Feros and the Underworld Prince (27 page)

“
He mentioned that he has intentions of joining The Agency after he graduates.” I inform her.

“
Hmm… well I think that attending this party tomorrow would be a good step forward. Just watch what you say; consider this to be something of an interview. If you caught their attention, then they most likely took a picture of you and looked up your information. Don’t be surprised if club members come up to you to try and get a feel for you to see if you have a place as a fighter; that shouldn’t be too difficult, eh?” Natasha rhetorically asks with a sly smile.

“
Ryuji and I are going out for drinks with the rest of the faculty in a little bit so we’ll try to get any information that we can. So has anything else happened?” Natasha inquires.

“
Well I saw Lila…” I reply.

“
You what!? Did she blow your cover!?” Natasha frantically asks with concern.

“
No, she didn’t. Travis was with me, but I was able to stop Lila before she asked how I was still alive. Travis was curious as to whom she was, but his curiosity seemed sated by saying that she’s an old friend.” I answer.

“
Well that’s good. How is she? I haven’t seen her since your funeral and I remember her being in pretty rough shape…” Natasha replies.

“
She’s pretty sexy now…” I say.

“
What!?” Natasha exclaims.

“
Oh, ‘basket full of kittens’ sexy.” I explain.

“
Oh okay… wait, that one doesn’t even make sense!” Natasha replies.

“
Vexingly sexy…” I say absentmindedly.

“
Anyway, she has grown up quite a bit… as well as filled out…” I tell her.

“
Cole!” Natasha scolds.

“
What!? I’m just sayin’!” I defend.

“
Hey Natasha, are you ready to go?” Ryuji asks off screen before walking up behind Natasha.

“
Oh, hey Feros!” Ryuji waves.

“
Have you gotten any leads?” he asks.

“
I’ll fill you in on our way.” Natasha tells Ryuji.

“
Anyway, go to that party and see what you can find out. I’ll check in later, on Monday at the latest. See ya!” Natasha says.

“
Okay; have fun you guys!” I reply and end the video call. I notice that Sara is online so I give her a call next.

“
Hey Cole, Adelaide is already asleep; the move kind of took a lot out of her.” Sara answers.

“
Alright. How’s the new place?” I ask.

“
It’s pretty nice. Let me show you around.” Sara says and picks up the laptop.

Sara takes me on a tour of the new place. It appears to be a four bedroom two bathroom townhouse with modern furnishing in the living room and kitchen.

“
It might not have my clinic and workshop or Tia’s armory, but it is close to the local elementary school. I was able to get Adelaide into the preschool so she starts on Monday.” Sara informs me.

“
Aw, I wish I could be there…” I quietly say.

I’m a little curious about what sort of disguise that Sara has cooked up for Addie’s tail and ears, but it doesn’t really matter. I know Sara wouldn’t have enrolled Addie in the first place had there been any risk.

“
Don’t worry, Cole. You will be here for other important moments in her life.” Sara tells me with her motherly tone and a gentle smile.

“
Yeah… so what is Katie doing now that you’ve moved? Wasn’t she supposed to be assisting you?” I ask.

“
I sent Katie a few vials of Adelaide’s blood to have her run tests using the facility that The Agency’s Phoenix office uses, which is conveniently located in quite close to university, in Tempe.” Sara replies.

“
Good. Well, I’ll call again tomorrow. Goodnight Sara.” I say and end the call.

I change into basketball shorts and a t-shirt before heading to the communal restroom. I see the same group of girls from the previous night, but they look slightly disappointed when they see me. I brush my teeth and head off to bed.

****

Chapter 25: Snake Women and Non-Violent Parties

I wake up in my dorm room’s bed with Kita floating over me, glowing eyes illuminating the otherwise pitch-black room around me.

“
It’s actually quite funny, watching you make friends.” Bullet-hole Kita says. “Everyone knows that it is going to end horribly, yet you continue to bring people into your life and put them in danger. Join us, Cole… or they will.”

****

[September 20th]

I jerk awake to heavy breathing and clothes soaked in sweat. I look over at my clock and see that it is 6:30am. I decide to go for a run around campus to try and clear my head. The campus is nice and quiet this early in the morning. I make a fast-paced lap around the campus and head back into the dorm at about 7am.

I jog up the six flights of stairs and into my room. I grab my toiletry bag, and towel before I head for the showers. I finish my shower before I realize that I forgot clean clothes; it’s a good thing that I’m awake so early. I wrap my arm in my old bandages so I’m not being careless, and then I exit the bathroom at a brisk walk while holding my dirty clothes, toiletry bag, and towel.

It only occurs to me after the fact,
after
I hear the female voice behind me, that I should have wrapped my towel around my waist like a normal person.

“
You know, we were a little disappointed with your lack of performance last night, but this more than makes up for it!” a very slender Indian girl from the group of girls that I’ve seen a few times, says with a surreptitious grin. She’s about 5’9” with long black hair, brown eyes, and a breast size on par with Tia’s, all wrapped in pajamas. The word lithe comes to mind when I see her, for some strange reason.

