Vi and Mikya

Makya’s golden eyes scanned the room, studying the people going about their business in the teahouse. With a frustrated sigh, she leaned back in her chairs and rubbed her eyes. She had been in the city for a little over a week now, and had yet to have an encounter with a monster. As a demon hunter, it was her job to protect the human population and curb the demon population. But she couldn’t do any hunting if she couldn’t figure out the demons from the humans. Most demons and other monsters (such as vampires, were-creatures, witches and other unsavory creatures of the night), most of them have ways to disguise themselves and pass as human, but a trained eye can see through this illusion and see them for the beasts they truly are.
I have a trained eye… Kya thought to herself with a frown. But either there aren’t any demons in this whole damn city, or the demons that live here are much more powerful with their illusions than any other demon that I’ve faced before. However, since the city was sometimes called “The City Of Demons,” Makya’s money was on the latter. With a determined huff, she began to scan once again.

Vi strolled up to The Jazzy Place, a local teahouse owned and operated by a friend of hers. As she approached the counter, a blonde woman looked up, her green eyes shimmering with excitement.
“Vi!” she said with a smile, “how have you been? It’s been awhile since you’ve stopped by my corner.” The woman had a wry smile as her cautious gaze flicked over the room. Leaning in really close, she spoke in a hushed tone, “still chilling with the humans?”
A moment of fear crept into Vi’s eyes as she tried to play it cool while glancing around the room to make sure there weren’t any humans or demons around. Before turning back towards the blonde woman. “Jasmine,” she hissed, keeping her voice low, “you know I’m not supposed to be doing this, you don’t need to make it public.” She crossed her arms and looked angry for a second before sighing.
“Yes,” Vi admitted, running a hand through her messy dark hair, “but don’t pretend you’re any better Jazz! I see you got a new tattoo, you didn’t happen to get that from that pretty human girl you’ve been hanging out with, have you?” Her eyes glittered playfully at the jab, but she was sure to keep her voice low.
Jasmine merely shrugged, unmoved by Vi’s accusation. “The rules apply differently to witches,” she retorted with a dismissive wave of her hand, “they do tend to be pretty strict on demon and human relations though.” She held Vi’s gaze to emphasize her point.
“They aren’t relations per se, not like your relations,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “I just think that humans and demons can coexist, we don’t need to force ourselves into seclusion. Plus I genuinely like their company.” Vi crossed her arms once again, ready to argue her point.
She was only met with a laugh from her friend. “Hey they won’t hear it from me,” she said with a smile, “just be careful, that’s all.”

Kya’s gaze lingered on a short woman who had just walked in, scanning her over for the usual tells to see if she was using illusionary powers. The woman carries herself with bubbly confidence as she strode right up to the blonde woman sitting behind the counter. She watched the pair of them for awhile, she couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they seemed to be chattering in hushed, excited tones. Makya figured that they knew each other and were probably just catching up. She allowed her eyes to linger on the short woman with dark, disheveled hair. She could admit that she was an attractive woman. There was something about her physical presence that was intriguing. Something about the way she carried herself with that easy, carefree smile…
Makya noticed a moment too late that the woman she had been staring at had turned around, tea in hand and was looking right at her. Her reddish-brown eyes glittered with amusement and she smirked playfully. Kya had to react as quickly as she could to suppress any of her surprise and replace it with an expression of passive arrogance. She intentionally flicked her eyes over the woman once more before letting her features settle into a smirk of her own and taking a sip of tea to intentionally break the eye contact. Usually this deters people from approaching, so she thought she was safe. Only, when she had finished her sip of tea, she noticed to her horror, that the woman was walking directly towards her.
“Hey,” she said with an easy smile, placing her hand on Kya’s table and leaning in. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before, you new to The Jazzy Place?”
Great, Makya thought sarcastically to herself, good going Kya, now you’ve gotten a civilian interested. She’s bound to ask way to many questions and I’m busy enough as it is.
Forcing a polite smile, she answered, “yeah I just got here about a week ago, and I’ve been checking out some of the local places.”
The young woman laughed and much to Kya’s shock, she pulled up a chair and sat down. The demon hunter was really out of her element here. It wasn’t so much that she was talking to an attractive young woman, but usually she was on the other end. She was the initiator, so she didn’t know how to handle someone else running the conversation. It made her feel a little flustered, but she tried not to let it show.
“Well,” the woman said, closing both of her hands around her cup of tea, “you definitely came to the right place!”
She motioned to the woman behind the counter, “Jasmine here, she makes the best tea in town. Some say it even has healing properties, but I don’t know if I buy that. I think it’s just a damn good cup of tea.”
The mention of healing properties pinged something for Kya. She made a mental note and decided that she should continue to conduct research here at this location. “You seem to know her well.” She noted, nodding towards Jasmine.
A wicked grin played across the mysterious woman’s face. “You were watching pretty close, weren’t you?” She teased, her eyes playful.
Kya felt warmth hit her cheeks which was another thing she wasn’t accustomed to feeling. What is it about her that throws me off so much? She thought, frustrated with herself and this confident woman.
She took a sip of tea to give herself a second to recover. When she was finished, she managed a nonchalant shrug, “I’m a people watcher. I like to watch human interaction.”
For a moment, the other woman had an odd sort of expression. Was that… suspicion? Uncertainty? Kya searched her face for further details, but the expression was gone almost as fast as it had come on. She was now smiling that easy (flirty?) smile that she had.
“Me as well, mystery girl. Me as well,” she said with a laugh.

