Chapter 67

I quickly changed my clothes and informed Annie that I will go out. It was getting increasingly dark outside. The wind grew stronger as I adjusted the collar of my jacket.

"You came here early. I thought you would take at least half an hour fixing yourself." Going out of the front door, I saw Mara leaning on the side of her SUV. She was currently looking at her nails without sparing me even a single glance.

She didn't look at me while I, in turn, looked her over. Black pea coat that showed off her tight waist. A flared pants hid a part of her shoes on a high heel. A small silken scarf wrapped around her neck, and she had earrings and a ring to match it. Her long hair was free, while her bangs were held by a hair clip.

"Ugh, looking at you, it would've been better for both of us if you actually took your time." She scrunched up her face in displeasure.

I looked myself over for a second. A simple pair of jeans, a sweater, and my worn-out jacket. It wasn't fashionable in any way, but it was comfy clothes.

"You know, I actually didn't think of dressing up for anyone." I shrugged.

"Is this how you woo a girl?" Mara smirked.

"Are you a girl?" I gave her an exasperated look while both of us sat on the backseat.

"Who am I if not a girl?" She widened her eyes as she turned to face me.

Whom Mara was resembling? Looking at her round grey eyes, I would immediately choose a bird of prey. With the way they were shaped and the look she always had, she closely resembled a bird in the middle of the hunt.

Yet looking at her face overall, she was somewhat seductive. A high nose, not so puffy, but still beautiful lips, small sharp chin, and somewhat protruding cheekbones. To top it all off her eyebrows were meticulously taken care of as they adorned her forehead. I remember she used to wear piercings but not this time, and it actually suited her more. Though further taking her expressions into consideration, I thought of a single thing resembling her.

"A fox? Like a nine-tailed one?" I scratched my chin in ruminations as I peered onto her face.

"Fox…heehee…" Mara chuckled and licked her lips. She tilted her head backward. "But what do you mean by a nine-tailed one?" She looked at me with eagerness to learn something new.

"I'm not so sure about this, though. I've only learned this from games, light novels, and so on…"

"You are playing games? And what about light novels?" she raised her eyebrow in question.

"Played. Not anymore." I sighed once, remembering the old days. "As for light novels, they're kind of books written in an easy-to-digest style. Usually, you can read a whole book in a day or so."

"With how gloomy… ahem, excuse me." she licked her lips, clearly feeling content with the joke. "With how serious you were, I thought you would read classical literature only."

"That I read as well, yet sometimes you want to get a breather." I shrugged.

"I guess… Anyway, back to the nine-tailed fox. What is it?"

She was really that eager to hear my evaluation, huh? I doubted that I would win a war of words with Mara in the future, so I intended to grasp every moment like this.

"Where are we even going? You took me away without telling me anything. You finally decided to sell my body piece by piece?" I crossed my arms and tried to look stern.

"Erlig, please!" she shook her head in exasperation. "Why are you even thinking about this? I've told you a hundred times already…"

"You are a fox though, how can I trust you?" I smiled.

Her lips trembled for a second or two until she smiled. "You can't trust me, but with the way you continuously ask me these things, perhaps you actually want me to do something bad to you?"

"Erm…nooo…"

"You know, I don't like this stuff, but if you insist, I can become your mistr…"

"Stop! Okay?" I rubbed my forehead. "Just say where are we going? Is it so hard?"

"You are no fun. Sigh, we are going to a really good place. It's a bar we can relax and talk there."

"I thought you wanted it to be a date?"

"In a weather like this?" she snorted.

"Whatever…A nine-tailed fox is a type of spirit…" Hearing my words Mara's eyes glinted as she looked at me with interest. "I said this to you already, but I may make mistakes, as the source from which I learned the meaning may be wrong."

"Yeah-yeah, go on."

"It's a type of spirit or a demon, that is like its name suggests a fox with nine tails. This fox can take the shape of a woman… a beautiful woman, the type of beauty that can topple kingdoms." Hearing this, Mara grew increasingly content with herself. Her eyes loosen as she had a small smile on her lips. "Legend says that this fox likes to feed on men. She will turn into a woman, hook them with her appearance, play with them and then devour them. Mostly it's devouring their essence, something like a soul. She does it either with sexual activities or at least use sex as bait until she sucks them dry." And now, her smile froze.

I shrugged as I continued telling what I knew. "I don't know much about the credibility, but there is at least one legend. A single fox with nine tails was preying on men who came from a nearby village. Soon the villagers got tired of it and tried to hunt her, but she managed to escape. Still, she was injured. Then a single man appeared; he saved and nursed her. Feeling his care and concern for her wellbeing, she fell in love, and they got together. That's it."

"And what happened next?" I glanced at Mara, who appeared to be deep in thought.

"I'm not so sure about the ending. But it came along these lines. A king or an emperor got the hang of a beautiful woman. He killed the man, kidnapped the fox, and later on, the fox escaped. Never ever in her life would she turn back into a woman." I was gazing at Mara as I told her this story. I never thought this small tale would affect her this much. "Or she died from grief, or she ended up marrying the emperor, I don't remember, nor does the source of this legend sound reliable."

With the ending of my speech, the car fell silent. I glanced out of the window and saw a city plunged into darkness. Right now, I had no desire to appreciate the night view of the snowy Kibryn.

