James sat back before crossing his arms. With Grace's slight nod, he was prepared to tell her more when he felt the shadow that had been following him move closer.

"I can't talk about it here," he said after the shadow stopped.

"Why not?"

Pointing at the wall, he started to get up. "Because we have a visitor and they want to learn all of my secrets."

"Huh?"

Ignoring Grace's confusion, James walked over to the wall and felt the fear from the shadow that had been following him. Before they could flee, he locked them down with his soul, pressing them against the wall.

"You're not leaving this time." Reaching out, he grabbed the shadow and pulled them from the realm they had been hiding in. With a small pop, a woman materialized in his grasp.

"What the fuck?" Grace yelled.

The other patrons of the tavern watched with wide eyes as James held the woman in the air. Looking her over, he felt his frown grow. "A kitsune?"

The woman scratched at his arms, trying to pull herself from his grasp. Her sharp claws tore his clothes, but failed to do anything more.

Carrying her over to his table, he set down the black haired kitsune. She only had one tail out at the moment with its black fur and white tip. Her pointed ears twitched as she started to growl. "Let me go!"

Sitting her down, he made sure her tail didn't kink. "Don't try to move. You won't like what happens."

Grace opened and closed her mouth several times as she gawked at the sudden appearance of the woman. "Wha…"

James let the kitsune go and she promptly tried to flee. Locking her down with his soul distorted the air around her as she collapsed. "I told you that you wouldn't like what happen if you tried to flee." Picking her back up, he put her back in the chair.

Gasping for each breath, the woman twitched and groaned before he let up. Once his soul was gone, she slumped until her head was resting on the table.

"So, Shadow," he started. "I believe you have much to explain."

Her teary eyes turned to him. "J-just k-kill me…"

Her weak response pulled at him in a way he wasn't expecting. Sitting down next to her, he rested his hand between her ears. "I'm not going to kill you."

"I failed," she whispered.

Rubbing her ears, he felt her tense but that didn't stop him from continuing. "Before I explain my stuff, I think we should move to a more secure room."

"I'll tell my staff," Grace said before jumping up.

James watched her hurry into the back before shouting that she was stepping out. Another bar tender hurried to the front before Grace came back over with a bottle of liquor.

"Is that needed?" he asked.

Pointing the kitsune, she gave her answer.

With a small nod, he stood and picked up the kitsune. She squeaked in protest as he tossed her over his shoulder and started walking. Pushing her tail out of his face, he left the tavern and entered the inn next door. Bunny gasped as she saw them. "It's fine!" he called out as he didn't slow down.

Grace stopped for only a moment. "We aren't doing anything untoward to her."

Grunting, he slowed his pace until Grace caught up. Reaching the fourth floor, he unlocked his door and set the kitsune down on his bed. "Stay."

"I'm not a dog!" she growled.

Bonking her head lightly, he repeated his order. Grumbling, she crossed her arms and waited.

James moved Grace to sit next to her before taking the chair at the small table. "First, let's begin with your name."

"Zenaria," the kitsune whispered.

"Pretty name." Grace took the kitsune's hand and held it in her lap.

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"Not that it will matter for long," Zenaria stated. "I failed my mission."

"Sure," James said, "and I'm the leader of a band of cultivators that are going to flip this city and break the sect."

Both women looked at him with wide eyes.

"You're lying, right?" Grace asked.

"Nope! I thought we were all telling truths."

Rubbing her temples, Grace fell back on the bed. "What did I just get myself into…"

James frowned and rested his arms on the table. "You can leave anytime you like. The kitsune cannot."

"No…" Grace said with a groan. Sitting up, she opened the bottle and took a long pull. Handing it to the kitsune, she asked, "why are you sleeping with me if you have Amber?"

Taken aback by the question, James didn't answer right away. He did notice Zenaria leaning in. Taking a slow breath, he answered, "I had just broken up with Luna when I met you. One thing led to another and well…anyways. Amber doesn't care because she's not ready to be in a relationship with me. She doesn't want to be the rebound girl that will hurt our relationship long term."

Nodding slowly, Grace said, "she wants you to experience the world a bit more before settling down."

"Exactly." Shrugging, he pointed at Zenaria. "Also, she eavesdropped at your house earlier. I could feel her lust the entire time."

"What?" Grace shouted.

