“Those are shadow blades and Shadowbeast eyes!” Remicra hissed at Dave from behind. “How’d she take control of Healy?!”

“I don’t know!” Dave replied, sweating as Healy advanced towards them across the floor, making Dave and Remicra retreat up onto the bed.

[Start with the smallest limb bits.] Healy jumped onto the bed, clearly intent on cutting off Dave’s fingers and toes.

"Healy, stop!" Dave commanded, but the Kitlix continued advancing, her form bristling with glittering dark blades.

[Must harvest core for Mother! Meat things are enemies!] Alien thoughts crashed through their connection, pounding against his head.

Dave frantically tried to think of a way to regain control. Remicra squeezed the hammer Cedez bought her.

“Don’t attack Healy,” Dave whispered. “If the extradimensional hexagram she’s holding is disrupted even slightly, then we lose Cedez forever to the Void.”

“I know,” the dragoness hissed back. “I’m not an idiot!”

Both of them reached the end of the bed, bumping into the bedframe and into each other.

"Do something!" Remicra hissed.

[I AM SHADOW!] Dave mentally roared, activating his amplified Charisma and projecting the eldritch presence of Nightingale through their connection. He pictured himself as a vast, dark shadow with many blue eyes, pushing all the remaining bits of Huntsmaws to the forefront of his soul. [STAND DOWN!]

Healy froze, her many eyes blinking in confusion.

[You... shadow? But meat shell...] The shadow-Cedez's thoughts wavered slightly.

[Yes. I hide in meat form at night. Secret mission. Important task.] Dave projected firmly. [Observe the Shadow in me as proof!]

[Hrm. You do have Shadow in your meat. Strange.] The shadow creature's confusion deepened. [Kill the meat thing behind you if you are Shadow!]

[No kill meat thing! This is MY meat thing! Mine! Own her!] Dave projected back desperately, pushing back the image of Remicra’s slave collar in his head. [Special mission from Mother - watch meat thing! Study this meat thing!]

[Study... meat thing?] The shadow creature's confusion rippled through their connection. [Why study? Just harvest core! Mother wants cores. More cores, bigger hive!]

[Important, new Understandings! Must learn meat thing behaviors, strengths, weaknesses!] Dave improvised. [Meat things… infest our hive during the day when we are asleep! Must understand meat behavior! Own this meat thing! Can prove!]

[Don't understand. Show! Demonstrate meat thing control!] The Cedez-shadow demanded through Healy.

"What's happening?" Remicra whispered, still pressed against Dave's back.

"She wants me to prove I own you by ordering you around," Dave replied with a wince.

"What?!" Remicra hissed.

[Command meat thing! Show control!] Shadow-Cedez insisted eagerly through Healy.

[Going to make her sit down. Observe.] Dave took a deep breath. "Remicra... can you... um... sit?"

The dragoness's scales flashed orange. "I am not a pet!"

[No control! Trickery!] The shadow creature's thoughts radiated disapproval.

"She's not buying it," Dave muttered. “Sit!”

"Fine!" Remicra growled. She slipped from behind Dave and sat on the bed with exaggerated obedience, her tail lashing behind her. "Happy now?"

[Slow! Meat thing disrespectful! Slow compliance!] Shadow-Cedez projected. [Order meat thing roll over! Jump! Wiggle every appendage in varying degrees of sync! Prove control!]

Dave groaned internally. "Remy... roll over, then jump, then dance… wiggling your limbs.”

"I will END you both," Remicra growled, her scales now bright red. “Am I a joke to you?! Is she screwing with me from in there?!”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

[Where is compliance?! PROVE COMPLIANCE!] The shadow beast's thoughts practically screamed in Dave's head. [Establish dominance!]

“Remicra, just bloody do what I tell you,” Dave turned to the dragoness. “I’m serious. This isn’t a joke.”

Remicra's eyes narrowed, but something in Dave's expression must have convinced her of the gravity of the situation. With an exasperated growl, she flopped onto her back and rolled over on the bed, her tail nearly whacking Dave in the face.

"There! I rolled over!" she snarled. Then, with movements that suggested she was imagining various creative ways to murder them both, she jumped up and down on the bed and then began to dance, awkwardly wiggling her arms, legs, and tail.

[Meat thing moves strange,] Shadow-Cedez observed through Healy. [Affixed joints. Inefficient locomotion. Lack of coordination. Limited, finite limbs. Weak. Prey. Order meat thing to display maximum flexibility!]

Dave swallowed. The absurdity of the situation he found himself in was rapidly escalating.

“What now?” Remicra groaned, still dancing awkwardly.

"She wants to... assess your physical capabilities," Dave translated. “Uh. Do stretches. Touch your toes.”

“WHAT?!”

"Please? She's studying your... um... biomechanics."

