Vices and Maces

Chapter 16: Wow, Janus and Remus Talk Without Attacking Each Other!

Remus stretched his arms as he walked down the street. He still had guards, unfortunately, but they were sadly so easy to lose. He was going to start picking the guards himself so he has a challenge.

He was getting hungry though, so he decided to make his way to Daisy's bakery. When he finally got there after a nice long walk, he looked in through the windows to see her at the counter talking with a customer. Remus didn't think much of it as he walked in, being hit with the smell of bread and baked goods. However when he took a closer look at the customer, he realized with a start that it was the shifter.

His hand immediately went to his bag. He didn't want to kill the shifter before, he really did enjoy their fights, but messing with Daisy was going too far. If they were trying to get information out of her-

But they weren't. In fact, Daisy laughed at a joke that Remus seemed to have missed in his fear and anger.

"Oh you have no idea, Jay," Daisy continued the conversation. "I had no idea that taking care of a puppy was so much work."

"I think taking care of any animal is work. Definitely too much for me, I'm not home long enough to keep them entertained. I'd have to get a fish," 'Jay' replied.

"Oh! T! I didn't see you there." Daisy was looking at Remus now. 'T' was just a nickname that she used in front of others. She was never sure who was in a gang or not, and didn't want to give anything away.

The shifter turned to see him, their eyes widening when they did. They didn't move to attack, which surprised Remus, but they definitely tensed up. Another surprise was they didn't move to leave either.

"Hey Daisy!" Remus greeted. "And hello sexy." He winked at the shifter.

"T! Don't scare away any of my customers," Daisy scolded as she wrapped up a sandwich. She set two of them onto the counter. "Here you go, Jay, sorry about that."

"Oh it's okay, don't worry about it."

"I didn't expect to see you here, Jay," Remus teased.

"Oh you know each other?" Daisy asked.

"More or less. I'm guessing he's a regular?"

"Just like you. Now, what would you like today?"

"Hmm..." Remus looked at the meat selection Daisy had out today, it was similar to that of a Subway, with ingredients lined out behind glass. "Something with pepperonis. Surprise me."

"Oh, we just ran out of pepperonis out here. But there's some in the back, I'll go get it."

As soon as Daisy turned around and closed the door behind her, Janus jumped back. Remus didn't move from where he was, just giving him a smile.

"I'm not going to fight in here, and you better not either. Daisy is a good friend of mine and the last thing I want is to hurt her. I won't tell her if you don't."

Janus relaxed only slightly. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

Remus shrugged. "You'll just have to take my word. Oh, before I forget, what are your pronouns?"

That took the shifter aback. "Uh... he/him today. My pronouns change, I'm genderfluid."

"Oh neat! Guess it's lucky you're a shapeshifter then."

"Yeah, it was real lucky." Remus could tell he wasn't relaxing.

"Oh, I don't know if your real name is Jay or not, but mine's Remus. I felt like it's fair if you know my name, since I know yours. Or one of yours."

Janus squinted his eyes at him. He had no idea if he could really trust him or not. "Well, I should get going."

"Alright, stay safe then. Cause I would miss our fights, if we're still doing that."

Janus took the sandwiches, leaving a tip since he had already paid beforehand. He hesitated before he left. "Were you there when your guys attacked the weapons factory?"

"Oh, no, I wasn't allowed to go. I apparently can't 'handle' stealth missions."

"Good." Janus frowned. He was going to say something else, but shook his head and left the bakery.

"Finally found some pepperoni, I had put them in a high corner of the freezer, sorry about that," Daisy said. She looked up at Remus. "Oh, did Jay leave?"

"Yup, he had somewhere to be, meet up with a friend."

"They always have somewhere to go, always so busy. But it was nice to see them stop by. So how long have you two known each other?"

"Oh, we've just run into each other a few times. I try flirting with him, but I don't think it works. Guess he doesn't find me as irresistible as I find him. It'll be tough, but I think I can handle the pain."

Daisy gave him a look. "Uh huh, it's a shame."

"What are you implying there, missy?"

"They're fancy, and seem to be into finer things. Your humor would just scare him off, or disgust him."

"Disgust him, maybe, but I probably won't scare them off. I bet they're the kind of person that acts fancy, but has set a building on fire before."

"Sure, whatever you want to believe." Daisy rolled her eyes, and Remus fought down a giggle. "Welp, here's this disaster of a sandwich." She set it on the counter.

"Ooh, what's in it?"

"Pepperonis, pickles, peppers, and a few more things."

"Spicy! Thank you, Daisy!" Remus took the sandwich.

"No problem! Oh, and say hi to Sal for me."

"Sal?"

The bell above the door rang and Remus turned to see a fuming Sal. "Remus," she growled. "Stop running away from your guards!"

Remus groaned. "Daisy, you traitor."

Daisy laughed, "I've heard of your little adventures lately. Good luck with that."

"Thank you, Daisy," Sal said, walking into the restaurant and grabbing one of Remus's wings. "And you, back to the office with you. Your brother has a nice stack of paper work with your name on it."

"You've gone soft, Sal."

"Oh please, you know I've always been like this. Now let's go."

~~~

"Is this him?" Black asked, looking up at the cheetah traited.

"Yes sir, he looked just like that," she answered.

"Took you long enough to get a picture." Black held up the photo of the supposed leader of Bleeding Rose.

"H-he um, he's hard to track down. But that's the guy that told me to give you the letter."

"Well, if he's not the leader then he at least knows them. Well, new bounty. I want whoever this is alive so we can question him, and if he turns out to be one of the leaders, then that's an extra bonus. Melany? Please get this done for me." He held the picture to her.

"Yes sir." She took the photo. It wasn't the best shot, taken from a street corner no doubt. It was a man in a car at a stop light. The man had black hair slicked back, and a black coat. He had tan skin that looked sick or dead, possibly because he's a vampire. The fairy wings which were hardly seen and pressed against the seat seemed to be pink.