A Crash-course in Kinsa-sitting by Katica Locke

Simon Walker was just pulling into his driveway when his cell phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, which was a little strange since he didn’t give his number out to many people. He went ahead and answered it as he gathered up his jacket and empty thermos out of the passenger’s seat.

“Hello?” he said.

“Hello,” a female voice replied. “Is this Simon?”

Simon raced through the short mental list of women he knew well enough to give his number to: his mother; his roommate, Raven; and Robin, the secretary at work. That voice didn’t sound like any of them.

“Yes, this is Simon,” he said. “Who am I speaking to?”

“This is Jessica,” she said. Simon drew a blank. “From the restaurant?” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “The faerie?”

“Oh, Jessica, right,” Simon said. “Sorry.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I have a huge favor to ask you, the kind that I can’t ask anyone else for.”

“Oh…okay…” Simon said. Since he was dating a vampire and sharing his house with a wereraven and her demon boyfriend, that put him in a unique position to handle certain situations that the average Earthling couldn’t. He was actually getting pretty good at dealing with werewolves and demons and saving the world from crazy mages. “What can I do?” he asked.

“Can you meet me in the mall parking lot in about an hour?” she asked. “I’d rather not discuss this over the phone.”

***

An hour later, Simon pulled into the lot, parking under the designated tree near Jessica’s restaurant. A few minutes later, her dark blue coupe pulled up beside him.

“Have you been waiting long?” she asked as they climbed out of their respective vehicles.

“Just got here,” Simon said. “So, what’s up?”

“I need a pet-sitter,” she said, looking sheepish.

“That’s it?” Simon asked, frowning. “I thought…I don’t know what I thought, but…That’s not exactly the type of favor I was expecting.”

“I know,” she said, “but I can’t ask anyone else.”

“What kind of pet are we talking about?” Simon asked. “I think I’m allergic to cats.”

“She’s not a cat,” Jessica said, opening the passenger’s side door. Buckled into the seat was a large, glass terrarium with a wire mesh lid. Inside, Simon could see some dead branches and a few dried leaves. Lizard? Snake? “Simon, this is Kisara,” Jessica said, lifting the lid and reaching inside. She moved the leaves aside and picked up a ball of silvery fuzz about as big as Simon’s fist. “She’s a kinsa.”

“It looks like a tribble,” Simon muttered leaning closer. Big, shiny black eyes stared back at him from amongst the fuzz. “Nice to meet you,” Simon said, then glanced back up at Jessica. “I can see why you called me. What does she eat?”

“I’ve got her food in a bag,” she said, “along with her brush. She loves to be groomed.” She began to pet the fuzzball and it began to trill, making a soft sound somewhere between a whistle and a purr, rising and falling melodically. “She also loves fresh flower petals, but don’t give her more than four or five a day, no matter how much she begs.”

“All right,” Simon said. “I’ll do it. She doesn’t look like too much trouble.”

“Oh, thank you,” Jessica said, putting Kisara back in her tank. “She won’t be, I promise.”

***

“So that’s a kinsa,” Julian said, peering in through the glass as the little fuzzball crawled slowly along one of the branches in her tank. Simon wasn’t sure how she was hanging on to it–when he held her, he hadn’t felt any feet. “I’ve heard of them, but haven’t ever seen one. On most worlds, it’s illegal to have one, unless you’re faerie royalty.”

“Maybe that’s why Jessica’s on Earth,” Simon said with a shrug. “She’s a fugitive, wanted for stealing a singing silver cotton ball.”

“It sings?” Julian asked, raising his eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah,” Simon said, lifting the mesh cover and reaching in. He lightly stroked the silky silver fuzz, smiling at Julian as that sweet, lilting melody filled the air.

“Amazing,” Julian said. “And you said it eats flowers?”

“Petals, yeah.” He laughed as Julian rushed out of the front door. “It’s dark,” he called after the vampire. “All the flowers are closed.” Julian returned with one of Raven’s marigold flower heads, pulling it apart to get to the petals. “Not too many,” he warned. “Jessica said only four or five.”

“But these are tiny,” Julian said, sprinkling half a dozen little golden petals in the cage. Kisara dropped from the branch, executing a wobbly roll on the floor of the terrarium before making a beeline for the petals. One by one, they vanished into the fuzz, the little kinsa singing happily as she ate.

