A Fox's Alliance (American Kitsune Book 10)

by Brandon Varnell

  “Sixteen,” Kevin said at last.

  Lilian quickly jotted it down. She then closed the notebook and stretched her arms above her head. Kevin tried not to let his eyes leave the road, but it was tough when his mate’s chest was practically popping out of her shirt.

  She is so oblivious. Does she even realize what she’s doing to me?

  Probably not, Kevin concluded. For all the times Lilian had tried to seduce him back when they first met, she really didn’t know what she could do when she acted naturally. She wasn’t like Iris, whose every move was calculated to make her as sexy as possible. Unlike the succubus lily, Lilian’s seductiveness came from a natural sensuality. She was unbelievably sexy only when she acted like herself. At least, Kevin thought so.

  Almost absently, Kevin looked in the rearview mirror. Iris was no longer visible through it. She’d long since taken to lying down.

  “Is Iris still asleep?”

  Lilian looked back at her sister, then turned her eyes up front. “Yep. Lazy bum nodded right off before getting halfway done with her homework.”

  “She’s definitely not the diligent type.” He nodded.

  “Ufufu, definitely not.” A breathy sigh escaped Lilian’s lips. She rubbed her eyes some before reaching down and pulling another notebook out of her backpack. “I guess I should get started on our English homework.”

  English was Lilian’s best subject.

  “You’ll let me copy off you once we arrive at our destination, right?” he asked.

  “Of course!” Lilian beamed at Kevin. “You are my mate, after all.”

  ***

  Kevin’s butt hurt. He supposed that was what happened after sitting in a car for three hours. A glance at the dashboard revealed that it was 11:45 a.m., almost lunch time. They would have to find a place to stop soon.

  Taking one hand off the steering wheel, Kevin reached for the GPS built into the dashboard—

  “EEEEEEEE!!!!”

  —but jerked his hand back as something long and furry slipped into his pants.

  “What the hell?!”

  A tingling sensation erupted from his crotch, making him swerve recklessly and almost drive off the road. The tail quickly retracted, and Kevin regained control of the car. After making sure his heart hadn’t leapt out of his throat, he cast a glare at the only person daring enough to do something like that.

  “Dang it, Iris! Don’t do that!”

  “Huhuhu,” Iris chuckled as she peeked out from behind his chair. “There’s no need for such a harsh tone, Stud. I was only saying hello.”

  “You can keep your hellos!” Kevin snapped, his breathing still heavy from a combination of shock and arousal. “I nearly drove us off the road thanks to you!”

  “Are you upset?”

  “Does Spike Spiegel have terrible luck with money?”

  “I don’t know who that is,” Iris confessed, “but I can take a hint. Hm, how about this?” Kevin nearly jerked again when Iris leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. Her lips were warm and soft, and they left a pleasant tingle in their wake. “There, you like me again now, right?”

  “Tch. You’re just lucky you’re Lilian’s sister.”

  “Whatever.” Iris laughed. “You know you love me!”

  “Just wake up your sister, Iris,” Kevin grumbled.

  “Fine. Fine.”

  Iris shifted to the other side, where she proceeded to wake up Lilian, the redhead stirring as her shoulder was shaken.

  “Nnggg…” Groaning, Lilian sat up and rubbed her eyes. “Are we there yet?”

  “No,” Kevin said. “We’re just going to get lunch.”

  “M’kay,” Lilian mumbled, curling back up. “Wake me up when we get there.”

  “Don’t fall back asleep!”

  ***

  Kevin wasn’t the most studious of individuals, but that didn’t mean he was a slacker either. While he didn’t know what he wanted to do for a career, he did understand that getting good grades, so he could go to a good college, was essential for anyone who wanted to make something of themselves.

  That explained why he was working on his English even as he ate a premium chicken wrap with one hand.

