A Fox's Vacation (American Kitsune Book 5)

by Brandon Varnell

  “Lilian!” Iris rushed to her side. “Are you alright?”

  “I’m fine,” Lilian assured her sister, her eyes never leaving her attacker.

  The cloaked individual climbed to their feet, their cloak swirling about them, covering their body and hiding much of it from view. However, while it was just a glimpse, Lilian could see the feminine curves, the swell of a prominent bust, and the flared-out hips of a woman.

  “Who are you? Why are you attacking me?” she demanded.

  Her attacker did not answer. She only hissed. Lilian barely had time to make a face at the odd sound before the woman bent her knees and shot forward quicker than a cannonball.

  So fast!

  Lilian and Iris moved in opposite directions, separating from each other to present two different targets. Unfortunately, no dilemma came to this woman’s mind. She turned on a dime and continued her relentless pursuit of Lilian.

  Her red hair whipped around her as she backpedaled. Lilian pumped as much youki through her body as she dared, reinforcing her legs to the maximum. It wasn’t much—she lacked the capacity to truly make use of the reinforcement technique—but it was enough to keep her from being immediately overtaken.

  “Kitsune Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm.”

  Six orbs of the purest gold appeared around Lilian’s body, orbiting around her like planets around a celestial body. Each sphere hummed with an otherworldly power. The light shining from deep within them created a blinding radiance that could not be looked at directly.

  While Kiara often poked fun at her, claiming that she didn’t train hard enough, the truth was that Lilian did train in her free time. It might not have been the kind of training that Kevin went through, but not all training involved getting your ass kicked on a daily basis. Lilian spent hours working on her specialized abilities, refining her techniques. It was difficult. She didn’t have anyone to train her, but that made what she did accomplish all the more impressive.

  These orbs were the results of her training. Kitsune Art: Orbs of an Evanescent Realm was the most powerful technique in her current arsenal. Celestial energy was compressed into tiny spheres that were controlled by her will.

  “Go.”

  With naught but a movement of her tails, two of the six orbs sped off, barreling at the woman like homing missiles. The cloaked female leapt into the air. Smoothly, gracefully, her body began to spin, narrowing her profile and allowing her to slip between the spheres. She then flipped around and landed back on her feet, where she resumed her charge.

  Behind her, the spheres quivered. Newtonian physics tried to keep the mass of energy moving forward, but Lilian’s will, imposed upon the orbs, kept them from continuing on. They struggled against the natural order of the world, stilled, and then reversed course, back towards Lilian and, more importantly, the woman’s back.

  Lilian smirked. Game over.

  It was not.

  In a move that stunned her, the woman twisted in graceful, feline motions. She moved into a handstand and performed the splits. The first orb flew between her legs. Arms bending, the femme then lowered her body onto the back of her neck, and the second orb passed through where her crotch had been seconds prior. Then the woman leapt back onto her feet and shoved off the ground.

  And then she was right in front of Lilian.

  Eyes widening, Lilian sent all six orbs at this strange, elusive female. Surely, she couldn’t dodge them all—not when they were so close and certainly not at the same time.

  She could.

  Body flowing like water, the woman twirled and spun, never staying still for more than a split second. She tilted her body to the side, at an angle that should have been humanly impossible, avoiding the sphere that came from her front. In that same instance, her body corkscrewed and she fell on all fours. An orb coming in from behind passed over her head. A leap forward let her dodge another orb, which struck the ground and exploded in a burst of celestial light particles.

  Lilian gritted her teeth as she moved backwards. She commanded the orbs to surround and attack this mysterious woman, but it was all for naught. Like a contortionist, the cloaked female dodged and weaved through her attacks with an ease and grace that was enviable. Several orbs dispersed when they hit the ground, and two more orbs were sliced to ribbons when the woman slashed at them with her bare hands.

  That’s when Lilian saw them. The woman’s hands were clawed. Sharp nails at least three inches long gleamed in the moon’s luminosity.

  Realization struck her like a blaster bolt between the eyes.

