“I… think … the dussssst mothssssss… were a lie…” Viele says as he shambles around the dark crevice, they had been walking around searching the crevice for what seemed like hours.

“Uncle said that they will be everywhere in this crevice.” Shortclaw says, getting annoyed at Viele’s constant complaining. He goes through everything his uncle said, that if he wants to make the best armor he could for Astrid he would need several bundles of dusk moth silk. He also said the only place to find them near town was the crevice to the east.

“So… hungry… you promisssssed… food!” Viele complains as he walks around several tall identical grey stones. “The… only thing.. in crevice… is all thessssse… rocksssss…”

“What are you doing you idiot?” Shortclaw says as he puts his hand on his forehead. In front of him Viele is trying to take a bite out of one of the rocks.

“Hungryyyyyy!” Viele pouts as he lets the rock go.

“All you would do is lose a tooth if you tried to eat one of these rocks.” Shortclaw says as he lifts his hammer, pulling back he slams the hammer into the rock, not even leaving a crack in the rock. “See.”

The rock that Shortclaw hit shifts slightly.

“Did I break it?” Shortclaw says as he raises an eyebrow.

“SKREEEEEEEEEEEE” The rock screams as it starts to shake, suddenly several other rocks around them start to shake and scream out in unison.

“FUCK!” Shortclaw yells as he jumps behind a non shaking and screaming rock., Viele hides right beside him.

Shortclaw looks over the rock, watching the rock he hit, the rock shakes more till the rock lifts up then falls apart in front of his eyes. Underneath is a large grey mothlike creature wiping layers of white globs covered in rocks from its’ body, it lets out another screech as several other rocks shatter, revealing more dustmoths. “This isn’t good.” Shortclaw murmurs as he sees there are now seven dustmoths gathering in a group, letting out an ear-piercing screech in unison. The dustmoths spread out in a loose circle around the original dustmoth that Shortclaw hit. Shortclaw’s face pails slightly as he notices the size of the dustmoths, several are over ten feet tall, and when they would step on a rock with their large spear like feet the rock would disintegrate into dust.

“This isn’t good, damn uncle didn’t tell me anything about this! I’m going to have to have another word with him about this.” Shortclaw grumbles. “Okay, here is the plan Viele. Uncle said that my hammer would be the perfect weapon to take care of these creatures. I want you to go into your armor mode and boost my strength and I will take them out one by one before they try to overrun us.”

“No…” Viele says immediately, causing Shortclaw to look over and raise an eyebrow in confusion.

“What do you mean no?”

“No… your fur… getssss everywhere… And massssster… not forcing me… like other timesssss…” Viele says defiantly.

Shortclaw looks over the rock again, seeing two of the dustmoths crawling towards the rock he his hiding behind. “Name anything, anything at all.”

Viele pauses for a moment as he thinks, the sound of the dustmoths getting closer with each passing second. “You… tell masssster… to feed me good meat when… get home…”

“Okay I promise!” Shortclaw growls out as he can now hear the heavy breathing of the moths.

“And… I want… Slithna to give… me bath… when we get back…” Viele says with a perverted smile.

“What!” Viele nearly yells out, grabbing the attention of the dustmoths, the two near the rock they were hiding behind scurry around the rock. They see Viele and Shortclaw standing there and let out a new scream as they both charge at Viele and Shortclaw.

Viele and Shortclaw both jump before the dustmoths land where they were just a moment ago. “Okay!” Shortclaw yells as they get away from the dustmoths.

“Mmmmmm.” Viele says before he transforms into a mass of snakes, pouncing on Viele. The snakes making up Viele’s body all sink their fangs into various parts of Shortclaw’s body, they then coil around Shortclaw’s body till all that can be seen is a mass of snakes.

“SKREEEEEE?” The dustmoths start to screech in confusion, one of the attackers had just eaten the other as they attempted to run. And now there is just a strange wiggling mass in front of them. They were not smart enough to understand what is happening, just that something they did not understand was in front of them now.

One of the dustmoths charge forward, it’s huge body causing the earth to shake with each step as it pulls its wings back to smash them into the wiggling mass. It lets out a screech of surprise as the mass changes into a humanoid form.

