- 23 -
The leaves were still falling from the trees, but the air was chill enough to make my tooth ache with each breath. I kept pressing against it with my tongue, devoting more attention to it than my surroundings. My werewolf fang always hurts when the weather gets cold, but this was the first year after I had it implanted; I hadn't learned that yet. Let alone how to manage it.
While I was playing with my teeth, three pillars of earth erupted up in front of me. I hesitated for a second, then readied my weapon. I closed my off eye, took aim, and placed a round in each one. Renna and I planned to travel into the city that day, but we couldn't leave before low tide, so were spending the morning on target practice; I wasn't doing well.
"Pandora, what's wrong? You're shooting like you did a year ago."
Renna was an endlessly kind woman most of the time, but she took training very seriously. I credit my survival these last ten years to it, but this morning it annoyed me. I was in pain and wasn't in the mood for insults.
"Your eyes are failing you, old woman! I hit all three dead center."
"Old woman?" Renna laughed. "Since we are so close in age, I guess that explains your blindness. Had they been beasts, the fourth would have killed you."
She pointed to a pillar that had formed behind me. I don't know how I missed it. The cracking of the rock when they sprouted up wasn't exactly quiet. The mistake on its own was embarrassing, but then I had spoken out like I was right. I think Renna saw the shame on my face, because her voice turned gentle as she said, "You've improved well beyond this. What's bothering you?"
"My fang."
"Really? You haven't complained about it for months."
"When it was new it scratched and cut my mouth; this is more of a dull ache."
"Cutting and scratching was the whole reason we put it in, but an ache is something else. Maybe you knocked it loose somehow. Open up; I'll take a look."
Renna knelt down in front of me and ran her thumb over my lips. My heart started to beat faster; it always did when she got too close. I never found the courage to tell her, though.
"Pandora."
She was losing patience. I let out a deep breath and opened wide. It's embarrassing to admit, but it kind of excited me when she pressed her fingers into my mouth, at least until she grabbed hold of my tooth. My whole skull seemed to rattle as she tried to wiggle the implanted fang free.
"It's pretty firmly rooted," She said, standing. "At the very least, I don't think you're in danger of losing it."
I hadn't even considered that a possibility, though Renna was right to worry. Witches need to link runes together to weave their curses. If you don't have a way to draw blood for it you become powerless. She had at least three ways to cut herself at any given time, protecting herself from losing a way to cast. The same line of reasoning lead me to implant mine in my body. It was harder to lose that way.
"It's just distracting me is all," I told her. That was the wrong thing to say.
"You won't live long if a little pain is enough to distract you."
"Yes, Renna." I dropped my eyes to the dirt. She was right and I knew it.
"Let's try again. Shutting away pain is an important skill. We'll take the opportunity to train it."
The blood tracing her runes had dried by that point, so she pressed her sharpened fingernail into the cut she had made before to reopen it. She drew a new line and began to cast her curse. It's not necessary to speak a hex aloud, but Renna always did.
"Buried omens, trembling sands. I stand upon these crumbling lands. Come forth, rise at my hand."
I pressed my eyes shut, waiting for the pillars to sprout. A low rumble transitioned into five distinct cracks. The sound gave me an idea of where each one had been placed before I readied my weapon. My first strike was aimed by sound alone, but I used my eye to flick to the other targets. Once done, I lowered my weapon and waited for Renna's judgment.
I must have passed her test because her hand dropped to my head and she tousled my hair back and forth. That was how she would show affection. I miss it dearly. I leaned into her side, silently begging her to keep patting my head. I don't think we spent as long that way as we do in my memories, but my mind wants it to last. After all, it was my last calm moment with her. Everything fell apart once we went into the city.
It was dangerous in those days for a witch to travel around Eden, but we were running low on funds and needed to take a new hunt.
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"Why was it dangerous for witches in Eden?" Lilith asked.
Pandora crossed her leg and leaned back into her chair, considering the best way to answer the question. In the end, she decided to be blunt. "Witches were considered youkai at the time."
"You mean..." Lilith trailed off, then her voice returned much weaker. "You were hunted?"
"Yes."
Lilith's eyes dropped to her lap. "I didn't know."
"It was a decade ago. You would have only been a kid at the time. I mean, I was a kid too, but I had personal involvement. It makes sense you didn't know."
