The Interdiction blew across the manascape like a curtain falling. She barely had time to register it happening when the Stillflight followed it, and just like that, both of the methods she would have preferred to escape, by Teleporting or form-shifting to a flying form, was cut off.

Her triplets had their offices on the lower floors, each of them reigning over a whole floor to control their sections of the family’s business empire. For them to vanish so closely together meant the intruders were definitely inside the building, despite the security forces here being on high alert.

With a hum, the power to the building faded abruptly. Escaping through her own private elevator would likewise be rather difficult now.

Still, she knew she could not remain here. Unafraid of showing her power, all nine of her tails burst out behind her, humming with the enthralling power of the hu hsaio. With a look, she could bind a man’s mind and soul, entrap him in an endless spiral of illusion, make him a faithful slave forever, or crush his thoughts to nothing.

A .45 automatic, pearl-handled and gold-chased, a lovely yet lethal toy refined out of Chinese technology into something more dangerous, was in her hand as she yanked open the mahogany door to her office, intending to make her way to the stairs if she had to, or at least confront what was coming...

She froze.

Two stocking feet just disappeared into the mouth of the tall blonde more-than-a-woman standing by her great-great-granddaughter’s desk, who swallowed once as they disappeared from sight, and put the white three-inch heels Fifi had been wearing down on her desk.

Where Tatiya, her Warlock bodyguard, should be standing, a neat pile of armored clothing, boots, and her shoulder holster and knives were loosely fallen around a chair there.

She had never seen any woman so magnificent, and knew immediately a terribly dangerous enchantment effect was acting on her, drawing this response out of her.

She also knew intimately the spiral of those ram-like horns curving around so exquisitely, the points sharp enough to impale a hapless male through the eye and right into his brain. There were other horns now, newer, forming a crown-like frill and imperious arches on her brow, but when the eyeless face, now adorned with shining Runes glowing with the power of many Pacts, turned on her, there was no mistaking who this was.

The Veil of the Nine Lotus Pact was among those winding there...

“Rayetizvisha!” she blurted out in disbelief.

“Hu-Hu.” It was the lilitu’s voice, but so much more, and made her feel weak in the knees, ready to swoon just hearing it. It promised so many things...

“What, what are you doing...” Hu-Hu gasped, knowing she should be trying to attack and bind the will of the demoness, and finding herself completely incapable of doing so.

An elegantly hoofed foot, the line of it finer than any pumps and the legs rising up from it matchless, stepped forward, covering ten feet in one gliding step. With total confidence and the power of knowing it was harmless, the lilitu reached down, grasped the pistol not quite pointing at her, and liberated it from Hu-Hu’s grasp without effort, dropping it into a convenient bonsai tree there carelessly.

“You’ll know all about it in a moment, Hu-Hu,” the layered voice, like so many soft sheets of silk sliding over her skin up to her ears, replied quietly, eyeless face intent on her as she tried to move back.

The long tail, tipped with fell crimson light, came around and hooked behind Hu-Hu as firmly as a steel bar. Just touching it created a bodywide rush through Hu-Hu, and all her tails instinctively wound about the lilitu’s appendage as she moaned, the fur on them instantly standing up as straight as possible. When the glowing tip threaded its pointed end between the folds of her blouse to caress her navel, she would have fallen down if the tail hadn’t suddenly looped under her and drawn her fully into the lilitu’s embrace.

The full contact, especially with that newly magnificent bosom, was impossible to resist. Hu-Hu wrapped her arms, already growing silken fur and fine claws, around the other woman, and just sighed into her embrace. She wasn’t even really standing anymore, held up by that tail winding around her slender waist. “Ray-Ray, what is going on?” she half-moaned, trying to fight the desire moving through her, and finding an addictive, familiar strength flowing through her from contact with the lilitu.

It was gentle but irresistible, a single finger caressing her jaw and lifting it up, feather touches along the line of her throat as she trembled, staring at the lips in front of her eyes.

“Shhhhhh,” was the reply, as the lips came down, and Hu-Hu melted right into the irresistible power of that kiss.

------------

The office of the president of Manchester Ltd was large, but wasn’t really designed to hold all the women in it right now, especially with the number of fox tails they were all showing.

Stolen novel; please report.

Shvaughn dominated the three Morningsun redheads, her emerald eyes contrasting with the golden eyes of the halvyr, but her red fox ears and eight tails matched them, suddenly making it very plain they were now related in more ways than one.

Of course, Fire, Flame, Wind, Cloud, and Glory only had seven, seven, seven, six, and six tails, not eight like she did.

Sama was blonde, of course, and her ears and tails the same, also bearing eight of the latter. Traveler’s hair was naturally Moonlit, and her new ears and eight tails featured the same coloration.

Legion sat poised and in command behind the main desk, nine tails longer than anyone else’s and as indigo as her hair and ears.

