The Executioner's Playlist(in-Progress)

Track 3: Girls Just Want to Have Fun- Cyndi Lauper

"I can get you payment. I'm good for it."

"The Asha paid for the majority. I doubt she'd be willing to make the same transaction."

"That's because you tried to have her killed."

Joan shrugged. Kimberly chuckled. She stretched out on the couch until the length of her was on display. She put her arms behind her head and yawned. It took everything to tear my eyes away.

"We had a difference of opinion," Joan admitted. "I might have overreacted."

"You sent an ogre... I don't even know where you found an ogre in the city."

"We shipped him in from China," Kim chuckled.

It was nothing I didn't know already. The Asha had tortured the poor brute for days before she had me kill him. All that size and strength meant nothing against her. The Weird sisters should've known that.

"Then I'll pay outta pocket. What will the blood get me for starters?"

"Nothing."

"What?"

"No blood, not even the blood of a chosen, is worth the ink let alone an entire enchantment," Joan snapped, flicking cigar ash in my direction.

"Sister, don't be unreasonable," Kim chimed in. "The blood and the seed of a chosen would be quite a potent ingredient."

I glanced over at Kimberly. She watched me from heavily lidded eyes, trying to appear half-sleep despite knowing my true sight would see through the deception. When she mentioned seed I knew she had no intentions of giving me a cup and a titty mag.

"Hmmmm, potent, but it wouldn't pay for more than a minor spell." Joan looked over my shoulder and I followed her eyes.

Sitting on a pedestal of rough cut red rock was the sacrificial blade of Twin Moons. Her snake, Powder, slowly coiled around the base, creeping towards the machete. I shook my head and met her icy blue gaze.

"No. The Asha would do things to us that'd make us wish we were dead." My mind rebelled against the thought of a punishment which would fit the crime.

"Not to worry, Leto. My mind only dwells on the bloodshed that weapon signifies. Did you get a chance to use that wicked blade?"

"Yes."

"And you've yet to see your mistress?" Kelly asked as she returned. She carried a wine glass and a bottle of red.

I hesitated to answer.

"I... haven't."

"Then you hold within you the lives of those you've slain." Joan smiled, her eyes brimming with sinister intent. "A man shy of thirty winters, perhaps?"

"Or a woman fresh off her moontime?" Kelly sipped from her glass innocently.

"Maybe a child?" Kimberly whispered.

"A child!"

"A child!"

"A child!"

Their excitement was only rivaled by my revulsion. The skin around their eyes tightened, their beautiful mouths became thin and cruel. For just a moment I could see the monsters within.

"Oh, Leto. Sweet Leto. Please tell me you have with you the soul of a precious little child." Kimberly sat up, knees to her chest. Her blonde hair covered her face like a curtain. Her eyes were two glowing lights peeking out from behind a wall of wheat.

I looked at the Weird sisters, each in turn. Their pupils were dilated and a sinister light shone from deep within. It was all darksided, their nature, their magic. Their tattoos had kept me alive for years, but at that moment I vowed to find another source of protection. Then I'd be rid of them.

Unfortunately, I wasn't ready to be free from their clutches just yet.

"I have a man under thirty," I explained.

"Your Soul is swollen with the lives you've taken for your Asha," Joan observed. "Surely you can part with more than one."

"I offer the one," I declared formally. "The other's are The Asha's due."

Joan sneered, producing another cigar with a flick of her wrist.

"One soul, one tattoo," she growled.

"Power for power," Kelly said from the window.

"I'll need more than that..." I wasn't sure what to do. The Asha only demanded Grillz' lifeforce. The rest were mine to barter with. I just didn't want to fuel the Weirds dark business. I was dealing with a bad case of conscience.

"There's still the matter of seed." Joan blew a ring of smoke into my face.

Kimberly giggled.

"Blood for blood," she said with a wink.