Lilith didn't respond. As silence seeped between them Pandora only hoped Lilith would really consider the implication of the situation. Understand that Pandora wouldn't hate her simply because she had the youkai label attached to her. But she needs to figure it out herself. A hunter telling their prey it's safe looks too much like a trap. I need to show her it's true, not say it. That was why she decided to tell this story. She could only hope it would work, so she continued.
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We weren't planning to stay in the city long. The idea was to get a job somewhere quiet. Due to travel costs, there wasn't much competition for hunt requests from outside Eden, but as witches we valued the safety of isolation. Of course, it's more common for clients to pay the cost of the trip nowadays. I wonder if it's because the witches don't need them anymore.
Whatever the case, we set out to meet with our broker. Ideally, we would have taken jobs directly from clients, but that's a luxury only afforded to the churches. Officially, they were the only ones allowed to sanction a hunt. Independent hunters have to rely on a third parties. People who collect requests from genuine clients and pair them with hunters they trust. Paying a broker cuts into profits, but it made it harder to get caught so worth the price. Besides, you can't convince me the churches aren't taking a cut from their hunters too.
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At the time, we worked with this shady fucker named Bones. At least that's what he insisted on calling himself. Honestly, it fit. The gaunt bastard was about as thick as your wrist. Little more than a skeleton with a nose. But we had done several hunts through him and he had built up some trust.
The trip to his office wasn't too difficult. The cold weather let us hide our tattoos beneath long sleeves and gloves without standing out from the crowd. It also helped that he did business in the South Pass. From our home, we could reach him without trekking through the Cathedral Ward. Even today people still call that part of the city 'heaven's eye'. The most powerful churches all base their operations out of the area, and their hunters watch the borders closely.
We didn't arrive too late into the evening, but the sun was already starting to retreat behind the worlds edge. The days are always so fleeting around the year's end. You could see the red sky reflected in puddles formed by the shadow of missing cobbles. I stared up at the old church Bones worked out of. In a town run by religion it did make a good front for a business that was technically illegal, but there was something unsettling about the way it looked in that light. The gleaming steeple looked like a knife cutting through a bloody sky.
"This place creeps me out."
"You've been here a dozen times."
"I know. But something feels off."
"Our business is simple. We'll be in and out before the moonlight towers are lit," Renna assured me.
I swallowed my apprehension and followed her inside. A chandelier in the middle of the sanctuary attempted to light the whole room. Despite the effort, the lighting was woefully inadequate. It was clear that the building was meant to be lit by the four large windows along the side walls. Of course, they had been long since blocked by other buildings erected around the church as the city grew into the tangled maze it is today.
Wooden pews lined each side of the room with a long red carpet forming a path to the alter. A figure bathed in shadow sat in the front row. Was it Bones waiting for us? Or maybe another hunter waiting to meet with him. Renna started down the center isle and I followed after. As we approached a click echoed through the room. The snap of a pocket watch.
"Right on time," the figure said. The deep rumbling voice made my skin crawl, all but confirming it was Bones.
"When we talked over the phone you said you had a job."
Bones rose from the pew. "Yes, of course. Let's talk in my office." He gestured to the door beside the alter. "After you."
Despite his proposition, Renna remained planted in place, simply tilting her head towards him. I remember the confusion on her face even after all these years, but I still ignored it then. I was creeped out and in a hurry to leave, but that's no excuse. I shouldn't have ignored such an obvious sign. But I did. I walked to the door and swung it open.
I heard Renna's voice call, "No, wait!" as an arm whipped around my neck. My vision spun until I faced back out toward the sanctuary, but I caught a flash of white as I was pulled into a choke hold. It almost looked like the robes church hunters often wore. When a second hunter stepped out of the shadows on my left side, that confirmed it.
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"He sold you out?"
"That's right." Pandora reached out and tussled Lilith's hair before her hand was quickly swiped away.
"Stop, I'm sorry. I won't interrupt again. I promise."
Pandora found her bottom lip pushing outward into a pout. "It's not a punishment! And anyway, you can interrupt as much as you want. I'm telling this story for you. If you have questions I want to answer them."
Lilith nodded, and so Pandora let out a deep breath and returned to the story.
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So Bones had set up an ambush in his office, and I had gotten myself grabbed. My vision was already starting to blur from lack of oxygen, but I watched horror seep down Bones' face. I don't know if he saw Renna reach for her weapon... Don't know if he knew just how close the end was. But he knew those men had killed him.
He shouted, "Too soon you idiots. That one's the whelp. You've—" Then the room filled with blood and smoke and noise. Before his body hit the ground, Renna's weapon had whipped to face the church hunters.
