Okay, so there really wasn't any suspence since I'm putting these up at the same time. Oh well, I never liked it anyway

Ch. 4

Brago's eyes widened in surprise before his iris's disappeared into white and he turned to face Stripes "What did you do?!"

Stripes smiled at him "Ah, the irony"

Brago growled loudly and squeezed her arm hard, putting an end to her smile before he pulled her face to his, growling more violently.

Stripes glanced away, unable to bear his gaze "H-Hey, it's not my fault you can't keep track of your stuff"

"Give it back!" Brago growled.

Stripes reverted her eyes back to his, glaring with just as much anger "You first, and while you're at it, help me fix the strap you broke" she held up the white strap of the bag and waved it in front of him.

Brago pushed her hand aside "I broke! You're the one who pulled the bag!"

Stripes balled her hands into tight fists "Well, you wouldn't let go!"

They glared at each other's so hard that lightning appeared to spark between their eyes and fought for dominance.

Sherry sighed before stepping in between them "Leave her be, Brago. We haven't been back for very long, so she couldn't have had time to hide it very well, let alone far"

Stripes stepped back and crossed her arms, a smirk surfacing onto her face "Oh, you think so?"

Sherry turned to face her, her glare wasn't bad, but nothing compared to Brago's.

Stripes continued to smirk as she walked back and leaned against a wall "You should really take better care of your things. Not noticing it's been gone all this time, what a shame"

"What are you talking about?" Sherry asked, her gaze unwavering.

Stripes' smirk only grew "I took it back at the airport. After I hid it, I followed your scent from the airport here. Good luck finding it"

Brago and Sherry's eyes widened in shock and fear. They've been in France for almost 24 hours. With a demons abilities, the book could be almost anywhere in France. Brago couldn't bring himself to speak. He could tell she wasn't lying, but how could she have gotten so close without him sensing her.

"How…" Sherry started before Brago had a chance to pop his question. "How did you follow us from Japan? You couldn't have possibly bought a ticket"

Stripes' smile dulled a little, but stayed "I held onto the bird's wing"

Sherry's eyed widened again and she took a step back "You…held its wing…the whole way?"

Stripes' smile finally faded, not really one to brag and she glanced away "Yeah. It wasn't very comfortable, but safer than its head or feet"

Sherry continued to stare in amazement while Brago thought about the trip.

Several hours before, Brago and Sherry were on a plane heading to France. Sherry slept with her head tilted towards the window while Brago sat with his arms crossed trying to enter a meditative state.

A little girl turned from looking out the window to her mother "Mommy, mommy! There's a girl outside!" she said while tugging on her mother's sleeve.

The woman turned and smiled down at her child "You have such a good imagination"

The girl shook her head and frowned "No, a real girl! A she has a tail!"

The woman continued smiling and patted her daughter's head "That's nice dear"

"So that's what she meant" Brago thought before tuning back into Sherry and Stripes' argument.

"I just told you, it's not a bird. It's a machine called an airplane" Sherry said insistently.

Stripes' eye twitched in agitation "And I told you that it doesn't matter. It's just another type of bird"

"It's not alive, so it can't be a bird" Sherry replied through gritted teeth.

Stripes closed her eyes and looked away "Hmph, so some humans killed it and claimed its body for their own use. That doesn't change the fact it's a bird"

"YOU ARE SO THICKHEADED, IT'S PITIFUL!" Sherry yelled, clearly stressed.

Stripes merely glanced at her "It's still a bird"

Sherry started to shake in rage, but Brago interrupted before she could say anymore "What the hell are you arguing about?! If the idiot wants to call it a bird, than let her!"

Stripes looked past Sherry to smirk at him "You're not in any position to call me names. It must really hurt for someone with your kind of reputation to lose something so important so easily"

A vein revealed itself on Brago's head due to his rising blood pressure and he took a step towards her before Sherry blocked his path.

Having made her point, Stripes leaned back against the wall and gave him a reassuring smile "Look, all you have to do is give me my book back and something to fix the bag strap, then I'll give you your book and we can pretend like this never happened"

This was a good offer "Or I could rip your spine out and strangle you with it" but Brago was too angry to realize that.

Sherry's rage faded quickly and she turned to look at her partner "Brago, what's she talking about?" he didn't respond, probably didn't even notice she had spoken to him.

Reasoning wasn't his strong point when angry, and he would be ready to kill if someone pushed him any further.

Stripes lowered her head to pout. "And she called me thickheaded" she mumbled.

With that, Brago's iris's faded behind white once more and he charged at her, claws out for blood. Upon receiving his dark glare, a chill shot up Stripes' spine and she was out the door before he could reach her. Brago slammed into the wall she was leaning against, leaving a decent sized whole before turning and chasing after her. Everything happened so fast that Sherry hadn't noticed until Brago pulled his hand out of the wall and ran off, leaving her with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"….book" she said to herself and turned to look at her suitcase. "I wonder"

Meanwhile, Stripes was running full speed down the hallway, weaving in between and dodging the house staff as she went while Brago just mowed them down if they didn't move.

"Get back here!" Brago yelled

"No!" Stripes said without daring to look back at him

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" he yelled murderously.

Stripes inwardly rolled her eyes "Oh yeah, that'll make me stop" another chill ran up her spine as she felt him drawing closer, so she picked up her pace, fear driving her on.

