I cling to my duster. It's mid winter and no, I'm not cold. I believe I have never been cold, if not as a child when I lived in alley in Sevyhal with my brother. The reason why I tighten the collar in is not to draw too much attention on me.
I dabbed the wound on my neck as best as I could, but he must have hit a capillary and it's still bleeding on my clothes. A half an inch to the right and my blood would be on Borri avenue, together with my dead body.
I push the katana handle back in my coat and curse while gritting my teeth. The cape has always been a better hiding place for Katana and Wakizashi.
I pass by a couple of guys that are coming out of the Darkness, the place where I'm headed to, and then I sneak in through the front door. The two bouncers give me the once over and recognize me. I enter undisturbed and climb the red staircase which leads to the upper dance floors. The air is warm with the breath of people who crammed the place for hours and now, at closing time, are leaving.
I twist and turn around three people who are coming down and reach the top floor.
I slide through the dark crimson velvet curtains and I finally relax a little. The lights are on and the music is off. The place is empty, except for a handful of people, mostly collapsed on the sofas, and the bartenders, who are reorganizing the bottles.
He's counting the money at the cash register.
I approach the counter. - A Mojito. -
I hear him counting in a low voice. - Actually we are clos... -
He sees me.
He smiles. - Yes, sir! - But right before he gets the bottle of rum, he stares at me. He moves my collar slightly aside and then gives a quick look around. - Come, – he says.
I snort. - I wanted my Mojito,- I murmur but I still do as told. I go behind the counter, I give a nod to one of the barmaids and follow him to the back room, which serves as a storeroom.
As I enter, he closes the door behind me and hands me a stool.
I sigh again and sit down. It's pointless to fight him, it would just give me a headache and I don't want to argue. The Mojito will come sooner if I let him get on with it.
He takes the first aid kit and grabs another stool for himself. He moves my collar aside and wrinkles his nose and eyebrows a little.
He's always a bit ridiculous whenever he makes this face.
- Well, it's not a pitbull's bite, – he says as he disinfect the wound. – It's a gunshot wound. Who was aiming at your carotid artery? -
- That's none of your business, – I answer. I'm not angry, but I don't want him to take the liberty of asking questions like that. My business is just mine. I simply let him clean my wounds in order to get my drink faster.
He's very stubborn.
He smiles. - Right, but I ask you every time it happens and, sometimes, when you're lost in your thoughts, you answer me. -
- I have to make another trip to the other side of the barrier, - I say.
He finishes disinfecting me and then takes a sterile gauze. He applies it to the side of my neck and a shiver runs down my back. That sort of blue bunch-of-bananas-haired guy really had to hit me on my neck!?
He notices my goosebumps and smiles.
I snort. I can't concentrate if he keeps his hands on my neck.
- You were saying? - He says slyly. He fixes the gauze with a band-aid. It seems like the skin on my arms doesn't want to return to normal. I'm trying to focus. - I have to go back to the Galariel forest to find someone really good this time. - I clench my teeth. - He broke one of our rules and, at this point, I will break another in return. -
He raises an eyebrow, he doesn't understand. Then he lets it go. - Have you got a plan?-
I grin. – Definitely. -
****
- Damn it, Tears! You have the hands of a mason! - I clench my teeth while my right eye is watering for the pain. Tears is changing the dressing on my ear.
- If I were a sensitive person, you would have hurt my feelings, - he mumbles with a cigarette in his mouth as he peels a plaster to hold the bandage down.
To be fair, I complain but he didn't do a bad job. He seems to be very used to treat different kinds of wounds.
And, after all, living with Tears is not so bad. I can keep the music on loud. I can eat what I want, when I want it. And he cooks very well. He doesn't hassle me with questions like where am I going and what am I doing. The house is always neat, chores are established on fair and reasonable shifts, and last week he even took me to IKEA to buy a new bed.
Okay, I had to nag and pester him for three whole days, but exhausting him is my weapon. He always gives in in the end.
Maybe I'm easy-fitting but his constant making fun of me and his grumbling around the clock are things that I barely hear anymore. It goes in one ear and comes out of the other.
- Right, as good as new. - He closes the first aid kit and puts out the cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table. We are on the couch. He stands up and picks up the left over pieces of plasters and bandages to throw them away. - In a couple of days time your ear will be completely healed. -
I carefully touch my bandage. The ear is burning hot but, from what I saw, I only have a cut in my pinna. Luckily it didn't come off and Tears was able to stitch me up.
That's why I'm telling you he's good at treating wounds.
I have a very lousy pain threshold. I don't care to look cool, if it hurts, I say it. But I have to admit that he's good with stitches.
- I can hardly wait to take off this dressing. My hearing is practically mono, - I mumble.
Tears is looking at the clock. It's the third time that I notice him checking the clock on the wall in this past half hour. I don't have time to ask him if he has an appointment because someone rings the bell.
It's the first time I hear the bell because no one ever comes to visit us, so it takes me a moment to understand what it is, but Tears goes to the video entryphone, looks at the screen and pushes a button.
