Chapter 29 : Early Afternoon
Glancing down at his watch and seeing that they were only about twenty minutes out from when they were supposed to meet with Leopold and Ila, Anton nodded and turned to Fiona and Mica.
Standing all together in the kitchen, he and Kianna were each wearing nice, semi-casual outfits in accordance with their upcoming business meeting. While Fiona and Mica were both dressed from head to toe in solid black, form-fitting clothing that made them look all the world like a pair of cat-burglars.
"Alright. You two remember the plan, right?" said Anton as he paced back and forth in front of Fiona and Mica and looked them over "Get in, get out. Move quickly, but cautiously. First sign of any trouble, you get out of there as fast as you can and close the portal. And I mean immediately with this! Do not try to stand and fight, just get out of there. Understand me?"
"Yes, sir!" said both Fiona and Mica in unison as they stood at attention.
Staring at them for a moment, Anton nodded and smiled softly.
"Watch out for each other, okay." he said as he stepped away and moved over to the counter.
"...We will." mumbled Fiona and Mica as they glanced at one another.
Grinning, Kianna held up her phone.
"As soon as I give you the signal, it's a go." she said "Don't do anything until then though."
"Right, right. We know the plan. Wait for you guys to make sure they're really there, then sneak in, and steal Mica's shit." said Fiona as she crossed her arms over her chest "We got this. It's all easy enough."
"Hopefully it will be." said Anton as he came back from the counter with two potions in each of his hands "Here, take these."
Fiona ears pointed themselves straight upwards as she gazed at the two potions she had been handed.
One of the potions was the familiar green variety she had seen Anton use on Mica a few times now, but the other was a bright, golden colored brew that she had never seen before.
"What's the deal with this one?" she asked as she held up the golden potion "This some kind of super potion or something?"
"Pretty much. They're called radiant potions. And they'll be able to fully heal you from any injury." explained Anton "They do take a few moments to work though, so don't use them until you're in a safe place. Also you'll need to give them a good shake to activate them. You'll know they're ready when they start glowing. Oh, and don't worry, Mica, they're not made with holy water, so they will work on you."
"Good to know." said Mica as she slipped the two potions into her pockets and adjusted the belt that held her sheathed daggers against her hips.
"We better get going." said Anton as he turned to Kianna "You ready?"
"Yep!" chirped the dark elf as her ears twitched with excitement.
"Alright. We're off then." said Anton as he raised his hand and opened a portal to the coordinates Leopold had given him.
Stepping through the portal, Anton and Kianna found themselves standing just outside of a two story restaurant that looked as though it had been built in the style of a Mediterranean villa.
Upon entering and speaking with the hostess, they were led upstairs to a private seating area that was set up in a far back corner of the second floor.
Leopold and Ila were already seated and waiting at a round table in this area, and upon seeing Anton approaching, they both donned welcoming smiles. As she caught sight of Kianna following along behind Anton, Ila's eyes widened a tiny bit though her smile still remained.
Noticing the kiochi's hesitant demeanor, Kianna couldn't help but to grin smugly and gleefully flare her aura in anticipation. She quickly reined it in however when Anton glanced back and gave her a pointed look.
"Leopold, Ila, good to see you both again." said Anton as he came up to the table and shook each of the shinoccubis hands "I hope you haven't been waiting too long."
"No, not at all. We just got here. And it's good to see you again too, Anton." said Ila as her smile warmed with her greeting and she turned to Kianna "And, I'm sorry. But I don't believe we've been introduced yet. I'm Ila, and this is my husband, Leopold."
"Kianna, pleased to officially meet you both." said Kianna as she took each of their offered hands in greeting "And, yeah. Sorry we got off to such a rough start..."
"Oh, don't worry about it." said Ila as she waved her hand in a dismissive manner "These things happen sometimes. Nothing worth dwelling on."
"Good to hear that." said Anton as he pulled a chair out for Kianna "No reason we can't all be friendly here."
"Agreed." said Leopold as he picked up a wine list "Shall we share a bottle?"
"Sure, sounds good to me." said Anton as he took his seat opposite Leopold and gave Kianna a slight nod.
As Anton, Leopold and Ila decided on a bottle of wine, Kianna covertly took out her phone, kept it hidden beneath the edge of the table, and sent Fiona a message as a signal that everything was a go. Grinning smugly, the dark elf slipped her phone back into her small purse just as everyone began to look over their menus.
"So what's good here..." mused Anton as he browsed over his options "Oh, they've got scallops..."
"Yes. Their pan seared scallops and pasta dish is very good, definitely recommend..." said Leopold in an absent tone from behind his menu.
"Well then, I'm sold." grinned Anton as he turned to Kianna "Anything jumping out at you?"
