I Am the Wild (The Night Firm #1)- Karpov Kinrade Page 0,63
there are many townsfolk shopping and going about their evening. "Is the town this busy during daylight hours as well?" I ask.
"There's no real distinction between night and day here, so we all keep whatever schedule suits us. Since most creatures don't have the same sleep needs as humans, the town is bustling at all times."
I pay attention to the people as we walk. There are all manner of beings; some with horns, some with skin like dyed leather, some with body parts that aren't human.
Elijah takes us through an alley and as we pass, someone throws out their bodily waste through the window, creating a trail of odor that has me gagging.
Elijah sighs, and with a flick of his hand, the wind picks up, carrying the scent in the opposite direction and clearing the air for us. "We have more efficient sanitation systems in place now—and that took a lifetime to get the council to vote in—but some creatures are entirely too stubborn for their own good and refuse to leave the medieval era behind where it belongs. Thus we are forced to endure their filth as they cling to the old ways."
"How unpleasant," I say, glancing back at the brown puddle left behind.
"Indeed."
I look at Elijah, wondering about him. "Can I ask you a question?"
He nods. "Of course."
"You're air, yes? That's the element that's part of your curse?"
His lips tighten together. "Yes."
"Well, I can see how Liam's fire makes him hot-headed. And Sebastian is stubborn as an old goat."
Elijah snorts at that.
"But what downside is there to air?"
He frowns, considering. "I have always been more in my head than my brothers. More lost in ideas. In thoughts. In books. But it was always balanced by my love of people. By my desire to bring new ideas to the world. After the curse, and then once I was turned, I found it hard to…" He stops walking and turns to face me. "I found it hard to connect. To care. Ideas have become their own end goal. Books are a world unto themselves. I struggle to find the passion I once had to help others. It has made me cold. Vacant, if you ask my brothers. Aloof."
"You seem very self-aware. That's a good step," I say, surprised by his honesty.
He nods his head. "We have had many years to become such. Even Liam, were you to gain his trust, would admit to his own shortcomings. We all know, but we struggle to do anything about it. We are stuck in this inertia, unable to move forward. It's maddening, particularly when our Druidic Order focused on spiritual and personal growth in order to be of service to all. Our curse has put us in direct odds with our oath. Our purpose. It has left us rudderless at sea. At the whims of our egos, rather than guided by our higher nature."
"Are there other Druids still around?" I ask.
His face darkens. "We are the last of our kind. Our Order was killed."
He turns sharply and continues walking, clearly uninterested in continuing the conversation.
When we reach a black door hidden in shadows in the crook of a winding alley, he stops. "We are here."
The door is plain, with an eyehole in the shape of an actual eye in the center.
Elijah knocks sharply three times, and to my astonishment, the eye opens, revealing an obsidian eyeball that flits between the two of us, taking our measure.
"Tell Kana that Elijah Night is in need of her assistance."
The eye blinks once, then closes.
"Magic?" I ask.
Elijah's lips curl up in a small smile. "Yes."
The door opens a moment later revealing a beautiful woman in a red kimono with a glowing ball around her neck as a pendant. Her glossy black hair is pulled up in an elaborate bun and her voice is soft and trickling, like tiny bells. "Elijah, so good to see you again. Please, come in. Both of you."
We enter through a hall decorated with simple ink drawings of lotus flowers and into a spacious room. To the right is a desk with piles of scrolls covering it. In the center of the room are tatami mats for sitting, with a sunken hearth in the floor between the mats and a fire below that is meant to heat tea during a Japanese tea ceremony. I participated in one during a trip to San Francisco years ago for work and recognize some of the elements.