The Sin Hunter: Double or Nothing

A "Friendly" Chat

"And once more, with passion." The Crimson Stripe whistled to himself as he slid through the hallway of the office space, brushing through rows of cubicles and computer setups. The office was quiet, save for the clicking footsteps of the serial killer whose hands were crossed sharply behind his back. A pale red light flickered in the windows, the blinds casting long, twisting shadows over the room as the Crimson Stripe made his way toward a desk at the end of the hall. A slickened, stretched smile curled from the horrifying features of his pale white mask across into his sickly gold smile on the bloody, scarred and damaged portion of his face.

For the most part, all of the lights had been switched off and everyone had gone home for the night. Save for a few security guards patrolling the lower floors, this meeting was about to be closed off from prying eyes. The Crimson Stripe stopped in front of a large, beautiful blue door, embroidered with silver and studded jade jewels. The Crimson Stripe reached his hand and his claw upward, popping out the collar of his scarlet suit before he pushed through the doors, flashing his smile to greet a very old friend.

"Ah, good evening, my friend. How have you been these long, dreary days and nights?" Across the room with only a desk between them, Koriya Anache stopped clicking at the keys on her laptop. Her striking purple eyes and sharp silver pupils glanced up from her work, and her set blue lips slumped in a soured crescent. "Oh. It's you. Do you have an appointment today?" The Crimson Stripe exhaled, removing his club hat to set upon a chair beside the large glass windows outside. "I'm afraid my business here is a bit uncalled for." Koriya kept her hands where they were, folded on her desk and prepared for a battle.

"Well, you journeyed all this way to see me, Stripe. So what brings the self-proclaimed "Lord of Overlords" to my doorstep?" The Crimson Stripe shuffled in place, keeping one hand in front of his body. "Your work involves the shipments and placements of Envy's finest magical trinkets, some of which you have the utmost care to respectfully shield from the public. I want to look through your supply for something." Koriya raised her eyebrows, keeping her lips shut while she rose from her chair, keeping her set of smoothed black nails clicking on the desk.

"My supply? What could you possibly want that I have?" The Crimson Stripe snapped his fingers, the blades of his scissor gauntlet snapping and spraying blood across the floor as flames erupted beside his shoulder, giving way to a sealed parchment. A large, ominous green wax stamp marked the paper as it hovered beside the serial killer. His eyes flashed with deceit and amusement while Koriya kept her composure straight, stiffening in her place. "I have many ways of contacting those close to my own blades. And people tell me things. Things they wouldn't ordinarily."

The CEO of Stellar Streamers rose sharply, her chair hitting the back wall with a loud scraping sound as she stepped around to the front of her desk. "You know of my leash? Fair enough. I don't suppose anyone should be denied that information." The Crimson Stripe seemed to grow taller in the pale red light of the office, his shoulders twisting and molding into demented, snapping limbs while the single, bloodshot eyeball in the socket of his mask rolled about. "I can make that leash disappear for you. Mighty generous of a favor, I know. All I ask is access to your private vault once, never more."

Koriya kept her breath calm, but her heart pounded in her throat. 'A chance at freedom...' she thought, inspecting the contract carefully. The Demoness knew that this was too good an opportunity to pass up, but she grabbed herself from walking forward, pausing. "If...if I let you into my product list," Koriya stated, all the while the serial killer across her flashing a stern, set scowl, "what are you planning on using?" The Crimson Stripe tilted his head back then, laughing before folding his suit back over the darkness beneath his cloak while extending a clawed, rusted gauntlet with scissor blades snapping in the light breeze.

"That, I'm afraid, is for myself only to know. I run a strict schedule, as do you. And I would hate to spill more blood than I already have." Koriya crossed her arms behind her back, her eyes tracing across the outline of the blood soaked nightmare in her office. Everything about this demonic creature told her to run, to find somewhere where she would be safe forever and never have to think about that mask on his face. But her shoulders dropped, and Koriya knew that this would be a worthwhile trade off. If she was free, she could eventually get back and help whoever the Stripe intended to use her materials on to begin with.

"You have a deal. But I'd like to see the crumb who set me on their leash to begin with, so he can watch the contract burn into nothingness." The Crimson Stripe cocked his head to one side, turning to face the window down toward the traffic in what would be midnight in Pride. "Hmm," he hummed, dragging the scissor blades across the tip of his chin, "I suppose that is fair. They say revenge is never the way to go." The Crimson Stripe swept back across the floor, extending his gauntlet to Koriya, who caught the soul contract in her hands. It felt warm in her palms.

As the Demoness leveled her gaze with the serial killer, his mask twisted to face her, hiding the bloody, scar-formed flesh of the man beneath. "But like with sugar cookies, it feels too good to stop once you dig into 'em." The Crimson Stripe raised his hand over the floor to his right, then slowly reached downward, pooling blood from his flesh on the floor beside his sharp trimmed robes. Removing his hand from the now sickeningly deep puddle, the Crimson Stripe pulled a shaking, quivering Sinner out of the pool of blood, his skin tainted red and black.

Weary, shivering eyes quivered in place before snapping and fixating on Koriya in the center of the room. A rash, choked voice responded. "K-K-Koriya? Is that you?" The Demoness stepped forward, unfurling the soul contract in front of the shivering Sinner's face. "This contract binds me to your groveling collection of leashes. Make good note of this." The Sinner, sitting up to his knees in blood, watched as the soul contract burned into flaking bits of dust, scattering into the wind instead of disappearing in the fire. The contract had been destroyed.