- I'm going down to the garage, – he tells me as he lifts the wooden hoist shutter.
- Who is it? - I ask.
- The mechanic, for the Leon, – he closes the shutter and goes down.
Ah okay, he wasn't doing all by himself, then. It seemed strange.
I get up, I stretch and go to the computer. It's been half an hour since the last time I used it, and if I'm not eating or sleeping, it's already too much time away from it for my usual standards.
I sit in front of the monitor and, almost automatically, I check the social networks, forums, email, and all the portals I usually haunt. In the meantime, I think. It's the first quiet moment since our last battle. And Sin was there.
Once we got home Tears medicated me, then I crashed on the bed and, after twelve hours, I had breakfast and I was medicated again. Now I finally have time to collect my thoughts.
I can almost hear him hissing an inch from my ear.
- You have no business here, - I repeat out loud.
Does he think that it's a private battle between him and Tears then?
I stretch out on the chair, my right ear is painfully throbbing. I access the Confederation's archives, looking for Tears' folder. - He had my same code without the b, it should be easy to find him, – I mutter to myself.
Famous last words, I get to a page with the privacy disclaimer on it. I snort. Tears is no longer an ally. He served his sentence and therefore his data is no longer available, at least to someone with my clearance, and I'm already lucky to be able to access this page.
I scratch my forehead.
Now is Tears' voice that echoes in my head, from last night. "And he doesn't even have that fucking bracelet anymore”. Was that what he said? So he was wearing it before?
I am now searching Sin's name. It's a peculiar name and he's still one of the Confederation enemies so, just like with the refugees, I should be able to find him on the database. I start the search when the bell rings.
I get up and snort.
There is Tears' face in the video entryphone. I speak into the receiver. – What? -
- Bring us three or four beers, we're parched. -
- How many of you are there? - I ask.
- Two. But I count for three. -
I shake my head. - I'm coming.-
****
I lift the wooden hoist shutter with my right hand. In my left I have a six-pack of Guinness. I hear metal thuds that I don't localize immediately. Then I see a pair of boots coming out from under the Leon. I stop in front of them. - I brought you beer. -
I bend, I put the beers down and while I'm opening the pack I glimpse the feet owner coming out from under the car. I grab a beer, I get up and I come face to face with two boobs.
A 36C, I would say. Fine, round and healthy.
That's definitely not Tears.
- Hello, Sunshine. You'll find me a bit further up. -
I strain to raise my eyes and end up looking at a young smiling face, framed by wavy plum colored hair. I can't tell if the color is natural, which would mean that she's from my world, or if it's dyed and in that case it's very well done. The eyes are hidden under a bushy and messed up fringe, tousled to perfection. The hair is tied back but it should be at shoulder blade length. It's thick and unruly.
She takes the beer from my hand, as I am frozen on the spot. She opens it and drains half of it. I hear her giggle, obviously I must be making a perverted face and I'm probably drooling too. Those tits are a masterpiece. She should be about 25 and is wearing gray mechanic's overalls, which are a little wide everywhere but on the waist. The plunging neckline clearly shows a black bra. What strikes me (besides the breast of course) is a beautiful tattoo on her breast. It starts from the collarbones and goes down under her overalls, it's all done in curls, like a lace. It's big but not tacky at all.
- Exactly which one of your chakras has got a problem? -
Tears' voice. I try to focus but I can't take my eyes off the neckline. - Well... -
He raises a hand, stops me before I can answer and grabs a beer. - No. For your own safety it's better if you don't answer me. - He opens his Guinness and makes a vague gesture with his left hand. - This is Mesis, Electra Mesis. -
She smiles slyly, hands on her hips. - It's a pleasure to meet you, Sunshine. -
Tears continues with the introductions. - Mesis, this is Zendaru of Samirien, the rookie that they stuck to my ass. -
-The pleasure is all mine, Miss Mesis, - I utter.
She leans in and whispers, – Call me Electra. He never will, but you can do it, Sunshine. -
I swallow.
Tears finishes his beer with the second sip. - Careful, Mesis, he's a minor. - Then he goes back to his work. He's fumbling around a huge box.
- I don't think I'd report her, - I murmur.
I get hit by an empty can. I turn around furious. - Tears? FUCK YOU! - He hit me right on my injured ear. I massage the bandage.
He grins. - Hey, teething makes you nervous? - I see him pick up a whole bonnet all by himself.
- I get nervous when someone hits me with cans, that's all, - I mutter as I keep on massaging my ear. It hurts like hell.
- Look, Princess, the only way you would be more useless now would be if you turned into the same floor you are standing on. Do something, grab a pair of gloves and bring me that windshield, – he vaguely points to a box with a brand-new glass.
- The windshield? Okay. - I look around. - What kind of gloves? -
- The mauve ones. -
- The wha...? -
Tears screams, – Just a pair of gloves, you moron! -
I run and I hear Electra giggle.
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