  She’s a yōkai. Lilian’s mind worked furiously, even as she moved her youki-enhanced body to avoid an incoming claw swipe. But what kind is she?

  Knowing that she needed some answers, light emerged on the tips of Lilian’s tails, coalescing into two small, but incredibly bright orbs.

  “Kitsune Art: Divine Light.”

  The orbs exploded in a shower of light so bright that even Lilian had to cover her eyes. Another hiss escaped from the woman attacking her. The woman must have been blinded. Lilian couldn’t see either, but she didn’t need her eyesight to put space between them. She just needed to keep moving backwards.

  When the light died down, it showed the woman hissing in pain, her hands covering her face. Lilian surmised that her corneas were probably burning from getting a full-on burst of intense celestial light.

  The woman twitched and turned, facing Lilian. Her hands lowered. Lilian couldn’t make out her face, but she could see the woman’s eyes: two bright yellow orbs reminiscent of moons with black slits for pupils.

  “That was an impressive distraction,” the woman said, her first words since the beginning of the battle. Her voice had an odd purring quality to it. “I’m always amazed by the powers that you foxes possess.”

  Lilian glared at her attacker. “Who are you? What are you? Why are you attacking me?”

  “It’s nothing personal, nya” the woman said, though the way she bristled told Lilian otherwise. This was definitely personal. “It’s just business.”

  The woman was about to attack again, when she was forced to dodge a small ball of black flames. It missed when she performed a back handspring and struck the ground several feet away. The flames dispersed almost immediately, but not fast enough to avoid damaging the ground. A black patch of nothing remained where the flames had struck.

  “That was void fire,” the woman said. She was then forced to dodge several smaller spheres of void fire, which came at her from the left. Lilian glanced that way and saw Iris rushing at the woman, flinging condensed balls of sentient darkness.

  Her cloak swishing around her, the woman turned about, bending in ways that seemed impossible for even the most flexible of people. She dodged each attack sent at her. Lilian envied her flexibility.

  “Are you alright, Lilian?” Iris asked. As a testament to how serious she was, her fraternal sister wasn’t calling her by that gods-awful nickname.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” Lilian wiped a trickle of sweat off her brow before her eyes abruptly widened. “Iris… your eyes…”

  Iris’s eyes were no longer white. Her sclera, the white part surrounding her irises, had become encased in inky darkness, a void of incomprehensible malice.

  “Don’t worry too much,” Iris tried to sound reassuring, but it was hard when her eyes looked like they belonged to a creature of unfathomable evil. “This has been happening recently whenever I reach into the Void. It’s nothing to get worried over.”

  But Lilian was concerned. She knew that was not natural. She also knew that they did not have time to discuss it. Her attacker was still present, standing several yards away and eyeing them both, as if trying to decide who she should attack first.

  “You there!” Iris pointed at the woman, and even in the low lighting provided by the moon, Lilian could see that her sister’s nails were also covered in darkness. “Who the hell are you and what do you want with my sister? I warn you right now that if you’re trying to kid
nap her so you can have your devious way with her body, I am going to kill you. The only person allowed to take advantage of my lovely sister’s bountiful harvest is me.” A pause. Iris grimaced. “And the Stud, too, I guess.”

  “I-I-I-Iris!” Lilian hissed. She could feel her face burning. “Don’t say something like that to an enemy! In fact, don’t say that at all!”

  But Iris just laughed. “Don’t worry, Lily-pad. I won’t let this woman have her wicked way with you.”

  “That’s not what she’s trying to do! And for the last time, don’t call me Lily-pad!” She crossed her arms under her chest and pouted. “I hate it when you call me that.”

  The two were soon forced to leap away when something lashed at the air between them. A long, thin gash appeared along the ground, at least six yards in length. Something long and black retracted back into the woman’s cloak.

  “I hate to break up your comedy routine,” the woman started, her purring voice casting shivers down Lilian’s spine, “but I really must do my job. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to die, Lilian Pnév̱ma.”

  Lilian’s eyes widened. “W-what? How do you know my name?”

