My words were uttered under my breath, manipulated by the strong accent that pain and the drug itself often brought out. This was the first time I hadn't been able to fix my own mistake... My mistress had never led me astray so far. My teeth were grit, obviously intending for Isolt to hurry up and give me information I completely hadn't given her time to give me yet. Fast food and minimum wage, my ass. The fucktruck sitting across from me made my toes curl as his words hit my ears, ringing in a desperate attempt to pretend like the Hunter hadn't spoke them. Minimum wage? I'd never worked a day in my life for such petty pay, even as a child. Home, thousands of miles away, I'd worked for a barter system. I worked with the sweat off my back, attempting to provide for sisters who did a better job bartering their bodies than I did my work. Had I truly been bothered by Azrael's words, I would have given him some form of a vicious retort, but instead only a shrug acknowledged his quip as I allowed him to think that I'd worked petty jobs like that of the individuals serving the horrifying population that shared space with us in this establishment.

"At least I satisfy with speed."

I surely did satisfy with speed, especially as Azrael pleased me by sitting across from me as he held up his end of the bargain. While it was impossible to divulge that I didn't actually hate the man, it was possible to say... perhaps, that I didn't loathe his presence, although I knew without a doubt he would surrender me without a care to the wind to the Council if they asked for my whereabouts. Then again, what choice did he have? If I was to give information on my newfound companion, I had an inkling that I would do so as willingly as he surely would. And with that knowledge, I sighed and surrendered myself to the conversation that had accidentally taken a turn towards fornication, and my surrender turned into a sort of painful grimace.

"You have human instincts and needs? Here I was, thinking you were just an animated machine."

Children were a fortunate side effect Azrael had avoided. If only I had been so lucky, perhaps the root of all evil wouldn't have wrapped itself around my heart and voided my capacity to be a father at the time. Granted, perhaps that was for the best. At fourteen, there was nothing I could offer that life. There was nothing I could have given him, and with that knowledge I allowed the viral ideas of parenthood to fester in what had been the cobwebs of my mind, before I'd visited his gravesite. It caused me to pause, to look at the Hunter in my proximity and allow my eyes to narrow, forcing words of emotion and truth to stay behind my lips. He didn't need any description of my ghosts, my memories. What he needed was a good swift kick in the head.

The swift kick in the head might come in the form of the high pitched squeals emanating from the mouth of a deploringly grotesque child that embodied the American ideal of obsesity. It was hard to see him in one field of vision, and I tilted my head slightly as if to get a better look and to contemplate just what Azrael was saying. It was difficult enough to concentrate on much of anything while accosted by the deathly banshee noises coming from the Satan spawn, let alone to focus while the light was blazing aches into my head, leaving my Shadow unattended to as it began fostering some kind of siege upon the French fries that existed in it's vicinity. As it scrambled to shovel the shadow fries into his mouth, I began to watch with a mildly bemused expression. This was new. The Shadow would have been squealing excitedly if it could make noise, but instead it merely continued it's brutal siege until all of the French fries had disappeared from the floor.

"That is what you call efficient."

My words were offered with a kind of thoughtful tone, judging the Shadow's antics as if there was absolutely nothing I could do about it's behavior. In all reality, there wasn't. In times of distraction, I tended to lose control of the more... extremes of my powers. There were some that I hadn't even been able to reign in at all yet, and for that I was sure I would receive a startling punishment at the hands of the Hunter.

"How about, no? I rather like the sound of a ..." Clearly, sarcasm. "distraught child. Music to my ears."

With that being said, I allowed the Shadow to flit about carelessly, heading towards the frying pit of the kitchen. When he was out of view, my eyes returned to Azrael, following his gaze as it flounced from woman to woman as they viewed him with a kind of hunger I hadn't seen since the night Lust accosted Damon and Isolt in their office. Azrael's confusion and frustration at the mention of Mommy Porn drew a wicked, wicked grin to my lips.

Lust had slid into view, sidling with a seductive sway to it's ghastly existence. She walked slowly, sliding her hands against each of the women located in the main dining room, and even going as far as to step over the counter in one luxurious leap to run her fingers through the hair of the young man standing at the cash register. I wondered briefly if Azrael could see her, the sin dancing around the room at my apparent whims. It was as if I could play on the inner most desires o fthe women staring at the Hunter, and unfortunately... for both of us, I had no idea how to control the temptation to let her run wild.

"The porn that displays the desires of every stay at home mother, desperate to break free of her pleasureless sex. Good enough description for you?"

As a twenty dollar bill was handed to me, my eyebrows knit together.

"What, are your legs broken? Or are you just tired from being useless all night?"

While my sabbatical from the table was short lived, I did arrive with procured food for both of us. Dropping the tray unceremoniously on the table between us, I pleasantly fell quiet in order to shovel French fries into my mouth, attempting to discover what had pleased my Shadow so much. The ice cream that was clearly just frozen cow seepage looked shady, and I was more than happy to allow Azrael to taste the delightfully disgusting creation while I continued my grand feast upon my fries.

"I'm not touching that."

The sad excuse for a hamburger remained untouched, sitting by it's lonesome on the center of the tray closer to the Hunter than to me. Half of me wanted to debate daring the man to eat it, but perhaps it was better to save his digestive system from such a barrage. It was only at the sound of my sister's name on his lips did I pause, finding it hard to swallow what now tasted like cardboard.

"You..." I trailed off, finding words uncomfortable, and a very briefly vulnerable glint finding it's unbidden way into my eyes. "Are you sure you shouldn't stay way from her? She might be as diseased as me." And that was all I had for him, hoping the warning that replaced the vulnerability would be heeded.

As we focused on our feast, it became deploringly obvious that the women wouldn't stop staring. While Lust had almost vanished, I failed to note her cat-like sprawl in the corner as if she was devouring the scene with a brilliance that almost made me shiver in the best way. Looking away from her, I found my eyes widening at what seemed to be a scene out of a zombie-apocalypse movie as the women abandoned their seats, and began edging slowly towards Azrael.

"Uh..."

I trailed off, standing up but not without French fries in hand. They wouldn't stop, and if I was being honest, I was rather amused with the way they were walking closer like some figures I'd seen in a video game of my brothers... Zelda, was it? I shook my head, and when the scene didn't leave I realized it wasn't an illusion, and they were preparing to take their clothes off and slither over to the man to attempt some kind of reenactment of some 50 shades of nonsense.

"Unless you want to publicly procreate, get your ass up," I snorted, trying not to laugh as I launched out of my seat when one of the women nearly shoved me over in order to get closer, her voice smooth. "C'mon baby, I know a quiet, dark place..." When she trailed off, my laughter was unmistakeable. There was only one place that looked like an escape, and I nodded to him as if planning some covert mission.

"Take cover!"