One: Hunters, Bounties, and a friend named Revenge

Revenge is sweet....even sweeter when hiring a bounty hunter.

"Who the hell are you?"
Lilith swallowed the lump in her throat and forced her frozen legs to work. She took a few steps forward, blinking nervously at the platinum blond male leaning back dangerously in a chair perched behind the ragged old desk. Eyes as bright as the midday sky traveled about her person in an almost lazy manner before resting all too comfortably on her face, and a small, sadistic smirk twitched at the guy's lips.

I wonder if it's too late to turn tail and run?

She bit the inside of her cheek and clenched her fists, glaring at the man. "I..I'm someone who wishes to have you for hire." she said quickly.

The man snorted and leaned back further in the chair. "Really now, pretty little thing like you?" He very carefully extracted his feet from on top the table and popped his neck, giving her a cocky grin. "Let me  guess. Want me to do the deed?"

Lilith blinked at him, confused. "Deed?"

The blond hooked his hands behind his head and eyed her again, wagging his brows while giving her a toothy grin.. "Ya know, the deed. Chicks like you usually come to me for one reason, and one reason only. To get de-flowered."

"Wha...what?" Lilith's eyes widened to giant saucers and she backed away from the man as quickly as she could. A small shiver passed through her spine and she couldn't help but eye the man as if he was the newest ghost she'd just seen.

The blond started cackling like a madman at the look on her face and leaned back too far in the chair, falling with a heavy thump to the mucky ground.

Lilith cracked a smile as a sliver of satisfaction passed through her. It was a small thing, falling to the ground like that, but she couldn't help but feel it was retribution for the uncouth words he directed at her just seconds ago. It served to remind her that Karma was still a little evil, and the Almighty was still present even in this dark and bloody cruel world.
He shot off the ground just as quickly as he'd fallen, dusting himself off as if nothing had just happened. He looked at her evenly, digging one hand into his pant pocket and running the other thru his long blond hair. "What do ya want kid? I don't got all day." he said, sounding agitated.

She exhaled slowly and walked up to the desk, staring at the man and wondering the best way to approach the subject. "I...I need to hire you--

"Yea, Yea, that's what you said already." he cut her off, fixing the chair back in it's place before plopping down comfortably, his eagle gaze still upon the girl. "Why? I ain't no regular guy, ya know."
"I know. You're Dmitri Vallentyne II, a bounty hunter. The best from what I've been told." She started chewing on her bottom lip.

"Go on." he said.

So she did. She reached into her jacket and pulled out a large pouch that jiggled noisily as she dropped it on the table in front of him. "I....I want to take down V.O.I.C.E." She licked her lips and waited.

Silence followed her words as she and the blond one had a mini stare down. He laced his fingers in front of his mouth and narrowed his eyes to mere slits as he switched his gaze from the money pouch on the table, to her still standing, slightly shaking form.

"How old are you?" he asked suddenly. His voice was deep and dark, and filled with something else Lilith couldn't place.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"Just, answer the damn question!" His voice thundered across the room, making her still immediately.
She bit her lip. "I'm thirteen."
"Thirteen?" he repeated, chuckling deeply. He fixated her with a very dark glare and spoke in a harsh whisper. "A mere baby wanting to take down the V.O.I.C.E organization? This must be some joke."
"I'm not laughing, am I?" Lilith countered, glaring. "I'm serious. I want to hire you to take down V.O.I.C.E. Will you do it?"
He stood up and walked around the table, his shoes clanking on the wooden floor. He stood in front of her, averting his eyes long enough to take a peek at the dirty cream pouch still sitting easily on the table. "How much is in there?"

Lilith swallowed and wrung her hands, not taking her eyes off him. "Five thousand gold marks." "Five thousand?" he repeated, smiling suddenly. A glimmer of hope welled in her when she saw the smile.

"No."

Her hope shattered into millions of pieces and flew away with the non existent wind. "...b..but why?" She asked in a small voice.

He snorted  then forcefully grabbed her chin and all but snarled in her face. "Five thousand gold marks, princess, ain't even gonna rip the arm off the lowest ranking v.o.i.c.e official. That ain't even enough to get me to five miles down the street." He forcefully released her chin and took a casual stroll around the small, clammy room.

"So...what price will you charge me?"
He stopped and turned to her, smacking his lips. "If I took the job?" he looked up at the ceiling before gazing at the teen. "Ten million gold marks."
"Wha...ten million! That's not..."
"Fair?" he cut her off and stalked towards her. "Oh it's fair alright princess. It's actually even dirt cheap compared to what I really should charge for a job like that. You want me to take down a whole organization, that means hundreds, if not thousands of people. Not to mention the chance that I could be killed myself trying to fulfill it. Besides, what I wanna know, is why? I ain't just gonna go get my hands dirty because some stupid little kid hates the government."

