A hand gently shook Remi's shoulder, awakening her from slumber.

She slowly sat up and rubbed at her sleepy eyes. Had she fallen asleep while watching Killure cook?

He stood bent over in front of her, startlingly close. And snickered.

"What?" she glared hard at him, putting her hands on her hips.

He gestured towards his own cheek, which made her confused. "What? There's nothing wrong with your cheek."

Killure only began laughing harder. The laugh was eerie, distant and muffled, as though he was laughing underwater.

Oh, Remi realized. He meant my cheek.

She reached a hand up to feel her cheek, only to come back with white flour on her hand. She must have been sleeping on a bit of flour that had spilled from the flour bag.

Feeling mildly annoyed, Remi grabbed a handful of flour from the bag and tossed it at his cackling, half-hunched over form.

It hit the side of his face with deadly precision, getting all over his hair.

Killure stopped laughing.

His eyes snapped to hers, a dangerous glint flashing within them.

Strolling leisurely towards her, he reached a hand up and felt the flour in his own hair, and a thoughtful expression flitted over his face.

Cautious, Remi stood up. What if she had really angered him?

She could feel the heat from his body now—he was so close. So close, that her heart was beginning to beat quicker and quicker.

He leaned down until their faces were only inches apart, and stroked her long, smooth hair through his clawed fingers. An eerily wide smile erupted on his face with such suddenness that it startled her. "If you weren't my pretty little master," he murmured tantalizingly, "I'd dump the entire bag of flour onto your head."

He looked like he was about to devour her.

Remi's throat was dry, and not a single word formed on her lips.

He only snickered at her reaction, before turning around and walking back over to the oven. After turning the stove off, Killure reached in and pulled out a pan with his bare hands, teetering it on the tips of his claws so that he wouldn't burn his fingers.

He put a few finishing touches on them, before placing one on a plate and holding it out to her. "Cannoli?"

Cautiously, Remi walked over to him and examined the dessert on the plate. The pastry was made of many very thin, cooked layers and had a creamy strawberry-coloured filling inside. Sweet sauce had been lightly dribbled over the top, and dusted by icing sugar.

It looked amazing, like a work of art.

Glancing up at him quickly before taking the plate, Remi scooted off to the far side of the kitchen and set the plate down. She stared for a moment longer, truly hoping he hadn't put poison in the cannoli while she'd been asleep.

Gingerly, she brought the flaky, creamy delight up to her lips and took a bite.

Her tastebuds orgasmed.

The sweet strawberry filling was sweet, but not too sweet. The crust was cooked just right, and the toppings made it taste that much better.

She noticed Killure watching her expectantly. "I really hope you're watching me in hopes that I liked this, and not because you're waiting for the poison to hurry up and make me die."

He rolled his eyes at her. "There's no poison, doll. I can't kill you, remember?"

Remi grinned at him. "Well, in that case, you're an excellent cook. I loved it."

His eyes sparkled for just a moment before he turned back to the hot pan and began adding similar toppings to the rest of them, completely ignoring her.

Greedily, Remi turned back to her cannoli and took another bite. She'd never tasted something so incredible before.

The corners of her lips tilted up in a smile. Killure really seemed to enjoy baking. She would have never guessed it from the way he'd acted when she first handed him that mixing spoon.

"By the way," Remi began, wiping her lips with her handkerchief to get rid of any left over icing sugar. "Before my father and uncle locked you up, did they get to any of that debriefing they were supposed to do?"

Killure shook his head without looking at her.

"Ah," she nodded. "Well in that case, allow me. My father hired you to be my bodyguard."

"I assumed that much by this point."

She ignored his snide remark. "Something you might not know is the reason behind my family's riches. You see, we are the only people with the ability to . . . do what we do. Therefore, we are often hired by others for large sums of money to do their bidding."

Killure paused to glance back at her. "To heal them?"

"Sometimes," she nodded. "Though, our powers don't just allow us to magically heal people. We sort of project our energy into the body of the ailing person and reconfigure, or make organs whole by basing the build off of the organ that is already there. So, we can't just grow something like a kidney from nothing. "

He watched her with disinterest clear in his eyes. He didn't care.

She glared indignantly at him. "This has to do with you because I'm leaving on a mission in a few days, and I wanted you to know so that you can be prepared for whatever may arise."

He nodded once. "I'll protect you."

Remi's heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her rib case. He'd said it so simply.

"Okay," she whispered back, silent in her thoughts for a long moment. "Also, can I have another cannoli?"

He barked out a laugh, taking her empty, crumby plate away and using a flipper to dish her up another.

———

The white canvas before Remi was full of unlimited possibilities. What should she draw?

The sun was just beginning to rise, streaking the sky with rose gold and fire. However, as beautiful as that was, she'd drawn the sunset many times, and felt like a change in pace.

Remi stood up and looked in front of her. Early this morning, she'd hiked a few miles away from her house to a tall hill, in order to have the best vantage point.

The hill overlooked part of the huge city, but that was nothing beautiful. Only ugly souls and corrupt hearts lived there.

Off to the far right was Lake Blue, always full of many different kinds of fish. Its churning waters were known for always being such a beautiful dark blue, but right now it was stained with the colours of the sunrise.

It was beautiful, and it would be the perfect thing to paint.

Remi took out her paints and dipped her brush, leaving coloured strokes on the canvas.

Before her eyes, slowly but surely, the painting seemed to come to life.

She felt Killure's presence beside her. He was watching her paint, and she could feel his body heat coming off of him. For a brief moment, she wondered what he would do if she leaned back into him.