Shortclaw growls out as he opens his eyes. “Damn it, I don’t remember it hurting that much last time.” He thinks to himself before he realizes something isn’t right. In front of him is a giant wall of grey that seems to be getting closer. Shortclaw attempts to jump to the side but it is too late. The giant dustmoth’s wing slams into Shortclaw sending him flying. All Shortclaw can feel is intense pain as he hits the ground and rolls. His mace sliding to his side as he finishes rolling. Shortclaw lays on his back for a moment staring up at the sky as he tries to gather himself, the sound of what seems like victorious screeching starts drowning out his own thoughts.

“Owww” Viele says in response. “Did you… ssssssurvive?”

“Yes Viele. I survived.” Shortclaw says as he stands up shakily. He then grips his mace and lifts it up over his shoulder as the Dustmoths realize that their opponent is still alive.

“Viele, give me some boosts here.” Shortclaw mutters as part of the group of dustmoths angrily charge towards him. Shortclaw shudders as he feels a familiar sensation start to penetrate his muscles. The warm tingle washes over him as Shortclaw starts to grin evilly. Shortclaw falls forward before sprinting towards the dustmoths, gripping the mace with both hands he waits till he gets close to the dustmoth leading the charge. As the moth gets within range to attack it rears up to smash Shortclaw. Shortclaw sees this and dodges towards the side, twisting his body as he does to get momentum in his swing. He slams the mace into the thin legs protruding from the side of the dustmoth.

Shortclaw continues with the dodge as he hears several snapping noises followed by a loud boom that causes the ground to shake violently. He turns around to see the dustmoth he hit wiggling on the ground, its’ wing crushed under its’ body. Its’ remaining wing and legs thrash in the air violently as it starts to let out an screech that nearly makes Shortclaw’s ears bleed.

The remaining dustmoths stop their charge, several falling over due to their massive bodies making it hard to stop. They then turn and look at their downed brethren. They charge at their downed ally and surround it. They all open their mouths and start to vomit out a thick white substance and wrap their injured ally in it, making a large white cocoon. Once the cocoon is done the dustmoths surround the cocoon in a circle, making screeching noises and staring at Shortclaw threateningly.

“This looks like it will be a pain in the ass.” Shortclaw mutters as he takes a step forward.

“Wait.”

“What?” Shortclaw grumbles.

“If they don’t… move… We don’t… have to fight… them anymore… Look around…”

Shortclaw glances away from the dustmoths for a moment and looks at the ground. All around him are large clumps of silk. “It must have been from when they were pretending to be rocks.” Shortclaw grabs several large clumps of silk, each time the he does dustmoths let out an angry screech but refuse to leave their injured ally’s side. After picking up a few pieces he finds a large clump of silk and picks it up. “This clump should be more than enough for the dress.” As he says that he sees one of the dustmoths charge forward letting out a panicked screech, the rest of the dustmoths look confused for a moment but then let out an angry screech in unison before charging at Shortclaw.

“Shit, must have overstayed our welcome. We have enough silk so let’s get out of here.” Shortclaw says as he turns away from the angered dustmoths and sprints full speed towards the entrance of the crevice. The venom being constantly injected into his muscles by Viele allowing him to sprint longer without getting as tired.

Shortclaw continues sprinting as he hears the angry screeches behind him get further and further away. Several rocks seem to shake and crumble as he runs by them but he ignores them. Shortclaw continues running even as he exits the crevice, he finally stops under a tree when he no longer hears the screaches.

“Okay, you can let me go now Viele.” Shortclaw says, a hint of exhaustion in his voice as the boost Viele gave him starts to lessen.

Viele releases his fangs from Shortclaw and slithers off his body, causing Shortclaw to collapse on the ground after being cut off from the venom keeping him going. The snakes forming Viele regroups and taking the form of a tree ent. “Wait… you promissssed… food.” Viele says as he realizes they left without finishing off any dustmoths.

“Don’t worry.” Shortclaw says as he sits up and takes out large pouch from his belt. He then pulls out a large chunk of dried meat and tosses it to Viele. “Told you I would get you some food.”

Viele grumbles as he quickly grabs the meat and devours it, not openly complaining about the almost free food.

Shortclaw finishes stuffing the silk into the pouch, it stretches slightly as it gets filled. “Okay, so we got the silk, now we just need some lagartija scales and cores.”

“Do… they… tasssste good?” Viele asks, perking up at the thought of eating something new.