"Mmm... I can't decide..." mumbled the dark elf "I really want to try the sea food salad, but the mushroom chicken also looks really good... Hmm..."
"Mm hm..." hummed Anton as he looked back at his own menu "Well, how about this. Let's order both of them and I'll split the salad with you, sound good?"
"Oh, yeah, that'll work for me." said Kianna as her ears pointed themselves straight upwards "Thank you!"
"Of course." said Anton.
Looking back and forth between the smiling couple, Ila let an amused expression slowly spread across her face.
"You know, Anton..." she started as she glanced over the top of her menu at him "It's nice to see you finally with someone. It's been so long now, and I was always so worried that you might be lonely."
"That's true. It really has been awhile..." mused Leopold "So how did you two meet by the way?"
"Oh, you know, it's the same old story." grinned Anton "A stranger sits down at a bar, and starts talking to a pretty girl. One thing leads to another, and now here we are."
"Actually, it was more like me and my sister drugged, kidnapped and were going to try to kill him. But that didn't work out too well for us. And now I'm his sex slave." said Kianna in a matter-of-factual tone "Best decision I ever made too. I don't regret anything."
Both Leopold and Ila paused for a moment and began to laugh as they took in the look on Anton's face.
"Seriously?" chuckled Leopold "Is that really what happened?"
"...It may have been something like that." mumbled Anton as a giggling Kianna leaned over and playfully nuzzled herself in against his shoulder "It was definitely along those lines..."
"Well then... That sounds like an interesting story!" laughed Ila "You've just been completely unlucky with people trying to kill you lately, haven't you?"
"I wouldn't say unlucky, per'se." grinned Anton as he leaned back against Kianna "There's been more good than bad, honestly."
It was at this moment that the waiter, a tall, soft-spoken, dark haired human man, appeared and began to take everyone's order. Once he had everything jotted down, he went off to inform the kitchen and quickly returned with a bottle of wine and a pitcher of flavored ice water.
As they all waited for their food, Anton began to tell the full story of how he had met Kianna and Fiona, as well as how their lives together had been going thus far. He kept the finer details to himself of course, though Kianna did interject with her own rather colorful anecdotes from time to time.
Having expected this meeting to be more awkward than not, Kianna was in reality quite surprised at just how casual and outgoing both Leopold and Ila really were. And although she was still very much on her guard, she quickly found herself actually enjoying the joking small talk she was having with the two alleged assassins.
Before too long, their steaming hot meals arrived atop a large platter and were quickly passed out across the table.
As she watched Anton divide their sea food salad between two plates, Kianna's sensitive ears picked up on the faint sound of her phone suddenly beginning to vibrate inside her purse. Being as discreet as possible, she took it out and immediately had to stifle a laugh by clamping her hand over her mouth. On the screen was a picture from Fiona showing the smiling dark elf lounging across a sofa in an unfamiliar living room and giving the camera a peace sign, whilst in the background behind the sofa, a clearly irritated looking Mica was in the middle of shouting at her in an obvious bid to get her moving.
"Everything okay over there?" asked Anton as he raised an eyebrow at the dark elf.
Without a word, Kianna shifted her phone to the side so he could see it clearly. Taking a single look at the picture, Anton sighed around a smile as he shook his head.
"Looks like everything is going just fine." chuckled Kianna as she put her phone away.
"Indeed..." mumbled Anton.
"Sharing secrets over there?" quipped Ila as she sliced her baked eggplant into thin strips.
"Maybe." smiled Kianna as she quickly became focused on her own plate of food.
"Well you have fun with that." grinned Leopold as he arced his tail over the table and used his spade to slide the pepper shaker over to himself.
Having ordered a whole roasted young chicken over rice, the kiogah looped a length of his tail around the pepper shaker, lifted it up over his plate and lightly sprinkled pepper across his chicken as he used two knives to expertly slice the bird into pieces.
With her meal now ready to eat, Ila gave her own phone a quick glance to make sure she hadn't missed any messages and stopped short as she noticed that the app connected to their in house security cameras was signaling that it was detecting movement in their home. Creasing her brow in question, she quickly opened the app and blinked in surprise as she saw Mica and Kianna's sister Fiona moving through the hallway of their apartment. Looking up at Anton and Kianna, she met their eyes for a moment before dropping her gaze back down to her phone. She was just in time to see Mica and Fiona quickly exit Mica's room with armfuls of her daughter's clothing and belongings and disappear though a portal before reappearing and repeating the process. Shaking her head, she closed the app and gave a staring Anton and Kianna a knowing smile.
"Something wrong?" asked Leopold as he looked over at her.
"...No. It's nothing important." said Ila as her expression became amused "I was just checking in on the cameras at home... Everything is fine though."
