Kevin didn’t return Iris’s words with a witty comeback, not because he didn’t want to give one, but because he couldn’t think of one.
His relationship with Iris was strange. They had supported each other during their journey to rescue Lilian several months ago, and he had learned a lot about the girl throughout their travels. He respected her for what she had to put up with, for constantly fighting against the voices that connected her to the Void, and for the love she possessed for Lilian—even if that last point also kind of bothered him.
No, not kind of. Immensely. There was just something… wrong about someone having sexual feelings for her own sister.
Iris had become a lot more affectionate toward him as well. When the three of them were sleeping together, there were times when Iris would spoon with him instead of Lilian. When he and Lilian were playing video games or watching anime, there was a 50-50 chance that Iris would use his lap as a pillow instead of Lilian’s. And sometimes, when Lilian worked on her illustrations, Iris would spend time with him instead of the redhead.
It was weird, and he didn’t know how to respond to her, but as Lilian never once voiced a complaint or, indeed, even seemed to care, he just let the girl do what she pleased. The one thing that he remained adamant on was intimacy. He refused to let Iris join him and Lilian during their more intimate fun, despite the raven-haired vixen’s numerous attempts at doing just that. It just didn’t feel right.
“I must agree with Iris.” Phoebe nodded at Lilian’s fraternal twin. “You should, how do you say… ‘lighten up’? Yes, you should learn to lighten up.”
“I know how to lighten up plenty,” Kevin returned fire.
“Then why have you not helped me produce a child yet?”
“Urk!” Kevin felt the metaphorical hammer slam into his gut.
“L-Lady Phoebe!” a scandalized Polydora shouted.
“What?” Phoebe looked at her subordinate. “Is that not the whole reason you and I have traveled all this way? We followed Kevin to this country so that I could convince him to help me conceive a child.”
“Are you really going to start talking about this right now?” Kevin asked and was suitably ignored.
“I still do not know what you see in this miscreant.” Polydora crossed her arms. Her glare could have melted steel. “He is just a beast. He’s not worthy of helping you create life.”
“I’m right here, you know?” Kevin said and was, again, ignored. Iris snickered into her hand, causing him to glare at her. “Quiet, you.”
“There will be no baby making going on.” Lilian, who Kevin thought had fallen asleep, raised her head to penetrate Phoebe with her stern stare. “Kevin is sixteen years old. That’s far too young to be procreating.”
Phoebe frowned. “My mother had me when she was fifteen.”
“Your mother was also a yōkai who lived by different social standards,” Lilian argued back. “Kevin is a human, and until you can understand and accept that, you will never get my approval.”
Kevin could almost hear his brain frying as it tried to comprehend Lilian’s words. “Um, what?”
“I see,” Phoebe murmured. “So you are the one whose approval I need to seek.”
“That’s right.” Lilian smirked at the girl. “Kevin is my mate. If you want him, then you need my permission.”
“N-now just hold on a second here…” Kevin tried to say.
“Very well, then.” Phoebe nodded decisively several times. “I understand now. In that case, I shall endeavor to learn more about human culture and understand what it means to be human, so that I might earn your permission to eventually bear Master Kevin’s child.”
“N-now hold on just a minute here!” Kevin tried to say, but he was stopped by Lilian.
“Just let it go, Beloved,” she whispered into his ear.
“But I thought we agreed there would be no harem,” Kevin whispered back harshly.
“We did,” Lilian nodded, “and there won’t be so long as you still think that way. However, she doesn’t know that.”
It took him a second, but Kevin eventually understood what Lilian meant. Ever since Phoebe had appeared in Arizona claiming that she still wanted to bear his children, the yuma uba had been nothing but a pain. He’d come home to find her dressed in skimpy outfits or even butt naked. Sometimes Phoebe would say lines that sounded like they’d been taken straight from a harlequin romance novel, and one time she’d even quoted Miia from Monster Musume. She had also tried to sleep with him, but thankfully, Lilian and Iris had kicked her out of his bed before that could happen.
