(Short) Stake Out: Part 1 (Patreon)

From my hiding place in the narrow alley I can only just see the edge of the building I am interested in.  I couldn’t even see the door from here.  This simply would not do.  Not only did this tight space between buildings not have the view I required it also was regularly used as a sleeping venue for the area’s homeless.  I would not have the time nor privacy here that I needed for my mission.  Also, it fucking stank like fetid garbage, piss, and shit.  There had to be a better perch.

For the dozenth time my eyes scan the roofs and windows.  For the dozenth time I spot everything wrong with other every potential lookout.  This was a busy and densely inhabited area of the city.  Every apartment was occupied, every ledge plainly visible, and even the roofs were not good due to the fact they could be seen from the many taller buildings that towered around this particular intersection.  For a short time I may be able to remain unseen in such places but not for the prolonged period I was likely going to need.  As it invariably did my gaze eventually settles on the dark corner window on the third floor of the building straight across from the one I was determined to watch.

The room was always dark and yet it clearly wasn’t empty or abandoned.  The rooms neighboring that one would be light or dark as normal, just like all of the other apartment windows, and I would spot people walk by them from time to time.  But that room remained dark and I never saw a soul pass by it.  Perhaps it was a spare room or simply used for storage, I did not know.  The shutters and window were open and the windowsill had a long pot of flowers that were healthy and well cared for.  The placement could not be more ideal for my purposes.  With every other option denied to me I am left with no choice but to at least check it out.

I wait for a chugging mana-steam carriage to putter through the intersection then draw my primary dagger.  I hoped I wouldn’t have to kill anybody but jumping in blind like this I had to be ready for anything.  I look around to make sure I wasn’t being watched then back to the window and concentrate as I flip the hidden switch built into the magical ring on my left hand.  The familiar blur of the teleportation effect makes everything hazy for a moment and a second later my surroundings snap back into focus and I am balanced on the window sill I had just been concentrating on.  Needing to get out of sight of the street first and foremost I slip in through the open window as quiet as a shadow before even giving the room a proper perusal.

My feet have just touched the floor when I freeze in place.

For an instant I thought something had gone wrong with the magic that I had reliably used so many times in the past.  I found myself in a surprisingly luxurious bedroom.  The furniture is overly fancy, the rug on the floor and art on the walls meant to impress, everything about it swank to the point of garish.  Wardrobe, vanity, a sofa, a table and chair, and more fill the area.  The room was well furnished.  The really weird bit, however, is that it is all half the size it should have been.  I wonder if the magic had somehow made me grow to twice my height but after a second I realize the window, the door, and the rest of the room were of normal proportions.  None of this is what me stops dead in my tracks however.

There, on the overstuffed bed not five feet away, was a halfling woman laying on top of the fluffy frilly blankets.  Not simply a halfling woman, a wide awake and fully naked halfling woman.  Gods damn it!  I grip my dagger, my muscles tense, and I ready myself to silence her.  

“Ohhhh.”  Her gentle voice sighs.

Her eyes are closed but I know she is awake by the activity.  It is only then I notice what she is actually doing.  Of all the things she might have been up to I had caught her masturbating.  Fuck, what an ignominious way to go out.  Her bad luck.  My eyes scan down her soft curvaceous body to settle on the one point of motion.  Her small hand is around her hard four inch cock slowly stroking it.  She was a hermaphrodite!  Just like me.  

Seeing this, along with the fact that she hadn’t yet noticed me, stays my hand momentarily.  Men and women like us were rarities, our body type present in all of the races but incredibly uncommon in all but the nearly androgynous elves.  Possessing both male and female genitalia the rest of our bodies could end up expressing either way, in both her case and mine we appeared female.  I blink and take it in, not quite believing it at first.  In all of my thirty six years I could count on one hand the others of my kind that I had met.  Knowingly that is as I had surely met many that kept it a secret, as I did.

She was a full bodied halfling, voluptuous in fact.  Big heavy tits slump slightly to the sides of her chest, wide hips, a very admirable set of curves all around.  Her body couldn’t be more different than my own long and lean physique.  There was enough illumination coming through the window from the street lights that my night vision can make out her round cherubic face, actually rather pretty to my eye if it weren’t for the excess of makeup she wore.  Her chubby cheeks looked as red as ripe apples and lips like fresh cherries.  Who the hell goes to bed like that?  By human standards she was well into her twenties, possibly even pushing thirty, though with the sprightly halflings it was hard to tell precisely.  Especially a halfling as heavily done up as her.  Her long curly silver white hair spreads out on the pillow behind her like a luminous halo, a single lacy pink bow in it above her left ear.

I had seen many things in my career as an assassin but I had never dropped into anything quite like this before.  I sheathe my weapon and let go of the hilt.  I would not kill this one, she was of a different race but she is of my own.  Our lives were hard enough as it was.  I shake my head.  A fucking halfling, no wonder I hadn’t seen anyone moving about up here.  She would be too short to be seen from street level.  As I am weighing up what to do about this situation she suddenly opens her eyes and turns her head my way.  Shit!

“Who is there?”  She whispers.  Sitting up she looks right at me!

I cover my face, hoping she didn’t catch a glimpse of the telltale orcish green of my skin, and I am already turning to flee when I hear her ask again.

“Is somebody there?”

