20 CHAPTER TWENTY

"A brothel."

"That word is too harsh. I would say... a party place. They love to party."

"And have sex."

"That's included, virgin girl. What kind of party is fun without sex?"

She turned her head to look me in the eyes and I sighed. "One. I'm not a virgin. Two. You can have fun without having sex."

"I clearly don't want to hear your definition of fun." Jessica said, rolling her eyes. Throwing a last glance behind me, making sure we weren't followed by anyone, she started walking towards the noisy building and I followed her, sighing and adjusting the cloth which was covering my face.

"I had a few drinks with the woman who owns this place today. She's nice enough to let us stay here. Don't say anything. Let me do the talking, understood? As far as people know, you are deaf and mute. Understood?"

I nodded and she opened the yellow door of the noisy, wooden place.

I took a peek of the room and the women, who were standing beside each man in the room, were almost naked. I squeezed my eyes shut for a few seconds, as Jessica started talking with one of the women who got to her feet to greet us. The men started laughing and shouting when they saw us, or more probably Jessica, and I wished I was anywhere else but not there at that moment. The discussion between Jessica and the woman ended and she closed the door after another woman got outside, coming next to me. She made eye contact with me and smiled. Her white face was perfect. Her black eyebrows, her small, pink lips, her cute nose, everything on her face was well structured and placed. She was wearing a kimono with fish drawn on it, but her shoulders were exposed, which made her even sexier. She was gorgeous.

Jessica told her something in Japanese and the girl nodded, walking in front of us and leading us towards our room, I thought.

After a few minutes of walking and passing by a lot of tea houses -Jessica told me how they were called after she heard me saying "small house" several times- we stopped in front of an even smaller house than the other ones. The girl bowed and winked at me as she passed by me and went down the road we came on.

"You gotta love her. She's so good in the bed."

I turned my head towards Jessica and blinked twice. "You slept with her? In the Edo period? Are there... lesbians?!"

She shrugged and then grinned. "You have no idea what kind of things they do around here, sweetheart. Japanese are many things, but oh Lord, they are the Gods of perversity."

I winced and shook my head. I clearly didn't want to picture that in my head. Jessica opened the brown door of our new tea house and I exhaled sharply, sitting on a black pillow and massaging my shoulder. I took off the cloth which was covering my face and I finally felt how good was to breathe normally.

"I have no idea how unlucky you can be. Even though you have Satoshi's necklace, you still are so goddamn unlucky. But, at the same time, at least we know that his hoard of demons is around here. According to your description, the demon you met is Kasho. He is another kitsune, but way weaker than Satoshi... I mean, our fox, Caiden. Kasho is like his right hand. And, if I remember correctly, Kasho will betray him, selling him to humans."

I blinked twice, surprised by her information. "Caiden was betrayed by his right hand?! And he even had a person he trusted?!"

Suddenly, I remembered our conversation in his bathroom, when he told me he has been burnt once. He was talking about Kasho. Caiden, at that moment, trusted someone. I knew I should've thought of a solution for what Lucifer asked us, but I couldn't do that for now... what if I changed the past? Was it even possible? To warn him about Kasho...?

"I know what you're thinking, Ivy Moore. Don't even bother. It's useless to try something in the past because there will always be something in your way and you won't be able to change it. Anyway, if you tell him Kasho will betray him in the future, he will never ever listen to a stupid human. And, because the hell hounds, which haunt demons who interfere with the past, will come after me in a second, I can't prove him I'm a demon as I'm hiding my power. Life sucks, kiddo."

She spread her arms wide and plastered a dumb smile on her face. I sighed and she rolled her eyes, sitting on the pillow which was in front of me, on the other side of the table. I was fed up with their incredible intuition, which was almost a mind-reading power.

"But you destroyed those shadows when they attacked my family." I said, furrowing my brows.

She sighed. "Those were only three hell hounds, Ivy Moore. If they know I'm here, at least one hundred hell hounds will be in a second around me. I can take one or two down, but one hundred might be too much for me. Time-traveling is strongly forbidden. My soul might be destroyed if they catch me. I risked very much coming here."

"Then why did you? Caiden told me you want to live."

She threw me a sad smile, as she was looking through me. "That's true, sweetheart. But how can I live if the dimensions themselves will be destroyed? No offense, you're kinda badass, especially because you have no power and you're just a simple human, but I know you can't do much alone. Especially here, where you can be killed just because you're a foreigner. So yeah, I had to risk it no matter what."

I smiled. She knew her priorities. She was crazy, frightening, playful, and seemed to be dumb when it came to serious things, but it wasn't like that at all. She knew what to do. And I was happy she was with me. And grateful.

