Sinco was burning.

Again.

Kiara watched the flames and smoke; even from this far off from the city, she could taste the acrid mix of panic and fear in the air. As much as she tried to suppress the memory, it bubbled within her like an unwanted thought. The familiarity of the flavor, the sound of screams—it was a scene she’d lived through too many times to count.

The only relief she could find was that this time, the monsters weren’t going door to door looking for her. No, this was a far more ordinary thing, a pillaging at the hands of a clowder of opportunistic and over-enthusiastic cats. Tigresses, in particular, were annoying, one of the maiden species that had a hard time integrating into wider civilizations. Mostly because the breed had a bad habit of accidentally killing their partner once every few cycles.

“May I take a seat?”

Sparing a glance at the human, she waved for him to go ahead. Her eyes shifted from the foreign merchant Rick had befriended to the Spinner who had taken him as her husband. The silk-making maiden had donned thick silk armor and moved to stand a dozen meters in front of the hut, wielding a blade-tipped spear and trying to look fearsome.

It was cute, and slightly remiss of the armor-style of those who traveled through the Golden Sands.

There had been a few tigers that had attempted to discreetly approach the hut, sniffing around for potential easy prey. But Kiara had sniffed them out easily enough, a tiny jostle of power sending them scrambling away in fear. The Succubus' current circumstances might have left her unable to fight, but as long as the tigers didn’t know that, they’d run away like scared kittens at the slightest hint of having been found out.

The little feline pet that had gotten too close also served to dissuade further attempts.

“I cannot express my gratitude for the safety you’ve provided me and my daughter.” The thickly bearded human commented, glancing over at the squirming figure currently lying underneath Kiara’s foot. The lack of fear from the display was mildly odd, but not surprising, seeing how he came from the land of Golden Sands. “My dearest would’ve been too—”

“Don’t bother.” Kiara dismissed his words with a wave of her hand, leaning back in her chair. “Unless you struck someone’s fancy, your biggest concern would’ve been the fires and little else.”

Yasir shifted. “Truly?”

“They’re stealing some males from the city. The fires are likely a consequence of those who put up a fight.” There was a casual dismissiveness in her voice. This would be a heavy blow to Rick, but as with anything else in life, it could be used as an opportunity. Already she was making a few mental notes. With fewer humans in the city, Rick’s goals toward abolishing slavery would become marginally easier. The crux would lie in having the “widows” bond with Rick’s otherworlder students “while they waited” for a rescue. Whether a rescue was successful or not, it would place the young redhead as a voice with political weight within the city.

“Shouldn’t we help?”

Speaking of which… Kiara glanced over her shoulder. Barry, the young redhead, stood at the door of the hut, glancing at the city with naked concern. The young man was cute in that way, with naked enthusiasm and selflessness. Rick sure knew how to pick them.

It was amusing how the young man had taken one glance at the kitty-cat that Kiara was using as a seat. The Tigress blushed and growled and moaned as she desperately sought to break free, unable to do anything but be overwhelmed by the Succubus’ barest of touches.

“Not in any way that wouldn’t make things worse.” The Succubus answered calmly enough. “Our strongest fighters are out in the field, facing the Darktons, and my abilities aren’t well suited to running around chasing shadows.”

There was more to it, of course. She’d sensed the shift in the bond and the Vampires and their rituals, but revealing any of that to her “guests” would distress them unnecessarily. To say nothing of the fact that part of the reason they were being left alone by the cats was the projection of power. Kitties were predictable that way, always better to conserve energy and avoid a needless fight with someone who could prove their better. Not while hunting for easier prey, at least.

“People are dying.” Barry frowned.

“People are always dying.” Kiara scoffed. “And just as they die, they will live. Whatever the case, there’s nothing for any of us to do but sit back and wait to see where things fall.”

She’d spent the past month drilling the maidens she’d been tasked to train, pushing them as hard as she could, as far as she could. There was little else she could do without risking drawing the attention of things that would sooner burn the kingdom to the ground than let her escape them... again.

“But we could help save lives.”

Ah,

Kiara was reminded of why she tended to avoid interacting with the little brat in the first place. She leaned further, spotting the little enchanter who had stuck to Barry’s side, and she didn’t miss the Hound hidden in his shadow. “I suggest you head back inside.” A pause, there was a slight shift in the air. “You too, merchant.”