  He, Lilian, and Iris had stopped at a McDonald's located at a small stopping point off the Papago Freeway. It wasn’t much to look at. This sort of place was just a pit stop for people passing through. The McDonald’s was attached to a gas station, so they could also buy some snacks for the car should they feel like it. At the moment, though, the three of them were content with simply eating.

  “Careful not to get any food on my homework,” Lilian said as she munched on a sausage, egg, and cheese McGriddle.

  “Don’t worry,” Kevin reassured his mate. “I’m not Iris.”

  “That’s not a very nice thing to say. I’m not a slob, you know.” Despite saying this, Iris didn’t appear too upset. Kevin assumed it was because she was busy eating her own food.

  “Say that when you don’t have sauce dripping from your mouth,” Kevin and Lilian said in unison. They looked at each other and smiled.

  “Tch!”

  As Iris quickly grabbed a napkin and cleaned her face off, Kevin went back to copying Lilian’s homework. He could have done it himself—he wasn’t terrible at English—but he’d been driving a car for three hours, and he’d also helped Lilian with her math while driving. Kevin felt he deserved to skimp on his work a little.

  The sound of the doors blowing open alerted Kevin to trouble. As screams pierced the air, he, Lilian, and Iris grabbed their school supplies and ducked under the booth. As they hid there, Kevin looked at his mate and her sister to come up with a plan should these people be from the Sons and Daughters of Humanity.

  He nearly slammed his face into the table bench when he saw what they were doing.

  “Why are you still eating?!” Kevin whispered harshly.

  “What?” Lilian gave him a look that clearly said, “Why are you angry?” even as she bit into her McGriddle. Beside her, Iris was munching on a Big Mac without a care in the world. “We’re still hungry.”

  “You’re just jealous because we had the foresight to grab our food while yours is still on the table,” Iris added. Kevin scowled, but he didn’t say anything.

  Several people walked into the McDonalds at that moment, forcing him to turn his attention away from the pair. He frowned. These people weren’t human.

  Dressed in long, tan overcoats reminiscent of cowboy style trench coats, they strolled into the room, their booted feet clunking against the floor. Several of them wore cowboy hats. Those who didn’t allowed everyone present to see their furry round ears, which twitched and wiggled. Large bushy tails stuck out from underneath their coats, wagging back and forth as they waddled in.

  Tanuki.

  Kevin knew the species. They were also called Japanese Raccoon Dogs, though the name was somewhat misleading, as they didn’t just live in Japan—at least, the yōkai species didn’t. Tanuki were generally considered jovial and mischievous. Supposedly, they were master shapeshifters and highly intelligent, but also absentminded.

  “There’s a whole gang of them,” Lilian whispered. “I wonder what they’re all doing here.”

  “You and me both,” Kevin muttered.

  “Maybe they’re here to have a showdown,” Iris suggested.

  “This is a stick up!” the tanuki standing at the head shouted.

  “Uh, I think you mean, ‘This is a robbery, stick ‘em up,” another tanuki said.

  “Oh, right. This is a robbery! Stick ‘em up!”

  Kevin dragged a hand down his face. “A robbery? ‘Stick ‘em up?’ Seriously? Who talks like that when robbing someone anymore?”

  “They’ve obviously been watching too many western shows,” Lilian agreed.

  “I don’t want to hear that from two people who’ve tried to base their entire lives on anime,” Iris muttered.

  The crowd panicked. Most of the people there did exactly what they wer
e told, sticking their hands into the air. Others began sobbing. Mothers hugged their children close to their chest, while fathers stood protectively in front of their families. A threnody of frightened voices all called out at once.

  Several tanuki didn’t take too kindly to the humans who were standing up to them, even if it was to protect their families. One of the tanuki waltzed up to a family of four and spat in the father’s face.

  “Didn’t you hear us? We said stick ‘em up! This is a heist!”

  “Actually, it’s a robbery,” one of the tanuki said.

  “Same difference!”

  The father tried to look confident, but his knees shook as he glared at the tanuki. His face had also gone pale and a cold sweat drenched his neck. This person had probably never seen a yōkai up close before.

