A/N: This is a side story that introduces some of the supporting characters from my main story, Bane. Mostly, it follows how Callista met Birgitta (and Victor and Gordan as well) and provides a backstory for not only the most stable relationship I have ever written, but also the start of the supernatural turf war that is raging four years later when Bane begins. If you're curious about the timeline, this is also about a year before Corbin & Layla move to the city. This will be posted in two parts, the first part focussing primarily on Callista and the event leading up to meeting Birgitta.
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"How many times do I have to tell you before you get it through your thick fucking skull? Not interested." Callista grabbed her beer and slid a five dollar bill across the bar top. She rolled her dark brown eyes as she walked away from the much larger man, Victor, who had been harassing her.
"Please, I just want to talk to you!" Victor persevered. At 6'4", he towered over her by nearly a foot. His muscular frame was barely contained within his dark t-shirt; the stitching on his sleeve was already frayed, despite only wearing it a few times before.
"Alone? Yeah, not falling for that one." Her thick black hair was tied back in a low ponytail which fell just past her exposed shoulders. She adjusted her bra strap self-consciously as she walked, making sure to tuck it back under the strap of her tank top.
"I'm not trying to hit on you, I swear," His persistence was getting on Callista's last nerve, but he followed with an offer she couldn't refuse. "I'll arm-wrestle you for it."
Callista was intrigued. She knew she was stronger than humans, even the meatheads with biceps the size of her thighs. She turned with a mischievous grin. "For what, exactly? My time, or something else?" She crossed her toned arms in front of her chest.
"Five minutes of you time, that's all."
"And if I win?" Her smirk widened as she pictured the shocked expression on Victor's face when she would beat him.
Victor raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'll give ya all the space you want."
"Deal," Callista led the way to a table near where the rest of their army friends were playing pool. She yet to lose a match, and the crowd quickly gathered around them. "Let's do this."
Callista was surprised when she gripped Victor's hand, it was not as rough and calloused and she expected from someone clearly fervent when it came to lifting weights. There was a bright smile on his face, and for a moment, Callista almost felt sorry about his upcoming humiliation. Victor's smile confused her, given the difference in their physical size, he must have been expecting to beat her at this arm wrestling challenge. Why would he looked so joyful at the thought of winning against her? It was unsettling; Callista wished that Victor had never been assigned to their military base. She was on good terms with the other men she worked with, but it seemed as though he was going to be trouble. With any luck, the humiliation of losing to a woman while arm-wrestling would be enough of a bruise to his ego that Victor would indeed back off.
Their match began, and for the first time that Callista could remember, her strength was perfectly matched. She had expected to be met with some resistance, but seeing their arms hold still at a 90 degree angle was definitely not how she had pictured it going. Callista's eyes flicked up anxiously to look at her opponent. Victor's smile remained, but he broke her eye contact with an impish wink. Before Callista could react, Victor slammed her arm hard to the right, hitting the table with a crack.
Callista was in a state of shock. Her human friends teased her about the impossibility of her beating a man Victor's size, but she couldn't hear them. The room muted as she stared down the man sitting across from her. "Outside. Now." The amber skin of her face burned red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.