  The cloaked woman didn’t answer. She rushed forward, intent on ending this fight. Lilian and Iris also prepared their own techniques.

  “Lilian! Iris!”

  And that’s when Kevin arrived onto the scene.

  “I-would-call-this-dynamic-entry-but-cannot-for-fear-of-copyright-laws-kick!”

  His body spinning in midair, the young man lashed out at the woman with a kick from behind. She seemed to sense it, however, and managed to avoid getting her head rung like a bell. Her body smoothly rolled across the grassy ground, where she kipped back up to her feet. She turned around to face her newest attacker… and froze.

  “K-Kevin?!”

  Iris leaned over and whispered into Lilian’s ear. “Do you know this chick?”

  Lilian shook her head. “Never seen her before in my life.”

  “Then how does she know the Stud?”

  “I… I don’t know.”

  Kevin pointed at the woman with an accusing finger. “Listen up, lady! I don’t know who you are, but don’t think for one second that I’m going to let you keep attacking Lilian! That girl is my mate, and that means any attack against her is an attack against me! Keep trying to hurt her and I’ll introduce my fist to your face!”

  Iris facepalmed. “That was so lame.”

  “Kevin…” Lilian flushed. She didn’t need his protection, but by Inari, if she didn’t love it when he acted protective like that. It made her so hot and bothered.

  The woman froze for all of one second. Then she placed her hands on her face and began wiggling about in a worrying manner. “Nya! Oh, no, Kevin’s here! Nya!”

  “Nya?” Kevin made a face. So did Lilian and Iris.

  “Nya, nya, nya, he wasn’t supposed to see me. Oh, cruel fate! Why must you torment me like this? Nya!”

  “Okay, seriously, who are you and what’s up with the ‘nya?’” asked Kevin. It was a good question, and something that Lilian and Iris wanted to know as well. Too bad the woman wasn’t listening.

  “Nya! I have to get out of here!”

  “You’re not going anywhere!”

  Kevin rushed forward to attack the woman. Lilian and Iris also prepared to attack with their respective techniques. Light glowed along Lilian’s tails and darkness wafted off Iris’s. It was time to end this.

  Before any of them could actually attack, the female assassin bent down and struck the ground. The area around her exploded with an expanding cloud of smoke and…

  “Bubbles?”

  Yes, bubbles. Dozens of bubbles ranging in size from no larger than a thumbnail to bigger than Kevin’s head. Yet they didn’t look like regular bubbles. Hazed in red, wavering like a flame, Lilian thought they looked like liquid fire, a thin film of lava that retained a spherical shape. They moved along invisible air currents, zephyrs floating on a summer breeze. After moving to a certain point, the spheres popped in a brilliant sparkle of fiery particles that forced the smoke to disperse, revealing an empty clearing.

  The woman who had attacked Lilian was gone.

  ***

  After the woman disappeared, Kiara, Kirihime, and Kotohime arrived, having been woken up by Lindsay. Lilian explained what happened with some help from Iris. Since Kevin only arrived minutes before the woman fled, he couldn’t tell them much, so he just listened in silence.

  In the end, Kotohime told them that they should all get some rest. She would stand guard while they slept for what remained of the night. It was already 1:43 a.m. by that point, and if they wanted to be fully rested for their time at the beach, they would need to sleep.

  “Hey, Kevin, do you think I could sleep with you?” Lilian asked as the others went their separate ways. When Kevin looked at her, mouth open to respond, she continued. “Part of the reason I was up tonight was because I couldn’t sleep without you.”

  “You mean you needed your hugging pillow,” said an amused Kevin. He scratched the side of his head. “Ha… well, I guess we could sleep together, but—” he glanced at their respective hotel rooms. “—I don’t know if that would be a good idea. I doubt the girls would appreciate me being in your room, and the guys, well…”

  “I don’t mind sleeping in the guys’ room,” Lilian said quickly, “I’ll just wear my pajamas.”

