Co-operation

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"No. Absolutely not!" Ruby Lockhart's grey eyes were narrowed in defiance, despite the fact she was stood in her commander's office right then. "Bringing them in will only bring more questions and red tape!" She insisted, her slender fists balled up by her sides.
"This isn't a discussion, Lockhart. I have my orders, and now you have yours." The grey haired man told her, though he sounded somewhat weary, like he was all too accustomed to these childish outbursts. "You are to meet your new partner at 8pm and brief them on the case. The sooner we clear this whole mess up, the sooner I can go back to letting you do things your way, alright? Believe me, I don't want these blind fools involved anymore than you do, but this last case has made local news. We need to stop it before it goes national, or global."
Ruby's lips pursed together as she continued to scowl, seeming to be considering all this new information. There was a reason she didn't have a partner; no one could put up with her hotheaded, shoot first ask questions later attitude. It created mountains of paper work, but unfortunately she came from a long line of the divisions pure bred hunters, and her skills were... invaluable. 
"Fine!" She huffed at last. "But if this yokel ends up dead because they couldn't do what I said or panics when faced with the truth, I won't be held to blame!" Having said that, she stormed from the office, waves of dark hair swinging behind her before the door slammed shut.

"Shit, Ruby! What the hell had gotten into you?!" Jett hissed as he pried his sister away from his much larger friend. 
"Me?! How about you get your pet neutered, only way any woman around here is safe!" Ruby growled, squaring up to her brother in a way no one else would dare.

The two other men moved to flank Ruby, only to find themselves flying across the room. 
The wall of a man the two women had been discussing earlier now stood behind her. "You her a partner and I don't even get a heads up? I won't even mention the demon on the hunt for a virgin." Tobias growled, knowing exactly what he was doing by letting this little bit of info slip.

Only Jett would be able to see the look of anger in his sister's moonlight eyes when Tobias 'rescued' her. "Exactly which part of CLASSIFIED are you struggling with, Tobi?!" Ruby hissed as she whirled to face her fellow hunter, dark hair intentionally slapping her brother in the face as she did so. "And for another thing, why is it any of your business who my partner is?" She added, jabbing a slender finger into his broad chest.

Tobias gave her a dark smile. She'd once told him she'd never get close enough to him to give him a nickname of any sort. 
Even Piper stared at her friend for a long moment before turning back to Jett. "I'm afraid you guys have to leave for causing a scene. "

Ruby knew her mistake right away, and cursed herself for it. Yes, she had indeed said that, but she had also claimed their heated liaisons meant nothing to her. That was a lie too. 
"Babe, come on!" Jett pouted. "She's the one making people bleed, we were just here for the booze." He insisted, reaching out and toying a few strands of Piper's red hair around his finger and he ,earned in a little closer.

"so this is the new guy, huh?" Tobi circled him once, like a starving tiger going in for the kill. "Who's idea was it to bring in the norm?"
"Excuse me...you people keep talking about norms... what are they?" Red asked trying to keep up.

Piper slapped Jett's fingers and shook her head. "No. You guys wore out you're welcome. Out." She ordered, pointing at the door.

Ruby wanted nothing more than to slide her fingers around Tobias' throats and squeeze real hard right then. "Again, what do you care?" Ruby asked her coworker thinly. "He is my partner, that's all that matters." She was clearly trying to make Tobias jealous by accepting Fed as her partner now, ,despite what she had told him only moments before the large man's arrival.

Jett leaned closer still and kissed Piper's cheek lightly, his only way to save face in front of his cohorts, and still express his regret that he had to leave. "Pig, quit your squealing and move it!" He ordered the man his sister had caused to bleed.

Red felt like he was missing a very important part of the puzzle. Just a moment ago he was not her partner. 
Tobias shook his head. "You're making a mistake and you know it. A norm can't protect you from my something like that." He turned to walk away, shoving Jett and the others out with him. 

Piper waited until they were gone to turn to her friend. "Has your brother lost his mind?" She hissed. "I can't believe he's still hanging around with that trash!"

Ruby just wanted to scream as loud as she could. Why did Tobias insist that she needed someone to protect her. As it was, she still had a shitstorm to clean up. "Yeah, well... there are only so many hours in the day for me to tell Jett what a fucking asshole he is." She told her friend with a bitter snort.

"Do I want to know what he was yelling about demons and virgins?" Piper asked. 
Red had been reading over the file Ruby gave him when he finally spoke up. "My dad used to try and scare my sister and me with these stories about this demon who would try and gain power from gypsies. He needed one the virgins to gain the power to cross from the undead realm into ours. His underlings would preform the ceremony then he would..."
"Oh...god." Piper said quickly. "For a norm, he certainly is graphic!"