My gaze rested on Mara, who looked serious. It wasn't how she usually behaved. Her lips pursed as she looked into nowhere in particular. Seeing her like that, I didn't open my mouth for the second time. All of us needed some silence after all.

Yet after some time, I couldn't bear it. Who knew what kind of thing Mara was thinking about?

"You don't need to think that hard into all of this."

"Hum?" with a fleeting glance, she grunted something inaudible and turned to look at me.

"When I told you this story, there was no deeper meaning." I shrugged, seeing her empty look.

"Then…what you meant…"

"That you are beautiful and cunning. After all, there are lots of these spirits while the legend was about one of them." I looked outside and saw that we arrived, the driver was slowly parking.

"Hmmm…" She hummed as the car stopped.

"Lead the way." As I got out of the car, my head was instantly greeted with snow. Shaking it away, I circled the car and went to the other side.

As Mara got out, her impeccable hair was smeared with snow as well. She didn't think of it much, though. Looking around for a second, she led me towards our destination.

Around us were the buildings of medium sizes, a lot of them were residential buildings, yet ground levels were left for restaurants, bars, and the like. One of the said buildings had a small staircase that led us downwards. We were met with a metal door that looked rather heavy and crude, but she opened it without hesitation.

What awaited us was a small bar. The room itself was made with beige colors and had a lot of wood finishing. There were a few low tables for two that had comfy armchairs to sit in.

It looked comfortable with the light being dimmed. A small bar counter separated a bartender and a waiter from customers. Behind them stood a rack full of different alcoholic beverages. A single customer was slowly sipping onto something.

I was still not finished looking at the insides when Mara walked towards the most remote table. Following her, I saw how she took her coat off and placed it on a nearby rack.

Following her movements, I did the same and sat down. The back of the armchair was leaning back rather heavily, so it took me some time before getting into a comfortable position.

Looking forward, Mara was already going through the paper sheet. Was it a menu, perhaps?

"What will you have?" She placed the menu back down and looked at me with a disinterested look.

"I don't know." I took the menu and scanned it. I didn't hear of anything on the menu in my entire life, apart from a few names. "Is there anything non-alcoholic? If I want to become stronger, I should eat healthy, right?"

She smirked. "From where did you hear this? I guess it was true fifty years ago, but not now. And even if you want to be healthy, one glass won't kill you."

My gaze kept jumping from the menu to Mara, who was leaning in her armchair. I saw her taking her phone from the coat as she put it on the table.

"Sigh, anything that isn't bitter will do. I don't know anything about cocktails, so feel free to order anything."

When I stopped talking, a waiter materialized before us as if he was waiting there all the time. Mara quickly told him our order and leaned back onto her chair again.

"Why did you think of this fox then?" Mara opened her mouth as soon as the waiter went away. Her gaze was drilling a hole in me.

"Because that's who you resemble." I leaned forward and lowered my voice so that no one would hear us. She squinted her eyes and held the armrests tighter. "But as I said, you shouldn't look into it too deep. The legend is one thing, but the way those spirits behave is another thing. You are cunning." She nodded as if it was the greatest compliment. "You are intelligent." Once again, she nodded. "And you are beautiful." Finally, she flashed me a smile.

"And what part of me do you think is beautiful?"

"Every part?" I rubbed the scar on my nose.

"This isn't fun, you know."

"And what do you expect me to answer? You aren't the most beautiful woman I've ever seen…" her eyes glinted dangerously, "But your looks are sufficient enough to say that you are a beauty. I can't pluck out a single feature."

"It's a pass, but only barely."

I looked around. "Why the bar?"

"Why not?" She took her scarf off and bared her long neck. "It's not like you had any plan for our small meeting, right? You need to relax from time to time. The ones in your team will say the same things."

"If you say so." I rolled my eyes at her.

"I don't have much time right now, so I won't be able to sit through the whole evening."

"Why?" Didn't she say that she is free?

"Something urgent came up." she moved her lips in a circle as her eyes showed her displeasure. "On Sunday evening, you will come with me to Khitrov's ballroom. You are ready, aren't you?" As she said this, she turned her face away and looked at me with side-eye.

There was only one thing she would name like this.

"Of course, I'm ready." As I said this, a waiter came by with two glasses filled with steaming dark red liquid.

"Your mulled wine and chocolate." He placed two cups with handles and a small bowl with handmade chocolate in the middle.

"You don't like bitter things, don't you?" She took her cup, and after blowing on it, she took a sip.

"You remember it?"

"Of course!" taking a small piece of chocolate, she threw it in her mouth. "How can I forget a single thing about you?"

"Then what will happen with those thugs?"

She scrunched up her nose. "Couldn't you at least try and answer my advance?"

"If I did, would you answer my question?" Taking a sip from my own cup my mouth was filled with a mildly sweet, tart flavor.

"Don't worry, they are some losers from a gang or something like that. You will become a witness. There won't be a single problem there."

"Good." I took another sip and threw a piece of chocolate in. The combo did taste great. "You have good taste."

"It's so rare hearing a compliment from you, and the moment I hear it, it's about food." she put her hand on her forehead in an exaggerated motion. "Then again, the closest path to a man's heart is through his stomach."