“What about the humans who live there?”
“There are no humans in Michigan. They were purged before the war even started.”
Purged. The word hit Kevin like a Kamehameha Wave. He wasn’t naive. He understood what that meant. All of the humans living in Michigan had been killed—no, not just killed, but erased. It was as if they’d never existed.
“How could you people do something like that?” Kevin asked, his voice a harsh whisper. “Don’t you feel any remorse for killing so many innocent people?”
“Humans are hardly innocent,” Cien said. “It’s a well-documented fact that, throughout history, humanity has proven itself time and again to be a blight on this world. Your kind is like a cancer. You murder, rape, and pillage. You enslave your own kind. You hate those who are different from you. It’s funny how humanity seems to think yōkai are the biggest threat to their existence, when the truth is that humans are their own biggest threat.”
“Only a small minority of humans are like that!” Kevin defended. “You can’t blame the actions of a few bad humans on all of humanity! That would be like me blaming every yōkai for the hundreds of thousands of humans that you people in the Yamata Alliance have killed!”
“Don’t try to make us out to be the villains,” Cien all but snarled. “Humans have always been an arrogant species, whose greed and lust for power causes them to commit more atrocities than the entire yōkai race combined! How many wars has your species waged against its own people? We yōkai might have our own wars, and we might not get along, but at least our reasons are pure!”
“There’s nothing pure about waging war! And don’t talk to me about purity when you just told me that your group slaughtered somewhere around nine million people!”
“At least their deaths were painless. If we were human, we would have enslaved them and put them in concentration camps or something, where they would be forced to work until their bodies gave out and they died slow, miserable deaths.” Cien scoffed at Kevin. “Don’t put us in the same league as you humans. We’re nothing alike.”
Kevin had rarely felt this angry before. The few times he’d felt like this were when Lilian and his friends were in danger. This was the first time he’d ever felt angry because of someone else’s words. In that instant, he wanted nothing more than to beat this stupid mutt to a pulp. However…
That will only validate his argument.
Kevin calmed down. He couldn’t afford to lose his cool.
“I have one more question for you.”
Cien appeared wary. “What is it?”
“Who is in charge of the Yamata Alliance? Who’s the leader?”
Cien closed his eyes. “Our leader is an extremely powerful yōkai with silver hair. I don’t know if it’s his real name or not, but he calls himself Hebi.”
Hebi meant snake in Japanese. Did that mean he was some kind of snake yōkai?
There were several snake yōkai existing in this world. Nozuchi were snake-like yōkai with fat, bloated bodies. Nure-onna were female snakes who lived near salt water. Tsuchinoko was a legendary serpentine monster, though recent mythology considered it a snake-like cryptid, a creature whose existence had recently been discovered by the scientific community. Yato-no-kami were deadly snake gods, Hakuja no Myojin was a white serpent god, and Ikuchi was a sea serpent that traveled over boats while dripping oil.
Several of those Kevin felt safe crossing out. The Yamata Alliance leader was a man, so nure-onna was out. Hakuja no Myojin, according to Kotohime, lived in a different dimension, similar to the heavens where all the kami lived, and rarely visited this world. Ikuchi lived in the ocean, and Yato-no-Kami were legion. The only one that fit was Tsukinocho and the Yamata no Orochi. That being said, the Yamata no Orochi had been slain thousands of years ago… or so he’d been told.
“I see,” Kevin said after several seconds of silence. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” Cien told him. “I’m only telling you this because my honor demands it of me.”
Kevin didn’t say anything in response to Cien’s words. He turned his back on the man and knelt down by Polydora’s bedside. She looked much better now than she had the other day; she was no longer sweating in her sleep, and the bags that had been hanging under her eyes were gone.
Grabbing the bucket, he noticed that the water was no longer good to use. It was murky, like someone had dumped grease into it, probably from all the sweat that now filled the bucket, mixing with the water.
He set the bucket aside and was about to stand up… when a hand suddenly latched onto his wrist. Looking down, Kevin saw that the hand was soft, yet strong, with calluses that came from wielding a weapon. Following the hand to a feminine arm with a deceptively delicate musculature, he found himself eventually staring into the clear eyes of Polydora.