Ruby was watching Red with suspicion, though didn't voice this particular concern. "Well, I suppose now you see why we need to keep this from people like you? Can you imagine the panic?" She asked thinly. Like always, Tobias had left her tied in knots that she struggled to loosen so long as she was around other people.

"you're serious, aren't you?" Red asked, shaking his head. "My father was bat shit crazy. There's no such thing as demons and virgins gyspies."

"Then now would be a good time to run along home and forget you were ever here." Ruby growled with a condescending wave of her fingers as she once again seated herself at the bar. "I don't have time to be convincing little boys of things that are right in front of their noses."

"Don't try to play games with me to get me to leave." Red said firmly.  "I'm not an idiot here either."
"Ruby..." Piper handed her friend a concoction. "Be careful if you do decide to drink this. It will literally put hair on your chest."

Ruby looked down at the drink, then back up at her friend with an arched brow. "You sure you shouldn't be giving that to my brother?" She asked with the ghost of a smile. She had been working all day, was exhausted before she got to the bar. The last thing Ruby had needed was her brother and his friends causing trouble, and Tobias turning up to treat her like a breakable little girl. "Alright, you want me to treat you like a non-idiot, meet me by Hanover bridge in the morning." She told Red without glancing over her shoulder. "And wear your big boy pants, okay?"

Piper closed up shop well after midnight. It didn't strike her as odd that she was  alone.  It wouldn't mean anything at all until a large man grabbed her by the back of the shirt and slammed her against the locked door. "The master has been looking for you everywhere lovely. It's time to get ready for your wedding."

"You're mocking me again." Red snapped as he got up and stormed out of the bar.

Ruby had also gone home alone that night, not that that was unusual. She had returned to her modest apartment, shedding her clothing the second the door was shut. The young woman had left a trail behind her as she headed for the bathroom and turned the hot water on to fill the bath. Today had felt much longer than usual and had her wound so tightly that her muscles ached. Ruby would hate herself for slipping into that sweet smelling water when she found out that her best friend had been snatched from the street in that very same moment.

Ruby was not alone for long. Tobias' large fingers slid over her slender frame. His lips found hers. He turned her to face him his rough thumbs brushing the hair from her face. "You and I need to talk, girl. You aren't going to replace me. Do you hear me? He pressed her against the shower wall, her wrists above her head.

Tobias would be able to feel Ruby's pulse where he held her wrists, and it wasn't pounding with the panic most would expect. She didn't even question how he had gotten in here, as they both knew she would never ward her home against the only man she had ever let in there, aside from her brother. Tobias was Ruby's weakness, and he damn well knew it. "And who exactly is it you think I am replacing you with, brute?" She asked calmly, her grey gaze holding his steadily from beneath her dark lashes.

"That norm was looking closely at you." Tobi breathed, freeing one of his hands to slide down her legs one at a time and wrap them around his lean waist. "Am I going to have to turn him into a frog like a did the last guy who thought he could have you?" He purred, kissing her neck. 
Tobias Black was a warlock warrior that few messed with. He did the jobs the others of their kind wouldn't touch. He and Ruby worked will together though both of them denied it. 
Though he pretended to be rough with her, he would never lift a finger if she didn't want him to. He made sure she was clear on this. He knew she'd been hurt but he didn't know how or by whom. However, he swore one day he would find out and destroy the man.

Once her wrists were free, Ruby’s slender fingers were sliding into Tobi’s dark hair as his lips slid along her throat. Tobias Black was the kind of weakness Ruby would admit to no one, not even the man himself. Through all their heated liaisons, she never let him stay the night. They would play their game, claim each other again and again, but once they were through she had him out that door.
 “You talk like you own me.” She breathed as she pulled Tobi’s head back and teased her lips against his own. “You really think some norm would know what to do with me if he had me?” She added, slender fingers sliding between them both to pull Tobi’s belt loose. 
No one at work knew the two hunters were lovers, but the threat was always there, hanging in the air towards any man who would dare glance at Ruby too long. She knew Tobi would hate to hear it, but he made Ruby feel safe, something she rarely felt. 
There was a loud clatter as Tobi’s belt hit the bathroom floor, pulled down by the weight of the weapons it carried. That done, Ruby’s slender hands slid under his shirt, sinking into the hard muscle of Tobi’s abdomen before she pulled the fabric over his head and discarded that too.

Tobi was out the door long before dawn. Before he left, he gently pulled the covers over Ruby's head in the way that always made her feel safe. 