  “I-I won’t let you hurt my family, monster!” he shouted despite his fear.

  It was as if someone had flipped a switch. The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Hostile. All of the tanukis’ expressions had changed. Lips peeled back into feral snarls, revealing row upon row of sharp teeth. Eyes narrowed in hate, uncontained and unrestrained. A palpable aura of rage had descended upon the group of yōkai.

  “Monster?” the tanuki group’s leader murmured, walking up to the father who’d spoken. “You think we’re monsters?”

  “Y-yes. Of course I do!” The father no longer looked quite as confident as he had before, but even so, he kept talking as if he’d contracted a bad case of motormouth. “Everyone knows that you yōkai are nothing but a pack of monsters who feed on humans! That’s why the United States is at war with you!”

  “Wrong!”

  Everyone shrieked as, too quickly for human eyes to follow, the tanuki grabbed the father by the head and slammed him face-first into a table. The loud crunch of his nose breaking under the assault rang out for everyone to hear, even over the din of terrified screams. The father grunted in pain, biting his lip in his effort to not give these yōkai the satisfaction of hearing him scream.

  “Daniel!”

  “Daddy!”

  The mother and her children looked like they wanted to move, but they froze in place when another tanuki moved in front of them. It might have been his glare, or maybe it was the bloodlust and hatred radiating from his eyes. Regardless, the mother and kids couldn’t move a muscle.

  “Let me tell you something,” the leader tanuki ground out, his voice grating and harsh. “The only monsters in this world are you humans. I’ve been around for a long time, and I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a more despicable species. You hate others because they’re different from you. You enslave your own kind and sell them on the black market. You steal and lie and cheat and kill. You call us monsters because we’re not human. I call you monsters because you are human. And now, you’re going to see what me and my boys do to monsters like you.”

  The tanuki raised his left hand, from which several claws protruded from his fingers, which glinted in the light with deadly intent. More screams erupted. The family whose father was about to die wailed. The mother rushed forward, but she was pushed to the floor by the much larger tanuki.

  “This is what happens to real monsters!” the tanuki shouted, preparing to bring down his claws and kill the man whose face was smashed against the counter.

  “Hold it!” a voice rang out.

  The claws stopped a mere centimeter from the man’s face. A confused look suddenly flashed across his eyes as he, along with everyone else, wondered who would dare to say something during a moment like this.

  Everyone turned toward the source of the shout to find Kevin and Lilian standing on the table, back to back, with matching smirks plastered on their faces.

  “To protect the world from douchebags everywhere.”

  “To defend the innocent with style and flair.”

  “Kevin.”

  “Lilian.”

  “Curb stomping jerks at the speed of light.”

  “Surrender now or prepare to be stomped into the ground.”

  “Hellz yeah, that’s right—wait. Why the hell am I the mascot?!” Iris complained.

  “Because you’re not a main character?” Kevin suggested.

  “What kind of crap is that? I am so a main character!”

  “Yeah, maybe, but you’re not the main, main character like Kevin and I are,” Lilian said. “Besides, who else could possibly be the mascot? Eric isn’t here, and there’s no one else who can play that role so well.”

  Back in Arizona, a certain pervert started sneezing for no apparent reason. He would later blame it on allergies.

  “You guys suck,” Iris grumbled.

  “You know you love us,” the mated pair said at the same time.

  “Who the hell are you two?!” the tanuki leader shouted.

  “Um, hello, there’s three of us,” Iris pointed at herself. “I even dressed up in a super sexy costume for this. How can you not notice me?”

  Indeed, now that Kevin was looking at her, he could see that Iris had changed into a costume. Covering her hands were large gloves designed to look like three-fingered paws. Her feet were encased in furry white boots that reminded him of cartoonish cat feet. She wasn’t wearing much else. Wrapped around her hips was a very small mini-skirt, and a piece of white fabric kept her breasts from being completely exposed, but even then, he could see her nipples poking through the fabric.

