A Few Minutes Earlier
I descended from the air as I mentally tracked Cici's location. She was close, and I sat down in alley close to where my girl was, dropped my invisibility and wings, and stepped out into the street. My connection told me that Cici was below me in this area, and that she was still uninjured, so that was a good sign. It I had to describe the feeling, it was like a very powerful magnet that was constantly yanking me towards her. When we were together, I didn't get that feeling, and that really told me that us being apart from each other was a real rarity these days.
I looked around the street I was on to get a better idea of where I was exactly in town, and upon looking at a café only a 10 or so feet away, I saw my mom sitting at a table looking out of the window, and she was looking at exactly the place I had to go. It was a bar, although I'd never been there. Honestly, I didn't really care to go out when I lived here, nor did I truly pay attention to much that happened in this city. And now, I really couldn't care less. This place was not home to me any more.
I walked towards the café, my mom's eyes lighting up as she quickly stood, and ran outside and hugged me. I hugged her back.
"Mom, what happened? I went home and saw... well, there's a lot of cops there, but Keith is dead... and some other dude too. Is Cici okay? And... have you seen Rachel?" I asked, and my mom pulled away from me, looked towards the bar, and nodded towards it.
"Your wife can be scary, honey. She killed that man in your apartment, and scared another man so much that he told her everything." My mom said, and began explaining the situation.
I listened in shock, anger, and a weird sense of pride as she explained that Keith had apparently brought people back to the apartment to fuck me up, only to be killed trying to protect Rachel from them. He really was an idiot. Why would he bring people like that to where Rachel was last? Maybe he thought I would force her to leave, and that he could bring people on and push me around. Regardless, I had to give some respect for trying to help Rachel in the end, even if it did cost him his life.
However, what had me fuming was the fact that these people were human traffickers, and had women trapped in their little hideout, selling their bodies to rich fuckers like they were objects. Today was really turning out to be way more than I bargained for. Still, the fact that Cici had done what she had done both impressed me, and scared me. My kitten wasn't violent by nature, so there must be a reason for her doing this... and what happened to her I felt had to be a factor.
"I see. Mom, call the police. I'm going in after her." I said, and my mom looked worried, but I eased her mind, "I'll look at them before we leave. I can see people's true natures. Their souls, if you will. I won't let shitty people take these girls away. Now, please." I said, and turned around, and began walking towards the bars.
"Bring her back, Eli. I really like her." My mom shouted at me, and I smiled over my shoulder at her.
As I reached the front door, and opened it, my eyes opened in shock. There were 3 bodies on the ground, and for lack of a better description, they got fucked up.
"Jesus." I said, but that's not all.
Now that I was closer, I could actually feel Cici, both body and mind. She was absolutely furious, pissed off beyond belief. At the same time, it only reminded me how fresh, and how incomplete my bond with her was. I could feel within me that it could be so much more, and once we got home, I was going to work to solidify that with her, one thrust at a time.
I saw open doors leading into the back of the bar, and I rushed through them, following the pull. I probably could have just smashed through the ground and the Earth, but I didn't want attention being drawn here ahead of time, nor did I want to accidentally hurt any of the girls that I was told were in here. Seeing another open door at the back of the bar's kitchen, I went through it, and discovered a set of stairs at the back of the room, with a metal trapdoor that has been ripped out of the ground and thrown to the side, and it looked like deep claws had punctured it and torn it away.
"Damn." I muttered, genuinely impressed.
She'd never done something like this, although I do remember the first time she tried to save me, risking her life to protect me, as that's just who she was. I raced down the stairs, and once I reached the bottom, I could hear voices. Women were speaking softly up ahead. I proceeded forward, noticing more shredded bodies at the end of this corridor I was in, in front of a door that had once again been ripped off of its hinges.
When I walked inside, my presence did not go unnoticed, nor did the presence of the the women that were huddled against the wall to my right. There were 3 of them, although I could hear more up ahead in another corridor, with more doors that had been smashed open. Cici really hated doors, it seemed. The women stared me, trembling and fear plain in their faces. I had reverted my appearance back to one that looked suitable for an Earth human, but given their appearance, and their naked bodies, I could tell they were just afraid at seeing a man. I didn't blame them.
"No... please... leave us alone!" One girl shouted, this one interposing herself between me and the two other women. They were both on the ground, with one woman breathing shallowly as her head was cradled in the lap of another woman. I held up my hands.
"Shh. Easy. I'm not here to hurt you. You're all okay, I promise." I said, but they still remained guarded at my appearance.
I looked around the chamber, and inside a few of the rooms with, again, the doors ripped off their hinges. There were more men inside, with deep claw marks on their bodies, and a few had what amounted to pancakes where their heads used to be.
"Alright... no point in hiding everything I guess." I said, and then used my powers, black energy forming in my palms.
The women paled, and looked frightened, but then they looked confused at what I did. I used my Abyssal Manipulation to summon 3 large black cloaks, the insides lined with insulation for warmth. I held them out to the woman in front of me.
"Here. To protect your modesty." I said, giving what I hoped was a warm smile.
All of the girls, minus the one in the one girl's lap, stared at me with wide eyes, disbelief plain on their faces.
"How did you..." The one in front of me asked, and I decided to ask a question of my own.
