Chapter 2 - A Not So Normal Day

Catherine was sitting behind the receptionist desk, looking like she could put a sex icon to shame. Her slim waist would make any man want to wrap his arms around her, at 26-inchs it just made her explosive hips look more erotic.

Her straight posture allowed her meaty ass to be even more pronounced and anyone could say with certainty that their fingers would sink in when giving it a squeeze.

A 38-inch hip measurement that supported a bubble butt looked all the better in a pencil skirt. With legs that had just the right amount of flesh; basically, she was the centre of attention.

"Hey gorgeous~ Looking good today, with so many customers giving you good reviews I'm guessing you'll be getting a nice bonus. Wanna grab a bite later to celebrate Cathy?" A black girl came from the staff room behind her and pinched Catherine's butt jokingly as she sat beside her.

One way to describe her would be - thicc thighs and booty! She was an ebony lady on the lighter side, dressed in high waist trousers with a denim shirt. Her hair was curly and was at shoulder length.

She was a close friend of Catherine and the person who introduced her to this job when she first came to London.

She helped her a lot and was someone she considered second only to her daughter.

"Ah! Aaliyah you cheeky little... alright. I'll pick up Liliana from school then we can go together. Since you've finally finished your driving exam, we'll celebrate together." Catherine smiled at her after her initial surprise.

Despite being in her late twenties Aaliyah had never managed to get her driving license. Partially due to being busy, and partially due to failing four times.

Catherine was happy for her friend as she loved cars but was always working or studying and never had a chance to buy one.

Lily also encouraged her often and helped her prepare for the driving test. Plus, with her paycheck being today added into the mix, it was a good chance to go out and relax. They had not done so in a while.

Suddenly, a black bird flew from the entrance and into the reception.

It was fast enough that Catherine only saw a blur that came towards them. It suddenly reaches out with its claws and latches onto Aaliyah's shoulder. "Hey, Morris, you're late! Luckily got here before work started or we'd be screwed!"

"Caw!" The bird flapped its wings with a look of indignation. This bird was a crow but large enough it was almost like a raven.

Its well-maintained plumage gave off an almost metallic sheen, not to mention it's expression was unnervingly humane. No one would believe it was a normal crow.

"Huh? There was something messing with your sense of direction? Are you okay Morris? It wasn't anything dangerous right?" Aaliyah suddenly looked worried. She picked him up as her long, slim fingers to check him for any injuries.

"Caw!" The crow once again showed a rather human expression; a look of nonchalance.

It shrugged it's shoul-uhh its wings to indicate it's fine. Aaliyah sighed in relief as put him on the desk in front of her.

"I'm guessing you just got caught in the crossfire of some high-evo fella. If you're fine, Betty is coming today. I know you like her snacks, she was looking forward to today, so I'll leave it to you buddy." Aaliyah smiled at Morris.

Morris nodded his head and turned to look Catherine. He cawed in her direction and flapped his wings. It was clearly a friendly gesture to those who saw it.

"Good morning to you too Morris."

The crow, Morris, was Aaliyah's contracted beast.

In this world all living organisms could cultivate and evolve themselves by absorbing elementum in different ways. Only humans were the exception but unfortunately nobody could figure out why.

Instead, humans found they could absorb elementum from the flesh of other creatures.

A long and convoluted history ensued before humanity learnt to live alongside magical beasts. Blood contracts came into existence and many unique abilities led to a new society. A society where magical abilities and bloodlines were highly respected.

All creatures can use their elementum based on their elements to produce magical abilities. This is a specialised study with many branches and sub-specialties. Alongside elementum manipulation, another form of abilities that is considered separate are bloodline abilities.

Bloodline abilities are inherent and possess many odd and interesting manifestations. For example, Morris has a bloodline ability called Target Flame. Morris' ability is to produce a flame that allows him to choose what he burns based on what he can see.

This ability is used in the spa to help burn certain dirt in the pores without damaging the body. It might not be the best use of such an ability, but it pays nicely. Unfortunately, Target Flame can only reach the same temperature as a burning match which limits it greatly, the elementum is minimal and it's mostly an ordinary flame. Therefore, its grade is quite low.

As for the repaired blood contractual link that was mentioned in the previous chapter, it in fact healed out of nowhere a little after they exchanged greetings. They were having random small talk when Catherine felt a soothing flow of elementum only to realise her blood contract was available again!

Catherine was both stunned and overjoyed at this unexpected recovery since the medical specialist had told her that while her contract could recover, the chances were minute.

She had given up hope and had instead spent her time preparing one for Liliana. As her eye shone with joy, she stood up abruptly, making her incredible 32F cups bounce and went to the toilet because she didn't want to bother Aaliyah in case of a false alarm.

Look at herself in the mirror and finding no abnormalities, she sense the elementum for the first time is decades. How it slowly filtered its way in through breathing and settled into her blood. Slowly flowing into her and further settling into her cells.

Everyone had certain amount of elementum; all living things did.

But people like her who had their connection broken were like air, the elementum just passed through. After all, how could it enter their body when they had no channel through which to accept it?

The contract itself was the human psych energy condensed into a unique rune. When that was broken, so was their ability to sense and welcome elementum into their body.

If your body can't even feel the existence of something, how can it retain it?

She herself had a hard time believing it. The adrenaline rush led her to thinking of the encounter Morris had before as it should be nearby. Maybe that was the cause of her healed contract?

She had passed through the area he mentioned on the way to work after all. She walk out the toilet and found Aaliyah chatting with a customer. It was Betty that Morris was going to be servicing today.

A look excitement appeared on her face as she quickly told Aaliyah that she needed to leave to get something and asked her to cover for her. She waved at Betty in greeting and headed for the entrance. Betty went in and prepared for her session.

"Sure thing Cathy but make it quick, today's a busy one in the afternoon... damn Morris just look at dat ass! Can't believe a little angel like Lily popped out of that. I wonder how long it'll take before she realises how obvious it is that her eyes always wander to my legs when we chat at the desk haha."

The crow looked at it's contractor and rolled it's eyes but didn't affirm nor deny anything as it flew to the spa room where his customer was waiting. It was a crow, how was he supposed to understand human aesthetics?

Still full of adrenaline and hope for the future due to her stroke of fortune, Catherine went to see if she could find the cause of her being healed.