4 Chapter 4

"Well, well, if it isn't Trixie," the client, a burly drow human mix by the name of Sly, smiled broadly as she materialized in the crumbling closet he and his gang had claimed as their hideout. "Always a pleasure to see my favorite goblin gal."

"What am I delivering, and where am I taking it?" Trixie replied. Time was money, and she had no interest in wasting hers on Sly of all people.

"All business, per the norm," Sly shook his head and heaved a dramatic sigh. "Why don't you chill out baby cakes? Take it easy and enjoy life."

As he spoke he wrapped an arm over her shoulder and pulled her in close. She imagined he was trying to be charming and sensual, but in reality it was having the opposite effect. Almost as soon as his skin touched hers, she pinched the back of his hand and ducked under his arm, twisting it as she moved behind it.

"Touch me again and not only will I increase the amount, but I'll break your nose," She warned with a stoic expression. He wasn't worth the effort of getting riled over.

"Ow, ow, ow!" He squirmed and struggled to free his arm. "Alright, alright! I get it already! Let me go!"

"You've been warned," She reminded, then released him. He stumbled forward, but managed to catch himself before he face planted into the cement floor beneath them. Trixie watched with hands on hips as he righted, then composed himself. The handful of delinquents who followed Sly watched things unfold impassively. It wasn't the first time he'd barked up the wrong tree, and they doubted it would be the last.

"You could stand to be more personable babe," he grumbled as he rubbed the skin on the back of his hand where she'd pinched.

"The job?" Trixie ignored his whining and tried to redirect the topic to the reason she was visiting their trashy little man cave.

"I need you to take this to Vicky," Sly answered. "If you smack her for me when you give it to her, I'll pay you double."

"You only want her smacked?" Trixie questioned with a raise of her brow. "You two on better terms?"

"Fuck no," Sly shook his head. "Just strapped for cash, and you ain't exactly a generous soul babe. But, if you were to break her nose, I could be persuaded to offer you my package." Trixie rolled her eyes as he made crude gestures toward his groin.

"Strictly gold, thanks," She said in disgust. "I don't work for anything else, and you know that."

"Ah, come on," Sly pouted. "We were making some sweet music the other week! You can't tell me my offer isn't tempting!"

"It's not," Trixie replied indifferently. "Your sex isn't worth shit. Now, the gold please." She extended her hand expectantly. Around her was a melody of stifled snickers. Sly glared at each of his boys before addressing Trixie.

"Yeah, yeah," he huffed with a frown. "Here's your lousy coins, and here's the goods. Take it and scram." He thrust a bag of coins and something wrapped in course paper and twine into her hands. Trixie quickly inspected the coin bag to ensure everything promised was inside, then deftly dumped both bundles into their respectively assigned pockets and offered a mocking bow.

"Always a pleasure doing business with you Sly," she smiled, voice thick with sarcasm. He didn't answer her as she ducked out of the closet and skittered off down the hall to find Vicky.

It took close to an hour to root out where the troublesome girl was hiding. Irksome as it was, it wasn't unusual for it to take so long to track her down. Vicky was a professional stalker and rarely spent very long in a single place.

"What do you want?" She demanded when Trixie dropped down from a pipe on the ceiling in front of her. She had been forced to get creative to navigate an especially questionable rubble pile. She couldn't fathom how Vicky had managed to get past it.

"Got a delivery for you," Trixie responded, tossing the package at her.

"What is it?" She asked as she fumbled to catch it. Trixie was silently amused at her struggle, especially when the parcel still ended up hitting the ground in spite of her efforts.

"Don't know, don't care," Trixie shrugged. "Best open it if you want to know."

"You open it," Vicky hissed, eyeing her warily. She fancied herself Trixie's rival and was inclined to think the hobgoblin girl was out to do her in. Beyond the occasional desire to blacken her eye or bloody her nose when she started harassing Rathus and Titus, Trixie couldn't care less about the super stalker.

"Not unless you pay me to," Trixie refused, "and I don't come cheap. Besides, I was led to believe you were expecting this."

Keeping her eyes trained on her, Vicky reluctantly opened the package, revealing a very kinky looking pair of used women's underwear. While Vicky was distracted with staring at the contents, Trixie used the opportunity to slap her across the face, earning a shriek for her efforts. Before Vicky could retaliate, Trixie sprang up the walls and latched back onto the pipe she had used to climb into the area.

"Sly sends his regards," She called before rushing off to the next job.

Ignoring Vicky's threat filled shrieks, Trixie made her way up to the second story. She scampered up an abandoned shaft that had once housed a strange contraption they had called an "elevator," one of many technological wonders from the time before the great and terrible cataclysm which had caused their world to relapse into the dark ages. Once she reached the open entryway to the second story, she carefully stepped and hopped from spot to spot, often using her tail to test the ground before she put her full weight on it. There were portions of the floor that were so decayed that one could fall through to the level below, and it only became more perilous the higher you went in the building.

As she cautiously navigated her way through the hallways, she checked the chalk markings the two different gangs who resided up there would scrawl to mark their respective territory and warn off others. It was important she didn't step into the wrong territory. While she was on somewhat favorable terms with Renna, the leader of the first gang who also happened to be her second client for the day, she had made an enemy of the second, an orcish-beastman hybrid by the name of Saw who would happily destroy her if given the opportunity.

"Men are such babies," She grumbled to herself. So what if she had compared his dick to a withered radish. He was the one who insisted she give an honest appraisal of his "bedroom skills." Of course, there was more to the story, but that's what had started their soured relationship. Needless to say, it was a relief once she reached Renna's stronghold.

