After brunch Brayton decided that I should give him a tour of London, as if in the hundred thirty-six years the git has been alive he’s never visited London! Our talk was light hearted until he decided to touch an old wound again.

“So Tobias McConi’s back in town…” He started eyeing me for a reaction.

“So it would appear.” I said stiffly. “What of it?”

“Been making any house calls?”

“I can see where this is going, and you’re an idiot. I only saw Toby yesterday briefly, and I haven’t had him in my bed since he took off to Ireland twenty years ago.” There was a defiant edge to my voice that I hadn’t entirely meant to use.

“Wow gel, all I’m saying is weel ye were rather fond of the man, despite yer age difference and ye could hardly be blamed if ye let him back into yer bed. I ken ye were getting pretty serious with ‘im.” Brayton said with an innocent glance at the ring on my right ring finger.

“Besides the fact that it is none of your concern who I share my bed with, I didn’t even know Toby was in the country until I ran into him yesterday. Whatever there was between he and I, died the day he left m… for Ireland.” I hastily corrected myself.

“Aleca, ye havenae called Tobias, Toby, in twenty years. I have plenty o’ reasons to wonder. Besides I ken how tore up ye were when he left. Hell, I’ll be damned if yer not still mad about it as we speak. I’m yer friend gel and I’d hate to see ye crushed so badly a second time.” He gripped my hand sympathetically before changing the subject, lest looks prove to kill. “So how’s that brother of yer’s doing?”

“Still not interested.” I said my mood lifting slightly. “You should really lay off Brayton; he’ll stop coming to visit me if you keep this up.”

Brayton had a crush the size of Ireland on my younger brother, Tim, or Babyface Timmy as his clients referred to him. He was younger then me by merely eleven months, and a notorious loan shark with Russian mob connections. He also happened to be a Werecat, majorly thanks to one of his more idiotic clients who thought attacking him was a better alternative to paying back twenty grand. Tim has another nickname, Tiny Tim; this one however is a major misnomer, because Tim is huge, over six feet tall and built like a tank. More then capable of taking care of himself on a normal day, being turned into a Werecat was an added bonus. Especially since he takes the form of a Bengal Tiger, unlike my short little friend, Brayton takes the form of a Lynx. My brother’s only major down fall is his face. Cursed with the face of an angel from birth he’s had to break more bones in the last ten years then most loan sharks did in their entire careers, all for the sake of respect.

Brayton frowned at my comment. “It willnae be long before he comes around Aleca. My methods never fail!”

“Your methods never fail on gay men Bray, my brother is as straight as they come and you know it!” I laughed, “Does the fact that you’re almost a hundred years older then him bother you at all?”

“Nay, it doesnae. Besides yer one to talk, Tobias is what two hundred years older then ye?” He said with a smirk.

“Two hundred and five, and completely beside the point, as I’ve said before, I like my men old and experienced. You don’t care either way. Tim is considering a restraining order if you don’t cool it.” I told him rolling my eyes.

“Posh, it’s never stopped me before.” Brayton laughed, and then his face became serious. “I still canae believe how far ye’ve come since Glasgow. A bonny wee Prostitute ye were too, how did ye get mixed up with that bastard, Taylor?”

“Simon? He picked me up hitchhiking outside of Belfast when I was fifteen, dumbass me got in the damned car. These days’ girls wouldn’t dream of running away from home to make it big in London, let alone hitchhike.”

Simon ‘Take it all’ Taylor was my pimp for three years when I was a child, gods that was twenty-seven years ago. Any way he picked me up and thrust me into the world’s oldest profession, for next to no pay regardless of how much he charged them for me or his seven other girls. Simon was a short little Englishman with a temper like an atomic bomb, and a face to match. If we didn’t perform the way we were supposed to he’d lock us in the ‘hot tot’, a small cupboard behind his boiler room in the small apartment building he kept us in.

