AN: The bear-kin girl shows up in this one, and there's a bit of a twist to it.

Anyways, thank you for reading. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know down below.

__________________________________________

The bear-kin showed up the day after the pair of white cat-kins were gifted to the torturer. Who, by the by, was very grateful to accommodate the pair. You see, he's been quite lonely of late, and only had rats and the odd cat to torment and tear apart. There was one fact he mentioned, when I graced him with my presence- as a human- the next day, the pair of cat-kins were of the rare variety. In that, they felt one another's joy, sorrow, and, most importantly, each other's pain.

He demonstrated this by slamming a wooden mallet into the male cat-kin's shin. There was an audible snap, and the pair of them screamed in pain. This was interesting to me, and I wondered what would happen to the male if the female was stimulated sexually. The torturer's expression was positively evil, which got me grinning madly, as he began to insert two rods into the lower part of the female, who was tied to a chair with her legs splayed out. She was struggling, pleading, as the torturer began supplying the rods with a type of electrical magicks. The cat-kin screamed with pleasure, as her fluids erupted from her body, forcing the rods out like missiles from a tube. The male, who had been chained to a wall and could no longer support his body, had ejaculated into an odd container.

When I questioned him about it, he said, "The cat-kins are rare specimens for magickal and alchemical users. Their flesh, blood, and semen are used in a variety of ways. From increasing a male's libido and a woman's fertility rate, to creating poisons and enriched fertilizers for bountiful harvests. These reasons alone are what killed most of them off. How they flew under the radar for so long is a mystery."

"They kept mentioning a 'Mistress'-"

"Her?" He scoffed, then looked thoughtful, "Yes, she would keep them safe, but to send them here? They must have been well guarded, or she didn't much care for them." The female cat-kin glared up at us, opened her mouth to speak, but found it gagged by one of the torturer's assistants. "Now, now. Can't have you talking just yet," he giggled as another of his assistants pushed in a cart full of odd tools and devices. It was here that I realised most of them were for females.

"I've never had a woman down here before," he giggled maniacally at me, "I'm going to have SO much fun with her."

He paused for a moment when I asked him who this 'Mistress' was. "Her?" He looked annoyed for a moment, then shrugged, "She runs a whorehouse in the Red Light District. Hard to miss, really, as it is the largest building there." His face twisted in disgust at this point, "Which reminds me. She also runs an orphanage in the back, and most of the end up becoming part of the whorehouse when they grow up."

I pressed him for further details, but he only shrugged saying, "My... 'clients' are the ones who said it, so don't take my word on it, but about a year before you lot showed up, there was a scandal in which that whorehouse allowed children to be bedded. Of course, it was shut down, and reopened with the 'Mistress' in charge, but a few people have claimed it's still possible."

I was fuming as I left, and could hear the torturer's maniacal laughter echoing throughout the dungeon and halls leading to that section. This was soon followed by the screams of ecstasy and pain of both the male and female cat-kins. It was my desire to head down to this 'Red Light District', to give into the madness that called out to me, and kill everyone and everything, but I held on. I gripped the madness that threatened to overwhelm me, and kept it at bay. Because I knew, if I let it go, then I would have to leave the country. No one would want a rampaging thing loose in their country, and, thrall or not, I would be hunted down by the queen and her army.

This was a sobering thought, and I would have to be tactful.

I calmed down after an hour of crushing boulders near my cathedral, when the bear-kin appeared before me. She was crying, and demanded to know if what everyone says was true. When asked what she meant, she cried, "Everyone says Priscilla, Maggi, Sakura, and Sasuke tried to kill the queen, and that you killed them!" She was bawling her eyes out, as I came up to her. She embraced my cracking human form, and I began to pet her head slowly.

"Though it pains me to say this," it did not, by the way, "I did kill him, and he did try to kill the queen. You see, he had fallen into a trap of another noble who wanted the throne. I do not recall which noble it was, but they have been dealt with. You see, this noble began to put poisonous thoughts into our 'hero's' head, which caused him to act out and gather his companions to try and kill her.