Instead, Remi turned to him and asked, "What do you think?"

"It looks better than the real thing," he murmured, looking back and forth between the painting and the lake.

Remi rolled her eyes. "Are you saying that because you think that's what I want to hear, or because you actually think so?"

He looked her in the eyes, and Remi squirmed. She wondered if he knew how intense his gaze was. Whenever he looked into her eyes, she felt as if he was looking straight into her soul and scorching it—setting her on fire.

"I mean it," he finally replied, before abruptly turning around. "We have to go."

Remi nodded, folding the stand and taking the canvas in her arms gingerly, being sure to not smudge the still drying paint. The slight wind would dry it soon, but for now, some areas were still partially wet or sticky.

As they walked through the forest, leaves crunched and twigs snapped loudly beneath Remi's feet.

Meanwhile, Killure didn't even make a sound as he walked. Complete and utter silence. Remi shook her head. How was that even possible? Better yet, how was it even close to fair?

Squirrels and other small critters scurried away at the sight of him, feeling his ominous presence and not wanting to be anywhere near him.

"How do you do that?" Remi finally asked, attempting to imitate his smooth, feline-like movements.

He stopped, arching a black brow at her and smirking. "How do I do what, doll?"

"Walk like that. Without disturbing anything. Silently."

He glanced down at his feet. "Experience, I suppose. Knowing where I am and being aware of the forest around me and what lies within it."

That didn't make any sense at all, and Remi wasn't sure how to better phrase a question that would give her the answer she was looking for, so she opted for silence and continued walking. Again, the forest beneath her shrieked with every step she took, and she let out a huff.

Stealing a glance at Killure, she wondered what it would be like walking in his shoes. Not literally of course, but figuratively. Did he notice how everyone—even small, innocent forest creatures—ran away in terror from his mere presence? If so, did it bother him, or did he enjoy the feeling?

The walk back to the house took a bit longer than the walk to the hill. The sun was rising into the sky, bringing intense heat and humidity with it.

Blue and Bliss met them at the edge of the clearing.

"We're about to depart," Blue droned, gesturing towards the white stallions, who were waiting patiently.

Bliss already sat on one, gently stroking its mane. The wind tussled her short, curly hair, dancing and weaving through the strawberry strands as if it were playing a game.

"Thank you for waiting," Remi smiled at him as she climbed on her horse, who whinnied happily in response.

Unlike most horse owners, their family didn't whip and beat their horses. Instead, they had a few of the best horse trainers in the area to train the horses through patience, repetition and positive encouragement. It took more time, but the result was happy, trusting horses who would rather be near you than run away.

Remi and Bliss rode side by side behind Blue, while Killure walked behind them. They were only walking the horses, so it was easy for the Icix to keep up.

"The customer is Captain Rismak," Blue informed her without glancing back. "A crew member of his was caught by slave traders and auctioned off last night."

Slave traders often snatched people off the streets to sell them. They usually stuck to those that would earn them the most money—beautiful women, exotic creatures, or anything unusual that would appeal to buyers—but sometimes they got desperate and took whoever they could find.

"And what is our job?" Remi asked hesitantly. She really hoped it wasn't another job that twisted her gut and left her with crippling guilt for the weeks to come.

Also, why wouldn't her father brief her himself? She always seemed to be the last in their family to find out anything, and it made her blood boil.

"The crew member didn't get sold. He was sent to the Meat Palace. He may or may not have already been slaughtered, but it's our job to put him back together if he was, then return him to the Captain."

There were many auction houses around the city, but all sent their unsold slaves to the Meat Palace, where they were slaughtered, their remains sold as meat. Human meat went for quite a lot more than animal meat, and recently there has been a great demand for it. Butchers working at the Meat Palace have become some of the richest people in the city.

"I assume he's going to provide compensation for the money we put out for his body parts," Remi half-stated, half-asked.

She'd always been relatively terrified of the Meat Palace, and tried to avoid it at all costs. It reeked of death, even through the pretty fragrances the workers tried to mask it with. However, occasionally a mission would make their paths cross.

The idea of slaughtering humans for food was appalling to Remi, but it didn't surprise her that people had sunk this low. They'd already crossed lines that some would consider to be worse, so why not this one?

Never once had anyone brought human meat into her home, at least not for consumption. She supposed it was because they knew that what they were eating could easily become a living human if the other body parts were present.

Occasionally they bought body parts from the Meat Palace from the already deceased in order to reattach to an individual missing a limb, but they'd never eaten any.

"Yes," Blue replied shortly. He turned back to watch Killure leisurely strolling along beside them, hands in his pockets and wings folded. "Icix."

Killure glanced up with narrowed eyes, and didn't reply.

"Have you ever had your arm ripped off before? Have you ever bled out? Have you ever had a nerve severed and consequently lost the use of part of your body? Have you--"

Remi let out a hiss. "Stop it, Blue!"

"Am I scaring him?" Blue asked, his voice void of emotion.

However, Killure didn't seem affected by his words. He wore a tight smirk, and the fire in his eyes was challenging. Daring Blue to try something so that he'd have an excuse to kill him.

Blue sighed. "Too bad. I'm only looking out for my cousin."

Remi smiled at him. "I appreciate that, I really do. But please don't harass Killure." If he got angry and snapped, she was sure that he would kill her cousins, and that was the last thing she wanted.

"Okay," Blue replied simply, and Bliss nodded.

Remi smiled at them, then urged her horse to walk a bit faster.