Part 6
Claudia awoke suddenly to a loud pounding at the door of her apartment. She let out a groan and stretched in bed, pushing away her sheets. She turned her head to peer at the red digits on her alarm clock reading 10:18. She let out a heavy sigh as the banging continued.
"Who in the fuck?" She murmured to herself.
Slowly she climbed out of bed and wandered out of the bedroom and down the hall towards the front door. Just as she reached the door the knocking stopped. Standing up on her tip-toes she peered through the peephole in the door to see the twins, Twelve and Thirteen standing outside. Through the door she could faintly hear Twelve speak.
"Maybe she's not here?" He said.
A moment passed, he leaned up against the door and sighed.
"I don'ts know, I think the knockings would have woked her up," he said.
Thirteen pushed her black sunglasses up her nose and folded her arms.
"Eleven wanted us to takes her," Twelve said, standing up straight, folding his hands on top of his head. "He would probably gets mad if we don't goes with her. He said to follow her and observes her."
He sighed heavily, "Don't gets mad. I know you was there too."
Claudia raised her eyebrow, pressing her ear to the door.
"I know! I'm sorries! Stop making me feel bad. Fuck! Maybes we should broke down the doors?" He suggested, seemingly talking to himself.
"I know its loud but hows else are we's supposed to get into sides?" He said. "I don't know why he send us. Seven would haves been much betters choice. Plus they make cute couple and she seems very lonely."
Claudia slowly unlocked the door, careful not to make a noise, intrigued by Twelve's half-conversation with Thirteen.
"I know we is the best!" He whined. "It's just seems a little below us to does this. We should be off doing somethings important instead of trying to wakes her up to drive her there and follows her around. Are we supposed to have notepad? Writes down all the things she does? At thirty-eleven she had big mac?"
Twelve once again pounded against the door and Claudia turned the knob, opening the door.
He smiled wide childishly and said loudly, "Eight it is good to meet you! I am Twelve, but you can call me Jorgen." He turned to Thirteen. "This is Thirteen, she is very quiet, I talk for her. She is calleds Viveka."
He leaned in and whispered in Claudia's ear, "Don't makes her mad."
Claudia raised her eyebrow, "Um . . hi? Can I ask what the fuck you two are doing here? I was trying to fucking sleep."
"Eleven said he would gives you a job today, ja?" Twelve said. "He sent us to takes you there and to see if you does a good job."
Claudia yawned, "Right now?"
Twelve shook his head, "No but we likes to be um . . . "
He paused for a moment, "Punkskual."
Claudia shrugged, "Well, I need coffee. Come in."
Claudia turned away from the door and wandered into the kitchen as Twelve and Thirteen stepped into her apartment. Thirteen quietly shut the door behind her as Twelve leapt over the back of the couch, landing on the seats.
"Um, you have a very nice house?" Twelve said.
Claudia smirked as she reached into the cupboard in the kitchen beside the sink, pulling out the can of coffee.
"You don't have to be nice," she said. "I know it's shitty but it's all I can afford right now. Theresa told me about you two."
"Theresa? Who's that?" He asked as Thirteen wandered about the apartment, looking around idly.
"Seven," Claudia said, pouring the coffee from the can into the filter of her coffee machine.
"Oh! Ja we was just talking about her. She can't feel hurt, ja?" He asked.
"Can't feel hurt?" Claudia asked, looking over her left shoulder at him.
"Ja, we was on a job once with her and she slams her hand in the door. Made it all broke. She didn't scream or nothing. I said 'Seven looks at your hand' and she looked at it and put the fingers back," he explained.
"She lost her fingers?" Claudia asked, pouring a glass of water into the coffee maker.
He shook his head, "No, no. They was still there but broke."
Claudia pushed the switch on the coffee maker and turned her full attention to Twelve.
"What she didn't go to the hospital or anything?" She asked curiously.
"No, she just used her other hand," he explained. "I thinks she cut the hand off the guys we were supposed to take care of. There was lot of bloods, it made me feel sick in my stomach."
"Why'd she cut off the guy's hand?" Claudia asked as Thirteen sat beside Twelve on the couch.
