Page 176 of The Lost Ones

“Very well. You have payment?”

“Yes Sir as usual, half now and half when we collect them.” He says and I step forward keeping my head lowered to hide my supernatural form.

He takes the coin off me and hums. Without another word he clucks his tongue and the horses all follow him into the large open area in the middle of the stable block with no further encouragement.

My mouth drops open and I turn to Kysen for explanation on what the hell just happened.

“He’s a mountain lion shifter. All shifters have a gift with animals. Some more so than others.” He explains chuckling.

“Come on lets get this over with.” Kai says coming up to me and threading his fingers through mine before gently kissing me, “my wings are already starting to play up, I think they want to fly.” He rolls his eyes making me chuckle.

“This way.” Kysen grinning at Kai.

He leads us through a stone archway and down a street filled with the same Tudor style buildings but spaced further apart and in better condition than the ones that we saw when we first entered the town. The square courtyard that we enter is at least five times bigger than the one we’ve just left. On each side are stone archways like the one we’ve just exited that lead to other area’s of the town and the buildings in between them are mostly made up of shops on the bottom and what I’m guessing to be dwellings above with balconies and some even have wide openings with large bits of stone jutting out at least a metre from the building. As I try to puzzle out the reason for them a demon with wings similar to Kai’s swoops down and lands on one of the stone pads and strolls inside.

Well I guess that answers that then.

Kai tugs my hand gently and I follow them all further into the square all around the edges are brightly coloured stalls selling all manner of things. Some I recognise and some I definitely do not. The stalls in themiddle of the large cobbled square are large stalls set up in individual marques each one holding several tables of wares for the same stall.

“What are we getting?” Jax asks his gaze bouncing around the different stalls.

“Good question. We need bed mats or whatever their equivalent is here, we just need something so that we’re not lying directly on the floor.” Levi starts listing.

“Food. We need food, I can hunt for meat but we need other things in case for some reason I can’t find anything.” Hunt says.

“Some sort waterproof sheeting or tent in case the weather turns.” Maverick suggests.

“So pretty much the basics. I have the majority of those things but not nearly enough for all of us. I was somewhat sceptical when the goddess sent me that vision.” Kysen says.

As we walk around looking for the things we need and inevitably getting distracted by all the unusual items we find too, we gain a fair amount of attention. I nearly slipped up twice and let my hood fall, too interested in the pretty sea themed jewellery on a pretty sirens stall, her hair a deep teal colour and shimmering scales near her hairline. Fortunately Jax was there and caught my hood before it could dip back further, winking at me.

Once a couple of people have noticed us it seems to start a ripple effect and more and more of them are soon shooting looks in our direction. Kysen starts to hurry us along, none of us needing any more encouragement. As much as we’d like to explore, right now we don’t have the time to be dealing with any fights to the death. As I think it though I have to admit that a thrill goes through me even though the small, still human thinking part of me recoils slightly. I need a good fight. I know myself well enough that I can admit it. despite how different my life is now and that I’ve escaped my abusive step mother. Those events, how I was raised and the things I experienced at the twisted hands of Mr. Romano and that Doctor, have shaped me. there’s a violence in me that is restless unless I quench its thirst and I’ve come to terms with that.

It’s who I am.

However I am sensible enough to realise that now is not the time to satiate this thirst for violence. We need to move on from this town, we need to find my parents and I don’t know enough about any of these supernaturals abilities to go up against them.

I like a challenge but I’m not suicidal.

“We’re being followed.” Levi mutters quietly bringing me out of my thoughts.

We’re all moving close enough together that each of us hears Levi’s warning. Not wanting to be obvious in letting him know that we realise he’s following us we carry on our pace getting the last couple of things we need.

“Ideally we need to get a few more supplies but this coupled with whatI’ve got in my own supplies should be enough to last us the four day journey to the next town.” Kysen says as we swiftly head back towards the smaller courtyard and our horses.

“Yeah we can make it work. I think we need to get out of here as soon as possible before the dickhead following us decides to do something more than just follow.” Levi replies seriously.

We are only a few feet from the large water feature in the centre of the courtyard when the guy following us decides he has balls and wants to cause issues after all.

So freaking close.

“Oi!” He calls, we carry on walking. “Hooded freaks I’m talking to you. Stop.”

“We’re leaving.” Kysen calls back as we all carry on forward.

“No your not. I challenge her tostatus et pugna ad mortem.” He says loud enough that he’s gained the attention of the people closest to us. He points to me, making me wonder how in hell he knows I’m a girl.

“A status fight to the death.” Kysen explains the latin words the dickhead just spoke although it seems somewhat redundant since I’d already guessed as much. His worried eyes glance my way.