It had gotten so bad that Kevin actually sought sanctuary at school, the only place that Phoebe would not travel to for some reason.
However, what Lilian had just done could, theoretically, solve his problem. First, she had suggested that Phoebe didn’t know enough about human culture. Knowing the yuma uba as he did, Kevin knew that she would begin studying human culture more, which meant she wouldn’t be bothering him as much. Second, Lilian had told Phoebe that the only way she would be allowed to have his children was if she got her permission—and Lilian wouldn’t give Phoebe permission, no matter how hard the blond woman tried.
In short, Lilian had just solved his problem with four or five sentences.
“Have I told you that I love you recently?” Kevin asked earnestly.
“Every day since you rescued me.” Lilian’s beaming smile reminded Kevin of sunlight breaking through storm clouds. “But it never hurts to hear you say it some more.”
***
After recovering enough to move, the group made it back to the condo, where Kotohime prepared a large dinner for them. During that time, Kevin informed Kiara and Heather, who had joined them, about what Juan told him at school. They had promised to be careful.
After dinner, the various people went their separate ways. Kiara and Heather returned to their condo, while Phoebe and Polydora returned to the condo they shared with the other yuma uba who had traveled with them.
Phoebe had originally wanted to share a condo with Kevin, but he and Lilian had shot her down quickly. She had then gone to Kiara and asked for a place to stay. While the powerful inu had not let the yuma uba live with her, she had helped them find a job and a condo within her complex.
Kevin hadn’t been very happy with Kiara for some reason.
Lilian stood in the bathroom, brushing her teeth, Iris standing next to her and doing the same. Kevin had finished his nightly ritual first and was likely in bed waiting for them.
“Why didn’t you join us when we were sparring with Kotohime?” Lilian asked after spitting out her toothpaste and washing her mouth out. “Didn’t you tell me that you wanted to become stronger?”
“Well, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I have to join you and the stud all the time, does it?” Iris put her automatic toothbrush on its charger. “I’m not crazy about undergoing a shōnen manga training regimen like you two.”
Lilian narrowed her eyes slightly. “That’s not it. Ever since we came back to Arizona, you’ve been more sarcastic than usual.” When Iris turned her head, the frown tugging at Lilian’s lips deepened. “It’s the whispers, isn’t it?”
The whispers were what connected all Void Kitsune to the Void. It was the whispers that allowed them to use their powers.
Lilian knew very little about the Void or the whispers. Her sister had never let her read The Codex of the Void, but she knew enough to be concerned.
“They have been getting a little stronger,” Iris admitted reluctantly.
Lilian reached out and grabbed her sister’s hand. “Do you want me to use my powers to suppress them?”
As a Celestial Kitsune, her powers could suppress the Void, but only for a short time. Back when they were younger, Lilian would always use her celestial powers to negate the whispers, or at least lessen their influence.
“No.” Iris shook her head and smiled at Lilian. “Thanks, but I can’t rely on you forever. I’ll have to face this eve
ntually.”
Lilian’s eyes widened when she realized what Iris was talking about. “Then…”
“Yeah, the trials will happen soon. I can feel it.”
“O-oh.” No wonder Iris hadn’t joined them in their spar with Kotohime. Using the Void made the whispers stronger. It also explained why she didn’t mind training in hand-to-hand combat with her and Kevin. She wanted to get stronger, but she was unwilling to use the Void because it would make the trials come that much quicker. “If… if you need any help…”
Iris smiled at her. “I’ll be relying on you and the stud for support.”
“Um!” Lilian nodded, slightly reassured by her sister’s words.
The two entered the bedroom to see Kevin sitting on the bed, flipping through the pages of a manga. Natsumo Shinobi.
“One Piece is better,” Lilian said as she crawled onto the bed.
“Heathen,” Kevin shot back with no real heat. “You clearly know nothing of good manga.”