“Well, we will find out here soon.” Shortclaw says with a chuckle.

Flemmington.

“Hurry up! I thought you elves were supposed to be fast!” Amy says as she continues to drag Astrid behind her. She totally ignores the towns people as they look at her confused.

“I… I why are you doing this? Isn’t all this a bad thing?” Amy says, trying to catch up to the energetic woman.

Amy stops mid step and turns around, her eyes wide as saucers. She puts on an over exaggerated façade. “How can you say that, I’m insulted that you would call what I do a bad thing!”

Amy gets flustered again. “No! no! that’s not what I…” She tries to explain herself but she gets cut off by Amy putting a hand over her mouth.

“Shhhh, I was joking. And sitting around complaining and worrying about the past only ends with you having no future.” Amy says as she turns back around. “Now let’s go grab some food and find that boy toy of yours!” Amy says teasingly before dragging Astrid some more.

Amy and Astrid continue going through the town till they reach a small building with two cleavers drawn crudely on the door. Amy stops and grins as she turns around and looks at Astrid. “This is going to be one of your new favorite places to eat!”

Astrid raises an eyebrow, skeptical. “I hardly believe that.”

“Oh, elf of little faith, this is the main butcher in Flemmington, most restaurants in town get their meat from here.” She then pauses for a moment. “Well, all the good ones do.” Amy opens the door and a rush of cold air blasts Astrid in the face, her ears stick strait up in surprise before getting dragged into the building by Amy.

“Welcome!” An older human male nearly yells as Amy and Astrid enter the building. “Oh, it’s only you.” The human says, disappointment oozing out of him as he sees Amy’s smiling face. “I was hoping for one of my paying customers, not the town predator.” He then looks down at Astrid. “Hmmm, this one looks a little more feminine than your usual prey.”

“Hey hey hey!” Amy says as she steps between the man and Astrid. “She is not one of those kind of friends, she is a student! Not only that! How can you say that about your best customer, Mr. Sheppard.”

“Bah!” Sheppard says with a wave of his calloused hand. “You aren’t my customer today, you still owe me from the last time you ate here!”

“What?” Amy says, feigning surprise. “How can you turn down feeding two cute women like us!” Amy wraps an arm around Astrid, pulling her close and giving Sheppard puppy dog eyes, causing the already confused Astrid to turn red from embarrassment.

Sheppard rolls his eyes. “Okay, if you pay for the last meal you had, I will let you pay for this one when you return.”

“Yay!” Amy squeals happily and reaches into one of her pockets, throwing down some coins onto a nearby table.

Sheppard picks up the coins then eyes Amy. “You are a copper coin short… eh.” Sheppard throws up his hands in surrender. “I’m just glad you payed most of what you owe me. You can have your usual table.”

Astrid looks around, seeing only one small round table in the corner with four chairs around it.

“Best table in the building!” Amy says as she sits down, waiting for Astrid to sit down with her.

“Only table it seems.” Astrid says, a hint of sarcasm laces her voice.

“Hey, don’t judge. He runs a butcher shop not a restaurant. He just really knows his meat.” Amy says with a giant grin on her face.

“Is that the only reason you brought me here?” Astrid asks accusingly.

“Maybe, maybe not. It could be that this is the safest place to talk in town. The building may be solid and not let any sound out. That and there may or may not be many people who actually show up here so we have a ton of privacy.” Amy says before she lets out a chuckle. “It also may or may not be all that and it may be the simple fact that the food is good.”

“So, I guess you wanted to talk to me about more stuff?”

“Possibly!” Amy says happily. “Like, do you have any plans now that you are a demon?”

“What kind of plans?”

“Like, what are you going to do about that sexy piece of meat you call your fiancé. Are you going to tell him or try to hide what you have become from him?”

“I, I don’t know.” Astrid says, looking down at the table. “I don’t know what he will say, what if he tries to kill me if he finds out I am a demon?”

“Pfftbbb!” Amy busts out laughing as she listens to Astrid, causing Astrid to raise an eyebrow confused. “You don’t have to worry about that.”

“What?”

“Yeah, that fiancé of yours, nearly killed his own dad while you were gone, all due to he threatened you.”