“Since we seem to have inherited ownership of the wealthiest business cartel in Hong Kong, we need to consolidate our operations somewhat,” Legion said calmly, their accent straight out of Oxford, which Hu-Hu had actually attended. Around their neck were the pearls Hu-Hu had been wearing, as well as the bracelets on her wrist, diamond earrings, the subdued glitter of the rings Hu-Hu had flaunted, and they were also dressed in the very expensive and form-fitting businesswoman’s outfit Hu-Hu had shown off, perfectly refit to her more impressive curves.

Traveler lifted up a briefcase, also dressed in a smartly cut suit more in the Hong Kong style, four-inch pumps on her heels. “I have the forms here, Mother,” she smiled and winked, opening the case with a click. ‘Liza Manchester’ had also served as the main attorney for the firm. “I’m afraid someone else will have to take care of the information transfer from the main files.” She drew out sheaves of paper, which she tossed out in an arc around herself. White sheets flew through the air, multiplying as they did, and settled down into perfect piles on the laps of or in front of everyone.

“The computer technology is pretty old, but stable,” Legion acknowledged, glancing at Glory, who happened to have inherited the new Chief Technical Officer position, and who nodded back smartly. The action accountants of Harse were also readying their calculators back in America, gathering to get Teleported in here and start initiating the takeover. “Let’s make this all nice and legal transferring our property back to ourselves, shall we, my darlings?”

“Yes, Mother!” they all chimed back in equivalent British accents, equally amused at the situation. Very expensive fountain pens popped into seven sets of hands, and they bent to the first of the forms that would start a drastic realignment of Manchester Limited.

There were a lot of prime corporate positions that had been suddenly vacated and needed to be filled, so no reason not to bring in some new blood at the same time, right?

“Also!” Traveler spoke up, before everyone started signing things. “Everyone knows exactly what they did to mortals, right?”

“You should be happy your soul is becoming part of something as wonderful as me!” they all replied as smoothly and purely as if it was rehearsed, tails flicking.

“Excellent. Use that ability on them, and advance yourselves a tail.” Traveler flicked several gems over her shoulders, dropping them in front of the Mornings, two such before Nakita Dreamingcloud and Morningglory. “Twice for my new daughters.”

“Thank you, Mother!” Cloud and Glory both chimed back smoothly, sweeping up the Binding Stones containing the daughters of the hu hsaio they’d already Bound themselves and depositing them somewhere that didn’t create a bulge on their suits at all.

“We may have to rename the Clan from Six Whiskers to Nine Tails,” Legion mused, looking over all of them, lifting their gold-and-diamond chased fountain pen. “Mind your penmanship now, darlings.”

“Yes, Mother!” they all acknowledged, and bent to scanning the first sheets expertly, pens all poised.

----------

Northern Russia...

They had finally shown themselves, not that it did the Borea any good.

It had been three weeks since the start of their hunting, and hundreds of werewolves had died. While no one mourned the Mazed except the most philosophical of their kin, the losses among the Great Packs had only mounted, day after day, and if they weren’t brazen, the attackers certainly seemed to be getting more lethal.

Fox-women. The sight of them had been clearly reported by a hunter with the Vision of Eagles, who had seen them converge on a hunting pack of Elder Fangs and literally cut them apart.

One was white-furred and not wearing much, bearing two Swords and moving like the wind.

The other was pale magenta, the strangest of hues, clad in full armor, and was wielding a Great Axe that looked bigger than she was.

Both of them had nine tails.

Nobody had heard of them before, although nine-tailed foxwomen were anything but shy about wielding their power. Too, there was no use of charm magic, no offensives, no witchcraft, no minions, and no Tails magic.

These were mercilessly lethal warriors who were hewing through the best and mightiest members of their Packs with great enthusiasm, grim speed, and the elusiveness and speed of the wind. Knowing they were there, knowing there were only two of them, and knowing they weren’t using any active magic didn’t seem to help the werewolves at all.

Foxes hunting wolves. It was all sorts of wrong, and it started driving the werewolves crazy. They went out there, bellowing for the cowardly foxwomen to accept their challenges. Perhaps they did, perhaps they didn’t, but their watchers tended to die first, and without witnesses, it was very hard to tell if such were accepted.

When an entire hunting pack of Elder Fangs was buried under an avalanche, and after some Shadow Walkers infiltrated a cave system they were certain the pair had fled into and never came out, those two Great Packs bowed out of the fight.

The Mazed streamed in, died at the hands of werewolves and the foxwomen, and finally stopped coming when they realized that just because the Borea were being slain didn’t mean this place was friendly to them at all. They left behind most of their strongest leaders, who had been slaughtered heartlessly and fed to the Land with misting unwhite fires.

Also fed to the Land was one of the Great Banes, the Heart-Eater. The battle with the foxwomen was barely seen in the distance, but the explosion of vivus when the ancient Evil died was a towering blast that was impossible to mistake.

Hackles rose, and dread swirled on the cold winds of the north. The Heart-Eater was one of the great evil spirits that had battled with the Great Packs since time immemorial. If those two could defeat a beast that they, the Borea, could not, what did that say about the two assaulting them?

Suddenly, not only was their harassing and slaying of the werewolves possible, it was totally appropriate...