by Noah Layton
‘What a beautiful view,’ Cassandra said, meeting my outside and looking out over the city.
‘Sure is. Now, if we’re going to live together we need to divide up our duties.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Cooking, cleaning and the like.’
‘God, you are so boring!’ She laughed. ‘Can’t we just hire somebody to do that?’
‘And give away the location of our hideout? Not a chance in hell. That’s the whole point of this place. We were lucky enough to find it, I don’t need the information getting out and us being hunted down by my ex-colleagues.’
‘Okay, well, I’ve got a better solution.’
‘… Go on.’
‘How would you feel about having another guest living with us?’
‘No way, no guests. Like I said, our privacy is the most important thing.’
‘Oh no, trust me, the woman I have in mind is very discreet. You’re going to love her.’
‘A woman? So you do mean a maid?’
‘Uhh… Sort of. It’s easier if you just meet her.’
We offloaded the few possessions we had into the hideout and headed back out to the streets of the Adler District. Cassandra led me through streets that I had never walked before until we arrived at a quiet tavern on the outskirts of the district.
Contrasting the bohemian nature of the rest of the area, this joint looked immaculate; it took on more of an appearance of a high-profile restaurant than a tavern. The sign, reading The King’s Way was freshly-painted and immaculately cleaned, the windows were spotless, and the wood freshly-varnished
‘What is this place?’ I asked Cassandra. ‘It looks unbelievable.’
‘That’s the point. It’s all thanks to this friend of mine.’
‘So she’s a friend?’
‘We lived together for a little while when I first moved to Spire City. She’s lovely, really, but before you meet her… Just know that she’s a little highly-strung.’
‘… Okay.’
As Cassandra led me inside the tavern I was already thinking of ways that I could turn this woman down. I didn’t want to blow her off so easily considering how highly Cassandra seemed to recommend her, but I dealt with enough shit on the streets of the city on a day to day basis – I didn’t need stress back at the hideout too.
God, listen to me. I already make it sound like we’re married or something.
‘Is Veronica around?’ Cassandra asked the landlord at the bar.
‘Upstairs cleaning the guest rooms,’ he said. ‘You a friend of hers?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Okay, go ahead.’
We went up the stairs and onto the guest room corridor. A mop plunged into a bucket of water rested against the wall at the end of the hall, and the door to the farthest guest room stood open.
We headed up to it, where Cassandra knocked on the open door and peered into the room.
‘Hello? Veronica, are you in here?’
‘Who is it?’
‘It’s Cass.’
‘Oh, Cassandra!’ The happy voice said. ‘Come in, come in- Wait, have you been walking in the streets?’
‘Yeah, we have.’
‘Oh, then don’t you dare come in here. I have this floor immaculate and I don’t need you sullying it. Just a moment.’
Cassandra returned to me.
‘She likes things clean, in case you couldn’t tell.’
‘Uh huh.’
I waited for a buxom, chubby maid to come and greet us in the doorway, but when Veronica’s footsteps preceded her appearance and she finally emerged in the doorway of the guest room, my jaw almost hit the floor.
A woman in her mid-twenties smiled back at me, standing tall around the same height as Cassandra, batting the eyelids of her large blue eyes. Her face was sharp and pretty, her hair a deep black, styled into bangs and choppy layers that fell to her shoulders, and from the top of her head a large pair of cat ears were perched.
She was dressed in a conservative, respectable maid’s outfit with a long apron tied around her, gripping her slender frame. She glanced between us, her eyes dwelling on me briefly as she wiped her delicate hands off on a ragged piece of cloth.
‘To what do I owe the pleasure?’ She said politely.
‘I knew you were in the area and thought that I would pay you a visit,’ Cassandra started. ‘This is Drake, by the way.’
‘Veronica,’ the catgirl introduced herself. ‘Drake…?’
‘Masterson,’ I answered, shaking hands with her and revelling at her soft touch.
‘Wonderful to meet you.’ Veronica paused, lifting her head and smelling the air aggressively. ‘Darn, I missed a spot in there. My work is never done.’
‘I’ll bet,’ Cassandra said. ‘Look, we would like to offer you a new job.’
‘That’s rather sudden,’ the catgirl said flatly. ‘And a little impolite. Surely we should make some idle chitchat before moving onto more serious matters. Also, you lied to me.’
‘When did I lie to you?’
‘You just said that you were here to pay me a visit, not on business matters.’
‘Right, but-’
‘Do you see my point, though?’
Cassandra sighed quietly and turned to me.
‘Now do you see what I mean when I said it was difficult to live with her?’
‘A little.’
‘And also rude to speak about me while I am standing right here.’
‘Oh my god,’ I groaned. ‘Yes, everything is rude, but I also kill people for a living, so on the rude-to-polite scale, this whole encounter is pretty tame for me.’
Veronica’s tone changed immediately.
‘Lord… I am sorry if I meant any offence.’
I shot Cassandra a look. This catgirl’s mood changed like crazy.
‘So… You are a bounty hunter?’ The catgirl continued.
‘That I am.’
‘My…’ She breathed, twisting the rag in her fingers and looking me up and down. ‘I imagine such a profession can become incredibly… Dirty.’