“Kevin Swift… where am I? What are you doing here?”
“You’re awake.”
Polydora’s lips twisted into a displeased frown. “Of course, I am awake. Now answer my questions.”
Kevin sat down. He slowly lowered himself to the ground and crossed his legs. Polydora’s eyes watched him like a hawk.
“I’m not exactly sure where to start,” Kevin said after a moment. “The place where you and I are currently staying is called New Genbu, and I’m here because Monstrang and Kuroneko asked me to try and convince Orin, one of the Four Saints, to join forces with them.”
“I understand your situation. Yes, that makes sense. However, I still don’t know what I’m doing here. The last thing I remember is…” Polydora trailed off, her eyes widening as she looked at something behind Kevin. “You! You are one of the fiends who was chasing me!”
Cien was unruffled by the woman’s anger. “I was. However, I am not anymore. Try not to blow your top off, old hag.”
“O-old hag?!” Polydora shrieked. “I’m only twenty-two years old.”
“Really?” Cien sounded surprised, but Kevin thought he saw vindictive joy gleaming in the inu’s eyes. “You certainly don’t look that young. I guess that’s what happens to women who don’t know their place.”
Kevin winced. He’d noticed it before, but male inu tended to be chauvinistic, and it seemed this particular inu wasn’t going to act in a way that might have suggested otherwise.
“My place?” Polydora’s glare could’ve melted steel, but Cien looked unconcerned. “And what place is that?”
“In the kitchen, of course.”
Oh, boy. Kevin felt sweat gather on his forehead. This isn’t going to turn out well.
“In the kitchen?” Polydora was beyond angry. The look on her face, which had taken on the vibrant red hue of rage, made her appear like she was ready to murder someone. “You foul, sexist, heathen! If I hadn’t lost my weapons in our first engagement, I would kill you where you stand—where you lay!”
“So, the yama uba needs her weapons to kill, does she?” Cien’s grin was the utter definition of superiority. “I guess that’s what it means to be a race of nothing but women. You need weapons to be strong.”
“That does it! I think this despicable mutt needs a lesson in manners!”
“Bring it on, hag! I’ll beat you to a pulp!”
Before Cien or Polydora could do much more than stand up, Kevin acted. Cien was taken down with a swift kick to the stomach, while Polydora tripped when Kevin kicked the back of her foot. She fell onto her bottom with a harsh “Oof!”
“That’s enough out of the both you,” Kevin said calmly. “Polydora, I understand that you’re angry, but I need him to tell me what he knows about the Yamata Alliance, or do you not want to rescue Phoebe?”
Polydora, who’d been about to shout at him, snapped her mouth closed. Kevin nodded.
“And you.” He pointed at Cien. “Insult one of my friends again, and I will be sure to humiliate you so thoroughly your pride will be in tatters by the time I’m done.”
Cien hesitated, but then he jutted out his chin in defiance. “Just try it. There’s nothing you
can do to me that you haven’t already done.”
Kevin’s creepy smile made Cien lean back. “I wouldn’t be too sure of that. You forget that I’m the mate to a kitsune. Pranking is in their blood, you know? Keep insulting my friend and I’ll drug you, strip you naked, cover you in tar and feathers, attach you to the back of a car, and have it drag you through a heavily populated city. Don’t push me.”
Needless to say, Cien shut up.
“What’s with all the racket?” Iris asked, moaning as she sat up, the blanket sliding off her bare shoulders as she rubbed her eyes.
Despite the tense situation, Kevin took a moment to appreciate Iris’s naked body. She and Lilian were, without a doubt, two of the most gorgeous examples of the female species he’d ever met.
Lilian also sat up in the bed, but unlike Iris, who wore absolutely nothing, she’d put on one of Kevin’s—now hers—large T-shirts. The T-shirt was pretty big, so it didn’t stretch across her breasts, but the way it loosely hung off her frame had an appeal of its own.
“Beloved?” she murmured. “What’s going on?”
“Polydora and our prisoner have woken up.”
