Eternal - Part 1
#1 of Eternal
He just was. It was something he had stopped questioning in the past hundred years of his life. He neither remembered being born nor having a family for that matter. He didn't age. He either couldn't die, or he had been more than extremely lucky innumerable times. The fact that he was alive was an unshakable truth, nothing would change it. So when the rabbit sitting across the table explained the difficulty of the task to him with the words "you probably won't make it out alive," it was only natural for the wolf to laugh. He fumbled to catch his cigarette as it dropped from his mouth. He had the habit of leaving it to rest on his lips whenever he needed to listen to someone drone on about the details of a job.
The rabbit continued to stare blandly at him, her poker face unfaltering. It made Kaden the slightest bit nervous. As his laugh tapered into silence, a small butterfly fluttered between blossoms outside the café window. Why he had been asked to meet at such an upscale establishment, a coffee house no less, to receive information about this new job was beyond his comprehension. Most of his contacts from the more nefarious realms of the world preferred staying to the shadows, quite literally.
_ Not this one. What do I even know about her?_ His gaze shifted from her icy blue eyes. She's my newest contact. His eyes scanned across her dark brown hair, noting her ears pointed back. Listening behind herself. She's definitely cautious. His sight traced over her proud cheekbone, which flowed through her soft jawline into her curving neck. She works for someone influential who doesn't wish to show their face, so that makes her a middle-woman. Kaden's gaze trickled down from her neck through her grey fur and across her subtle breast bone to her not so subtle-
What am I thinking? She's a contact. He shook his head slightly and locked onto her chilling eyes again. It was a difficult thing to maintain since now he couldn't help but notice how her slim fitting black vest clung to her sides and gave her extra lift. Definitely my best looking contact. He felt a twitch in his groin. "If you're worried about that, I'm not sure you know me very well. I'll be able to handle it," he said, taking a drag on his cigarette.
"Oh I think we know you very well, Mr. Kaden. Possibly even better than you know yourself."
Intimidation games, he mentally rolled his eyes as he exhaled a thin trail of smoke from the side of his maw, same as any other contact in that regard. "I was under the impression we had agreed not to use names."
"We agreed that you would not use our names, but beyond that we made no agreement-Mr. Kaden." She added his name almost as an afterthought, probably to see if she could get a rise out of him. He decided not to take the bait.
"In that case, I think we're done here." He spiced his words with inflection to make a question of them.
"Yes we are. We'll see you in two days' time."
She stood and turned to leave. He blew a puff of smoke into the air where she had been sitting. As she stalked out of the café, his eyes followed her, tracing down her toned back. The gap between the bottom of her vest and the top of her skirt was intoxicating, and her bunny tail lifted her black mini-skirt to reveal her ass outlined by tight black panties.
She rounded the corner, and his mind snapped back to reality with a crash. A cursory glance around the cozy building told him his was not the only head to have turned at her departure. God, I need to stop doing that. He extinguished his cigarette in the ashtray on the table and swallowed the last of his lukewarm coffee with a grimace. I never did like this stuff.
"Can I get you anything else?"
Kaden turned with a start, nearly dropping the unadorned ceramic mug he was holding. He clutched it between both of his white paws, and his claws scratched the glossy surface.
"Sorry about that miss," he said slightly abashed, then amended, "you caught me thinking." He held out the empty coffee mug for the auburn feline with a smile. "I won't be having anything else, just the check please."
The waitress removed an order pad from her apron and quickly scrawled on the top sheet before she tore it off and exchanged it for the cup Kaden handed her. "You can pay at the register in the front. Hope to see you again soon!" Kaden stood to pay as she walked away from the table. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the butterfly from earlier had gotten itself trapped in a spider's web. He shuddered and walked to the counter where an attendant waited to charge him for his drink.
Kaden paid lethargically and was about to turn when the cashier calmly caught his arm. He stared dumbfounded at the fox.
"I think you'll want to keep this," said the cashier, handing the check back to him. "Kitty's not the finest woman around, but she's far from a catch you'll want to pass up, especially a strapping lad like yourself." The fox gave Kaden a sly wink.
"Thanks bud." Kaden took the slip of paper from the fox's dark paw and glanced at it. Heh, guess she wrote her number on it. I should pay more attention. He gave the fox an uneasy grin and left.
Outside, he jammed his paws into the pockets of his jacket and gave a short sigh. Milling about the street, the afternoon crowd bustled to and fro. Some pups chased each other across the street in a wild game of tag, a shining car narrowly missing their retreating pawsteps. The driver honked loudly at the rambunctious kids before rumbling onward in his vehicle.
"Well," said Kaden to himself quietly, "only two days. I'd better get ready." He sauntered down the street toward the shadier portion of the city. While it was a rougher neighborhood, he knew the area better and could find what he needed there. I'm glad that waitress didn't come back around sooner. If she had overheard any details . . . well I'd rather not think about that. Just glad it didn't happen.