***

Simon groaned and covered his head with his pillow, but it couldn’t quite block out the plaintive chirps from the kinsa downstairs. He glanced at the clock and groaned again. It was three in the morning and he had to be to work by eight. Throwing back the covers, he climbed out of bed in just his boxers and stormed downstairs.

“No trouble, my ass,” he muttered, opening the lid and tossing in a few more petals for her to chew on. Maybe she’d be quiet long enough for him to fall asleep.

“What are you doing?” Julian asked, coming into the living room with a wine bottle full of blood in one hand and his lap top tucked under his arm. He glanced at the terrarium. “Did you give her more petals?”

“Just a few,” Simon said. “She won’t shut up.”

“I already gave her a few more to try to make her quiet,” Julian said.

“Crap,” Simon said, raising the lid again and quickly picking the petals up off the floor before Kisara could reach them. “I think I got them all,” he said. She began to chirp again, worse than ever.

“We could move her to my room,” Julian suggested.

“It’s cold down there.”

“She’s got fur.”

Simon debated.

“Somebody shut that fucking thing up!” Raven shouted from her room.

“All right,” Simon said, “put her in the basement.”

***

Simon slid Julian’s blue and green lava lamp aside to make room for Julian to set the terrarium on the shelf. He watched Kisara for a moment. She didn’t act cold.

“I’ll bring her back up at dawn,” Julian said. Simon nodded and turned to go back upstairs. Dawn wasn’t that far away. Julian caught him by the arm and he glanced back. “As long as you’re awake…” the vampire said, stepping toward Simon and licking his lips suggestively. Simon groaned even as his cock began to harden.

“Julian, I have to get up for work in three hours,” he said, halfheartedly trying to pull away.

“Call in sick,” the vampire suggested, pulling Simon into his arms and bowing his head to Simon’s neck, placing cold kisses down onto his shoulder. Simon shivered in delight, his heart racing with anticipation and some of that ancestral fear, the potential danger making his body come alive.

“Oh, fine,” Simon said, surrendering as Julian worked his boxers off his hips. He stepped out of them as Julian finished undressing. Julian took him by the hand and pulled him over to the bed, lying on his back and quickly slicking his cock with lube. “Be gentle,” Simon warned as he used the lubricant to prepare himself. “I already used the ‘bicycle accident’ excuse the last time you fucked my brains out and I could barely walk.”

“I’ll treat you like a china doll,” Julian said with a laugh, earning himself a dirty look as Simon climbed astride him. Simon drew a long, slow breath through his teeth as Julian eased inside him, his flesh so wonderfully cold.

“Have I ever mentioned how good you feel inside me?” Simon asked, bracing his hands on Julian’s smooth, muscular chest.

“Once or twice, I think,” Julian replied, his lips quirking in a small smile, his green eyes dark with desire as he began thrusting up into Simon. Simon rocked his hips, moaning as Julian played with his cock, teasing him, making him pant and squirm.

“All right, time’s up,” he grunted, pushing Julian’s hands aside and starting to jerk himself in earnest. “I’d like to get to bed before sunup.” He gasped as Julian suddenly flipped them over, grabbed his wrists, and pinned them above his head. Simon stared up at him, his heart suddenly pounding too hard, making it difficult to breathe. Julian leaned down, kissing him softly, and Simon’s fear abated.

“We’re not done yet,” Julian murmured and deepened the kiss, his tongue exploring Simon’s mouth. Simon moaned low in his throat, arching off the bed as Julian began to thrust into him, meting out a tortuously slow rhythm. Ignored and untouched, Simon’s cock ached, dripping precome on his stomach.

“Julian, please…” he moaned, his words muffled by the vampire’s kiss. Julian drew back, his shoulder-length black hair spilling down on either side of his face.

“Just call in sick,” Julian said. “Just this once.”

“I can’t,” Simon groaned, the temptation to stay in bed with Julian almost too great. Julian sighed and let go of his wrists. Simon wrapped his arms around Julian, his hands clutching at his back as Julian began to move at a much more productive pace. He shuddered and moaned as the pleasure rolled through him, gathering in a tight, heavy knot low in his groin. Julian held him tight as he stiffened and came, crying out as he striped his stomach. A moment later, even before Simon’s orgasm had faded, Julian tensed, his hips jerking as he spilled his cold seed in Simon. The sudden cold made Simon’s muscles clench, sending another deep wave of pleasure shuddering through him.

