"You took your time getting this." The man in front of you grumbled. "I thought you said you could do it fast."

He snatched the armband from your hands as soon as you pulled it out of your bag, a greedy smile on his lips.

"I could and I did. Just ran into some trouble on the way out the door." You sighed, ready to be done with the night. You were tired, wet, and cold.

"Trouble?" He frowned, pulling out a wad of cash and shoving it into your chest.

He was rude, but he paid well. The blue haired man looked you up and down as he waited for a response. He was an interesting guy from what you'd seen of him so far. His hair was up in a ponytail now but last time you saw him it was in pigtails. His nose was permanently red, like he'd spent too much time out in the cold and it never turned back to a more normal shade. He was older, middle aged you'd say, and liked to talk big but he'd never done anything to back up his words. The guy was all talk as far as you knew.

"Yeah. Someone else was apparently looking for the exact same thing. I just barely beat him to it and then had to lead him on a wild chase so he wouldn't beat me up for it."

His eyes shifted around as he became nervous suddenly. "You-you didn't lead him here, did you?"

"Course not. I shook 'em."

"Good." He sighed in relief and then frowned at you again. "Well the jobs done. You got your money. Go home."

"Tell me about that first. Why's it so important that you weren't the only one who wanted it?"

"Why should I tell you?" He held the band to his chest defensively.

"Because I almost got pummeled for bringing it to you." You placed a hand on your hip and drew yourself up to your full, yet not all that intimidating, height.

He grumbled to himself before finally giving in, deciding you weren't enough of a threat to warrant keeping his secret. "It's a map."

You raised an eyebrow but didn't question how an armband could double as a map. "To what?"

"A stash."

"Of what?"

"You're pretty nosey for someone just picking up an item."

"Sue me, I'm curious." And you were fighting the urge to sprout feathers and spit fire at the annoying man. Being a mystery dragon sucked ass sometimes.

"Supposedly it's got anything and everything someone can think of. Money, drugs, information. A literal treasure trove." He said, voice dripping with attitude. "Happy?"

"As I'll ever be." You shrugged. "Thanks for the work, have fun finding your stash."

"Sure..." He grumbled as you walked away.

You started counting the cash when you were out of sight. He didn't short you, you knew that, but double checking was always a good habit to have. You now had enough funds to pay rent and buy a few groceries. It wasn't much but you'd made it work on less.

You were tired of walking, running, and riding the subway for the night. It was getting into the early hours of the morning and you weren't about to waste your time taking the long way home. After checking that no one was around to see, you ducked down a narrow, empty street and transformed.

Skin gave way to feathers and scales, a tail sprouted and lengthened behind you, wings pushed out from your spine, and you were ready to go. The first few times you shifted from one form to the other were uncomfortable to say the least. The feeling of everything changing shape and twisting in new ways made your skin crawl. But now you'd done it so often it was like second nature to you.

You honestly had no clue what exactly happened to your clothes when you changed but they were always there when you went back to looking human. Things like your bag though, didn't do whatever it was your clothes did. You had to scoop it up by the strap, holding it between your teeth as you jumped up onto one of the buildings. It was hard to take off from the streets, rooftops were much more convenient.

With a couple powerful strokes of your wings, you were airborne and lucky for you, it would only take a few minutes to fly home from where you were. The best part about travelling by air was there was no traffic. You couldn't think of anything being more convenient.

The rain had stopped a little after you got off the subway train and now the humidity was really beginning to set in. But from where you were in the air, you could hardly feel it. The wind tousled your feathers and your sharp eyes caught sight of everything happening down below. Most people didn't notice you in the darkness, but the occasional person staring up at the sky recognized your form. Half the time they were excited to see a dragon, the other half were afraid of you dropping down on them and wreaking havoc. Lucky for them, that wasn't something you were really ever interested in. Violence for the sake of violence wasn't your thing.

When you got close to home, you landed in a park a couple blocks away, changing back as you hit the ground. The place was clear and no one saw you coming. Perfect. You were able to sling your bag back over your shoulder and continue along like nothing out of the ordinary happened.

Home was actually a tall, beat up apartment building at the edge of the city. You lived on the bottom floor under a family of what you presumed was anywhere between six and twenty people. It was hard to tell the difference when they never stopped making noise and were always coming and going. There were new faces going up those stairs all the time.

Each apartment could be reached by a set of stairs that snaked up the outside of the building. Everyone that went up and down them always liked to joke about how they had to practically jump from one step to the next because so many were missing. You were lucky enough to not have to worry about that but then again, you'd take that over having upstairs neighbors. You forgot to mention that each place was a studio apartment.

Yeah, you couldn't figure out how many people lived in one little place without shedding blood. You stepped into your place and tossed your bag to the floor with a groan. The ceiling shook and rattled as the neighbors ran about. You gave up on ever getting peace here a long time ago. You switched the dim light on and watched it flicker from it's spot on the ceiling with every stomp.

