My eyes never left the fox as she expertly cut the ingredients for her stew, tracking every flash of the light of the paper lanterns glinting along her knife.

She never looked at me. Like I wasn’t worth her time. She was too busy fawning over Kuro, who was lying unconscious on the far side of the shrine from me. She made soft little cooing sounds every time he grunted or moaned in his sleep, rushing over to check on him and run her fingers along the side of his face affectionately.

Then, she’d alternate between checking on her stew and glaring at me with the coldest eyes I’d ever seen in my life. I was starting to think at some point she was going to chop me into little pieces to put into the pot.

My shoulder and leg felt like they were on fire. My clothes were still soaked through with blood and none of my muscles seemed like they wanted to move. Gods, I’m a prisoner in my own body right now. The thought sent a chill down the back of my neck and to the base of my spine.

“Don’t try anything,” she said coldly. She had a soft, feminine voice, but it had more ice in it than the Tempest Coastline in Margloom during the winter. “You’re in no position to move, much less fight. If you don’t cause trouble then I’ll think about letting you go without issue.”

That’s what they all say. Doesn’t matter if it’s some full-of-himself noble or hardened bounty hunter they always pull that card and wait for you to buy in before they send you up the river with a full house. Taking in a deep breath, I tried to keep things civil. “Okay. I mean I’m not dead yet, so as long as we keep it that way I’m open to a discussion.”

She shifted her sight back to the pot, but not before she took a slightly smaller one off the hearth, and set it down by her side. Steam was rising off of it, curling out from under its stone lid. She gripped the small handle on the lid and lifted it, allowing the steam to burst out. To my shock, she reached into the pot and pulled out a wet cloth, seemingly unfazed by how hot it must have been.

Her head turned back to me, and suddenly her golden eyes were now a deep crimson shade. “Hold still.” Her voice was deeper, like that of a mature woman rather than some young girl. Before I could do anything, she rolled up the cloth and then pressed it against my shoulder.

I bit down hard as the cloth met the wound on my shoulder, a soft hiss escaping through my clenched teeth. The girl put her hand on my collarbone to push me down and hold me so I wouldn’t thrash about. I wanted to bite her again, to gnash her soft skin for what she was doing to me. You little bitch you little bitch I’ll tear your arms out what the hell are you doing to meeeeee…

Then she pulled the cloth away, which had soaked up the blood, and placed a cold compress on it. She placed her hand on top and started whispering. The pain began to fade, slowly but gradually, until all that was left was a pulsing beat like that of a heart in my shoulder, and the sensation of something flowing through my body, like liquid rushing to the wound.

“What… what are you doing?” I mumbled feebly. “I am directing the energy of your body to the wound to speed the healing. This is something your body does naturally, I’m simply doing it at a much faster pace. It’s much more effective than just doing magic to try and close the wound. By involving the body’s own natural healing factor, I’m ensuring your wound will suffer less residual pain after the healing is complete.”

“No,” I said grumpily. “I meant why did you slap me with that boiling hot cloth?” The fox’s expression didn’t change from casual disinterest.

“Oh. Well, it needed to be disinfected. If I sealed it up now, the wound would fester. Then I’d have to cut you open and remove the diseased bits before closing you up again.” The chill returned when I heard the matter-of-fact tone of her voice.

This bitch is crazy. Utterly, completely crazy.

There was also the fact that she was a monster, too. I’d passed out from shock during the attack, but I did remember waking for a brief moment during the aftermath. My eyes had flickered open and beheld a graveyard, and in that second I thought I had crossed over to the next world.

Then, I’d been dumped on the ground as whatever was carrying me was no longer under me, supporting my weight. I hit the dirt, sending fresh pain shooting through my body. Standing over me and the limp body of Kuro was a small fox beastwoman wreathed in blue fire, the only hint I had to tell me that something otherworldly had intervened in our battle against the Swords.

Her eyes had been so full of anger when she looked at me. Somewhere deep in my brain the fight-or-flight reflex told me that I needed to run. There was something behind those eyes though. Something lurking behind like Death itself. Then she had dragged Kuro into the shrine and came back for me, taking care to move me into the building without injuring me further.

That care ended the moment it came time to treat me. Without warning, she grabbed the bolt sticking out of my shoulder and yanked it out all the way through. Her hand clapped over my mouth to stifle the scream, and tears welled up in my eyes as my shoulder erupted in a surge of hot pain. Then she did the same with the bolt in my leg, and she did it with such flippancy that I sank my teeth into her fingers.

She barely even registered it. Instead, she waited until I stopped thrashing, then removed her fingers, which somehow weren’t even bleeding. That was when I saw her eyes had somehow turned a different color.

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“Well that’s gratitude for you.” She hissed at me. “This will go a lot smoother if you work with me instead of fight me.”

“Tell it to somebody who might fall for that,” I growled at her. Adrenaline was pumping through me, and it was making me a little more cocky than was healthy. “Why should I believe you?”

The fox shrugged. Then she turned away to take out her cutlery and food and start making stew like it was the most natural thing in the world. Despite everything, my stomach rumbled slightly as the smell wafted over to me.

“Why go to all this trouble? You could’ve left me at the Broken Mirror.” She sliced a head of cabbage in half and started chopping the halves into pieces, scooping them up and sliding them into the pot.

“I could’ve. But he didn’t want me to.” Her voice had softened again. “He would think lesser of me if I did. He has more compassion than me.” She paused, and her hand clutched at her heart. “That’s why… “ The fingers on her hand tightened, gripping the front of her robe and wrinkling them. “I want to be more like him. I want to know how he can show compassion. I want him to teach me how to do it.”

I nearly barked out a laugh but it came out as a cough. “Compassion? Seriously? Why would you need someone to teach you that?”