“What?!” Astrid nearly yells, standing up, she knocks down the chair with her legs as she does. Hearing the bang of the wood chair hitting the floor Astrid gets startled then picks the chair up, embarrassed again. She then sits back down. “He nearly killed off his own dad?” Astrid asks as her eyes widen.

“Yeah, it’s a long story. But before that, knowing that he is willing to kill his own dad for you, what do you plan on doing?”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t want him to think of me differently. I think if he did, I might lose him.” Astrid sighs and fiddles with her thumbs.

“Well, do you want to know what I think?”

“What do you think I should do?” Astrid asks hopefully.

“I would wait a little bit till you are ready, but don’t wait too long to tell him. Because if something happens and he doesn’t find out from your own lips then he would feel betrayed.” Amy says, a serious look is on her face for a few seconds before she puts her usual grin back on her face. “I think he is about to have our food ready.”

“What?” Amy asks, forgetting what they were there for till she hears a door open.

“Two large skrag steaks extremely rare, just how you like it.” Mr. Sheppard says as he walks to the table, putting the steaks on the table. He then walks off, leaving Astrid staring at the steaks, drool coming from her mouth as she looks at the glistening meat. “Why?”

“Why does it look so good?” Amy asks while she grins at Astrid.

“Yeah.”

“Just take a bite and it will do more than just look good.” Amy says as she takes a bite.

Astrid hesitates for a moment before slicing a piece off the steak. The knife slices through the juicy piece of meat as if it was butter. She puts it in her mouth and as she chews a mass of flavor fills her mouth, greater than any other skrag steak she has had before. “This is… the best steak ever, how does he cook it?” Astrid asks as she swallows the piece.

Amy giggles as she cuts another slice of steak. “Well, it’s good steak to begin with, but your body is enhancing the flavor. The reason it tastes so good is due to your body is telling you that it wants the condensed mana in the meat.”

“But, Isn’t mana all around us? Why does that mana not affect me like this?” Astrid asks, as she takes another bit of her steak, shivering as she does.

“It’s because living creatures absorb mana which causes the mana to condense into a more concentrated form inside the creature’s body. Once the creature dies though, the creature loses the mana from its’ body after a few days. Well except what is in the creature’s mana crystal.” Amy says between chews. “You will be learning more about it in next semester’s class.”

“Wait… I’m still allowed at school after becoming this?” Astrid asks worriedly.

“Of course! Better to have you here were Blaze and I can watch over you.”

“Oh… So… question.”

“Yes, Astrid?”

“What kind of demon are you?”

“Oh, little ole me? I am what is known as a succubus demon.” Amy says proudly.

“Oh wh…” Astrid pauses when a thought hit her. “Wait… you mean one of those that… you know?” Astrid’s face turns a deep crimson red.

“One of those that what?” Amy asks innocently as she leans forward, a small smile on her face.

“That… you know… with men?”

“Oh, you mean have sex with them and drain them of their mana?” Amy says, her smile widening.

“Ye… ye… yes…” Astrid stammers out.

“Possiblyyy….” Amy then leans forward and whispers in Astrid’s ear. “Would you like to find out?”

Astrid’s eyes shoot wide open and stammers. “N… n… no.”

Amy lets out a boisterous laugh. “I’m kidding, I would never do something like that to any of my students. You are so cute when you are embarrassed like that.”

“That wasn’t very nice.” Astrid says as she puffs up her cheeks.

“You make it so easy though.” Amy says as she goes back to eating.

There are a few minutes of silence as they eat.

“So… what kind of demon am I? Am I a… succubus also?” Astrid asks, looking down at the steak as she cuts another piece.

“No no no, I may be the only succubus I know but I can assure you, succubus don’t have black scales.” Amy says as her smile dissipates.

“So… what kind of demon am I?” Astrid asks, confused.

“I have no clue.” Amy says with a sigh. “I don’t know many demons besides myself, and I can’t think of any creature with those kinds of scales.”

Astrid sighs and fiddles with her steak for a moment before stuffing another piece in her mouth. She turns around as she hears the heavy wooden front door open. Both ladies watch as day captain Vincent walks in, behind him is a small devourer pup, wagging its’ stubby tail happily.

“Oh, right on time! I just got the requested meat and bones bagged for you!” Sheppard bellows out as he comes out the back and sees Vincent. “I will be right back with it!” Sheppard then turns around and goes back inside the door he just came out of.