"I'm here for my wife. Maybe you seen her. Very beautiful, white hair, sparkling green eyes," I said, briefly glancing at the shredded remains of one of the men, "Big scary claws."
"Miss Cat?" The woman on the ground cradling the other woman asked, and I snorted.
"That's her. I can see she is doing work." I said causually, and they girls just stared at me.
"She's scary..." The standing woman said,l. I objected to that greatly, but given the scenario, I could see why they would think that.
"I think she's nice. She saved all of us." The woman on the ground said, and that made me smile with pride.
I pushed the cloaks into the woman's hands, and she startled, but I just began walking. As I did though, I finally noticed the state of the other woman on the girl's lap, and I grimaced in sympathy and rage. Cici definitely was doing the right thing, although I part of me feared how she would take it once we left here. I had a moment, since I knew Cici was in zero danger against anyone on Earth, and I knelt down in front of the two women. The girl on the ground looked at me, and held the woman tighter to herself.
"May I help her?" I asked, and the woman blinked at me.
"Help... how?" She asked, but when I merely just looked at her with a soft smile on my face, she nodded at me, "I like Miss Cat... and if you're married to her, then I think I trust that you won't hurt us."
I nodded at her again as I gently placed my hand on the girl's forehead. I activated Abyssal Reconstruction, and within a few seconds, all of the cuts, bruises, swollen body part, everything was healed before our very eyes. The two around me gasped, and the woman in her lap began breathing more evenly, and a more serene look appeared on her face as she remained sleeping.
"How did..." The woman asked me, but then she seemed lost in thought for a moment, and just looked down at the woman in her lap as tears began falling from her eyes, "Thank you..." She muttered.
I smiled as I reached over and gently patted her head.
"You take care of her, and get dressed." I said, and then turned to the other woman who was wide eyed, holding the cloaks i had made her, "I can make more of those if you need. How many do you think?"
The woman stared in shock at me for a moment, and then seemed to gather some sense of wits.
"Um... maybe like... 20... or so." She mumbled.
I smiled as I created another 30 of them, creating a black table made from the Abyss where I had them all laid out. I turned around.
"I'm going to go and get my wife." I said, and began walking.
"Thank you..." The woman who was still standing said, and I just waved back at her as I continued on.
A primal roar of rage filled my ears, towards the direction I felt Cici. I focused my perception that way, and not only heard screams of rage, as well as ripping, bashing, rending, and tearing, but I also felt intense rage.
Perception was an odd stat, as it was pretty much like a normal person's until you actually focused on it, but there was also an instinctual knowledge I had about the stat as well. If your senses were super heightened at all times, it would basically overload your brain to the point of you being unable to function. My Perception being infinite meant that I was super fucking appreciative of that.
That being said, I rushed towards the noise, careful of the women in the corridor ahead. I quickly glanced inside the rooms, and instantly became dusgusted at what I saw. Still... as much as I hated to say this, Cici was my priority currently. The ones alive would live, and the others... I couldn't help them now. The others were safe, so I'd help them in a moment. I would help them, but I'd my wife needed me.
The door ahead of me had a large hole in it, but it wasn't big enough for me, causing me to smash it open even more. My door kill count wasn't as high as Cici's, but a few more, and I'd get there. Upon entering the room, my eyes immediately locked on Cici, and my eyebrows rose at the sight before me.
Cici was slightly larger than normal, but not by much. Her ears and tail seemed longer, and her body was covered in a layer of fur. She actually had lean muscle underneath the fur, and the ones in her arms especially flexed as she brought claws down on the shredded remains of a body. It must have been a man, probably the leader of this group or something. Her was incredibly dead, but see was too angry to care. Her claws glowed with black energy similar to my own, no doubt her evolved class skills due to our bond. The only thing that came to mind when I looked at her was, "Werekitten." She was still pretty cute, even when like this, but the anger radiating off of her was not like her, and I moved over to her.
"Cici?" I asked, but my words didn't seem to reach her ears.
"Cici." I said more firmly this time as I kept walking over to her, yet again, she just kept beating and clawing at the corpse she was strattling.
I was standing right beside her now, and as her claw came up again, I grasped it. My grip was firm, but gentle enough that I wouldn't hurt her.
"CICI!" I yelled, kneeling down to eye level.
With a start, she whipped around to face me, hed green eyes clouded with rage, a fog of red in their midst. However, one of her eyes had the black sclera I had when using my Abyssal powers. Was our bond influencing her mental state? Was this my fault?
Her eyes locked on mine, recognition dawning almost immediately, and just like that, I felt her anger wash away. She stared at me, the white of her left eye slowly returning, and I saw moisture gathering underneath her eyes.
"It's okay, kitten. It's over. You can stop now." I said, and with those simple words, the floodgates broke.
Her tears fell, matting the fur underneath her eyes as my big fuzzy kitten rocketed into my arms, and as she did so, her transformation slowly faded away, leaving behind the petite and beautiful form of my Cici. Now matter what form she took, I loved her unconditionally, but this form suited her far better. She began sobbing into my chest as I held her to me, and whispered reassuring words to her. Despite all of this, I was proud of her. I wished she wouldn't have had to what she did, but she saved lives today. Unfortunately... sometimes you have to do something terrible to do something good for someone else.