Shakedown

Demons; it’s so hard to find one that will keep its end of a deal.

Depending on where they come from, some demons just are too shifty for their own good. Case in point; I know a guy, who’s not really a guy, who runs a “bait & switch” operation in a pawn shop near Chinatown. He’s generally harmless, except he likes to sell corrupted, cursed, and haunted items, some of which are of his own creation. Now and then, I go and shake him down. Rules are rules, and as long as he doesn’t break the simple one, he can run his artifact trafficking business all he wants, as long as me and my people get notified and first dibs on anything that may be useful.

So I stop by Chan’s earlier today, since things have been a little quiet from him. As I’m walking in, he’s shoving a little girl out the back door, slipping something into her backpack. A glance from me, and my wingman slips back out the front and does his thing. I hate sneaky shit, and Chan is notorious for it. So I follow him over the back room, throwing down my usually front-room banter, just in case anyone is watching. Once in the back though, I shoulder into Chan, knocking him into a chair, and I land a swift heel to his jaw.

Chan is not a powerful Yaoguai. He may not even be full blooded. I don’t remember his true name, but I think he may have been a dragon at some point. Anyways, he’s a wimp, but he’s smart; real smart. So smart that he knew to take my deal when I offered it to him as an alternative to being flayed open on a dissection table. But sometimes, he tries to pull one over on me, and the boy forgets that I hate that shit.

So after getting my boot to his face, Chan tries to act surprised by my actions, saying they are unwarranted. I ask him he slipped into the girl’s bag was, but he tries to by sly and play it off that she’s his mortal granddaughter, and he was giving her something to give to her mother. Of course, my phone alerts me to an incoming SMS, and it’s Jackson; he’s heading back to the shop with the girl, who isn’t acting normal. I get right up into Chan’s face and let him know I may be collecting an arm, again, if the girl is under any magic. He gulped, loudly.

Though he can regenerate, it’s bad for him to lose a limb. Chan doesn’t lose any power or anything, but it opens him up to be influenced by the holder of said flesh. I had the damn thing cremated, then had the ashes compressed into a cute little fake diamond, which I wear on a charm bracelet. Is it irony that my charm bracelet really is covered in magical charms? Anyways, it still takes him a year or so to grow a new arm back, and it’s weird for customers to see this little arm, and if they ever come back, to his a normal arm in its place. He uses the twin excuse.

So Jackson brings the little girl into the backroom, and from the start I can tell things are fucked. We sit her down, and Jackson gives her a once-over; drooly, eyes pitch-black w/ no whites, ice cold, and forlorn looking. We look into her pack, and find nothing but an old vase. I pulled it out and swung it over to Chan, why reared back from it. It had a slight vibration, a hum, a resonance. I had a clue what it was, but wasn’t positive. Chan looked worried as I opened the seal on it and peered inside. Eggs. Chan’s eggs.

I knew what it meant; I knew exactly what these little eggs are for. There are 4 of them, but only one will hatch. Only one had the chance to grant Chan a new offspring; maybe even one to reincarnate into. I’ve done this twice before, stopped poor old Chan from pulling a phoenix. If he does, I lose my power over him, which I think is his immediate goal. I’m sure other reasons include his bad arthritis, IBS, and lazy eye. I think his current form is in its 90s. Old fucker, but still has demonic blood in its veins.

With an “oops”, I drop the vase and let it shatter. I know Chan watched it fall and break in slow-mo, his demeanor erupting slowly into sadness. He just looked up from it to me with this sad puppy face, like I just kicked a kitten. He knew I did it on purpose, just as well as I knew why he had them in the first place.

It took Chan about 5 minutes of vocalizing in old Cantonese to break his puppet curse on the girl, who was in fact actually his granddaughter. What a sick fuck, controlling your own blood to go and hide your demon eggs in the sewers for you.

Before I left, I bought some of his special inventory, and I even waived my discount and paid full price for them. I may be a cold-hearted bitch some times, but I’m not going to rob the man.

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