Chapter One
Tony grabbed a slice of cold pizza from the fridge, ignoring every word Enzo was saying to him about some job that paid BIG; however, it just wasn't his kind of job. He didn't do missing persons. “Sorry, Enzo,” he said, taking a bite of pizza. “I don't care how much it pays, I'm not gonna search for some dude's long lost brother. And come off it, man! His long lost brother, really? You can't honestly believe that shtick.”
Enzo looked away and blushed. “Four mil, Tony. C'mon.” He frowned. “And I DON'T think it's true, but the client said that if you at least looked, that he'd still pay up. And he already gave me fifty thou...” Enzo trailed off.
“You already accepted the job.” It wasn't a question. “You already accepted the job!” Tony's calm voice was now at shrieking girl level.
He grabbed one of his pistols and aimed it in Enzo's direction and fired. Enzo yelped and ducked for cover under the pool table. He covered his head with his arms. “Y-yeah,” he said in a whisper.
“Dammit, Enzo!” Tony yelled, holstering his pistol. “What have I told you about accepting jobs you know I won't want to take!?”
“I...we can have Julie take it,” Enzo offered weakly, still hidden under the pool table. “She should be getting back right about now.”
And as if summoned by the Lord himself, a woman clad in a skimpy pink dress and high heels walked in. “I ****ing hate my 'day' job,” Julie said, plopping herself onto the couch and kicking off her shoes. She took her hair out of its ponytail, letting it fall to her shoulders, and sighed. “Thank God today's over.”
“Good luck with that, Enzo,” Tony said. He sat back down at his desk and opened a magazine.
“What're you two on about? Got a job, dude?” She turned to Enzo and smiled hopefully.
Enzo came out from under the pool table. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I do got a job. And Tony doesn't want to take it.” He pulled out a few pieces of paper and handed them to the woman. She looked them over, and after a few minutes Enzo said,” Will you take the job, Juls? I don't want the person who gave it to me to castrate me.”
Julie shrugged. “Why the hell not? Missing persons are the most fun. Especially 'long lost brothers'.” She stood up and handed the papers back to Enzo. “Give me thirty minutes, I need to shower and blah, blah, blah. You know, 'blah, blah, blah' is girl things. So leave me the **** alone.”
Tony looked up. “Can I join?”
Julie turned to face him and raised her middle finger. “In your dreams,” she said, winking at Enzo and then walked into the bathroom.
“Besides, I'm on my period!” drifted from the inside of the small room. “I'm sure you don't want blood on your dick!”
Tony and Enzo both cringed.
“What a way to ruin her flirting with me,” Enzo squeaked out. “And I think we both don't want our bedrooms to look like murder scenes.”
Tony shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the new found, disturbing mental images. “Yeah. I don't want the cops to come by and think I raped and or murdered some chick.”
“'Hello, sir. Why are your sheets covered in blood?
“'Well, officer, you see, my friend and I had sex last night and she was on her rag. So, that's why it looks like I raped than killed a poor innocent woman.” Enzo burst out laughing.
“Not funny,” Tony said, chuckling, despite what he said.
“I heard that, perverts!” Julie shouted from behind the door.
Both men promptly shut up.
~*~
Julie walked out, dressed in a black pull over sweatshirt and faded blue jeans. “Hope you don't mind, I borrowed your sweat shirt, Tony.” She pulled her wet hair back into a ponytail. “My extra one is covered in blood.”
Tony waved his hand. “It's fine, Juls. I don't even wear shirts, or anything that can cover up my torso.” He ran a finger down his abdomen. “It gets too hot.”
“Vain much?” Enzo asked, frowning.
“Yes,” Tony said simply, smirking a little. “Anyways, Juls, don't get yourself killed, maimed, or anything else-”
“I know. You give me the same speech every time I go solo.” Julie tucked her magnum into a holster under the sweatshirt; a knife and handgun quickly followed, along with a bottle of mace. A belt of grenades went around her waist.
“Here.” Enzo got up and handed her a few pieces of paper.
She took them and looked them over once more. “So...the guy wants to meet me behind Love Planet. Alright, no problem there. Good thing I brought my mace. I think, Tony, he wanted a hot piece of ass.”
“Whatever. Like you said, you have your mace.”
“I suppose.” And she walked out of the shop, waving to the two men.
~*~
We should visit Jessica, Julie thought. It brought a smile to her lips. She may have seen her friend just a few hours before, however, said friend was nude while Julie went around delivering drinks to the horny men that watched her eagerly. Good thing it's illegal to masturbate in public. She shuddered at the thought as she opened the door to the nearly vacant club.
