Bachelorsville, Texas- Chapter 3: The Good Book

She has her textbook sized artbook out. I notice a stylized black rose on the cover before she opens it to the picture of the buxom woman with feline ears, bat wings and a scorpion-like tail that I had seen earlier.

“Seru was an Imperial Alchemist with the royal court of Vamore before I annexed the kingdom. Now she’s a confident and clever Manticore….”

“Manic Ore?”

“Manticore.” Mari corrects. “A beast whose cunning, beauty and lust rivals even that of my lilim sisters.”

She turns the page and I’m greeted by the striking image of a woman with charcoal grey flesh, wolf’s ears and an eye with dark sclera similar to Mari’s. In her portrait, she seems to be looking at me with a toothy grin, complete with even sharper and more prominent canines than Mari. There appeared to be a mane of dark fur around her neck

Bachelorsville, Texas- Chapter 2: The Vixen Approaches

As I look behind me to see if Mari is following, I’m startled as I turn and see a dark shadow racing along the ground suddenly enveloping me. It’s Mari- she’s gliding down off of the rock with her wings spread and back to the sun, swooping right in on me with a wide grin. For a second, she looks like something out of a Bram Stoker novel. I reflexively stumble a few feet backwards.

“Shit! She was just play-acting as this confused, free-spirited traveller so I’d let my guard down!” is my first thought as I absently reach for a rather empty spot along my belt before realizing that I left the .357 back in the truck.

Mari hit the ground and took two running strides towards me before slowing up. However, instead of