Every time Asa passed through the Amethyst District—which specialized in textiles—he rolled his eyes. Of course Rose would set up shop where all the most expensive clothing shops were. The Red Seal Syndicate headquarters were based in the Ruby District, but Rose had staked out his home territory in the west side of the city in the Amethyst District, which bordered the Diamond District.
He just hadn’t wanted to traverse to the Amethyst District through the Diamond District because that was the neighborhood of the wealthy, and he had been banned from entering for another two weeks due to reasons that didn’t bear mentioning. Asa threaded through the Emerald District, which was a terrible decision because Mouse and the demon had to be dragged away from every single food kiosk that they passed.
The buildings grew taller and more elaborate as Asa ventured past the heart of the Amethyst District—and closer to Rose’s apartments. He had secret encampments, of course, as well as his territory in the downtown area of the Station where he held threatening meetings or whatever the fuck else he did with his time. But his apartments in the Amethyst District was his home, the building itself sandwiched by competing haberdasheries. Asa supposed Rose didn’t want the entire Ruby District discussing their private meetings.
“Wooow,” Mouse said in awe, as she stared up at the purple-painted brownstone building with big brown eyes. The black metal stairs really served no purpose except to elevate the deep purple door. “Big.”
The demon jumped from Asa’s shoulders to Mouse’s shoulders, which made the demon look weirdly over-sized because Mouse was pretty small. Asa tried not to be miffed that the demon had chosen Mouse over him.
“Wait until you see the inside,” he advised her, as he mounted the steps to lean into the digital identifier. The identifier pinged green, and he shoved his hands in his pockets as he waited for the door to open.
“I bet there’s a lot of good stuff in there,” the demon said, even as the door opened to Rose’s second-in-command, Luna.
Luna leaned against the door-frame, performatively crossing her arms. “Well, well, well,” she said, smirking. She wore her old mechanic overalls, which were smudged with oil and grime. Normally she wore the latest fashions when out in public, but this was just Asa’s monthly meeting with Rose. “Look what the cat dragged in. You really struggled in that race, huh”
Asa gave her a very unimpressed look. “Rose cheated,” he said.
“Sore loser,” she said in a sing-song voice. “What’s the secret password, loser?”
Mouse giggled, putting a hand over her mouth quickly when Asa glared at her.
“Rose is a dumbass,” Asa said promptly.
Luna made a loud sound like a buzzer on a game-show. “Try again,” she said.
“You know, I don’t have to come here,” Asa said, crossing his arms to match Luna’s posture. “This is a favor to your boss.”
Luna sighed, pushing herself off the door-frame. “You’re no fun,” she grumbled, leading him inside Rose’s apartments.
The apartments waere even more spacious on the inside than it seemed on the outside. It was extraordinarily tasteful, which Asa knew because Galatea had this kind of taste: real leather furniture, plush, heavy rugs, actual wood furniture. When Asa lived at the House, his mother and Rose were always texting about interior design, books, fashion—all of the things Asa had no real interest in. Sometimes Asa had darkly wondered if Galatea would have preferred to have Rose as a son, in comparison to Asa.
Luna had been Rose’s second in command from practically the second that Rose had even had need of a second-in-command. Luna possessed long black hair that was dyed silver this month, and she liked working with electronics, mechanics, Rose’s pod. She did all the updates in her spare time, whenever she wasn’t out intimidating people. Asa had taught Luna everything he knew, which was everything he had learned from his mother. But that was before Asa left the House.
Luna led Asa deeper into the first floor to Rose’s office, even though Asa already knew where it was. Probably to prevent him from snooping, even though Asa knew the whole apartment was crawling with security cameras. “Wanna come with me, kid?” Luna said, putting a hand on her hip, as she looked down at Mouse. “They’re gonna talk about boring adult stuff.”
Mouse reached up and firmly held Asa’s wrist with one sticky hand, glaring at Luna. Asa grimaced. “No, I don’t want to come with you,” Mouse said and then left a long pause before she finished with, “kid”.
Luna shrugged. “Suit yourself, kid.” She examined Mouse more seriously. “That’s a pretty small demon you got there.”
“Hey!” the demon protested. “I’m growing!”
“Yeah, he’s growing!” Mouse said, putting a protective hand on the demon.
Asa fought the urge to add that that wasn’t Mouse’s demon—but that would be ridiculous when he didn’t even want a demon in the first place.
“Yeah, okay,” Luna said, raising her eyebrows, amused, before flipping her hair over her shoulder. Like Rose, she wore sleeveless shirts, so Asa could see the small demonic script that littered her shoulders. Asa had consulted on a number of the contracts she had signed. Luna raised her eyebrows and presented Rose’s office door as if she was presenting an award.
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Asa sighed and knocked loudly on the office door before just barging in. Rose sat at his large wooden desk, little golden spectacles on his face as he looked through paperwork with red demonic dialect.
Rose always looked like an academic when he wore his glasses—softer and gentler than he actually was, like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He wore an emerald green turtleneck with a black sweater artfully draped over the back of his chair. “Where the fuck have you been?” Rose said, carelessly removing his spectacles to set them on the desk. "You're late."
This allowed Asa to see the dark circles under Rose’s eyes, and Asa ignored the twinge of concern in his chest.
“It’s not like you’re paying me to do this shit,” Asa pointed out, before shoving himself into the leather visitor’s chair. Mouse and the demon trailed in behind Asa, looking around with active curiosity. The demon used the leather sofa as a springboard to climb onto the bookshelves and examine the books.
Rose scoffed. “It’s just like you to pull this shit,” he said. “You don’t respect anyone’s time.”
“I don’t have to do favors for you, you know,” Asa said. “It was fucking unavoidable.” He nodded his head toward Mouse and the demon.
