A winter in Yetinburg ch.2

"Don't worry, I'll see you guys around! Really!" I smiled at my pair of friends as I get out of the were-cat's car, fresh back from their graduation 'party' the night before. It had only been girls there, but it was a great way to say goodbye to my high school life. I wouldn't see any of them in college, nobody else was going to medical school.
	The pair in the car wave as they drive off down the street and away from my house before I turn and head to the front door to open it with my key. I hoped my three tails didn't smell too much like alcohol. Mom didn't like it. I was a bit used to it. But someone spilled a bit on the triplets last night. I was fresh out of the shower though, even her keen nose might be fooled.
	As I opened the door I looked around for mother, I was able to smell her someplace but she wasn't in view. It didn't take long to find her in the study, waiting with a proud look on her face and her nine tails spread out across the back of her chair. She had set up another chair facing her, which I found odd as I looked inside.
	"Sonia, come inside and sit. I need to tell you about some things." She smiled, her tone still proud and happy despite the serious words. She brushed some of her crimson red hair out of her face as I walked inside and sat down on the comfy chair, sensing some sort of talk about sex coming up that would be embarrassing and far too late to do much good.
	"What is it mom?" I asked, shifting a bit to get comfortable in my seat.
	She took a long moment to think, keeping her yellow eyes on me the whole while before speaking. "You know that you're special. I always said so. And I really meant it, but there is a bit more truth to it." She started, seeming to have trouble finding the starting point. "You're not really a kitsune. You're similar, but different. You're still my perfect angel, but we're both not what I've been saying."
	I didn't know what she was talking about, as she leaned forward and moved her hands together in thought. After an awkward moment, I figured she was waiting for me to speak.
	"What do you mean mom? What else could we be?" I asked in my confusion, my mother seeming to give up on pussyfooting towards the subject. That approach was never her style anyways.
	"We're Kumihos. I know, urban legends, but it's true." She stated with her usual bluntness. I was a bit dumbfounded by the declaration before laughing at it, assuming it's was a joke.
	"Mom, if this is a joke you're not doing it too well!" I smiled, my mother sighing and standing up with a bright smile on her face.
	"I'll just need to get more direct I suppose. Come on, I'll explain it more on the way to the basement."
	I was still confused, she seemed to be serious. I stood up and followed her along.
	"I kept it from you for so long for a reason. I wanted you to live growing up in a stable environment! Moving around and going from place to place, never staying anywhere long. It's just not a good way to grow up! I should know, even if it was a lot more dangerous back then. Well, there are dangers now but they can still be avoided. They won't lynch you without proof in this day and age."
	I had no idea what she was yammering about as we headed down the stairs, mother opened the door to the basement for me to head through. It used to be a full moon bunker, so it was a heavy door. I still had trouble with it, but mother could flick it with a finger. When I did walk in I stopped in my tracks as she closed and sealed it behind me. Tied, or more chained, to a heavy metal table that had always been down there was someone familiar. My boyfriend. Chained and gagged without a shirt, he was screaming and struggling to be let free. Before I could ask what the hell it was, mother spoke again.
	"A lot of the rumors about Kumiho are nonsense. But we do need to eat livers. Human livers. We'll die without them you know." She explained as I ran over, trying to take the chains off of him. They needed a key, and I wasn't strong enough to do more than strain them as I pulled on the links. Mother walked over and grabbed onto my wrists, lifting them up in a gentle show of strength as I struggled.
	"I'm sorry I lied, but if you ever let it slip to anyone then we might need to leave here. I didn't want that sweetie. You deserved to grow up normal." She spoke with a soft voice, not bothered by any little struggle I made.
	"But I've never done anything that terrible! I can't be that! This isn't a good joke anymore mom!" I yelled, tears coming to my eyes as I watch my boyfriend look at the pair of us in horror.
