Lemon-Flavoured Ice Cream

The minutes tick by and you can't even buy a last moment with all your money. That's life.

Lemon-Flavoured Ice Cream

I found Alex and the kid in the lounge, gambling with some bored hunters.

Rolo already had a nice stack of paper money in his hands, and due to some divine intervention, he won almost every round. When he saw me, he jumped up, pocketed the money, and stomped in front of me so loudly that the noise would put elephants to shame. I was a bit surprised by the angry emeralds — it was the first time I'd seen Rolo truly angry.

"You'll take me out for ice cream as an atonement," he declared.

Alex jumped up too. Of course, no one was more excited by the possibility of ice cream than he was.

Then after half an hour, we were already sitting in the Forst house, waiting for our order to be brought out. I decided on a Baileys cup, which cost 1,200 forints, but I was like, if we're going to battle tomorrow, let me enjoy the small pleasures of life before that. Alex asked for about five kinds of ice cream, all of the sweetest available. Rolo stuck to three scoops of lemon-flavored ice cream — I found out that he doesn't really like sweets apart from cocoa, and eats only lemon-flavored ice cream.

I thought I knew the kid's real smile. However, after the first taste, for a moment his lips curled up a little, barely perceptibly, I realized something: when he smiles most of the time, he does so only because he knows that the easiest way out of the worst situations is a smile. Even if it's the sarcastic kind.

After that, we stopped by Nick, who, as usual, was arguing about the prices with a customer, but motioned for us to take a look. Alex looked around the place with huge, sparkling eyes, suddenly he didn't even know what he wanted.

When he succeeded in robbing his previous customer, Nick honored us with his attention.

"How can I help?"

"We are looking for a weapon for the idiot and the kid," I outlined the situation, while I felt two sharp glances pierce the back of my head.

Nick sized Alex up first and hummed a few before walking over to a short sword and running a thoughtful stroke along the tip.

"No, no," he muttered and moved on to the large daggers, the blades of which ranged from fifteen to thirty centimeters.

"Yes," he grumbled, then took out two of the biggest ones and gave them to the wolf. The fact that Nick was a professional in his field was no joke. He was the best if it came to telling what kind of weapon suited a particular person — he only needed a single glance.

The old man poked his head towards the rather worn mannequins at the end of the room. "Try it!"

Alex did so making some straight cuts.

"It's very light," he was surprised. "It's like it doesn't weigh anything."

"Of course, because it was made by dwarves, original dwarven steel, the best quality on the market," Nick boasted. "In addition, I am now giving away holsters that can be attached to the belt for free."

Alex hummed appreciatively after making one last cut on the hapless rag on the depreciated mannequin.

"Can this cut off a vampire's head?"I asked.

"Easily," nodded the owner.

"Could you get something for the kid too?" I asked.

Nick's piercing gaze scanned Rolo as well, and then he sighed.

"For such a young kid?" asked.

"I'm fifteen years old," Rolo emphasized for the second time that day. "And I have my own way of fighting, so..."

Nick just waved and looked at the tiny daggers before handing the kid one.

He looked up at me. "I don't need it, I can fight."

I nodded. "But I'd like you to hide it in your boots just to be safe."

We went to the cash register, and Nick, true to his promise, gave us a free case for the daggers.

"So, how much?" I put on my most charming smile.

"It will be twenty-eight thousand forints," he stated.

I put my elbow on the counter, rested my face on my palm, and gave the man a fae look.

"I see you misunderstood me, Nick," I said softly, "I said, 'How much will it cost me?'"

"Twenty-eight thousand forints," he repeated.

What the hell is wrong with man? Why isn't the fucking fae hocus pocus work?

Finally, we collected the money with great difficulty and wandered out the door of the weapon shop. I sighed deeply as I imagined Nick counting his money behind the counter with a devilish grin and laughing at me with a devilish laugh to himself.

We walked quietly for a while, then suddenly I noticed that someone was missing from the team: Rolo was left behind. The kid was watching the children who were playing on the terrace of Zsóka's kitchen.

Rosenstein Alley was created not only for hunters to meet and rest — in fact, it provided a perfect shelter for families, and also for refugees, who settled here for a while and then left or stayed here sometimes.

The children must have been orphans or little scoundrels whose one parent was a hunter, the other a normal human, and the monsters found out. Despite all this, they seemed happy and played with selfless laughter. For some reason, Rolo looked so heartbreakingly sad as he looked at them that I wanted to kick his ankles.

"What's up, you're not coming?" I asked instead. "At this pace, we won't even make it back for dinner."

He turned to me, a little surprised: maybe he forgot that he wasn't alone.

"I'm coming," he said, and I again saw that rare, slight smile at the corner of his lips.

I rolled my eyes and walked away with a huff. I decided not to wait, and he would catch up with me anyway. But if not, and someone kidnapped him on the way, that wasn't my problem either.

