BXBX NOVEL Chapter 849
“Not to sound ungrateful...” said Xiang slowly, really trying to keep the annoyance from his voice, and mostly succeeding too, “but what is it? Surely if it was important it’s something that should have been brought up before we agreed to anything,”
“Perhaps but...” *now.* Lily hopped of Kat’s shoulder and transformed. Xiang took a panicked step back, pulled out his sword and getting into a ready stance. “This is my girlfriend Lily. She will be accompanying us,” Xiang was frowning pretty heavily as Kat continued. “The reason I didn’t inform you earlier is mostly due to the fact I wasn’t going to give that information away if I didn’t have to. Now we’re working together... again... I feel like I do.”
Xiang sheathed his sword but kept the look of disapproval. “Right... but for what possible reason could you think it’s a good idea to bring your girlfriend along?”
“I believe Kat mentioned my name is Lily,” was said by Lily at the same time as Kat’s “I don’t particularly but we are magically bound together now which means not being in separate dimensions,”
Lily shot Kat a betrayed look but the demon in question just shrugged and said, “Lily, you already know I’d much rather you safe. I don’t begrudge you joining me on Contracts, I don’t necessarily dislike it, and I love spending time with you... but your safety is something I put above all the other benefits,”
Lily huffed and looked away pretending to be mad. Of course her red cheeks alongside the waves of love and affection radiating down the link proved just how ‘mad’ she was in truth. Xiang on the other hand was sighing at the byplay. “I see. I’m not exactly pleased... but I understand at least,”
.....
“I wouldn’t be too grumpy. There are plenty of places that a cat can get a human cannot. I’m sure at the very least Lily will be able to help with finding Xuena once we get closer. Even if she’s not really a combatant at this stage,” said Kat.
“Right... um... not sure if this is a rude question but... what exactly IS she? Another demon?” asked Xiang.
“I’m a Memphis beastkin,” Xiang had a ‘yeah and?!’ look plastered on his face, “it’s a special kind of feline that can generate its own demonic energy. I can’t use it, but I do produce it. The link helps stabilise me, and provides Kat with extra energy.”
“Right...” said Xiang, drawing out the words. He had a lot more questions he wanted to ask... it just didn’t seem like a good idea to follow through with it in the end. He wanted to keep the mood from souring at least a little longer. Yang wasn’t going to be happy when she was untied. Then again. Maybe that was a reason to ask more questions. Delay the inevitable.
“Do you think there will be any issues introducing Lily to Yang? If there will be... well... no I don’t want to put words in Lily’s mouth,” said Kat.
“Um... no? I mean... I don’t really understand why there would be? I’ll admit I was a little hesitant she’d be a liability but you made a good point about her stealth abilities simply from being able to transform. It should be... well... maybe not fine but we’re all going to get it in a few moments when I release her...” grumbled Xiang.
“We could just... not?” offered Lily.
Xiang shook his head immediately, “Even if I thought those empowered ropes could hold Yang for an extended period of time Xuena is her best friend. They’ve known each other a long time. She’d do something stupid to catch up to us or make an attempt to save Xuena all by herself to prove she was better and probably fail in the process. Then we’d have two people to rescue or...” the last two words, ‘two corpses’ went unsaid.
Leaving them didn’t really stop the mood from dropping though. With that, it seemed to signal an unspoken agreement they release Yang and deal with that fallout now. Lily transformed back so she could rest in Kat’s arms for a bit as the group headed to the doors. It was far too short a walk.
Kat and Xiang both looked at the big stone doors and winced imagining the seen they were about to experience. It wasn’t hard to here Yang’s struggles from here. Kat had been specifically tuning them out until the energy in her ears ran out... and avoiding thinking on it afterwards. Now they were at the door though it sounded like a caged badger was on the other side and they were about to enter its liar.
“Last chance to just... not do this?” offered Kat.
Xiang sighed and pushed open the door. Yang’s struggles stopped and her eyes locked straight onto Kat’s for just a second before turning to Xiang, her eyes literally burning with molten gold energy. Xiang met her gaze and held it. This was clearly the wrong decision because Yang did not want to be bound a moment longer. Golden beams shot out of Yang’s eyes and straight into Xiang who raised a hand to block.
The attack wasn’t that strong, but slight burns were present on the back of Xiang’s hand after that. Instead of getting angry though, he just sighed and pulled out his sword. Yang didn’t even blink as he slashed it through her bindings. Yang hopped up and grabbed her fallen weapon before slamming it into Xiang’s side as he stood crouched trying to collect the pieces of his rope.
Xiang didn’t even react to the impact until he went flying. No screams of pain, no complaints, he just went soaring back into the summoning room, flying until he hit the back wall with a thud. “THAT’S WHAT YOU DESERVE FOR TYING ME UP ASSHOLE!” screamed Yang. Then she turned to Kat. “You,”
“Me?” said Kat ‘innocently’ tilting her head and trying to look as fakely adorable as she could. Not a skill Kat had practiced, but that only added to the obvious and grating nature of the gesture.
“YES YOU! ARE YOU GOING TO HELP US OR NOT?” yelled Yang.
Kat lightly scratched behind her ear, wishing for less sensitive healing. She could practically feel her ears regenerating. Lily was not so lucky, and had to bury her head into Kat, letting her ears get smooshed between Kat’s stomach and arms. “Yes,”
“IS THAT ALL YOU’RE GOING TO SAY?” ‘said’ Yang.
*She really needs to work on her volume control. I mean is all the screaming really necessary? Also, where is Xiang. He better get his ass back here because I do not want to deal with all this yelling. Actually, are you alright Lily?*
[I’ll live. Probably]
“Yes,” said Kat with a grin, that may or may not have been a little cheeky.
Yang glared at Kat and her eyes started to glow again. “Oh look I can do that too,” said Kat shoving demonic energy into her eyes letting them glow her own purple.
Yang growled at Kat. Not any words, just growling. Kat didn’t really know what to make of it. *Is she really a person? Or is there a chance she’s actually just a bunch of wolverines in a trench coat?*
[Kat you take that back. I won’t have you insulting wolverines. They are very interesting animals and the name of a few comic book characters.]
*Indeed. My apologies.* Sadly, while Kat managed to supress her laughter, the smirk that formed on her face in response to Lily’s quips wasn’t so easily hidden. Yang seemed to think Kat was mocking her. She was right, but Kat certainly didn’t want to broadcast that fact. “Something funny huh?” asked Yang.
*Praise the SUN. She isn’t yelling anymore.* “Perhaps. Thank you for saving my ears, I’m glad you know how not to yell all the time,” said Kat.
These words didn’t improve Yang’s demeanour at all. She started winding up for an attack right as Xiang managed to get back to the door. “Enough!” he barked firmly. “We were looking for a demon summoning circle. We were lucky. We found one. We have a demon. We have help. Do not test the h e l p Yang. Do you not want to find Xuena?”
Yang glared, “Of course I do! But what does it matter? She’s under contract now, we’re her boss,”
Xiang sighed. “Yang. Even if that was true, AND that’s how you would treat your workers... nothing in the contract said she had to protect YOU in fact, she could attack you and be on her way without consequence, she just needs to find and save Xuena,” Yang froze at those words and slowly turned in place. It was actually a little impressive to watch seeing as she did it all with just her ankles while holding her weapon raised.
“What?”