Winged Dagger

Dark Alleys

Kiyomi and I headed down to the city in a carriage. Gathering all we needed from the shops and window-shopping together, darkness began to fall faster than I expected. The streets were nearly deserted by sunset, as if the whole city had locked its doors.

"Mina," said Kiyomi, rather unafraid. "We should be heading back."

Kiyomi was about to step into the carriage, when a scream echoed off the dark city. Even the light of the stars seemed to have faded for a second. I ran to the sound of the voice, Kiyomi a step behind me. In an alley behind a shop was a scene I think I wouldn't ever forget.

Someone dressed in pure black stood over a lady with black hair, a knife in his hand. An owl with two wings glimmered on the hilt. I stood, frozen in fear as Kiyomi screamed, the second one of the night. The man turned toward us.

"Jasmine," he said, as if I were someone he had known his whole life.

Voices came from down the street, but none of us risked a look back.

The man looked up and shook his head. "Another day. I'll find you another day."

And with that, he ran, disappearing into the shadows, not even his footsteps remaining to show he had even been there. The woman on the floor sat up, blood drenching her dress.

Something brushed up against my leg, and I looked down to see a worried Asura walking around my legs. 'Alright?'

I shook my head and knelt down next to him, ignoring everything else. "I know him. I should know him." I had heard his voice before, I realized as words rang in my head. You don't resign from our office. You either work, or you die.

'You'll remember.' Asura said it with a certainty that made me relax.

"Mina." A hand fell on my shoulder. I looked up to see her, Arthur and Sebastian—Arthur who had an expression of vulnerable concern on his face.

'I called him.'

Arthur swiftly knelt beside me, tilting my chin up as he searched my eyes. "Shock, surprise, confusion."

I didn't even deny it. Sebastian walked over to the other woman, helping her up and guiding her out of the alley.

"He knew her name," Kiyomi said, gesturing down the alley where the murderer had disappeared.

Arthur's eyes narrowed. Lifting me up with the unholy strength of the damned, he jerked his head down the street. "Let's head back to the mansion first."

Le Comte was waiting for us, and Asura walked up to him. He bowed and entered the mansion, as le Comte returned it with a nod. I wonder when they became acquainted.

Arthur looked at le Comte, who shook his head as his eyes fell on me and Kiyomi. "Later. Get them to bed."

Arthur headed in, nodding a goodbye to Kiyomi, who was escorted away by a concerned Mozart. The mansion was quiet, and Arthur's footsteps were the only sound in the corridor. He carried me straight to my bedroom, setting me down gently on the bed, before taking a seat beside me.

"Do you want to talk?"

I shook my head, not even sure where I would start. I looked up again as the weight on the bed eased to see Arthur at my desk, looking through the papers that held the things I had written about my life, every aspect of it I could remember.

"You used to write a lot, didn't you?" he asked as he flipped a page over.

"I can't hold a candle to you."

He shook his head, as if I should give myself a little more credit, and continued reading, not even looking up as Asura walked in and hopped onto his makeshift bed on my table.

'I didn't know you and Comte were acquainted,' I thought with amusement.

'That man knows more than he lets on,' Asura responded with a swish of a tail.

'You mean you were busted.'

'If you had to put it bluntly, that is indeed what happened.'

I smiled, as sleep called my name. The image of Arthur reading at my desk was imprinted into the back of my eyelids.

                                  *

I woke up to Arthur's face again.

"What are you still doing in my room?" I asked even before I relinquished sleep's hold on me.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright," he said, leaning back in the chair. I looked over to Asura, who seemed rather serene at the window, watching the view outside.

"An honorable intention." Getting up, I ran a hand through my hair, straightening it out.

"Le Comte wanted to see you."

"Alright, alright. I'll be out in ten minutes. I need to change so get out."

"Maybe I should stay and make sure you really are okay?" he asked with a hint of mischief in his eyes.

I tossed a pillow at him, and he laughed as he ducked out of the room.

"Playboy," I muttered as Asura left as well.

I headed out ten minutes later. Arthur stood outside the door, a spot of blood on his cheek. I absent-mindedly wiped it off with my finger. Grabbing my hand, he licked the blood off my finger, which earned him a slap on the head from me.

"Come on," I said, attempting not to show how flustered I was. He smiled, and I knew I had failed.

"Le Comte?" I called as I headed into the garden.

Le Comte sat at one end of a round table with a cup of tea, and he gestured to the other, where I took a seat before looking around. Sebastian and Kiyomi were engaged in a conversation nearby, which came to a stop as le Comte observed me. Arthur leaned against a wall.

"Would you tell me what happened yesterday?"

I took a deep breath, Kiyomi egging me on silently with her expression. And I told them. About the victim, about the man with a knife. I pulled out my dagger from a hidden pocket, and told them how they were similar, how I suspected I knew him, how he definitely knew me. And I told them I couldn't remember, that a part of my memory was locked and gone.

"Asura said that you had most likely forgotten the incident that brought you here. That the trauma was too much for you to handle," said le Comte, as he set his tea cup down.

"Asura? The cat told you?" asked Sebastian.

"Yes," said le Comte warmly, as if talking to cats was something he did every day. "He also said that he knew how you came to be here, but a contract with you is binding his will."

"So he can't tell us," I said. Le Comte nodded in affirmation, and I looked to Sebastian. "That woman from yesterday, is she..?"

"She's alive, she's recovering," said Sebastian with a hint of reassurance in his voice. I thought I saw Arthur relax, and wondered whether he had met that lady in one of his nightly sprees.

"Well then, if that's all," said Comte, bringing the attention back to him. His glance was rather intense. "Ma cherie, you're in danger. Whoever he is, he may be searching for you."

I nodded. "I'll be careful."

Le Comte stood up, and with a nod, he headed back inside. Sebastian stopped short of the door leading to the mansion. "Both of you take a day off. I expect you to be ready for work tomorrow."

"He's very generous, isn't he?" I said as Sebastian headed in. Kiyomi ruffled my hair absent-mindedly before heading in. Arthur walked up to me.

"Would you play a game with me?"

"I thought you'd given up."

He flashed a knowing smile. "Not at all. I simply relented in view of how hectic it's been." His eyes landed on mine, as if he already had the game planned out.

"What's this about?"

"Play chess with me and find out."

"Alright," I said, deciding I'd pay whatever price was due later.

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