Uriel had never killed anyone; although he had gotten into fights many times, the bloodiest one had happened barely a day ago, being generous with the time that had passed since Cris's kidnapping.
But even he, with his limited knowledge of fights to the death and murder, could feel it: this man now pointing his weapon at him was a killer. Far from the exaggerated arrogance that the criminals in his neighborhood used to intimidate people, Uriel understood that if he made a mistake here, this man would tear him apart with his sword.
If everything went wrong, he would have to fight to survive—and if that happened, his chances of making it out alive were nonexistent, unless…
Uriel's thoughts flowed faster than ever. Both Ralzire and Ininise seemed like the least suited fighters for a physical battle; Ininise in particular, being a mage, should be completely defenseless if he managed to get past the man standing in front of him, though he still had to be careful of the person who had fired the arrow from the building.
If Ralzire decided to betray him, capturing Ininise was his only option—but then he heard Ralzire's voice.
"Malach, it's fine. This person helped me."
Malach shook his head, clicking his tongue.
"Even so, we can't trust him. First of all, we're in a place you don't know, surrounded by species we've never seen in our lives. Who knows what his intentions are."
Ralzire seemed a little surprised by Malach's harsh words, but her brows quickly furrowed with anger.
"Malach, damn it, lower the fucking weapon now. I'm telling you that if it weren't for him, your damn sister would have died twice. Show some consideration—not for him, but for me, damn it."
Malach hesitated for a few moments, only to whisper under his breath.
"Damn it."
"Fine. I'll do it." —Malach finally lowered his weapon— "But you'll come with us until we know you won't cause any trouble. And don't try to run, or I'll treat you like an enemy."
Uriel shook his head.
"That's fine. I'm slow as hell. If I tried to run, Ralzire would probably catch me the moment I stepped out of the alley."
Two light laughs were heard. One was Ralzire's, but the other came from the tall woman; she was imposing—athletic, broad-shouldered—and the little skin visible showed an intense crimson color. Probably no one here was human. The only thing about her that wasn't imposing were the small horns on her head, unlike the others present.
"Alright, if you're finished, let's go inside. I don't want to attract the attention of more corpses."
The five of us entered a collapsed two-story house while Malach kept glancing back, afraid that he might run or attack them, perhaps.
He had already noticed it during the fight, but now that things were calmer it became clear that all of them had tails; most of them kept them tied to their legs, except for Ininise, who didn't seem to care.
When I walked in, I realized that although the house looked completely ruined on the second floor, the first floor was still in very good condition; it even had several pieces of furniture.
If he could manage it, Uriel thought it might be a good idea to travel with this group. Most of them seemed quite capable, except for Ralzire—at least until he managed to reunite with more humans—although he worried they might think badly of him if he told them he was alone.
"Come, please sit here."
Ininise spoke; her voice was warm, like a mother speaking to her child.
They wanted him to sit in a chair surrounded by four others. Apparently the other member of their group was still going to remain hidden; that gave him a bit of a chill, but fine—they had already decided not to kill him outside, so he would sit. Although there was still the possibility that they had only brought him inside to kill him more quietly, though he preferred not to think about that.
Uriel sat in the chair, which creaked under his weight, and dropped his shield and mace on either side of it. Everyone present looked at him strangely because of his actions, but no one said anything.
Malach was the first to speak.
"Hey, take off your helmet. I want to see your face."
No, that's not going to happen, Uriel thought. After all, he had been accepting their terms this whole time, and now that the tension had calmed a bit he was going to even things out and show that he wasn't a dog they could kick around on the ground.
"I'll do it only if you do the same. I'm not going to talk with people who threaten me while hiding under hoods." —Uriel spoke, trying to sound confident.
Malach immediately got angry.
"You think you're in any position to make demands, bastard!?"
But this time the tall woman intervened.
"Malach, that's enough. You've been shouting orders for quite a while. My ears are starting to hurt."
She shot him an angry look that turned him from a rabid dog into a wet dog under the rain; Uriel found it somewhat amusing.
When he heard my quiet chuckle, he shot me a murderous glare.
"Ugh, he's worse than a child."
But this revealed something: there was a certain power dynamic among them. Ralzire was clearly at the bottom, and this woman at least carried the most weight so far. Ininise seemed content to let them talk among themselves, and if the man with the arrow wasn't here it meant two things: either he had zero impact on the decisions, or he was the leader—although there was a third option: that he simply didn't care. That one seemed the most likely to him.
"Alright. Since you've behaved like a good little boy, why not?"
She was the first to remove hers. Her skin was red like a demon's, just like her eyes—one of which was partly covered by her short black hair. Surprisingly, for someone with such an athletic body, her face turned out to be quite pretty, and now without the hood he could see that her ears were elongated.
The second was Ralzire. Her white hair fell a little below her shoulders; it was heavily adorned with earrings woven into several long strands. She shared many traits with the tall woman, like the red eyes, the ears, and the horns, though hers looked more like a bull's. The other difference was that she was truly beautiful—stunning, even. Uriel felt a little shy remembering that he had been carrying her the whole time.
Finally, Malach reluctantly did the same.
"Bastard, how much more attention do you want to draw?"
He looked quite similar to his sister: they had the same gray skin. The difference was that his horns curved slightly at the tips, unlike Ralzire's, and his hair was black, combed to one side—the right side.
Is he an emo or something? That explains a few things, I thought while laughing silently.
Malach looked at me even more angrily.
Don't tell me they can read minds like Soliel too… well, that or those big ears of his must have heated up.
At that moment Ininise was also about to remove her hood, but almost everyone panicked.
"Ininise, it's fine. You don't need to do that."
"Miss Ininise, it's alright. You don't have to worry."
"Please don't trouble yourself over this creature—it's not worthy of your presence."
But Ininise didn't listen and revealed her face.
It was astonishing. If Ralzire was beautiful, then Ininise was the goddess of beauty—even to me, being human, it was obvious. The first thing revealed atop her head were golden horns that looked as if they were made of pure gold. Speaking of gold, her hair was adorned with several jewels, as were her ears, which stood out even more against the pure white color of her slightly wavy hair. Although she also had red eyes, far from looking threatening they seemed captivating.
I lost my breath for a moment; after all, she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.
"Feel honored, creature. Almost no one has the chance to see Miss Ininise."
Malach's words snapped me out of my trance. For the first time, his annoying voice was useful. It was true—they referred to her as Miss Ininise, and she certainly seemed important; she looked as if she had just come from robbing a jewelry store. After all, this changed everything. Maybe this young lady, whom I hadn't paid much attention to, was actually the head of this group.
"Well, I guess it's my turn."
I lifted my leather helmet and placed it on my legs.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Uriel."
I said, looking at the group, which reacted in different ways.
Most seemed intrigued, except for Malach, who was gagging in disgust.
But the reaction that surprised me the most was Ininise's. She stood up and approached me with a curious look, like a child seeing a horse for the first time.
Uriel couldn't help blushing; after all, a beauty like her had her face only a few centimeters from his.
Ininise ran her hands—also adorned with gold—over my face, touching my ears.
"M-Miss Ininise?!"
"Ininise, calm down—what are you doing?"
"Get away from Ininise, BASTARD!"