"Luckily for her, she had myself and the Undying. Do you remember them?" She nodded with wide eyes, and I continued spinning my tale for her, "This noble was against having them around, because they could not be corrupted by his words and coin. So he wanted to take over, and become the king. My guess was, he told the 'hero' he was the rightful king, or some such nonsense, which spurred the hero into attacking her even more so. Although, why he attacked her in full view of every noble was beyond me, but it was my guess that he would have had... Pricilla, was it?, mesmerise everyone to some degree. So that they may do away with the queen quickly.

"However, I do not believe he remembered that I am who I am, and thus resistant to any forms of mental attacks. Unfortunately," my eyes grew sorrowful at this point, "I killed Pricilla so that all may know of his treachery, and the rest of them were subsequently killed afterwards."

She stood there, stunned for a time with wide eyes. There was a vacant look in them, and she crumpled onto her hands and knees. She looked lost, hopeless, helpless, and I secretly smiled down at her. 'You're mine now, little bear-kin,' my own thoughts were maddeningly joyful, as I looked down at her fragile self, 'Too bad I cannot have loose ends,' and I began to reach down towards her. I was fully intending to strangle her whilst laughing in her face, but she startled me sober with her next action.

She hugged my cracking human body tightly, until the illusion shattered, and her small body was hugging my poisoned soaked neck. There were shredded bits of cloth about my person, but I was stunned. Not knowing what to do, I began to lightly stroke her head and back with a clawed finger.

'Well,' I thought slowly, 'I guess she'll live for a few more days.'

*****

The bear-kin fell asleep soon afterwards, and was placed on the only bed in the cathedral. I began hunting for a pair of usable pants soon after, and once they were on, began the long walk back to the castle with her in my arms.

Truth be told, she was really adorable in my arms, but she really did have to die. If only she would have joined me when I asked, I would have enjoyed having a corrupted bear-kin for an ally. The thought of her laughing maniacally as she slaughtered countless humans caused the edges of my imaginary lips to twitch upwards. It really was a wonderful thought, but alas, it was for naught.

I sighed heavily, and placed her within an unoccupied room's bed. Tucking her into the bed, I pat her head a few times, and was rewarded with a small smile as she snuggled into the sheets. "Sasuke...," she murmured, which caused me to snarl and snatch my hand away. At this point, my thoughts turned to madness. 'He's dead!' Came one thought, which was quickly followed by, 'It should be ME!'

In my mind, I roared and howled at the thoughts, causing them to grow silent. 'She is NOT mine,' I howled at them, 'I NEVER wanted her for THAT! This will not turn into a scenario of "If I cannot have her, then no one will". No, she will die because she is a loose end. Besides, the feline girl-child will fill that role.' I grinned menacingly as I turned to leave the bear-kin alone.

Sobering up, I called a few Undying over to my person. Once gathered, I had a couple stand guard in front of the bear-kin's room. They are to inform me the moment she wakes up, but not to allow her to find me. To the rest, however, they are to find out where she lives and slaughter them down to the last infant. This was done to insure there are no others who were immune to my poisoned, acidic bones. Human or otherwise, they all had to die. However, I had to make sure they went in disguise as another faction. That way, if they've ties to a tribe of bear beastmen, then that tribe would go after the other. I told them it was up to them on which they chose, so long as it wasn't the Night Stalkers. The feline girl-child was adorable, and I did not want some random assassin of an equally random bear tribe trying to kill what was under my care.

If you are wondering why I did this, I would tell you it was to tie up any loose ends, and to prevent anyone from becoming a potential thorn in my side, but the truth was far simpler. I wanted to break her. It really is just that simple. You see, she just lost the person she loved, so how far over the edge would my shove be, when my Undying kill her family in the guise of another tribe? I wanted to be there when she heard the news. I wanted to see her reaction, and the reaction of the torturer when I tell him what she went through before dying.

Yes, I would tell the torturer. Did you know? Madness attracts madness, and I wanted to know how his experiments with the cat-kins went before venturing off to take care of this "Mistress."