Welcome back, my lovely reader!
It's been a while since Katrina had some time in the spotlight, hasn't it, my lovely? Well, my favorite blood magic-wielding black cat will get to strut her stuff in this episode! Speaking of magic-wielding, the new mage in Alice's life is still hanging about.
Katrina obviously has a thing for bunnies, and Alice puts no restrictions on her lovers, now does she? I think you can see where things are going already, but there's more than meets the eye with the aforementioned rabbit. All power comes with a price, especially for mundane...
Let's jump right in!
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Episode 4:
Katrina: Time Enough To Die
"I'm not going to lie, I think you're the most proficient mundane I've ever sparred with." My words came out in a hiss as the rabbit drove forward, his shortsword in both hands in a thrust.
Samuel grunted as I whistled and used my gun to catch the strike, letting the tip of the blade chink right into the opening of the barrel, offering him a smug grin, my sharp teeth on display as my tail coiled behind me lazily.
He clenched his teeth, the sword just stopping short as if he had thrust it into a brick wall. I watched him grunt as he tried to push, my arm unmoving as I offered him a sympathetic smile.
"Uh... right, super vampire strength, forgot about that," He withdrew it and sheepishly sheathed the blade.
"You're still very strong for a mundane, Sam, and fast too. Don't be ashamed of it." I purred as I put my guns away. It was very light work for me, but he was dripping sweat, a faint pant on his breath as his one good eye met mine before he gave a nod.
"Thanks for sparring with me, Countess." He turned and offered me a polite bow.
"I told you to take it easy on the titles, you can call me Kat or Katrina, okay?" My sharp teeth showed as I pressed both hands to my hips, looking him over. He was grizzled and tough for a bunny, with scars all over. I wouldn't lie, it was appealing and he smelled good, but then again that could be because he was mundane, it made me hungry in a lot of ways.
"So... you want to try slinging some magic around this time?" I offered him a challenging grin, then folded my ears as I watched him look away.
"I only use that in live combat, Katrina... my apologies." He wiped his brow of sweat and gave a winded huff. In truth, I wasn't used to this. I was used to supernatural weirdos like me that would just keep going, but he looked very fatigued, even though we'd only been sparring for three hours.
"Why is that if I may ask?" I folded my arms, cocking a brow. "I'm a trained mage, I'm sure we would be perfectly safe."
"You would be, I wouldn't." He gave me a sigh and put his own hands on his hips. "Katrina, I use time dilation spells, are you familiar with those?"
I widened my red eyes and gapped my mouth slightly. "Wait... I thought you looked a little more aged than you should... Sam, you need to lay off that!" My teeth showed as I offered him a glare.
"Hmm... better to have a short life and do good, than a long one of inept ability, yes?" He fired back, cocking a brow.
"Uh... sure, if you weren't Alice's now! You kill yourself using that shit, what do you think it's going to do to her?!" I hissed out, not bothering to hide my annoyance over it. Time magic was forbidden with good reason. It let you achieve near-supernatural feats of speed, but it also sped your own clock up so to speak. Using a haste spell for a minute would age your body up to a year, and the internal effects were even worse.
"Come here, let me feel your life force!" I snarled out as I stomped right over to him and grabbed his shoulder.
"K-Katrina, I am fine!" He grumbled and tried to jerk clear but it didn't stop me as I pulled him up and shoved my forehead right to his own, trying to sense his energy.
I felt him squirm a little in my grip, then opened my red eyes, seeing his own brown eye half-glaring at me before I stepped back and clicked my tongue. "Gods... you've been using it a lot, haven't you? Got a death wish, Sam?"
He sighed and shook his head, his ears flopping about gently. "Just doing what I can with the time I have, for Alice and her-"