	My mother adjusted her grip and hugged me tight, further binding my arms as she kept me in her hold. "No, but I've been getting what you need. I don't need to eat them much anymore, so I could get you plenty of 'pig livers'. It usually takes a long time to get as many tails as you, but you've had a bit of a head start. It's the least I could do for my sunshine." She explained softly.
	Her soft words didn't help keep the dagger of truth digging in as my mind realized what she meant. Ever since I was a kid she'd sometimes come home with a pig liver fresh from the butcher after work. It was my favorite food. A special treat I only got only once every four to five weeks. Something I savored. The horror and disgust showed on my face as I tried to keep down what food I had eaten that morning.
	"Y-you're lying, you've gotta be!" I laughed, in denial about the truth that I was being presented with. Her job had been an 'on call doctor', and she hardly worked. My mind came to a hasty idea of her being an organ harvester, there was news of it in the city from time to time but it was always attributed to gangs. "I'm not something horrible like that!"
	She shushed me and stroked my head, squeezing me tighter in her arms. "You're not something horrible. You're a wonderful thing, Kumihos are very rare! I've lived over three hundred years and I've only met seven besides you and me. With how much we travel, it's hard for us to find husbands. Or make them last." She spoke in her same calm, comforting voice that only upset me more. She released me and moved around to the other side of the table, leaving me stuck there stunned by my own mental shock.
	"It's not a terrible thing. Each person that dies becomes a part of you! They make you stronger! A kitsune gains stronger magic, but a Kumiho gains strength instead. The magic flows inward and reinforces us." She smiled, looking down at my boyfriend next. "Making the landmarks special isn't necessary, but I find it an act of love. My thousandth liver was from your father. I kept him around till I knew you were coming before getting my last tail. He'll always be my favorite."
	I can't do anything, tears are still in my eyes as mother picks up a box from the ground and sets it on the table beside the boy trapped there, listening with us. She smiles as she sets sharp tools designed for crude or precise dissections on the empty spots, the large table allowing all of them to be laid out as she continued.
	"My first kill wasn't special, I was still only at one tail and went after some opium junkie. May have tasted like flowers, but it wasn't that good. I wanted yours to be special. So I went and caught that boy you liked for you." She smiled her proudest smile as she finished unloading the frightening instruments. "It'll be a great way to start your own hunting. I'll show you the ropes and tricks before sending you off on your own. I need to let my sunshine fly on her own someday after all! She can't rely on mother forever."
	I feel horrified by why I'm hearing, still unable to move from the spot I've been left as tears finally run down my face and the feeling in my gut wells up. I grab onto the table as I hunch over and vomit out of disgust, standing back up after to look at mother as I start crying harder.
	"I don't want this, l-let him go! I love him, e-even if I'm a monster I don't want him to die! I don't want t-to kill him! I don't want to hurt anyone!" I plead with mother,  producing a confused look on her face as she picks up a particularly long and thin knife.
	"I knew this might be hard. But you can do it any way you like. I can't let him go now, he'd let the truth out. Look how scared he is, even if he tried to keep a secret he would eventually break. I've seen it before. Dozens of times. It's always heartbreak, I've felt it before." She tried to console me, setting the knife in her hand down in it's spot.
	I try and get the chains loose again, but they hold strong. The key wasn't anywhere, and mother moved around to my side to take a hand and guide it to one of the tools.
	"You could use this and finish him quick. The liver will stay fresh for hours, so I can take you through the steps for taking it out. Of course, you always could just snap the neck. Nearly painless, even faster. You always liked the ones I played with though, said those tasted the best! Breaking the bones will cause a lot of pain, and he'll last a while still. If we had enough time we could do that, but it won't be long before he's declared missing. They'll come check here to ask about it, and this bunker does leak scents. Any sharp scented person would catch us. You could always cut it out alive! I always liked that, I think that's my favorite method!"
	Mother smiled and put one of the knives in my hands, and forced it in place despite my screaming. She reassured me, even as she forced me to move the blade into his side and his screaming mixed with my own.