Piper opened her eyes to darkness, terror sweeping over her. She didn't know where she was or how she'd gotten there.
She tried a communication spell Ruby taught her but everyone knew gypsies weren't great with that type of magic. 
In her circle there was a snoring man and it wasn't one Ruby ever invited over. In fact...
"Jett!" She hissed, worried when she heard rumbling nearby. "Jett...please...wake up...help.." she cried softly. "It's dark." There were only two people who who knew that there was a gyspy that was terrified of the dark, Ruby and her twin brother Jett. She'd been crawlling into his bed for years because of the darkness. Well...used to...

Ruby was in fact awake when Tobi left, one eye just barely open as she watched the careful way he moved around the room, clearly not wanting to disturb her in any way. The small woman wanted to reach out, the take his hand and ask him never to leave. She couldn’t. She couldn’t risk letting anyone in. 

Jett groaned softly in his sleep, rolling over onto his back with the dark coloured sheets pulled over his lean hips. “Piper... babe... don’t go...” He murmured, the sound of Piper’s voice clearly influencing what he was dreaming. He yawned and stretched his powerful arms out as sleep finally escaped him. It took a few moments before the hunter realised Piper’s face was peering down at him from above his bed, though she wasn’t in the room.

Red nursed a strong cup of coffee at the all night diner down the street from the tiny motel. He couldn't sleep for trying to figure out the strange workings of the town. This was nothing vlike he'd expected. His own captain had made such a big deal of it he was sure he was walking imto New York City. This was what his father would have called a one horse town. The horse was old and mean. 

Piper's fingers trembled as Jett sat up. She was having trouble holding the connection. He wasn't alone in his bed. The fact of it went straight to her heart and it made her chest hurt. 
"I can't find Ruby..." She whispered. The growling behind her got louder then turned into a strange purr, as the blonde beside Jett rolled onto her side with a soft moan, taking more covers with her.

Ruby didn’t explain how she knew Red would be here at this exact moment, in this very diner, but she slid into the seat opposite him anyway. Though she had been rather short with him th night before, several hours with Tobias had left her in a much better mood. “You know, there are at least three places with better coffee than here.” She commented as her pale eyes watched the man opposite her.

Jett felt the covers shift, and reached onto the floor for his jeans, pulling them over his hips in a seemingly fluid movement. “Where are you?” He asked, easily able to note the fear in Piper’s voice. It was unlike her to use magic too, despite what both he and Ruby had taught her over the years.

"where is that? A magic hole in the wall?" Red snorted. "This town has one street, one hotel. One bar and one diner and to be honest I'm surprised they aren't the same thing." The young dectective shoved his fingers through his hair, a thing that seemed to be a favorite, and sighed deeply. 

Piper was well known for the potions and remedies her grandmother had taught her. She loved plants and flowers and stayed away from magic at all costs. Mostly because it had been the reason her entire family was lost. 
Piper didn't answer, she began removing her fingers from the pool she'd created until only one remained. She didn't know why she'd thought of him. Jett didn't care about her. He'd probably only make fun of her. or flaunt another girl in her face.

“And a morgue full of bodies. Funny, huh?” Ruby asked rather cheerfully. “What’s wrong? Last night you were botching about wanting to get this over with and get out of here. Well, here I am, let’s do this.”

Though he had been wearing little else when Piper had first contacted him, Jett still wore the little plastic chick Piper had given him years ago round his neck. He remembered exactly where it had come from. Him, Ruby, Piper and his other friends had all gone to the fair that had arrived in town one week. Piper had lost at the game she was playing, and the little chick had been the consolation prize. Ruby had made some smart ass remark about the consolation prize being worth more than Jett was, and later that night Piper had given him the chick, telling him she didn’t think he was second best at all.
He had been lost in the memory for a moment until he realised Poper’s face was fading from view. “Babe, just tell me where you are! I’ll come get you right now, you know I always will.”

"Okay...you tell me. Because from what I saw last night I'd say your brother and those boys he brought with him were pretty damn suspicious." Red snapped back, motioning the waitress to bring them more coffee. 

"I don't know." Piper said, though she was still tempted to remove her finger. "Some guy grabbed me off the street. And...it's dark here..." She said, choking on the word dark.

“Jett is just a lost little boy, he can’t stand to not be the centre of attention when with his little minions.” Ruby replied, a bitter edge to her voice that hadn’t been there a moment ago.

Jett reaches out, though he knew it was pointless, he would touch only icy air. “Was it from the bar? Is that where you were snatched?” He asked, already glancing round for his shirt.

"And the minions?" Again Red was writing things down. It was as if every thought needed to be written or it didn't matter. "You sound like you know more than what you're saying."

"I was closing up and some guy shoved me against the door and said something about master and marriage. I don't even remember screaming and I woke up here...over there on the lamp." She took out her finger to point to his shirt and cut the connection. 
"No use in calling for help. Your sorcerer can make all the pretty promises he wants. He can't find you here, my lovely." A voice behind her purred.