I pause and look back over my shoulder.  She is staring right at me, my form would be perfectly silhouetted in the frame of the window, and yet she continued to search and listen for the figure who had invaded her room.  As I look into her wide opalescent eyes I notice the pupils wide and clouded with that same shimmery luster as her irises.  The girl was blind.

I’m not sure if she can hear my breathing or senses me in some other way but she brings her blanket up to cover her body.  She knew someone else was in the room with her.  Her breathing picks up, her eyes begin to dart about despite not being able to see, and a expression of pure fear comes over her lovely features.

“Who is there?”  She asks a bit louder, rising terror evident in her voice.

I knew this moment well.  She would either scream or make for the door next if I didn’t do something.  After that she would fight or beg.  I cut it all off before it begins.

“Remain quiet.”  I say in calm steady voice.  “Do not flee.  Your life depends on it.”

“Oh gods!”  She whimpers and shrinks back away from me.  “Please don’t hurt me.”

“Do as I say and you have nothing to fear.”

“Oh gods!  Ohhh gods!”  She brings her blankets up around her as if they might somehow protect her.  “Take what you want.  Just…don’t hurt me, please.”

“I am not here to rob you.  And I already told you I won’t hurt you, as long as you listen.”

“I’ll do anything you say!  Please don’t hurt me!  Please!”

“Shhh.”

With trembling hands she covers her face and starts to cry.  “Oh gods.”

I turn back and start to give the room a proper inspection.  The first thing I do is make sure the huddled shaking halfling has no weapon or magic item within reach.  All I find is a small bone whistle under her pillow, which I immediately pocket.  I also find her night gown, a ridiculously cutesy looking thing, at the side of the bed and toss it to her.  “Put that on.”

“Y-yes M-ma’am.”  She stammers.  A hand comes out from the blankets and pulls the garment in and starts to get dressed under the cover.

The sounds of passing pedestrians and the hiss and chugging from another steam car filters up from the street as I search the room.  It doesn’t take me long to notice that while the furniture and decor looked impressive at first glance all of it was of poor craftsmanship.  The luxury of the space a facade covering cheap materials and shoddy work.  The room had electric lights, one near the vanity and one beside her bed, though there is no switch or way to turn them on that I could see.  Weird.  Finding nothing of threat I move to the door to take a peek out…and am surprised to find it locked from the other side.

“What the hell?”  I mutter to myself.

Looking back over the tasteless gaudy room I note the empty plate and utensils on a side table, the two pitchers of water, the wash basin, and the covered chamber pot in the corner.  This was a room designed to be lived in full time, this was some sort of…prison?  As my eyes settle on the scared blind woman in the heavy tear streaked makeup who now knelt in the center of her bed in her overly frilly nightie it hits me that this is no prison, it is a doll house.

I had heard of these.  Halfings, gnomes, and even attractive goblin girls were known to be captured by slavers or even sold by desperate parents to discerning “collectors”.  These so-called “dolls” were generally kept as a type of sex slave.  All of it perfectly legal thanks to the decree of the current Queen that only those of human descent had any legal rights.  Had I not had one human parent, and thus partial rights and protections, I would have left this country and its racist Queen’s rule years ago.

I look at this poor woman.  As one of my kind she must really be a rare prize for her…collector.  Something he would brag about to others of his ilk.  I slowly turn back to look at the locked door behind me, my disgusted thoughts reaching through to the type of man I knew must live beyond it.  “You sick mother fucker.”

“What?  What’s that?”  The woman gasps, afraid she might have missed something important.

“Nothing.”  I tell her in a low voice.  I try to keep my mind on my contract and walk back to the window.  “How often does he check on you?”

“A…a few times an hour.  He should be coming any minute.”

I let out a disappointed sigh.  “Please don’t lie to me. I really don’t want this end in bloodshed.”

“Mmmmm.”  She lets out a frightened mewl.  “I’m sorryyy.”

“Shhh.”  I keep my voice steady and smooth, letting her know by my tone that everything was under control here.  “Just answer my question.”

“Once in the morning, once in the evening unless…”  She swallows.  “…he wants to play.”

“Play?”  I push down against the bile threatening to rise in my throat.  This isn’t your problem Del, I tell myself, there were a thousand sad stories like this through this city.  Not my problem.  Stay focused on the job.  Get paid.  Move on.  Just like always.

“Has he come for his evening visit already?”  By the empty dinner plate I assumed so but I wanted to make sure.

There is a long pause that told me everything I wanted to know.  Eventually she does confirm.  “Yes.”

“Good.”  I say.  “You stay there.  Stay quiet.  Do not bother me.  Sleep if you can.  I will be gone by morning.”

Crawling under her covers she whimpers.  “Yes Ma’am.”  Curling into a ball she begins to weep quietly and I hear a few whispered prayers.  She was right to pray.  I am not a good person.  I leave her be, as long as she did it quietly I didn’t really care what she got up to.

Taking one of the low stools I bring it to the window and settle down onto it.  Just as I suspected I could keep a perfect watch on the door across the street where my quarry was bound to appear sooner or later this night.  The flowers on the sill even giving me cover with which to peer through.  The halfling’s blindness meant I wouldn’t have to worry about her as a witness and she certainly wasn’t capable of causing problems while I was here.  This room had been a stroke of good luck, though it sure didn’t feel like it.

***

Author's Note: First, I know this is a terrible title.  I may change it later.  Second, when I say halfling think InCase's Alfie or even the Tolkien hobbits and not the skinny DnD style halflings.