Avenging Amethyst (Immortal Eyes) (17 page)

"I like
them already."

  The room
wasn't far from the stairs and there were five women inside waiting for work.

"Hello ladies,"
Felix greeted them. They all seemed to know him and were happy to see him.
"This is our newest recruit. She's here to get some clothing made."

The women were
all very outgoing and more than happy to help me. They ushered me around to
their fabric selection to pick out the colors and textures I wanted. They
showed me their books and books of different styles and items I could choose
from. In the end I picked out four pairs of bottoms and five shirts in
different styles.

The clothing
they made was all unique and incredibly gorgeous. They assured me it would all
be form fitting and flattering, unlike the clothes the upper class Nesmyr would
try to put us in.

Felix offered to
pay for the items for me but I pushed him away. I had more than enough to buy
some fancy clothing and I was excited to finally use some of the money my mom
had saved up for me.

The women told
us to come back in two hours and they would have all the items made up for me.
I was surprised that they would be able to get them done so quickly and they
told me they didn't get much business this time of year. During graduation
season is when they had more orders than they could handle. This time of year
they only got a few orders a week when the older Lovac wanted something new or
had ruined something old. This was the largest order they would probably get
for the rest of the year.

Felix also had
to explain to them who I was since they knew all of the graduated Lovac and it
wasn't anywhere near graduation season. Once they learned who I was, they
treated me like I was a celebrity. According to Felix, I practically was.
Everyone in the facility had already heard about me and what I could do. They
all wanted to meet me and apparently some of the upper class Nesmyr were
already interested in hiring me for jobs.

Except Nesmyr
and other Lovac weren't the only people who wanted to meet me. As Felix and I
were leaving the basement Riley meet up with us in the hallway.

"There you
two are. I've been looking everywhere for you," she said, slightly out of
breath.

"We were
just getting Avery some new clothes. Did you hear that she's been approved to
start taking jobs?" Felix asked.

"I
did," Riley said. "Congratulations. That's part of the reason I've
been looking for you. I wanted to introduce you to a few of our allies.
Thorkell and Thistle came to greet the newest recruit."

"Who are
they?" I asked.

"Well,"
Riley started, glancing at Felix quickly. "Thistle is a fairy and Thorkell
is a demon but he's on our side."

She rushed to
finish the last part of her sentence when I opened my mouth to protest.
"There is no way I am meeting a demon. One of them killed my mother and I
plan to hunt her down."

"Thorkell
knows the demon that killed your mother. He wants to help. He’s the demon
the council has been trying to contract for information. He's also a very dear
friend to some of us."

"Especially
a certain Lovac," Felix muttered under his breath and Riley punched him
in the arm.

"What does
he mean?" I asked, not catching on to their joke.

"Thorkell
has a fondness for a Lovac named Leslie. I don’t think you’ve met
her yet but you’ve probably seen her around. She’s one of the
tallest Lovac, which makes her perfect for a demon and her blonde hair is at
least three feet long. Thorkell always follows her around and everyone knows
Leslie’s crazy for him, even though he’s not her Dimidium."

I remembered the
Lovac they were talking about and I felt like I had an instant connection to
her. I glanced at Felix then and felt myself blush. I felt the same way about
him. Part of me wondered if Leslie felt guilty for having feelings for someone
she wasn't meant to be with and the other part of me wondered if she ever
thought about just being with him and not worrying about a Dimidium. I wanted
to be with Felix and not worry about whether either of us would find a Dimidium
or not but with Riley’s prediction, I didn’t have that option.

"Thorkell
is really going to regret chasing after her if she ever finds her Dimidium,
though," Felix said, looking right at me. Riley knew that something was
going on between us but she chose to mind her own business and changed the
subject back to meeting these new creatures. I gave her a grateful smile. I
didn’t want to bring mine and Felix’s problems out into the open.

"I promise
Thorkell won't hurt you," she said. "Him and Thistle just want to
introduce themselves in case you ever have to work with them in the future and
Thorkell wants to give you the information on the female demon that he
has."

I sighed.
"Alright. I'll meet them."

Riley dragged me
to a room on the main floor that I had never been to before. The tingling in my
body started before she even opened the door. Inside, two people were waiting
for me that were radiating so much power that I was sure my body was visibly
vibrating in sync with the tingling I could feel inside. No one seemed to
notice though.

The sight of
Thorkell shocked me. He was almost two feet taller and wider than me although
he didn't look much older. His horns were actually visible from where they
protruded out of his long mane of dark blonde hair. He had stubble on his chin
and a smile that flashed pure white teeth.

His voice was
deep and husky when he spoke. "It's so nice to finally meet you, Avery,"
he said as he shook my hand. His grip was gentle and he bent down to kiss the
top of my hand, his black eyes locking with mine, before letting go. "I'm
truly sorry to hear about what happened to your mother."

I heard Riley
choke on a laugh when I stood there speechless and blushing. I hadn't been
expecting this demon to be such a charmer. Before I could get my mind to work
again the fairy stepped up next to Thorkell to introduce herself.

"My name's
Thistle," she said with a slightly squeaky voice. Her curly red hair
bounced when she moved and freckles dusted her face. She was the complete
opposite of Thorkell in height and bulkiness. She was much shorter than me and
very petite. The light pink color of her eyes made her look almost alien.