Zenaria choked on her drink.

Laughing, James quickly added, "yeah, she's been following me around since the first day. She knows quite a bit already, and I'm sure she can guess what's going to happen today."

Glaring at him, Zenaria set down the bottle. "I wasn't filled with lust."

Raising his brow, he held her gaze until she withered.

"Maybe a little…it's been a long time, okay!"

Shaking his head, James asked, "why do you think you failed? You obviously have enough information for Tian. What more did you need?"

"It was open ended. I wasn't supposed to be fully discovered. How the hell did you even rip me out of the shadow realm?"

Laughing, James held up his hand to stop her from growling. "Amber has something similar, but stronger. If I can pull her out of it, you don't stand a chance. Now, there's a bit I want to tell both of you and you'll have to make a choice."

They both nodded, filled with intrigue as they passed the bottle back and forth. Starting with what he cultivated and how the others joined him, he took them through the basics of what he does. He didn't talk about why he was in the city, at least not fully, but he did describe the power each person had. Explaining the soul and how he could feel others took a bit longer and by the time he was done, Jamie was just getting to the noble compound. Amber had just reached the first manor. He needed to finish with the ladies so he could focus.

"You can give us these powers?" Grace asked.

"Yes," he answered. "But there's more to explain before you make a choice. There's a curse to our powers that I need to go over and I don't have time. Zenaria, I'll be in this room for a few hours and can answer some of your questions. It's up to you to decide what to take back to Tian. Grace, you have work and I'll explain more tonight when you are done."

Getting up, Grace walked over and kissed him. "We'll use your room this time. Also, don't forget to visit Mave soon."

Before he could respond, she was out the door. Zenaria pulled her knees to her chest and watched him.

"I need to concentrate. Jamie is about to begin." Turning his attention to Jamie, he felt her confidence as she walked around the perimeter of the large compound.

***

Jamie judged the stone walls of the complex to be fifteen feet tall. Easily surmountable, but they did have barbs on the tops. Still, she could get over it if needed. A few cracks and slightly crumbled sections didn't fully break the walls, but did make them weaker and she debated exploiting them. Fortunately, she didn't need to.

The front gate was open and obviously trapped by enchantments. Two of them looked like sensor alarms and as she studied their design, she got ideas for her own. Another two looked like shock traps that would paralyze whoever walked over them. If those weren't bad enough, the main enchantment for the gate was a key enchantment that turned everything off if someone had the proper corresponding rune on their person. If they didn't, fire would erupt from the major enchantment, killing the person.

Further study of the walls revealed even more enchantments on the barbs and tops of the walls. Strengthening enchantments were designed to make the stone stronger. The barbs could grow in length if something passed to close to them. All of this was manageable to get around.

I wonder if James would simply walk through everything.

Shrugging as she didn't know, she decided to jump the wall. With her increased body cultivation from her soul, she easily cleared the fifteen feet, plus an additional ten to reach the other side.

Landing lightly in the grass, she marveled at the short complex. It was only one story tall, but with a quick scan of her soul, she found people below the surface.

So, it goes down, rather than up.

Moving to the front door, she found that there were no windows on the outside, it was pretty drab and unnerving and there were even more enchantments on the outside. She had to step over multiple fire and shock traps. A few traps designed to freeze their target, and even one that tethered a person in place.

James was going to be curious how she knew what each enchantment did, but she had already reached level five with enchanting, and the ones she was finding were child's play.

She also knew he was stuck at level two and hadn't figured out how to progress. He'd figure it out eventually, but she wasn't going to help him. She liked being better at something than he was.

Reaching the front door, she found it locked up tight by multiple enchantments. Summoning her soul to her finger, she carved through the runes and pushed the door open. To her surprise, there were actually guards on the other side.

They looked confused on why the door suddenly opened. It was clear that they didn't notice her, which was still odd with her waving her hands in front of them. The two guards were bears with their large size and rounded ears. Summoning her daggers, she threw one at each of them, impaling their hearts.

Gnashing her teeth to the pain of her curse, she dismissed the blades and kept moving. Inside the compound, there were less traps and with the enchanted key she found on the guards, she was able to bypass them with ease.

Finding the stairs down, however, was much harder. She had to scan the walls and floor for nearly half an hour before she found the hidden stairs. The real job was about to begin.

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