  Kevin rubbed his face, even as his eyes wandered across her frame. Her pajamas were very modest for a kitsune—especially for a kitsune, he amended. Long red fleece pants covered her legs and shapely bottom. Her spaghetti strap shirt, red with pink strings, also covered her a good deal, though it still showed more cleavage than he was comfortable with his friends seeing. That she wasn’t wearing a bra, noticeable by how her nipples poked through the fabric, made the idea of her sleeping in his room less than desirable.

  He really, really didn’t want his friends seeing any part of Lilian. Call him possessive, call him jealous, but he didn’t like the thought of his friends ogling Lilian. He knew they’d already stripped her in their minds. He would be damned if he let them see her wearing something like this.

  At the same time, Kevin just couldn’t say no to her. Call him a sucker for a pretty face, call him a sentimental fool, call him a needy little boy, the facts remained the same. Kevin wanted to sleep with Lilian just as much as she wanted to sleep with him.

  “All right,” Kevin agreed, and Lilian’s grin preluded a cheer, which he stopped before her shouting could wake everybody up. “Just be quiet, okay? I really don’t want them waking up.”

  “Okay,” Lilian whispered back.

  Making their way inside of the boys’ hotel room, Lilian and Kevin moved along with the stealth of two ninja.

  They even made the weird hand signs.

  The other boys were still asleep. Eric snored away on his bed, the sheets long since discarded, and his body was sprawled across the entire mattress with one leg hanging off the edge. Justin lay curled up underneath the blankets, seemingly dead to the world. On the last bed, Alex and Andrew looked like they were fighting over the sheets. It seemed like not even sleep could stop their lifelong arguing.

  Kevin and Lilian crawled under the covers of his bed, which was mercifully located closest to the door. They rested on their sides: Lilian on her left and Kevin his right. He slid his right arm under the pillow, while his left went around Lilian’s waist. She scooted closer until their bodies were touching, tucked her head underneath his chin, and threw her right leg over both of his.

  Once they were comfortable, they fell asleep—eyes closing, breathing slowing, exhaustion hitting them like a sack of bricks.

  ***

  Within the darkness of the night, a small black feline entered the room. Bright yellow eyes peered at the world around it before, with unusual grace, it leapt onto Kevin’s bed.

  It took one look at Kevin, and then it noticed Lilian snuggling with the boy. Hissing and spi
tting silently, it glared as it saw the happy smile that the redhead wore.

  Knowing that nothing could be done about this situation, unenviable though it was, the cat curled up into a ball at the foot of the bed and went to sleep.

  The young couple slept on, blissfully unaware of their bed’s new occupant.

  Chapter 6

  Good Times at the Beach

  Kevin Swift woke up to a series of unusual sounds. The first, not to mention easiest, for him to identify was crying—no, not just crying. Sobbing. It was the sound of someone sobbing manly tears, though they did not sound sad. The second sound was, strangely enough, a word: kawaii. Just what the heck someone was doing speaking Japanese was beyond him. It was the third sound, however, that caused him to open his eyes—namely because it was right next to his ear.

  “Nya.”

  Cracking a single eye open, Kevin first saw nothing but red. It was hair. Lilian’s hair. A million strands of silk that tickled his nose. The familiar scent of strawberries and vanilla lulled his mind into a sense of contentment. He must have buried his face in her hair sometime during the night.

  “Nya.”

  Something swatted at his ear, sharp and hard. It kind of hurt.

  Unburying his face and turning his head, Kevin met the large yellow orbs of a black cat.

  “Nya.”

  “Morning.” He yawned.

  “Nya.”

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “Nya.”

  “Good to know.”

  “Nya.”

  “… You don’t really say anything other than ‘nya’ do you? Shouldn’t you be ‘meowing’ instead? You know, like a cat should?”

  The cat tilted her head. “Nya?”

  “… Never mind.”

  Snickering reached his ears—and sobbing, but the snickering was closer.

  The snickers came from Alex and Andrew. Justin appeared to be snickering too, but he had his back turned, and Kevin could only see the shaking of his shoulders. He looked back at the twins and glared.

  “What are you two laughing at?”

  “You’re talking to a cat,” Alex said.