Things Look Better with One Eye Closed

One last thing to do, Jetta thought as she walked toward the building. Using her power she concealed the tattoo of her rank number under her eye and changed her eye color from silver to green. Because she was an Aravos, she had gained the ability to revert back to what she looked like before she was changed, so decided to swap her silvery-blond hair out for her original jet black color that she was named for. She carried the bag that she had taken out of the vault in a backpack, but also had the pouch of wealth that she had accumulated from years in the Society at her side. Jetta walked up to the front desk and with drew some money from the pouch on her belt. "I understand that you recently recovered a certain male whore," she said to the man there. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time with him a number of years ago and made up my mind to come back for him again. News travels fast. What is his rate?"

--------------------------------

"Afraid face your own mate, yeah?!" Sykino asked Nathifa, who merely nodded weakly in response. "You love him or not?!"

"I love him," Nathifa replied. "But he's more than I deserve."

"Nonsense!" Nathifa let out a little squeak of surprise as a giant hyena face was thrust into her personal bubble. "You go and talk to him! No able run away!"

((Sykino, the motivational speaker XD))

"I have actually recently required a number of male whores," Estes said, impressed with how swiftly the opposite gender reacted to Kieran. Though it was entirely expected. As he had instructed just moments before the black haired woman walked in, two servents strode into Kierans room carrying something that smelled vaguely of oranges, locking the door behind them.

"Could you perhaps tell me the name of which one the lady is requesting? And why have you waited so many years to return?"

---------------------------------------------------------------------

((*imagines Arlyn in a cheerleading outfit* ...Actually, there's no need to continue with the joke. The image alone is hilarious enough. XD))

'Could you tell me why you love Nathifa? I'm curious.'

The wolfs question struck Akaelin by surprise. It was several long minutes before he was able to answer. 'I...don't know,' he mumbled. Actually, he did know, but he didn't want to sound like a love struck puppy. Nathifa was kind, intelligent, caring, compassionate, beautiful inside and out. People like her were like flowers growing in the middle of the desert. Practicly impossible to find.

"I have a type of imprinting condition," Jetta said, pulling this all out of her head as she went while sounding confident about it. "My freinds took me here on my eighteenth birthday to get laid for the first time. Due to the condition, I can only have an orgasm with the person I first slept with. One of your servants told me that Kieran had been found again. Do you always ask your customers for reasons why they came? That doesn't seem like very good service to me"

---------------------------------------

"Why you love him then, if think don't deserve him?!" Sykino demanded.

Nathifa shook her head. "I can't say it in words," she said. Her emotions were too strong for words to begin to describe.

"Then show!" Sykino butted her head against hers and immediately Nathifa felt the hyena's presence in her mind, flitting past all of her memories and emotions that had to do with Akaelin. "You got nothin ta worry about!" the hyena declared. "We go see him now, yeah!" Nathifa started to protest, but Sykino butted her head again and for the second time since becoming a goddess Nathifa was forced into unconsciousness.

"I did not ask 'why' you came, miss. But why you waited so long to return," Estes clarified. "But nevertheless, yes, Kieran has been found." He circled around Jetta to a large, mahogany wood desk. Opening a drawer, he pulled out a large, leather bound tome. "Your name miss?" he asked, opening the book.

There was a crash, suddenly, as if the front doors had been slammed open. Estes looked up with a slight frown as the light pitter patter of running footsteps grew closer and closer. The door to the smaller room was opened in a similar fashion as the main doors and a woman came in, panting and out of breath. She had long, dark brown hair - the same color as Kierans - and light blue eyes. An average sized slit going up her cream colored silk dress revealed finely shaped legs, as well as the slippers on her tiny feet.

When Jetta had said that news travelled fast, she hadn't been kidding. "Lady Ryssa," Estes greeted in a surprised tone. "What brings you here?"

"Kieran," Ryssa managed to get out. "Is Kieran here?"

Estes growled silently at his unfortunate luck. "Yes, Lady Ryssa. But I'm afraid he's a bit busy at the moment. Perhaps you could come back later?" Ryssa couldn't help but direct her gaze towards Jetta, trying hard to keep the anger out of her eyes. The things she thought this woman was about to do to Kieran... It made her want to strangle the black haired stranger.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin grew alarmed as he felt Nathifas conciousness fade. Perhaps she had just fallen asleep. Or perhaps Set had tried to move in on her again and it had gone a bit too far. Without concern for Arlyns reaction, he dashed back towards the way he had came, but veered off to the right a bit, in the direction Nathifa and the big hyena (he already forgot her name) had gone.