He had a point, but she didn't want to agree with him. Lilith picked up the pouch and clutched it to her chest because it was all that she had, and squeezed her eyes shut to stop the tears from swimming to her eyes.  When that failed to work she opened her eyes and looked down, not wanting the man to see the sadness she knew was painted on her face. "They....they took away something from me...someone I love." the words were whispered and invoked a grief in her that she had, so far, refused to acknowledge. The image of her sweet and loving mother's face entered her mind immediately, and it took almost all of her willpower to push it away. She couldn't break down, not here, and especially not in front of this man.

"Who'd they take?" his voice was soft and full of curiosity.
"My mother."
She lifted her head when she felt his warm hand ruffling her hair gently, it was as if he was trying to comfort her. His face was blank, devoid of all emotion, but in his eyes she caught the smallest bit of sympathy.

It was gone just as quickly as it came.
He took his appendage off her head, and stuck it back into his pocket and exhaled loudly before walking around the table to his chair.
"What's your name kid?" he asked.
"Lilith. Lilith Karter." She replied.
"Lilith huh? Pretty name for such a pretty little girl." He spoke softly, then turned and fixated her with a hard glare. "Pretty little girls like you shouldn't ever have to get your hands dirty, so hear what. I'll let you walk outta here and forget that we even met. You can take your money with you, and run back to your place. I'm sure your mother will show up eventually." His voice was soft and gave away nothing of how he was feeling, but his words drew from her a sob.
Lilith ground her teeth and backed away quickly, turning long enough to open the door and give him one last, heated glare.
"No she won't you jerk, cause she's dead!" She screamed and ran out.

-------

The thought of stopping never once crossed her mind as she sought to put as much distance between herself and the uncouth man she was told to come see. She had such high hopes that he would've accepted the job and avenge her mother so that she could finally, finally sleep in peace, but she guessed that it was not meant to be.  He turned her down like her goal wasn't even worth lifting a finger for. 
Well fine! If he can't take the job, then I'm gonna find someone that will!

Lilith clenched her fists at her sides before pulling the lengthy dark coat closer to her body, the chill from the evening air setting in. Goose bumps started popping to the surface of her skin and she bit her lip to keep from chattering loudly. The neon colored lights glared angrily at her from it's place on the door of a wooded building. Raven's it read, the s squeaking and hanging from it's hinges, about to fall to the ground and meet it's doom. She stopped and watched with hawk eyes as three heavily armored men--at least she assumed they were from their large, bulky builds-- stalked up the stairs to Raven's with heavy footsteps, two waltzing into the place after the door was pushed open. The last however bristled right before his hand touched the door, and he turned abruptly and scanned the place.
The dark grey tint of the armor shined bright in the moonlight, and Lilith had to look away quickly as a helmet covered head settled precisely on her form.  She stood still,counting each breath she took and prayed to whatever god existed that the guarded man turn his attention elsewhere, but as the sound of heavy, iron clad footsteps reached her ears, she knew he hadn't. He was coming directly  to her.

She pulled the cloak tighter around her tiny frame and swallowed thickly as the man stopped in front of her.
"There must be an adult accompanying younger citizens at all times, more so at night. Tell me child, where is yours?" His voice was thick and harsh, and instantly set her on alert. He gazed above her head for a few seconds as if looking for an adult to just pop out of nowhere and claim the girl, but no one did, and Lilith was too sure that one would ever would.
She licked her lips and shifted

"Yes, well, see about that." She started speaking, darting her eyes about the darkened place for some way to escape. This diminutive place, Mar pol if she remembered correctly, was just about deserted as it could be. The doors to the ten buildings that stood on each side of the muddy road were all closed, excepting Ravens of course, and no other passer by's seemed to be running the street. It was just her and the man...officer she rather thought.

"No adult or guardian?" He reached one hand behind his head and pulled off the helmet, revealing to her short curly locks of ginger red and narrowed green eyes. A few freckles dusted the man's cheeks, and a long, pointed jaw clicked shut as his ire became known. He frowned heavily and quickly wrapped his pointed, armored fingers around Lilith's arm and tugged her forward before she had another chance to respond. "That's too bad then, by law all unaccompanied minors must be taken into V.O.I.C.E. custody."

"What? No!" Lilith tried to wrench her arm out of the man's grasp and flinched as the cold metal of his pointed fingers bite into her skin. "I'm not going! Let go of me!" she shouted and tried wrenching her arm out of his grasp once more.

He huffed loudly and tightened his grip, dragging her closer towards him. "I don't think so, child. Laws are laws, I'm just doing my job." he stated plainly.

"Well you can take your job and shove it!"  Lilith retorted hotly, thinking split second about biting the man, but remembering, from the grip on her arm, that he was covered in iron armor and that, any retaliation from her or her teeth at this point would only end up hurting a lot more than she would realize. She might even be teeth less before it was over.