"Let her go."
Unsurprisingly, the grip around my neck didn't ease in the slightest. I would have expected the men to be cautious hunting a witch, but not afraid. Their type always find courage in their faith. If I was going to break free I would need to do it myself. I reached up and used my quickly fading strength to pull at the arm cutting off my air.
As I struggled against the choke hold, the second hunter let out a restrained laugh. "That's pretty cold of you. You didn't let him beg or try to explain himself."
"He betrayed us. The reason doesn't matter."
"Well, it's no loss for us. We found his little operation here. Told him we'd look the other way if he lured you here. But you've just saved us the trouble. Thank you."
"No problem. Consider it my apology for killing you."
The hunter, little more than a blurred shape to me at that point, waved in my direction. "Drop the gun, or don't you care what happens to your apprentice here?"
It was clear he thought little of our intelligence. Hostages only work because of the potential of getting them back alive. His goal was to kill us both so trying to barter made no sense, but I was grateful for the distraction. I pulled my captors arm far enough to take a desperate breath. The rush of air brought my vision back and gave me the burst of strength I needed to fight for a few more inches. I managed to gain enough room to let my chin fall into the crook of his arm, then I bit down.
The man screamed as my mouth flooded with the taste of copper. He jumped back, the flesh of his arm tearing against my fang. Freed, I whipped my hand around to the holster on my back, beneath my cloak. There was no need to draw, the second hunter was positioned perfectly beside me. My whole body jerked against the recoil, unaccustomed to the unique distribution of the forces. The muzzle flash burned through the back of my shirt and left a burn scar just below my left shoulder blade.
The hunter dropped to his knee, clutching at a newly formed hole in his thigh, then fell hard to the floor as his skull exploded. I was knocked aside as the remaining church hunter pushed past me and rushed for the exit. Renna whipped her pistol around at him, but didn't have time to aim. He closed the distance between them in an instant.
By the time she fired, he had made it past the muzzle, the barrel right beside his ear. Plaster rained down on me as her shot flew over his shoulder and into the ceiling. He clutched at his ear, no doubt sent ringing by the gunshot, then checked her with his shoulder. The gun clattered to the floor and spun away. Renna crashed back into the pews, her ribs smashing against the seat's edge. My body went tense. There was no chance the church would let the matter go. If he got away, he would lead more hunters back to us. I couldn't let that happen.
I pulled my gun and took aim, but it was unnecessary. Before I could pull the trigger I heard Renna chanting, "Become fuel, feed this fire. Drown in flames, in agony mire."
I watched the curse she had weaved unravel. It's threads rose up and wrapped around the flames of the chandelier, then burst forward to strike the man in the back. He ignited like a dry tender box. As he threw himself to the ground to scream and writhe, Renna struggled to her feet then hobbled over to me.
"Pandora, are you hurt?"
By then the burning man's screams had stopped. I spit his blood to the ground then looked up at Renna. "I'm fine. What about you though. You're limping."
Instead of an answer she pulled me into a hug. My arms flailed about awkwardly before my brain caught up to the situation and I embraced her back. Even if her feelings were of a different type than mine, I know she cared about me. I'm thankful for that.
"Should we leave? They might send others," I said.
Renna released me, then pushed her way into Bones' office. "Not yet. We're not leaving without a job."
She dropped into the chair behind the desk and began riffling through notebooks and loose papers. I plopped into one of the client side chairs, but didn't get to sit long. Within a few minutes, Renna stood having found what she was looking for. She crossed the room to the oak phone box hanging on the office wall. Lifting the ear piece from its hanger, she held it to her ear, then wound the crank on the phones side.
She leaned into the mouthpiece and said, "Evening. Could you connect me to the Cliffview Inn, room seventeen? That's right, in Eden East." There was a pause, then she continued, "Hello. Is this Meredith? I'm calling on behalf of Bones. There is a pair of hunters interested in taking your request."
We had our job, and with Bones rotting in the next room over, we even had the full cut. It had been a bit more trouble than expected, but in the end, Renna had been right. We were in and out before the moonlight towers were lit.
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Pandora paused, ready to ask Lilith if she had any more questions, but instead the silence was broken by the dull tone of a bell. That was fine. There would be plenty of time to finish the story before they reached Eden. Pandora rose from her seat and threw her arms up, stretching her back. With her muscles attended to, she extended a hand to Lilith.
"Are you feeling well enough to accompany me to dinner?"
Lilith stared up at her for a moment, then took her hand.