To my surprise, she took it pretty well, for saying there was a corpse lying facedown in the dirt in front of her. The fact he was naked and very wounded couldn't have helped, either. "Do I look like a fucking idiot to you?" The non sequitur threw me. The steely glare she was throwing my way didn't portray any emotion other than indignation. Did she really just not care about the fact she was talking to a guy she knew was a murder? "Hey, look..." I cringed a little at the sound of my voice, shaking with adrenaline, but I carried on speaking. "I don't remember calling you anything, alright? Do you want an explanatio..." She cut me off with a snort and an impatient stomp of her foot. "You seriously think I'm a random fucking, like, hitchhiker or something? Here, of all places?" Despite her unchanging facial expression, she gestured wildly as she talked. I mentally changed the emotional read I had on her from 'pissed' to 'pretty fucking pissed'. "Uh, yeah? What else would someone be doing walking around a forest at, what is it, four AM?" She ran a hand through her brown fringe and sighed, keeping that death glare pointed straight at me. "Same thing as you, moron," Before she finished speaking, I felt my body freeze up. The anxious shakes slowed to a stop as I backed up, raising my crossbow defensively. "God dude, I'm here to kill him, not you. Chill the fuck out," I kept my weapon raised as I spotted the faint shadow of a similar device hung on her back. "I know how people get over these things. I've seen people like you or me kill for the chance to rake up the bounty on werewolves way less notorious than this one," It took a sharp eye to notice, but her expression has sharpened slightly, echoing the look someone would give to a kid who just didn't get whatever you were trying to teach them. "Shut up already and move," She marched past me to the body as I spoke. Crouching towards his mangled face, she continued, "Clearly, you are a fucking dumbass, and you need me to stop you killing yourself on this job," "What the hell are you talking about?" I almost shouted as she started pulling something out of one of the many leather satchels scattered about her person. "I already did the job! He's lying right there..." My voice trailed off as she held something under the remains of the body's nose. With a serious of sick crunches, the corpses back arched, and the various wounds began to knot back together. "What the fuck are you doing!" Her voice was calm as she unsheathed a gleaming dagger from her belt, and slammed it into the back of the now-intact skull. "Dormant. If you had tried to bag him up and take him back, he would have woken up and killed you in your sleep,"

"Come on, come on..." he whimpered as he pulled down the lever on the slot machine with his left hand. He was so close. His legs were already numb, and a breath caught in his throat as his right elbow locked up completely. "Not long now," drawled a rich baritone, that made what was left of his skin crawl. Glaring up at the sound, he saw the red skinned creature leisurely checking it's watch as it lounged, laying across the top of his slot machine and the two adjacent ones. Adorned in the strange, elaborate jewellery and clothing, it was hard to make out any of the thing's body, but the length of it's limbs and neck made it clear it wasn't human. Right. He'd made the deal at 4pm. One hour left. As his hands groped around his wallet for more cash, his blood turned to ice. Frantically patting his wallet with the only good hand left, he cursed under his breath. The clang of metal on metal rang out as he slammed his wrist onto the machine in front of him. "You out already? Hold on, lemme help,". He suppressed a gag as a slender hand slowly crept into his field of view. The long, dusty red digits had at least 3 rings each, gold, some encrusted with glittering jewels. At the angle they were at, the rings would have slid off, but they were tight around the fingers, tight enough they looked like were cutting off circulation, leaving the finger tips bloated and diseased. A shiver ran through his body as the hand clasped around his own. He was sure he would have flinched, pulled his hand away, but the lump of gold that was shaped like his hand didn't respond to his impulses. As the fingers dug into his hand like clay, he felt a sensation. It wasn't pain, but it brought him a profound, alien discomfort. The demon pulled a nearly fist-sized glob of liquid gold out of my hand, leaving behind my wrist and two fingers, the surfaces that had joined them looking like melted butter. It closed it's fist, shook it, and opened it again. A couple dozen coins dropped out onto my chest. The thing leered down at him, piercings that hung from it's face clattering together as it leaned to look down at him. "That's all I'm giving you, so you better hope you get lucky and manage to pay up," it grinned. He would have yelled out in panic as the foul hands grabbed his shoulders, but he could feel the cold sensation of metal climbing up his throat, vocal cords frozen. "If you fail, of course..." It paused as it longingly stroked a finger across the border of gold and skin crawling down his one remaining arm. "I'll carve you up and sell you, got it?" Grimacing, he pulled the lever again, trying to ignore the fact he could feel his jaw locking in place.