Do vaporwave kitsune count technicolor sheep? - 16. Chapter 16

The desktop is a mess. Papers are scattered all over the surface and a wooden picture frame is lying face down.

Taking advantage of the beams of moonlight that filter in through the windows behind me, I use my night vision to rifle through the papers. Turning over the closest pile I notice ‘NDA’ in large blue font as the letterhead of the topmost paper, followed by what appears to be a shipping manifest. Flipping through the rest of them, I notice that most of them seem to be of a similar nature. Might be useful...folding the pacers over I shove them into my satchel.

Looking to the right side of the desktop, I spy a small drawer devoid of a lock.

Well hello there…

Pulling it open, I spy a wrapped bundle of currency and a couple of the cards that resemble what Faes handed off to Kemuri. I ignore these, remembering that they are blood-bound to the holder and seem to be more trouble than I feel like dealing with and instead grab the stack of cash to join the papers in the satchel.

In all honesty, I have no idea what I’m looking at but some inner instinct tells me to grab and go. Time enough to sort things out later…and so paying heed to the little voice I grab up more papers at random and stuff them into the sack at my hip.

The resounding slam of the front door hitting the wall has my ears perked and alert. Waving both of my arms above my head I signal to the kobold to make themselves scarce. One by one I watch as they disappear completely from sight, blending into the darkness of the library.

Muffled curses accompany the stomp of angry footfalls heading in our direction. Closing the top of the desk, I hurry to hide myself in the recess below before pulling the chair in as far as I can to block my body from sight.

“Well that doesn’t do me much good after that fucking Lapina has sawed my head from my shoulders to feed his hound!”

The strident voice grows closer to the library door before it is thrown open with a bang.

“I’m telling you that little shit did one over on me. Here I’ve been working my ass off for years to get ahead in the NDA, and this ostentatious little fucking showboat is here a month and suddenly he’s on this operation with me.”

From beneath the desk I see a pair of grey tabby paw pads pacing a path in front of the window. From behind him I watch as his silhouette pauses to light a cigarette, a cloud of smoke filling the air around him.

“I don’t have that kind of time, Danny. I’ve already gotten Mika out of town with the kids.”

Another slow exhalation...I can hear the cracking in his voice.

“And run where? To the wastes and get eaten by Wanderers so my guts can get turned into a bowstring? At least my end ‘should’ be swifter in the paws of the psychopath Lapina. Maybe he’ll even do me the honor of eating me himself instead of passing me off to that hound of his.”

Ashes fall to softly glow where they land on the carpet at his feet.

“Give it a little time before you check on her. Yeah, that place we went to when we were young. By the lake...I’ll do what I can, Danny, but you know how this is gonna end. You too.”

Reaching up he presses a device in the vicinity of his ear and takes a long drag off his cigarette.

“Fuck.”

Nelson looks devoid of all hope despite his words upon hanging up. The night resumes its eerie silence in these dead hours and I am all too conscious of my own measured breaths behind the chair.

Behind me there is a soft rustle from the dark recesses of the bookshelves.

Fuck.

I watch as his cat ears swivel in the direction of the noise. On quiet padded feet he moves over towards the bookshelves.

“Who’s there?”

As the steps pause I hear the metallic ‘shing’ of a switchblade sliding free of its sheath.

“I know someone is there and if it was the fucking rabbit-beast...well he’s not one to hide from anyone. So who is it, huh?”

Taking the situation into my own hands, I kick the desk chair out to collide with the wall opposite me. I make a dash for the window, throwing it open wide like I’m trying to escape.

“Oh no you don’t, you bitch!”

Nelson turns on me, knife glinting with deadly menace in the moonlight. The steel blade arcs out at me, aiming for my neck and I take a step back out of reach. Feigning to the right, I kick out at his side.

“Go! Go! Don’t wait…”

Nelson looks behind for a split second, and I take advantage of the chance to rush him. Throwing my shoulder into his chest I knock him onto his back on the plush carpet before pinning his wrist with my knee and my hand at his throat.

I spare a glance towards the kobolds, nodding at the open window.

“Return to the others. I will be right behind you. This is a direct command of Lady Moon, the Amethyst One.”

Gunter dithers beside the casement, loathe to obey my orders and leave me here.

“We must go!”

Liebli and Baba bodily push the young one up and out of the window before following him.

“Be safe, My Lady. We await your return.”

When the three have finally made their escape, I return my attention to Nelson. My hands are bloodied with the scratch marks of his attempts at escape.

“I don’t want to kill you. I can’t let you harm my associates.”

“Why the fuck are you in my house?”

“Nothing personal, Mr. Kitty. Just a happy accident that you were throwing a big party and I thought you looked like a prime candidate. Don’t you feel even a little altruistic that me and my friends will have full bellies? If your call is to be believed then you don’t have long to enjoy it yourself.”

Reaching over I grab the blade from his pinned hand with my free one and toss it away into the darkness.

“Now...you seem to have your plate full at the moment. I’m going to do you a lovely favor and be on my way. No need to get innocents involved in whatever dire circumstances you’re mired in.”

“Says the thief robbing me blind…”

“Oh! That reminds me...before we part ways... now that you have had a peek at my friends, have you seen anyone resembling them in the city?”

“Did that bastard Faes put you up to this? He’s got one of the same little pets trailing after him. Nothing personal, my ass…”

I squeeze his throat tighter, cutting off his speech.

“I have NOTHING to do with that trickster.”

“You won’t get away with this…”

Turning his head, he sinks his sharp teeth into the fleshy pad of my palm and I can feel blood welling. Pulling my hand back, I elbow him in the jaw hard before dashing for the window.

“May the kami have mercy on you when Master Cog finds you.”

Leaping through the opening, I tuck my body in as I land with a roll upon the grass. Clutching my bleeding hand to my chest, I try to staunch the flow of blood against the dark fabric. The scent of brimstone lingers in the air and I trail it closely as I follow the trail out of the city.

Good. They seem to have done as I asked.

Casting my senses out around me, I wait on high alert to be followed but am slightly surprised when it never appears. My assumption that Nelson has bigger issues at the moment must have hit closer to home than I first thought.

Not all that surprising.

My first instance of ‘meeting’ him involved his face being ground under-heel by a sociopathic rabbit creature. No wonder he seemed more and more devoid of the will to exist in every encounter after…

Here I thought my situation was precarious, at least he was nice enough to come along and prove that ‘things could always be worse’.