“Bu-”

“Move, boy!” Yasir had caught the narrowing of Kiara’s eyes, grasping Barry and yanking him inside.

The Spinner stood her ground. “I will protect my family.”

“Then go protect them inside,” Kiara waved her hand dismissively.

There was a flaring of tempers, the Spinner gripping her weapon and squaring her jaw. The two maidens locked gazes, and for a moment Kiara wondered whether she’d need to subdue the fool. But the maiden relented, marching towards the hut though eyeing their surroundings in search of a potential threat.

She’d never find it, for the threat had been hiding in the spider’s shadow all along.

“Just so we’re clear, if you came for your friend, you’ll have to wait. I don’t plan to kill her, but I do intend to get some more entertainment for the time being,” Kiara said, pointedly staring at the shade under the nearby tree. A burning sensation climbed up her arm as she prepared herself to fight against dark-based powers, the coiling energy screaming out at her in phantom pain. Centuries of experience hid any signs of this struggle, her composure calm and unwavering. “Unless you’d rather take her place.”

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From the shadow of the tree, something coalesced. It was…

Kiara squinted, realizing there was something off. The maiden that had emerged was a mass of darkness, keeping to a form that resembled that of a Tigress, yet made entirely of the deepest black. For a fraction of a second, Kiara suspected the maiden had wrapped herself entirely in her powers, yet there was something eerily familiar about it.

Kiara let out her power. Not in an attempt to cause disruption, but a wave of arousal as powerful as she could make it without pushing her body too far. Instantly the air around her shifted in flavor, moans echoing from within the hut, and…

“Panthress,” she declared, shifting her gaze from the black figure and towards a spot slightly to its left. “I thought your kind was staunchly solitary.”

The shadow puppet wavered, vanishing into wisps. “That happens to be one of my granddaughters, you see.” A new figure emerged, an older maiden, clad in a baggy boar-hide tunic. Darkness flowed out of the older woman like a fine mist, pooling at her claw-like fur-clad feet, swirling as she walked closer. “I’ll sit down with you for a bit, in exchange for her freedom.”

Under any other circumstance, Kiara would’ve gladly taken steps to capitalize on the opportunity. But to do that here would be suicidal.

“Certainly, please, have a seat,” the Succubus gestured at the chair, barely sparing a gesture at her prisoner, unmaking the bindings.

“Ah, no need to concern yourself with that,” the Panthress gave a hard look at the Tigress, and ropes of darkness emerged, tying down the Tigress tightly. “She will need to learn her lesson properly. It is not every day one of my kittens survives confronting someone so far beyond their skill.”

“Certainly.” Sitting down, Kiara glanced at the hut. “Would you care for a snack?”

Despite the relaxed tone, their energies were quietly dancing against one another. The Panthress’s darkness was as hard to grasp as steam, slipping through and between any openings. Kiara wasn’t pushing too hard, though she was feeling out her opponent. They were seeking openings on one another, quietly smiling in mutual amusement.

Except Kiara knew that the instant this maiden figured out she was practically crippled, things could go very badly.

“Tell me, if you would, do your kitties have any particular reason for coming to Sinco?” Kiara folded her arms, taking a moment to nod towards the battlefield further away. “Maybe that little scuffle drew you in?”

The black eyes of the Panthress fixed on Kiara for a long quiet moment. “We just saw the chance to take a few things, while the opportunity presented itself,” as she said this, her energy struck like an invisible spear, thrusting at Kiara’s throat with deadly sharpness.

A slight nudge of her own powers deflected the attack, the Succubus not moving from where she sat. Her own golden gaze unflinching even as everything within her felt like it wanted to shrivel up and burn from the exertion. They both knew the Panthress was full of it. The wildlings could’ve attacked any number of villages out in the countryside, each of them an easier target than Sinco. Yet they were here, kidnapping humans while Vampires and Darktons fought Rick.

She remembered the feline brute and her little spat with Monica back in Balet. More importantly, she remembered how it had nearly killed Rick back then. Yet, something else felt odd now that she focused on her adversary.