“Oh, so now I’m the prisoner?”
Kevin sent Cien a glare, causing him to shut up. When he was sure the inu wouldn’t talk anymore, he turned to his mate.
“Lilian, would you mind going to Christine and asking her if she can get Orin to come here?”
“Yeah, okay, sure,” Lilian said. “Um, but before that, do you think you could bring me my clothes?”
It took him a moment, but Kevin quickly remembered that Cien was awake. While Lilian didn’t care if other girls saw her naked, she found the idea of any male other than him seeing her even semi-undressed repulsive. Oddly enough, this didn’t apply to bathing suits, but he guessed it had something to do with their application.
“Hold on one second.”
Kevin rummaged through their luggage and pulled out a pair of jeans, a short-sleeved shirt that matched her hair, socks, and a pair of uggs.
“I know you don’t like constricting clothing, but it’s gotten pretty cold outside.”
He handed Lilian her clothes. She thanked him with a smile before ducking underneath the covers. While rustling emerged as Lilian dressed herself in the sanctity of her bedsheets, Iris stood up, heedless of her nakedness, and shivered.
“Brr, you were right, Stud. It is cold.” Without a hint of shame, she pressed herself against him. “Warm me up, will you?”
“I don’t know how you expect me to do that,” Kevin said with a straight face.
“Uhuhuhu, I can think of a few things.”
“Please stop it with the perverted old man laugh. It’s creepy.”
“That’s a harsh thing to say to the woman you share a bed with.”
“I share a bed with Lilian. You’re just an extra.”
“Now that’s just cruel. I think I trained you a little too well.”
“You wouldn’t know how to train a garden snake to find a hole—and yes,” Kevin interrupted before she could speak, “that was an innuendo.”
“Ooh, now you’re being really mean. I think you’ve been spending too much time with me.”
“I think the same thing every night when we go to bed.”
Kevin bantered with Iris, trying hard to keep from smiling. His partner in dialectic crime had no such issues. She wore a wide grin as she traded barbs with him, clearly enjoying their back and forth. Everyone else merely stared at the pair, as if they didn’t know what to make of them.
“Do they do this often?” Cien asked Polydora.
“I’m not talking to you.”
“Che!”
While he traded wits with Iris, Lilian emerged from their bed, fully dressed. Kevin thought she looked rather lovely in her tight T-shirt and form-fitting jeans, and he had no trouble telling her so.
“Considering you picked these clothes out, you’d better like them,” Lilian teased.
“Well, they’d probably look plain on anyone else,” Kevin admitted. “But you make them look good.”
It was true. The outfit Lilian wore looked very plain, all things considered. However, that’s what worked for her. She didn’t need extravagant clothing. To be quite frank, anything she wore would’ve been outmatched by her peerless beauty anyway. Even the most opulent of gowns would appear dull and incapable complementing her. Clothing without embellishments fit Lilian best.
Lilian beamed at him and, after giving him a good morning kiss, rushed out to get Christine. Kevin watched her go, staring at her heart-shaped butt, wondering when he’d become such a pervert.
I blame her and Iris.
Lilian disappeared from sight, and Kevin turned to Iris.
“As for you, hurry up and get dressed.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Iris waved him off as she meandered over to their luggage and rummaged around for her clothes. Kevin waited to see what she had chosen—skin-tight white pants, a black shirt, boots, and a fur coat—before turning his attention back to Polydora.
“Could you tell me what happened to you and Phoebe?”
“I suppose I must,” Polydora sighed, as if the idea of telling him something was bothersome. “My Lady Phoebe and I had been sent on a mission to Michigan. We were tasked with uncovering the fate of a reconnaissance team that went missing there the previous week. According to Monstrang, the team went missing off the coast of Lake Michigan. We arrived there and tried to ask the locals some questions about the group, but none of them claimed to have seen them. Later that night, we were ambushed by a tsuchigumo. We killed it, but then we were confronted by a man with silver hair and terrifying eyes.”
