It was both an extremely frustrating and a very humbling day. After Mr. Wallace had left, I was so shaken and worried that he might have seen Aisu or that anything was out of place in his office. That I didn’t risk trying to look into it anymore, I had plenty of chances such as when Trinity had fallen asleep again, during the show we were watching. Or when I had offered to rub that ointment into her side and went to wash my hands, even when she found the strength for us to go outside and relax in her pool. She offered me a swimsuit and had left first. I had the perfect chance to go and look through the files. However, I couldn’t risk it, he already didn’t trust me and without any gloves I didn’t want to touch anything. It would be just my luck that he would get the room checked for fingerprints.. Now would he go that far to see if anyone was in his office? I had no idea, but it was better to be safe and take this slow, than go fast and risk being sorry.
So by the time the day was over, I had had a lot of fun but was a bit disheartened that I couldn’t look into anything. The only information I had was that her father and Katherine had some kind of partnership, he had said she was important in moving things forward. However, why was she important? Was it because of her relationship with the dark order? Or perhaps she had more connections across the city and entire county that was helping him? Did he even know about the dark order or was a part of their sick kingdom? I bit the bottom of my lip growing even more frustrated with myself, now I had more questions than I did answers!
I felt the car I was in speed forward and finally the blindfold was removed from my eyes. We were back on the Brooklyn Bridge. I had countered heading down a long straightaway for 10 minutes followed by 5 left turns, 5 right turns and another long straight away. If I could remember those motions I could have Joshua or my daddy drive me back the way we came so at least we could see about locating one of his houses. Trinity did let me know that they have five houses that they liked so much that she often stayed in different homes depending on how she felt.
Another 15 minutes passed before we came to a stop in front of the hotel I had given them as my address, it was just five blocks down from our actual hotel. However, as much as she didn’t want me to know her address, I was not gonna give her mine. I had just started to walk down the street when I felt a presence or rather I felt a pair of dark eyes watching me from afar. That sickening feeling of being stalked by a predator began to fill my entire body. I spun around on pure instinct and froze dead in my tracks. She was looking the other way, but I could recognize that deep and evil purple, the massive liger spirit that I knew as Vitani was heading down the street.
And where Vitani was.
Katherine was usually not far away.
The last time I saw Vitani was through Aisu’s eyes so seeing again was just as terrifying as being in front of Katherine. I had just as many bad memories of that large predator as I did with Katherine. Her body was covered in sickening scars and welts that would never heal. A sign that she was obedient to her user, that she was not considered a sister or a daughter to her owner. But as a weapon, a tool, a slave to take orders. It made me sick to see those scars, it made me sicker to remember how I was almost tricked into doing the same thing to Aisu. “She needs to learn to obey you, Verona, so do what needs to be done!” Her words pounded on the back of my head and if my daddy hadn’t come home early. I might have crossed a line that could have never been crossed again.
I stood frozen in fear as Vitani slipped through the crowd, None of them could see her, not one of the thousands moving across the street showed signs of a jepei user. It was just me. She was moving in a very slowly deliberate way, seemingly enjoying the trip. Why on earth was Vitani here? I needed to know, however I knew that I was not stealthy enough to follow her even from afar. Especially not with the multicolored beads I had let Trinity put on the end of my braids before I left. However, I knew someone that could. The real question was is she willing to even try that.
“I am,” I nearly jumped out of my skin as I heard Aisu’s voice come from behind me. I turn around to see her sitting on the ground, her long claws out and digging into the stone sidewalk. I could see it on her face, she was scared but she was trying to stay strong. “I will follow her and see where she is going. I will stay out of her sight.”
“Aisu you don’t have to.”
“Yes we do,” she said firmly. “We can’t be scared, we came here to find and stop them, so let's do what we came to do.” I moved forward and began to pet up and down her head. “Just don’t leave me, go home and see through my eyes. I will do the rest.”
“Do what you do best,” I said before stepping aside and watching Aisu split through the crowd. I turned on my heels and quickly made my way down the street. Practically running through people and up to my hotel room 5 blocks away. I was not gonna leave Aisu alone to do this by herself. I finally made it to the top floor and quickly made my way to my room and sat down on the floor in front of the couch. No one else seemed to be home and I didn’t have time to look. I crossed my legs in front of me and clutched my gemstone between my fingers. A moment later I felt my vision switch and I found myself quickly darting through people on the busy manhattan evening streets.
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I had good eyesight but it was always moments like this that reminded me how good Aisu’s eyes actually were. It was getting late and my jaguar spirit could see nearly seven times better at night than I could. In the setting sun that lit the streets with a deep orange color, Vitani stuck out like a sore thumb on the opposite side of the street. She seemed unbothered, bored even, it took me a moment to see that there was something tied to her paw. An envelope was tied to her right hind paw, now if an object was tied to an animal spirit then it could still be seen by the human eye. It would just look like a floating envelope, at most people would assume that it was being blown by the wind or not pay it any mind. At worst they might think the place was haunted. I hated to admit that my favorite prank to play on my small list of friends on the mainland was to tie something to Aisu and make it seem like the place was haunted.