It illuminated your cramped home, giving everything a soft, yellow tinge. You had a worn mattress off to the left, sitting on the floor with a rickety nightstand beside it. To the right was your kitchenette, complete with a mini fridge that never stayed full long, and in front of you was the door to your tiny bathroom and "closet." If you were paying attention, you'd notice the floors slanted towards your bed gradually. It wasn't much, but it was what you could afford. Rent wasn't cheap in this city, even for a place like this.

Still, it was home. Your neighbors never slept and you'd seen better insulation in a barn but the people here all worked their asses off for what they had and were honest. That was more than you could say with your background. Everyone treated you like you fit in just fine though. You couldn't help but feel out of place at times despite that.

You trudged further into the apartment, kicking off your sneakers and heading to the bathroom for a quick shower. One thing you'd never complain about here was the hot water. It never ran out no matter how many people used it in the building. It meant you could relax and unwind a little before getting in bed.

When you finished and got comfortable under the sheets, you let the sounds of your neighbors' laughter and marathon running lull you to sleep.

----

You'd set up your place in a very particular way believe it or not. There was only one window and it was positioned right over your kitchen sink, directly across from your bed. When the sun rose first thing in the morning, the light streamed into the apartment and right in your face. It wasn't a pleasant way to wake up but it sure got the job done. You didn't own a clock or a phone to help wake you up in the morning and frankly, you found your way of getting up to be pretty darn ingenious.

Of course it meant you only got a few hours sleep after working later in the night than you planned, but there were things you had to do first thing in the morning. After tossing on a pair of shorts, a tee, and the sneakers from last night, you were all set and not a moment too late.

A small knock came at your door and you hopped over to answer it, finding a frail older woman standing there. Her wispy, silver hair was pulled out of her face with a clasp and a pair of wire frame glasses were precariously perched at the tip of her nose. You smiled at her, happy to see the little woman.

"How are ya miss Delilah?" You always called her miss. She loved it and the way she'd smile when you said it made you never want to stop. Yep. You had a soft spot for your elderly neighbor.

"Good. I came to see if you'd be willing to help me this morning?"

"Always." You chirped as you stepped out.

Everyone in the complex knew Delilah and loved her dearly. She somehow "adopted" everyone who lived here and they all helped her with anything she needed without question. You were no exception. Not only was she the friendliest older gal around, she was eccentric as well.

The city had a lot of rules about animals and such but she ignored all of them and no one cared. Your job was to take care of her animals first thing in the morning as she was unable to do that herself. The communal backyard space had transformed into more of a mini petting zoo over time, full of her pets. You made your way back there with her and waited until she had settled into an empty chair before getting started.

You seriously don't know how she managed it, but she had a small harem of hens with a single proud rooster, two goats, and one very large potbelly pig. The rooster was the loudest of the bunch but everyone was used to his constant crowing. Delilah chatted away about anything that crossed her mind while you got busy collecting eggs for her and cleaning the animal pens. One goat in particular liked to follow you around while you did that, picking around piles of straw and occasionally nudging at you to be scratched. It took about an hour to complete and you finished off with making sure they all had food.

"All done miss Delilah." You said with a smile.

"Already? Fast as always sweetie." She stood up and waved for you to follow her. "How about I make you some breakfast?"

This was your favorite part of the morning. You took care of her animals and she took care of you. This woman was a godsend.

"Sounds great." You snagged the basket with the mornings eggs in it and followed her back around front. She was the only other person on the first floor so it wasn't a hard walk for her.

"Were you out working late again last night Blue?" She asked as you rounded the corner to the front.

"Yeah, I had another one of those graveyard shifts." You chuckled.

She didn't know what you really did for work and you'd never tell her. She was too sweet to know you went around stealing and busting heads for other people.

You froze when you looked out across the street and saw a certain blonde man walking along. There was no way he lived around here. You would've noticed someone with hair like that a long time ago, even if you hadn't run into him before. He hadn't spotted you yet, so you lightly nudged Delilah along, hoping she'd get inside before he looked around and saw you. There was no way he wouldn't recognize you, not after he was getting all up in your space last night.

"Blue dear, you shouldn't be working late shifts like that, it's not good for your health."

You gave her a light push between her shoulders as she stepped into her apartment, hoping he wouldn't notice you from behind.

"It really isn't."

Fuck this.

You turned slightly to see him walking over, a small smile at his lips.

"Oh, are you a friend of Blue's?" Delilah asked innocently.

"You could say that. We met up not to long ago....I guess you could say we hit it off."

"My my, you didn't tell me that you found a man." She gave you a pat on the arm. This was going south fast.

"We're still just getting to know each other." He went on with it. "In fact, I was hoping to take her for a walk down to the park."

Oh hell no.

"Sorry..."

"Killer." He said. "My name's Killer."

If his name wasn't warning enough, you didn't know what was.

"Sorry Killer, but I promised her breakfast for her hard work."

YES.

"But you're more than welcome to join us."

God damnit.

"Breakfast sounds great." He broke into a wide smile as he waited for you to step inside first.

Poor Delilah didn't realize who she was inviting into her home.