The wind howled over the eaves of the rather run down looking homes that fronted the main avenue through Vilkbin. A cloaked shape walked the street, wrapping it tightly to their body against the wind and driving rain. Finally the figure turned into a lit doorway, its glass-enclosed lantern swinging wildly in the winds. A hand emerged from the cloak and banged on its door. A moment later, the door opened and the cloaked figure entered the doorway. The door banged shut after the figure had passed in.
Inside the entry hall, the figure opened the cloak wide, sloughing from her shoulders. It was a female, but not a human. She was human sized, or very nearly so. Short, soft fur covered her, from head to the tip of her long tail blue-gray in color. She had a feline face, with huge luminous green eyes, and a permanent smile under her inverted triangular nose. Her ears twitched through her shaggy mane of hair, also blue-gray, and just as soft as the shorter hair on her body. Her oddest feature were her lower legs, they were very cat-like, with reversed knees, and a stance of being on the tips of the toes.
A short man took the cloak from her and carefully hung it on a hook in a small alcove, along with others. He looked at her appraisingly. "You are more lovely than people say." He said, his Ghantian bearing a heavy Eastron accent.
Sharesh, the rakasta looked back at him, regarding him with her large eyes. "Thank you." She said, smiling with long canine fangs. "You're very kind." She was wearing a abbreviated half-top, that terminated just under her rather sizable breasts, and a short skirt that only covered from just above her pubic mound to just below her crotch, perhaps eight inches high. A silken loincloth poked out from the upper hem of the dress front and back, its length considerably longer than the skirt's own, and it hung to nearly her knees front and back.
He let his beady brown eyes wander up and down her excellent figure. Muscles played under her fur, softly moving whenever she moved, causing the fur to shimmer slightly. She regarded him in return. He was only just barely five feet tall, and rounder than she preferred men to be. His head had a shock of white hair around its fringe, with a large bald spot. He was not at all her type, but if the pay was right, she wouldn't complain. He smiled at her. "Your price was very high, but you look more than worth it."
She extended one claw from her index finger, and touched it to his chin, gently dragging it over his skin. "Oh, I am." She crooned at him. "I sex better than I look." She said, smiling. "And I look amazing." She started moving toward him, her hips gently swaying side to side, and her tail swung around to caress his thigh just below his groin and wrap all the way around it.
He suddenly looked very nervous. "Uh. I. Uh. I was sent to collect you, actually, I am not Victor."
She stopped advancing, but her tail still slid up and between his legs. "Oh?" She said. "Well, I'm not above the occasional free sample, to keep the fans happy." People would one day learn that once Sharesh was in 'forward' mode, there was seldom a reversal.
He said. "I sincerely wish I could, Miss, believe me." He said, smiling nervously. "But Count Vilkbin said you were to be delivered right away, and NOT recently used."
Her pretty, but alien face showed disappointment, but relented. "Very well. What is your name, then?" She asked as her tail slipped from his thigh.
"I am Alexei Davinov, The Count Victor Rocherko of Vilkbin's personal assistant." He said. "We will be with the Count shortly." He led her to an enclosed stable where a coach and team awaited. She was driven across the town and out into the surrounding mountains, after about twenty minutes of observing the charming countryside, which appeared to be mostly stunted trees, rock formations, and muddy fields, she entered into another enclosed garage. Throughout the trip, Alexei simply watched her from the seat across the coach. He opened the door for her and led her through a large manor house to a beautifully appointed sitting room. Wood-paneled walls contrasted with lovely paintings of castles hung upon them. There were several ornate suits of armor on stands about the room, and a large number of weapons mounted to the wall.
"You are Sharesh?" A voice asked from the doorway.
She turned languidly toward the door, her reflexes told her to do so quicker, but her professional senses told her that this was the customer, and startling him with displays of her feline capabilities might be less than a good idea. She looked over at the man, tall, well-built, with broad shoulders, strong arms, and stout legs. He was wearing clothes very similar to Alexei's, but more finely tailored and of better cloth, very subdued, black and gray. "I am." She said to him, giving him a small smile and slinking toward him. His hair was slicked back, as so many men in the Eastern Realms did, and it was black as jet. The thing that she most noticed, however, about him was his eyes, they looked black as well, and they had no whites. She was used to that, in her own eyes, but not so with humans.
He watched her approach. Her long legs and the tail swinging slowly behind them seemed to catch his attention. "I did not know you were not human." He said, looking again at her emerald eyes.
She slowed more and struck one of what she thought of as her best poses, her arm on the back of a high-backed chair and her hip out, with one hand on it. "Will that be a problem?" She said, softly. She had run into racism before, but it was rare, and usually could be overcome, especially in a bedroom.
He regarded her a long moment. "No, not for what is being asked of you." He said, smiling slightly.
She grinned slightly, allowing her long fangs to show, and stood again and finished closing the distance between them. "You're Count Vilkbin?" She asked, looking up into his eyes. He was very tall, she noticed, especially for a Eastern Realmsman, who tended to run to the short side.
"Yes, I am he you were contracted for." He said. His face rather embarrassed for one who had promised so much payment.
She stepped closer, and inhaled deeply. He was a dog lover, she decided, he had the smell of a hound upon him. Many men loved their dogs, and the dogs were good friends to them, and unbelievably loyal. She liked dogs, to a point, herself, though the ones who did not know her tended to bark. "You seem ashamed to have hired me." She said. Giving him a hard stare. "Does my chosen profession seem less than honorable to you?" She had crossed this road before, as well, and it was a tougher nut to crack than simple racism.
He regarded her with those black eyes. "No. I am embarrassed by whom you were contracted." He down the hall, its walls were lined with paintings of men who were all handsome, all large-shouldered, and all looked a lot like Victor. "If those great men could see me now, they would laugh." His eyes were sparkling, and she thought there may be tears in them, but they did not fall.
She smiled softly at him, softening her eyes. "And by whom was I contracted? All I know is that half my fee was received by Mr. Undertoe, and the traveling expenses, which were considerable, coming from Ghant." She let her tail slide along his leg, moving upward.
Victor sighed. "You were contracted by the men of my village." He said. "Oddly enough." He chuckled humorlessly.
Her eyes widened in honest surprise. "I was?" She said. "You must be one well beloved noble, that your people pay to have your needs tended to." She smiled wider. "It's hardly something to be embarrassed about."
