"Let me go, you beast!" The cupcake screeches, fring his arms around as if it will somehow free him. What these cupcake assassins ck is physical strength. Tiny and weak, they rely on sneak attacks to make their kills. More dangerous in a party setting when they can be mistaken for actual deserts, but this one has a distinct scent.

  Perhaps he is an amateur or just stupid.

  I press my lips together and lift the cupcake higher, closer to eye level with the tips of my cws. "This shirt feels new. You must be enjoying the pay day you received." I lean back against the cobbled wall. The shadows flicker, providing more cover if someone should turn and look this way. "Why did you run?" The streets are clean. They ck the scent of urine that the capital has in its seedier areas.

  "I wasn't runnin'. I was just stepping out for some air. It gets stuffy, you know, when you're in a room full of males and females that don't know how to wash their asses from their heads."

  "Right." I nod my head. "I want information." What he gets up to in his free time is his business, but we had a deal, and I expect for him to fulfill his end. "If you have none or should you refuse, then I will simply kill you now."

  "Wait!" He waves his arms around. Icing slides down the sides of his face and falls to the ground with a soft plop. "They took it, alright! But they were upset with the results."

  I lift my other hand and conjure fmes. "Get on with it." To think I offered to pay him double the price for such useless information.

  He eyes the fmes and then looks at me. "They were upset by the ck of abilities. I... uh... hid. Was curious if they were pnning on striking me down for bringing them a fake, but they took it. Said that it wasn't what they were looking for, but it couldn't be helped."

  "And who is they?"

  "I don't know—eep! Not so close!" He struggles and then pants from exhaustion. "They wore hoods, alright. I don't know who they are, and it's never been a requirement for coin to know the face of those that hire me, but they ain't looking for yer if that's what you're worried about. They took the head and accepted it as is."

  His words should put me at ease, but discomfort bubbles in my gut like a terrible batch of alcohol. It burns and irritates me. "Liar. If you had nothing to hide, you would not have run from me."

  "I have coin! You can take it. Just let me go. I got a family, back at home. They need me and you aren't that callous," he pleads, csping his hands together in a prayer. "Okay, maybe you are. Can you really bme me? Every time I see you, you threaten me and those eyes, ugh, those eyes are just evil."

  "You wish to live?"

  "Y-yes, I would love—"

  "A blood oath. I want information. Who hired you? Why are they searching for humans and what abilities are they looking for? Take the oath or die now. I care not for the ties you have to this world." My ears twitch. Voices. I drop my hand, putting out the fme, and cover us further in the shadows. "An answer. Now."

  "I can't just..." He exhales and rubs his forehead. The icing smears and sticks to his fingers. "Fine. I'll take the oath. It's just more information you want, right? You ain't gonna have me going against those guys, right?"

  "I simply wish for information. Should they reveal themselves to be an enemy of mine, then I will kill them." And should he back out of the oath, then I will roast him over my fmes.

  "You are a strange one, but fine," he grumbles. "I'll see what I can do, but they keep those hoods on like they are going out of style and I'm sure they're using some kind of magic to change their voices, too."

  So, mages then, or they have mages working for them. I keep my face bnk as I watch him attempt to pull a sword from his back.

  "Hold still." I lift a finger and stab a cw through his forehead. His eyes roll back as the magic pours into him. My lips quirk up into a slight smile. "So, there is some honor within you." The thing about oaths is that they can only be done if both parties agree. Should he decide to betray me, then his life will be forfeited on the spot.

  "That was not a blood oath," he says with a groan. His eyes are half-lidded. Was it too much? I withdraw my cw and assess him. His arms drop and the fight is smothered. "Dark magic?"

  "Give me the answers I seek." I drop him and wipe my hand on my pants. "When I call, do not dally. My patience runs thin."

  "G-got it." He struggles to his feet and then wipes at his face. "Give me a couple of days. It's difficult to get a hold of those that don't want to be bothered." He looks behind his shoulder. "My drink is all gone now. I bet."

  "I will buy you another."

  "Really? You know, all that shit I said about you was just me talking. Your eyes ain't so evil after all. I mean, the purple is a little creepy, but what's a little creepiness to a demon?" He walks in front, talking with his hands.

  Chloe was interested in him. I wonder if he will set off those instincts of hers. Katsuro continues to blow off my concerns, though admittedly, Chloe going into that state of mind is not affecting us adversely. It is still not normal for a human to switch like that.

  "Tell me about your family," I say, though I do not care all that much about if he has a family or not. Having one such as himself in my back pocket could be fruitful.

  "My what? OH! Right. The family." He trips over a pebble. "Got this female back at home, who I've been trying to win over. But she said she liked her males big." He scoffs. "More into cakes than cupcakes, whatever the hell that means."

  "Sounds as though she wants a protector. If you spend your time indulging instead of showing her with your actions how you can provide, naturally she would choose another." I open the door to the inn and follow behind him as he heads over to Megan and the others. He hops on the table and sits in the middle. Chloe leans forward with her arms resting on the table.

