The smoke twisted in its artistic way, forming curls in the gloom, illuminated only by the age-speckled bar lights. Along the wall was every hue of amber liquid in their inverted bottles; every vice that her inner self ordered her to avoid. But, here she was, seated at the bar cross-legged as she raised a finger to call the bartender who was busy scrubbing the glass of the chiller cabinet. ”A glass of brandy,” spoke the female and the bartender man would simply nod, a professional smile that he’d probably been wearing all night.

”Coming right up.”

Venus had dressed up well tonight, like she always did: an outfit appropriate for drinking at the bar. She’d noticed how people hardly recognized her during these hours, despite the reputation that she had amassed for herself which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, she liked it – it was the only time she felt free without concealing her identity whenever she was in public, so she found no trouble dressing something flashy for tonight, thinking that she would enjoy herself aside from the vital task that was assigned to her.

The Siren wasn’t at the bar just to drink, as much as she would’ve preferred: she was here for an assassination of a man who was responsible of dealing illegal items of all sorts, even narcotics. An image of her target was given to her before her mission began and according to the information from her client, the man was supposed to be at the shadiest bar in town at this hour which was no other than this building, but there was yet to be any signs of the man.

Was she played?

The glass of brandy she ordered was set in front of her. Venus eyed the amber liquid and the golden glow of the glass-like cubes. Bored out of her wits, she poked them with her perfectly manicured red nails to hear them jingle in the pre-dawn silence. She watched, entranced, as they bounce back up, remaining mostly submerged like mini icebergs.

Surely, there was something much more interesting to do than this.

Wrapping her long fingers around the glass, she felt her heat leach into the drink. A content sigh escaped her plump lips – the elixir of her life. She raised the glass to sip, feeling the keen burn on her tongue and throat before lowering it to the table, letting it fall heavily but not so much it split. Her eyes wandered the place that was flooded by hundreds of conversations told in loud voices, all of them in rivalry with the music that dominated the atmosphere.

A familiar face caught her eye in a short distance – no, he wasn’t the target. It wasn’t a person she knew, but one she had seen of, from the bounty flyers that were pinned up nearly at every part of the city. She knew all the faces that had a bounty, she had learnt to memorize them all, at least the ones that were large in case there comes a time when she needed to hunt them down. With the glass in hand, the woman approached him, her heels clacking against the marble floor.

”Weird to find someone here with a bounty on their head. Are you sure no one’s here to hunt you down?” The woman gave a wicked grin and sat across him. ”Caius, is it?”

Venus raised her eyebrows at the man’s aggressive response to her approach, with a slow grin spreading on her lips. ”Relax. I’m not here to for your bounty, though the money could do me some good.” Before she could even introduce herself, it seemed that Caius had already recognized her. That went faster than I’d expected, she thought to herself. People would usually stay away from her when noticing her presence, not wanting to get wound up with officials or media attention albeit, Caius on the other hand, seemed to be amused by her company. She noticed a wave of energy released from his body; one that was unfamiliar to her senses, perhaps as an activation to weaken her, but to no avail.

”Interesting. You’re a demon.”

The redhead didn’t go so far as to finding out all the details of those who had bounties, so this was certainly her first time hearing that this man was a demon – in fact, it was her first time meeting one. This was most definitely going to be a wondrous encounter, she thought.

”Indeed I am. Well, I lasted this long without anyone recognizing me, so that’s not so bad.” She crossed her legs under the table as she lifted her half-emptied glass of brandy to her lips and took a sip. ”Good news for you, I’m no longer a demon slayer,” a pause stopped the flow of her sentence before she continued, ”It’d be quite the story, if I was sitting across you as a demon slayer. Who knows what could’ve happened…” She trailed off, her eyes wandering into the space behind him, crowded by people who were trying to yell over the music.

Venus was subtly searching for the man she was assigned to kill and yet again, he was nowhere to be found. Her impatience increased with every passing second as she restlessly tapped her heel against the floor and her arms crossed over her bosom. The only positive thing out of this entire situation was her having an interesting company that could possibly entertain her tonight – no less, a demon – at least until her prey shows up.

She shifted her gaze back towards Caius. ”Why, am I too lowly of a person to talk to the oh-so-godly demon?” said the female teasingly, her voice apparent with a hint of sarcasm. ”So, how did you end up here in the most shittiest bar tonight?”