“What do you mean we only get paid half?!” Lilith yelled at Zozo, who was cowering behind the counter.

“Seriously! We bust our asses for this contract and you’re telling me we only get one-hundred thousand sols?!” Mura said, chiming in.

The little impish boy held out his small hands in an attempt to ward away their negative words.

“I really sorry, Mister Headband! I only tell you what your bosses told me!”

Zozo adjusted the brown cap on his head, pulling it up with a renewed grin. He tossed a plastic card through the air toward Mura, only for the Jikininki to catch it between his fingers with a frown.

Mura looked over the card. It was a business card, with an outline of Zozo’s face in the center and his telephone number underneath. The letters and numbers present on the plastic were embossed in a silver foil that reflected light like a treasure.

“Listen though! You wanna talk things over with them? We have very good year-long membership where you can send messages to loved ones, co-workers and so on at very affordable prices—“

“Save the sales speech, kid. You got anything else for me besides my reward?” Mura said, cutting Zozo off with an exhausted sigh.

Zozo perked up, his fanged smile gleaming from the neon signs in his outpost.

“I do! Mister Headband has very important mission being prepared at the moment! When the details are finished, I call you on little girl’s phone!”

Lilith glared at the demon behind the desk.

“Little girl?! I’m eighteen for your information! By the way, how do you even have my number?”

Zozo giggled mischievously, waggling a thin finger at the yokai.

“You guys are Jikininki! Since Zozo’s company is partners with the top command of the Empire, your information is also my information!”

The thought of their personal info being in the hands of this imp made Mura’s spirits drop, but he relented.

—He’s the top communications business in the industry for a reason, I suppose.

Mura slipped the plastic card into his coat pocket, knowing he’d most likely be utilizing it again in the near future.

“Let’s head off, Lilith; we can do some sightseeing until he’s ready for us,” Mura said.

She nodded, reaching up to hold his hand as they walked out of the sliding

door they came in through. Being enchanted by illusionary magic like the previous time, as they walked out of the door to Zozo’s outpost, they rematerialized within another location altogether.

Kirin had told them earlier in the morning of numerous other portal entrances to Zozo’s location; all located within the city of Ema. Demons and other supernatural creatures needed more entries other than the one illusionary wall located in a bolder on the outskirts of the city.

Giving Mura and Lilith a map of the city where these additional portals were located certainly helped make visits less of a chore. The entryway they had chosen was located in a bar. Little did they know the actual portal was hidden inside of a bathroom stall. The bathroom was continuously guarded by an old male yokai that would grant access if one said the password.

—I still can’t believe the password to get in was ‘Grant me the boon of blue toilet paper’…

Mura and Lilith both emerged from the bathroom stall, waving goodbye to the elderly yokai awaiting their return. With a flick of his ghostly fingers, he snapped and the lock to the bathroom itself unfastened.

“Didn’t want anyone barging in on ya if you came back unexpectedly, heheh!” the yokai laughed heartily.

Mura smiled and thanked him as they walked out into the door and into the dimly-lit bar. It was empty, save one or two customers seated around the establishment as the barkeep tidied up. There were various plants to keep the décor from appearing too sterile and wooden, while a large stain-glass window to the right of the entrance door allowed daylight to leak through.

“Why don’t you come take a seat, Mura?” a familiar voice spoke out from close by.

Catching the Jikininki and his partner off guard, both turned to the source of the mysterious voice.

Mura spotted a female in her late twenties motioning to him from the booth closest to him. She was wearing a slim black dress and matching black hat with a brim that shielded her face from the light. Her face was familiar however, as was the crimson hair that cascaded around her shoulders.

“Miss Lamia? What are you doing here?” Lilith asked, her tone surprised.

Lamia smiled, her full lips curling into a closed smile. They were adorned with a scarlet shade of lipstick; a color that emitted a sickly aura not unlike coagulated blood.

“Why, I just so happened to be in the area sweetie. They tasked me to track down that little rat you ran into last night,” she said while casually resting her chin atop the back of her hand. “Come, sit and join me. We haven’t gotten to know each other well enough yet, not enough to my liking anyhow.”

