IMPENDING DOOM

06

✥
EPILOGUE
Jewels
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៚ FIVE HOURS PASSED SINCE SHADOW DISAPPEARED. Agent Stone feared for him, lost somewhere due to spectral possession. Earth is a huge place, a million dangers at every corner, the government always listening, always watching.

There was only one person who could help him now. One person who had the talent to find anyone and anything, no matter how vague the details are.

He just hoped she would.

. . . And that he could afford to pay her.

The Queen of Diamonds Club was pulsing with pop music that was too loud and neon lights of pink and purple that were too bright. Lady Gaga was currently playing on oversized and loud speakers as Agent Stone excused himself through a congestion of dancing drunks who wore too much or too little. It felt like years passed when he finally got to the other side of the club, sighing at the door labeled EMPLOYEES ONLY.

Ha. Like that was going to stop him. He knocked rhythmically, surprised it was heard over the loud music when a woman answered it. Her expression was clear, no words necessary: What do you want?

"I need to see Diana."

She was startled, surprised that he knew the club owner's real name. She moved to the side, letting him in, closing the door behind her, leaving Agent Stone alone in the dressing room.

While he waited, he examined the contents. Mirrors and vanities, James Charles x Morphe and Jeffery Star palettes stacked aplenty, makeup brushes everywhere; the room reeked of powder and lipstick.

"And what have I done to be graced with your pretty face, Lee?" someone purred as they entered.

He smiled. "Nothing this time, Rouge."

The snow-white bat pouted as she sat down before a vanity, taking off her bathrobe, revealing . . . too much. He looked anywhere but at her and she relished in his embarrassment.

"Pity," she sighed, and began to prep her face with a thousand products Agent Stone would never be able to name. "What do you need? Judging by how tense your shoulders are, you're not here just because you miss me."

"I need your help."

"Oh, that's funny," she giggled. "Cos I need more jewels."

"And you'll receive them." He pulled out a ruby and sat it by her elbow on the vanity. It glittered beneath all the lights. "Down payment."

She beamed, gushing at the jewel, hearts in her eyes. "And what do you need help with, sugar? Wooing your stuck-up, robot boyfriend?" She snorted.

"Ivo is not my boyfriend."

"Mm-hmm." She didn't believe a word of it, but said nothing more, continuing to do her makeup.

"A child's gone missing. I need your hunting skills to find him and bring him back in less than seventy-two hours."

"Why the rush?"

"Long story, but to put it simply? We may have angered some alien king and he says he's coming to kill us all in three days."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

"What does this have to do with this kid?"

"Kid belongs to alien king, apparently, though based on my experience with him, he's too gentle to belong to a villain."

"What the hell have you gotten yourself into?"

"I have no idea." He pulled out a photograph of Shadow, an old one he plucked from the files, and placed it in front of her. "That's him."

She paused in her makeup routine, looking down at it curiously. "Handsome," she mused. She snatched the picture then stuffed it in her breasts. "I'll find him, sugar, but if he bites, I'll break his nose."

"Please don't."

"You know how I feel about being touched."

"He's a child. Younger than you." Ignoring the fifty sad years in prison, he didn't say. "I'm certain he won't know a single thing of what you're insinuating."

"One never knows. Kids these days know things they shouldn't."

Point taken. "Please don't hurt him unless absolutely necessary."

"Fine. You have my word."

"Thank you, Diana."

She paused. "You know that's not my name anymore."

"It is to me."

She went tsk. "It's too bad you're human."

Agent Stone went red as the ruby he paid her with. She laughed.

"I'm messing with you, you stupid man."

"Ah." Awkward. "Well, thank you. I'll see you hopefully before the world ends. Any jewel in specific you want?"

"You know I only like things that are red and pretty."

He chuckled. "You call yourself Rouge, yet you don't wear a scrap of it."

He was right, of course—she only wore pink or purple together with black, but those are still shades of red. She smiled to his reflection in her mirror before adding a wink.

"Red means danger, sugar—and I'm dangerous."