Vincent looks over and sees Astrid and Amy sitting there and raises an eyebrow. “Astrid, is that you?”

Astrid smiles in return and does a little wave. “Hey Vincent.”

“You woke up?!” Vincent asks, surprised as he walks up to her and gives her a hug. “The men were so worried about you. Are you doing okay? Wait what am I asking, you are here aren’t you?”

“I’m doing better.” Astrid says as she looks down, the devourer puppy is no longer wagging its’ tail, instead it is hiding behind Vincent’s large leather boots and growling slightly. “Is he okay?”

“Oh Nibbler?” Vincent asks as he looks down at the scared puppy. He then reaches down and picks him up, Nibbler continues to keep his eyes on Astrid as he growls. “Sorry about him, he’s very protective of me after he followed me from well, where we found you.”

“Vincent, I just want you to know, thank you for saving me.” Astrid says as she lowers her head.

“Oh, don’t mention it, it’s my job to protect the townspeople, which even includes a silly elf girl.” Vincent says as he puts Nibbler back down and pats Astrid’s head. “Yeah, you remind me a lot of my little girl, except she isn’t as good at cards as you are.” Vincent says with a chuckle, he then turns around as Sheppard comes back out. This time he has a large leather bag that seems to be filled to the brim with meat.

“Good!” Vincent says with a smile, he walks to the counter and hands Sheppard some coins. “I left you a few copper tip as a thank you for getting all this is such short order.”

“Oh, don’t worry, it’s the harder to sell stuff anyways so I am glad you bought so much.”

Nibbler sniffs the air and starts to bark happily and bounce around as he smells what is in the bag.

“Let’s go Nibbler, I will feed you when we get home.” Vincent says as he goes and exits the building, Nibbler wagging his tail in excitement as he follows.

As soon as Vincent leaves Astrid turns around and looks at Amy. “Question, why did he ignore you?”

Amy grins. “Oh, I will tell you when you are older.”

Astrid blushes before looking down and shoving another piece of steak in her mouth, causing Amy to laugh.

“You are so cute!” Amy says before she finishes up her steak with Astrid.

“So, next on our to do list! Find a certain male beastkin!” Amy says as she grabs Astrid’s hand and starts to drag her out of the shop.

-Outside Flemmington-

Shortclaw raises a paw above his eyes to block out the sun as he scans the field below him. He spots a small group of dark brown creatures rolling around playfully in the distance. He looks over at Viele as he lays down beside him in his guardian form, a look of boredom on Viele’s face.

“Can… I eat… them yet?” Viele asks hopefully as he looks up at Shortclaw.

“Soon, but remember, uncle said we need to keep one alive.” Shortclaw says as he pats Viele’s head.

Viele narrows his eyes at Shortclaw and grumbles before standing up and jumping down the slope.

“Wai…” Shortclaw sighs as he watches Viele run down the slope towards the Lagartijas. “I should remember to bring more food next time.” Shortclaw picks up his hammer and starts to follow Viele.

“Food!” Viele yells as he gets close to the Lagartijas, the smaller Lagartija seem to freeze for a moment when Viele yells, but five of the larger ones in the group quickly react. They quickly get between the smaller Lagartija and Viele.

“Viele! Only go for the larger ones, uncle says they are the males.” Shortclaw yells as he tries to catch up.

One of the larger Lagartija curl up in a ball and suddenly flings itself forward at the charging Viele.

“O… OOF!” Viele yells as he gets slammed in the face by the large Lagartija, it then quickly rolls back to the group.

“Viele are you okay?” Shortclaw says as he catches up to Viele who is now standing there unmoving. He looks at Viele’s face, to see him pawing at his nose.

“I’m… going… to kill… them all…” Viele growls as he charges again at the Lagartija that hit him. When he gets close to it, it suddenly jumps away again to both Viele and Shortclaw’s surprise.

Shortclaw stands back and watches the show of Viele chasing the Lagartija. When he gets close to one it seems to jump away and several throw themselves at Viele’s blind spots causing him to get more and more agitated. Suddenly a multitude of snakes burst out of Viele’s back as a Lagartija jumps towards Viele’s back, the snakes hiss angrily as the Lagartija enters their strike range.