"So you decided to come?" Renna smiled broadly as she ducked into the lounge he'd claimed for himself and his followers. "That's good news for me."

"What did you need today?" Trixie asked. Renna was a lizard man half-blood. His other lineage was difficult to discern and she felt it would be impolite to ask him about it. He was easily one of her favorite clients, always polite and generous with his payout. He was one of few that she had romped with more than once though, per her rules, she refrained from accepting his requests too often.

"As you know, we have a very… tumultuous relationship with our neighbors," Renna gave a wane smile. "Saw is an unreasonable fellow on the best day-"

"I like you Ren, but I'm not doing anything that involves going anywhere near Saw," Trixie shook her head vehemently. "Not for all the gold in the world."

Her last encounter with him had been too close for comfort. She had strayed too close, and he'd managed to ambush her. It had been an intense struggle, and in his efforts to dominate her, a good chunk of her clothes had been destroyed. To make matters worse, though she was ultimately able to incapacitate him and escape, breaking a horn and leaving a pretty gnarly scar across his face in the process, he had left her with some pretty hefty bruises and a sprained ankle. Even with the aid of the poultices Titus had whipped up for her, it had taken days before she could risk moving well enough on her injured limbs to work again. Though she was confident she could fend him off again, she doubted he'd be alone the next time he went after her.

"That's not what I'm asking," Renna gently placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from leaving, then retracted it once she turned back to him. "If you'll listen, I'll finish explaining."

She considered him a moment before responding. Inwardly she chastised herself, knowing she would give in because of his pleading look. She had a thing for those reptilian eyes. The fact they belonged to Renna only compounded her problems.

"Fine, I'll listen," Trixie folded her arms, "But I'm not agreeing to anything until I hear the whole story. You are requesting a hit after all, and I'm still on the fence if Saw is involved."

"I'll cut to the chase," Renna sighed. "Some punk has been dancing back and forth between our territories and provoking hostilities. Based on Saw's behavior, I'm fairly certain this little troll isn't part of his crew. If you could 'encourage' this menace to back off, I would appreciate it."

"Do you know who it is?" Trixie questioned.

"I don't know who he is, but I know where he is," Renna frowned. "For the moment, he doesn't think we know he's there, but he's camping out in our store room. You know the place."

"That all?" Trixie felt she could breathe again. If she could accomplish the task in Renna's territory, it shouldn't create any unnecessary trouble for her.

"I'll add a ten percent tip for the scare," Renna smiled.

"I'll have that trouble maker dealt with lickety-split," Trixie accepted the coins he offered and deposited them into one of her other pouches before darting out after Renna's problem child. Having already tested her luck traversing the boundaries between Renna and Saw's territories, she opted to take the air vents to her next location. No need to tempt fate, especial if Saw was already riled. Besides, the section of the system that spanned from her location to the store room in question was still intact and reasonably sound.

It didn't take long to arrive at her destination, though she paused a moment before entering the room to observe her target. He was pretty young, maybe thirteen, and based on the sloppy tattoo on his arm he belonged to one of the smaller gangs that lurked on the ground floor. He was having a good time, sipping from some of the bottles of varying alcohols that Renna had managed to thieve from the Instructor's faculty lounge over the years. He typically kept them for special occasions, or to sell on the side, so he would doubtless be pissed to find out the little rat was dipping into his product on top of everything else.

Since he was having such a good time, and clearly a little buzzed, it wasn't hard to slip into the room unnoticed. In fact, he was blissfully unaware of her presence up to the moment where her shin met the back of his knees. As his legs buckled, her tail ripped the nearest out from under him, which leveraged him forward after he initially bounced off the table beside him. She lept onto his back as he fell, forcing him face first into the ground. Before he could make sense of what had happened, she had him trussed up like a turkey.

"Naughty, naughty," she wagged her finger at him as his bewildered gaze finally found her. "Don't you know you shouldn't get into things that don't belong to you?"

The kid was too scared to speak. Everything he tried to say out came out as a tear-filled blubber, though his bloodied nose and the swelling in his face probably didn't help. Not that she cared to listen, she had a pretty good idea of what the runt was up to.

"Oh stop. I'm already done with you," Trixie shook her head. "and I'm not interested in your excuses. It's pretty obvious your boss was hoping to start a war between Renna and Saw to improve his own situation. Besides, I'm not the one you'll have to answer to. You better hope Renna is more understanding, but I wouldn't count on it... especially since you were getting into his best booze."

She verified that the bindings were secure, then clambered back up into the vents. Almost as soon as she was fully into the duct and making her way back, she heard the door open and shouts filled the space behind her. It was nice to know Renna trusted her to work so quickly.

"Please, please help me!" The kid screamed after her. She ignored his pleas, knowing he'd doubtless been on the delivering end of the brutality that he was about to face. It was the risk of their little gang games. If you got caught you faced consequences. That said, she doubted Renna would do much beyond deliver a few good blows. Where the boy was really in trouble was the fact Renna would almost certainly deliver him to Saw as an olive branch in an effort to appease his volatile neighbor. Not that Trixie cared, it wasn't any of her business and she hoped to keep it that way.

Once she was back on the main floor, she took a moment to check the time. From the looks of it, the midday meal would begin soon, but she still had a little time on her hands. Her conversation with Renna coupled with her morning disappointment had her insides aching with desire, so she decided to see if she could catch a client while she waited.

Having made up her mind, she made her way to her usual spot, ensuring she was conspicuous to any who might be interested, and did some primping before leaning leisurely against the wall while she waited. Someone would come around before long, they always did. She could only hope that they were worthwhile.