Chapter 2 #2
I wanted to rib him a bit more but just as I was about to add on something obnoxious, Niki turned off the main road and onto a winding drive.
Niki’s wards washed over my skin, welcoming my presence.
My window was cracked and the sound of breaking waves grew in cadence.
Old growth trees lined the drive, obscuring the ending.
Breaking through those trees revealed a stately but modest house.
I’d been expecting a mansion at the end of our journey, not a quaint craftsman style bungalow.
A two-car garage loomed in front of us. Niki hit a button and one of the doors automatically opened.
The garage was neat and tidy—everything had a place, and everything was in its place.
It was too neat. I had the urge to barrel through the garage, knocking objects from shelves and making a general mess.
I suppressed the urge. I hadn’t made pointless mischief since I’d grown my third tail.
“I see my home’s warding affected you about as much as my vehicle’s.”
“Why do you sound so disappointed?” I cocked my head to the side, attempting to look innocent. There was no reason Niki needed to know that I’d barely suppressed the urge to destroy his perfectly manicured space.
Niki’s grunt and eye roll were his only answer. Going to the trunk, Niki retrieved his traveling bag and headed for a door which I assumed led into the house. Despite my lack of invitation, I followed.
The garage opened into a quaint mudroom, just as immaculate as the garage. I could already tell this neatness issue was going to be a theme. Niki seemed obsessed with order. Looks like I’d come along just in time. All this obsessive neatness couldn’t be good for Niki’s mental wellbeing.
Further surprises awaited inside, the furnishings and décor just as quaint as the outside. The understated elegance didn’t match Niki’s massive ego. The wall-to-wall trifold door that opened up to the back patio and a cliff that fell off toward the crashing waves of the Pacific did.
“Wow.” The ocean pulled me. “That’s quite the view.” I’d lost the concept of currency but could only imagine this is what humans called ‘a million-dollar view.’ I suspicioned the view actually cost much more than that.
“Feel free to walk off the cliff,” Niki sarcastically commented.
“I don’t fancy getting wet.” I threw Niki a wink and he rolled his eyes again. That kind of fall wouldn’t kill me, not that I’d allow my body to truly land on the jagged rocks below. I’d easily dissipate and translocate somewhere else before that happened.
Niki disappeared into a deeper part of the house. I was tempted to follow but the view was too distracting. When he returned, I asked, “Are you going to give me a tour?”
“I don’t see the point. You’ll just wander around and go where you want to go.”
“True.” Looked like Niki was starting to catch on. “Where’s my room?”
A vein on Niki’s cheek throbbed and if he clenched his jaw any tighter, he’d probably fracture a molar or two. “What makes you think I have a guest room waiting for you?”
“Oh, please. This may not be the mansion I was expecting, but it’s big enough for you to have more than one bedroom. Although, if you’ve just got the one, I wouldn’t be opposed to sharing. In fact, that sounds like a lovely id—”
“If you must stay, then you can sleep in Erasmus’s or Lydia’s room.” Niki gave me a dismissive hand gesture and walked away. I followed him to the kitchen.
“They have their own rooms?” I plopped my ass on a kitchen stool, allowing my seven tails to drape over the edge. It felt good, giving them more room. I could always absorb them back into my body, but I didn’t like the feeling. My tails deserved to be free.
Niki grabbed a stack of mail and started shuffling through it.
I noticed he set each piece into one of three piles.
There was a lot of mail and I wondered who he’d had take care of his home while he was gone.
It had to be someone he trusted. For reasons I didn’t fully understand, jealousy sparked through me.
I pushed the useless emotion away with vicious tenacity.
“Lydia and Erasmus shared a room when he was a baby. As he grew, they both wanted their own separate spaces,” Niki offhandedly answered.
Head tilted to the side, I considered Lydia Boone. A bit more aged for a human, but still a lovely woman. Did Niki still love her? Had he ever loved her? Suddenly, the answer to those questions was all I could think about.
“Do you love her?” I asked with absolutely no preamble.
Niki stopped sorting his mail. Eyes scrunched and lips thin, he appeared genuinely confused. “Who?”
“Your son’s mother, Lydia.” I didn’t like the hint of snarl underlying my words. I’m not sure if Niki noticed or not. With a letter in hand, he waved me off. Niki had a bad habit of dismissing me.
“Not in the way you imply. I love and respect Lydia. There is a reason I chose her to have a son with. We enjoyed our time together, but I believe both of us knew it was a temporary situation. There is no animosity between us.” Niki kept sorting, dropping envelopes and advertisements into his designated piles.