I didn’t know whether it was intentional, or my brain was playing tricks on me, but the enunciation of that last word left her lips like it was the most important word in the entire world to her.
‘Uh-’Cassandra cut in, ‘Very dirty, Veronica. Dirt, sweat, blood – a lot of the time other people’s blood, and that’s just a start.’
‘Is… Is that so?’ Veronica whispered, eyeing me slowly up and down and biting her lip. Her voice had been reduced to a desirous whimper.
I could only go along with it.
‘We’ve just bought our own place nearby, and we would love for you to come and work for us. You could even stay with us too, if you wanted.’
Veronica dragged her eyes away from me long enough to look back into the room, then returned to the two of us.
‘How often would I be cleaning?’
‘Oh, not much,’ I said, ‘I usually try to fix myself up after a job. It’s part of the profess-’
But the more I spoke, the more the catgirl’s face sank into one of disappointment.
‘Every day,’ Cassandra cut in. ‘Drake and I will be very filthy, and everything will need cleaning. We are planning on doing a lot of work in the near future.’
Veronica instantly perked up, standing up straight and grinning with feverish excitement.
‘Then I would love to. Can I come back with you now? I just have to finish up my shift here.’
‘Of course,’ Cassandra said. ‘We’ll wait downstairs for you in the bar.’
‘Wonderful! Don’t leave without me!’ She said commandingly, before shooting one last look of interest my way and returning into the guest room.
Cassandra nodded for me to follow her downstairs. We went to the bar and ordered a drink.
‘What the hell was that?’ I asked in confusion. ‘I’m sorry, explain what just happened.’
‘I told you to let me do all the talking,’ C
assandra said. ‘I know what she’s like.’
‘Crazy?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Hot?’
‘She… Is quite attractive, that I must admit. We did in fact fool around a touch when we lived together.’
‘As much as that’s a story that I would love to hear right now, I’m still trying to figure out what her deal is.’
‘Her deal is that she… Enjoys cleaning. And cooking. Just generally looking after people. Maybe a little bit too much.’
I shot her another sceptical look.
‘Okay, perhaps way too much. You only have to look around this place to realise just how true that is. There isn’t a speck of dust in this place.’
‘And yet we just convinced her to leave? Just like that?’
‘The landlord here doesn’t know how good he’s got it having somebody like her working for him.’
About ten minutes later, Veronica appeared at the edge of the stairs, moving lightly with her satchel over her back.
‘Ready to go?’ She smiled.
‘Wait, where the hell are you going?’ The landlord, a gruff man in his 50s, piped up.
‘I quit.’
‘You can’t quit. You work here’.
‘Make me,’ she frowned, heading up to me and linking her arm into mine like we had known each other for years.
What a damn good comeback.
The landlord couldn’t say a damn thing. He stuttered and stammered; maybe he would have gotten a word in at some point, but we were already out the door and walking the streets of the district, steadily making our way back to our hideout.
10 – High Nights
‘I thought you said this place was filthy.’
‘It will be filthy,’ I replied, deciding to play along to satiate Veronica’s desires. ‘We just moved in. There’s plenty of cobwebs in the ceiling, though.’
‘Oh, would you look at that!’ She said excitedly, glancing up at them. ‘But sundown is approaching fast and I’m starving. Please let me cook something for us.’
Did I just hear her right? Veronica was actually begging me to let her cook something?
‘Uhh… Sure. Let’s eat. We picked up plenty of steak, potatoes and corn today.’
‘I shall not disappoint,’ she smiled, taking the food from me and heading over to the kitchen. She propped her satchel down by the bed on the way over and got started, moving between the food, the sink and the stoves with a sharp grace.
‘How the hell did you end up finding her in the first place?’ I asked Cassandra incredulously.
‘Total chance. She needed a place to stay, I went to see her, and while we were chatting I accidentally said that I wasn’t very clean. She snapped me up in a second like I was some object to be purchased… Not that I had a problem with that exactly.’
‘Why so?’
‘I had just moved to the city and I was lonely. It’s nice to be wanted.’
‘I don’t think the people I hunt would say the same thing.’
‘Nope,’ she said sharply, running a hand up my shoulder.
‘Keep her company. I’m going to go give outside a proper check.’
‘Are you afraid there might be somebody lurking out there?’
‘Nothing like that, I just want to make sure that there aren’t any decent vantage points for people to get the drop on us if they find out our location.’
‘Nobody is ever going to figure out where we are, Drake. Isn’t that the whole point of calling this our hideout?’
‘I like to plan ahead. It’s all fun and games until a group of assassins land on your doorstep and start hacking at you while you sleep.’
‘You do paint a picture.’
‘I’ve seen too much to not paint a picture.’
‘Go check it out. I’ll catch up with Veronica.’
I crossed to the balcony doors and headed outside. It was still warm but a little breezy, giving the space a more pleasant mood. The sun was setting on the horizon in the distance, but as usual the streets were showing no signs of giving up their constant bustle of activity.
We were largely out of sight of most of the adjacent and opposing windows; the view onto our balcony was restricted by high walls either side and an old, mossy stone barrier.