Vitani finally stopped in front of a busy looking nightclub. The line already growing longer with people trying to get in, ranging from nice looking men in expensive clothing, to beautiful women clad in skimpy skirts and tops open to expose their busts. I held back a smile as my daddy would always say. “If I ever see you wearing your clothes like that you will never see the light of day again.” I couldn’t wait to be a bit older to see if that threat was true.
Vitani waited for a moment for the door to open and slipped inside. While she was carrying the note on her leg she couldn’t just walk through the wall like spirit animals could. A spirit animal could not bring a physical object through a physical barrier. However, they could bring netrix weapons through physical barriers. Aisu paused for a moment before passing through the wall. It was always an odd feeling when she did this while I was seeing out of her eyes. The lights were dimmed down in a mix of black and deep golden colors. Unlike Club Serenity, which had a bigger lobby, this one was just a large hallway that was leading to a doorway in the back. Aisu walked forward and straight through the door.
This place was a lot nicer than Trinity’s club. The bar was massive and stretched from one wall to the other. The entire place was clad in black and gold lights giving the light bronze that covered objects look gold. I could see a DJ on a large platform already testing out his equipment. The dance floor was huge and surrounded by smaller tables with a few chairs. Aisu carefully walked through this area keeping low to the ground, each step was slow and deliberate. There was a doorway leading into another area, that one clad in a lighter gold color, with the brightest of these lights shining down on a beautiful black piano that was just waiting to be played. A younger woman was sitting down, one hand sipping on a brown drink, her other crossing out some notes on a piece of paper.
Aisu walked back to the main area and headed up the steps. Up here we had a better look at the large downstairs area, even seeing some parts that we couldn’t see before. Aisu ducked to the side and slipped underneath a table, and I knew why. I could see Katherine was here, standing arm and arm with Mr. Wallace, wearing a beautiful red dress that hugged every part of body. Mr. Wallace was in a dark brown suit, with a gold watch on his left hand. His black netrix gemstone could be seen hanging over his suit jacket. The head of a lion. Katherine was holding the envelope in her hand and Vitani was laying over to the side. I could see another animal spirit, a large black lion sitting next to her, but his head was held high and sat strong. His mane was as black as night but also very fluffy looking.
It then took me a moment before my face practically burned like the sun as I noticed what the staff was wearing. Most of the male staff were wearing swim shorts and were mostly shirtless, it was an arrangement of men from white and black, to Asian and Hispanic. The women were wearing swimsuits as well, swimsuits that my momma and daddy would probably murder me for just owning. It was the same variety as far as races went. Although I couldn’t hear myself as I was also using Aisu’s ears, I could feel myself squealing as I looked onto this scene. “Remember,” I heard Mr. Wallace call out. “Do what you want to get these guys and gals to give you a bit more. I don’t care if you just randomly drop a fucking napkin and need to bend over, or sudden find the urge to flex or shake what your momma gave you. Tonight is your night to get as much as you want, keep the drinks flowing and like I promised the highest five people that sell the most drinks, and get the most tips tonight. Also receive ten percent of the funds we make tonight added onto their checks. And do not worry, if someone decided to get a bit too touchy tonight, you know the signal to use and I will see it, and we will take great enjoyment in throwing them out on their ass.”
Katherine then stepped forward and rested a hand on her hip. “And as promised the person with the highest tips will also receive a paid vacation from yours truly. So go and do what you do best, and as my partner would say. Go make us some fucking money.”
The crowd departed and made their way downstairs. Aisu seemed to tense as the large lion spirit headed down another staircase off to the right and Vitani slowly faded into smoke and was sucked back into Katherine’s cracked gemstone. I was about to summon Aisu back and call my daddy to let him know where Katherine currently was. “You went too fucking far today!” Mr. Wallace suddenly snapped turning towards Katherine, his nice business man face suddenly turned fierce. “Did you think I wouldn’t see that bruise on my daughter’s side!”
Katherine gracefully walked over to the upstairs bar and took an expensive looking bottle, pouring herself a glass. “Because of your daughter, I had to get my hands dirtier than I wanted. Perhaps if she knew how to control her tongue we wouldn’t have lost the leaders of St. Bernards, Orgullo Gang, as well as those smaller leaders. However, I am sure their successors will do good in keeping-”
“Shut the fuck up,” Mr. Wallace said slowly. “I don’t give a damn about who you killed that night. You don’t touch my daughter, my baby girl, you got it!”