I shook her hand
and finally found my voice enough to say, "It's nice to meet both of
you."

"I can't
stay for long," Thistle said. "I just wanted to introduce myself and
give you my business card. If we fairies can ever help you with anything,
please let me know. We make a large variety of enchantments and potions and you
should come visit my shop someday. I know a lot of Lovac don't like to use our
products but it never hurts to take a look."

"Thank you.
I definitely will," I said, taking her business card.

She shook my
hand once more and before I could even say goodbye she disappeared, causing
most of the tingling sensation I could feel in my body to disappear as well.
Riley explained that fairies were the most magical of all of the creatures in
this world but never used any of it to harm someone. They were pure goodness.

Thorkell laughed
at that. "I don't know about pure good. Some of them are a little
mischievous and their prices are ridiculously high."

"Well I
guess I should say they're as good as a person can get," Riley corrected
herself. "They can definitely be mischievous sometimes."

"Now, on to
my business," Thorkell continued. "Avery, I wanted to give you some
information on the demon that killed your mother. I saw the video tapes from
the hospital and I believe her name is Kamila. She's one of the crazed demons
and has been for as long as I can remember. She enjoys the taste of blood and
feels empowered with it. She is very good with her magic but not so much with
basic fighting skills. If you go up against her, try to remember that most of
her magic is just illusions. She can conjure some tangible items but not
much."

"If she
likes the taste of blood," I started, trying not to think of how gross it
sounded. "Then why didn't she do more to my mom than just break her
neck?"

"Because
you caught her in the act. I guarantee that if you hadn't walked in on her, she
would have done much worse. Either that, or she was commanded not to do more.
Riley told me that she may be working with a Zhulik."

"Yes,"
I confirmed.

"While it's
very uncommon for a Zhulik and demon to work together, it has happened. They're
probably helping each other to get to some common goal. Unfortunately, I could
not tell you what that is. That's all the information I have for you."

"Do you
have any information on how I can find her?"

He shook his
head, with honest concern in his eyes. "We have a hard time keeping tabs
on most demons. I have some of my most trustworthy men searching for her and if
we have any information, you’ll be the first to know."           

"Thank
you," I said, sounding a lot more disappointed than I meant to. I shook
his hand again and tried to make my voice sound more grateful when I said,
"Thanks for willing to help me."

"My
pleasure, and I assure you that most demons are like me and not like Kamila.
Please don't be frightened by us."

"I'll do my
best," was all I could say.

He nodded his
head and then morphed into a dark cloud of smoke before disappearing.

"Well, that
was interesting," I said after a moment of silence.

"You get
used to other creatures popping in and out after a while," Felix said.

"How am I
supposed to find Kamila?" I asked, completely ignoring his statement.

Felix and Riley
looked at each other. I knew I wasn't going to like their answer.

"We
don't," Riley said. "It's nearly impossible to track a demon around
our world. They don't leave much of a trail. We have notices up to report any
sightings of her but that's all we can do. We're trying to track Lucas but he's
been roaming this world for thousands of years and no one has been able to hunt
him down."

"So I'm
just supposed to sit back and wait?"

"No,"
Felix said. "We're going to take as many jobs as we can and hope that we
run into them or something comes up. You won't be sitting around, trust
me."

"When can
we start?" I asked, feeling a strong desire to take out my frustration on
someone, even if it wasn’t who I wanted.

"That
eagerness is going to get you killed," Riley muttered, a sour hint in her
voice. I had to remind myself to be cautious around Riley but I didn’t
have to patience right now. "Good luck on your first job. Just take it
easy and try not to go too crazy."

I actually
laughed at the double meaning to her statement and was glad to see a smile on
her and Felix’s face too.

To my surprise,
she gave me and Felix a quick hug before she left. I could tell that she was
worried about both of us and I worried she might have had a vision about my
next job. I told myself that she would warn us if she had and her concern was
normal.

Back in my room,
Felix explained that the job finding process was all done online now. There was
a special server set up for Nesmyr to post jobs they had and for Lovac to
express their interest in them. The Nesmyr who set up the post had the final
say in who got the job but only a few Lovac would ever apply for one at a time.

For special jobs
like bringing home a newborn Lovac baby, a group of Lovac would be summoned to
the council meeting hall. Those Lovac didn't really get choice of whether or
not they wanted the job, they were just assigned to it.

There had been a
small package on the floor waiting for me in my room. Inside of it was a paper
with a username and password to get on to the server and a small cell phone.

"Make sure
you memorize your username. It's going to be your lifeline from now on,"
Felix said.

I rolled my
eyes.

"It's how
you'll get paid so you can buy clothes and your own house if you wanted to.
It's your new full-time job, so make sure you know your login."

"Alright,
alright. Don't be so dramatic."

Felix taught me
how to log onto the computer and access the job listings. They were sorted into
categories from high importance to low. Felix told me to search the low
importance ones first. Once I was more experienced we would start looking at
the higher importance ones.

"This one
says their fourteen year old daughter was taken by a Zhulik last night," I
read. "How is that low importance?"

Felix sighed.
"Our politics are severely screwed up. The only reason this is of low
importance is because this is posted by a lower class family. If this was an
upper class child it would be of the highest importance."

"That's so
wrong," I said, shaking my head. "I want to take this one. It's not
fair that the upper class Nesmyr get all of the good Lovac."