021 The Fort

"We are here." Erebus stopped the car by the side of the pave way, in front of a tall building, well, a tower, to be more accurate.

"This is the hotel?!" Kitty exclaimed after she get off the car, "You--"

"He's a great friend of mine! What can I say." Erebus shrugged with a mischievous smile.

"..." Kitty squinted at Erebus, thinking about it. With the skyscraper looking down at her. It had crystal glass as its walls, glittering in the dark night.

"Downtown is more crowded than the edge, but also less boring, I'd say. You have everything you need close. Cafe, book store, shopping mall... Anything you need, you can find it on this street, or streets near." Erebus started, pointing at directions as he introducing them to her like a tour guide.

"This is the tallest building around here. Great view. And it's not too noisy on the 63th floor." At his words Kitty looked down, and there was a string of numbers on the card: 6103.

"There's four more floors above your room, and then it was the roof top bar, a good place to enjoy a scene. There are also two dining halls, one on the 3rd floor for general guests, and one on 45th, for guests living above. I'd recommend the latter. Try their lobster."

"Hmm..." His fast browsing dazed Kitty.

That was NOT her life.

She was just a stray cat, living off some crumbs in the waste and people's occasional kindness.

"Don't worry--" Erebus wanted to say something but he soon stopped, "I have never had the time or chance to really enjoy it here. Maybe you can finally make good of his gift."

Kitty just nodded, with a hesitation look on her face.

It was not like she never took a charity when she was living on the street. But taking a bread from a nice old lady with gratitude was JUST a bit different than taking a luxurious hotel room from a handsome man she was attracted to, after she just yelled at him nonetheless.

"Metis?" Erebus picked up his phone, "Nice work. You can take care of the details. I want your people here. Tell Tartarus he can take the surroundings."

If Kitty had been paying attention, she would have seen some hints now instead of later. But she was in deep thoughts, struggling about taking advantage of this seemingly crazy wolf god.

Hesitating in front of the revolving door, Kitty was not sure how she felt about all of these. Why would she care if this man wants to use her for some information that even herself didn't know she had? But somehow taking advantage of him felt so wrong that she didn't want to say yes to an absolutely great deal.

"We made a deal." Erebus said softly by her ear, but with a naughty tease in his tone, instead of the seriousness someone who was trying to enforce his own benefit should have.

Seriously, the half answer she gave was not worth a room here, period. Kitty shook her head thinking this man must be crazy. What was he taking in her unreasonable anger towards him for? And he was still trying to take care of her nonetheless.

"Thanks. I..." Kitty turned to Erebus. He was the same wolf god that save her from the street, except she was knocked out of that beautiful dream in which he was, hard. And she didn't want to go back.

"A deal is a deal. No need to thank me. Although I'd love to do more business with you." Erebus's hands in his pocket, bending a bit towards Kitty with a mischievous smile on his face. This smile always reminds Kitty of her mother. She would put on the same look when she gets her way on something that never harms no one, and Kitty or her father object but later would find themselves wrong.

Kitty: "..." Yeah, sure. Business. It was just her telling him nothing in exchange for a free room of the best hotel in town.

"I'll leave you to it now. Hope you can get some good rest here. Perses won't come near here, don't you worry." He added the second part when he saw the worried look on her face.

"Ohh, thanks." Kitty rose her brow. That was not what that was bothering her, "Today... today, I met a woman calling herself a witch."

Erebus tilted his head at her, not interrupting. He didn't want to rush her. Besides, he made the deal only so that Kitty would accept him getting her a room here. He would have investigated himself anyways. He chuckled seeing Kitty taking their deal seriously.

"What?!" Kitty stomped her foot hard and turned to leave.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Erebus laughed and held her arm to stop her from storming away, "I was just thinking about what I could offer to make more exchanges with you."

"It's to answer your question earlier!" Kitty rolled her eyes. Did she look THAT greedy?

"I'm sorry, please do continue." Erebus held his hands up as surrender.

"Well, she said she was a friend of my mom, who was also a witch, to her knowledge." Kitty said, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"But?" Erebus didn't seem shocked. He looked as if he was just listening to a good story.

"Well, but she didn't know my parents were dead, and she seemed shocked. And I'm not even sure if she just took me as a wrong person, so. Besides, we did try magic, and I couldn't use any." Kitty shrugged and poured out her day.

Surprisingly, she didn't feel interrogated talking to Erebus about all these mysteries. She told herself it was because he paid high price for it, and she HAD to honor the deal.

"I see..." Erebus had a deep thought look on his face, "And why would you believe that she WAS a witch?"

"She had a stone on her shelf, and the stone disappeared in front of my eyes when I touched it. It was definitely magic, I felt it." Kitty said, touching her right palm subconsciously.

"Interesting..." Erebus nodded, " You helped a lot. I mean it."

Kitty shrugged, and turned to head for the hotel.

"I..." She suddenly turned back and faced him after a few steps.

"Yes?" Erebus didn't move at all. He just leaned against his car, watching she leaving.

"I'm grateful for what you did. I'm sorry I couldn't have handled it better, but I know they did what they did only because they care about you. I just... I..."

"I know. Thanks for putting in good words for them. You did nothing wrong either."

"I'm not putting in good words! Just fact." That said, Kitty turned and ran into the hotel without looking back. She just hopes this would be her last intercourse with Erebus OR Perses. In fact, she would rather meet Perses again than Erebus, because Perses only wanted her life, but with Erebus?

She might lose her heart if she isn't careful.