monster or not
Phineas was still dangerous and she wasn’t going to get Marcia killed if she could avoid it. "Howdy old
buddy, what’s going on?"

"Jennifer!" Phineas cried his alarm at the sight of her, it was always violence when she showed
up. She didn’t look happy with him, not that he could blame her, they hadn’t exactly parted ways on the
best of terms. "I was just helping a customer," he tried to explain.

"Can it Phineas she’s with me," she watched him spare a glance back at Marcia before turning
back to her. "I need information Phineas and I need it yesterday, given the circumstances I figure you’re
probably not going to volunteer any so I thought I’d give you some inspiration, hence the knife." She put
some emphasis on her point by shoving the blade a fraction closer than was comfortable.

"Did you say howdy just now," Phineas asked clearly trying to lighten her mood so she wouldn’t
stab him, she could see already he was working very hard at trying not to laugh at her
.

"Yes," Jennifer confirmed doing her best to give the impression that she was looking down at
him despite the fact that he was taller. There was something about him that always tempted her to forget
that he wasn’t human. It didn’t help that he always seemed to be laughing when she was threatening
him, it wasn’t an encouraging result. Maybe he’d caught on to the fact that she had no real intension of
hurting him if she could, without him there was no source for information without going higher up the
food chain, which never led anywhere good. He’d lightened the mood just within the first couple of
seconds of the two of them having met back up again. He used to work with kids, he’d been very good
at it, but damn-it she wasn’t a child, his ability to calm shouldn’t work on her that well. She was almost
tempted always because of his normalcy to put the knife away and just talk, but then she remembered
his threat against her life and stood her ground, regaining some of her hostility. "I need information
Phineas, your either going to give it to me or I’m going to have to cut you up."

"Still go straight to the point don’t you?" he pushed himself against the bar trying to strain away
from the blade that she had jammed against his gut.

"Information Phineas,"she pushed the Bowie knife a little tighter against him. "It’s your choice."

"You don’t understand, I can’t," he looked at her, then back into the crowd. Jennifer either
didn’t know, or didn’t care that she was attracting a bit of attention. "You should just go."

Jennifer pulled the Beretta from under her coat, just to let him know how much business she
really meant here tonight. "Let’s not make this more than it has to be."

"You must be kidding Jenny, you honestly think you can take down all the security here. I know
for a fact there are more then just fifteen of us here tonight." Her icy gaze never shifted away from him,
she was very willing to risk herself for whatever she needed, he could see that. "I can’t help you
Jennifer, you know that."

"I’m desperate Phineas, that makes me much more of a danger to you right now than any of
your buddies here and you know it. They may torture you for talking but I’ll kill you if you don’t, tell me
what I want to know and I'll get out of your hair."
 

"There are worse things than death Jenny," Phineas gasped as she traced the knife up to his
chest with just enough pressure to draw blood.

Marcia glanced behind her to see that they’d caught more then just a few of the dancers
attention and one of the bouncers was headed their way. "Jennifer this is not looking good," she
warned, but Jennifer never looked away from the bartender. Like there wasn’t a problem in the world
that could touch her.

"Like I said Phineas, I’m desperate, torture isn’t beneath me if that’s what you think will do it. I
know how important being able to see is to you, I’d hate for you to lose your eyes over this." Phineas
scowled at her, it was the first bitter expression he’d given her tonight, but it wasn’t likely to be the last.
She was much into playing games with the monsters, she just wished they’d take the hint.

"Jennifer," Marcia exclaimed horrified for a moment, "you wouldn’t, not really."

"Shut up," Jennifer scowled at Marcia and the woman shied away from her stare. She couldn’t
blame Marcia, they did not have time for a debate, half her team was down and it wouldn’t matter if she
cut his eyes out here and now with her Bowie knife, given what he was they would just grow back.
"This is important Phineas," she gave her full attention back to him. He was statue still, looking at her
like he was measuring her up on how seriously she was considering taking his eyes. She glanced over at
the bouncer heading their way, moving through the crowds like it was nothing despite the fact that he
was huge in both height and width. "Get rid of the muscle or I get rid of him myself and it won’t be
pretty." Big words for her, ones that she could only hope like hell wouldn’t back fire on her.

"Surprisingly Jennifer despite the fact that you’re a beautiful woman, situations concerning you
are rarely pleasant." He smiled over at the bouncer and waved him away as she had asked. Jennifer
seemed to relax a little next to him, even put a little more distance between him and her knife. "I take it
that you’re not going to kill me then."

"We’ll see," Jenny watched him move his back a little ways away from the bar behind him. He
was getting comfortable and she was letting him, she would allow for anything at this point that would get
her the information that she needed.

"I can’t tell you anything Jenny you know that better than anybody. We both agreed that it
would be best for the both of us if we just avoided each other for that purpose." he watched Jennifer
nod for a minute, "but you still came."

"I also told you that if I needed the information bad enough I’d risk your neck to get it."

"You’re so generous," he knew from their past work experience together that Jennifer kept her
word unless she had no choice. He was alive now because she had kept her word, that apparently
didn’t mean he owed her anything.
"What makes you think I know anything?"

"Don’t try to play games with me, we both know that you have a bad tendency to keep your ear
to the ground. We both know that you know what I’m talking about." He seemed to flinch at the
implications of what she was saying, but he still shook his head in refusal. "Fine, which eye do you want
to lose first."

"Jennifer," Marcia begged on behalf of a monster she didn’t know. But clearly even the thought
of a monster being tortured in any manner was too much for her to handle. "Please."

"Yes Jennifer listen to your new friend, Please," he couldn’t hold back the gasp as she lifted the
Bowie knife inches from his left eye.
 

"What do you think Phineas, the left one first, that way if you talk after I take it you’ll still have
your better eye." His mouth was gapping at her but no words came out. If he called her bluff then she
wasn’t sure exactly what she was going to do, actually deforming him in anyway was out of the question.
She was grateful she didn’t have to come up with a new strategy, she instantly knew she’d won the
moment she saw him shaking, she knew from experience that it was from fear and not a
nger, "talk
Phineas."

"You don’t understand, we’re under new management here, this guy is worse then Nickolei,
he’s crazy. Okay so he’s not as bad as Nickolei but if I talk to you without his permission he’ll kill me."
Jennifer didn’t seem to care, but he seemed to understand that she didn’t have as desperate a look to
her anymore. "Please, please take it up with him."

Jennifer paused to think about it, did she really want to talk to management, the answer was no,
why would she when she’d nearly been killed by the last one. But given the amount of shaking that
Phineas had been reduced to at the prospect of facing the new boss she wasn’t sure she had much
choice, "fine but you are taking us to him."

            
"So you’re still asking me to risk my neck for you again?" It sounded like a question even to him.
She hadn’t asked him to risk himself for her the last time, he’d done that of his own accord, she’d just
been there to risk herself to save him later. He sighed looking at her and shook his head at his own
stupidity, "alright."

            
"Alright," Jennifer lowered her knife, glad for now at least that her bravado seemed to work on
at least one of the monsters. "We don’t want any trouble with the master jerk-off yea, if you’re leading
me into a trap I’ll remove your eyes and solder the sockets closed with a blow torch, do we have an
understanding?"

            
"We have a deal, if he gives the thumbs up I’ll tell you anything you want." Phineas made to
walk around her but apparently not outright saying it wasn’t a trap didn’t make her happy. As he made
to move around her she pushed her hand down on the wound she’d put on his chest and shoved him
back against the bar. "Jesus Jennifer!"