A Cat's Present

With a pep in his step, Hyeon rushed over to the main hall where Nammi supposedly was. Once there, he looked around multiple times but didn't see her.

The few servants present ignored him as they were replacing a broken window next to the entrance door. The one installing the frame was a burly male built like a football player with brown bear ears. A smaller girl handing him equipment when he needed it had transparent wasp wings. Her intimidating stinger poked out from her lower vertebrate.

"Mew," a sound echoed.

His cat emerged from a hallway connecting to the marble room. She was in her derpy form and hobbled over to greet him.

Hyeon squatted to rub her sweet spot on the base of her tail. Nammi purred loudly and raised her hips.

"We have a lot to talk about, Ms. Jólakötturinn."

She responded with a soft trill.

While he was stroking her fuzzy fur, the two servants fixing the window moved with caution since the Icelandic monster was in their presence. More working spirits watched warily as they walked by. Now that Hyeon knew who she really was, their reactions made sense. Perhaps if she wasn't his soul bond, he'd also feel uneasy.

Nammi lifted her paw to gently pat his hand. It was something she did when she wanted something like food or playtime. That was when Hyeon noticed she had a black item in her mouth. Maybe she hunted a mouse and wanted to proudly show him? Usually, Nammi was most proud of the leaves she brings to him.

"What did you catch this time?" he smiled. It was nice having his companion again. Hyeon held out his hand to accept the prize. A bumpy ball landed into his palm.

*Is this a rock?*

Peering closely at it, the object moved and unfurled. It wasn't a rock.

It was a centipede.

"WHA—!" Hyeon yelled, tumbled on his butt, and dropped the bug. When it fell to the floor, it squirmed and slithered towards the broken window. The window's cracked glass was removed and the new one wasn't in place yet. There was still a large, square opening. It was perfect access to escape to the outside garden.

The Kodiak bear spirit saw the commotion. Upon seeing the deadly insect crawling over to them, he yelled, "Centipede!"

He and the wasp woman tried stomping on it. Giving up on fleeing through the construction site, it changed directions to avoid the crushing feet. The other group of servants passing by joined the efforts to kill the centipede.

Hyeon remained stunned on the ground where he tripped.

"Why would you give me that?" he asked incredulously to Nammi. She was in bread loaf-mode. Her face read, 'I'm disappointed in you. Pathetic.'

The commotion grew. Five servants were stomping or smacking the floor with brooms to strike the centipede. It tried so hard to avoid getting hit.

He wasn't a fan of bugs, especially ones with too-many-to-count appendages. But, Hyeon always tried to help a trapped creature when possible. Well, except mosquitoes and flies. Screw those things.

Feeling the guilt of letting this happen, he scrambled over to where the window was being replaced. Some empty boxes sat in the corner. Picking up a 48x48 inch box, Hyeon ran over to the mini riot.

*Where are you, where are you...there!*

It was almost too late. As soon as Hyeon saw the arthropod, the bear hybrid held up a metal rod in the air to make a bullseye strike.

Without thinking, he dove with the box. Hyeon's newly awakened animal blood had improved his speed. He placed the cardboard cube over the centipede, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid the metal rod's blow. The steel pole made contact with his right hand's knuckles.

Bones cracked. Hyeon sucked in a breath and groaned painfully. The force crushed the middle and forefinger knuckles into tiny pebbles. A series of curse words saturated his mind and his eyes saw white specks.

"Why would you do that?" the bear roared. His human face was mixed with worry and bewilderment.

"Ha, you're going to the basement for damaging the Lord's soul food, Koda," another servant exclaimed. The one that talked had a buzz-cut hairstyle. Emerging from his white and brown speckled hair were three-foot-long bull horns on either side.

"I didn't—he—," Koda stammered. He crossed his hairy arms and sighed with annoyance. "Dumb kid," directing it to Hyeon. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the clinic?"

Hyeon's hand shook with deep pain. Since his body could mend an injury quicker, the spot was preparing for the healing process. The injured skin already swelled with dark purple and blue bruises. Such bruises would take days to show up. "No, it's fine. I'm going to put this thing outside to free it."

Everyone eyed his obviously messed up hand, thinking he should seek out medical treatment.

"If you say so," Koda said with uncertainty. "But why do you want to save a demon?"

