by Aron Lewes
“Maybe... I should've stayed to help more people?” she whispered to herself. Her talent was a gift from her people's gods, and others in the clinic could have benefited from her help. Was she wrong to flee—to assume the worst of humankind? She remembered the oracles' teachings: humans only wanted to hurt her people, with no exceptions. Vala and Wilhelm didn't seem too bad, but they were killers. Even they weren't good.
Kylin's pace slowed, but she continued to travel down random streets, staring at random buildings and walls. She had no idea where she was going, nor did she have a particular destination in mind. If she found the Guildhall—good. If she didn't find it, that was fine too. Whether he was her Chosen or not, she doubted Wilhelm would mind too much if she disappeared forever.
Kylin stopped to check her reflection in a store's glass window. Her eyes were back to their usual white. She gave herself a weak smile and continued her walk to nowhere.
Kylin turned into an empty alley, and as soon as she did, her intuition whispered a warning. This is a bad idea, it told her. This is dangerous. When she tried to turn around, she ran into the rock hard chest of a man who was twice her size.
“I saw what you did back there... back at the clinic,” the man said. “You brought that little boy back to life.”
Kylin was so scared, she couldn't get her tongue to move. The man had a craggy, angry visage, and he towered over her. Her heart pounded so hard, she could feel it throbbing in her neck.
“How'd you do what you did?” the man asked. “More importantly, could you do it again?”
She was paralyzed, unable to nod or shake her head—and she could tell he was getting impatient.
“What you did for that boy... I need you to do it for my wife,” he said. “I'm taking you back to the clinic and you're gonna work whatever magic you worked before.”
Kylin tried to slip past him. He grabbed her shoulder and shoved her against the wall.
“I don't think you understand what I'm saying,” he said. “I'm not asking for your help, I'm demanding it. You're gonna do what I ask and that's that.”
“Please, sir...” Kylin whispered. “I'm very sorry about your wife, but I want you to let me go. Please.”
He suddenly pulled back her hood, revealing her pointy ears. He flicked the right one, making it flutter.
“Holy shit,” he whispered. “If you are what I think you are, I just hit the jackpot.”
Chapter Nine
JACKPOT? Kylin's nose crinkled at the unfamiliar word. Fortunately, he explained himself.
“You could be very valuable to me. A lot of people will pay a high price for a kitsune.” The man snatched a lock of Kylin's hair from her shoulder and ran it between his fingers. “You're a pretty one too. Shiny hair. Smooth skin. How old are you, girl?”
Kylin stomped on his foot and twisted out of his hold on her. He quickly caught up to her and lifted her off her feet.
“Behave,” he admonished her. “And don't cry for help. Trust me, I'm a nice bloke. Call for help, and you could end up the arms of a lech who treats you far worse than I ever would.”
The clouds darkened as Kylin struggled. If she focused, she could have sent down a lightning bolt, but she was afraid of striking herself along with the man who held her.
She could feel his breath, hot against her ear. He must have had his face buried in her hair. “What's your name?” he asked.
Kylin didn't care to give him an answer, nor did she have time to do so. A knife, hurled from a rooftop, sank into the man's head. As Kylin disentangled herself from the arms of her would-be kidnapper, Wilhelm jumped down from the roof with cat-like grace, landing first on a dumpster, then on the pavement beside her. He reclaimed his knife from his victim's head and wiped the blood from its blade.
“Why'd you run away?” Wilhelm asked.
Kylin ignored his question. She was too focused on Wilhelm's latest kill. Why was it so easy for him to take a man's life?
“Did you hear me?” Wilhelm's hand clamped down on her shoulder, and he asked again, “Why did you run away?”
Pulling up her hood, she replied, “Because I didn't think you'd care. I didn't think you wanted me around anymore.”
“What kind of a person goes into town with a couple of people and then leaves without saying goodbye?” Wilhelm lectured her. “Vala and I did a lot for you. The least you could have done is thank us or let us take you to the inn or something. You don't just walk away!”