"I don't know. I went away, Thirteen was there. She likes stuff like that, I don't know why," he said.
He paused for a moment, looking to Thirteen.
"No, it's gross! All the bloods and stuff and the sounds! It was terrible! Maybe she keeps it as a um . . . trophies? I don't know. Seven is weirdo," he said, folding his arms, sulking somewhat.
"What did she say?" Claudia asked curiously, resting her chin on her hand.
"Viveka said she think it's interesting; like doctor show on the tv, but it's not, it's gross!" He exclaimed. "I don't like the dead stuff like she does."
Claudia glanced to her coffee maker and stepped over to the sink. She turned on the water and washed out the coffee mug sitting inside and poured herself a cup of coffee. She lifted the cup to her nose, inhaling deeply, the steam that carried the coffee's scent rising into her face before taking a sip.
She padded sluggishly the the couch and sat at the end near Thirteen who fiddled silently with the multitude of silver rings on her fingers.
Claudia took another sip of coffee, "So, Viveka, why is your hair white?"
"Its was always white," Twelve answered. "We don't know why. She was born like that likes I was born with brown hair."
"When I first saw her I thought she was an albino or like a thousand years old, all I could see was the white hair," Claudia said.
Thirteen smiled slightly, staring at her rings, turning them around her fingers. Around both of her wrists hung several bracelets, some silver, some gold. Her neck was similarly adorned with several necklaces, some with strange charms hanging from them.
"She said she wants to know what you do," Twelve said.
Claudia took a sip from the mug, "What I do? Like why Eleven hired me?"
Thirteen nodded.
Claudia set the coffee mug down on the table and held out her right hand. Suddenly a small, bright, blue flame appeared dancing just above her palm. It grew larger, twisting and turning, glowing a bit brighter. The fire seemed to spread, surrounding her hand, just above the skin.
She stood up and the flames began dripping from her hand like droplets of water, landing on the coffee table, continuing to burn yet without consuming the wood. The fire vanished from her hand and the flames on the table turned orange and began to dance about in circles in the center of the table.
Slowly the individual fires moved in and became a large single flame. The fire grew and twisted and turned, taking the form of a bird. The bird flapped its wings and lifted off the table, flying slowly around the living room before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Oh wow!" Twelve said, smiling wide and applauding, his pale blue eyes filled with awe and wonder. "That's amazing! You should go in the circus!"
Thirteen clapped her hands together quietly, expressing her appreciation for the little show.
Claudia shrugged, "It's what I do."
An hour later the three of them sat in Twelve's car parked across the street from a restaurant. Thirteen sat in the passenger's seat while Claudia sat in the middle of the back seat, smoking through a slit in the black and white bandanna that covered the bottom half of her face. Occasionally she leaned to her left to tap her ashes into the ashtray built into the car door.
She peered out through the window at the restaurant. It was nothing special, a building built of clay bricks with a burgundy roof. Through the large windows on either side of the door customers could be seen eating together, conversing.
"We is there," Twelve said.
"Where?" Claudia asked.
"The place," he said. "Eleven says he want you to burn down that place. The food place."
Claudia snuffed her cigarette out in the ashtray, "The restaurant? Why?"
"They's not a good business," He explained. "He said they does lots of bad stuff. They wash the money. The owner pay the . . inspeckor to says its okay. Lots of peoples gets sick from eating there. Some died too. They's real motherfuckers."
"So I'm supposed to kill the owner?" She asked, a bit confused.
Twelve shook his head, "No, no. Just sets the buildings on fire. Burns it down. So it teaches him a lesson, ja?"
"Yeah, but . . he'd just think it was an accident. Something electrical or a kitchen fire so he have no reason to change his ways once it's rebuilt," Claudia explained.
"Hmm, ja. You make good points. What does you think we should do?" He asked.
Claudia slid to her left and opened the car door and said, "I'll just have to pay him a visit."
Before Twelve could answer she slammed the car door shut and walked across the street to the restaurant. She pulled open the glass door and was immediately greeted by the host, a permanent smile jackhammered into his face.
