VII: Partners in Crime

The Devaronian had been obnoxiously persistent, even for Gavira.  She had thought about skipping a meal and letting him live, but the way he continuously came at her, practically throwing himself at her…well, it was too good not to pass up.  She flirted with him until she had him in a curtained-off dark alcove at the back of the cantina, feigning to go in for a kiss with her hands on either side of his face.  It wasn’t until the tendrils poked out and slid up his nose that he realized he had made a huge mistake.

    There was only an inhale of alarm before he was in her control.  He remained frozen, twitching intermittently for the hour it took before she let him slide off the booth and onto the floor.  Anyone walking by would mistake him for a patron in a drunken stupor, until they looked a little closer and found out his pulse was absent.

    Taking a sip from the drink she had purchased beforehand, Gavira gingerly set it down and got up to leave.  The curtains were whipped back, a thick Nikto standing in her way.

    “Stay put,” he growled.

A fleeting look of annoyance passed over her face before she put on a seductive smile, planting her hand on his broad chest.

    “Contrary to what you might think, I’m not in that line of business,” she purred, tracing a circular pattern on his tunic. “If you want to cozy up to my good side, go buy me a drink, Handsome.  Hopefully you’ll be a more stimulating conversationalist than my friend on the floor.”

    The Nikto blinked at her.  She wasn’t sure if he had that much intelligence in that craggy head of his.  Maybe this one would require some babytalk–

    A massive hand whipped out to shove her back into the booth, hard enough for her to feel the durasteel behind the bantha-hide leather grate against her spine.  He advanced on her, reaching for a weapon at his side.  She gripped the head of the booth with one hand, the other going out to heft the man off the floor in a tight Force grip.  He rose with a grimace, clawing at his neck, feet pinwheeling in the air.  Gavira made a wrenching motion with her hand.  A sickening krch came from the Nikto’s throat just as his motions stilled.  She drew back her hand and he fell on the floor in a heap.

    Tucking some loose strands of black hair behind an ear, Gavira raised a lip at the body.

“You should have gotten me that drink.”

    “Would that have still saved him from his inevitable fate?”

Gavira’s head snapped up to see another silhouette, one that had been standing behind the hulking Nikto.  She could make out horns that glinted before the man stepped out of the shadows and into the alcove that was quickly becoming crowded with bodies.  He was an Iridonian–or a Zabrak–with caf-colored skin and dark markings on his face that hinted at a sinister aura.  His  brunette hair was tied back into a tail resting over his shoulder.  The cut of his clothes said either “senator” or “crime lord,” and honestly, he could have been either given his appearance and the distinct presence in the Force Gavira could feel.  He must have been rich, whatever line of work he was in, as his horns were gilded in gold, twinkling whenever the light touched upon them.

    She also had to admit, grudgingly, that he was rather good-looking.

Realizing she was still huddled on the seat of the booth, she uncurled her legs from beneath her, setting her heels on the ground and her elbows on the tabletop.  She wouldn’t let this man think that he could intimidate her, behaving like a frightened animal.  If he had been standing around there as long as she suspected, he knew what she could do to him.

“Yours might be the same as his if you don’t leave,” she said carefully.

He turned the Nikto’s head to the side so he could see the expression of surprise permanently etched onto his features with the toe of his boot, looking down upon the body with disinterest.

    “And here I went through all this trouble to give you a good dinner and entertainment.”

Gavira’s shoulders tensed.

    “What?”

The Iridonian lifted his head to meet her eyes with his piercing, golden gaze.

    “These two men,” he said, gesturing at them with a hand. “A gift from yours truly.  I was hoping to break the ice so we could discuss a business proposition.”

    Gavira snorted.

“I don’t debase myself by working for others.  I get along fine on my own, thank you.”

    The Iridonian tilted his head to the side with an easy smile.  It was a look that Gavira found had her pulse beating a little faster in her ears.  She had sworn off any sort of entanglements of that nature centuries ago.  Heyx had made sure to put a bad taste in her mouth for that sort of thing.  And yet…she sensed this man had similar ideals as herself.  He was self-serving, malicious, and careful to put up a front to achieve what he wanted.  They shared that much in common.  He also wasn’t above sacrificing people wantonly to get her attention.  If she had to describe how she felt about that, she had to admit she was more than a little flattered.  She let some of the tension relax from her shoulders.

    “If you have been watching as you claim you have, then you must know what I am and what I can do,” she said, gripping her glass and letting the condensation melt on her palm. “If I don’t like what you have to say, then your life is forfeit.”

    He grinned.

“That seems fair.”

    The curtains were swept shut behind him as he seated himself across from her, stepping over the body of her first victim as though it were a spilled drink on the floor.

    “My name is Duvek Kasteele, and I deal in a very lucrative trade.  It’s not so much a job as an opportunity,” he began, folding his hands on the tabletop. “You enjoy killing, I need someone who is good at it and willing to do it often.  I run a business that requires that I keep a lot of individuals under contract who have an expertise in causing death.  I also need someone who can control those individuals, rein them in and keep them from forming their own little ideas about coups and nonsense.  It’s necessary for the enemies I’ve accrued, and to keep my assets from falling into the wrong hands.  I had a lieutenant who was in charge of these men and women, but they met with an untimely demise–”

    Gavira lifted an eyebrow with a small cough.

“Your doing, I presume?”

    The corner of Kasteele’s mouth twitched to the side as he snatched up the glass from her hands to take a swig.

    “He thought that he could serve two masters and walk away unscathed.  My rival would have done something similar to teach the man a permanent lesson; I was simply quicker on the uptake.  I don’t believe you would be the sort to double-cross me, however.  You’re much too clever for that, and I don’t doubt you would have something to say if I even dared raise a finger against you.”

    Gavira was momentarily distracted by Kasteele’s audacity with his current actions before she let her mind dwell on what he was saying: he needed someone in charge of his army of mercenaries.  She had never taken on a task like that before.  Gavira was typically one to work on her own.  Relationships of any sort proved to be messy.  But if this Duvek was as smart as he seemed, then he must have been watching her for some time, analyzing her to see if she would be a good fit for his organization.  She knew just enough about the name “Kasteele” to know that he was involved with Spice, and that his production monopolized a lot in the sector he operated out of.

    He was rich, attractive, and ruthless.

It wasn’t as if she could find a better match if things were to grow less professional between them.

    “I’m taking a gamble here,” Kasteele continued, setting the glass down and running a finger along the rim. “I know fully well what you are capable of and what you can do to me.  I also believe that with you at the helm of my army, no one will dare to cross either of us.  You like power?  I’m giving it to you, and lots of it.  Anyone you don’t deem as up to par you are welcome to take as a meal.  I won’t say no.  You have an outlet for that insatiable bloodlust as well, as I have countless enemies who won’t stop until I’m dead or my empire in shambles.  As for pay, you can take it or leave it.  This is more of a chance for you to exercise that power of yours rather than to be compensated to use it.”

    Kasteele’s voice dropped to a cool, silky tone.

“You’ve hidden in the shadows long enough, Friend.  I think it’s time we bring you out into the light and show people what you’re capable of.”

    Gavira hesitated, taking in all that Duvek was offering her.  It sounded too good to be true.  There had to be strings attached somewhere, but she couldn’t sense any.  The crime lord was devious, but he was also being completely honest.  Well, if he wasn’t offering her anything in return other than a means for her to demonstrate what she could do on a larger scale, then she could certainly make his gamble worthwhile with her own recompense.

    Placing her palms on the table, she leaned across to press a kiss to his lips, taking in the strong smell of residual Spice that wafted off his garments.

    “Consider that my accepting your offer,” she whispered.