*A d-demon?*

Hyeon opened the tabs to look in the box. The centipede wiggled on the cardboard sides, unable to grasp onto the material to get out. Now that he could get a better look, the bug had multiple mustard legs and a red head. If it weren't for the chocolate brown, beady eyes, he would've thought it was a normal insect. The eyes were the same color as the demon that basically killed him in the forest.

His stomach became queasy. The incident was recent, so the memory of burning venom traveling through his body was all too fresh. Should he let them destroy it? After what he went through this week, the centipede deserved it.

Nammi meowed behind him. That's right.

*She must've brought it here for a reason, yeah? And this was the demon we needed to catch. As much as I hate to admit after it attacked me, it was only doing what it does naturally.*

So why did he want to save a demon?

"Because I'm stupid," Hyeon replied to the group in defeat. This confused them. The centipede heard the answer and stopped moving desperately. Its little, gross head peered up at him.

"He wants you to pick him up," Koda informed.

"How do you know that?"

"We were all demons at one point and never lost the ability to communicate telepathically."

*Do I really have to?*

Hyeon told the centipede, "If you pinch me or try to run away, you'll be squished. I'm much stronger than I was when we met. Got it?"

Of course, he couldn't hear its reply. Hyeon reached inside to let it touch his hand. When the yellow legs poked his skin to climb, his body trembled in instinctual disgust.

*It's just a bug. A demon bug. A cute one,* telling himself.

Taking it out from the box, the centipede's antennas were tapping on the bloated bruise. The bug was much more docile.

"That's interesting," the bull spirit said.

"What is?" Hyeon asked quietly to not provoke it.

Koda spoke up. "It's showing gratitude for giving mercy by acknowledging your injury. A demon never does that."

Suddenly, someone darted out to grab the tiny beast from Hyeon's arm. The movement made everyone jump.

Sani pinched the centipede's head between his fingers so it couldn't bite or break free. "And where did you get this sneaky guy from?"

Nammi came up and rested at Sani's feet. He looked down and realized it was she who captured it. "Ah, makes sense since a normal demon can't cross the border. Maybe I should send you next time to go get them?"

She purred back.

"Alright, back to work," Sani told the distracted group. "Fun's over."

As they returned to their duties, Hyeon wondered what was going to happen next. "What are you going to do with it?"

"Follow me and you'll find out."

_______________

They were in a long corridor below the castle with many white, steel doors. Sani opened the first one. The inside revealed to be a solitary confinement room, just like a prison when an inmate becomes dangerous.

While observing the deep scratches running down the walls, Hyeon rubbed his wounded hand. The shattered knuckles were moving little by little to snap back into place. A month's worth of healing occurred in a matter of thirty minutes. Perhaps stopping the bo-staff practices with Shika won't be impossible after all.

"Is this the basement? I've heard a lot about this place."

"Basement? No, definitely not. That's way underneath us. This is just a holding place for newly caught demons until their initiation," Sani said, chucking the arthropod into the room. After locking it shut, he slid open a small, metal flap used to serve meals.

Hyeon watched in amazement as the centipede erupted in charcoal smoke. Since being here, there have only been a few instances to witness this transition. Once the smoke evaporated, it revealed its human form. He wore the same shabby gym shorts and grey t-shirt from their previous rendezvous. His shoulder-length, sandy hair had cowlicks. Like a scary movie, he stood perfectly still in the center of the room. His brown eyes were hidden behind his dirty hair, but the death-stare at Sani peered through the strands.

"Why didn't he transform before?" Hyeon asked.

"Because of your cat."

*Oh shizz.*

Sani talked to the demon. "What should we call you?"

Instead of responding with a name, the detainee thrusted his segmented tail at the tiny opening. The other end of its tail had that terrifying centipede head with button black eyes. The pinchers tried to crunch at Sani, but they were too big to fit through.

"Savage, I see," he said, not surprised. Sani re-shut the flap door. They could hear him go berserk against the door.

"It's always left up to me to decide on a name, but I'll leave it to you until the initiation. He seems to have taken a liking to you."

*What?*

"Me? Then when should I decide?"

"A few hours." Sani patted Hyeon's back in encouragement.

NANI, he screamed mentally in his best anime voice.