Payin' my dues

Denise knew that aunt Hettie had to go out to the shop that afternoon to pick up some supplies for work, and was going to have coffee with her theater friend, so it seemed a good time. The house wasn't so big that cleaning it took a real long time, and she started with the kitchen so she could get the food started while she worked on the rest.

She'd splurged from her savings on the meal, and bought the nicest bottle of rye she could find, as well as some other things - a nice apple cake, since she wasn't going to have time to bake anything herself in time and still have it be any kind of surprise.

She didn't quite manage the surprise anyway as Hettie came home before she was quite ready, and the kitchen was still more full of her dinner efforts than she'd meant to. But she had the coffee on, and that was really the important part, and she hadn't messed with her aunt's sewing area too much except to contain it and maybe find the other chair it had colonized in the past few weeks.

Denise beamed at her aunt from the kitchen when she came in. "Hi aunt Hettie! I'm makin' a roast! 's almost ready!"

"So that's what that amazin' smell is!" Hettie called over her shoulder with a grin, as she hung up her coat and hat in the hall. "Girlie, you're gonna spoil me rotten." After cycling around the city all afternoon, she felt like she could eat a horse.

"Weeeeeeeelll, that's kinda the idea, yeah!" Denise grinned, pouring her aunt a mug of fresh, hot coffee. "Comin' into a bit of money here, an I figure I owe you some, 'n this is a good start, right?"

Hettie sat down and gladly warmed her hands on the mug. "Money, huh? Good for you... Just don't do nothin' I wouldn't!" She winked.

"Nah, you'd like this one I bet - still gotta settle everythin' up but it's like... its a lot of money." Denise sounded a little overwhelmed and hesitant, but she shook it off. "Money an' maybe some other stuff, I dunno. Anyway I figure, I owe you some, and I'm gonna give the rest to Mikel for lookin' after mam."

"Cagy with the details, huh? Well that's just ducky... If I hear too much it might give me a hankerin' for the old days, heh."

Denise made a face. "Well... I know I could tell *you* but like, I'm trying to get in the habit of bein' more careful'n all.... But like, if you *wanted* - It was pretty cool!"

"G'wan then... spill!" Hettie leaned back in her chair, mug in hand.

"Okay! Just lemme get this outta the oven, and then it needs to sit for a bit."

Task accomplished, Denise poured her own mug and came and at across from her aunt.

"So, you remember Collette 'n Francois? I dunno if you ever met 'em I guess, but they ran the Swarm. Then they got busted for house breakin' an' I guess they got tossed in 'round when you were gettin' out. Collette got in with some lady on the inside who told her 'bout this secret entrance to this old gang hideout down in Pearl, so we scoped it all out. They were supposed to have a demon, but it was just this shrieky little ugly flyin' thing. I shut it up good, and they we grabbed what we could and booked it. Pretty nice haul of stuff - were havin' Edvina take care of it, but even after her cut she said it was gonna be like four or five hundred imps, and that ain't even with the magic knife."

Hettie raised her eyebrows in appreciation. "Nice! That's a fair bit of jack... And a magic knife? You know my birthday's comin' up, right?" She winked, teasing.

Denise grinned wider. "Oh, you'd like it too - had to have belonged to a Rat, 'cause that's the handle bit, and then the blade is some kinda black glass. Edvina had one of her shop boys who knows about magic look at it an' he was real impressed. But we prolly can't fence it, cause it's so unique, ya know? And too expensive too. So I dunno what we're gonna do with it, but Collette'll think of something' good - like maybe we can find who owned it first and then maybe they'll give us a reward."

"Most like they're dead... Knife like that, if it were mine, I wouldn't be leavin' it in some box in a basement!" She took a sip of her coffee. "So... whose house were it?"

Denise considered the possibility that the knife's owner was dead and shrugged. Somoene would still want it, if that were the case. "Weren't a house," she replied. "Was a tavern, belonged to the Duke of Crouch End? I think that was the place's name, The Duke, but mostly I only saw it from the tunnels."

"Oh yeah? Heard of that lot. Never heard of 'em having a pet monster before, though..."

"Well - they ain't got one no more!" Denise beamed. "I think it was just like - to warn 'em if someone got to their loot, but fat lot of good it did' em. Sure was an ugly little thing though."

"Well good for you, kid!" Hettie grinned back. She couldn't help but feel proud. Denise reminded her so much of herself in so many ways. She just hoped she would escape some of the harder lessons her aunt had had to learn.

Denise hopped up, setting down her coffee. "You want some dinner then? I had to buy a cake but it looked like a real nice one. There's roast an taters an all. An then, when I get my full cut, I'll make sire you get yours too."