"Jetta Silverstead," Jetta answered, calmly meeting the woman's angry stare. It had been a long time since she used the human surname. In fact, the Society encouraged completely forgetting it. She could only assume that this Lady Ryssa woman had been one of Kieran's best customers and was mad that Jetta had gotten there first to rent time with him.

----------------------------

After Nathifa went unconscious, Sykino gripped the back of her dress with her teeth and picked her up. She started walking back towards where the Rebellion had gone. The power to render whoever she touched unconscious was probably the greatest of her weapons, though she did have a couple other offensive skills that served her greatly.

"If you had been to our country before, you would know it as custom to bow before royalty," Estes said calmly, though he was beginning to grow suspicious of this 'Jetta Silverstead'. He flipped back more towards the beginning of the large tome, searching for the name, and coming up with none.

"I don't care if he's busy!" Ryssa snapped. "He's my brother, and I demand to see him!"

---------------------------------------------------------

The fur on Akaelins hackles rose as he saw the hyena carrying an unconcious Nathifa in her mouth. He growled ferally, not at the hyena, but simply out of anger.

"My work requires me to travel to many different countries from Salinas to Lykosaura," Jetta responded. "Forgive me if I cannot remember every custom of each one." If the man still saw through her, which it seemed he did by the way he was flipping through the tome, then she would have to move onto her next plan. Plan B was essentially the same plan, but with a different approach. In fact, she wondered why she didn't go with Plan B in the first place, it was much more believable than Plan A.

--------------------------------

"Whoa, crazywolf!" Sykino yelped in surprise and jumped back a couple of feet, dropping Nathifa.

"Lady Ryssa, can't it wait?" Estes asked, looking at the woman in an almost desprete manner. "Please, I'm with a customer." Ryssa huffed, balling her hands into fists as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Fine!" she snapped, turning on Jetta. "Go have your sick fun." With that, she stormed out the way she had came.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin barked and ran the rest of the way towards Nathifa and the hyena, turning the goddess over with his muzzle. He looked back at the hyena with narrowed eyes. 'You have less than a minute to tell me why she isn't concious,' he said darkly, ready to tear the creatures throat out if she didn't provide him a decent answer. So what if she was one of those demi-gods? He'd find a way.

Jetta gave up the war of ideals in her mind and decided to go with plan B. If that lady was Kieran's sister, then this would be the last time she would be able to see him in this area. "Actually, you better call her back if she's his sister," Jetta said. "It will be her last opportunity to see her brother alive. I'm tired of lying to you; there's no need for me to be indirect for what I came here to do."

---------------------------

"She unconscious 'cause I make her that, yeah!" Sykino said. "She say she no want to go back an' face you. She think you not forgive her. So I make her come. But you find us before we find you."

"Excuse me?" Estes asked with an amused grin, figuring he had been right to suspect this women. "Would you mind telling me 'exactly' what buisness you have with Kieran." A faint smell of oranges wafted forward again as the room to Kierans door was opened once more. The two servents came out, locked the door again and left.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He and Nathifa were like two completely different people. Of course they were going to argue every now and then. Love wasn't about blindly accepting someone. It was about realizing their flaws and caring for them despite the fact.

Jetta smiled and closed her eyes. The change started from the roots of her hair and ran all the way down to the tips as the silvery blond color stole over the jet black. The tattoo that marked her rank reappeared on her face, and when she opened her eyes again they were silver. "My name is Jetta, but I am a silver-eyed slayer of the Society," she said, a lot more confident in this plan than the previous one. "After Kieran escaped from your facility, he killed a number of humans and landed himself on our hit list. I am here to kill him and bring his body back to the headquarters."

-----------------------------------

"I no can knock out immortal for long time, so she be waking up soon, yeah," Sykino said. As she spoke, Nathifa's eyes fluttered open, a confused look spreading over her face as she wondered exactly what had just happened. Then she saw Akaelin. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, closing her eyes and preparing for his anger.

Estes' eyes widened in surprise for a brief moment before he settled down into his calm demeanor. "I assure you, you have the wrong Kieran," he insisted. "The Kieran here has been sequestered from an early age. I guarentee he doesn't even know how to hunt wild game, let alone kill something that can think for itself."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelins hackles lowered as he peered down at Nathifa with a calm tenderness. 'We're two completely different people, Eliza,' Akaelin said, falling back into his old habit of calling the goddess by her original name. 'Of course we're going to disagree on certain things. That doesn't mean I hate you, or won't forgive you for thinking differently than I do. If that were the case, then we'd just be aquaintences. Not mates. I love you more than my own life, and I'm not so stubborn that I can't see that.'

