Endanger

"What do we do?"

KuliKuli hesitated. "Nothing, there's too many and I don't think we can handle them ourselves. Dang."

Syri's ears dropped as they stood watching the scene unfold below. Dimyri felt her whole body shiver madly, hugging her legs and looking up to Janette.

"S-Sorry... I did-dn't mean to."

"I know. I know." She looked up to see Raz raise his torch up as he approached them. The men around him began to whisper among themselves, with some of them whistling at the sight. Dimyri blushed and hid her face, with Janette frowning and stepping in front of her.

Raz took one glance at the nude woman behind her and passed his torch to soneone behind him. "Grab something to cover her with, clothes and blankets, anything warm. Find as many twigs as you can and start a fire. You, go send word to Perdilius and tell him we found two regulars."

They all nodded and walked away to do as was told. Raz looked back at them and undid his cloak, passing it to Janette who stared back at him with uncertainty.

"Well don't just stand there, cover her up before she goes ill!"

She looked back down at his extended hand before taking it away, wrapping it around her as he stood watch.

"You're the woman who took the monster with her in that wagon, weren't you? I should have you chained."

Janette glared her eyes back, hugging Dimyri. "Wish I did more after what you guys did. Leaving me with no house when winter is near, burning my property like if it was yours."

He looked away, watching his men approach him with a few layers of blankets in hand. Several of them had gathered enough wood near the river stream, successfully igniting a warm fire several meters away. He glanced back at the other two before passing her the many blankets.

"I don't know what you were thinking, bringing a woman out in the nude in the middle of the night."

"We could have dressed up more appropriately if you had knocked first."

He waited for her to cover up her friend before he grabbed her by the arm and walked her towards the fire. Janette pulled her arm away, keeping close to Dimyri with Raz shrugging and moving on. As they began to sit down around the fire's warmth, Dimyri glanced up to notice her sisters watching them. She nudged Janette until she saw them as well, feeling safer in knowing that at least they weren't alone.

Raz spoke up first. "Where are the monsters?"

"No."

He looked up to meet Janette's angry glare. "You don't get to burn my house down then treat us like guests. What the hell gives you that right, the ego in you people to just burn whatever you come across and demand people just bow to your bidding?"

Raz frowned. "We are doing our job."

"A job, is that what you call it?"

"It's doing what is best. If the gods ask, we shall comply."

"Oh, so you guys heard the gods then and they said for you to kill all of the monster girls?"

"If that makes the world pure again."

Dimyri scoffed. Raz continued.

"Father says that it is up to us to make this world a better place."

"By killing innocent girls." She muttered. Raz looked up to see Dimyri look back at him.

"What?"

"I said by killing innocent girls. It's what you did before right, you hunted them, grabbed them, did nasty things to them and call yourselves the good guys. Give me a break."

"What, no. We didn't do any of that. You're referring to the cat creatures?"

"Nekomatas." Janette corrected him.

"Well the Nekomatas are still alive."

"What!?" Dimyri shouted, with Syri's ear twitching as she too had gasped. "Where?"

Raz shook his head. "We'll take you to them, but first you need to tell us where the Cats are hiding." Dimyri blinked and glanced back at Janette, it was odd when he asked her. It took a minute to recall her human look, he has no clue she was a Nekomata a minute ago.

"But, then what are you wanting Nekomatas for?" Janette asked.

"It's a simple mission, our goal is to purify them."

The girls turned around to see Perdilius standing behind. The hunter stood beside him, he locked eyes with Dimyri and recognized her right away. She kept quiet, or rather they both did as Perdilius now stepped through and was facing Janette.

"You did something rash and childish with that stunt in the market, costing me a lot of resources. I can allow this to slip by without punishment, I only ask for your honesty in return."

He approached her, his white robe doing nothing to hide his intimidating size as he towered over her menacingly. No anger appeared in his eyes, only the look of a driven man it seemed. Kneeling down on one leg, he locked eyes with her and cleared his throat.

"J'nette O'lav Cicarrio, the landowner labeled as the Forbidden Fruit, the woman who thrived by her fruits of laber passed down by successful farmers. I had asked around for you after our little encounter, you've quite the name to you. This isn't how I wanted us to reunite once more but needless to say I believe we are even in our little welcoming party, aren't we?"

