“She had no right!” The woman shouted defiantly. “She took everything from us!”

“How many tails do you have?” I demanded angrily, causing her to cower behind her husband once again. “Three? Five? I guess the children, being so young, got hit with too much spiritual energy. That’s why they are so sick. As for the rest of you, you’re hardly affected at all.”

“A few who were unlucky enough to spawn too many tails died!” The foxkin man shouted. “Many of us are racked with pain every night.”

“So?” I asked, causing the man to blink in shock. “This is nothing more than your brethren had to deal with every day while you pretended to help them. The saddest thing about this all is that you’re not cursed at all. You’ve been given a gift, and you’re too foolish to even do anything with it.”

“You dare!” He snarled, taking a step forward. “You call it a gift? It’s nothing but a curse, a bane placed on the foxkin for our sins in a previous life. It only brings misfortune and death!”

I glared at him darkly. “It didn’t bring misfortune and death to Miki. She had controlled her power. She had been happy. When she came back here, she was looking to show you all another way, and instead, you tricked her and used her for your own purposes. You thought she’d be the answer that would get rid of the spiritual tails for good, and instead, she awakened them in all of you. Now, you must live with it.”

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“Miki… never should have been born.” The woman responded darkly, her hand tightening on the man’s arm. “She was a mistake.”

The way she said those words caused a surge of anger to explode within me. I had not been planning to do anything with this group. Even if I hadn’t seen the good in them, Miki had never wished them harm. She had truly been too good to these people. They didn’t deserve it at all.

“Say that again…” I responded, my hand adjusting on the sword.

“Master…” Alysia whispered in my ear as the woman continued to cower.

“Say it…” I responded, causing the entire group of foxkin to make up a step.

“Don’t act so noble!” The man let out a snarl. “I know who you are. You’re the man who bought her. You paid for her like an object, just to play with her. Was using her like a toy worth it? This is your fault! If it wasn’t for you, she’d have been dead by now like she was supposed to. She would have been better off dead!”

I didn’t know when my hand had lunged out, but I grabbed his neck and lifted him. The woman that had been holding onto him let out a cry as she was shoved to the ground. Everyone else, rather than running to help, cowered back. Even here, they didn’t seem to care about protecting their own. They were happy to bully others when they had the upper hand, but they would just as quickly turn on each other when it was convenient.

“And what right do you have?” I screamed.

“Stop!” The woman cried out, the only one who got back up and started trying to hit my arm. “Leave him alone! We have every right!”

“And how is that?” I hissed.

“We’re her parents!”