Her eyes seared into me again, but stayed golden. “Didn’t you learn it from someone? If not, then I guess you were just born with it. Either way, you’ve had it for so long you take the ability to feel it for granted. So when you look at someone like me, all you feel is contempt.” Goosebumps raised on my arms as I pondered the truth of her words. Can’t believe I’m being lectured by a monster.

As the stew bubbled and boiled, the girl would pause every so often to gaze lovingly at Kuro. Take that in. Remember that. This girl has some weird split personality or she’s possessed. Either way, she’s unstable. But if I have to, I can use Kuro against her. Either the threat of his life or exposing her true nature to him might be enough to keep her in check until I can get out of here.

Playing all the angles was a thief’s bread and butter. Every heist, every con, every contract was just another riddle to solve, a puzzle box to rotate in my head until I had solved it. My father had brought home the most confounding devices and puzzles from every corner of the continent on his travels and dared me to solve them, and I hadn’t failed yet.

Dad’s fighting for his life, and now so am I. Like father, like daughter. I grit my teeth. I can’t let him down. Even if I have to crawl all the way back to Margloom with that gods-be-damned relic, I will. Nothing’s gonna stop me from saving Dad. I tried to roll my shoulder just to test if it was functional. My arm refused to listen; I couldn’t muster enough strength to rotate my shoulder, and I feared even if I did, I would just injure myself further.

My mind raced as I assessed my situation. Okay. My shoulder and leg are still useless. I don’t know exactly where I am in Blossom City. I can’t trust my crew. The Divernian Swords are in the city looking for me. Every second I spend here is another second Dad is fighting for his life. And I have this murderous fox watching my every move.

Oh, and I still have to find a way to sneak into a heavily fortified tower full of magical security measures that I know nothing about to steal a legendary relic that can kill divine beings. Great. All caught up. Gnashing my teeth, I tried not to let the smell of the stew distract me. I’ve got to focus. Distraction is gonna get me killed.

Yet the pleasant aroma of meat crossed my nostrils at that exact moment, snapping me out of my thoughts instantly. Hell with it. I need food and rest. Like it or not I’m not going anywhere. “If you haven’t killed me yet, that means you have a use for me. Let’s not pretend. You don’t strike me as the kind of person that likes roundabout talk.” I fixed her with a steady gaze. “You expect something of me. So tell me what it is, and maybe we can work something out.”

Come to the table reasonably and you can convince the other party that you’re open to parley. Give a tiny bit and you set the table for your opposite to do the same. Even if she offers nothing, her reaction can give me an idea of how to approach this. She glared at me again, but this time there was something behind that glare, as if the wheels were turning in her head at my suggestion.

“That depends. I can think of something. In the grand scheme of things, I have no need to kill you. But if it helps you believe me, we can make a deal.”

Although the mention of making a deal made me smile inwardly, it also sent another chill down my back. She’s so much like a devil. I half expect her to pull out a fiddle when she lays out the terms of this deal she mentioned. Still, it was the best odds I had all day. “What did you have in mind?”

She nodded her head back towards the unconscious Kuro. “He’s important to me. More than you can possibly know. If you swear on pain of death to protect him at any cost, I promise to let you live when this is all over. To do you no harm in any way, shape or form.” She extended her hand, palm up. “If you swear, do it knowing that I will hold you to your word.”

Easier than I thought. But then again, when you let emotion guide your judgment, you become an easy mark. One of the first things any thief learns is how to spot a target. “Alright. Deal.” I put my hand in hers, shaking it.

The agony that blazed up my arm was unexpected, to say the least. My hand burst into blue fire, which shot up my sleeve until my whole arm was engulfed. It felt like torchfire being pressed against my bare skin. I nearly bit my tongue in two as I stifled a full blown scream from leaving my mouth. The fox watched me, her eyes crimson again, her face a mask that didn’t betray any emotion, not even disgust.

When she finally let go of my hand, the flames disappeared instantly. In the palm of my open hand, there was a symbol that looked like it had been tattooed with red ink. It vaguely resembled a fox’s head, but at the same time the image seemed to twist before my eyes, taking on the shape of a letter in a language I didn’t understand.

“There. The pact is sealed. No turning back now.” The girl’s voice had been replaced again by the more mature one. “Perhaps you should consider the potential consequences more carefully before you make such decisions, wolf. Oh well. Too late now. You will abide by our terms, and I will know if you don’t. Don’t doubt that I will visit true terror on you if you violate our deal.”

Still whimpering, I tried to shy away from the girl. “Who are you? Are you possessed? Are you a devil?” My mind raced, thinking of the stories of the monsters who came with the Imbalancer across time and space. Fear made even the most outlandish answer seem plausible, and I had never been more afraid in my life than I was in this moment.

“A devil?” The girl chuckled, and the sultry voice never seemed more out of place than it did right then. “I might as well be, given what I’ve done. But no, I am no devil.” She leaned forward, her mouth opening to show her teeth, the ends of her mouth curling up into a horrifying smile. Her red eyes gleamed in the flickering light, and had my leg not been hurt I might have jumped through a window to escape.

“I am far worse than that. And if you don’t behave yourself, wolf, you’ll find out sooner rather than later what that entails.” She ran her hand over my brow, brushing my hair with a gentle touch reminiscent of a loving mother, a gesture that made my skin crawl. “Try not to worry yourself. Stay on our good side, and you’ll have nothing to fear.” Her fingers ran down my face to my eyelids, and she pulled them closed softly.

“Do what the rest of the people in this world do best for now. Turn a blind eye. Have not a care in the world. Be a good little sheep and just do as you’re told.” I felt the sensation of a bandage wrapping around my hand to cover the sigil, and I was too afraid to open my eyes again.

I wasn’t sure I would like what I would see if I did.