My clawed finger traced designs in the marble countertop.
“If you wanted, I could look like her.” Changing my appearance took no more effort than breathing.
Reabsorbing my kitsune traits, I morphed my body into a perfect copy of Lydia Boone.
I could mimic anyone, right down to the tone of their voice. “Is this a more pleasing figure?”
Niki’s expression was priceless. The unimaginable and unmasked horror clear to see. His skin blanched and he took a step back, running into another counter. “Stop that at once.” Niki’s voice sounded raw and a little hoarse.
“Why? You found this form attractive at one point in your life.” I was truly confused. Sometimes, when I mimicked one who was deceased, the living would get upset. I could understand that response, at least a little. Currently, Niki’s abject horror made no sense.
Slamming his hands on the counter, Niki’s dark eyes danced with menace. “I said, stop that. Immediately! You are not Lydia, and I will not have you making a mockery of my affections.”
Changing back to the form I preferred, I set my chin in my cupped hands and leaned my elbows on the counter. The look of relief washing across Niki’s expression puzzled me. “I do not understand your ire.”
“You don’t have to understand it. You must simply respect it.”
I took a moment to consider Niki’s words and decided, “I can do that.”
“Good.” Niki raked his fingers through his thick, dark hair. The white at his temples blended with the black. “That’s good,” he repeated with stark relief.
I studied Niki for a few seconds before I said, “You do realize kitsune are shapeshifters. Right?”
“Of course I realize that,” Niki snapped. “What kind of ignorant fool do you take me for?”
“I didn’t. I’m just trying to figure out your response.”
“Well don’t. As I said, my reasons don’t matter.
” Niki went back to sorting his mail, a bit more aggressively than before.
He slammed each piece of paper down on the counter.
He was about to weed out another letter but stopped halfway to the pile on the right.
Dropping the remainder of the stack, Niki turned the letter over in his fingers, staring at it as if puzzling through a great mystery.
“What is it?” Niki’s interest piqued my own.
He remained quiet long enough for me to believe we were back to him pretending I didn’t exist when he finally answered, “I’m not sure. Something from the council.”
“The Magical Usage Council?” I hoped not. That place was a clusterfuck after what Tenzen had just put it through. It was one of the many reasons I was currently sitting in Niki’s kitchen instead of my room at the main compound.
“No. The Warlock Council.” Niki didn’t sound thrilled.
“What do they want? Are you on the council?” That seemed like something Niki might desire. Then again, his secluded home indicated he wasn’t the most sociable fellow.
Deciding this might be more interesting than sitting where I was, I slid off my stool and sauntered to Niki’s side. My clawed toes lightly clacked against the tiled floor. His lack of response to my close proximity indicated how engrossed he was with the missive.
“It’s very fancy.” I tapped the wax seal with a clawed finger. “Seems a little antiquated, but who am I to judge.” That was laughable. Judging others was a favorite pastime of mine.
“The whole damn council is antiquated,” Niki gruffed before unceremoniously ripping into the envelope, destroying the immaculate swirls and swans embossed within the black paper. As the seconds ticked by, Niki’s muscles tightened. The magic swirled around him, agitated and unsettled.
“What is it? What does it say?” Short as I was, I had to go up on tiptoe to see over Niki’s shoulder. My eyes widened as I read the words. “You’re being investigated?” I read further and my mouth slipped open in shock. “Oh, Niki, you must have been a very naughty warlock.”
“I’ve been no such thing.” Niki shoved the letter back inside the envelope and launched it as far away from his as possible. Hands gripping the counter, Niki’s biceps bulged as the magic sparked around him. “This is complete and utter bullshit.”
Leaning against the counter, I ran one of my tails up and down Niki’s arm.
I wasn’t sure why, but I had an intense need to soothe him.
“Can they really bind your powers?” That was the punchline waiting at the bottom of the letter—the threatened punishment if Niki was found lacking at the end of their investigation.
“They can try.” Niki’s hands fisted, hiding their blackened tips and blanching around his knuckles. “In fact, I’d like to see them try.”
A slow, feral grin tilted my lips as I shifted closer to Niki, now rubbing most of my tails along his body. “Can I play too?” I could barely contain the anticipatory excitement bubbling through me. “Please say yes.”
Niki momentarily paused before he answered. “Yes, Hikaru. Allow me to investigate the situation further, and then I promise, you can play with them all you want.”
Something akin to a purr rumpled through my chest. “You do know how to sweet-talk a kitsune.” Truer words and all that.