Sword strapped to her back, Makya stalked through the streets under the moonlight. Her head down and a hat to shadow most of her face so she might go unnoticed. She did this most nights, patrolled for creatures of the darkness. It had been three days since her last encounter and she was spoiling for a fight. Unsheathing her blade, she took two practice slashes in the air in front of her, trying to alleviate herself from some of her pent up frustration. In addition to the two satisfying swishes of her steel slicing through the air, there was another swoosh. Softer and unfamiliar to Kya’s ears. It sounded a bit like wings in the air, but larger than any of the fat city pigeons. Whipping around, steel in hand, she searched the darkness for any sign of movement. She scarcely breathed as she watched.
“Show yourself!” She commanded the shadows, her voice lower and huskier than usual. Another way to try and protect her identity. “Come out and face me, monster!” She held a tight grip on her sword.
Suddenly, red eyes emerged from the shadows. This creature’s pupils were slits like a cat. Following the eyes, a lynx-like creature stood to face her. It was the size of a puma with horns, huge black front paws, and bat-like wings. When the creature saw Makya, it drew it’s lips back into a snarling smile. Narrowing its eyes, it spoke in a female’s voice that was almost a purr, “So you’re the infamous demon hunter.”
Stepping into the light, Kya pushed back her hat, and drew back her cloak. Pointing the blade at the beast, she proclaimed, “I am Makya, slayer of demons, and you happen to be my next hunt.” Then without waiting for the demon’s response, she charged.

Vi’s heart dropped as she saw Kya, her girlfriend, step into the light. But… how— she started to think, but Makya had lunged quick as a snake, cutting off that thought. Rearing back on her hind legs, Vi danced to the side, using a front paw to push Kya forward in an attempt to throw off her balance. She was thankful Kya had revealed herself, otherwise she would have slashed at her with her front claws. Instead of falling, Makya went into a roll, sword and all. And she ended up facing Vi. Kya’s golden eyes were savage and challenging as their gazes met once more.
“So that’s how you want to play it, huh?” She growled, sounding almost demon herself before launching another attack. Again, Vi dodged, but barely. She felt the wind of the sword ruffling the fur along her flank. She had to get out of here, she couldn’t fight Makya, but she also couldn’t let Kya kill her.
She gave a useless flap of her wings. They were really more for gliding and there would be no way she would be able to take off from a standstill and get enough air to avoid the sword. In a moment of despiration, she feigned a charge to put Kya on the defensive. But rather than actually make a strike, she turned at the last minute to flee down the alleyway. It should have worked, but Kya reacted faster than Vi thought she could have and she felt a sharp pain as steel connected with het flank. With a yowl of pain, she darted away, leaving a trail of blood in her wake. After running for a few yards, she collapsed by a garbage bin. Touching a paw to her side, it felt sticky and wet. She needed to get to someone, anyone who could help her.
Then a shadow fell over her as a tall figure with shining steel stood over her. “So you thought you could run, huh demon?” She said, raising her sword up with the tip facing down.
“Wait, Kya, please!” Vi gasped as she started shifting back into her human form.