BANG! Guns and demons. Stephie and Jillian. PG13

[slinkster-ghoul.livejournal.com]

At Antila's Youch Counsilling Center, Stephie was plugged into her own little world of Jack Off Jill and out-of-date waiting room magazines dicussing Brad and Jen and Angelina and runaway Princesses and- hey, that was Avery's mother, refusing to talk about her divorce and wearing some really nice shoes. A few more inches on the heels and in black and Stephie could see herself wearing those.

Idiotic fluff was better than thinking about the fact you had to go into a room and share personal bits of your life with a stranger in a few minutes. Although this week Stephie was more concerned about everyone else around her going crazy than she was about herself. She sighed and looked up at the clock behind the reception desk. Her bus had been early so she still had ten minutes to wait. Underneath the clock one of the receptionists was arguing with someone, which was more interesting than her magazine (which Olsen twin has the best fashion sence? Ashley of course!) especially since the guy was starting to look really aggrivated, and he was arguing loudly enough that Stephie could hear him over her earphones.

Ditching the magazine, she pulled out her earphones to find out what was going on. It was then that the guy turned around and pulled out a gun.


Jillian wasn't with a client and heard the arguing outside her office. Alright. Best to go see what was going on.

She hadn't expected to see what she saw: A man with a gun. In here? What the fuck was he playing at?? "Sir," she said calmly. "Lower the gun."

"Back the fuck off, BITCH!" The man yelled, pointing the gun at her. "Get on the floor! NOW!" Another man stood up from one of the chairs and pulled a gun as well.

"You 'eard 'im! ON THE FLOOR!"

There were innocent people here. This wasn't going to happen. She flicked her gaze quickly to the second man- dammit!- and then back to the first gunman. "I think you need to calm down and tell us what you want," Jillian told him, her hands in plain view and her voice level and clear.

Okay. Shit. Stephie's pulse started to race as the other man turned to loom over her and the other girl a couple of chairs over from her. The other girl was squeaking something as Stephie slowly slid onto the floor, motioning for her to do the same. "Least this is better than the magazines they leave us, hey?" Stepihe muttered out of the side of her mouth, trying to keep the younger girl from bursting into tears.

"I already TOLD this fucking BITCH what I want!" The first man said, pointing to the woman at the desk. "What I want is for her to get off her arse and give me the fuckign MONEY! Or my friend and I blow all your fucking heads off!" He shouted, taking a step closer to her.

My kingdom for a switchblade, thought Stephie, glaring furiously at the man's back. Or a gun- no, she couldn't use it. Blades were easier even though she hadn't used one that wasn't on cake or dinner for more than a year now.

Oh god, she thought, all nerves and fury, do NOT let him pull that trigger.

Okay, this was going to have to be played out gently. Not the way Jillian would have actually liked to do it. "Alright," she said and moved slowly toward the reception desk. "I'm going to have to open to safe for you," she informed him, trying not to give him a reason to panic. "But I would like you to let those girls in the waiting room move away from your friend with the gun."

"He's staying where he is. Can't let anyone try anything."

A nod from Jillian. "Alright." She turned her gaze to the two girls. "Girls, I need you both to do as you're told and lie flat on the floor." She looked at the receptionist. "You too, Ellen. I'm the only one here who can open the safe." Ellen did as she was told- shaking- and lay down on the floor behind the desk.

Stephie did as she was told and lay down on the floor, watching from behind her hair- how could anyone expect someone to not look when they could be pumped full of lead at any minute! Stephie bit down hard on her bottom lip, anxiety starting to climb to the top of her heap of emotions. She clentched her fists together and found her palms were sweating, there were rabid carniverous butterflies rampaging round in her stomach and time was barely moving at all. Taking slow breaths, Stephie willed herself to stay calm and stay there.

"Right, get a move on then!" The first man said, getting slightly twitchy.

Jillian's movements were slow and calculating, not wanting to make the man anymore twitchy. As she walked toward the safe, it was the other gunman she thought about. He was close enough by and she could feel it there just beneath the surface of his skin, tingling to be hers.

Just a little taste. Just enough to make him dizzy and spots to cross his vision. Just enough to disorientate him. She touched the door of the small safe and cast a mostly hidden glance over toward him to see if it was working. The other man was just across the desk from her. She wasn't scared about being shot herself.

The second man that stood in the waiting room was starting to feel a little funny. He wondered faintly if it was all this fucking waiting. But his vision started to blur and he dropped the hand he was holding the gun in, and put his other hand to his head. Uggghhh. Not feeling so good.

