Inchoate Blood (CRUX I)

5. Disgruntling

5. Disgruntling

"What's your name?" I ask casually.

"It's E-," she seems to hesitate.

"E?" I ask questionably.

"My name's Eire," she repeats, "It's not a common name. What's yours?"

"Cruz," I say, while peering at her.

She's pretty, I guess, in a dainty but defiant way. Her fringe reaches the tip of her dark eyes, lined with black eyeliner and a touch of smoky eye shadow. Her mouth is small but doesn't lack volume, a slight curve and glossed with a plumpish red. Underneath her untied cloak, she's also wearing a slim black dress that accentuates her small waist, hitching out into an uneven skirt draped with rich velvet. Daring fishnet stockings adorn her legs and high-heels with black ribbons crisscross up her ankles like ballet shoes.

She catches my gaze with a raise of an eyebrow, "Never seen a girl before?"

Her mouth, while small, is as sharp as a razor.

"Not one quite as adoring," I flirt. To my surprise, her cheeks flash the slightest red. Too easy.

"Tell me, why did to come to Marsq tonight?" I prompt to my curiosity.

"Is that relevant? To play with the men of course," she laughs dryly. Wrong answer.

I grin anyway as if amused and hold my arm on the wooden wall beside her, cornering her on the spot as I slowly my face move closer. Just as I thought, my drift ring is now burning up even more being close to its pair. She holds still while thinking that I've been led astray by her appeal. I smile a little wider before brushing my lips against the side of her neck, licking her black choker.

"Now tell me the real answer," I say in a deeper voice, "Why did you come to Marsq tonight?"

I expect her to confess by now, that she murdered Jett and that maybe she even regrets it. But the click of a loaded gun was not what I expected.

"Please, can't a girl have her fun?" she whispers back into my ear. I feel the presence of a gun held beside my head. Shit dammit.

Quickly regaining myself, I pull out my own pistol and direct it to her in synchronise. We both step back from each other, holding our weapons out in front of us, both ready to hit the trigger.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask her in monotone.

"Shouldn't I be asking you the same question?" she replies without her hint of amusement.

This is getting nowhere. I concentrate briefly on my drift ring before realising that there is no warmth coming from it anymore. Wait- what the hell?

I decide to ignore my cold drift ring. "Jett Ryder. Ever heard of him?" I say to her.

"Never." She shakes her head curtly. "Why do you ask?"

"You ought to remember him. He's the alchemist you killed over two weeks ago," my voice taunts her, despite only assuming she's the murder and my stupid drift ring saying otherwise.

"What if I don't recall such thing?" she replies with a small edge.

"Then, my love," my eyes narrow at her as I finally pull the trigger aimed at her chest, "Prepare to die." I don't care what my fucking drift ring says anymore. My instincts tell me that she's guilty for Jett's death, and I trust it.

In that quick second, however, Eire arches her back incredibly low to the ground and the bullet flies over her torso, hitting the wood behind with a drilled hole. She puts a hand on the floor and uses it somersault herself back up, gun in her other hand still pointing at me.

Without doubt, her expertise in combat is capable of giving a skilled fighter like Jett a hard time. Add planned disclosure to it she would've gotten him on his knees within minutes. Thinking about it hard, it's all too possible.

"Too bad it's going to take more effort than that," she says to me, her eyes darkening.

The murderer killed Jett. She killed him.

And to think my life would turn such a curve after just one person's death, even if it was only for the better. His death made me realise so many things I took for granted previously, giving me real understanding to what this world is truly like. Broken and full of scarring that will never heal; I thank the murderer for making me realise that. If only I have the mercy to grant her a longer life.

I growl back. "Whatever it takes to see you bleed to death."

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