The red head sighed loudly, his voice dragging as if it was taking all his energy just to restrain her. "Listen girl, I don't make the rules okay?"

"I don't care!" Lilith screamed and jammed her foot on top his own, smiling in victory as the man released her to clutch his foot.  "Why you little wench!" he yelled out, and grabbed for her.
Lilith dodged his hands, leaning back as far as she could go without falling before a smirk crossed her lips. The man reached for her again, and she jumped back, though felt a slight pressure on her neck. She looked down just in time to see the loosely hanging necklace around her neck ripped out from it's resting place, only to be firmly grasped by the freckled man.
No! She didn't think twice about tackling the man.

"There you are pinky!" She froze from her spot on the voice official, hanging limply from his arm as he had tried to pry her off. Loud footsteps reached her ears, and a second later she felt warm, large fingers around her armpits. She was hoisted off the man and brought flush against something large and warm, and when she inched her gaze above her, she caught ice blue eyes staring straight above her head.

"Thank god you're alright. I was beginning to think I'd never find you." he said happily, hugging Lilith to his body. His arms squeezed her tight, and for once, Lilith was beyond happy that the man had shown up when he did, despite the fact that she still disliked him because he turned her down earlier .
She would rather deal with him, than the man currently looking on at them both blankly.

The red haired man straightened up and looked straight at the blond. "I am to assume that you are this child's....guardian?"

"I am her father yes." Dmitri said with a smile, though his voice was very stiff and his tone unfriendly. He released the teen and quickly stashed her behind him and bristled slightly as she grabbed his trench coat in a death grip. Lilith peeked out from behind the bounty hunter and stuck out her tongue at the armored man.

The other man nodded stiffly, narrowing his eyes at Dmitri before eye balling Lilith with a look of pure dislike. She hid behind the blond once again, re emerging on his other side to peek at the man again.

"You should take better care of your child." A sinister smile crossed his face. "A second later and she would have went straight into the custody of V.O.I.C.E." the man informed them.

Lilith was close to lashing out, she had opened her mouth and was about to let out a string of ugly curses, but the bounty hunter beat her to it.  "I know, I'll be extra careful next time. She's a slippery little thing, let me tell you." He smiled cheerfully.

The man nodded and turned to leave, but the flash of light against the flimsy chain hanging from his hand reminded Lilith of what he snatched from her.
"Hey wait! Give me back my necklace!"  she demanded.
The man stopped in his tracks and held up the small piece of jewelry to his eye level and inspected it thoroughly. "What? This?" He smirked in a way that looked very bad to Lilith, and she fisted Dmitri's coat in her hands and gave him a pleading look when he gazed at her quickly.

He sighed, but held out his hand nonetheless. "Yes, please return it to us. It is a family heirloom, would be a shame to loose it now." Lilith nodded her head, satisfied with everything the man just said. She had to give it to him, he knew how to act. If she was a passerby who didn't know any better, she would really think that he was indeed her father from the way he acted.

The man looked from Dmitri to the hiding Lilith, extending his hand towards the blond and lowering it until finally he let the necklace slip through his grip and unto the pale man's palm. He looked pretty hesitant to be parting with the small jewel, but gave one last, withering glare towards the teenaged girl.

"See to it that you do not...lose her again." He spoke as he departed with a nod to Dmitri. Lilith looked on confused as he left, wondering from the way he gazed at her, if there was any hidden meaning behind his words.

---------

Dmitri Vallentyne II had kept her close to him the entire walk back to his place of establishment, the necklace clutched firmly in his hand. He only returned it to her clutches when she was safely in one of his spare rooms  and sitting on the small bed propped up against the wall. He left her as soon as she was settled in with the promise to return shortly. He was sprouting some nonsense about having to sort out his priorities....

Lilith didn't know what that meant, and she thought that she didn't really want to know either. She sighed as he left and raised the chain close to her, tracing the heart shaped locket lovingly. Trailing her finger to the side, she popped it open and promptly stopped breathing as the face of the most beautiful woman she'd ever met smiled sweetly back at her.

Her eyes stung as if burned, and welled with tears that didn't hesitate to fall down her cheeks in thin, long rivers.
"That your mother?"

Startled, Lilith  jumped and quickly slammed the locket shut and looked at Dmitri. He was leaning up against the doorway, his eyes hardened and a deep frown on his lips.

"H...how did you know?" she asked, confused.
He sighed and fiddled with the hands in his pockets. "I got nosy and opened it before I dumped you in the room."

"Y...yes." She pulled the locket closer to her chest and wiped away the tears just as Dmitri pushed off the doorway and made his way into the room. He stood by the bedside for a long time, not saying anything, then slowly took a seat on the edge of the bed. He hunched over, placing his elbows on his knees and intertwining his fingers.