	I wake up with a start and a bit of screaming from the fever dream. Nightmare. Memory. All three, really. I'm panting and gasping for air, choking in the tears that want to come out. I find myself somewhere warm for once, a strange feeling after the last four years. The pain of hunger had been weakened, though it was still there. I felt better than I had for the last year. I was in some sort of cot next to a fireplace, though the fire was dying away without more wood to burn. I looked around the stuffy, dusty room to make out a television with a couch and chair facing it, dozens of empty or mostly empty bottles of alcohol laying around it. The burning smell of those masks any scent I could catch from anything else but the crackling fireplace.
	The heat of the fire alerted me to my nudity, making me yelp and cover myself up with the thick blanket that was on top of me. My ears didn't pick up any noise in the bleak surroundings. But I was nude in some strange house when the last thing I recalled was collapsing in the snow. Someone must have picked me up and brought me home. I hoped it wasn't with any perverted intentions, it wouldn't have been the first time someone tried.
	I stood up and wrapped the blanket around me as I moved away from the cot, the living room I found myself in leading to a number of rooms. I looked out the window to see what it was like out first, in case I wanted to leave. The snow was thicker than I ever saw before. Northern winters were harsher than I expected. I'd have died buried in it that night if I hadn't been found.
	I shook the thought from my mind and wander towards the kitchen, I'm hungry and thirsty. It's just as poorly kept as the living room, with a table in the center with four chairs, one with a booster. I didn't smell much besides more alcohol, empty bottles kept in boxes underneath the stairs that led upstairs. Whatever family stayed here put up with quite the drinker. I did my best to ignore the bottles and get some water after finding a clean glass, checking the fridge after. There are molding things inside, stuck towards the back. Fresh food is at the front, but it still makes me gag and close the door to worry about food some other time. I still needed clothes.
	I headed to the side room in the living room first. I almost fall over backwards when I turn on the light, heads of animals mounted on the walls with furs on the floor. There are rifles kept in a locked glass case. Feeling very safe now. Oddly, a small pheasant is stuffed and kept like a small trophy on one of the shelves where nothing else is kept. There is a name on a plaque there with the other shelves having the same. Sebastian. Tava. Eva is the nearly bare one. The room is kind of cozy, now that the surprise is over. I leave it when I realize how odd that is to think to myself.
	I check the laundry room past the kitchen to try and find some clothing to wear. The scent of alcohol is replaced with the body odor of some man. There isn't any clean clothing here, just used sweaters and pants. There was a faint scent of blood on some of them. I couldn't wear any of this.
	Seeing no other choice I head up the stairs with care, the cold wood creaking. I really want to get some clothes on. At the top of the stairs I see only three notable doors. The bathroom door is left open and has the empty bottle problem as the rooms downstairs. The other two are closed. One has a childish drawing taped to it, with 'Eva room!' drawn in crayon and marker. It's a bit faded, and the paper old. I open it out of curiosity anyways, and look inside to see a small bed with fluffy blankets amidst usual childhood items. But they're old too. I can't smell the child, only dust. The child hasn't been here for years. I close the door for now, not wanting to get too wrapped up in it.
	The last door is my only hope of getting clothes now, so I head towards it. I can smell yet more alcohol there, but there is another scent. Human, male. Same one from the laundry room. I crack the door open and peek inside, spotting the king sized bed and the man sleeping on one side of it. His face is weary, and has shaggy black facial hair growing unkempt on it. Seems to cut his hair short with something really clumsy himself. Has to be in his late twenties. The bottles of alcohol are all on the nightstand on his side. There is only his scent in the room. The loud snoring coming from him under the blankets lets me creep inside towards the dresser on the other side of the bed, there was bound to be some clothing I could wear in there.
	I paused when I notice a picture in a frame standing on top of the dresser. The man in finer days with a clean shaven face. His wolf wife and daughter are in winter clothing as the child is holding up a pheasant for the camera, the woods behind them covered in snow and ice. I really felt in the boondocks now. Must have had a bad divorce. Wasn't my business.