A sudden thought came to my mind and my eyes widened. Jessica furrowed her brows, watching me having a revelation. "Think about it. My necklace was charmed by Caiden. He, practically, put his power on this pendant, right? Like a... 'touch'."

She touched her bottom lip and nodded slowly. "Yes. Go on."

"Then... if I'm still wearing it ever since I came here... why didn't his right-hand sense it? Isn't it weird that I have a bit of Caiden's power at me? He clearly would've said something about it."

She froze for a few seconds and then looked right into my eyes. "Goddamn. The charm has expired. Your bad luck is back."

I pursued my lips and grimaced. "Exactly. Probably that's why I bumped into a demon, alone. And... I'm afraid the worst is yet to come."

"Shit. Why now?! That stupid fox! He should've put more power in your necklace from the start! Ugh!" She got to her feet, placing furiously her hands on her hips and started walking around the room, emanating nervous vibes.

I sighed. "This will be much harder than I expected. I almost forgot about my bad luck."

"Stop talking. I'm trying to think." She said, raising a hand towards me and I gulped, swallowing my suggestions.

A few minutes passed and my feet got sore because of my uncomfortable position on the pillow. I wanted to change it, but I thought even a little move might trigger Jessica and she could've killed me right at that moment. So, taking a deep breath, I waited a bit more until she finally sighed, flopping on the pillow and letting her head fall in her hands. "I think my brain is damaged from this time-traveling trip. I can't find a plausible solution."

I widened my eyes, staring at her face. She frowned. "I was so happy I wasn't alone here that I couldn't ask you how you escaped. So... how did you do it?"

She shrugged, her hands falling in her lap. "I think he let me go. I had a mirror in my pocket and, with my last dram of power, I came back in the past. I wasn't sure when you will come, so I came with one hundred years before the Edo era. Fortunately, I avoided the hell hounds until now. In almost two hundred years, I got my full power back and I could change my human body. I was ready to sense you around here. And when you did come, I found you in a few seconds. I would say that you owe me, but you might be the only one who can save the dimensions. So, think of something we can do about your bad luck. Don't screw up this chance, okay?"

You might be the only one who can save the dimensions.

The burden made my shoulders fall forwards because of its huge weight. I winced, realizing how ridiculous, but at the same time terrifying, everything sounded. My first instinct was to laugh because of this messed up twist of events which made me, somehow, the heroine of an apocalyptic nightmare. I wasn't the Chosen One. I wasn't the child who was destined to save the world. I didn't have a gift, I didn't have any special powers, but my wonderful bad luck which messed up everything good in my life. I wanted to cry. I wasn't worthy of Jessica's or anyone's trust. Or faith. I wasn't good enough.

"Hey."

I turned my head to the right and she was right there, placing delicately her fragile hands on my shoulders. She smiled, her expression calming me instantly. She knew I was doubting myself.

"You're just a human. You've barely lived a few years of life. You have no idea what's going on. I get that. If it was me, I wouldn't have even bothered involving a human in this mess. But, because he hates humans, he got you in. It's not your fault. It just happened. And now you have two options: cry like a baby, do nothing and die. And we all will die with you. Or... fight and live. It's your choice and I need it to hear it now. I need your answer so I will know what to do next."

Her features were kind of harsh, but I knew she was pitying me. She wasn't as wicked as she thought. That almost made me smile. But I didn't. Putting on the most determined expression in my whole life, I nodded and exhaled sharply. "You're right. I can't let everyone die because of me. I can't die because he wants me to. I need to live. I need to fight for everyone. I'm not alone. We can figure something out. And we'll get Caiden back."

When I said the last sentence, she threw me a sly smile and got to her feet, walking towards the door.

"What's with that smile?" I asked her, furrowing my brows.

She ignored me and opened the door, letting the chilly breeze of the peaceful night come inside of our small room. She leaned against the door frame, crossed her arms over her flat chest and inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. With her white robe and her pale skin, she looked like a ghost. I took a deep breath and grimaced. "Ugh... Jessica?"

"What now?"

"... where can we shower?"

Silence. I sighed.

"I don't think you want to bath yourself with other thirty men in hot tubes. Do you?"

I grimaced and she grinned. "That's what I thought. Sleep. Tomorrow is gonna be worse. Your bad luck is gonna screw us up anyway, so it's pointless to think now."

She was right. I sighed, placing my head on the pillow and my hands under it. It was hard to sleep comfortably, but I couldn't think of this luxury. The problems arising and the demon's perfect face kept dancing in my mind until I fell asleep, which was a perfect time to relax and stop thinking, indeed.