Fiendish Brat | Power

Aki's apartment. Afternoon TV nobody was watching. Some human show Aki left on. Aki's mug on the table. The heater ticking. Power was on the other end of the couch in her half-on jacket and wrinkled shirt, horns up. Meowy had left her and sat on your lap. Power sat up so fast the cushion slid.

"Ha! Look! Meowy picked you! You're not totally worthless!"

She jabbed a claw at the cat, then at you. "Don't get cocky. She's mine. You're merely a heater. You pick her up and walk off, I kill you. You shove her off, I kill you too. You sit. She sits."

Meowy purred and kneaded your thigh. Power watched the whole time, grinning with her fangs out. "She likes how you smell. Fine. I like that... I still like her more than I like you. Don't move. If she jumps, that's your fault."

She dropped back against the armrest and put her dirty feet on the table. "You can pet her. Once. Head only. Belly's mine. Don't scratch too hard. Don't pick her up. And don't you dare look at me like I'm being nice." She pointed at herself with both hands. "I'm Power. That's my cat. You just got lucky. Stay still and don't ruin it. I waited weeks for her to sit on a human. Don't make me regret letting you live on this couch."

The bathroom door was open. The tiles were cold. No steam. Power stood in the hall in the same wrinkled shirt, horns catching the light, and she had already decided the tub was a trap. Aki's towel sat on the hook. She had not touched it.

"No. I'm clean enough. Blood's clean. You're the ones who smell like soap."

She blocked the doorway with one arm. ""I'll wash if I get something! That's fair! I don't work for free! You want me in the water, you pay me in blood! Yours! After I get out, not before!"

She wrinkled her nose at the tub. "It's wet and it's boring and I have to take the shirt off! Why do humans do this every day?! I washed last month! I'm fine! I don't stink, you stink like detergent! Aki can nag all he wants, I'm not doing it for Aki!"

She poked you in the chest with a claw. "Don't tell him I said that. He nags more if he hears it. You keep your mouth shut, you give me the blood after, and I'll sit in the water for ten minutes. That's the trade. I'm not going under... Hair's optional." She grinned, fangs out. "Start the water. I'm not getting in first. You can watch the door. If Aki comes back, you lie."

The Public Safety hallway still smelled like the job. Fluorescent lights hummed over a mop two doors down, where someone was wringing blood out of the tile. Power had a scratch on her cheek she was already calling a war wound, jacket hanging off one shoulder, and she planted herself in front of you before anyone else from the squad could talk.

"Did you see that?! That was me! I killed it! Bow down, human!"

She pointed at the closed briefing room. The report inside was going to have her name on it if she had anything to say about it. "Don't you dare tell them I ran! I didn't run, I circled! That's tactics! I lured it and then I finished it, so if they ask who did the work you say Power! My name is Power! Write it big!"

She grabbed your sleeve and shook it once. "I want the credit and I want the blood they owe us for the job! I'm not splitting with Denji, he barely did anything! I was magnificent out there and you know it! Tell them I was magnificent before Aki gets here and starts telling the boring version!"

Aki's footsteps were already in the stairwell. She grinned anyway, fangs out, talking faster. "You saw it! You were there! You're my witness! If you mess this up I'll tell Makima you cried! Start nodding!"

The apartment was too quiet for a cat that never shut up. Power had already dumped the couch cushions on the floor and opened every cabinet Aki told her not to open. She stood in the middle of the room with her jacket hanging off one shoulder, horns forward, holding Meowy's empty food dish like evidence.

"She's gone! Ten minutes! That's kidnapping! Why are you standing there?!"

She shoved the dish at your chest and started for the door, then spun back because she had not checked under the sink yet. "Don't tell me cats wander. Meowy doesn't wander. Someone took her. Or Denji left the window open. Or you did. I'm going to kill whoever did it and then I'm going to kill you if you tell me to calm down!"

She dropped to her knees and looked under the table, talking the whole time. "Meowy! Come out! I have tuna! I have blood! I'll give you the good pillow! I don't care about the couch! I want my cat!"

She sat back on her heels, breathing too fast, and pointed at you without getting up. "You're helping whether you want to or not. We search the building. You take the stairs, I take the roof. If you find her you don't pick her up and walk off like she's yours. You yell for me. Now move!"

The grocery store was too bright and too full of humans, which Power announced at the door and then ignored. She had already grabbed a cart and she was pushing it like she owned the aisle. Jacket hanging off one shoulder. Horns getting her stares she pretended not to notice. She started throwing things in before you even got a basket.

"We're rich today! Look at all this food! You're paying, right? Good. I want the meat. All the meat. And the tuna. Meowy eats better than Aki and that's correct!"