Julian rolled off and they lay gasping for a moment.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” Simon panted.

Julian chuckled and sat up, leaning over Simon and kissing him soundly.

“Yeah, but what a way to go,” he said as he drew back. When Simon had caught his breath, he slowly rose from the bed and pulled his boxers back on before heading upstairs to take a shower. Who needed sleep anyway?

***

“Julian!” Simon shouted, racing down the basement steps. “Julian, wake up!”

“Simon?”

Simon flipped on the overhead light, rushing over to the vampire’s bed as Julian shielded his eyes from the brightness.

“Look at this!” Simon said, holding out his cupped hands. Fine silver fuzz fluttered in the wind his movements made, but it was no longer attached to a cute little creature with big, black eyes. It lay in his palms, next to a hard, gray something that he’d found in the terrarium next to the fuzz.

“What happened?” Julian asked, squinting at it. “She was fine when I took the tank up to the kitchen this morning. She was…sleeping. I think.” He picked up the crusty gray potato-shaped lump and turned it over in his hands before giving it back to Simon.

“Is she dead?” Simon asked, “or is this like that movie where the cute critter eats when it isn’t supposed to and turns into an ugly little monster? Is this thing going to hatch and eat our faces off because we gave it too many petals?”

“I don’t think so,” Julian said, giving him a funny look as he lay back down. “Just put it back in the tank and start working on your apology.”

“You’re a lot of help,” Simon muttered, turning out the light as he headed back upstairs. Jessica was going to kill him.

***

Simon kept glancing at his phone all though dinner, dreading the call that he knew was coming. When it finally rang, he took a deep breath and answered it.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi, Simon,” Jessica said, sounding out of breath. “I just got home. Can you meet me in the parking lot in an hour?”

“Yeah, okay,” Simon said. “Look, Jessica, there’s something–”

“Can you tell me later? The neighbor is bringing my dog over and I really have to use the bathroom. See you in an hour.”

“Good-bye,” Simon said to the dial tone and he sighed as he put his phone away. An hour later, he sat in his car, under the tree, watching the rain run down his windshield. The terrarium was in his back seat–he hadn’t wanted to look at it.

Jessica arrived and jumped out of her car, opening a large umbrella as she hurried over to Simon’s car.

“How is she?” she asked as Simon opened the door and climbed out. “I hope she wasn’t too much trouble. Here, before I forget–” She dug into her pocket and pulled out several crisp twenties, folded in half. She tried to give it to him, but he shook his head.

“I can’t accept that,” he said. “Jessica, something happened. She’s dead.”

“What?” She looked absolutely stricken. “How?”

“I-I think we gave her too many petals,” he said. “They were little, so I didn’t think it would hurt anything–”

“Too many petals won’t kill her,” she said, “it just makes her noisier. Where is she? I want to see her.”

“She’s in her tank,” Simon said, opening the back door and taking the umbrella as she climbed inside.

“Oh!” Jessica cried and Simon closed his eyes, feeling like an absolute monster. How could he be so irresponsible– “Oh!” she gasped again. “Simon, she’s not dead. She pupated!’

“She what?” Simon leaned in through the back door, his mouth falling open as he watched a damp, skinny kitten-like creature with short little legs and tiny feet crawl out of gray potato, leaving just an empty husk behind. It lay panting on the floor of the tank, big black eyes staring up at them. “I-I didn’t know they did that,” Simon said in awe.

“Sorry, I didn’t think it was time yet,” Jessica said. “Kinsa’s take years to mature; I thought she was too young.”

“What is that on her back?” Simon asked. As the fine fuzz began to dry and puff out, two strange protrusions appeared, one on either side of her back. It looked kind of like crinkled-up paper being slowly unfolded.

“Those are her wings,” Jessica said, smiling. “Kinsa’s have beautiful butterfly wings.” They watched for several more minutes as the wings flattened out, sparkling with pale shades of lavender, blue, pink, and green. Simon smiled as Kisara began to sing, her voice even more musical.

***

If you enjoyed this story, you should check out the series:

The Vampire Next Door (Book 1)

A Visit From the Truth Faerie (Book 2)

Will Work For Blood (Book 3)

Demons Are Forever (Book 4)