Chapter 69

I froze. There isn't anything else I could call it, though it wasn't because I was scared. The feeling of the bond between Felix and I shattering was a first for me, and something I had never expected to happen. As such it took me a while to realize what had happened, and more importantly, what it meant. That kind of hesitation should have been fatal.

As Felix crouched in preparation to attack me, he was bowled over by an even bigger golden figure. As surprising as that sight was, it helped me come back to my senses. As I did I saw an enormous sized chewy fighting with Felix. Though fighting might not be the right word for it. As I was completely focused on Felix, Felix had also been completely focused on me. As such he was just as surprised by the enormous golden retriever as I was.

It only took a minute for Chewy to pin Felix to the ground with his jaws tightly wrapped around the cat's neck.

With Felix restrained I glanced over to the female cat. Thankfully she was still being restrained by Sil and Delilah's wind and shadow prison. With the threat reduced I stepped forward and laid my hand on Chewy's big shoulder. "I need to look into his beast gem." I told him.

AS a reply I heard a loud cracking sound and a soft mewling sound then Felix breathed out his last breath. As I stared on in shock Chewy continued to hold onto Felix's neck for a few more moments before he finally released the dead cat's neck.

"Chewy?" I asked unsure about what happened.

"Your bond with him was too weak." Chewy replied.

I frowned but couldn't deny what he had said. Chewy just stared at me for a few moments before he continued. "He was a wild cat, a threat to not only you, but also my mistress. You can put your life in danger as much as you want, but I refuse to allow my mistress to be in any danger. Especially from such a fierce opponent." With that said Chewy shrank down to his normal dog size then headed for the back door.

As I watched the dog walk away I wasn't sure how to feel about what he said. I could easily understand his point of view. Courtney was everything to Chewy. I had never doubted that.

A hand on my back drew my attention back to the present. Looking behind me I saw Karen staring at me with a serious expression. "There is still one more left." she told me.

I turned to look at the cat that was imprisoned by Delilah and Sil. Instead I saw Delilah in her wolf form and Enya arguing angrily in front of the female cat's head. While I hadn't been paying attention the cat had somehow been injured and was on the verge of death already.

However rather than focusing on Delilah and Enya's argument I noticed Sil float over and sit on top of the cat's head before she looked down at the cat. Then her long silver hair began to float around her head like a mini tornado had appeared around her. After a moment Sil looked towards me. When our eyes met she gave me a sweet smile. Then her eyes closed and the silver hair descended onto the cat entering into its eyes, ears, and mouth. The cat struggled for a moment then lay still.

"What the hell?" I said aloud as I watched in horror. No matter how beautiful Sil's fairy form was, that hair trick was going to haunt my nightmares.

"Hey! She was mine!" Enya screamed angrily.

My attention shifted back to Enya and Delilah to find the shadow wolf had shifted into her wolf girl form and was holding tightly to Enya's waist keeping her from interfering with what Sil was doing.

"Do you have any idea what is going on?" Megan asked from my side.

I shook my head.

"If I were to guess, Sil is doing the same thing Delilah did." Karen replied.

"Huh?" I asked stupidly. "You mean she is going to merge with the cat?" I asked.

Karen nodded. "That's my guess. It also seems like Enya has been wanting to do the same. That might be what the firebird was hinting at."

I frowned, "She wanted to merge with the firebird?" I asked.

"It's just a guess." Karen replied.

I looked at the fire elemental and saw how angry she was as she fought to free herself from Delilah.

"Enya." I called out sternly.

Enya immediately deflated in Delilah's arms.

Before I could say anything else I felt the world shift around me. When I regained my equilibrium I looked towards the spatial crack in the sky, but it had disappeared. I let out a sigh of relief. Given the things I had seen coming through the spatial cracks, it was a good that the cracks were closed now. Not that the danger had decreased. There are still plenty of those monsters that have already come through the cracks, and plenty of those new twisted to deal with.

At least it was one worry gone. I turned to look back at Enya who was now hiding her head in Delilah's ample bosom. It reminded me of a spoiled child, I had to remind myself that she wasn't. Hell she was probably older than I was. Even if she wasn't that didn't mean she could keep on as she had been.

"Don't be too hard on her." Delilah told me as she walked over to me. "While she had her own reasons for suggesting we take in the firebird, those fruits from the tree will be a big help to you." Delilah told me.

"You know what they are?" I asked a bit surprised.

Delilah nodded. "Yes, I actually went through the crack myself to gather a few more when I realized what they were." she said then pulled out a plastic grocery bag from her shadow. Inside it were a dozen of those neon green fruits.

I looked down at the fruits then back to Enya who was peaking at me. As I tried to decide how to handle the impish fire sprite Karen placed her hand on my arm then stepped forward. "Since we got something good out of this, Daryl won't send you back, but you still acted against your master's best interests. As such your next three months of energy will be reduced to the minimum you need to sustain yourself, nothing extra." Karen sentenced.

"What?!" Enya yelled as she flew out of Delilah's arms and stared at Karen incredulously. "Then what is the point in staying here?" Enya asked.

"It is a punishment! What use does Daryl have for an elemental who could bring harm to him in her selfishness? If you aren't willing, you could always go back to your elemental plane." Karen retorted.

Enya hesitated for a few moments then looked back at Delilah.

"Don't look at me, you know exactly how much master would have benefited if the firebird had been willing to form an alliance with him, and you had no idea those fruits would be there." Delilah told her.

Enya then looked at me and Karen for a few moments before she reluctantly floated in front of me. Then she bowed her head to me. "I am sorry for my selfishness, master. I will accept your punishment." she told us.

I nodded then looked past her to where the Sil and the female cat were. To my surprise Sil had disappeared and the cat had shrunk down to the size of a normal cat. Instead of its previous appearance it was now covered in silver fur and stared at me with Sil's green eyes.

"So can I get an explanation now?" I asked the elementals.

Sil and Delilah exchanged looks then Sil's form changed to that of a cat girl who matched Sil's previous appearance, just human sized, a pair of cat ears, and a tail.

Karen chuckled. "Your inner geek must be freaking out." Karen said.

I coughed and forcefully moved my eyes off of Sil's silver cat ears. "I have no idea what you are talking about.

Megan giggled then hugged me from behind. "Sure sure. Whatever you say." she breathed into my ear. "Rather than interrogating them, how about we go see what has been going on?'

"We can't keep putting this off." I argued.

"Sil turned into a hot sexy fuckable cat girl. What more do you need to know?" Megan asked with an impish grin then ran off into the house.

I frowned then looked over at Karen.

"At least they aren't clamoring to get into your bed. I'm not sure what I would do if that were the case." Karen told me with a mock sigh then followed Megan into the house.

I looked back to the elementals, but all three of them had taken the opportunity to disappear.

I growled to myself then shook my head. At least with the elementals my bond was stronger. Even after their change. With that thought I looked at Felix's corpse. My mind raced for a while as I wondered what I could have done differently. I remembered what Chewy said and had to agree with him. The bond hadn't been strong enough. I might have wanted to give him room to make his own choices, and I still could, but there couldn't be any room for betrayal. It wasn't just my own safety I had to worry about. There were others in our group, and there were also my girls. Had Felix harmed any of my girls…. I wasn't sure how I would cope.

With that realization I resolved myself. I tossed a shadow fire ball onto the corpse and watched it burn to ashes before I headed inside to see what our world had become.