The Arsenic Widow #Wattys2015 (mxm)

Chapter One

Please go give some love to holmesfapel who created my fantastic book cover! It means a lot to have such a wonderful cover created by someone who cares so much for my story!
To all my new readers, welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy it as well <3

The first thing I noticed about this town was the smell: a sick, decaying stench made the word plague immediately spring to mind.

Upon my arrival, I had walked around the high walls of the town three times in order to locate the smell and if it was truly inside the walls at all. My nose wrinkled as another foul odour hit me, this smelling of rats and carrion, and I knew immediately what type of demon it was.

Head high, I walked towards the open gates. The two guards looked tired and waved me through without checking my summons, but I saw their eyes take in my red cloak and the long broadsword on my back. They knew I was the hunter they had been waiting for, but I expected no respect. I had been sent here to do my job and that is all, though sometimes I would be offered a free meal before leaving.

As I walked further in, villagers stopped in front of their golden, thatched-roofed houses and stared at me. I heard their musings from where I was walking.

"He's a little young isn't he...?"

"It's one of the king's pets..."

"I hope he catches the beast..."

I chuckled derisively to myself at the thought of catching a demon instead of flat out killing one, but I bristled at the idea that I was too young. I was turning nineteen in two months, which meant I will no longer be under contract of the King and would be able to make my life as a rogue hunter, earning money.

As usual, there is always one sticky nose in every town, although this time it was a small girl asking me various questions.

"Why is your cape red?" She asked with one finger in her mouth, drooping the edge of her ten year old face, dribble sliding down.

"I'm a hunter." I answered, but I squatted in front of her, smiling to show her that I meant no harm. She was simply an inquisitive kid, and I remembered when I used to be like that. "I wear red to show that I'm property of the King's men."

Her eyes widened, and the finger that was in her mouth now pointed at me, "You're owned by someone?"

"Kind of like that," I laughed, shuffling backwards a bit to avoid her wet finger that was now swinging wildly. "My name is Incent. What's yours?"

"I'm Gem. What's that?" She pointed at my broadsword.

"That is a big, big, big knife," I said, smiling, "Nothing that you should ever want to touch." I didn't say the last part meanly, but the look in her eyes were as if I had admonished her about something, "Maybe if you're older you can get a knife," I said, and ruffled her brown hair. At that moment, a woman came past and grabbed the young girl by the shoulder.

"Shame on you," she hissed at me as I stood up, "putting such ideas into an eight year old girl's mind." Hmm, I thought she was ten; I was a little off.

I shrugged, trying to appear nonplussed about the situation, "Everybody should be able to defend themselves; even little girls. And if you had been taught too, I wouldn't have been called here to this job." I smirked at the woman who simply scowled at me, and began trudging down the road again.

The smell of the demon had been growing closer the longer I had been talking to the woman, and I knew that if I argued with her any longer, the town would be attacked again.