Purest Black

5 - First Job

The next town we stopped in, they treated me to food. Only, it was the last of their, our money.

"Hold on," I said, digging through my pockets. I pulled out a smaller bag filled with money. "It's not much, but if we're all sticking together, I figure I might as well chip in."

I tossed Peter the bag, a little to hard, possibly on purpose. To my disappointment, he caught it with ease. He pried open the little bag.

"You sure? You might want to keep this, just in case anything happens."

"Nah, if I take any jobs, I can earn that back in a day. That's all I have now cause I spent the rest of my money on food."

"Gods, how much do you eat?"

I laughed at him and he just shook his head at me.

Pulling the carriage to the side, we stopped.

"What's going on?" Jessica asked from besides me.

Luke had taken a seat up front again, giving directions. "You're not gonna believe this," he said. "The city up ahead's having Angel problems."

"How can you tell?" Jessica asked.

"Take a look for yourself."

All of us jumped out and looked at the city ahead. The city was swarming with white specks. Angels were covering the skies of the city. What put me most on edge, was the Angel approaching us.

"How do we know it's a problem?" I asked.

"It's always a problem," Peter replied.

The Angel was female with blonde hair and a petite perfect little body, almost like a child's. Don't let her appearance fool you, though, she could've been hundreds of years old. She glanced at all of us, sparing an extra second for Zero.

"State you business, humans, and mutt," she said in a shrill voice.

Zero growled, but I put my hand on top of his head. I didn't doubt that we could take them,I just didn't want to get involved before I needed too.

"Just passing through," Peter said, watching the Angels hands closely. What I watched, though, were the Angels watching us from the distance.

"Go around," she said.

"Afraid not," he replied, smugly. You'd think he wanted to be attacked. "See, we've been traveling for a while and we're all deathly tired. We need a place to stay for the night, or else we won't make it to tomorrow."

Clicking her tongue in disapproval, she turned back to the city, and then to us.

"Fine, follow me."

Walking, something I could tell the Angel didn't do often, we made our way to the city. From the sky, Angels kept their eyes on us, and, from the ground, humans watched us. We didn't stop any any inns, we made our way to a small mansion in the center.

When the Angel opened the doors, the mansion was empty, from what I could tell.

"Wait here," she said. She walked off into the mansion, down a labyrinth of halls. A few minutes later, she came back, another angel in tow.

He was tall, about 6'3". He had sharp features complimented by finely ordered sandy hair and shining blue eyes. His broad mouth widened into a smile at the sight of us.

"Welcome, my guests! My name's Ash, I'm the current...owner, let's say, of this humble town. What can I do for you?"

I stepped forward to speak, but Peter waved me back. "See, we've been traveling for a long time, without much rest. We'd be in your debt if you'd let us spend the night in your town."

"Of course, of course. We don't have guests often, so forgive us if we aren't the most welcoming. Why don't you stay here, I have extra rooms." It wasn't a question, it was a command. Under my hand, I felt Zero's chest rumble in a growl. I quickly corrected him, though, slapping him on the back of the head.

"Here we are," Ash said, motioning to a pair of doors. When he opened the door, the room was enormous. It had a total of eight beds, and a bathroom all to itself; along with a servant door. "I hope you all feel welcome here. I'll send servants up in a while to bring you food. Rest well."

"Well that was," Luke started.

"Weird," I finished. I didn't like this place, not in the least. It may look nice, but it had an air of torture to it. From the looks of it, Zero felt the same. His ears twitched in all directions, and he stood on high alert. I pet behind his ears, trying to calm him. It didn't work.

"For now," Peter said, "let's get some rest. Akira, are you willing to take the first watch?"

"Gladly."

The others picked beds, specifically the ones further from the doors. I pulled a chair from the side of the room and brought it to the far end, giving me a vantage point over everything that went on.

It wasn't until about half and hour later that a small knock sounded from the servants door. With my hand tightly wrapped around my sword, I opened it. What I saw, was the last thing I was expecting; a human girl, beat and scarred. Behind her was a cart filled with all kinds of food.

I reached my hand out to her and she jumped back.

"It's okay," I cooed. "Come here." I looked back at my sleeping companions. Zero was watching me, eyes wide.

'Keep watch,' I mouthed. He nodded in reply.

I went down into the servants chamber with the girl. She backed away, frightened by me.

"It's alright," I cooed, again. "I'm here to help."

Her eyes widened as she watched me. "Really?"

I nodded. "But, I can't help if you don't tell me what's happened."

"My name's, Mia. I'm the daughter of the towns former...mayor, of sorts. A while ago, Angels found our town, and invaded, Ash was leading them. They killed my dad and forced the others to work other him, including me."

Nodding, I thought about what I would do. Ash was an Angel of high authority here. That gave me three options. First, I could just kill him and all the other Angels, but that wasn't smart. Second, I could try to convince him to take his Angels and leave. Or, third, I could get him to join my resistance and leave to do better work, for me.

Not that any of those would actually work.

"Alright, listen to me," I said. "Just do what you normally do. Leave everything to me, alright. I promise I'll get your town back. Alright?"

She nodded, eagerly. When she hugged me, I nearly jumped, but awkwardly hugged her back. With a wave goodbye, she scurried down the hall leaving me with the servants cart filled with food. Opening the door, I pulled the tray back in and sat on my bed with Zero. I leaned against his side as he lulled back to sleep.

"Hey," a voice said. I looked up and saw Peter watching me from the edge of his bed. I took a chunk of the chicken, at least, I hope it was chicken, and a shoved it in my mouth. "Don't do anything stupid. Remember, you're not alone anymore."

I shoved another piece of chicken in my mouth.

"Were you planning on sharing that?"

"Does it look like I was?" I stuffed my face with more food. All I remember was fighting over food all night and falling asleep.

(I'm bad at guard duty.)