Kiara’s brows narrowed, focusing her gaze on the Panthress' features, then turned to look at the “captive” Tigress. With sharp nails, she yanked the young maiden’s face so they could meet eye to eye. There she saw it, a slight asymmetry to the Tigress' face, and with a slight swelling between her brows and eyelids. Both were features the older maiden had, but here they were slightly stronger.

Features Kiara would have ignored under any other circumstance.

"Your bloodline is too thick." Kiara threw away the cat, turning to look back at the Panthress, this time sending out a small attack of her own, capitalizing on the moment of shock.

The attack didn’t make it through, barely enough to bring a flush to the older maiden’s face. But the Panthress' defenses were back up before anything else could be done, letting out a snort. "You are not what I’d expected to find when I was told an ancient one was here." There was no assault this time, the Panthress' flavor held a hint of salty wariness to it.

"I’ll take that as a compliment." Keeping a smug look, she fought against the stabbing feeling climbing up her wings. The exertion of keeping the unseen 'spar' going on was reaching the limitations of what she could push in her current state. She needed to find an out before she reached her limit. "Do you know of the curse currently within your blood?"

Her words brought the assault to a stop, the wariness intensified, yet the matron did not speak to answer.

"I’ve stumbled onto groups of maidens like your own," she said, mind spinning as she tried to piece things together. She didn’t know what the maidens sought, but she needed to take the gamble. All she’d need to do is keep herself vague enough and feel her way forward. "Relatively isolationist yet sharing deep connections to groups of ageless maidens. The problems you face are slow and old, the sort you would not notice within your short lifespans."

Again, though her words were met with silence, the Panthress' emotional flavors twitched ever so slightly. All signs Kiara was poking her way in the right direction. All she needed to do was plant a seed, hopefully one that’d give her an opportunity either today or someday in the future.

"There’s no quick solution to your curse. You are born with it and it lingers for the remainder of your existence. It can only be undone gradually, over generations."

"What is your name?" The question was measured, calm, and followed by an intensity to her presence.

"I’ve taken to calling myself Kiara as of the past few years, I’ve no plans to change it for the next few decades." The Succubus gave a prepared amused smile, inwardly preparing herself for the possibility of another subtle clash of their energies.

"You have confirmed some of the suspicions I’ve held for many years, Kiara, I will remember your name." The feline turned to look away, in the general direction of the battlefield. Something in her posture shifted, brows furrowing. "I do have a request, if you wouldn’t mind indulging this old sack of bones."

"I’m listening."

Standing up, the Panthress took four steps away from the cabin under Kiara’s watchful eye. "The reason we came here was for the otherworlder, Rick, but I did not expect there would be another bearing the same scent." She gave a glance towards the hut, Kiara’s body tensed, feeling a swell of energy, yet the only thing that happened was that the bound Tigress was sucked up by the shadows. "So long as you don’t involve yourself in this fight, we will leave once it’s concluded. If you do… well, my clan might prefer fighting individually, but I’m sure we could snatch up your little oddly-smelling human without much trouble." As she said this, the Panthress' body was wrapped in shadows, becoming little more than a walking silhouette, then proceeded to make copies of itself, six in total.

It was only then that Kiara noticed something approaching at an alarming rate.

A blur of white fur, blue hair, and shadows that jumped between each stride, accelerating faster and faster, headed straight towards the Panthress.

"Fine." She declared, sitting back on her chair, holding back on biting her lip in concern. A matron, and a Panthress at that, was not just anyone you could mess with.

The thought lasted half a second, the amount of time it took for Monica to reach them and lunge at one of her targets.

Fist met chest, and the Panthress was violently thrown back as they tumbled. Swirls of darkness surrounded them both as the older matron jumped away, reforming next to her shadows. The two felines were instantly on their feet, snarling at each other, Monica’s blade-tipped tail poised like a scorpion’s, blood dripping down its metallic edge.

A single sharp red line had been drawn down the Panthress' arm.

Four equally sharp red lines were present upon Monica’s shoulder.

It had been a small exchange, testing each other’s capabilities. Neither's expressions showed signs of any thought other than the fight, yet Kiara tasted a hint of concern out of Monica.

But there was no more room for hesitation.

The fight was on.