Polydora shuddered as if she was remembering the man who confronted them. Iris chose that moment to sit down beside Kevin. She leaned against him and, when he ignored her in favor of listening to Polydora, grabbed his arm and placed it around her shoulder. He didn’t remove it and pulled her close. His actions caused Iris to break into a smile while Cien snorted in disgust.
“Neither Phoebe nor I were able to move at first. That man’s presence was chilling. It felt like my blood was being frozen. He was definitely a snake yōkai of some kind,” Polydora continued. “Part of his face was made of scales, and he had a long tail that reminded me very much of a serpent. His presence also made me feel as if he was cold-blooded, and I do not mean that as a simile.”
“That would be Hebi,” Cien interrupted. Polydora glared at him, but Kevin prodded her to continue.
“Phoebe freed herself from his killing intent and attacked him. Then she told me to run.” She looked up at Kevin, her eyes almost pleading. “I wanted to stay with her, but Phoebe ordered me to run. She said that… she told me that I needed to find help. I did the right thing. I did, right?”
“You did,” Kevin confirmed.
In any other occasion, he might have freaked out at how Polydora was seeking comforting words from him, but when he considered what happened, he supposed she just wanted someone, anyone, to offer words of encouragement. If their positions were reversed, he would have been in the same boat.
“That is a very interesting story, young woman,” a voice said from the entrance.
Orin walked into the hut with Lilian and Christine. Kevin’s yuki-onna friend no longer had her cat-like features. Her ears were gone, as was her tail. He wondered if maybe there was some kind of time limit, like once she entered her nekomimi form, she remained in it until her youki ran out or something? He would have to ask her about that later.
Orin’s face was sporting a large red mark in the shape of a hand. It looked recent. Kevin assumed he’d received it from Christine.
He probably tried to peep on her or something.
Lilian brushed past Orin, ignoring him outright as she walked over to Kevin, sitting on his free side and using his shoulder as a pillow.
“You’re looking comfortable,” Christine said bitingly as she sat down several feet from the cuddling trio.
“Um, I’m very comfortable,” Kevin admitted. He couldn’t deny it—sitting with Iris and Lilian snuggled against him was nice. No two ways around it.
Christine ground her teeth together.
“I have heard from my lovely apprentice that you wanted to speak to me,” Orin said, popping a squat by Polydora’s feet. Kevin wondered why at first, but then he realized that Orin had a perfect view of her butt.
Of all the—
“Yes, I did,” Kevin said, nearly shaking his head. This person might be even more perverted than Eric and Heather combined… and was that a hidden camera in his sandal? “I wanted to ask you for a favor.”
Orin stroked his beard. “A favor, huh? I am not normally in the habit of giving favors, especially not to people who associate with that foolish young drake.” Kevin opened his mouth to protest, but Orin raised a hand. “However, in light of the fact that Christine has vouched for you, I shall at least hear what you wish to ask of me, and make a decision based on that.”
“Fair enough,” Kevin said.
“Now, then, what is it that you wish to ask of me?”
“I wanted to ask if we, that is, myself, Lilian, Iris, and Polydora could stay here for the time being.” Orin gained a thoughtful look. Feeling hopeful, Kevin continued. “One of our friends has been captured by the Yamata Alliance, and we plan on getting her back. We were hoping to stay here until we’ve finished creating a plan. After that, we’ll get out of your hair.”
Orin rubbed his chin, stroking it in a thoughtful manner. Kevin was somehow reminded of a monkey, but guessed it was because of Orin’s species.
“And what about this one?” he asked, pointing to Cien. “Is he to stay as well?”
Kevin shrugged. “If he wants. I’ve got all the information I wanted from him, so I guess he’s free to do what he wants. I was hoping you’d be willing to keep him here, however, at least until after we’ve rescued Phoebe. Then you can let him go.”
“You could always kill him,” Orin suggested.
“I’m not a murderer,” Kevin’s voice suddenly became stern, unwavering, like newly forged steel. “I’ve killed plenty of people, but I won’t kill someone in cold blood.” He sent Cien a look that made the inu flinch. “Certainly, I won’t kill someone just because they’re different from me, or because they’re in the way of my goals. That’s not who I am.”
A Fox's Mission Page 14