Strays: A Romantic Fantasy Adventure

Ren carefully flicked the sharp blade of the ruby dagger across the white strands. “Stop moving!” he barked at the seated boy as he tugged roughly on a lock of hair. “You’re lucky I’m using this dainty, little dagger and not my hunting knife. I would have cut your damn ear clean off. Not that it would really matter much, anyways. But still, quit moving around.”

“I’m not moving,” Zero muttered, his eyes dark red boredom.

The angel knew he hadn’t moved, he just liked to make the devil talk. He looked down at the boy’s bare feet, noticing his pants sat higher up on his leg. “You need new pants,” he told him, his irritation growing at the sight. “You grew again. They’re too short now. How do your boots feel?”

“Tight,” Zero replied emotionlessly, already knowing the man’s complaints before he even opened his mouth.

“Damn it, boy! You need to tell me these things. I can’t feel your feet for you, and you can’t be walking around in too short of pants and too small of boots. We’ll have to get you some new shirts, too. You’re finally starting to fill out and not look so much like a bean pole anymore. It’s about damn time you put some meat on those bones.”

“Okay.”

Ren continued cutting, grumbling under his breath. The boy was always like this, never speaking up when he had outgrown his boots or clothes. Instead, relying on the angel to make those observations and ask about it before admitting that he needed new things. He lowered the blade, taking a good look at the devil, before slipping the dagger into his belt and ruffling his hair. “Alright, get your shirt on. Let’s go find your girl.” He snorted, trying to contain his glee and failing miserably.

Zero swept the hair from his shoulders, refusing to look at him. “She’s not my girl.”

“She will be tonight!” And then the laughter came.

A small groan escaped the devil’s throat. He was not looking forward to it and had been relieved every night they had returned to their room having not found the succubus. Another night he could spend alone with Ivy, the two of them lost in the warmth and the light without the threat of intrusion.

But Ren had ruined everything the night before as they were heading back to the room when he had found and spoken to a reluctant man who happened to personally know the woman on a more intimate level. He had told Ren where to find her, having recently been to her residence himself. The look of pure elation on the angel’s face as he relayed his findings made Zero’s face fall along with his heart into his stomach. Ren had found the boy’s newest expression hilarious and had been reveling in it since.

It really had been foolish of Zero to think that he could avoid all of this. Not with the man being so determined to find the succubus, to making the boy’s life more difficult and his more entertaining. After all, once Ren set out to obtain something, sooner or later, he always succeeded.

Ivy had been laying on her stomach, watching, before she rolled away from Sakura and off the bed with the boy’s shirt in hand as the woman slung a pillow at the hysterical man’s head. “Try not to worry about it.” The girl smiled kindly, doing her best to be encouraging. “It’s just this once. Lean down.” Zero complied and Ivy brushed the remaining hair from his neck and back before slipping the shirt over his head. She watched him stick his arms through the sleeves and sighed, feeling guilty. “You don’t have to do this,” she told him quietly.

“I want to,” he lied.

“No you don’t.”

“I don’t.” He smiled at her, a small upturn of his lips. “But I’ll do it.”

Ivy couldn’t force the same, so she wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her ear against his chest, listening to his heart.

Feeling the beats.

Exactly the same as hers.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Ren passed the pair and opened the door, barely containing his anticipation. “Come on. Let’s get this show on the road. Move it.” He smiled sweetly at Ivy and winked at Zero as they went by. He had planned on leering at the vixen, but she grabbed his ear and forced him down closer to her level.

“Knock it off,” Sakura growled. “You’re being a jerk. He’s having a hard enough time as it is, and you’re only making it worse.”

“I’m teaching the boy a valuable life lesson,” he argued, pulling at her hand, struggling against the tighter than normal pinch.

“Oh yeah? A valuable life lesson? And what exactly is that?”

“That life sucks, and nobody gives a fuck about your feelings,” the man informed as he freed himself from the woman’s grip.

She stared blankly at the man, the same one who constantly demanded and whined for her to care about his precious little feelings, to always give him the attention that he craved.

Ren didn’t need her words to chastise him, her eyes were more than enough. “Don’t give me that look. You have to care about my feelings.” He closed the door and followed after the pair. “I’m your alpha mate. It’s your duty to take care of me. You chose me, and there’s no going back on it now. Zero has Ivy. Ivy cares. I, on the other hand, do not and neither does anyone else.” He looked down at the woman, the same expression of disapproval on her face having never left. “Well, other than his mother hen. Mother hen cares, but Papa doesn’t give a shit.”

“What happened to all that talk about how Zero’s still your baby?”

The angel waved her off. “That was then. This is now. He’s no longer a baby. He’s now on his way to becoming a man!” The laughter erupted once again as the demon smacked at him, scolding the man for his childish behavior.

The East End of Volsceen was immaculately maintained. Every tree and shrub and flower were placed just so, and there was not so much as a crack in the roads. The homes and buildings were tall and wide, their colors vibrant without a single chip in the paint. Many of the people on the roads wore fabrics of quality that undoubtedly cost a good amount of coin to possess, the women in full skirts and fitted bodices while then men walked in tailored jackets and trousers. It was the affluent part of town, and the four travelers stuck out like sore thumbs among the elegant masses.