“Mr. Wallace calm yourself, your anger is not.”
Mr. Wallace then said something that made the entire air grow cold. “Just because you fucked things up with you daughter doesn’t mean that you can try again with mine!”
For a moment, a split moment. I saw Katherine’s eyes light up in anger, her face twisted into a snarl, her hand was shaking and the grip on that bottle grew tighter until it almost shattered. She set the bottle down on the table and I could see some of the liquid running from the spiderweb of cracks that now spilled around the bottle. Katherine walked forward and stood face to face with Hezekiah and although her voice was lowered to a whisper. Only thanks to Aisu’s amazing hearing I could still hear her words. They were cold and calculated.
“Hezekiah, you asked me to train your daughter, so I am. You asked me to be firm with her, so I have been. I have helped grow that girl into someone that will be ready to lead your precious empire. I have helped you in ways that you could have never done on your own. Do not forget that, and do not be so quick to call my past a failure. I made one mistake with my daughter, and that was leaving her idiot father alive.”
I heard a deep growl start to emerge from Aisu. I could hear her claws starting to dig into the wood of this floor and her eyes narrowed onto Katherine. “Calm down,” I thought towards her, however I could feel my own hands clutching at my gemstone with force I didn’t know I was capable of.
I was surprised as Hezekiah stepped forward so they were now nose to nose. “Is that a threat?” He questioned. It had just dawned on me what Katherine was implying would happen if Hezekiah kept this up.
A soft smile spread across Katherine’s lip as she placed her hands on the man’s shoulder. An odd sight considering that she was taller than him. “Perhaps I went too hard on your daughter today. However, she did quite well in our little match, she has the pride of a lion. So you should be proud she is getting stronger by the day.” She leaned forward and her lips hovered over his ear for a moment, and not even Aisu’s hearing could not make out what she was saying.
I felt sick to my stomach as they shared a short kiss with each other. I suppose Trinity was right that they were probably sleeping with each other. “Do not cross that line again,” he said, pulling her back into another kiss, and that was enough for me to snap out of Aisu’s vision.
I let out a loud scream as the first thing I saw sitting in front of me was Thanani's large frame of a body. The older animal spirit was sitting right in front of me with his head tilted to the side. “What are you looking at that has you ready to vomit, stowaway?”
“I am not a stowaway,” I said with a small pout. He had begun calling me that since last night. “I was looking through Aisu’s eyes, we are watching Katherine.”
As soon as those words escaped my lips, Thanani's face grew firm. “Call Aisu back immediately!” He ordered sternly. “Now!”
“What is-”
He interrupted me with a short but sharp roar. “Call her back now!”
His tone was enough for me to grip my gemstone and forcibly shatter Aisu’s physical form for a moment to summon her back to my gemstone. “I’m sorry,” I said both to him and to Aisu. “W-What is wrong.”
Thanani waited until Aisu reformed out of my gemstone to sit in front of me with a dizzy and annoyed look spreading on her purple face. “W-What was that for.” She asked, dropping down onto her haunches resting her head on my lap.
“What you did was reckless little kitten!” We both flinched at Thanani's loud tone. “Why on earth would you follow her, close enough to see her conversation and hear her words?!”
“Why wouldn’t we?” I asked. “Isn’t that the point of this to find out what she is doing, and I am sure they would have gotten-” Another sharp angry roar got me to shut my mouth.
Thanani took a deep inhale. “Let me ask you a question, why do you think your father has kept me here in the hotel while he is out working?”
“To keep an eye on me?”
“Then why am I still here even though you have been out with that man’s daughter all day?” I shrugged my shoulders, resisting the urge to say he was napping. “Because if Katherine happens to see a violet jaguar spirit she will know that I am here, so she will know that your father is here. So what do you think would happen if she see a large purple jaguar spirit that matches her daughter’s jepei aura?” I didn’t answer, instead I hung my head for a moment. “This is why you are not supposed to be here, you are too reckless and thanks to you. Katherine might know you are here and if she knows you are her, than she knows your daddy is here.”
“She didn’t seem to notice me,” Aisu spoke up.
“Let me ask you another question,” Thanani said in a deep tone. “When has that bitch ever missed the smallest detail being out of place?”
I opened my mouth to reply but I couldn’t bring myself to. Thanani was right, no matter how good of a hider, no matter how small she made herself. In a completely beautiful room with brown and gold colors, the smallest hint of violet would catch her eye, and while she didn’t show it. There was a ninety percent chance that Katherine saw her.
Which means there is a 100 percent chance that she knows that I am here. So I could paint my skin blue and call myself a smurf . If she knew I was here, than she wouldn’t stop until she either got me or fixed her mistake.
“The only mistake I made was keeping her daddy alive.”
I might have just gotten my daddy killed….
Damn it.
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