"Welcome to Arnold's, how may I serve you today?" He asked in a cheerful tone.
"I need to speak with the owner," Claudia said quietly.
"Okay, can I ask what it's about?" He asked, neither his tone or expression changed.
"Yeah, I ate here and had to go to the fucking hospital with E. Coli," she lied, even feigning anger to make the lie more convincing.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," he said, still smiling wide. "I'll go get him for you, okay?"
Claudia nodded and the host rushed off, stiff short little steps.
She could hear the shouting and the clanging coming from the kitchen and focused on it. The cooks inside rushed about from station to station, throwing around the ingredients carelessly, sometimes dropping them on the floor. Claudia focused on the fryers and the oil began to heat up slowly as she waited for the host to return with the owner. She folded her arms, shifting her weight between her feet as she waited impatiently.
Her eyes shifted as she watched the customers sitting at the tables and in the booths eating their meals. She looked towards the ceiling to the metal sprinklers. Finally the host returned, the smile still chiseled into his face.
"Do you have a receipt?" He asked.
"Receipt? No, why the fuck would I have a receipt? Who keeps receipts when they eat at restaurants?" She asked.
The host shrugged, "If you don't have a receipt there's no proof that you ate here. Plus something else could have made you sick."
Claudia's eyes narrowed, "What are you calling me a liar?"
"No, no, nothing like that, miss. It's just that without a receipt there's nothing we can do," he explained. "A lot of people have been coming in here recently saying they got sick and if we recouped them all we'd be out of business."
Claudia smirked beneath her bandanna, "I suppose you're right."
In the kitchen the oil in the fryers burst into the flames and the cooks rushed to put it out. They shouted, spraying the fryers with fire extinguishers to no avail. The flames burned hotter and climbed up the walls, spreading rapidly. They licked up to the ceiling, setting off the extinguishers that began spraying water down throughout the restaurant, the customers and employees shouted and began rushing towards Claudia and the host as they stood in front of the door.
Claudia dodged the wave of people and ran past them into the restaurant, the cool water spraying down as the fires in the kitchen began to spread into the restaurant itself.
She threw open the 'Employee's Only' door and was immediately met by the owner as he hurried out, a short, chubby man with glasses and a goatee.
"Hi," she said with a smirk.
"Move! The place is on fire, we have to get out!" He said, panicked.
"I know. I started it," she said, glaring into his eyes. "This is a message for you, this is a warning. When you rebuild this place I strongly recommend you hire new staff and cook the food properly. People have died eating in your restaurant and you are to blame. The building will burn, but next time, if things don't change, you will."
He stood before her with a mixture of shock, fear, and confusion on his face and Claudia walked out back through the Employee's Only door and through the restaurant. The fire continued to rage and consume the building yet held fast to let her pass on the way to the front door.
As she stepped out into the street she could hear the sirens of the police cars and ambulances and fire trucks in the distance. She rushed across the street, thoroughly soaked by the sprinklers and shook herself off like a wet dog, flinging the excess water in every direction. She hopped into the back seat of Twelve's car and pulled door shut.
The owner of the restaurant came charging from the front door. He stopped to look back at the restaurant, both hands on his head. The glass doors shattered and the fires inside began licking outward as the entirety of the inner building was consumed.
Twelve turned the key in the ignition and the engine came purring to life. He shifted into drive and the car sped off as a figure cloaked in red appeared in the sky on the horizon.
"So how'd I do?" Claudia asked curiously.
"Well, the building is burn and the owner isn't dead," Twelve said. "Did you tells him to stop being a bad guy?"
Claudia nodded, "Mhm. I told him that when he rebuilt if he didn't have the food cooked right, he'd be the one to burn."
Thirteen smiled, seeming to giggle but no sound escaped her lips.
"Oh, that is cool!" Twelve replied. "I never thinks of stuff like that to say. But I never makes nobody dead. Thirteen does that. I think you did a good job. Lets hope he learn his lesson, ja?"
Claudia picked one of her butts from the ashtray and lit it up, taking a puff, "Ja."