I crouched in front of her, one knee on the floor. "So," I said, eyeing the little ball of white fluff, "what exactly does my majestic Sacha eat?"
Sacha tilted her head, her blue eyes gleaming like polished frost. For a moment, she just stared at me. Then—
Papa, her voice echoed in my head, soft and childlike. Sacha is hungry.
"Yeah? Hungry for what, exactly—hey!"
Before I could finish, she leaned forward and bit into my arm.
There was no pain, just a sudden, freezing drain that made my breath hitch. My mana poured out of me, blue motes swirling toward her mouth as she fed.
It wasn't much, maybe a fifth of my mana pool, but it was enough to make my vision flicker for a heartbeat.
When she finally let go, she looked pleased with herself.
{You just got eaten by a cat,} Bastard muttered, somewhere between amusement and pity.
'She's feeding on my mana,' I thought, flexing my fingers. The numbness faded fast, but the pull had been real.