With a deadly glare, Remicra bent forward, her tail sticking straight up for balance as she attempted to touch her toes. Her scales cycled rapidly between red and orange as she stretched, sending Dave and the Kitlix angry glares.

[Interesting! Limited motion radius! Order meat thing attempt full rotation at full speed!]

"Spin around as quickly as you can," Dave translated.

As Remicra spun in an angry circle, gritting her teeth, her tail knocked the Nuntix from the bedside table. The crystalline creature shimmered and climbed back on, sending Remicra a somewhat blank, slightly bothered look.

[Very poor spatial awareness! Coordination suboptimal! No eyes on back.]

“What’s she saying?”

“The Shadowbeast is not impressed with your spatial awareness.”

Remicra growled, her body undulating between red, orange and pink.

[Sound emissions detected! Meat thing produces vibrations! Order meat thing to produce more vibration types!]

"She wants you to... make a variety of noises," Dave said apologetically.

"WHAT?! I am NOT going to-"

Remicra's scales turned such a brilliant shade of pink that she was practically glowing like a nuclear reactor.

[COMPLIANCE REQUIRED!]

"Remy, please," Dave whispered urgently. "This isn't a game. She's literally trying to decide if we're worth harvesting for parts. We have to keep her distracted!”

Dave watched with a lopsided small smile as Remicra, her scales cycling between mortified pink and furious red, produced a series of increasingly reluctant squeaks, growls, purrs, and chirps.

[Order meat thing demonstrate maximum volume capacity!]

"She wants you to... uh... roar. As loud as you can," Dave added.

With a glare, the dragoness took a deep breath and let out an impressively loud roar that made the window shutters rattle.

[More. Order it to produce more coordinated vibration.]

"Now sing something," Dave said.

“Sing what?” Remicra asked, dark, sharp claws opening and closing.

"Anything!"

Remicra's eye twitched. Her claws dug into the bedsheets as she took several deep breaths, her scales cycling through shades of red and orange.

Finally, she closed her eyes and began to hum. The melody started low and haunting, like wind through mountain caves. As her voice gained confidence, the tune transformed into something both melancholic and beautiful.

Dave found himself momentarily lost in the song.

[Acceptable. Query: Why meat thing change colors?]

[Meat thing… has secondary affinity that’s not meat,] Dave explained. [Metal changing colors depending on mood.]

[Don’t understand. Make meat thing explain it. Listening. Observing. Understanding vibration communication.]

“Yes?” Remicra asked.

“She wants to know why you’re changing colors. Explain. She’s listening to you through Healy’s ears.”

"My scales change color based on my emotions," the dragoness replied, staring at the many-eyed Kitlix. Her tail lashed behind her as she spoke, her claws flexing. "This constant color shifting is happening because of this damn collar! Without it binding me, feeding on my mana and restricting my Innate defensive magic, I'd have full control. Without it on, I can blend better into the landscape, become less visible. But no - this damn thing puts all of my emotions on display!" Remicra snarled.

[Meat thing has defense capabilities! Suppressed! Limited because colorful meat thing is bound to obey! Proceed. Explain current color variance.]

“Keep talking,” Dave said, mentally trying to wrestle control of the Kitlix from the shadow. “Explain the colors.”

“Urgh. Orange means I'm annoyed. Like right now. Very, very annoyed. Red means I'm angry or stressed," Remicra began, her voice taking on an edge. "And trust me, I'm feeling plenty of both right now. Pink is... ugh, never mind. Green means I’m jealous or suspicious. Blue is when I'm calm or thinking, which isn't happening much at the moment. Violet means I'm focused or working. Gold means I'm curious, excited or interested in something."

[Why it skip pink? Trying to hide information?!]

“Don’t skip the pink,” Dave said.

"Fine!" Remicra snapped. "Pink means... attraction. Or embarrassment. Or both. Usually both. Happy?"

[Attraction? Embarrassment? Don't understand. Explain both. Display both.] The shadow creature's thoughts pulsed with curiosity.

"She’s like a hive insect. She doesn't understand attraction or embarrassment," Dave said. "She wants you to... demonstrate."

"Absolutely not!" Remicra's scales flashed brilliant pink.

[Meat thing uncooperative. Slice this one up and find another!]

"She's insisting," Dave said. “She is considering cutting you up and locating another specimen, one that’s more compliant.”

Remicra buried her face in her hands with a groan. "This is revenge, isn't it? Cedez is in there somewhere, laughing at me."

"I don't think the Shadow version of her remembers being Cedez," Dave replied. “I’m not sensing anything like that from her. She’s… somehow fused with Healy from the inside. I don’t even know how or why. Just explain embarrassment.”

"Alright, fine!" Remicra growled, glaring at Dave’s Kitlix. "You want to understand embarrassment? This whole situation is embarrassing! Being forced to perform like some pet, having my emotions on display, being studied like a specimen - it's bloody embarrassing!"