((I won't be on tonight. I just got back from the Fayette County Fair adventure with a few friends, and I'm sort of tired. Plus, I have to get up early for an art class tomorrow, then be at work later in the day. TT^TT))

((I'm taking a PSAT class in the morning then have colorguard at night, so I probably won't be on until about 10:00 your time anyways))

"It's true that I might have gotten the wrong 'Kieran'," Jetta said. "If that even is his name, but scents and energy don't lie. I am under orders to kill him and bring him back so that is the only outcome. There are, however, different roads to that outcome. You can let me into the room, in which case I will kill him and then compensate you for the loss of your whore. The second option is that I kill you, bust down his door, and kill him anyway. Would you rather lose your life protecting a whore or gain money off of his death?" Jetta drew her sword and pointed it at Estes. "If you think I won't do it, you better factor in the lack of emotion that the upper ranks are trained to have."

------------------------------------------------------

Nathifa sighed in relief and buried her face in Akaelin's soft fur. "Of course, I was a fool for not seeing it," she said. "I'm sorry for saying that you didn't deserve to lead the pack; you only wanted what was best for the whole."

((Off-key hyena chorus in background: Caaaan you feeeeel the loooove toniiiiiiight))

((I think a better song would be, Date With a Night, by the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. You should look it up sometime. You'll see what I mean.))

Estes growled silently. Kieran might've brought him a lot of money, but Estes was the kind of person who wouldn't take a bullet for his own mother, much less the nephew he had turned into a whore. "Give me the compensation now then," he grumbled. He didn't bother to hand Jetta the key. He was pretty sure she was serious when she said that she would bust down his door.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

'I'm sorry for snapping and swearing at you,' Akaelin replied, licking her cheek. Though he rarely apologized, he didn't mind at all if it was towards his mate. To anyone else, he'd rather cut his own tonuge out first.

((I'm working on a short taof comic right now that I find to be pretty hilarious XD It's about what would happen if Runi and Geary tried to host a kid's tv show (seasame street style) from the taof universe. The word of the day is......abstinence!))

Jetta took off her backpack and took out a drawstring bag. She put it on the desk and opened it, revealing 15-20 diamonds the size of a small potato each. "I trust that this will be sufficient payment," she said. "The director of the Society is rather fond of shiny things, so doesn't hold much wealth in gold." Jetta walked over to the room that Kieran was being held in and brought her hand down to the lock, using her Society powers to straighten the inner mechanisms and unlock the room. As she opened the door and saw Kieran, she mouthed four words: "Put up a struggle"

---------------------------------------------------------

"Er, I be going then," Sykino said, trotting away in the direction of the pack.

Nathifa changed to her hyena so that she could be in matching forms with her mate. "At least Sykino was with me," she said. "If she wasn't, a certain someone might have tried to make a move."

Kieran saw Jettas mouthed words, but was rather confused. Perhaps this client was mute? The scent of oranges wafted through the air as he rose from his sitting position on the edge of the bed. A kind of fog covered his mind, and he wasn't able to recognize the owl. All he really saw was a woman who apparently was here to get laid. Whatever, it wasn't like he cared.

Even if he hadn't been confused, and had understood exactly what was going on, he wouldn't have put up a struggle. Estes would've been curious if he had. Kieran would've rather embraced the thought of death than fight it.

((Notice how I keep repeating, 'the smell of oranges'? *coughkieransdruggedcough* ^^))

-----------------------------------------------------------

'Would've given me a decent excuse to castrate him,' Akaelin replied. 'I think we should use Sykino to knock him out, dye his hair rainbow colors, and dump him at a gay rights convention.'

Jetta frowned at Kieran's reaction to her and recognized almost immediately that the smell was from a drug. Murmuring a curse, she put a hand to Kieran's forehead and silently invoked her Society magic; a healing spell that would clean all impurities from his body. After that was done, she held three small pills up to his mouth. "Swallow these," she ordered.

------------------------------------------

"It wouldn't work, but it's a tempting idea," Nathifa said. "He knows about her powers and will most likely avoid touching her. But at least we know that we don't have to get someone to drug him now."

((Have to go actually. See ya!))

This was probably the strangest sex game Kieran had ever been forced to play. The drug was strong, and his system was so used to it that it took awhile for Jettas magic to kick in. He held the pills in his hand, wondering how this woman got off on him swallowing things. Whatever. As long as the client was pleased, he'd be okay. He sighed and swallowed them, waiting to see what they would do to him.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

'Damn,' Akaelin swore under his breath. 'I would've loved to see him get raped by a bunch of gay guys.' He turned his head back towards where the group had gone. 'You know...you still owe me a race.' He thought back to the time when they had sort of raced when going to pick up Rukia, but in the end, Nathifa had let him win because she hadn't known where she was going. Now, all they had to do was travel north until they hit the group. A certain finish line.