He gave us all new identities and quickly forgot what our real names were. I met Brayton on one of those rare occasions that he let us walk the streets instead of by the room rates. Brayton was one of Simon’s brother’s boyfriends at the time. He bought my services for the night and paid double for them. He fed and talked to me the entire time, never once touching me. He even let me sleep on his living room futon, until his boyfriend got home, flipped and I was sent back to Simon. He always called me his favourite ‘lil’ whore’ because I quickly brought in the most business and could handle multiple partners a night every night.

Terror drove me to be the best hooker I could be, until I turned eighteen. For my birthday Simon set up a steady stream of men for me and then after a long night decided to reward me richly. After my last client left my room, did up his fly and paid Simon, Simon came into my room and closed the door behind him. Stupid me didn’t figure out what he was up to until it was almost too late. Before he actually raped me, I pulled the six shooter pistol that Brayton gave me for my birthday and shot the bastard twice in the head, three times in the chest, and after he had managed to stumble off my bed, once in the groin.

Someone next door to our building called the cops when they heard the gunshots and I was promptly arrested for murder. Brayton was my saving grace. He hired the best damned Lawyer on earth and I got off on self-defense. I was tried under the name ‘Sherry Cherry’ so if anyone did a back ground check they wouldn’t even find the case files on me. Not many of the people that know me intimately even know of this particular alias. After he got me set free Brayton got me the hell out of Scotland and we found our way to London, unfortunately it wasn’t long before I started my own business as a Call Girl, charging outrageous amounts of money for any man who wished to have a beautiful young woman latched on to his arm for public appearances, and even more money if he wanted sex after wards. Brayton and I parted ways for a time during this period of moral turmoil I was going through. I’m not saying I’m proud of what I did, but it was all I knew how to do at the time.

Anyway, back to the present, Brayton had been rambling about something or other as I let my mind wander a little, when suddenly he stopped me with his arm, almost knocking the wind out of me.

“What the hell Bray…?” I had just about smacked into Tobias. “Hello Tobias.” I said coolly.

“Aleca, Brayton, what brings you to this lovely park?” he asked, surprise prominent on his face.

Brayton glanced at Tobias and then me, “Splendid to see ye old chap, oh would ye look at that.” He held his wrist up to his face to glance at his watch. “I’d best be getting back to that damned Rehab before they come looking for me. Keep in touch Aleca.” He kissed my cheek, glared at Tobias and left with impressive speed for one so short.

“Tobias I hear nothing from you in twenty years and now twice in the same week? You’re smothering me.” I said sarcastically rolling my eyes.

“Small city Aleca.” He said just as sarcastic. “Since we happen to both be here, and it’s such a pleasant afternoon how about walking with me for a bit?”
He said it as a question and yet those damned eyes of his held no room for debate on the issue. Reluctantly I nodded. We walked in silence for a long time, neither one of us sure what to say, or so I thought. “My wolves tell me you mentioned knowing exactly where the serum was Aleca, care to share?”

“Not particularly Tobias, no.” I sighed, although I hadn’t expected the question this early in the conversation, I knew he’d get to it sooner or later. “See there’s nothing in it for me at the present moment. You let me live and leave last night, to which I’m grateful, however if I tell you where it is and you send your pack after it I’ll be dead before you get there and you’ll never get your hands on it. Those who are involved don’t know that I know what was in the bottle they were handling. I didn’t tell anyone about it after you showed it to me so no one would think twice about my seeing it yesterday. I can keep an eye on it, but for now I can’t tell you where it is or who has it.”

“The hell you can’t!”

“I’m sorry but I value my life a little bit more then you might believe. It hasn’t been any easy life, and there are some parts of it I would sooner forget, but for the most part it’s been pretty good to me, and if anyone here should be wishing a death sentence on the other it should be me. You have my offer, and I doubt you’ll find another one any time soon. Take it or leave it.”

“That is a bullshit offer Aleca, and you know it.” He said halting and grabbing my arm. “We can protect you from the other Cats, so just tell me who and where.”