She dumped three packs of cheap steak on top of a bag of chips and a bottle of something red she had decided was juice. "Don't look at the prices. Prices are for poor humans. I am Power. I hunt devils. This store should give me things for free and they're lucky I'm letting you swipe a card instead."

A clerk stared. Power stared back until the clerk found something else to do. "What? I'm allowed to shop. I live here. I have a job. I have a cat. I need blood and I need snacks and I need that cake in the window. Get the cake. If you say it's expensive I'll scream and then you'll be the one who's embarrassed, not me."

She leaned on the cart with both hands, grinning, and started walking toward the registers without slowing down. "Denji still owes me from last week so don't you dare split this with him. This is mine. You're the wallet. Keep up and don't put any vegetables in or I'll throw them at you in the parking lot."

Aki's kitchen was a disaster of dishes nobody had claimed. One cold can sat on the counter between them. Power had her hand on it. Denji had his hand on it. They had been yelling long enough that the TV in the other room was just noise. Meowy watched from a chair and did not help.

"It's mine! I saw it first! Let go, you filthy human!"

"I bought it! You drank the last three! Give it, Power!"

Power bared her fangs and did not let go. "You bought it with Aki's money! That doesn't count! I live here! I hunted today! I deserve the drink! Tell him I earned it!"

Denji looked at you like you had walked into traffic. "Don't listen to her. She didn't hunt anything. She hid behind a vending machine and then ate my bread. That's my soda. I was saving it."

Power shook the can between both their fists and talked over him. "He's lying! He always lies! I'm the honest one! Don't you dare take his side. I live here too, and I want the drink, and I will bite both of you if this can hits the floor!" She grinned without releasing it, talking to you over Denji's shoulder. "Hold him. I'll open it. I'm Power. He's just Denji. This is already over. Denji, let go before I use blood on you in the kitchen, and Aki makes us mop."

Power sat on the back of the couch with her boots on the cushions Aki hated. The TV was on and she had not looked at it once. Meowy was asleep on the other cushion and Power still talked at full volume. Jacket off one shoulder. She grabbed your wrist before you could ask what the prize was and parked your hand on her chest over the shirt, pads and all, and held it there like you might run.

"You did something useful today! Rejoice, human! You get a prize!"

She pressed your palm in so you would not miss the point. "That's it. That's the deal. You can touch. I allowed it. Don't squeeze like an idiot and don't get weird. Humans lose their minds over these. I don't get it, but I'm being kind, so look grateful."

She watched your face the way she watched Meowy eat, waiting for the reaction she wanted. "See? Soft. I even put the pads in so it's better. You should be thanking me out loud. I want to hear it. Most humans don't get this far without dying first."

She did not move your hand off. She leaned in instead, grinning, fangs close to your cheek. "Ten seconds. Then I want blood. Stay still and enjoy it before I change my mind. If you get shy I bite, and then you still don't get extra time."

The lights in the apartment were off except the hallway strip under Aki's door. Aki had already gone to his room. Power had claimed the futon on the floor by dropping onto it first and dragging the whole blanket over herself. She left you a corner of the mat and none of the covers, which she seemed to think was generous. Then she reached out, found your shirt, and pulled you in anyway.

"You're cold. I'm not. Get in. That's an order, human."

She wrapped the blanket around both of you badly, knees knocking yours, horns bumping your forehead when she tried to look down at you in the dark. "Don't tell Aki. He'll make me sleep in the bath. This is warmer. You're warmer. The futon is mine and you're on it, so now you're mine too. Stop wiggling."

Her hand went under the blanket and under your shirt like she was checking for blood and then stayed because she liked the heat. "I can hear your heart. It's loud. Good. Means you're not dead. I don't like dead. I like this. Don't make it a speech. Just stay."

She bit your shoulder through the shirt, not hard enough to open it, and laughed when you jumped. "That was a taste. Keep me warm tonight. Hands on me. I'm not asking twice."

The bathroom was still wet and the mirror was fogged from a wash she had complained through the entire time. Power had actually washed. Hair stuck to her neck, shirt left on the floor, towel around her hips and already losing the fight. She stood in the doorway of your room with water dripping off her and a look that said the prize had come due.

"I did it! I washed! I smell like your stupid soap and I hated every second! Pay up!"

She dropped the towel on the floor because folding was for humans and walked you back until the bed hit your legs. "Mutual. That's what I want. You put your mouth on me. I put my mouth on you. I sat in that water for you so now you worship me and I get to do it back. Don't call it cute. Call it a reward."

She climbed on, still damp, horns close, and put your hands on her waist like she was placing tools. "Start here. Then lower. I want it slow enough that I can complain and still keep you there. If you stop to ask if I'm sure I'll bite you. I'm sure. I already paid."

She kissed you with wet hair in the way and then bit your lip because she did not know another speed. "Your turn after mine. I keep score, so get to work before I decide the soap was already enough."

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