Wilhelm's raised voice had reduced hers to a whisper. “I'm sorry...”
“What compelled you to just wander off? That was stupid. Stralia can be a really dangerous place... obviously.” With the toe of his boot, he prodded her attacker's corpse. “There are pickpockets and thieves... and we already told you about the plague. Did you really walk into the poorest part of town after we explicitly told you not to?”
“I'm sorry!” Kylin repeated. “Like I said, I didn't think you'd care.”
“Right. That makes sense. I obviously gave you eighty gold because I don't give a shit about you.” Seeing the panic in her eyes, he quickly added, “That was sarcasm, by the way.”
Wilhelm took her arm and dragged her down the alley, a bit more forcefully than necessary. She glanced over her shoulder, taking another glimpse of the corpse before they turned.
“You kill too easily,” she said.
“Well, I am an assassin,” he reminded her. “Should I have walked away and let him rape you instead?”
Kylin sneered at the harshness of his tone. “No. And I don't think he was going to do that. He wanted me to help his wife. He did say something about selling me, but...”
“Selling you? Wow. He sounds like a fantastic fellow. You make me wish I hadn't killed him.”
“You jest, but I didn't get the sense that he was all bad,” Kylin said. “Maybe he was desperate? Desperate men do desperate things. You should really think about giving people another chance before you kill them!”
“I wonder... would you still feel that way if I hadn't intervened? He'd probably have his hand shoved up your skirt by now, sampling the goods before he sold you.”
Kylin shook her arm free from Wilhelm's grasp. “You're so rude!” she cried. “You're rude, you're crass, and you're a killer. I'm not sure I like you!”
“Well then... I have some good news for you. You only have to put up with me for the rest of the day.” His hand returned to her shoulder, and he continued to steer her toward the inn.
“You say that, and yet you lecture me for walking away?” Kylin complained. “You're leaving tomorrow. You don't care what happens to me! I don't matter to you!”
“Shhh,” Wilhelm hushed her. Their dispute was attracting stares, and her hood had slipped down again. He pulled it up, concealing her ears from prying eyes. “We're almost at the inn. We can talk more when we get there.”
Kylin couldn't keep quiet. She tugged on his sleeve, hoping to get his attention, but he ignored her. “Wilhelm...” she whispered. “I want you to help me.”
His expression souring, he asked, “What?”
“I want you to help me find my brother. It would mean a lot to me. I don't want to hire some random mercenary.”
He replied in a toneless voice, “I can't. Vala and I have too much to do. Our employer expects us to do a certain amount of work within a certain amount of time, and we don't have time for detours. Sorry.”
Nothing in his reply suggested it was possible to change his mind. He was walking out of her life, and she had to accept it. Kylin kicked a pebble as hard as she could. Oddly enough, it made her feel a bit better.
They found Vala smoking a cigarette in front of the Roseberry Inn. As soon as she saw them, she said, “Looks like you found the girl. Why'd she run off? Did she tell you?”
“No. Did you get the rooms?”
“I did.” Vala showed him three keys in the palm of her hand. “And you changed the subject awfully fast. Is there a reason for that?”
“Not really
.” Wilhelm took two keys and handed one to Kylin. “I'm heading up to my room. Did you need me for anything else?”
“Nah. It'd be better if you left. Kylin and I can talk about you behind your back.” Vala wrapped an arm around Kylin's shoulders and grinned at her brother. He rolled his eyes and entered the inn. When he was gone, Vala said, “He seems to be in a rotten mood. Did you say something to upset him?”
Kylin didn't think it was fair to exclude Vala from the conversation, so she forced herself to reply, “I told him he doesn't care about me because he's dumping me at the Roseberry Inn and leaving tomorrow.”
“Sweetheart, it's not that we don't care about you!” Vala exclaimed. “We just have a lot on our plate.”
“Plate?” Kylin cocked her head. “Are you talking about supper?”
“No.” Muffling a chuckle, Vala held the door and motioned for Kylin to step inside the inn. “I take it you're not familiar with the plate expression? If you've got a lot on your plate, it means you've got lots of shit that needs doing.”