Mura smiled respectfully and walked towards her booth, sitting on the cushioned seat facing his superior. Lilith slid in next to him, noticing a lack of beverages on the table.

“Hey barkeep! Can we get something over here?” Lilith shouted across the room.

“Lilith!” Mura said sternly before realizing the human man wasn’t reacting whatsoever.

“Oh yeah, sorry. I keep forgetting he can’t hear or see me…”

Lamia chuckled softly, her voice exuding a warm depth.

“No worries, sweetheart. I’ll treat you both,” the Jikininki gently crooned. She turned to the barkeep, who had been sneaking glances at her every now and then while sweeping. “Excuse me, handsome. Could I trouble you to bring some drinks for me and my junior? Keep it virgin, he’ll be heading to work afterwards~”

The barkeep’s face flushed red.

“O-Of course, miss!” he stuttered out.

Lamia turned her attention to Lilith, gazing deep into her eyes.

“See how quickly they lose themselves with barely any effort? You have such a promising body, dear. Give it some more time to blossom and men will drop like dogs before your feet~”

Lilith’s cheeks turned a soft shade of pink at the unexpected flattery. Mura meanwhile didn’t know what to think and kept silent.

The barkeep quickly brought four glasses, two filled with ice water and the others with a fizzy red cola; each crowned with a lime wedge.

“Much thanks, love~” Lamia purred seductively at the man.

“N-No trouble at all, miss! Consider it on the house,” he said with a smile, trying to save some composure.

As he left, Lamia turned to look at Mura while sipping her beverage gingerly. After she had swallowed, she leaned forward; causing the ample cleavage she had exposed to become more defined and pronounced.

“So then, what do you know about Goetia?”

Mura raised an eyebrow.

“Excuse me, ma’am… But should we be discussing this in such a public setting?”

Lamia winked at him, her hazel eyes flickering gold for a brief moment.

“Good of you to notice. I have a hex cast on this entire bar however, so we’ll be just fine. Should anyone bearing the mark of Goetia cross within a twenty-meter radius of this establishment, the entire block will detonate,” she said darkly. “An unfortunate gas leak is what the humans will chalk it up to. Sadly they’re an ignorant race, always needing to find the logic in everything.”

Mura tried to keep his composure. He was just told they were casually sitting within an active trip mine that would kill innocent lives. He looked over toward Lilith, who had stolen Mura’s beverage and had nearly consumed the entire drink. She had slowed in her drinking after Lamia’s words however.

“Oh dears, you should see the looks on your faces. Not to worry, this booth has such an advanced shield spell placed on it that we’d be completely unfazed. If you’re worried about the humans, you’ll get over that soon enough. For your sake, I hope you do. His Majesty isn’t fond of human sympathizers…”

Mura nodded to her and placed his hand over Lilith’s underneath the table.

“Don’t worry, I was simply concerned for our safety and security,” Mura said in a partial lie.

“Wonderful! Now back to my question, this time give me a report on the Poacher.” she continued, waiting for a reply while drinking once more.

“Well, the mark in question… his name was Shuten. Based on his strategies, he’s well-versed in espionage and assassination. He likes to kill quickly without bringing much attention to himself. At the same time though, he feels bored from constantly killing defenseless game. He feels the need to challenge himself to make it more exciting, which leads me to believe despite his young appearance he’s racked up numerous kills over his career.”

“And where do you think he is now?” Lamia replied, smiling at Mura’s dissection.

“He’s lost his cover and his pets. He tried to kill the human girl Tomoe because she was interfering too often, that’s what he told us. That makes me believe he’s… he’s not finished with whatever he set out to do, otherwise he would have left the area. For now, he’s most likely hiding somewhere safe in the city. This is his comfort zone, so he wouldn’t naturally leave to another location that’s entirely foreign…”

“You know, Mura… You’re a very clever boy. I’d be happy to have you accompany me on my own contracts any day. But yes, you’re correct. We’ve had agents scour the surrounding cities to look for him fleeing, but nothing has come up. I’m surprised though that no one told you about Goetia yet. My guess is because you’re still a little green.”

Lamia leaned in slightly, closing the gap between them.

“Luckily for you, I enjoy instilling experience in the inexperienced~”

Mura smiled appreciatingly at the ninth Jikininki.

