"I told you, didn't I?! Don't disturb us for five days!"
Shakara flashed Death a T-shaped timeout gesture. Seeing the other woman roll her eyes as well, she put down what she was holding and strode toward the suite door, cursing under her breath.
"You idiots, if I find out you're disturbing me again because something fell into the sewer or some such nonsense, I'll toss you into an alchemy cauldron, kill you, and boil your bones for an entire year!"
She had assumed the people outside were her useless idiot subordinates. Since they were all subterranean creatures, many of them had limited intelligence. They constantly ran into problems over trivial matters, then came to Shakara to solve them.
For example, one day in the past, her underlings had fished a little boat made from dried, compressed cow dung out of the sewers. They had never seen anything like it, so they dragged it back for Shakara to inspect and asked their queen to decide what to do.
Don't ask why there was a cow-dung boat in the sewers. This was New York—New York on 40K Earth. Anything turning up in the sewers was normal, since this city had never lacked lunatics and perverts.
Naturally, Shakara had no use for a cow-dung boat, especially one that was "dissolving" after soaking in sewage. Her solution was simple: she ordered those idiot underlings to split it up and eat it.
Surprisingly, although subterranean creatures were a bit stupid, their loyalty was beyond question. They never discounted her orders in the slightest, and they had even competed over who could eat more.
Shakara angrily shifted back into human form, draped a thin gauze nightgown over herself, and opened the door. Outside was not one of her foolish subordinates, but a Mexican man in