Luna For Hire

Ava watched the lights come on inside the apartment. She had been watching this apartment for quite a while even before the owner had arrived.

The night cold might have been biting for someone sitting outside to ambush someone else, but Ava always ran a temperature so that was the least of her worries. Now, she thought strategy in order to deliver this rogue and sign off for the night.

She had already delivered two tonight already. Another vampire- a woman- and one werewolf. This was her last assignment until she signed off and got how much more sleep she could before daybreak. If it hadn't been the weekend, she would be gambling with how much sleep she could get before she was off to her day job.

Yes, it got tiring, but multiple incomes were very handy to live a fairly comfortable life these days, she thought wryly. And why not with something she did so well? After such a torturous past as she'd had, she had been opportune to upgrade her skillset with the right training as a result of her affiliations with someone she would call her foster father.

She was near dying in the woods when she had been rescued by this man and brought into the fold of the Rogue Containment Agency. He had dedicated his time to training her for such a job offer; she had been a diligent student, and she had started very young. The result was this strong twenty-one year old that made rogues fear.

Yes, even centuries-old rogue vampires feared those three letters in that combination: Ava.

Ava climbed down the tree which had served as her perch earlier and walked towards the door. She took notice of the car. It was a nice car; a luxury brand. The owner must be someone who liked to live luxuriously. She and the rogue had something in common apparently.

Ava knocked on the front door as she studied the decorative lights outside. The floors were not wood or linoleum, but marble. Nice. The door looked strong. Made from strong hardwood.

What a shame...The occupant would be leaving such a beautiful house unoccupied. Ava's hand slid over the door as she gave another lingering knock on the door.

She was going to give it another knock or two and then she was going to break the door down. She didn't have all night. She knew the rogue was inside.

He did not know anyone was here to look for him; he wouldn't have seen her on the tree and so he shouldn't be cautious, but then when you decided to be a rogue, you now had you and only you to worry about yourself.

You couldn't mind-link yourself and another friend to call for help whenever you did need it. You were utterly alone. Five years of dealing with these kinds of people had supplied Ava with almost an encyclopedic array of knowledge about them- each of them: werewolves, witches, vampires, river nymphs.

Ava was about to knock on the door again when the door was opened. A handsome man stood in front of her.

He looked almost surprised that it had been a young brown-haired woman with blue eyes that was at the door. Ava did not look threatening at all. She looked slight and harmless, but in that compact body of hers were loads of stamina and skill she had had to bury several times to not look out of the ordinary.

She wore a dark one-piece body suit that started from her neck and disappeared inside her boots. A small waist pouch of similar leather hung at her waist and her hair was in a ponytail. She could have as well been going clubbing in that outfit.

"Hello," the vampire said then, his gaze going over Ava appreciatively.

Ava shook her head. He would have been nice to court for the money she was sure he had inherited from generations of family wealth, she being a lover of luxury herself, but no. She did not do rogues. As a matter of fact, she did not do supernaturals.

"Hi," Ava said giving a warm smile. "You might not know me, but my name is Ava Stevens-"

From the look on the vampire's face, it seemed that he knew her.

"-You are accused of feeding on a human to near death and almost turning them just a few days ago. That contravenes the laws set by the vampire Houses. But you do not belong to a house unfortunately, and so where it should fall on your house to discipline you, it now falls on the Council, so here I am. I would like this to be as painless as possible," Ava continued, "given that I have to turn in for the night. For you, the day just got started, but I need to sleep. So if you would be so gracious as to follow me and turn yourself in to the Rogue Containment Agency and await your trial date from the Council, I would really appreciate it."

The vampire hissed loudly and the fangs on both sides of his jaw became prominent. With one swipe of his left hand, Ava went skittering down the short flight of stairs to the gravel floor below.

She groaned as she rolled to her side realizing not for the first time that she was going to have to change her method of approach. She should screw being polite and understanding. The rogues she was sent after were usually never agreeable.

She flung herself on her feet using her hands as a propeller. She headed for the door again. The vampire stood at the porch watching her.

"Go now and I won't hurt you any more than I have," the vampire said.

"You teeth don't scare me," Ava said and dove right for the vampire. They crashed right through the door and into the house.

Ava got up slowly, noticing how luxurious the inside of the building was.