“Oh.” Kylin waited for Vala to enter, then she followed her up the stairs to their rooms. Kylin looked down at the key in her hand. It was so rusted, she could barely make out the numbers 2-4-1 on the top of it.
“Do you need help finding your room, love?” Vala asked.
“No. I think I can find it.”
“Good girl.” Vala patted Kylin's arm, as if she was praising a child. “Just so you know, there's a pub on the ground floor. It looks like it attracts the rowdy sort. I'd steer clear if I was you.”
“Alright.”
“If you need anythin', I'm in room 207,” Vala said. “And if you must step outside, don't forget your hood.”
“Okay.” If they were leaving tomorrow, why was Vala so concerned for her? Kylin couldn't understand, but she forced a smile anyway.
They parted in the hallway, and Kylin found her room with no trouble. When she entered, she thought she saw a cockroach dive into a crack in the wall. Even worse, there were mouse droppings on the rug. She decided not to inspect the room too closely or she would never be able to sleep.
“Decent place...” she whispered to herself. “Wilhelm said this was a decent place, but it's far from it!”
Kylin laid on her bed and stared at the cracked paint on the ceiling. She was disappointed in her Chosen, even though she told herself not to be. He had saved her, taken her to Stralia, paid for lodgings, and saved her again. Why couldn't she be grateful to him? She was too focused on the fact that he was leaving tomorrow.
Within a few minutes, Kylin was bored. She decided to disregard Vala's advice and explore the inn on her own. It seemed pointless to stay in her room when her stomach was rumbling. A pub, according to what she read, was a place where humans got their food. She was so hungry, anything sounded good.
She slipped on her boots, which she borrowed from Vala, and returned to the ground floor. It wasn't hard to find the pub—she just followed the sounds of raucous laughter. She soon discovered that most of the pub's clientele was male, and they were more interested in spirits than supper. Even though her intuition told her to flee, she sat in the back of the pub and whispered to one of the barmaids that she wanted turkey and potatoes.
While she waited for her food, she found Wilhelm sitting a few tables away. He had two women on his lap, one on each knee, and they fussed with his hair and kissed his neck.
Kylin's lip curled with disgust as she watched him. Most kitsune found their Chosen when they were fourteen or fifteen, when they were still pure, and they mated for life. Wilhelm was definitely not pure, nor did he seem like the type who would commit to one woman. With each passing hour, he seemed less and less like the type of man she wanted.
“He's not my Chosen...” She whispered the words, hoping to convince herself. “He's not my Chosen. I was wrong. I have to be wrong. There's someone else out there.”
Kylin felt a subtle pinch in her chest, as if her heart wanted to prove her wrong.
Chapter Ten
THE NEXT DAY, WILHELM was in a noticeably better mood. He whistled a tune as he bounded down the stairs, joining Vala and Kylin in the inn's small lobby. He even offered to buy breakfast, and walked with a slight spring in his step. Kylin didn't want to imagine the reason for his improved mood, but she assumed it had something to do with his lady friends from the pub.
They had breakfast in a small cafe across from the Roseberry Inn. Vala only had coffee and toast, because according to her, coffee was the only cure for a hangover.
“I've got a big one too,” she told them. “My head's throbbing something awful. I should have known when to quit, but the bottle kept callin' to me.”
Kylin still struggled to make eye contact with the humans. Every time she met Wilhelm's gaze, her eyes snapped away a second later. She hoped it didn't offend him, but she doubted it would. Judging from the grin on his lips, it would take a lot to dampen his high spirits.
“So, I've been thinking...” Wilhelm set up his sentence and paused to take a bite. “Maybe we could come back to check on Kylin in a couple of weeks, to see how she's getting on?”
“That's awfully generous of you,” Vala said, sounding less than enthusiastic.
“I didn't think it was a bad idea. We could do a couple jobs in the area and swing back to Stralia to see how she's doing.” Wilhelm smiled at Kylin, but his friendly expression was lost on her, because her eyes hadn't budged from her plate. “Would you feel better about being abandoned if you knew we were coming back?”