The Lagartija lets out a loud squealing noise as it feels its’ body get wrapped by the mass of snakes, it struggles and puffs out the plates on its’ body in an attempt to lodge itself free.

“Good job Viele!” Shortclaw yells as he gets close. “You got it?”

“I… got… it handled… capture… another one… for food…” Viele growls as he takes a step forward towards the now shaking group of Lagartija.

Before either Viele or Shortclaw can do anything the Lagartija all squeal out and roll up into balls before they seem to rocket off away from them.

Both Shortclaw and Viele’s eyes grow wide as the entire group of Lagartija roll off in a blur before they could properly react. The armor around the Lagartija’s bodies quickly expanding as they touch the ground, causing them to explode forward to the point that neither Viele nor Shortclaw could catch up to them.

“Thankfully you caught one before they did that.” Shortclaw says with a laugh before looking over at Viele. His eyes grow wide in horror as he sees Viele chewing on the Lagartija’s hard shell. “What are you doing? We need that alive!”

“You… promissssed me… eat one…” Viele says angrily as he tries to bite it again but the shell just puffs out causing Viele to just scrape his fangs across the armored hide.

“What in Gaia’s name are you doing?” Shortclaw yells frantically, running over to Viele, grabbing one of the snakes that are raking its’ fangs across the Lagartija.

“Eating… ssssoon…” Viele says confidently.

“No! We need to keep that one alive for uncle.” Shortclaw says, yanking at the snake’s head.

The snake twists its’ head towards Shortclaw. The snake has an obvious look of agitation on its’ face. “If I had my way we would be eating you instead.” The snake says with a deeply feminine voice.

The look of shock on Shortclaw’s face is obvious as he releases the snake. “What did you just say Viele?”

“Ignore… her… sssshe isssss jusssst hungry… like… me…” Viele says as he continues his assault on the Lagartija in his grasp.

“Viele, stop right now. If you eat the Lagartija we won’t be able to protect Astrid and what if something happens to her because you are hungry.

The snakes all stop gnawing at the Lagartija in unison and all swivel towards Shortclaw, each one giving him death stares.

“That… issssss… cheating…” Viele says angrily, he lets out an angry hiss as the Lagartija starts to struggle again.

“Here, how about I make you a deal you can’t refuse?” Shortclaw says, attempting to calm down Viele.

“Go… on…” Viele says as the snakes protruding from his back go back to gnawing at the Lagartija.

“If you stop that right now, and help me transport it to my uncles. He will make the dress that will help protect Astrid, and as a thank you I will let you eat as much meat as you want, I will pay for it all.”

“How… do I know… you are not lying…” Viele says questioningly.

“Because… I love Astrid more than anything, so I will do anything to make sure she gets the protection she needs.”

Flemmington

“You sure you don’t know where Shortclaw went?” Astrid asks as she watches Blackclaw fiddle with a leather harness that was halfway put together.

Blackclaw lets out a sigh as he finally puts the harness down. He then lifts a large black paw and pats Astrid’s head. “I promise, he said he needs to get something ready for when you get released by the medical staff. But apparently he wasn’t fast enough.” Blackclaw lets out a chuckle as he ruffles Astrid’s hair, causing her ears to flatten, a clear show of agitation. “Speaking of that, how were you released so quickly?” He says as he looks from Astrid to Amy with a raised eyebrow.

Amy quickly turns around, holding a leather whip in her hand that she had been inspecting. “Is that statement directed towards me? I got permission to let her out for a few hours by Blaze himself. I am her babysitter to make sure she is doing okay.”

“Sorry to make you worry about me Shadow, I promise I am perfectly fine.” Astrid says with a smile.

“Speaking of fine, I have a question.” Blackclaw asks, moving slightly closer to Astrid, looking up slightly at Amy as she seems to get closer too. “You said you were going to see your parents, how are they?”

Astrid freezes, her eyes grow wide at the question. “My parents… they… they…” Astrid starts to shake as she tries to remember, a sudden stabbing feeling can be felt deep inside her head as she lets out a scream and grabs the sides of her head.

“What did you do!” Amy screams at Blackclaw as she grabs Astrid, attempting to pull her away from him.

“Nothing!” Blackclaw yells as Astrid collapses in Amy's arms.

“Shit, this isn’t good.” Amy says as she lifts Astrid up.