“Julie!” a voice cried out, and Julie was pulled into a hug. “What's up? The underworld got a new job for ya?” A frown graced Jessica's features when she pulled away from the hug.
“Yup!” Julie smiled. “Don't worry though, hot stuff. It's no demons, just a missing persons case. And you know how Tony doesn't do missing persons. Despite how much the job may pay.”
“Yeah, I know.” Jessica walked to the bar and poured to glasses of brandy. Julie picked up a glass. “It still doesn't make me worry any less, though. Even if you are just doing a missing persons. I've noticed that all the jobs you take from Tony end up getting you killed.”
Julie sighed and took a sip of her drink. “I've been through worse. And death's not that scary once you think about it. It's just sleeping and never waking up.”
“Yes, I suppose so.” Jessica frowned. “Well, I need to lock up. Don't get yourself killed, 'kay?” She pecked Julie on the cheek.
“Geez. You act like we're dating, or something.”
Jessica shrugged. “You're like a sister to me, you know.”
“Yeah...I know...” Julie couldn't help the smug smile that crawled onto her face. “See you later, then!” She walked out of the bar and into the alley behind it, grabbing her handgun. Just n case. She noticed vaguely that the atmosphere felt heavier. It was the way she felt around Tony, it just wasn't to this extreme degree.
“This isn't right,” she said lamely, aiming her gun and walking slowly. She turned a corner and the atmosphere became denser. Her movements became slower, her mind became groggy.
She turned another corner, green eyes peering into the darkness. “Who the hell is there?” she called out.
“I'm sure you would like to know.” The cold words were met with a cold blade pressing lightly against her neck. “You're not the one I told that fat, drunk Italian to get me. Where is my brother? He has something that belongs to me.”
Julie snorted. “This is what you sent me to do. Find your brother.” She resisted the urge to add “duh” to the end of her statement.
“Don't play games with me, girl.” The blade pressed harder, drawing the smallest amount of blood. She was aware she was staring death in the face, however, she wasn't going to let that stop her.
“I'm not! This is what you paid Enzo fifty thousand up front for!” She mock-pouted.
A hand gripped her hair and pulled back. She let out a gasp of pain and the person growled. “I will only ask once more: Where is my brother?”
“Oh, baby, you know I like it rough, but how 'bout you take me to dinner first? How's a plate of nice, hot lead sound?” She pulled out her magnum and leveled it with his head. “Tony's gonna be real disappointed when he finds out I did unnecessary killing.” Julie ****ed the gun.
“Tony...? You know him?”
“Well, duh! I mean, we are partners, after all. How else would I have gotten a job didn't want? How thick are you?” The blade made a click as it was slid back into its scabbard. “What the **** are you doing? I thought you were going to kill me...” She lowered the gun slightly.
The man leaned in towards her, their faces only a hairbreadths away. “You are to tell Dante-Tony his brother is looking for him. That said brother 'misses him', do you understand?”
Julie shivered at the tone the man used. But before she could reply, the man was gone. It was almost too bad she couldn't get a look at the person's face because of the darkness.
“Didn't even get paid.” Julie pouted, holstering her gun and she started back towards Tony's shop.
~*~
Tony fell out of his chair when the door to his shop slammed open.
“Tony!” a familiar voice shouted.
“What? What? I'm up, I swear! I was only resting my eyes!” he said, none too convincingly.
“I don't give a flying **** if you were asleep or not,” Julie said, furrowing her brows. “Apparently, some delusional guy thinks you're his brother, and he called you Dante.”
Tony stiffened. Luckily, Julie did not notice and she went on. “Said he 'misses you'. I, personally, think it's some guy who has a man crush on you. What do you think?”
“I think my dead brother's a zombie out for my brains,” Tony whispered.
“What was that?”
“I said I think it's just some crazy guy who's in love with me, too.”
Julie giggled. “Yeah.” She then frowned. “He didn't pay, though? Can you take the heat? I need to clean this blood off of me.”
“No.”
“Fine, I will, asshole!” Julie spat. “I'm going to shower and then I'm going to sleep. So leave me the **** alone for the rest of the night, jerkass.”
“Bitch,” Tony insulted.
“**** off.” And she walked out of the room.
“Right back at ya, babe.” He put the magazine back over his face and drifted into sleep. His thoughts on what Julie had told him...
So, I'd love to hear what you guys think. This isn't my best work, btw, since I'm actually working on a novel, which is why this is ****ty and short. But whatever. 