“And who are they?”” Rose said, flicking his eyes toward where the demon had switched to balancing on Mouse’s shoulder to inspect the rare texts that Rose collected on an upper shelf.
“She’s just a kid,” Asa said dismissively.
“With a demon,” Rose said mildly.
“Ugh,” Asa groaned, scrubbing his hands over his face so he didn’t have to look at Rose when he said this part: “That’s my demon.”
Rose scoffed. Asa could imagine Rose’s face exactly even with his eyes closed: his mouth tilted in a disbelieving smirk, the raised eyebrow. “That is such bullshit,” Rose said.
Asa’s eyes shot open. Sure enough, Rose was smirking, even as he poured hot floral tea into two cups. “I wouldn’t lie about this,” Asa said.
“Okay, sure,” Rose said agreeably.
“I want tea too,” Mouse announced, wandering over to peer into the steaming cups. Rose’s smile turned more sincere when he looked at Mouse. He pressed a few buttons on the digital touchscreen that was mounted on the wall behind his desk, presumably to call for another cup.
Asa sulked. Rose didn’t believe him. What did it even matter? Asa wasn’t here to receive Rose’s help, Rose was the one who needed Asa’s help. “I’m serious,” Asa said hotly. “You know how I feel about contracts, why would I make that up?”
“Is the kid in trouble?” Rose said, nodding his head toward Mouse.
“Yes,” Asa said. Mouse opened her mouth to protest, and Asa covered her mouth with his hand. “You ARE a kid,” he told her. “Get over it.”
Mouse licked his hand in an act of gross defiance. Asa made a face as he removed his hand and wiped it on his pants.
“Maybe you’re lying to protect the kid,” Rose suggested, resting his chin on his propped hands. It gave him an aura of innocence that was definitely a lie.
“Fine,” Asa said and then he stood up to unzip his jumpsuit and take off his undershirt, ignoring PQ-9’s protests. His jumpsuit covered the contract on his stomach, only revealing the demon contract tattoo that had etched itself onto his chest. “See,” Asa said.
Rose stood and leaned over the desk, peering closer with an unreadable look on his face. Asa held his breath. Rose spoke a word that made Asa’s ears clang like a tuning fork had been struck, and the demon tattoo lit up glowing red for a brief moment. “Huh,” Rose said, his face turning thoughtful. “You really did sign a contract.”
“See?” Asa said, feeling vindicated.
“Knock, knock!” Luna said, opening the door without actually knocking. “Oooh, am I interrupting something?” She looked Asa up and down as Asa slowly flushed, before scrabbling to put his shirt back on.
Rose leaned back in his desk chair, adjusting his spectacles in a stupidly cool way. “Thanks, Luna, I love how on time you always are,” he said, fake smiling at Asa. Asa rolled his eyes.
“Snacks?” Mouse said hopefully.
“Didn’t I just feed you a whole bunch of snacks?” Asa said, incredulous.
“Hmm,” Luna said, making a performance out of tapping her index finger to her mouth. “Well. I was was just about to make strawberry shortcake.”
Mouse’s eyes widened to epic proportions. “For me?” she said even more hopefully.
Luna looked at Mouse with calculating eyes. “You’d have to help me,” she said. “That’s how it works here—gotta give to get.”
Mouse looked back at Asa for permission. “It’s fine,” Asa said grudgingly. “Go.”
Mouse skipped out of Rose’s office with Luna, leaving Asa with an oddly guilty feeling. He hadn’t wanted her to be here, and he knew Luna wouldn’t hurt Mouse—but that didn’t mean that Mouse wasn’t still vulnerable. A person didn’t survive in the Red Seal Syndicate without a strong sense of self-preservation, even if it was at the expense of other people’s preservation.
Asa turned to Rose, who pointed with an annoyed hand to sit down in the chair. Asa had been taller than Rose for a period of time when they were children until Asa was fifteen. Now, of course, Rose was very slightly taller than Asa. VERY slightly. Asa threw himself back into the chair as Rose gathered all of the contracts for the month that he wanted Asa to review.
“There’s something strange about that kid,” Rose said, sounding bored as he shuffled through contracts. The more interested Rose was, the less interested and more casual he sounded. “Haven’t you noticed?”
Asa snorted. “Yeah, of course she’s weird,” he said. “She tried to steal my House collar the first time I met her. She’s practically feral.”
“What’s her power level?” Rose said, setting the first contract in front of Asa.
“Practically nil,” Asa said dismissively. “Her power test paper couldn’t even hold her signature.”
“That could also mean she’s extremely powerful,” Rose commented. “You should have a supplementary test done.”
Asa looked at Rose, incredulous. “For what?” he said. “She’s not my responsibility. The House can do it if they care.”
Rose laughed. “Yeah, okay,” he said, looking amused for reasons Asa wasn’t sure he cared to know.
There were only two contracts that Rose wanted Asa to review. Asa took notes on a printed ink copy of each contract for Rose’s perusal while PQ-9 simultaneously sent Asa his own digital notes. Rose set up the holographic 5-dimensional chess board as Asa finished up notating his editorial comments. “Why are you even working with Solam again?” Asa said, making a face. “Didn’t he shortchange you and then sacrifice one of his apprentices to the demon?”
Rose shrugged in a casual way. “He knows Lazar Fuchs in the time-line 3456.7 military squad. I want that contact.”
“For what?” Asa said. “Is it really worth Solam stabbing you in the back again?”
“Oh, like when you kept me in the dark about Gemma?” Rose said, and then gave a smile that looked princely to people who didn’t know Rose—but Asa knew this was his ice cold smile right before he decided to throw a punch.
“Yeah,” Asa said shortly. “Just like that.”