He closed the manga and set it on the nightstand, then lay down as she snuggled up to him. She placed her head on his shoulder and a hand on his chest. Her left leg went over his and her two tails were quick to wrap around one of his legs, tickling his thigh. She closed her eyes and sighed, but before Kevin’s warmth could lull her into a sense of serenity, Lilian realized that Iris hadn’t joined them yet.
So had Kevin.
“Are you going to stand there all night?” her mate asked. Lilian lifted her head and saw Iris staring at them, her face a mask of concentration.
“I’ll join you in a second,” Iris muttered, her eyes narrowing. “I just have to decide who I’m going to cuddle with tonight.”
Kevin’s face twitched in exasperation. “Do you really have to do this?”
“It’s an important decision,” Iris insisted.
“Um, no, I’m pretty sure you’re the only one who thinks that.”
Her sister ignored Kevin’s words and mumbled to herself. “Last night I slept against the stud, but that was spooning, and I’m rather tempted to rest my head on his pecs. They make a surprisingly good pillow. On the other hand, spooning Lilian is always a pleasure—and I can easily feel her up while she sleeps… plus those boobs are incredibly soft. I just love burying my face in them. What to do. What to do.”
“Lilian, your sister’s doing it again.”
“Just let her be, Beloved.” Lilian scooted her body even closer against Kevin, closing her eyes and enjoying the feel of his calloused hands gently scratching behind her ears. “You know how Iris gets sometimes.”
Iris eventually made her decision and crawled into bed on the opposite side of Lilian. The raven-haired kitsune rested her head on Kevin’s chest and made herself comfortable—or she tried to, at least.
“Stud, wrap your arm around me and pull me close.”
“Um, no.”
“Lilian.”
“Just do what she says, Beloved.”
“Why are you taking her side?”
“Because she’s more annoying than you are.”
“That’s a terrible reason to side with her!”
“Uhuhuhu, what’s wrong, Stud? Afraid of breaking that prudish habit of yours?”
“I’d hardly consider myself a prude.”
“Then how come you and Lilian haven’t had hot, raunchy sex yet?”
“...”
“I thought so. Now shut up and put that arm around me.”
Lilian felt Kevin shift against her as he did what Iris told him to. She wanted to giggle, but she resisted and instead kissed Kevin’s chest.
“You’re becoming awfully genre savvy, Beloved.”
Kevin made a disgruntled noise in the back of his throat. “That doesn’t make me very happy, you know?”
“I know.” Lilian, her eyes still closed, smiled against his chest. “I love you, Kevin.”
“I love you, too.”
“Hey, you two. Where’s my love?”
“You don’t get any love. I’ve only got enough for one person.”
“Don’t be stingy, Stud.”
“I’ll be as stingy as I want.”
“Lilian?”
Lilian sighed, but she still responded. “I love you, Iris.”
“See that?” Her sister sounded condescending. “Lily-pad is giving me her love. Why can’t you?”
“Lilian’s your sister. It’s only natural.”
“And giving your mate’s sister some love isn’t?”
“Yes.”
“Fine. Whatever. Don’t give me some lovin’. See if I care.”
“Okay. I will.”
“Tch!”
As silence fell over them, Lilian thought about her relationship with Kevin. She knew that he wasn’t comfortable with Iris’s inclusion into their relationship, which was why he bickered with the girl, but he still tried to accept Iris for her sake. Despite being a human with human morals, he tried to accept that relationships amongst kitsune were different, and he did his best to accommodate her sister because he knew it would make her happy. Lilian appreciated that. At the same time…
I have to keep my promise.
She had promised Iris that she would talk to Kevin about including her in their relationship. The two of them had made a promise when they were younger that whoever got the first mate would share him with the other.
Before she drifted to sleep, Lilian vowed that she would do everything she could to make sure the three of them got their “Happily Ever After” ending.
***
Adam and Ian were genetically modified twins. Since the very moment they could walk, Commander Ethan Paine had them trained in kidnapping and assassination. Working with a synchronization that no one else could ever hope to match, they had never failed a mission, be it capturing an important political figure or assassinating a dangerous yōkai. No one had ever escaped from them.