Nice, she thought again when a blow snapped her head to the side and the rest of her body went in the direction her head faced.

She cursed under her breath as she massaged her head and got up. She had let distraction get the better of her again, she thought.

The vampire looked at her, wondering why she was not dead or in critical condition already.

Ava smiled.

Quick as lightening, she tackled him to the ground and punched him senseless. He pushed her from him and went upstairs where she heard a door slam.

'I don't have time for this'...Ava thought, mildly annoyed.

She took one look at the house almost sorry it would be destroyed soon. She stood at the short flight of stairs that led to the room the vampire had gone to lock himself inside.

She held the wood support and her blue eyes seemed to glow slightly; become brighter. She felt heat under her hand and watched the fire snake from the stairs support to the room door.

She gave it a minute and then the vampire came crashing through the door. The inside of the room was flaming by now and were there combustible materials inside! A four poster bed with rolls and rolls of pristine white sheets, plush rugs and drapery, a finely carved wardrobe set made the room up.

"Hmmm. Apparently, vampires hate fire as much as humans do. Interesting..."

Ava took out a small gun from her waist pouch. She aimed and a shot at the vampire. He went down instantly.

He was not dead of course- there were only a few things known to actually kill them, and killing the vampire had never been the aim despite Ava's methods- but the pin that reached the vampire was made of strong tranquilizers which was designed to make said vampires weaker and weaker until they were knocked out cold.

They passed out long enough for them to be transported to the Agency where they were immobilized and locked up. Ava pulled the drowsy vampire towards her car which she had parked just close to the house. She loaded the vampire into the car and was on her way.

An hour later, she was back home and parked her small truck in front of her apartment building. Many of the lights from the apartment facing the street were on. Of course.

Most people who were back from their day jobs were finishing with their dinner and getting ready for bed.

On the other hand, Ava had only just started her night job three hours ago and was done now. She craved her bed.

She reached the lobby and took the elevator upstairs for the floor where her apartment was located. She had had this apartment since she decided to move out of her guardian's home.

Nathan Elmsworth, the man who had saved her years ago, lived on the other side of the city and was a representative member of the Council. The Council had representatives from each faction and Nathan was one of the human representatives and had held that position for a while now. It was through his influence that Ava had gotten her job at the RCA, a kid as she was then. Nathan had made sure to train Ava so well that at the end of the day, the adjudicators at the RCA had to acquiesce to her skill and could not let go of such an asset as she was.

Because of Ava's age, an arrangement was made for her. She would finish high-school while she worked for the RCA, undercover of course. When she graduated from high school, she had undergone a three year course which currently got her the day job she had at a marketing firm presently.

There was no way she would leave the RCA. She enjoyed her job there. Yes, she hardly associated with the supernaturals, but she would rather still see them. They were a smaller world within the larger sphere and she loved the thrill of what she did. It awoke a sense of being that she had not experienced since before she lay unconscious in the woods that fateful day that Nathan Elmsworth had taken her in and changed her life.

There was no going back to her former life. She still remembered though, and it was what she did for the RCA that made her stand above those memories; gave her a sort of closure.

Ava reached her apartment and took out her key to open the door.

She was inside soon enough and she crashed on a couch as soon as she was near one. She heard knocks on the door.

Grudgingly, Ava got up and opened the door.

"Hola bestie," Kayla said as Ava let her in.

Kayla was dressed up in a tight fitting and shiny top with leather tights. She studied Ava. "You look tired," she said.

"I am," Ava replied.

"So you're not coming out with me tonight?" Kayla asked. "I was hoping we could celebrate."

"What, your cat gave birth?" Ava asked.

Kayla gave a long-suffering sigh.

"Don't look at me like that," Ava replied. "You celebrate everything."

"Tiger is male," Kay said in a mock-hurt tone. "Try to keep up."

Ava still tried to remove the cognitive dissonance of a cat that was almost as small as a hamster being called 'Tiger.'

She found a couch and sat on it as she watched her best friend.

"I got a promotion," Kayla said then. "That is why we're celebrating."

Ava's eyes lit up.

"Really? Congrats!" She said.

Kayla had been wanting this promotion for a long while now and so Ava was genuinely happy for her.

