<div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 16pt;"><em>Jacqueline Meredith Blakesley</em> (http://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=126812.msg5594070#msg5594070)</span> <br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><em>Homicide Inspector Taking a Breather - <strong> P3, Out in Alleyway.</strong></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>'To seek a witch, rumoured to be blessed not once but twice.'</em></span></span></div><hr/><div class="floatleft">(http://tinyurl.com/867s24h)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Jack had needed a breather after speaking to Brie.  At that point, she was fairly sure her words had either frightened the woman - or something else.  She'd never prized herself on being good with people, or any sort of conversationalist.  <strong>"Besides.  If she needs anything else, I explained well enough to the bartender that I went outside."</strong>  She had no idea what had possessed her to explain - more or less - to Brie what she was.  Like an insane impulse - it had been.  Her mother would have been wary and less than pleased had she'd been still living.  Trouble was that Jack had never fully lived up to the ideals behind being a Phoenix witch: killing innocents regardless of whom they were had always made her squeamish: she'd maybe managed a total of one or two in her short life so far.<br/><br/>It was nice to have a bit of quiet time - as it helped her think.  Otherwise, she'd have probably needed to have explained herself awkwardly to Wyatt and Jinni.  She'd been pretty sure they'd gone back inside - or perhaps around the other side of the building some time ago.  If not for the need she had to occasionally set things on fire - hiding in plain sight might have been a good deal easier.  As she stood in the alleyway, flames slowly filled her hands, easing the prickling sensation that had slowly begun to build as she walked into the bar, far out of her element earlier.  Jack closed her hands and took a deep breath, dousing the flames.  Most of the time she didn't really need to burn anything - not anymore.  Just ... a release of fire was more than good enough.<br/><br/><strong>"I feel better already,"</strong> she murmured, leaning against the wall of P3 and tipping back her head.<br/><br/><strong>"That's not a good thing,"</strong> an unfamiliar voice replied.  <strong>"It wouldn't be any good if you felt comfortable in my presence."</strong>  Jack startled and went completely invisible as a man - or what seemed to be a man stood on the other side of the alley way in a duster and relatively plain and unassuming attire.  The Inspector went white; it was the face she'd seen in the crowd inside.  <strong>"Are you ... following me?"</strong>  Dark haired and with an annoyed expression, the man replied. <br/><br/><strong>"Do you think I'd answer if I wasn't following you?  Witches.  You're all the same.  Always thinking that you might have a chance to escape or make some kind of ridiculous deal."</strong>  He spread his hands, and smiled - though none of it lit his eyes.  It was the strange thing for demons - as they didn't feel the same way humans did as far as emotion.  It was one thing that usually got the low level ones killed pretty fast: being unable to fake it.</span></span><br/><br/><hr/><div align="center"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 16pt;"><em>Bounty Hunter</em></span> <br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 10pt;"><em><strong>To Track a Witch, Alleyway, Pressing toward Parking Lot</strong></em></span><br/><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 8pt;"><em>'Cold one tonight!'</em></span></span></div><hr/><div class="floatright">(http://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/79/BountyHunter1.jpg)</div><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 9pt;"><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Jack pursed her lips together, already wary.  The more they talked the more likely he'd been following her around a good while, and she just didn't notice.  <strong>"How do you know--"</strong><br/><br/><strong>"--I'm a witch?"</strong> the hunter imitated and finished her sentence in a higher pitched falsetto.  The Inspector shuddered slightly, feeling the temperature drop in the alley way quite sharply.  It would be a real problem if it got too cold, as her powers tended not to work so very well.  That ... was the price of the bindings her uncle had placed on her demonic abilities - rendering Jack only slightly stronger and faster than a witch.  It had been something she'd very willingly agreed to, but moments like this made her wonder.  <strong>"Oh, now that's just creepy.  Now look.  I don't ... want anything to do with your kind.  I've made that plain enough I would think - as the years have passed.  How long have you been following me?"</strong>  Jack really, really hated hurting people, and so far - this one hadn't acted.  So in theory, perhaps she could figure out whom had sent him, and how--<br/><br/><strong>"You think way too much for your own good, but four years, if you must know,"</strong> he continued.  Pellets of ice and snow shot from his fingers.  Jack's eyes went wide as she covered her eyes.  There wasn't enough time to go completely invisible, so she let the ice pass through her to strike the wall rather harmlessly, where it spread out and along that surface to the floor.  She tried to avoid it with her feet, choosing to walk toward the entrance of the alley rather than further into it.  The last thing she wanted was to end up trapped. <strong>"That's ... um clever.  Someone clearly told you something I would be hard pressed to deal with."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"You talk entirely too much for a witch."</strong><br/><br/><strong>"Maybe I'm just trying to give you a chance to leave me alone."</strong><br/><br/>Truth was - she couldn't really fight him very well - running would have been smarter.  <strong>"And miss out on the price on your head?  Not bloody likely!"</strong><br/><br/>Jack frowned, and let a circle of fire surround her feet.  She'd just have to wait him out - as he countered her fire blasts with ice.  <strong>"I'm a boring target.  You don't even want me.  Really."</strong><br/><br/>The Bounty Hunter laughed softly, slinging a big gob of what looked like snow at Jack's face.  She ducked, and watched it hit a parked car that suddenly froze to a block of ice, and shattered into a zillion piece.  <strong>"You know - this is so not my kind of snowball fight!"</strong>  She yelled.  <strong>"Go away!  Shoo, shoo dammit it!  Someone is going to see us.  You're being an idiot!"</strong></span></span>