Having waited until the dead of night, Adam and Ian finally decided to commence their mission. The plan that Lieutenant Justin had laid out for them was quite simple. They would sneak in while everyone else was asleep, kill the two yōkai, then secure the third target and vacate the premise.
The two kitsune bodyguards, Kotohime and Kirihime, would likely try to pursue them, but they had two YK series war droids waiting in case that happened.
They would need to be quick, however. The plan hinged on them being swift and silent. A single wrong move could end in death.
“It’s a quarter to midnight,” the voice of their superior, one Justin Verräter, said from the comm. unit in their ear. “Your mission starts in fifteen seconds and counting.”
Adam held a hand to his ear and spoke. “Understood.”
“We’ll start the operation in fifteen seconds,” Ian added.
“They won’t know what hit them.”
“Right. I wish you luck in your mission.”
“We don’t need luck.”
“But thank you for the sentiment.”
“Do you two practice that? Because I know a pair of twins and they talk nothing like you.”
“That?”
“What’s that?”
“… Never mind. Start your mission.”
The mission started simply enough. Adam and Ian leapt from rooftop to rooftop, their footsteps near silent as they moved across the red brick tiles. It didn’t take long before they arrived at their targets’ residence, and upon their arrival, they immediately began the next phase of their plan.
Moving in perfect synchronicity, the two secured a rope and pulley to the roof, attached their grappling lines to the rope, and then descended over the edge of the apartment.
Their targets were on the second floor, according to their information. The window leading to their targets’ bedroom was located on the northern side of the building, which actually proved beneficial to them, as it meant they were facing the complex’s interior, and therefore didn’t have to worry about passing cars potentially spotting them.
Upon reaching the
window, Ian pulled out a small device. It had three parts: a small conical center, a device that looked similar to a laser pointer, and an extendable metal pole that attached the other two parts together. The cone acted as a suction cup. After pressing it against the glass, Ian adjusted the connector to a specific length, then turned the device on.
The surgical glass cutter used a high-intensity precision laser to slice straight through the glass window. Aside from the thin line that was only visible when the moonlight hit it, no one would be able to tell the glass was being cut. When the device had done its job, Ian grabbed the cutter and pulled, taking the glass with it.
Ian entered the bedroom first, followed swiftly by Adam, who pulled the glass back into place, careful not to make any noise. Both of them landed on silent feet.
The room appeared to be a mostly normal bedroom. It was large, about 150 square feet at a rough estimate. Plain white walls decorated with posters of video games and anime greeted them. On one side, an entertainment station with a flat-screen tv and several video game consoles sat. They were situated next to a bookshelf filled to bursting with manga and anime. On the other, a queen-sized bed with red sheets and three figures snuggled underneath a large comforter.
It was the bed they went to. Adam on the left and Ian on the right.
The three figures slept on, blissfully unaware of their impending death. A boy lay in the center, his blond hair messy. Two girls lay on either side, as different as night and day. They snuggled against the boy, who had pulled them both close in his sleep. The way the two girls wrapped around the boy reminded them of two cobras crushing a mouse between them. Although the boy didn’t seem to mind. Indeed, he looked rather comfortable.
Adam and Ian glanced at each other. A silent conversation passed between them. They nodded, then reached behind their backs and each pulled out a small dagger. As one, they placed a hand over their respective target’s mouth, to ensure silence.
And then they slit their targets’ throats.
Eyes shot wide open as carnelian fluid gushed from open wounds. The two kitsune tried to scream, but the hands muffled any sounds that may have come out. All that was emitted from their mouths was a soft gurgling as they choked on their own blood. Even then, the gurgling only lasted for a second, maybe two, before they bled out. The cuts Adam and Ian made had been quite surgical, slicing straight through the jugular vein. Neither target had time to so much as thrash before they died, eyes dulling and bodies growing still, their life fluid gushing from a deep gash and running down their necks.
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