There. That was Jillian's moment if she had any. As quickly as she could she movedL she slid across the desk and grabbed the man pointing his gun at her, using her elbow to shove into his arm and she heard the satisfying snap of bone. He didn't even have a chance to make a noise at whatever pain there must have been before Jillian knocked him out.

She'd taken too long. Miscalculated. Didn't turn quick enough to the second gunman.

"Fucking BITCH!" He screamed, firing at her twice. Oh he was going to savor it when her body hit the floor.

And hit the floor she did, head hitting the wall as she went down. She could feel the strain in her whole body and oh GOD ow! It was with a growl that she rose to her feet again, eyes pure black and rushed at the man, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and shoving him hard against the wall. She was dragging the soul from him before she even touched him and has to restrain herself from letting her wings free like she could feel they wanted to be. If she kept going she was going to drag the life right out of him. But in that moment she couldn't think about it. He'd SHOT HER and Jillian wasn't pleased. She could feel him weakening and weakening and even when he passed out she kept going, kept dragging, kept-

STOP!

She dropped him and took a deep breath. Everything in her tingled and buzzed and burned and screamed and she couldn't tell what was pain and what was pleasure. The bullet wounds had healed and she felt the holes in her shirt when she touched her chest.

Stephie screamed as the gun went off and threw her hands over her head no she didn't want to see this thank you very much! Her ears throbbed with the noice and her brain felt completely rattled, and maybe she was deaf now but nothing seemed to be happening- she risked a peak and the woman was getting up again

What the fuck. She's been shot. She'd beem shot and who wears a bullet proof vest to work at a counsillers and what was going on?

After watching him on the ground for a moment she turned her back- he wasn't getting up anytime soon- and looked at the others around her. Ellen was still behind the desk and Jillian could hear her whimpering but couldn't see her. The small blonde was almost under the chairs, her face pressed hard against the carpet. But the girl with the black hair was looking at her from where she lay.

Her eyes were still black, weren't they? Maybe the girl would think it was a trick of the light. At least her wings hadn't appeared. Has the girl seen her be shot. The others might have missed it and- she felt her shirt again and the two clear bullet holes with nothing buy creamy skin beneath them. Well, that would take some explaining. Quickly she looked around the room and moved to grab a coat next to the receptionist desk and pull it on, buttoning it up. "Is everyone alright?" she asked as she did. She looked at the girl watching her again. How much had she seen?

"You're a demon!" Stephie squeaked, then shoved both her hands over her mouth in horror. First, she did not just squeak. Stephie didn't squeak. And second she had not just squeaked that. Opps. Major oops.

Jillian's eyes widened and she stared for a moment before shaking her head to try and think again. Her eyes were blue again now. She knew they were. But she was still BUZZING.

"Can you please check her," she told the girl, pointing to the blonde behind her. Jillian quickly headed over to behind the desk to check Ellen.

Giving the woman a horribly sheepish, wobbly grin Stephie nodded and sat up, turning to the girl under the chair. She poked her arm and the girl jumped half a mile, then looked up at Stephie, then around the rest of the room. "You okay? They're, uh, gone." She'd missed that bit, but she could put two and two together and get DEMON VICTIMS easily enough.

But she was a counceller, right? She worked with Juliet so she was probably like Deirdre, wanting to be good.

Once finding out that Ellen was okay she moved out from behind the desk and then sat down on it, taking a deep breath and looking at the two men. Her voice was a little vauge: "Ellen, could you please call the police?" She didn't wait for an answer but moved across to the girls, neither of whom were her clients. "Are you both alright?" she asked them. She felt hungry.

"Uhh, yeah." Stephie said, deciding that her legs were maybe a mite too wobbly to stand up she took to the chair she'd been on before. "Are you?" she asked, staring quite obviously at the bullet hole in her clothing.

Jillian pulled the coat closed further, noticing the gaze. "Yes, I am." She crossed her arms and caught her reflection across the room. Good, eyes were blue again. Always good. She lowered her voice. "How do you know-"

She was interupted by Juliet. "Is everyone alright? I heard it all and called the police from my office. Oh, girls are you alright?"

"We're all fine," Jillian assured her. Jillian thought she was fine. It was hard to tell. She felt...differant. But that was to be expected.

Stephie nodded along with Jillian. She wanted to ask the women so many questions but Juliet and the blonde were right there.

The blonde burst into tears and it was Juliet who moved closer. "Come on, Lisa. Let's go talk in my office and I'll give your parents a call." She looked at Stephie. "Will you be alright for a moment? If you need you can talk to Jillian," she said, resting her hand on the dark haired woman's shoulder.