Exile Empire, Exile The Second

Chapter 23 - Sorin

"The Society will send us information, but I have to go back to my place to get it," Missy said as we left the bar. She was wearing a short miniskirt and a tiny tank top with her hair hanging in damp curls around her face from the sweat of her dancing, or the heat of being admired by all those men.

"I'll wait for you," I said. "You can tell me what they send."

"Oh come on, wolfie," she snickered, lifting the leather jacket she'd snatched on our way out. It'd been hanging on the back of a chair, and belonged to somebody much larger than her judging by the fit of it when she shrugged it over her shoulders.

She had to roll up the sleeves, and she patted herself while we walked. "Jackpot!" she exclaimed, pulling a pack of cigarettes from an inner pocket. She stuck one in her mouth, flicked her fingers and ignited it with her pink flame.

"So anyways, I was saying," she said, drawing a long breath of smoke. "Come with me, I promise I won't bite."

"It's okay, I'll wait," I replied stubbornly. Even being here with Missy felt disloyal to Kairos, how could I possibly go back to her place and be alone with her? I assumed she lived alone.

"Seriously, come back and meet a few of the freaks and weirdos I live with," she said, sucking on her cigarette again. She exhaled a long stream of smoke and I swear she used magic to make it curl around her like a snake.

I'd been wrong though, she did live with people. It might not be so bad then. She wouldn't be able to jump me if we were around others.

"Fine," I replied. "But make it fast, we need to find my—"

"I know, I know," Missy snapped. "Your mate. The love of your life. Your one true love. Your destiny. Blah, blah, blah, gag me with a spoon, dude. Get over yourself."

I was taken aback by her assessment of my relationship with Kairos and emitted an angry response. "You have no idea what you're talking about. If you understood what was at stake here, you might tone it down a little."

"Oh wolfie, I haven't toned it down in over three centuries, what makes you think I'm going to start now?" she exclaimed, bursting into laughter.

I tensed up at her mockery and inside my chest, wolf growled a low sound of warning.

"You take yourself too seriously," she said, flouncing off in front of me. I easily kept up, but stayed behind because wolf was anxious and enraged. I was concerned I'd lose control of him if she kept up her steady stream of obnoxious prattle about the thing she knew nothing about.

All it'd take is for her to say one wrong thing about Kairos and the two of us would explode. Hurting or even killing a wood witch wouldn't do anything to my sense of morality and I knew wolf would, in fact, enjoy it.

We walked for about fifteen minutes through the night streets of East Vancouver. The lights illuminated the sidewalk and there was a regular flow of traffic back and forth, headlights cutting across us every so often. Wolf smelled everything as we moved from the gasoline and oil scents of the street, to the wafting near-orgasmic scents of cooking meat from late night pubs and restaurants along the way.

Hungry, he whined.

And I agreed. We were both hungry, but I couldn't sit and eat when Kairos was away from us, facing danger on her own.

Missy didn't stop talking, not even as she suddenly made a right turn off the sidewalk and headed up to an apartment building. It was nondescript, a three story, broad building with white stucco finish and brown wooden balconies across the front. There was an air of abandonment to it, like it had last been cared for in the nineties and had been ignored since then.