Excerpt: Eye of the Tiger

"Wait," he repeated, softer this time, and putting a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to look at him, my eyes enlarged. I made a shuddering sound under my breath that got louder the more I looked at him.
"You killed that woman!" I finally shouted a few minutes later, moving his hand off of my shoulder.
"If I hadn't, she would have killed you!" he spat back, some of his Portuguese accent leaking through. I jumped back a little at the tone in his voice; and after I let it sink in for a minute or so, I crossed my arms and shrugged.
"Touché." I stared at him a few more minutes, eyeing him up and down. He didn't look evil, but the all-black outfit made me think otherwise. "So...who are you?"
"Me?" He pointed at himself, and I nodded in response. "I'm Frederico Fernandes de Faria!"
I shrugged again, this time uncrossing my arms, and offered my hand for him to shake. "Demitria Rousch. Can I ask a question, Mr. de Faria?"
"Of course!"
"What just happened?"
"Ah..." He rubbed his chin a few seconds as he thought. "Maybe we should go into your hotel room, so I can explain everything?"
I looked at my new acquaintance a little cross-eyed. I still didn't completely trust him. Maybe this was a ploy to get me while I was vunerable.
"Do we have to?" I wondered out loud.
Frederico nodded in response, telling me, "it's really best if nobody was to hear."
"Okay...but if you take a knife to my neck, I'm screaming as loud as I can." He laughed as I took my keycard and opened up my hotel room. The two of us walked in and I shut the door. "So...what happened?"
"You were attacked by a member of the Sho Kumo Ryu tribe of ninja."