As softly as ever, Kylin replied, “I... suppose.” She would have been happier if they weren't planning to leave at all. Even if they were assassins, they were the only familiar faces in a mess of humans, and she was afraid to be alone.
After breakfast, Vala and Wilhelm decided to depart right away. Kylin wanted to stay in their company as long as she could, so she walked back to the ship with them. The two-mile stroll took them out of the crowded city and back to one of the beaches, where their rowboat was tied up and waiting for them.
Compared to the city streets, the beach was barren. Kylin closed her eyes and listened to the waves. The gentle swish of receding water was like a lullaby to her. She took off her boots and wiggled her toes, burying them in warm, white sand.
“You can keep those boots, by the way,” Vala said. “Consider them a parting gift. Besides, they look better on you than they do on me.”
Kylin's heart was aching from their imminent departure, but she had to thank her anyway. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“Look at this,” Wilhelm said, squatting down to collect a starfish. It was golden brown, spiny, and hardened by its time in the sun. Holding it out to Kylin, he said, “I've never seen one as nice as this. Here. You should have it.”
Kylin took the starfish from Wilhelm's hand and ran a finger around its pointy edges. She could sense it had been dead a long time, or she might have brought it back to life.
“There are a lot of shells too. Look at this one.” He found a perfect scallop and wiped the sand from its ridges. “When Vala was a little girl, she used to collect shells and make jewelry out of them.”
“Ages ago,” Vala added. “It feels like a lifetime ago. I'd swear, sometimes it feels like I've lived two or three separate lives in a single lifetime.”
Wilhelm collected a few more shells before he rose, then he offered them all to Kylin. She accepted them with a smile, even though she wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do with them.
Kylin pocketed the shells and followed them the rest of the way to the rowboat. To delay the inevitable, she picked up a small conch and showed it to Wilhelm.
“That's a good one!” he exclaimed. “You should keep that too.”
“Maybe... I would rather give it to you?” She dropped the shell in Wilhelm's pocket and cracked a tiny smile.
“Thanks.” Wilhelm eyed the rowboat, just a few feet away from them. “Well, I guess it's time to say goodbye. Is there anything else you
need before we go?”
“Yes.” Kylin stepped in front of him, putting herself between Wilhelm and the boat. “I need you to take me with you.”
Wilhelm glanced back at Vala, whose slight sneer confirmed she shared his thoughts. “I was afraid this would happen...” Wilhelm said. “Kylin, I'm sorry. I really am. It's not that we want to leave you here, but—”
Kylin held out the bag of money that was given to her by Wilhelm. With a tremble on her lip, she said, “I want to pay you to help me find my brother.”
Wilhelm stifled a chuckle behind the palm of his hand, but Vala was a lot less subtle with her laughter. Her snort-filled cackles were so loud, they echoed.
“Did you really just offer to pay me... with the money I gave you?” Wilhelm asked.
Kylin was still holding out the bag, as if it would somehow entice him. “Yes. I am aware that it sounds very silly, but I—”
“It's not silly, it's adorable,” Wilhelm defended her from herself. “Kylin, how much do you want us to do this?”
“A lot!” she exclaimed. “I know it's a lot to ask of you, and I know I'm being a pain, and I know it's not your usual sort of work, but... the thought of being alone in this great big city is...” Her eyes were blurred by tears, so she rubbed them with the back of her hand. “It's really scary.”
Wilhelm threw another glance in Vala's direction and waited for a protest, but his sister only shrugged.
“We just accepted another job,” Wilhelm said. “If we do this for you, you would have to wait until that job is complete.”
“O-Okay...” Kylin reluctantly accepted his terms. She would have preferred to put her brother at the top of the queue of jobs, but she was making progress with Wilhelm and she was afraid to test her luck.
Wilhelm snatched the money pouch out of Kylin's hand and said, “Alright then. Get in the boat.”