Page 12 of Bitten By the Basilisk

The drive to the spa was short and uneventful, despite the streets being more packed with tourists than usual this late in the evening thanks to the town’s upcoming weeklong celebration of Samhain, which this year happened to overlap with the full moon and therefore his kind’s mating festival.

Despite himself, he couldn’t help looking for a red scarf as he drove past a line of normies waiting to board a tour bus that would take them around to the town’s most haunted locations.

“Stop it,” he scolded himself as he pulled into the small parking lot around the corner from the spa’s main entrance. “She’s not for you.”

Due to the nocturnal nature of some of the town’s residents, Renart Salon and Spa offered round-the-clock appointments five days a week.

Coincidentally, his family’s company owned the retail property next door, Stone Jewelers, but Silas rarely needed to visit, as his mother managed it quite competently—and in fact resented his supervision.

The spa’s reception area was tranquil and blissfully warm, the walls a mix of medium wood and gray stone, the air scented with sage and jasmine. Cove lighting softly illuminated the space and outlined the spa’s fox-shaped logo on the wall behind the reception counter. Locally made soaps, body scrubs, face masks, and candles for sale were meticulously displayed in built-in shelving to one side.

“Welcome, Mr. Stone,” the receptionist greeted from behind the counter, bowing her head respectfully. Like all the spa’s staff, she wore a plain, forest-green kimono. Two slightly curved black horns sprouted from the top of her forehead, poking through her bangs. When she raised her head, she regarded him with eyes far different from his or any human’s—red irises centered in black scleras.

Silas approached the counter, the tension already leaving his body. “Good to see you, Cynthia. How are things here?”

“Busy, as always, just how I like it. Oh, and Grace’s daughter is visiting! She’s as sweet as her mother. Talented as well.” She gestured with a taloned hand to a nearby wall, where a piece of framed art hung.

A different sort of tension pulled his spine straight as he turned his gaze to the familiar artwork, seeing it anew. It had been there for several months, and he’d admired it countless times, but he’d assumed it had been commissioned.

He appreciated how cleanly the koi’s scales were rendered, each one given depth. The subtle shine where they reflected the light, as well as the contrast of the koi’s bright orange and white coloring against a dusky-blue watercolor background, made the animal appear real enough to touch. The curve of its body, the delicate furl of its fins, and cleverly placed bubbles suggested swift motion.

Now that he thought about it, the tourist who had almost lost her scarf did closely resemble the spa’s current owner, whom he’d met numerous times, being a regular. As the mortal descendant of a kitsune, Grace had inherited a talent for illusion magic.

If the woman he’d locked eyes with wasn’t, in fact, a normie but Grace’s daughter…

It wouldn’t change anything, he told himself in an attempt to suppress a sense of urgency tugging at the center of his chest. His priorities were fixed, and they did not include anyone unfamiliar with his kind and its…proclivities.

“And you, sir? How’s the nest?”

He let out a sigh. “Also busy. I’m glad to be here.”

“We’re honored to have you.”

Though Cynthia had a computer screen hidden beneath the lip of the counter, she didn’t need to reference it as she confirmed his appointment type. To Silas’s surprise, Nic had booked him a thirty-minute massage prior to his one-hour private sand soak.

Another oni named Kenji, who would be his masseur, emerged from the curtained doorway behind the reception counter as if magically summoned—which wouldn’t be impossible, but he likelier overheard their conversation from the office in back.

Kenji was nearly as tall as Silas but heavier, every part of him thick with muscle. His red horns were significantly thicker and longer than his sister’s, and two short tusks jutted up from his lower jaw. He executed a swift bow. “Welcome, sir. If you’ll follow me.”

“Please enjoy your time with us,” Cynthia said in farewell, bowing once more.

Nodding in thanks, Silas began following his linebacker-sized masseur, only to stop short, apparently determined to torment himself. “May I ask for her name?”

Cynthia tilted her head in confusion. “Pardon?”

“The artist,” he clarified, motioning at the painting. “I’m…curious to see her other works.”

Cynthia perked up. “She goes by Alice. Alice York.”

“Alice,” he echoed, a habit he had formed to help him remember new names. He usually repeated them several times, but hers imprinted on his brain as instantly as a camera flash on his retinas.

“Unfortunately, I don’t believe you’ll find anything,” Cynthia said solemnly. “Alice only paints as a hobby.”

He looked again at the koi, so expertly depicted he could practically feel its cool scales against his fingertips. “That is unfortunate.”

Kenji first led him to the changing area, which for some supes meant more than putting on a spa robe. As such, the locker area was rather spacious. Silas remained in his human form for his massage and requested that Kenji concentrate on softening his neck and shoulders. The oni’s strong hands kneaded his muscles as easily as dough, and thirty minutes flew by.

His masseur then escorted him downstairs to the spa’s underground level, where one could relax in a steam bath large enough to fit three or four humans—or one of him in his serpent form. There were also three types of enclosed saunas as well as several smaller soaking pools of various temperatures, from frigid to scalding.