"Can you be even luckier?" Jessica said, ironically, sipping from her teacup as I closed the door and frowned.
She looked up at my face and smile, placing the cup on the table. "What? The head of prostitutes came at me crying. She thought Kasho was going to kill you."
"Oh. So, you know." I said, flopping on the pillow in front of her and pouring myself tea.
"Yea. What did you do? Make out? You don't seem tortured so I guess he just wanted your pretty face."
"... well, yeah. What you said is pretty accurate. But..." I bit my lip, remembering Caiden's cold voice and I started blaming myself for not stealing a glance at his face. I was so curious to see how he looked like...
"But what?" She said, resting her hands on the table.
"... Caiden came."
Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but, for a few seconds, nothing came out. She froze, not believing I met Caiden that night. "You're kidding. Satoshi, himself, came after Kasho?! When you were with him?!"
I nodded. She laughed, pressing one hand onto her mouth. "You are really lucky, Ivy Moore. I can't believe it. Satoshi was never interested in what Kasho did with human women. But now he came out of his cave, exactly when Kasho was with you... I'm speechless."
I sighed. "Yea, same, I guess. But for now, I think we're fine. Caiden just suspects me of being a spy, but I'm not so he will stop eventually looking into it. Right?"
She was looking through me, thinking about that. She touched her bottom lip, focused. "He might stop. But if something will seem weird to him, like the fact that you just appeared here out of nowhere, with no parents or friends, he might continue until he discovers something which might get us in trouble. Anyway, if we think at this from another perspective, Caiden noticing you and looking into your background is good. He's always carrying that sword with him and, also, we need to make him cry. It's a win-win situation for him being interested in you. Keep them like that. Now, if you excuse me, I'll go tell the head of prostitutes that you're alive and ready to party tomorrow, okay?"
I nodded as she rose up from the pillow and got out of our room. I sighed. She was right. It was good being noticed by him. We needed him. And it was perfect the fact that he came at us. If we had no idea where he was, we couldn't have stolen the sword or made him cry. Everything seemed to go the way we wanted to.
Then why my gut told me something was definitely not good?
***
The next few days passed by without any incidents. Jessica and I went to parties, poured tea -well, at least I just pour the tea... Jessica did many more things than just that- and waited for the demons to come.
But they didn't. And even though we didn't talk about it, I knew Jessica was as nervous as me. We had one week to take that sword. Just one week. I didn't realize when six days had passed. I sighed as I put on the kimono I had to wear for the next party. The clock was ticking and the time was not enough to do such hard tasks. If it was about Kasho, maybe I could've done something. But Caiden... even in the present he was impassable. But in the past? He was an iceberg. Nothing could've melted him.
"Ready?" Jessica asked me as she applied a thing that looked like lipstick on her lips. Their cosmetics were weird, but they were kind of efficient.
"To pour tea all night and get bored? Anytime." I answered, cynical, making her turn her head towards me.
"Stop being so pessimistic. They will come one day."
"One day, Jessica. One day. What if that 'one day' is going to be after three weeks? We'll be damned."
She shrugged, puckering her lips. "To be honest, I can't care less. I've been living here for one or two hundred years. I got used to this life. As long as I can live, I don't care what happens."
"But you'll reach the moment when the dimensions will be destroyed." I reminded her, not believing how laid-back she could be.
She shrugged again. "So, what? Maybe then I can help us both taking down Lucifer."
I blinked twice, confused by what she said. "You're saying... you will be able to meet me again and yourself in the future if you stay here?!"
She laughed, shaking her head. "I have no idea. Nobody said anything about such things, as the time-traveling is banned, you know. No, seriously now, who would be that stupid to talk about their experience with time-traveling?! Demons are not stupid, Ivy Moore."
I sighed. She had a point.
"Let's go. It's time to party."
I jumped to my feet and followed her out of the head of the prostitutes' house. We walked down a narrowed path, until two tea houses, from which we could've heard loud, annoying noises appeared in front of us. Jessica adjusted her kimono so her pale shoulders could be more exposed and, with a smile, entered one of the tea houses. Phrenetical shouts came from there and I shook my head, chuckling. Jessica knew how to make people enthusiastic only because of her presence.
Sighing, I opened the door, ready to party as well, but someone grabbed my arm, making me pivot surprised. The beautiful girl from the first night here was standing right in front of me, staring at me with a weird intensity. I smiled, waiting for her to do something.
She pointed out a small tea house, ten feet away from the place we were standing on. I drew a deep breath.
Kasho came again. This is my chance to do something.
I nodded and the girl walked towards it. I followed her, preparing myself for the worst. If Kasho came alone, without Caiden, what should I have done? Run? Tell him I wasn't interested? The last thought made me almost chuckle. Like he would've cared.
We stopped in front of it, but something wasn't right. First of all, the candles were lit. I could see the light coming out of the small room through the door's cracks. And second... the vibe was different. That night when Kasho came, the head of the prostitutes looked terrified. But this girl... looked normal, like she was just delivering a service to her customer. I frowned.
Something was going on. The girl bowed at me and left. I bowed as well and sighed, watching her leaving me alone in front of the door, without even opening it.
Sighing again, I climbed a few stone steps and opened the door.
"Rude. You could've asked if it's okay to enter."
I froze with my hands on the door. He looked straight into my eyes and smiled.
Caiden.