I traced my fingers along the greenery. It was a rarity in Spire City, a land where smoke and industry reigned supreme over many districts, and there was no middle ground for the people in the streets.
The rich could afford their own private gardens, catered and tended to, but they lived in another world compared to the vast majority of the city’s citizens.
Or so I thought.
I traced the moss in my hand along the stone balcony until it met the wall, where it merged with a patch of ivy that was hanging down from the roof. The further up I reached, the thicker it became.
Weird.
I climbed up onto the stone barrier and could just about reach the roof above the door to the balcony. Tensing up my back, I pulled myself up and staggered into a small open space.
‘Holy shit… Cassandra, Veronica, get up here!’
‘But I’m starting dinner!’ Veronica shouted back.
I heard a small scuffle and briefly raised voices as Cassandra argued with Veronica, and eventually they both appeared.
‘What are you doing up there?’ Cassandra asked.
‘Just come and check this out.’
Cassandra hopped up onto the barrier then moved to pull herself up by the ledge. I expected Veronica to follow the same route.
The catgirl crossed her arms impatiently, tapping her foot on the floor.
‘You’re taking far too long,’ she said in annoyance.
Before I could make a snide comment about her being the one with the rude tone now, she bent her legs, swept her arms back and leaped into the air.
But it wasn’t just by a few feet – it was a few yards.
She landed lightly next to me, brushing her shoulders off and patting her apron down.
I could only stare at her and try not to let my mouth fall open again.
‘What?’ She asked casually. ‘Please don’t tell me I missed a spot… I wouldn’t know how to feel about that…’
‘How did you do that?’
‘Do what?’
‘Jump that high.’
‘It’s in my nature,’ she said casually. ‘Not very graceful, I’ll admit, but Cassandra was taking too long.’
‘You’re so impatient,’ Cassandra said, climbing up to meet us.
‘You’re so slow.’
‘And now you’re the rude one.’
‘I am not rude. If anything you were the rude one for taking so damn long…’
‘Not really the priority right now, ladies,’ I cut in. ‘Take a look.’
Before us lay a small garden, filled with overgrown plants of all varieties. Judging by the sheer growth that had taken place it had been up here a while. Its edges obscured the view over the tops of the buildings, but that just gave plenty of privacy – something that we definitely needed up here.
It was complete with a few pieces of old furniture, including a wooden armchair with a footstool and a wooden table.
Hanging over a rusty bucket was a water pump. I wrenched it a few times and released a clean stream of water into the bucket.
‘This must have been up here for years,’ Cassandra chimed. ‘Who do you think built it?’
‘Probably the same guy who built this hidden apartment,’ I said.
‘Who owned it before you?’
‘The goblin that set the sale up said that it was owned by a warlock some time ago.’
‘I think you may be right, Drake,’ Veronica said, wandering into the garden and crouching by a patch of shrubbery with red blossoms scattered upon it. ‘This is red meducia’
‘What’s that?’
‘A herb that can induce severe hallucinations.’
‘What kind?’ Cassandra asked with intrigue.
‘Depen
ds entirely on the dose. A small amount and the world will swim. Too much and it will turn the world into a living nightmare.’
‘How do you know this?’ I asked, constantly being surprised by her.
‘When you spend a lot of your time cooking you begin to pick up things like this,’ she winked over her shoulder at me. ‘What can I say?’
My mind began to race.
‘Do you know how to prepare it?’
‘I do… Why, are you thinking of slipping some into your dinner? Because I don’t think that’s a good idea.’
‘No, you just never know when you might need something like that.’
‘I can cook some up tonight,’ Veronica nodded. ‘On one condition; you let me come up here and tidy this place once you’ve eaten.’
‘Ughh…’ I sighed falsely. ‘Okay, but this better be a really strong batch.’
‘You wish to have nightmares?’
‘Nope. It’s not for me.’
We returned to the apartment where Veronica cooked up dinner; medium-rare steaks with corn and carrots, so beautifully-prepared it would have been fit for a king.
‘So what’s your deal, Veronica?’ I asked in between mouthfuls of steak.
‘My deal?’
‘Yeah. How did you end up living in Spire City with Cassandra?’
‘I was a maid in a duke’s castle outside of the city,’ she started. ‘I got to occupy a beautiful castle all day, and there was so much to clean. It was a dream come true.’
‘How come you came to the city if life was so good?’
‘Well, dust was in abundance and there was plenty of food to prepare, but the rich are often incredibly spoiled, and being spoiled often means having a complete lack of empathy.
‘All I wanted to do during my days was look after this beautiful building, and all that his family could do was harass me. They were a living nightmare, teasing me for my ears and taunting me on a day to day basis.
‘Can you imagine people behaving in such a way. Anyway, after one particularly bad day I had had enough, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.’
‘This sounds interesting,’ I said genuinely, settling into my seat. ‘I’m a fan of revenge. What did you do?’
‘Wait for it,’ Cassandra muttered to me knowingly.
‘No, come on, what did you do?’ I said with intrigue. ‘Drop them into a pile of manure? Wash their clothes with ammonia?’