We walked up the creaking stairs of the Babel, all the way to the lounge. Alex grabbed the doorknob, pushed it down, and pushed the door open. My nose was immediately hit by the strong smell of cigarettes.

My eyes widened and I yanked the wolf back in time before a bullet pierced his forehead.

"What the hell was that?!" he shouted.

The room was almost completely filled with cigarette smoke, it was difficult to see through it.

Killey stood grinning with a gun pointed at someone. Hornsby was the sniper of the family, usually taking on missions that involved taking out someone very high profile — an assassin of the best.

In any case, he kept a few pistols along with his long-barreled rifle, and I heard from Des that he kept trying to challenge Alice to a shooting duel. Besides the seer, there was only one other person who was able to excite this punk — Tekla Trinitas.

Tekla was Willingham's number one hunter and the daughter of a mage on top of that. She was characterized by strictness and discipline, and was famous for not sparing any enemies — all the members of the family recognized her abilities, which elevated her to the rank of paladin.

She wore the number I above her bosom, on the left side. At six feet tall, she was taller than average women, her long blonde hair flowing behind her like a cloak. She was wearing her usual uniform — it was said that Willingham had found her in the army.

She always had a cigar hanging in her mouth, which also served as her weapon. She called her spell Trinitas, which eloquently indicated that she was using three so-called golems in battle. The second of these is the Knight.

The billowing smoke suddenly took shape in front of the woman, in the form of a five-meter-tall armor. The Knight held out his hand, and even though Killey fired at him, the tiny holes in the smoke immediately coalesced.

The Knight picked up the boy by the leg. Killey was hanging upside down, but still not giving up, he fired one last bullet at Tekla. The woman simply tilted her head to the side, avoiding the attack. He was fighting back vehemently but the solidified smoke knight took the weapon from his hand. Then Tekla sighed deeply and waved. The Knight released his victim, but to my greatest disappointment, Killey did not fall on his head.

The figure of the Knight melted into the slowly dissipating smoke. I judged that it was now safe to enter the lounge, where a little further away the hunters, fully accustomed to fighting, were cheerfully gambling and talking.

Killey grumbled something under his breath and left the room. When I passed by Tekla, she immediately bowed deeply. I gave her a nod, and the others confusedly followed me to the free sofa.

After that, Tekla lay down in an armchair in a far corner of the room — she was completely alone. The hunters did not like her, and if they made this clear to her, Tekla nevertheless respected all members of the family and greeted them with a deep bow. Many were jealous of her, she was considered terribly strong even among paladins.

"What was that anyway?" Rolo asked softly.

"Tekla Trinitas," I answered.

"Trinitas?"

"Trinitas is her attack," I explained. "It was named after Tekla's three golems: the Pawn, the Knight, and the Emperor."

However, the last figure lived only as a myth in the minds of people because Tekla had never needed to summon her most powerful magic in a fight. No one knew what it might look like or what abilities it might possess, but everyone was equally afraid of the Emperor.

(...)

I just stared at my phone for minutes.

[Your Coolest Big Brother Zack]

Seriously, I was just going to delete his number... but I ended up tersely sending him the coordinates of the battlefield and a time with gritted teeth. I hoped that the fae queen would help me.

I was almost waiting for the knock on my door. Rolo entered the room without a sound.

"Can't you sleep today either?" he inquired.

"I see, you have nothing better to do than analyze my sleeping habits," I replied with a slight smile.

I sat in bed leaning against the wall. I felt that he would come to me tonight too. I hurt his pride, and he couldn't understand how I could consider Alex a more valuable ally than him. I had already noticed that he didn't like him, since he never spoke to him, and even when the wolf asked him questions, he only answered in one-word sentences. If he could, he always walked on the other side of me, as far away from him as possible, and sometimes, if he thought no one could see him, he would make a wry face — of course, mostly when Alex gave him reason to do so, that is, when he was eating, sleeping or just breathing.

"As you can see, there really isn't any," he shrugged, then settled down on the bed next to me and, like me, leaned against the wall and watched a point on the ceiling. No, not because it was so interesting, he just didn't want to look me in the eye.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"I can hear the wolf snoring two rooms away," he sighed resignedly. "How can you bear it?"

"After all these years I got used to it," I shrugged. "So, what do you want to know about him?"

Rolot wasn't surprised that I figured out what the talk was going to be about — maybe he planned it that way.

"Do you really trust him?" he asked. "I mean, he's so single-minded! He eats like a pig, he snores like a rotary hoe, he's always grinning and I just don't understand why you keep him around. This is a war, a small mistake can be fatal!"

I smiled. "Indeed, those who do not know him can see him like this."

He raised his eyebrows.

"How long have you known him?" he asked.

"Since I was a child," I replied quietly. "We met on a snowy evening. Then he came to me every single day, even though I didn't talk to him," I laughed dryly. "Finally, I got used to his presence. Then, when he left his pack, he simply stuck to me."

