Fun and bloody knuckles

Tasha rolled back her shoulders, her back cracking and her head lifting up, she shuddered, "Bryn..."

"I know."

"Bryn!"

The girl with choppy back hair, several glittering piercings and a dark tattoo on her shoulder looked over at Tasha, "I know. We shouldn't have done that." She sighed and nudged the man lying at her feet.

"Bryn, this isn't the normal way I do things, this isn't how I work. I get a job, I do it, I get paid. Simple. None of this hiding the body shit, the people who hire me always take care of the cleanup." Tasha wiped her hands on the dishtowel that hung on a hook on the wall. "Man, I hate the smell of blood."

"Then maybe, just maybe, you shouldn't kill people for a living." Bryn said dryly. She pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her back pocket and pulled one out. "You got a lighter? Mine went dry."

Tasha tossed her one and Bryn light the end of her dart. Smoke curled around her head as she took a deep drag and blew out in a huff.

"Look Tasha," said the third girl, with long pale brown hair and a face studded with bits of metal, "we don't have to hide the body, he's not dead. We just have to split before he wakes up."

Bryn snorted, "he's out cold, you did a good job on him Vic, there's no way in hell that he's going to be coming out of dreamland ay time soon." The ember of her cigarette glowed as she inhaled, "but he deserved every bit of it."

Victoria smiled, slipping her brass knuckes off and tucking them in the bag strapped across her chest, "I only got a couple of good hits in, Tasha did most of the work."

"We can discuss this later, the 'who got the most blood on their knuckles' for now we need to deal with this hunk of shit." Tasha glanced around the kitchen and her eyes settled on her weapon of choice, a cook's knife.

Following her friend's gaze, Bryn shook her head, "He's learned his lesson, and it's not like he'll go to the cops, he's a criminal after all."

Victoria grinned, her split lip left a smear of blood on her teeth, "this is a such a change, seeing hot headed and violent Bryn being the planner and the calculated hit woman Tasha being the one who is indecisive."

Tasha threw her a look and squatted down next to the man, his name was Ben Sterg and he was a vile and cruel man, he used intimidation to get what he wanted and bloodied up anyone he pleased, particularly young girls. As soon as Bryn had come storming into Tasha's apartment with Vic in tow, snarling about this piece of shit, Tasha had known that they had to do something. Two nights a one bloody, three to one fight later... Well here they were.

Victoria nudged him with her foot, "it's getting late, we should get outta here."

Bryn blew a smoke ring, "I think we're done, he won't be hurting anyone else anytime soon." She held the smoke out to Victoria who took a long drag before handing it back to her, a thin wisp of smoke curling from the end.

Tasha waved her hand in front of her face, "can't you two wait 'till we're outside?"

Victoria laughed, a cloud of smoke streaming from her mouth and filling the kitchen with an even stronger smell than the bits of rotting food in the sink.

"You know," Bryn said teasingly, "smoking can kill you Vic, you really ought to quit."

Victoria stuck out her tongue, the stud glittered in the faint streetlight glow that filtered through the slatted blinds, "I don't smoke nearly as much as you Bryn, half the time I'm around you, you have one of those hanging out of your mouth!"

Bryn opened her mouth to sneer back but Tasha cut her short, "you should both quit, I really don't need two of my best friends down in hell with all the shits that I have to stick a knife in. Now we really should get going."

Victoria took the cigarette again and crossed her eyes at Bryn.

Bryn rolled her eyes and she and Victoria followed Tasha out of the kitchen and into the hall, Victoria took care to step on Ben's fingers, and Bryn took the lead as the slipped out the back door.

"See you back at my place?" Tasha asks, walking up to her car and opening the door, "I think this event requires a drink."

Bryn made a face as she pulled her helmet on, "you know I have alcohol, Tasha."

"I said a drink, I didn't mean alcohol. I've got some Sprite in my fridge. Besides, unlike you and I, Vic's sixteen, not nineteen."

"Sounds good." Bryn winked from under her helmet, "and for god sake's Vic! I've told you a hundred times! There is no way in hell that I'm taking you on my bike without a helmet! Put it on!"

Victoria, who was already stradling the back of the Harley scowled, took a final drag on the cigarette before grinding it into the dirt and pulling on the spare helmet. Bryn got to the bike, it roared to life and the shot off down the road, spraying gravel behind them. Tasha rolled her eyes and gunned her black Jeep after them.

Bryn and Victoria were waiting for her at her apartment, Vic sprawled on the front stairs and Bryn leaning against her bike, they were both smoking again.

"Put those out before you come in." Tasha warned as she unlocked the front door, "I moved your ashtray, it's on the windowsill now."

"Yes ma'am!" Bryn said pompously, her eyes twinkling.

"Shut it." Growled Tasha good naturedly, leading the way inside. She flicked on the lights as Victoria and Bryn stubbed out their smokes and followed Tasha into the living room.
Victoria sprawled on the couch as soon as she entered, kicking off her sneakers. Bryn sat down more slowly, and propped the heels of her boots on the edge of the beat up coffee table.

Tasha slipped into the kitchen and returned with three bottles of Sprite, "here, one for you, and one for you," she passed out the drinks and eyed Bryn who was struggling with the cap, "for god sake, Bryn, you can take down a 200 pound man, jacked up on crack, but you can't open a plastic bottle?"

"Shut up." Grumbled Bryn and passed it to Tasha, who twisted the cap off and handed it back. The three girls sat there for a few minutes, sipped their drinks and staring off into space, before Tasha broke the silence, "you know what? We did the right thing. Ben won't go around hurting girls anymore."

"Yeah," Bryn said, tapping her index finger on the arm of her chair, "thanks for doing that with me."

Victoria smiled, but said nothing, she was tired from all the excitement and as she sank down into the couch cushions and started to drift off to sleep, she heard Tasha speak and Bryn answer.

"Do you think that we're a bad influence on her?"

"No, definitely not."