Alice squirmed in her seat as she glanced ahead to the pair that stood at the front of the room. It was a duo, a man and a woman. The man was tall and thin, at least two meters in height. He wore a purple tunic made out of silk, with wide loose sleeves yet rather tight at the chest and stomach. His torso was a reverse triangle that had been squeezed in place, and his hips barely existent. The man’s pants were bleached white and started tight around the waist, becoming looser the further down they went until they turned into bell bottoms, hiding his shoes entirely.

It felt like something that had been ripped straight out of David Bowie’s closet.

The woman next to the man was no less… extravagant. She wore a pair of black leather pants and a loose form-fitting equally black leather jacket. The look was almost masculine, especially with how her black hair was tightly wound into a knot on the back of her head. What marked her as human was the lack of a collar, her long slender pale neck was devoid of any trinket or decoration, the clothes designed exactly to expose this fact and make it clear as day.

“The nineties called, they want their wardrobe back.” Kat snickered under her breath, earning a scowl from Alice and a suppressed giggle from May. “I feel like they’re about to break out and start singing greased lightning.”

“You should be paying more attention.”

“He’s trying to tell us his family tree isn’t a fucking donut even though it’s more inbred than a sandwich.” The young woman hissed in response. “I don’t need to know the twelve royal families or why it’s important that he’s related to all of them.”

Alice grimaced, as much as she loathed to admit, that did seem to be something that wasn’t exactly immediately important or of use to them right now. Better try putting things into motion in the right direction. “Um, excuse me, Baron?”

“Please, call me Matthew.” The man’s head had snapped in her direction so quickly Alice suspected he’d been keeping an eye on them. “Were you going to ask anything?”

“Yes, I believe you’d mentioned about the professional outlooks we might have readily available?”

“Oh, don’t worry too much about that.” The man waved off with a sly smile. “If you apply to the army, you’ll be given an administrative job befitting to your skills. And if I add in a letter of recommendation, I’m sure you’d enter as a captain at the very least.”

“What if we don’t want to be part of the army?”

“Why wouldn’t you want that?” The question came from the wife, quick and simple as she smiled with a row of perfect teeth. “The army is the way to make contacts with the nobility. I myself was a Lieutenant General before I married Matthew.”

A shudder ran down Alice’s spine, she kept it from showing. “I see, and… what if I don’t want to be part of the army?” She repeated, a bit more punctuated this time.

“Ignore her.” A voice barked from the front, a cold dusty voice that made nails on chalkboard seem like a pleasant alternative. “You were saying about the academies?”

“Bitch.” Kat whispered under her voice.

Alice held back from nodding in approval, her polite smile frozen in place in favor of the alternative. She spoke in a low hiss. “I think we will have to seek alternate information sources after this… I really hope they have a library.”

“How long do you figure we’ll have before they start asking what academy we’ll enroll in?”

“I think I’d like to go.” The statement had the duo swivel their heads and look straight at May. The young woman shrunk slightly in her seat at the sudden pressure. “I just think it’s… better, than nothing.”

“There are always alternatives,” Alice quickly pointed out.

“There better be,” Kat growled in a whisper. “Those two are a slip-up from saying human women are meant to make babies.”

As if on cue, the man’s voice drifted over their way. “… and we have to make our bloodlines pure, the purer the human, then the greater the responsibility to be held to help society grow.” The man had spoken looking in Alice’s direction in particular even if his gaze moved back to the smug looking Ms. Dodson.

Alice shivered. “Fuck.” Kat and May looked at her in shock. The teacher sent them a dirty look. “Don’t look at me like that, I’m not your teacher anymore.”

“I’d definitely want to revisit that. You sure you can’t teach me spider-fighting kung-fu?”

Alice had been just about ready to make a retort against the little joke when she noticed Kat’s using her right hand to rub her left elbow. “I’ll consider it if I ever open a dojo.” The young teacher opted to let it slide and showed a slight smile instead, hoping it would reassure the former student.

“Cool.” Kat’s smile became a little more authentic, nodding a bit.

Alice could understand how frightening things could be when it seemed you’d lost all control over your life.

The moment passed in relative quiet, neither really paying much attention to what new thing it was that the Baron was trying to boast about. The three women just shared slight nods and little jokes. And for a moment it worked. That is until there was a bright flash of red light and a series of shrieks from the front of the room.

All heads whipped towards the source of the light, Alice’s eyes opened wide and her breath caught in her throat. Besides her, Kat and May gasped far more audibly.

“No way.” The May whispered.

“Do not worry, I can assure you this is perfectly safe. It’s been properly restrained,” Baron Matthew declared.

“What. The. Actual. Fuck?” Kat spoke under her breath.

There, right next to the podium, occupying a spot that had previously been empty, was the most dangerous creature any of them had ever encountered. The feline was kneeling, restrained by so much iron its very presence likely multiplied her weight by ten. Curled into a ball, paws held behind her back, locked into place against her ankles, forehead pressed firmly against the ground.

The only part of her that could move were the two triangular white ears and her long feline tail.

Monica.

The creature shuddered and moved. There was a sound she’d tried to make, but it was muffled through a gag of some sort. She tried moving her head, to no avail, as the steel held it firmly in place against her shoulders. The feline maiden could barely twitch.

“As you can see, the feral is unable to escape. Its commonly known as ‘White Claw’ in this village… you can guess why.” The Baron chuckled, patting Monica’s wrist.

A blood curdling snarl escaped her, her whole body shaking as the room became colder all of a sudden. Alice felt herself going pale.

Matthew had jumped away, but was quick to recover his breath. “This feral has claimed many lives over the years. But finally, she’s been captured. I’ve heard she was no less friendly with your group.” A loud chuckle, the man nervously glancing as the bound naked maiden was trying to rock her body and move, even if a millimeter. “You will never have to fear her, as the Lord of this land, I can-.”

“Monica!” Kat had lunged out of her chair ran straight through the gathered chairs towards the front

The feline reacted to her name being called, attempting to raise her head to look in Kat’s direction. Monica huffed, tail going still. Abruptly, Monica’s arms and legs began to tense, fighting against the heavy restraints, a dull glow covering her fur.

“See? She cannot break through the restraints. It’s perfectly…”

There was a groaning sound from the steel, Monica’s growl becoming louder.

“Monica!” Kat jumped ahead, trying to reach out to her.

One of the restraints popped open, releasing Monica’s elbow.

The Baron leapt back, hand pulling out something out of his pocket and aiming it at the feline. There was a flash of red light, a beam that connected the device and Monica. She began struggling all the harder, her body shimmering and glowing brighter and brighter, a second restraint popped, metal crying in surrender.

The next instant, she was gone.

Kat stood in front of the empty space in total silence, mouth agape. Her head wiped left, then right, and then focused on the Baron.

“See? Perfectly safe.” The man stepped back onto the podium, ignoring the bile that Kat was shooting his way. The tall man puffed his chest out in pride. “As you can see, there is no longer anything to fear,” he claimed with a wide smile and sweeping arms, the paleness of his face took away some of the apparent confidence. “This device is a new miraculous item brought by an off-worlder not ten years ago to the Verdant continent.” He raised his hand high. “Made after years of relentless research, the king himself gave me one of the very few prototypes created by the department of industry. To test this technology’s might.” A loud laugh followed. “With this, humanity will be finally able to conquer the wilds and bring the feral menace to an end!”

Alice had been too stunned to look away, her thoughts muted as every alarm in her mind had been going off all at the same time. It wasn’t until his final proclamation that she barely cared enough to register the object the Baron had been holding up.

It was a metallic sphere, half white, half red.