He opened his mouth to comment, but the twitching of her tail stopped him. They walked in silence as the rain came down harder and the sky grew quickly darker. Except for the brief flashes of brilliance, it was almost as dark as night, not that BekkaNeko minded, she could still see well, better than her human escort.

The only things that the scared catgirl could see that destroyed this illusion were the wings. This woman had a pair of large bat-like wings on her back. She stretched them out, then closed them again, the tough membrane between the black "fingers" was a dark, dull gray. A barb tail twitched from behind her legs.

"The Wraith might be interested in hearing of you, girl. You smell very familiar. Like someone I met a long time ago," the demon-girl said, flashing a bright smile, capped by a pair of sharp fangs. "You, however, are of no consequence." She pointed a talon-tipped finger at Eric.

The boy squealed as a ball of sickly green light, about the size of a golf ball appeared, hovering in front of the demon's finger. It pulsed and swirled like a bubble of acid for a moment, then shot towards him. The ball hit him square in the chest, and Eric was hurled five or six meters through the air before he landed on the pavement, bounced twice and lay there, gasping and struggling to breathe as the rain fall upon him. Wisps of steam rose from the seared cloth over his heaving chest.

"Now, do I kill him, or will come with me?" the girl asked, as a ball of greenish flame danced to life in her up raised palm.

BekaNeko stepped back, nearly blinded by the rain falling her face, washing her hair into her eyes. "I... I..."

"You will stay here, and look after your friend with me," a new voice said. They all turned to look at the new speaker. It was the strange old man the BekkaNeko had seen earlier. "Leave her alone and begone with you demon."

The demon-girl looked at he prey. "Perhaps later, little kitty. I will find you again, and we will speak more." Then she waved her hand and tossed the ball of flame at the wet pavement. A hole in the air opened up, giving BekkaNeko a brief view of a dim room, lit with many candles, a circle drawn on the floor in chalk. The demon-girl stepped through, and the hole vanished with a loud pop. The small ugly creatures fled into the darkness in the bushes.

The confused catgirl looked at the old man, who was now walking towards her. "She shouldn't be bothering you for a while."

"Wha? What was that?" BekkaNeko gasped.

"Nothing for you to worry about just yet. Here, take this and run along home," he said, slipping a cord over the girl's head. "I'll take care of your friend here." He turned and hurried over to Eric's sprawled body.

BekkaNeko looked down, hanging between her breasts on the braided cord was something that looked like a quartz crystal, except that it was a deep blue color. "What is this?" she asked.

"I'll tell you all about it later, but for now, go home. If you want answers, meet me here at noon tomorrow," the old man said. He picked up Eric and started walking away.

"Wait! Who are you?"

The old elf stopped and looked over his shoulder. "Call me Akira. Now go home young BekkaNeko." He started walking again, and quickly disappeared around a curve in the path.

BekkaNeko stood in the rain for another few minutes before scooping up Eric's dropped umbrella. She didn't stop running until she was standing in the hall and locking the front door behind her. Ignoring the looks from her littermate, she hurried upstairs and into the bathroom. She stripped and stepped into the shower, turning the hot water up all the way. It was a long time before she stopped shivering.