"Not a very original story," he smiled. "I thought you were going to say something particularly dramatic."

"Isn't it dramatic enough that he stuck to me?" I answered smiling, and he laughed a little.

"And how strong is he?" inquired the boy.

"He might be considered quite strong, after all, he learned from me."

Rolo grumbled something to himself about my vanity.

"When he was still living with his pack, he asked me to train him, which at first consisted only of me beating him to a pulp without mercy," I remembered with a devilish smile. "It only made me even more ruthless that he didn't even let out a single noise, even though he was a little whiney crybaby, so I beat him up even more. This went on for a couple of weeks, then I got bored and asked him why he didn't change so I could have some fun. Alex was reluctant, but after I refused to fight anymore, he changed once. I guess I don't need to explain what a shocking sight this is..." I glanced at the boy.

He knew exactly what I was talking about: shapeshifters don't like to be seen change. After all, it's not a pretty sight as the bones stretch or even fuse together, organs are relocated, and the face is distorted — moreover until a person learns to tolerate it, it is accompanied by immense pain.

The pain never vanishes, it's always gut-wrenching, and when you feel like you're going crazy, the transformation ends. You can't get used to it, you can only just tolerate it.

Alex changed in front of me, but he had gone through the process for the third time in his life, so we couldn't talk about learning to tolerate it — he attacked me in a second. I was surprised, as I did not expect such an attack from a fearful little child.

He pinned me to the ground and began to bite me everywhere he could and I just screamed and screamed until all my voice was gone. I had no idea how long it could have gone on like this, my healing ability never allowed him to cause enough damage to kill me, but I couldn't even move my fingers from the pain.

Then, all of a sudden, the torturous attack of the fangs stopped, and instead of the wild growling, I heard sobbing. I opened my eyes and saw the kid burying his face in his hands and howling and sobbing.

No, no, no! Please, no! Again...I did it again! I killed him... — he only repeated this.

I sat up and he suddenly looked up at me — he couldn't understand how I could still be alive. A superior smile appeared on my lips, despite the dull ache on the left side of my face intensifying, and the burning, itchy tingle of healing spreading through my skin, indicating that a sizeable wound had been inflicted on me there. Pieces were torn out of my arms in some places, there was a deep wound on my side, but the healing process slowly vanished them.

Well, I tried my hand, it took a little longer than I expected.

Alex stared at me sniffling. I raised my eyebrows. You thought you could kill me so easily?

I looked at him like he was crazy, but he didn't care, he jumped on me and held me with such force that I thought he really wanted to kill me. He just cried and sobbed while repeating some sentimental crap about thanking god and how glad he was that I was alive.

I sniffed his neck — he smelled like a wet dog and I wanted to push him away. Then for some reason I didn't. I will not die.

He hummed agreeing.

"Let's just say that he was able to surprise me and we settled in a draw," I continued the story.

Alex didn't change for a while after that — he promised himself he wouldn't until he could fully handle this side of him.

I like Alex's cheeky smile, few monsters can smile like that. I like his naivety, which I can always exploit and which I can always make fun of. In spite of all these...

"Alex is not as single-minded as he shows himself to be. He's just trying to pretend he doesn't notice things, but he knows more than you think."

Rolo remained silent for a moment.

"Nonsense," he finally shared his opinion about it.

Those who have cried the most have the most beautiful smiles and those who have suffered the most are the kindest — perhaps because they don't want others to experience the suffering.

"You will learn one day," I said. "You are still a child, you don't need to know everything."

"I'm not a child!" he roared, and I just giggled and went to bed.

After maybe ten minutes, I turned to him, but Rolo was already breathing softly. Finally, grunting, I turned to my other side and closed my eyes.

Alex had been awake for a while — maybe he had a nightmare —, and he was training with his new daggers, beheading imaginary opponents, sometimes dropping and placing the knife in the door, only to have it in his hand again the next moment.

All of a sudden, the sounds of practice stopped, instead the window creaked. A bird tapped on the glass plate. The soft thump indicated that the wolf, noticing this, threw everything out of his hands and hurried excitedly to let the bird in. For a few moments, I didn't even hear his breathing. Even with a wall separating us, I could almost feel his frustration and anger in the air. The next moment he punched into the wall with a hoarse grunt from deep in his throat.

"I have no more messages," he grumbled at the bird.

The wolf was furious. I stared at the wall that separated Alex's room from mine listening to his rampage. Sometimes I looked at Rolo, but despite the wolf's fury, he slept the sleep of the righteous.

So, then Viktor refused. I sighed deeply. Of course, I was aware of Alex's plan. Mica mentioned that the wolf asked him for Herm, and I became suspicious. I knew exactly who the letter would be addressed to, since who else could Alex be writing to? Just as I knew this would be the answer.

I closed my eyes again. However, even hours later, I was unable to fall asleep.