Janette focused her eyes onto him, the corner of her lip beginning to twitch. Dimyri continued staring at the man, still believing her disguise to be temporary as long as the hunter allowed it. One glance to him and he raised his eye in return, as if teasing her of this secret. Why has he not said anything? He still seemed bruised from the morning, wouldn't this be his opportunity for revenge?

"Something tells me you're not the kind of guy who I could convince to let the girls go if we sat down with a drink in hand to start."

He raised his eyes and tilted his head, as if he gave thought and enlightened the fantasy. "Yes well, we're far beyond starting over I'm afraid. I have the coin to help you rebuild, but you know what the cost will be."

"I'm aware."

"Good, then I will make this brief. Tell me where are the girls." He rose up, turning around to catch a swig of a flask, facing the hunter as he wiped his lips. "Careful now, I don't take kindly to liars."

"I-" She glanced over to Dimyri who seemed frozen, neither saying yes or no in any implication. It seemed the chips were drawn and it was all left for her to make the call. Trouble is, they both knew what her answer would be. Holding her hand gently and giving it a squeeze, Janette shut her eyes and breathed in.

"I can't."

"That's unfortunate." He responded, turning around and looking up to the sky. KuliKuli and Syri gasped when suddenly both girls were pounced on, falling hard onto the leaf-filled dirt with collared cat girls pinning them down.

Dimyri gasped and covered her mouth, while Janette saw Syri's scared face and cried out, "Wait!"

"Wait." He repeated back to her. "No I don't think I will. I think I've waited long enough. Shame on you, J'nette. I had hoped you would be honest in favor of being loyal, but I suppose you are neither are you?"

She felt a hand keep her pinned down and locked eyes with Syri, feeling panic and dread begin to set in. This isn't how she wanted things to go, everything was going wrong and it wasn't the first time this had happened to her. Her voice failed her and she struggled to fight back any tears, chewing them back and keeping her eyes locked on her mate.

Leone looked over the two girls pinned down, keeping his eyes narrow and devoid of emotion. But KuliKuli saw something else in there, when his soft white eyes met hers she could feel a sense of failure inside. He hasn't said anything since he arrived, and the bruise on his cheek from their last encounter had remained. Somehow, they all felt trapped under the same hand.

Perdilius turned his head to catch Dimyri staring in shock. "I'm sorry miss, I hope not to have caught you in the crossfire of this endeavor. What is your affiliation with these people?"

"Sh-she's my lover! She has nothing to do with this." Janette blurted out.

Leone raised his eye as the priest simply nodded. "I see. I doubt I would meet any success in asking you for the whereabouts of their kind, am I correct?"

Dimyri glanced from him to Janette and to her sisters, shaking their heads no. She hated this, gritting her teeth and feeling her heart kill over inside. Whh make me this decision, she asked.

"...No, I don't know anything about this. I... I never met them before..." A voice spoke out, sounding very much like hers.

Perdilius stepped closer, taking note of her hands holding the blankets tight around her. He retreated, stepping away before taking another drink. His breath showed clearly as he drew a faided sigh after.

"I had hoped things would have gone over more quickly then this, but you'd be surprised how difficult the world is to assist. Everyone is so devoid of reasoning these days, could you belief that often those who praise the gods in purity and good faith have flirted with the devil once or twice. It happens to be so common that they would be aghast at the idea of a follower being truly pure. No matter, if the world flourishes in nonsense, then you are left to force it to make sense. To punish someone for assisting the devil is something I'm afraid I find in myself the courage to do so. But to punish them in front of someone close, that would be cruel."

He leaned in close to Janette, looking back at the cat girls under his captivity. "Still, to see you risk your life to rescue a Nekomata speaks to me. Would you give the world to protect the ones you love so dearly?"

"Would you?"

Leone's eyes grew wide with Perdilius noticing and turning around to see what caused his men to gasp. Behind them stood a lone woman older than the Nekomatas and standing unafraid of their display. Her tails were wrapped around her waist, arms crossed and eyes focused as her words demanded their attention and succeeded.

Emyri looked up to see Leone and Perdilius, leaving the girls to look in shock.