Jetta waited as she was sure that the drug would cause Kieran to lose consciousness. Next, she listened to his heartbeats grow slower and slower until they ceased altogether. She made sure that all signs of life were gone from him before she slung him over her shoulder in a careless manner and exited the room. The power-supressant pills of the Society were poison to an Aravos, but she was glad that she still carried them out of habit. If a non-Society mortal were to eat one, it would knock them unconscious. Raise the number to three and it would put them in a condition mimicking death, the person who took the pills living off of the oxygen and nutrients contained inside the Society formula. The only downside of it was that an antidote would have to be given to reverse the effects and 'resurrect' the person who had taken them. The next matter of business would be to track down Kieran's sister.

----------------------------------------

"You're on," Nathifa replied with a grin. "I promise not to use my goddess powers, but the speed of the Phantom Division is hard to match!" She searched until she pinpointed the pack's collective mass of energy. "First one to the front of the group?"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid. Stupid people. Stupid uncle." Ryssa rode in the back of the same carriage that Kieran had been thrown into. She had her arms folded tightly across her chest as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. She pulled the curtain back to peer outside at the grand city of Akribos. It was a city of vast wealth, though not as cliche as Grand Chokmah had been, made entirely of gold. And it all should've been Kierans. He was their fathers first born son, and had it not been for different colored eyes, Kieran would've succeeded him. But no. Their father was too hot headed and stubborn to realize that his wife hadn't cheated on him with another man whatsoever.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin laughed. His entire bloodline had been bred for speed rather than strength, with long, sturdy legs and small bodies. "We'll see how well you do," he said, tail wagging slightly. He stood next to her as he lowered his head, counting down from three. As soon as he hit one, he dug his claws into the earth and lunged forward, stretching his legs to their full extent.

Jetta soon locked on to Ryssa's energy that she had felt before in the whore house; because she was brimming with anger it wasn't too hard to find. She had put Kieran's seemingly dead body in a large burlap bag that could be carried on one's back so as not to attract suspicion by carrying around a corpse. Jetta found it all too simple to catch up to the carriage and job alongside it. She knocked on the carriage door, slip of paper all prepared.

-----------------------------

Nathifa was taken by surprise by Akaelin's speed, and tried to bring back memories of her old training. Judging by the way that 37 had run into that tree earlier, Jetta had given her just enough training to be able to keep up with her. Using a burst of Society power to compensate for her mate's unexpected head start, she soon caught up to him and was running neck to neck.

Ryssa flinched in surprise, hearing the knock on the door. She pounded her fist against the wall, signalling the driver to stop. The horses reared the heads up for a moment, then settled back down as Ryssa opened the door. "You!" she snapped angrily, eyes narrowing on Jetta. "You're the woman from the brothel. What the hell do you want?" she demanded.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin chuckled as he peered at Nathifa out of the corner of his eyes. He ran neck and neck with her for awhile, just enjoying the feel of the run and the wind rushing past his drawn back ears. Panting, he attempted to stretch his limbs out further, occasionally digging his claws into the ground like a cheetah for an extra boost of speed.

"I want to bring your brother to safety," Jetta said. "And I want him to be able to see his sister. Meet us here this evening if possible." Jetta handed her the piece of paper, on which was written the name of a tavern/inn in a town nearby Akribos. "I'd let you talk to him now, but not only would he attract unwanted attention while inside the city, but I faked his death." Jetta motioned to the bag on her back as she veered away from the carriage to dart out of the city. She took flight once outside the gates and headed for the place she had written down for Ryssa.

----------------------------------

Nathifa stretched out her strides to the maximum and tried to make each one cover as much distance as possible. A trick Jetta had taught them was to imagine themselves like a snake - to move quickly while staying as low to the ground as possible.

Ryssa was slightly confused, but accepted the piece of paper. Closing the door, she knocked on the wall, signaling for the carriage to start again. A part of her really liked the idea of Kieran leaving this place, but another part was afraid of never seeing him again. She wanted to slap herself for that greedy thought. Kieran deserved a life away from Akribos, where people wouldn't think of him as just a whore, or someones property.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Akaelin grew more serious as the group started to come into view. He lowered his head, his tail fanned out straight behind him as he made a beeline for the rebellion.