“
Well I’m glad I don’t disappoint. Excuse me.” I say monotonously and retreat to my room.

Okay, phase one is complete; now I just have to figure out some way to avoid her and her friends for a few days when we live on the same floor… I get dressed and read for a while because I have nothing else to do until tonight. I consider calling Lila until I realize that I don’t have her number, even though she has mine. I hear a knock on my door at eleven.

“
Hey, do you want to go get something to eat at the food court?” Travis asks.

“
Sure.” I reply and we begin the stupidly long walk from Graythorn to the food court on the north side of campus. We both decide on pizza when we get there and find the nearest table.

“
So, have you done anything interesting today?” Travis asks.

“
I slept like shit and a girl saw me naked.” I reply after swallowing my bite of pizza.

“
Sweet! Was it that hot little chick from the café!?” Travis asks excitedly.

“
What!? Dude, she’s like my little sister!” I exclaim.

“
Wait, you had sex with your little sister? Dude…” Travis says with a slightly disapproving tone.

“
No, the chick from the café is like my little sister; the chick that saw me naked lives on our floor.” I clarify.

“
So the chick you hooked up with lives on our floor… you’ll have to point her out sometime!” Travis exclaims. I don’t bother correcting his misconception that I had sex with anyone last night.

“
Are you going to that party tonight?” I ask as we finish our pizza.

“
Yeah, are you coming with?” Travis asks.

“
Yeah, but I think I’ll probably take a nap before we go.” I reply.

“
Man… I wish I needed to take a nap…” Travis says while staring off.

I look behind me to see what Travis is staring at, only to discover that the Indian girl from this morning is staring at me with a sly grin. The rest of her friends from the dorm are also at the table, but they aren’t looking at me so I think it may be safe to assume that she didn’t tell them about this morning… yet.

“
Anyway, I’m going to head back for that nap!” I rush to say before quickly standing and heading for the door.

I reach the door as I hear the sound of plastic chair feet sliding against the linoleum of the food court, coming from the same direction that Travis had been staring in. I don’t dare to look back as I pass through the door and make a beeline for the dorm.

“
You can’t outrun me, you know!” the Indian girl calls out to me as we near the forest.

I turn into the forest because I’ll be able to go full speed without blowing my identity, and a woman’s logic dictates that it would be stupid to follow some strange guy into a deserted forest. I duck into the trees and quickly outpace her. When I’ve put some distance between us, I hide behind a tree and listen for her. I can’t hear her anywhere near me, so I start to walk towards Graythorn Hall.

“
Yep, there’s no mistaking it; you’re definitely him. You’ve got a lower body temperature than a human, despite smelling like one, and you move much faster.” The girl says behind me, causing me to jump.

“
What the hell are you!? A ninja!?” I yell as I prepare myself for a fight.

“
No need to be rude! I’m Nagi.” Nagi replies, avoiding my question. I open up my sight and scan her; her aura looks like a coiled cobra. An Indian snake-girl…

“
You’re a nagi, not Nagi.” I say, recalling that a naga is a snake person in Indian mythology and female nagas are nagis or naginis.

“
No, my name is Nagi, but you aren’t wrong about me being a nagini. Now would you calm yourself? I have a present for you, but I don’t feel like getting punched to give it to you.” Nagi replies.

“
What present?” I ask as I relax slightly. Nagi moves lightning fast as she jumps and wraps herself around me.

“
This one.” Nagi whispers as she sticks her forked-tongue in my mouth.

I consider biting her tongue off, but then I realize that an assassin wouldn’t put herself in the position where her prey would be able to bite her tongue off. I find myself kissing her back before she bites down and I feel a fang pierce my tongue.

(An assassin requires twice the ass and a little bit of sin)

“
That was a gift from your brother to keep you from killing yourself.” Nagi says as a pain sears my tongue while I find that I’m unable to move.

“
He told me to tell you, ‘don’t go getting yourself killed because mom and dad don’t have the resources to bring you back a second time.’ Oh, and don’t worry; I’ll make sure to bring you back to your room… once I’m finished.” Nagi says.

The last thing I see is Nagi slipping her panties off from underneath her skirt.

…

I wake up in my bed with Nagi reading a book to my left… aaaaand she’s naked… aaaaand so am I.

“
Oh, look who’s awake!” Nagi exclaims as she closes her book.

“
I just want to make it perfectly clear that we didn’t have sex. We. Did. Not. Have. Sex.” Nagi repeats in a fashion that leads me to believe that I was sleep raped.

“
Then why am I naked?” I ask.

“
Oh, that’s just because I wanted a front to match the back view that I caught earlier.” Nagi explains with a surreptitious smile. I look over at the clock and see that it’s already 8:30pm.

“
Shit! I have to leave; has Travis come by yet?” I ask as I scramble to put on some clothes.

“
No, no one has come by… oh, but there was this one pretty silver haired girl a couple hours ago.” Nagi says. I immediately halt the progress of denudifying myself.