“Tell me what they are then. I need to know, there was that mark Shuten had on his upper thigh. What was that?”

“They call it the ‘Key of Goetia’. It’s a tattoo magically grafted onto a member’s skin for life. Once it’s on you, you can never leave the organization. From the reconnaissance we’ve gathered in the past, it tends to have a deeper meaning when placed on a yokai. You see, the tattoo itself decides where it is placed,” she explained, taking time to look over at Lilith. “For yokai, the tattoo appears in correlation to how they died in their human lifetimes.”

Lilith gulped the remaining liquid she had stored in her mouth.

“That’s crazy…” Lilith exclaimed.

“Indeed, magic is a truly wondrous thing. It’s born from the soul, so it only makes sense it’d lead straight back to it in the end. But I digress, allow me to elaborate a little more on the organization,” she said, shifting her position to be more relaxed.

“Goetia are essentially the rivals of the Jikininki. They’re formed of outcasts, demons and yokai exiled from their homes to the realm of humans. Each member has that tattoo somewhere on their body, which is how I was able to configure my explosive magic to detect them explicitly.”

“So they’re a bunch of rejects, then? Why are they so deadly and well-hidden then?” Lilith asked.

“They have incredible training from the higher-ups in the organization. We have no clue regarding the identity of their leader, but we do have information regarding their primary factions.”

Mura reached over to take a sip from the glass of water, which by now had beads of misty condensation forming across the surface.

“I’m assuming Poachers are one of them?” he asked cheekily.

“Very astute, Mura. There are Grafters and Poachers. The Grafters are normal yokai and demons, they lack any kind of fighting ability. However, they make up for this in their abilities of smuggling, infiltration and other criminal activity. You’ll typically find them assimilated into human life. One we found even had a fabricated family and birth certificates.”

“So that barkeep could be a Grafter?!” Lilith exclaimed in a hushed tone.

“No honey, if he was the entire building would have gone up in smoke remember? Grafters are usually more difficult to find than Poachers, however. If caught or discovered, they usually don’t allow themselves to become prisoners…” Lamia said ominously. “Poachers on the other hand are a different breed. They’re pure contract killers, assigned to a region in teams of two. They seek out humans, often fools experimenting in fabricated magic rituals they found online. Once contacted, they coerce them into a contract for whatever their heart desires in exchange for money... or their soul.”

Without notice, Lilith’s phone went off. Looking at the caller ID, it was an image of Zozo’s logo.

“Looks like we’ll have to cut things short here. But thank you for the intel, Lamia,” Mura said. “Good luck in your search.”

Lamia smiled back, her eyes narrowing happily as Mura and Lilith got up to take their leave.

“Good luck as well… Bloodstrider Mura.”

❇ ❇ ❇

Daimae District, Ema — The previous night. Shuten slithered up the housing of a modest suburban home, zipping in through an open window. He landed in the room of a teenaged girl, decorated with posters of popular boy bands and anime figurines.

The teenager that the room belonged to turned to look at the intruder. She had wispy black hair and rectangular glasses perched over her small nose. The girl was lying in her bed, her duvet pulled over her body.

“You’re late, Shuten.”

Shuten bowed his head in obedience and knelt down on one knee.

“Forgive me, master. I was trying to track down the interloper when I was met with… unexpected resistance.”

Behind Shuten was another girl, also resembling a teenager in appearance. She wore a school uniform with a black academic cap. Over her face was a black sick mask; a stylized fanged smile motif on the fabric. Her black hair flowed over her slim shoulders and faint freckles arched along her cheekbones and nose.

“Are you okay, Big Sis?” the masked girl said to Shuten, pulling him up.

“Yes, I’m alright. Thank you, Kuchisake~♥” he said to his comrade.

“Enough! Listen here, you need to kill Tomoe! If she discovers in any way I told you to kill all of those girls, my life will be ruined!” the bespectacled human whined, pouting in her bed.

“… Of course, master,” Kuchisake said. “We represent the very best in our trade. The girl will die, along with your final target.”

Both Shuten and Kuchisake bowed before their human mistress.

“Serve those lesser, smite those stronger,” they said in unison.