	Inside the dresser I find a sweater and some pants to wear that belonged to the wife. They're both very loose and baggy on me though. Once I'm dressed I turn to look at the man, still snoring away. At this angle I can see the bottle still in his other hand. It's obvious he's trying to drink himself to death. And has been for a while. Nobody would miss someone like him. These thoughts keep coming to my mind even as the potential foulness of his liver from all the drinking nags at me, my own mind having trouble reigning the thoughts again. It would be easy. I already overpowered him once at-
	Wait, he's from the morgue. The one that saw me. My mind snaps me out of it as I'm looming over the drunkard, one hand already pulling the shirt away from his belly. He saw what I was doing, what I was doing in my weakness. I remember the look on his face. He wanted me to kill him. Is that why he brought me back here? He wants it. I need it. Nobody would notice. I should do it. I'm so hungry. I've been dying without it. It won't taste good but it'll do.
	No, I don't want this! I'm not a monster! I won't hurt anybody! I don't want to hurt anybody! It's wrong!
	I need it though. I'm wasting away. I won't last much longer without it.
	I can't do this. I won't!
	But I need it!
	"If you're going to do it, do it."
	I jump when I hear him speak, my troubled thoughts having kept me from noticing the snoring had stopped. My mouth had been watering enough I was drooling, some of it having dripped down onto his bare stomach in my hunger. He wasn't moving as he looked up at me, accepting whatever fate I chose for him. But I can't do it. I won't do it.
	"No... I don't want to hurt anybody." I whine, tears coming down my cheeks as I fall down onto my knees as my voice cracks.
	He sits up in the bed and fixes his shirt, looking down at me as I sniffle and cry pathetically. He sighs and stands up, moving around to the other side of the bed to find a bottle with some alcohol in it to drink down despite however long it had been sitting out.
	"I'm Sebastian. Whats yours?" He asks, ignoring my state entirely as I try and wipe my tears away. I take some deep breaths before standing up, still shaky on my legs.
	"Sonia. Why'd you bring me here?" I ask, calming down enough to question his motives.
	The man scowls when there isn't another drink to down in reach, grumbling a bit before replying to me.
	"Pity. Empathy. Maybe something else. I don't know myself. If you're hungry I'll go cook you some pig liver." He grumbles, noticing my hairs standing on edge. "What, got something against pig livers? You'd still be sick in that cot if I didn't get em from the butcher. Took a week of them to get you awake."
	I take a deep breath of relief, and my stomach is aching with hunger still. "Pig livers are fine. But your fridge is disgusting."
	"If you got time to complain you can make it yourself." He frowns, heading out of the doorway before I follow and nearly trip on my own feet again. Legs haven't been  listening to me well for a while.
	"Alright, alright! I'd just burn it anyways!" I huff, following him down the stairs. He starts getting the food started as I head into living room, wanting to keep away from him. I find the remotes and turn on the television, still scowling from upstairs. "You're not going to guilt trip me or something, are you?" I ask, still cautious about his reasons for the charity.
	"Why would I do that?" He asked, apathetic as any other moment.
	"You seem lonely, maybe you want to take advantage of me. I WAS naked when I woke up." I frown, realizing he has no channels. There was only a pile of dvds beside the dvd player. Taking a look at them, I realize there is only home videos from the titles.
	"I'm a doctor, and I was nursing you back to health. I wouldn't try anything. I have a wife." He explained, sounding very serious about it.
	"Then... where is she?" I ask, hesitating as I ask the question. There is a long pause before he answers, the sizzle of meat almost drowning it out.
	"She's gone for a while. I'll see them again. Not for a long while though."
	No, he won't try anything. He's in outright denial about whatever divorce he had. I don't have the heart to push for clearer answers as I moved back into the kitchen to see him cooking the liver in a pan, making me wipe my mouth as it waters enthusiastically from the smell.
	"Well... she won't mind if I clean this trash heap up then! This house is filthy!"