  “When did you change outfits?” asked Kevin.

  “Just now,” Iris said.

  “I wanna change outfits too!” Lilian cried out.

  Kevin sighed. “You should have thought about doing that sooner.”

  “Don’t be mean, Beloved.”

  As the three bickered, arguing about the merits of changing into costumes before doing their introduction, the tanuki gang leader was staring at the group like he couldn’t figure out whether he should be screaming or crying. A throbbing vein bulged on his forehead, which had picked up a dark red hue. His face looked like an egg could have been cooked on it, and his limbs trembled with barely restrained rage.

  “No one ignores the Tanuki Gang like that! Get ‘em, boys!”

  The tanuki all charged at the trio, bellowing a war cry that echoed through the McDonalds.

  ***

  Divide and conquer. That was the plan that Kevin and Lilian had come up with on the spot. She and her two companions had quickly split up, forcing the half-dozen tanuki to split up as well. It wasn’t bad, as far as plans went, though Iris thought it was a little simplistic. Then again, Kevin and Lilian were the ones who came up with it, so perhaps simple worked best.

  Iris had already fought a tanuki once before. Back when Kevin had been dealing with his loss of innocence, having finally come to grips with the fact that he’d taken a life and would have to do so again, she had battled against a tanuki, so she knew what they were capable of.

  Tanuki mostly utilized sand attacks. They had impressive control over sand and wind. She guessed that was why they had chosen to live in Arizona. All this state had was sand. It made sense to her.

  Fortunately, they were indoors and there was no sand to be used. Tanuki couldn’t create something out of nothing. Sand was an element, but unlike lightning or fire, it was an earth element. Earth techniques could only be used to manipulate the earth. They couldn’t be used to create more earth.

  Ugh, I suppose I should be thankful to Lily and the stud for dragging me to those yōkai classes.

  Who knew the information she’d acquired from classes her partners had forced her to take would eventually come in handy? Certainly not her.

  “Take this!”

  Iris dove out of the way from the tanuki’s slashing hand. The table behind her was quickly sliced in half, and the wall behind the table received a large furrow, as if someone had sliced into it with a sword. It was a wind technique. The tanuki had created a very sharp blade of wind that sliced straight through the table, though it lacked the power to cut through the wall.

  “V
oid Art: Void of Despair.”

  Void of Despair was not truly a void technique. It was merely an illusion that made someone think they were being consumed by the Void. Those who fell prey to this illusion saw themselves being pulled into a lake of black fire, of being slowly consumed as the Void pulled them down, erasing their bodies and very existence.

  The tanuki she was facing was no different. He screamed and cried and begged and tried to claw out of a sea of black fire that existed only in his mind. It really was remarkable how he didn’t even realize that he was under an illusion, which just went to show Iris the difference between yōkai who’d been trained to use their powers and yōkai who hadn’t. These tanuki clearly hadn’t been given any formal training, not like the one she’d faced previously.

  By the time her technique ended, the tanuki she’d fought was a drooling mass of flesh shuddering on the cold tile floor. Iris stared down at the yōkai, who looked to be about twenty years old and was mildly handsome. She scratched the side of her head, then turned her attention to the other tanuki, who hadn’t fought.

  This one looked young—younger than her even. He couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old. Iris thought he looked even younger than that. His body trembled as she walked up to him. He tried walking backwards but stopped when his back hit a wall. Wide yellow eyes stared at her in terror. Iris thought the boy might piss himself.

  She grinned at him. “Guess what?”

  “W-what?” he squeaked.

  “I’m not wearing any underwear.”

  His wide eyes widened even more. Then he looked down at her skirt, which almost revealed the treasure hidden underneath.

  He blushed.

  “Wanna see?” Iris asked, lifting her skirt just a bit.

  The boy’s face reached a new shade of red. Steam burst from his ears and blood from his nose. The force of his nosebleed caused his head to snap back and slam into the wall. He crumbled to the floor, then, his body twitching as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.