Lexi listened to another crazy idea of Jinx's as he slurped the vanilla milkshake he'd finally gotten the tom to stop for. It had only taken twenty straight minutes of badgering him. He hadn’t expected Jinx to break down that easily.
"You truly rely on your special ability to get you out of everything." The Demon disguised as a tom took a louder slurp. "Not gonna work forever."
"Says you. And I think you grossly underestimate what Hades, a Black-fur, and myself, an Orangelo, can get up to."
Lexi felt his fur rise at Jinx's smug response. Holding back a much more guttural growl the demon asked, "Were you two an item?"
"Hades and me?" Jinx took his time answering which didn't make Lexi any happier. Laughing, he shook his head. "Nah, I'm not the glutton for punishment you have to be to fall for ol' emerald eyes. No offense."
"Good. I'm not saying it would be enough of a reason to rip out your insides but that a
The night felt never-ending but Jinx couldn’t help but think thatHades would find thatpreferable to his reality. If the night went on forever,he would not be standing here now flanked by his best friend who had nothing to say and his ex whose look of pity was an aggravating reminder of what he had to accept. Doll was gone. "How?" Hades finally managed to speak. "The plan was perfect." Jinx put a paw on his old friend's shoulder. "There is nothing we could have done. We didn't know enough going in and we could only work with what we had." Hades spun around,refusing to look at the bodyof the no-furthey'd gone to retrieve at the landfill. He shoved Jinx to the ground. "And whose fault is that? If you had just pulled a full reading, you would have seen it!Youcould have known,you just chose not to!" Hades's paws began to glow as his rage summoned the hidden power of his Black-fur
"That's a celebrity, Lexi." Hades couldn't believe he was staying as calm as he was. He crawled out of the van and made a shooing motion at the overambitious demon. "I know we haven't had a chance to discuss how we are infiltrating and it wastechnicallyyour idea but part of sneaking in somewhere is keeping it less of a spectacle." As Lexi removed his claws from the surprised blonde tom and shifted to his illusory cat form,Hades grabbed Guru's arms and tried to assess the damage to his jacket. The face that was plastered on billboards and known world wide as the tom who created the Don't Strive For Purr-fectionexercise craze watched the Black-fur’smovementswith cautious eyes. "If you don't mind me asking,why are you trying to sneak into such a high profile party?" Hades was done dealing with fools and had no time to argue with an entitled asshole. He drew his paw back to punch the taller tomrigh
Doll watched the no-fur scientist fiddle with his various implements. He couldn't do much else. Doll was wrapped in golden energy wire rather than being locked in a traditional pen. Apparently, the no-fur who seemedto bein charge had a certain aesthetic and only used pens when necessary.At least, Doll was fairly certain that was one of the things the no-fur had said to him as he fiddled around with various things in the lab. He watched as the scientist tapped a needle full of gods knew what, feeling a sense of dread creeping up his spine. "The Black-fur called you Doll, yes?I assume you prefer that over your ID code?” The no-fur made a vague gesture to the bar code and corresponding number sequence tattooed high on Doll’s left side. The marking was put on all officially registered no-furs as a way of tracking their bloodlines and proper ownership. As it was common for litters to be separated with the little toms staying w
Lexi watched as Guru turned in his coins and gems for a little bracelet that looked like rope made of precious metal. His many coins and gems. Lexi was no longer concerned Guru didn't have enough to outbid every other tom assembled for First Rights. Cloaked away and unnoticeable to anyone but Guru,he could comment freely. "Whatever you do, it must be profitable." Guru nodded his head and answered while they walked down the narrow hall to the viewing platform. "Very. But that's not why I do it. Still,like most toms, I like shiny things and most shiny things aren't cheap." Lexi watched the good-looking tom glance around to make sure they were alone. "But this is not my scene. My manager swears I have to get one to be taken seriously or my star will fade. Makes no sense to me. And when your friend explained what went on here, I still can't believe it.I always thought the no-furs at a Rodeo were there by choice, a part of somethin
Hoping changing the plan avoided whatevercatastropheJinxsaw in his cards, Hades moved up the stairwell as fast as could. He checked the main floor first, taking justa minuteto make sure the deliveries they sent were brought inside. Several bouquets had come for Pawson, a worker they found in a simple coded employee file that Hades and Jinx cracked together. The tomwas on vacation and wouldn't be around to accept or deny them. Hades had sent some live plants and guessed what flower auras different blooms possessed. He had no idea besides the few Doll had talked about but that's why he sent so many kinds. They were all there. Flanking both walls of the lobby. If it came to a fight, once he had Doll, they'dbe able to use their bond to draw from the auras. Security wouldn't know what hit them. He found it hard to shake off the sadness,wishing he had more time to talk to Doll and learn about the flower auras. The no-fur was so passi
Jinx had his paws full and hoped whatever Hades had to say,he would get back to him. Or had found a way to get himself out of trouble if that's what it had been about. ButJinx had his own problemsto deal with right now. The Orangelo was face-to-face with something not borne of nature and therefore not ruled by fate. "Why are there creepy fucking life-sized dolls?" Jinx swore at said fate. He still hadn't found a single living feline but he had found a preparation room. "How am I supposed to deal with those?I'll tell you how,I'm just gonna back away and close the door." Which he moved to do only to back up into more of the spooky tom facsimiles. Jinx was pushed forward in the room. The three other automatom dolls noticed him now. They started to say "Welcome" over and over again. As they came into the light,Jinx noticed they each had one realistic eye and one empty socket. Their movements were clunky as one gestured to
Lexi’s monster could think for itself and it knew how to survive. That knowledge was simple,really-kill it before it killed you. Lexi couldn't really argue that point.He was in danger and the monster could navigate them back to being safe. Achieving any amount of control in this circumstance was nearlyimpossible. Mostly Lexi didn't bother. By the time the monsterinside of himwas provoked,whoever was responsible probably deserved to be torn in two. He didn't really like killing,but he didn't have the skill set most demons did to control his monster form either. In all his 600 years,the only thing he'd managed to actually master was his ability to see auras and that was only in the last few years. Thanks to something Hades had told him, Lexi discovered a way to tell the aura of someone special in his beserker mode and send a message to the instinctive part of his monster brain to protect them. Even Hades didn'
Hades rolled out of Lexi's grip and stood up. Maybe he wasn't in love with the demon but his heart twisted as he stared down at the mess the Senders had made of him. He watched as Jinx pet the unconscious demon,nudging him and sending out the tell-tale purrs of a tom soothing his partner. Hades had never seen his friend's aura so frazzled and bright. Jinx's eyes glowed in a new bronze fire. The Orangelo stood and raised his paw. His cards heeled immediately,flying to his hand from where they lay in the wreckage. They were suddenly being held out to the Black-fur. Hades's jaw dropped as Jinx demanded, "Lend me your power, pal. Hex them." If it wasn't for the fact he could read the deathly serious hum of Jinx's aura, Hades would have refused. The Orangelo tarot was a family heirloom and it would never be the same after being hit with Hades's hexing power. Truth be told, most Orangelo felines wouldn't try to work with anOrangelo spell-casting d