They ran through the house until they reached the maze of hallways from earlier. This particular hallway had several paths to chose from on each side (Best watched from a distance^^). She turned down the path closest to her and Brago followed close behind. Moments later, she came back to that same hallway on the opposite side and ran diagonally down a different one. Brago appeared soon after from a path at the end of the hallway and ran down the path next to it.

Stripes came out of a path at the opposite end and ran down the path across from it, but quickly returned and ran down a different one even faster as Brago chased after her. They both appeared through to different paths on opposite sides and ran down the ones opposite of theirs. Brago retraced his steps and ran down the one she had. He once again returned to the hallway and decided to wait for her.

He heard scrapping and some dust fell on him, so he looked up and saw her crawling along the ceiling, her claws leaving tiny marks behind.

"Hey!" he yelled.

Stripes quickly dropped to the floor and ran off with him chasing her once again. She came running through a different path, but suddenly fell and was dragged back into the previous one, tearing the carpet with her claws in an attempt to stop. Brago quickly rolled her onto her back sat on her and began choking her.

Stripes grabbed his hands in an attempt to stop him, but it was in vain. "Brago, stop…this…" she was cut off when he squeezed her neck tighter, not wanting to hear her pleading.

She gasped and shut her eyes tightly as he face paled.

"I will not be made a fool of by some no name demon!" Brago growled through gritted teeth.

A moment later, Stripes' hands slid off of his and she sat limply on the ground, paler than ever. Having released some of his anger, Brago realized what he was doing and let go. She immediately gasped for air followed by coughing as Brago rose to his feet and stepped away to give her some room.

He crossed his arms, keeping his back to her "You're lucky I need you alive to show me where you hid my book" he said coldly.

His comment was met with low grumbling noise and he turned to look at Stripes, eyes widening as he got a good look. The grumbling grew into a loud growl that echoed through the halls. She put her hands out and pushed up a little off the ground, keeping her head down and bringing her legs closer. Her hair grew a little longer and frizzy as it darkened to a sickening brown color. Her claws became more defined as they sparkled in the dim lighting, tearing the carpet further as she dug into the floor. Her plain black sneakers ripped open at the front, exposing her sharp clawed three toed feet. The backs also ripped as her supportive back claw emerged. He tail grew longer past her shirt and there was no doubt that it was scaly as it ripped the edge of her shirt while flailing violently. Stripes finally look up at him, her eyes now completely black with green slit pupils.

She roared furiously, the sound vibrating through Brago violently before she charged, quickly stabbing him with one of her hands as the force of her leap moving her forward while pushing him back. Brago gagged momentarily absorbed in the pain before snapping back to his senses. He held his hands together above his head and brought them down hard on the back of her head, sending Stripes face first into the ground, breaking some floorboards, but he didn't stop until he hit the wall at the end of the hallway.

He let out a quiet grunt in pain before looking back at Stripes as she rose. She growled at him un-phased by his attack while his vision began to blur from the large amount of blood he was losing. She came at him again pining him to the wall with one hand while using the other to try and skewer his head. Brago moved his head drastically side to side to dodge her strikes before she caught on to his movements and changed her pattern to catch him off guard.

It worked, Brago was forced to grab her hand, claws barely an inch from his head, but he was losing strength fast. Her hand drew closer, claws scraping lightly against his forehead as she growled yearningly. Brago growled back and with a burst of strength, moved her hand away enough for him to move to the side, her hand plunging deep into the wall immediately after.

He fell to the ground panting and looked up at her as she glared down at him, removing her hand from the wall and creeping towards him.

"Brago?" his attention was drawn to the end of the hallway as Sherry walked towards them.

She quickly stopped and gasped as Stripes turned around to meet her gaze, growling in clear agitation. This was Brago's chance if any and he took it. He forced himself up and grabbed Stripes tightly forcing her hands above her head. She roared and jerked forward trying to throw him off, but he held on tightly. A few more of these and Brago found himself tightly wound around her, one arm now in a choking position around her neck, still holding an arm while the reached for her flailing arm. Stripes managed to reach her flailing arm back and tore upward through Brago's cloak and into his back, forcing more blood out of his system. He immediately yelled and used his free hand to dig deeply into her shoulder trying to somehow ease his pain.

Stripes winced in pain as blood flowed out of her shoulder and down her side. Her hand met with one of Brago's ribs, she grasped it firmly and chucked him over her head, spraying his and her blood around in the process. Brago landed on his back near Sherry and tilted his head to look back at Stripes. She was breathing heavily, half of her drenched in blood from her open neck wound. They just stared at each other before she took an abrupt step forward and fell to the ground out cold.

Sherry bent down to check on Brago, shaking him gently and then more violently to gain and keep his attention, but it wasn't working. He did look at her, but his eyes fluttered shut as he lost consciousness from his own wounds.

Somewhere in one of the many woods of France, a man stood leaning against a tree enjoying a luscious apple. He wore a black hoody with the word slaughter written in red on the back and badly ripped up jeans stained with what appeared to be blood.

He chewed a little before swallowing "So did you find any yet?" he said to seemingly no one.

"Yes, two actually" a voice from the tree above responded.

"Really" the man said intrigued before taking another bite of his apple. "Are they strong?"

"Oh yes, quite strong" the voice replied. "I would like to fight them if they didn't just kill each other"

The man quickly finished the rest of his apple and carelessly discarded the core "Well then, we better go check" he said nonchalantly and began walking off.

Okay, this chapter got a lot crazier than I first intended. I was just so caught up in writing and I love action....with 'real' violence^^