  No reaction.

  Perhaps the switch is only triggered when we are attacked.

  "Human, you are looking well," the cupcake greets. "What are we drinking?"

  "Water?" Megan holds out the pouch to me and then motions to the pte. "I ordered for you. They have hamburgers here."

  Why did she emphasize that? Must be a food item in her world. "That is fine.... what in the seven skies are you doing?"

  Chloe throws her hands up in front of her. "Nothing!" She huffs and then elbows Katsuro in the side when he snickers.

  "You tried to eat me!"

  "Heh. I did the same thing," Megan admits. "But he's got little swords, so you might want to watch out."

  "I wasn't trying to eat him. I was just curious about how he works."

  "How rude. I do not poke at humans to see how they work." The cupcake waves down a worker and orders a drink. "Humans are always a pain."

  "I've never seen a talking cupcake before. Are you a summon?" Chloe stares at the cupcake with an intensity that causes the hairs on my neck to rise.

  "Once we were summons, created to do the will of our creators, but that was long ago. I am independent." He jumps to his feet as the mug is set in front of him and then climbs up the handle. "No one ever questions if humans are summons."

  "So testy. But there are more humans than there are others like you?"

  "We grow in number." He opens his mouth, nearly splitting his body in half to do so, and takes a rge sip of his drink. "Ah, that's the good stuff." Steam rises from the top of his head.

  "So, anything could be a summon? Like this pte?"

  "Why would anyone want a pte as a summon?" the cupcake hiccups. "You must have lived a sheltered life. Not just anyone can create a summon. It takes a vast amount of magic to do so."

  I rub the side of my head and stare at Katsuro while taking a bite of my burger. He blinks and then opens his mouth.

  "Oi, let's take a walk around." Katsuro stands and holds out his hand. Chloe frowns and holds up her half-eaten hamburger. "Bring it with you. I can't take the smells in here."

  "The smells outside aren't going to be any better," she grumbles. "But fine. Someone has to keep you out of trouble." She takes his hand and leaves her food behind.

  "What a strange couple," the cupcake says before going back to his drink. "You'll pay for another one, yeah? One for the road?"

  "You have a week to get me the answers I seek." I hold up a hand and motion to the worker for another mug of rum. He nods his head and slides down the side of the now-empty cup. "I will contact you."

  "You will? How?" With his finger, he draws some symbols on the cup, using icing in pce of ink. The cup disappears. "Is there somewhere we should meet?"

  I tap my forehead. "Just worry about getting me more information."

  "Alright then." He hops off the table and draws more symbols on the floor. The other patrons gnce at him. Some openly stare while others think they are being subtle. "Oh, and you'll cover the cost of the cup, too." He gives a small wave as the portal fres blue and then he is gone.

  "He makes that look so easy," Megan says with a sigh. "Next time, we should get him to show us how to make them."

  "Creating a portal takes an absurd amount of magic that could kill you if you are not careful." I gre at the other patrons. They turn their heads and go back to their conversations. "Traveling by foot keeps your senses sharp and you need to know where you are going to create one."

  She yawns and nods her head. "He must be pretty strong then, considering his size."

  Strong? His physical strength is ughable, but there is some merit to Megan's words. "We will purchase some books when we get there. Chloe seemed interested in summons, perhaps she wishes to have one of her own."

  "Oh no. You're plotting something."

  "Always." My brows pinch together. "Why are you stacking the ptes?"

  "Just being helpful so they don't have as much work to do. They only have one person...er, centaur, taking care of everyone."

  "How much did you give them?" I stand and hold out a hand for her.

  "The gold one," she whispers. "I wasn't sure, and Katsuro was no help. But when I handed it to her, she started crying and wouldn't stop thanking me. Did I mess up?"

  "No, it is fine. The gold coin is the thi." The typical rate for a room and meal at an inn is around three bl. "Would you like to retire for the night or walk around?"

  "A bath would be nice." She moves closer to my side as we head up the stairs. "Are you sure it's fine? I could go back and ask for the change."

  "You forget I was willing to pay 100,000 thi for information. One is not going to break my pockets." I pull out the key and sniff before entering. While this area appears to be quiet, old habits are what have kept me alive all these centuries. "And coin is easily obtained."

  "I haven't seen you make any money since we've been together," she says as she tosses the dress over her head.

  "The vilge is poor, so it would not have made sense to sell anything to them." I lock the door and stalk forward. "There are many things to worry about, but coin is not one of them." Though she has a point. I will need to explore other avenues for generating income. Megan throws a look over her shoulder as she turns on the water. "Would you like something like this?" I slide off my shirt and then my pants.

  "A bathtub?"

  "That is a given. No, I mean an inn. Do you wish to run one?" I join her in the bath and spread my arms out along the rim of the tub.

  "I don't know the first thing about running one."

  "Neither do I, but we can figure it out together."

  AutumnBanks

  Thanks for reading!