Ava and Kayla lived just next to each other but could have as well been roommates at this point. Their friendship had started with Kayla knocking on the door of the otherwise hermit-life prone Ava and asking if she had some salt she could borrow. That had been two years ago.

"So...?" Kayla asked Ava. "Are you coming out with me?"

Ava gave a long sigh. She was exhausted and hadn't planned a night out tonight.

Kayla saw that Ava was having that mental debate she always had when she tried to convince herself against doing something and so she stepped in.

"Tomorrow is a Saturday," Kayla said. "You won't be at work. Hangovers should be the least of your worries."

"I didn't say I was particularly thinking about that-"

"-And even better, we can meet hot guys at The Tunnel," Kayla said. "The multi-billionaire bad boys are always out on Friday night to chill. This should convince you."

Ava sighed. Kayla was really close to convincing her.

She had never really been serious with relationships up till this moment, content with just one-night stands and temporaries. This was because she knew there were parts of her life a normal person would take a while getting used to: parts she held locked away from the rest of the world, even her best friend Kayla didn't know about. It was one of the reasons they weren't already roommates even though they got along well together and it would greatly save cost. There were parts Kayla was not allowed to see as with the rest of the world.

Yes, whoever Ava found that night would most likely be a one-night stand, but the thrill of finding someone new was there. None of them struck her, but at least, the process was a boredom easer.

"You won," Ava said. "I'll go with you. But I don't know what to wear and if I should strain my brain to decide what, I might have an aneurysm."

Kayla rushed for the bedroom paying little attention to Ava's exaggeration and yelling: "Leave that to me!"

Ava smiled. Kayla was always jumping on opportunities like this. One of the few things they had in common- despite Ava's mostly anti-social tendencies- was their love for fashion and luxury brands, else the both of them were two ends of a rope with their very differing characteristics.

They were at the club soon enough. Ava's brown hair was brushed out behind her and she had an off-the-shoulder black top with white polka-dots and black jeans. A small black purse hung from her shoulder. She wore light makeup.

As soon as both Ava and Kayla entered the club, they went straight for the bar. After they had gotten their starting dose of high, they headed for the dance floor.

Kayla bought all the drinks as it was her treat. So when Ava and her sat down after their dance, Kayla sponsored their drinks as they casually chatted.

Soon someone came to join their small table. Ava had no idea who it was but it seemed Kayla knew the person very well...And had a crush apparently.

Kayla ran her hand through her hair as she introduced her colleague to her neighbour and bestfriend.

"Nice to meet you too, Brandon," Ava said to the man and nudged her friend to stop drooling at him.

"Can I buy you ladies drinks?" Brandon asked, eyes on Kayla.

Ava was about to protest when Kayla nodded. "Yes, thank you."

Brandon nodded and flashed her a smile. He headed for the bar.

"Wow. Trying to get wasted so early?" Ava asked Kayla.

"We can't turn down a free drink now, can we?" Kayla smiled sheepishly.

Ava rolled her eyes. "Will you stop being an agreeing machine and ask him out already?"

"No," Kayla said firmly. "I'm not sure he likes me like that."

"Urghhhhh...." Ava groaned as she ran her palm across her face. "You couldn't tell even if it bit you in the ass."

"I don't want to ruin our working relationship if it turns out that he doesn't feel the same," Kayla whined.

Brandon was back with the drinks. Despite Ava's near protest, she picked up a glass as soon as it hit the table. Kayla gave her a look and Ava stuck her tongue at her.

"So Brandon, tell us about your work," Ava started. She did not particularly care, but it beat awkward silences. With the way this crush thing was going, she could see a lot of awkward silences in their future.

"Kayla and I work in the same firm, actually," Brandon said.

"So tell me about your work then," Ava corrected.

As Brandon began to talk and Kayla stared dreamily at him, Ava's eyes drifted behind him to watch the other clubbers: couples and friends talking and drinking. Some of them were dancing. Some of them were single, sitting alone before a bottle or two.

Ava's eyes watched them lazily until a pair of green eyes met hers. They seemed to have a special glow of their own.

Ava watched the man. From his tailor-made suit to his dark and serious countenance, Ava had a guess he was one of the famed multi-billionaire bad boys that Kayla had talked about.