retrospect

The first thing the man noticed were the bags under the eyes of the woman his sister had asked him to meet. Though she had obviously cleaned up to come here, it seemed hastily done. Those eyes, bloodshot and almost wild, judged anyone who passed by the secluded, closed off corner table. This was a woman who had not been treated kindly. He had seen others like her before.

From her, wafted the scent of stress, exhaustion, lily-scented perfume and a strange musk, like a wild animal but more subdued. It was almost as if he was dining with a very high-strung dog. Of course, he recognized it from his dealings in his home city. Werewolves carried that scent, and he knew not many cities carried the alliance his home did. Yet, his sister seemed very eager to have him introduced to this strange, obviously-mistreated creature.

She seemed to relax as they spoke with one another, and he felt comfortable enough to let his mask fall away. When he locked eyes with her, he saw her gaze soften from its paranoid glances. A small smile, a bashful glance. She was charming through all of her fear. He wasn’t sure what had done it, but it made him feel better to see her begin to trust him.

The predator within him noticed the copper-colored skin and licked its metaphorical chops. He would have, indeed, liked to take a bite from her, but he was uncertain how uncouth that might be. Though it idled in the back of his mind, he instead listened to her speak as she began to tell him about her family and the people she lived with. She spoke of a three-eyed man, and a woman who may as well have been a cat. Most glowingly, she spoke of her twin sister. It was clear that she loved her deeply, but even that took a dark spin as she began to describe the kinds of things they had been through.

He felt his heart sink for her. Mistreated was indeed the word. She had never known a father and been run out of her first home city by her own kind. She lived in fear of others like her. And then her sister had become mouthy to the wrong people, which she worried would one day get her killed. It nearly did, given the story she now told about how her twin and her girlfriend had been kidnapped by fiends and tortured. And now she feared anyone who would so much as look at her. To make matters worse, she had very few friends to turn to, and several weren’t always around.

He could only picture himself and his twin in the situations that she described, and it bit at his soul. He felt that it was the least he could do to offer her some contact, someone to speak to when no one else was around. She was charming, and he could not begrudge her a support web when she needed it most.

The two of them continued to speak, and the mood lightened over the course of the evening. They barely noticed that his sister left them until they were already well into dinner. He left that restaurant certainly wanting to speak to her again.

He often looked fondly back on that date and wondered if he would have ever met such an exquisite creature if he had declined it.

Without fail, he decided he wouldn’t have had it any other way.