“Oh protect me can you? Did a hell of a job of that twenty years ago when your father beat the life out of me didn’t you? I can protect my self McConi, don’t you dare forget that.” I said my eyes narrowing and hands balling into fists, anger dripped like venom from my voice. “Where do you come off telling me to risk my life for you after…after…you know exactly what happened! I’ll be damned if you think that I’ll just come to your beck and call after everything that happened and a life was lost forever. I’m going to hold you to the same safety standards I hold all of my clients. If I feel that information I hold is dangerous to my health to be leaked then I will withhold it as long as I can. If the moment arises that I feel otherwise then you’ll be the first to know.”

“Your clients? Oh so you’ve gone back to your old profession then?” He sneered.

My hand shot out so fast that we both stood there in shock for a few seconds before either of us realized that I had just slapped him, and hard too. “How dare you! I retired as a Prostitute over twenty-three years ago, as you well know you asshole. I am a professional thief. If you want something stolen you look up ol’ Aleca Moonchild and it’ll be done. It pays better then uncrossing my legs.” I was seething with anger.

The shock had finally let go of Tobias and he rubbed his cheek to relieve some of the soreness. I was quite proud of the dark red handprint that I had left behind. “Well you can’t really blame my suspicions on that one Aleca.” Oh yes I could… I thought bitterly. “You did always say it was easy money.”

“Oh yeah, real easy if you have no self respect and enjoy collecting the V cards of little boys who have no idea what they’re doing. Or Old men who want to be seen with a girl who could pass as his granddaughter, but whom usually can’t keep up. Or the sick sadistic bastards who give you a hell of a lot more then you bargained for. Your father was my last trick, as planned before hand, asshole!” He still looked skeptical and that pissed me off even more than the original insult. “You know, I don’t have to put up with this shit. Believe what you want and find your own damned Serum.” I turned to leave but the bloody bastard followed me half way back to my apartment. With an exasperated sigh I spun around to face him. “Damn it all! I said find it yourself!”

“And I said I need that information Aleca.” He responded crossing his arms and leaning against the building beside us.

“And I don’t work for peanuts. You demand information that could get me killed and offer nothing but your ‘Protection’. The risk weighs more then the reward. You’re asking me to betray the Cats by helping you, then what? What happens after wards?”

“How much do you want?” He said, rolling his eyes.

I smiled slyly; those were five of my favourite words. “How much are you willing to part with? My usual rate is a hundred thousand pounds, unless ten percent works out to be more than that, however since we’ve been discussing the matter you have insulted me, called me a whore, and wished death on me. So for you I have to up my charge…” I pretended to work the numbers in my head.

Tobias sighed. “The serum has no price Aleca.”

“Oh, but it does, Tobias, a high one indeed. How much would you say a life is worth? Someone with my unique talents is worth at least ten times my original number…” A grin slowly crept across my face as I watched Tobias’ reaction.

“You want a million pounds?” He asked incredulously running a hand through his thick brown hair.

“No, no of course not…unless you only want to pay me that much.” I said with my sweetest smile.

“Aleca what kind of scam are you trying to pull? Who the hell would pay that much for you to steal something for them?”

I laughed. “A thief never reveals her clients identities, but a certain client paid me double that to commandeer a certain lost Van Gough painting six years ago. And that was five percent of the paintings worth. Is it too much for you Tobias? Are you a little hard up on cash since daddy departed?”

He ran his fingers through his hair in irritation as he thought it over. “Haggle with me; five hundred thousand pounds.”

“Nine.”

“Seven fifty, final offer.”

“Done, seven hundred fifty thousand pounds, on one condition.”

“Name it.”

“We take it slow. I give you information when I can, and you won’t act on it until I say. I’m only doing this to avoid a full out war between our peoples, and I need the money. Half now and the other half upon delivery, in cash. Deal?”

“Deal.” We shook hands to seal the deal and arranged to meet again the following week for my first installment, just in time for me to pay my rent.