Say what you want about evil lawyers, they had some damn good Earl Grey.
"Indeed, my host." Taziel agreed from the couch tight next to me with a smile, sitting with her legs pulled in beneath her and leaning slightly against me, her shoulder against mine. She took a sip from her own cup. It was all an illusion of course but I suppose she experienced the taste of the drink when I drank mine.
I looked over at the door Aiko disappeared in through for her meeting. Been half an hour already, but I guess this kind of thing takes time. The doors to the elevator slid open and a blue demon walked out, two horns clearly visible on it's forehead as it crossed the room, walking alongside a human lawyer.
I sipped my tea to keep from sneering. Demon lawyers... and demons for lawyers. This entire place deserved to be purged and burned to the fucking ground.
Taz pursed her lips, "Not arguing with you on that one. But the fact remains that we need Wolfram and Hart more than we could gain by burning them down and slaughtering them to the last man as a warning for future generations that some deals have too high of a price."
This time I did scowl and take a drink of my tea. The worst thing was that she was a hundred percent correct. There were other lawyers, but few with these guys resources and none that I knew of that knew about our side of the street. When they finally tried to end the world... well, we'll find a way to help stop them.
Even if the PTBs were pissed at me, something told me that they would be willing to play ball with that, especially if I managed to get slay-gal to calm down. Honestly, things were of the rails already, as soon as I seen (see) if I can check up on Faith, I should head back to Sunnydale and clear things up with the group there if I can.
Sunnydale is still the flashpoint and if the Mayor ascended... well, everything's fucked. Then again, the military might be able to deal with him. Bet some Hellfire missiles could give him a bad day.
"Unless it only worked because he was too young to get his real defenses ready." Taziel commented next to me and then pointed at the secretaries desk, "She seems to be done with her call. If you do wish to hire them as our lawyers, it may be a good time to ask to speak with someone."
Let's get this over with.
Finishing my tea, I put the cup down on the table next to the desk before I headed over to her, "Excuse me, I would like to talk to one of your lawyers."
The blonde girl smiled brightly at me, "Of course, sir. May I ask whom and what it's regarding?"
"Lawyer and putting up a retainer account."
One of her very sculpted eyebrows went up a tiny amount as she looked at me but her expression didn't change a single bit, "And your name, sir?"
"Saint."
"Very well, sir. Someone will be with you shortly."
Nodding, I returned to the couch to wait. Thirty minutes later I was still waiting. I irritably flipped a page in the Times magazine I was reading. Man this was taking forever.
"Sir?"
I glanced up to see someone looking like he was younger than I was waiting for me, he had short brown hair and was wearing a dark suit suit as he offered me his hand, "Jared Hopkins. Wolfram and Hart, I'm sure I can assist you with whatever it is that you need."
I looked at his hand and then up at him, "You are a lawyer?"
"Para legal, sir."
Oh for fuck's sake...
I returned to my magazine, "Then I advise you that you turn around and go get someone that I'll want to talk to."
He seemed to hesitate and his hand dropped a bit, "Sir, I'm sure that I'm able to..."
"Can you set up a full retainer account?"
"...Sir, that's likely not necessary. I'm sure that if I'm not able to assist you, then perhaps I may be able to delegate you to a good public defendant."
I glanced up at him again, "Jared was it?"
"Yes sir."
"I'm quite aware that this is likely not your fault, but I would strongly advise you to go get someone a bit more senior." I sighed, rubbing my forehead.
"...My boss, Mister Reinhardt."
"Go tell him that I wish to speak to him. Now."
Taziel sighed, "Maybe something a bit more forceful would be useful?"
Jared frowned, "Sir, I'm afraid Mister Rei..."
Yeah, I think Taz might have a point there.
"Do you like having hands?"
"...I'll go deliver your message, sir." he answered and swallowed before scampering off.
I didn't blame him. I was young and wearing jeans and t-shirt. If I knew I would be talking to lawyers I would have brought the damn suit Aiko got me. Wasn't his idea that he would be assigned to paw me off to someone outside the firm either. That was his boss.
Taziel frowned at him as he left and shifted to cross her arms, "My host, I know that you dislike the idea of relying on me, but perhaps this would be a good opportunity for a show of force. It could save us a lot of grief further down the road if we make it clear that we won't stand for their bullshit."
I looked at her as I mulled it over before I shook my head. As much fun as it would be right now to pull his eye out of it's socket as soon as he appears, that's stepping over the 'evil' line. No matter who he is.
"Do keep in mind whom we are dealing with here." Taziel pointed out, "And like you've already noticed, the threat of force is one of the few ways to get them to toe the line."
(Hmph). Demonic lawyers... okay, well, human lawyers helping demons and evil forces get away with things the law should stop.
...Why do we want to hire these people again?
"Because they could let us get away with those same things as well as we work to stop those same evil forces. Just because they are on the other side don't meant we can't use them for our goals." Taz said with a smile, resting her head against my shoulder.
I sighed and started to flip through the magazine again. I had a feeling that this would be a long wait.
I was right. Some forty minutes passed before Jared return, trailing after a man in his thirties that had his dark hair slicked back, wearing a dark suit.
"Mister... Saint, was it?" He said as he got close, "Harold Reinhardt." he said and offered his hand as he looked me over.
Nodding, I got up and took his hand, "Indeed."
Cold hand.
"Cold, no pulse. Look at his eyes." Taziel said from next to me, "See how they don't move unless he is looking at something? None of those minor movements humans have. Some demons are like that, but also older vampires. Old ones of this kind at the very least tend to lose a lot of those instincts so it's an easy way to tell. Lack of breathing, small eye movements. Easy ways to tell at a distance."
Vampire?
Oh. Excellent.
I stepped up and stomped down hard on the side of his knee as I pulled him close by the hand, catching him of guard. The bloodsucking lawyer let out a scream of surprise and went down so I kneeded him in the nose as hard as I could. There was a sound of shattering bone and breaking cartilage as his head snapped back hard and as he fell back I pulled a stake from my pocket and slammed it into his heart, causing him to explode into dust.
Jared let out a small choked sound and stumbled back as I stood back up, shaking the dust from the stake.
"Jared, if you could please be so kind as to refer me to one of his associates instead? Do let them know that I dislike being kept waiting."
"Y-yes sir."
AN// Big thanks to -Mech- for betaing this part.