"She looked pretty." he said with a forced smile.
"She was." Lilith whispered, "I just hope I can be as pretty as she was when I get older."
"You will be." he told her, looking her square in the eyes. She could tell that he wanted to say more, perhaps even reach over and touch the tear tracks on her cheek, but instead he looked away and clasped his hands tighter together. "It's such a pity too, cause we're gonna have to get you some real ugly disguises when we travel..."

The teen looked at him sharply. "What?"

He looked at her, exhaled loudly, and stood up quickly. He gave her a look that more than implied how irritated he was at having to repeat his words again. "I said, we're gonna have to get you some really ugly disguises."

"Why?"
"Damn kid your seriously clueless!"

She swallowed quickly and threw the necklace back around her neck. "Well I wouldn't be so clueless if you didn't say exactly what you mean!" Lilith felt like jumping off the bed and strangling him.

He tsked at her. "I said exactly what I meant. But since your pea-sized brain can't comprehend it, I'll give it to you kiddie term--"
"How dare you!"
"Shut the hell up kid or I'll cart your sorry a*s back to that mutt of voice so  that he can finish taking you apart!" He thundered, and Lilith immediately obeyed. He was looking at her with a heated look in his eyes, and a snarl just on the tip of his lips.
He inhaled deeply and passed a hand through his hair, his eyes returning to their normal droll stare. "Like I was saying for you opened ya yap, pretty lil girls are always the first ones to attract trouble, the kind that I don't need. So, I'll run into town in the morning and get you some old, banged up stuff--ya know, the kind that ain't gonna get you recognized by folks, and we'll leave the next day."

She wanted so badly to open her mouth and ask the idiotic blond what the heck he was talking about, but the memory of his dangerous and bordering on psychotic outburst earlier still had her a bit scared for her life. So she kept her mouth shut, probably the best decision she made since coming here.

"Is there a time limit to this thing?" he asked suddenly.

Lilith blinked at him several times before the light bulb in her brain flickered to a bright, blinding light. "Uh...no. Not really. I've never thought about it."She licked her lips. "I just want them all dead." the words escaped her lips and her voice was darkened with hatred, but Dmitri only lifted one eyebrow as he glanced her way. He shrugged and walked towards the door, stopping just as he was in the doorway. "That's good then, cause you'll be working off your debt. All ten million gold marks of them."

"What?" She stood from the bed quickly and stalked towards the taller man, clenching her fists in an effort to keep from decking him. "What do you mean I'll be working off my debt! I told you I'd pay you!" She pointed to the pouch of money that was laying carelessly on the table.

"Yea," he snorted, "you'll pay me alright. Kid you don't understand, this job ain't cheap, and that five thousand gold marks you got there ain't gonna do crap. 'sides, what I propose is better. You need a killer for hire, and I need an assistant." he explained, wagging his brows at the last bit.

She  backed away and looked at him wearily. "What...kind of assistant?"

He smirked cockily at her and slammed the door shut, not even attempting to answer her. As she stood there by the door, wondering just what the hell this man was thinking, she could hear the faint echoes of his boot-clad shoes upon the dark wooded floor. It disappeared completely after just seconds from her door, and a heavy silence set over the room. Lilith eyed the door, hoping that Dee would just swing it open and tell her that he was just kidding, but no such thing happened. She eyed it one last time before tiptoeing back to the bed, sinking down into the feathery mattress, all the while wondering just what kind of trouble had she gotten herself into now.

Reviews

[halflives]

This is AMAZING! Incredible storyline! Great characters! A wonderful plot! Just there's a few mixups with the paragraph spacing, but that can be arranged to be fixed. I love this! Keep it going!

[Greg Close]

I agree with roarke's review - it does read a lot like an anime in it's style and the character interactions. Some bits of the narrative voice and character dialogue is spot on, and other places it feels a little forced. If you re-read all of your dialogue pieces out loud to yourself sometimes you can spot where it doesn't ring true and fix it up. This is a real tricky thing to do, but since your story seems centered on the relationship between the girl and the bounty hunter, their banter is of paramount importance, so it's worth editing and re-editing and then editing again until it reads smooth and doesn't interrupt the progression of the story. I will be interested to know more about the world you created - I'm curious about the mystery of who/what VOICE is, why they took/killed her mother etc.

[Hush Hush]

that was soooo good! Just like a book should be, captures your attention right from the start and helds it right till the end! I so want to read the next chapter!
p.s. I was wondering how old was Dmitri, 'cuz I imagine him to be in his twenties...but is he?

[roarke]

Solidly written. Good first chapter set-up. Dimitri Vallentyne II bounty hunter? My favorite anime is "Cowboy Bebop" and it's about space bounty hunters, one to the characters is Fay Valentine, I was wondering.... maybe....
It could be an episode of Cowboy Bebop, and that's a compliment.

Keep this story going, it's got huge potential.