Evil For Hire [FICTION]

I flipped the paper over again. For a single sheet of paper, it held a lifetime of bad deeds. I skimmed them once more, hopeful that this candidate could fill the empty villain shoes. A superhero with no dastardly plans to foil quickly falls into a state of complacency. 

My heroine sank into such a deep pool of the stuff since the previous villain vacated the project that I found myself anxious to find someone to pull her back into the world of heroic activities and world rescuing. A light rap on the door gave me cause to take in a calming breath.

“Come in,” I stood to greet my guest as the door swung toward me.

“Mr. Auteur?” She asked sweetly as a cascade of blond curls fell down around her shoulder.

I nodded as she stepped forward to shake my hand, fighting to get my tongue untied as her eyes tilted downward to meet mine. Standing at almost six feet, women usually look up to me. I leaned forward slightly to peek at her footwear—only the slightest kitten heel to give her an inch of height. I finally squeaked out, “Raven Renard? Lovely to meet you.”

She pursed her lips into a fetching pink pout. “It is pronounced Air-uh-van. Otherwise I would be a black bird fox.”

As her soft giggle filled my office, I processed her statement. Finding truth in it, I nodded again before turning the interview back around.

“According to your résumé, you helped undermine the integrity of a local law enforcement official. Care to tell me more about that?”

She batted long lashes and crossed longer legs as she demurely answered in her sultry Southern syllables, “You won’t get the milk for free. You have to hire the cow.”

I contemplated this, “You are hiding more than that lovely face under those blonde curls, aren’t you?”

“I believe I mentioned that in my résumé as well.”

I skimmed the page once more before attempting once more to receive answers to reassure myself that Ravan could fill the villainous shoes so recently vacated. “So what motivates you to thwart those who espouse right and justice?”

“Who says their perception of just and right represents my needs in those areas?”

I marveled at how quickly she founds answers that didn’t answer my questions. Surely only a villain could turn words with such a deft tongue while exuding innocence, charm, and naïveté.

As we pored/poured over the remains of her resume, realization sank into the depths of my stony brain, “These were storylines from a role-playing game?”

She nodded shyly, throwing those wild curls back into her blue eyes.

“You’re not exactly the villain we need,” I started, holding up my hand to quell the pout already forming, “But I begin to see that this story may be ready for another heroine.”

She sat up straighter, tossing her hair back from her face, “I knew you’d see it.”

“Now to break the news to the Caped Cat that she is about to become part of a dynamic duo.”

-

What do you think, kids? Is this a story that merits more words, perhaps a novel you would pay to read?