Ivy observed her whimsy skirt while picking at the fraying edges of her corset with a pout. “Do you think I should have worn something nicer?” she asked quietly, feeling self-conscious over her mussy state of dress. “Maybe I should have worn the silk dress?”

“We’re going to see a prostitute, Little One,” Ren reminded the girl as he nodded and smiled charmingly at a small group of appalled women twirling lace parasols over their shoulders. “I don’t think she cares what you wear. Besides…” His eyes narrowed, ogling the vixen as she strutted ahead in her normal attire of a ripped up mid-riff shirt, shorts, and knee-high boots without so much as a single care. “If any of us are gonna be judged for the way we dress, it’ll be Sakura. No one even notices what you're wearing or that scuff on the toe of your left boot.”

A small gasp came from the girl as she viewed the boot in question, sighing miserably at the imperfection she had missed.

She really should have worn the silk dress and flats.

A squeeze on her hand had Ivy looking up at the devil who smiled softly down at her.

“I like the way you dress,” Zero told her. “And the scuff on your boot. It’s only like that because you dance, and I like when you dance. So don’t worry about it.”

“I guess that’s true!” The girl beamed, releasing his hand and wrapping herself around his arm, her mood instantly uplifted.

Sakura stopped in front of a blush pink house with bright white trim and baby blue shutters. She gawked, wide-eyed, at the massive, three-story abode. “Oh! Wow! Looks like she’s doing very, very well.” She knocked on the door and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

She knocked again, louder, the door rattling with each hit. Her ears twitched, hearing the rustling and shuffling from beyond the door and further into the home.

But no one came.

And Sakura’s anger flared.

“Open the fucking door, Mahala!” the demon screamed as both hands pounded against the wood. “Or I’ll break it down!”

The footsteps were quick, and the door flew open, the woman behind it already furious. “What do you…” The woman froze, anger turning to shock for only a moment before being replaced by an irritable smirk. “Oh, it’s you. The fox girl. I thought you’d be dead by now,” her voice was deep and sultry, the same as her long, dark, brown curls and chocolate eyes. She crossed her arms over her corseted chest, the various bracelets on her arms jangling against each other as her hip pressed against the door frame, her skirt a forest green with belts that made just as much noise as her wrists. A large, elaborate necklace graced her neck as she tilted it up to look at the fox demon who stood a few inches taller. “What do you want?”

“I need your services,” Sakura told her, to the point.

Mahala looked past her and at the other three. “Little girl,” she spoke to Ivy, ignoring the woman. “You are not so little now. You have become a woman. You have gorgeous face, good curves, desirable proportions.” She glanced distastefully at the demon’s shapely chest before back at the girl. “Not too big, not too small. You come work for me. I’ll buy you pretty dresses, pretty jewelry, keep you clean. You’ll be happy here. Men will love you. You’ll make more coin than you could ever spend.”

Sakura snatched the woman’s chin in her hand, forcing her attention away from the girl and back on the fox. “I will crush your fucking skull and paint this house with your blood,” she seethed, emeralds burning.

“Yes, yes,” Mahala pushed her hand away, unconcerned. “Of course you will. Always so angry. Always wanting to fight. You should fix that. Men don’t like violent women like you. And if you had half a brain in that hollow skull of yours, you would use the novelty of being a vixen outside of the den to your advantage. Set yourself up for life instead of scrounging around for bronze like the rodent that you are.” She chuckled lightly. “But you are a fool. Always have been, always will be. So, what is it that you want this time?”

The demon clenched her fists and eyes closed tightly, trying to calm her breathing. How it pained her to require this woman’s assistance once again.

But she needed her.

For Ivy’s sake.

She took one last deep breath before looking at the succubus. “I need your help.”

“Of course you do. Why else would you be here? But I am busy. I have many customers. Many high paying customers. And you, little fox…” The corner of her mouth curved up with the smug raising of her brow. “You cannot even begin to afford me.”

“Cancel them,” Sakura demanded. “All of them.”

Her smirk grew. “And why would I do that?”

“Hold out your hands.”

Mahala considered it before limply holding her palm up.

“Hands,” the fox repeated as she pulled her bag forward. “As in both. Two. You need help counting?”

The woman huffed and rolled her eyes but cupped both together as the demon dropped a large handful of gold into her hands. She blinked at the bounty she held before stepping aside. “Alright. I will help you. But first you all wash up. You stink like dirt and trees. Then we will talk.”

Ivy gazed up at the woman, awe and hope dancing in her violet eyes. “Do you have plumbing?”

Mahala looked down at the girl with a small raise of her brows. “Of course. This is East End, not district. Go.”

She gasped and pushed passed everyone as she ran through the door, her giggles echoing in the halls.

The succubus watched her go, indifferent to the girl’s joy. “I see she is still the same,” she observed before turning back to the remaining three. “Come. Hurry. Before anyone sees you here. I wouldn’t want the neighbors to talk.”