of prey and predator 🔞(Angel Devourers #3) WangXian FF & OC

39

The fog was cold, yet they walked through it, climbing every step that seemed to be never ending, until suddenly it cleared to show a red Torii gate, the entrance to the shrine.

"If this is the gate, where's the shrine?" She whispered to Noah. 

"Why are you whispering?" Noah lifted his brow with laughter in his eyes.

"I don't know! It just seems so… eerie. A shrine out of nowhere, hidden by a powerful barrier, what if we entered some kind of a catastrophe-level monster's lair?"

"I wonder what kind of anime you watched to come to this kind of conclusion." Noah couldn't help but chuckle at her remarks. Sometimes she just acted like a tween, just like this, and it amused him so.

"I– how did you know I watch anime?" She gasped and felt shy, because it was exactly her favourite pastime when she was younger. Not only did they entertain her, she learned some of her crazier moves from them. Not lately though.

"I have a feeling." He pinched her nose fondly, as they continued climbing the stairs, until suddenly the fog dispersed and they saw a huge traditional Japanese wooden house, a two floor minka. It was located in the middle of a huge dark lake, and there were individual stone paths that led to it. They could see that the house was bright and it didn't have any menacing presence. They both looked at each other and intertwined their hands before they walked the path together.

It didn't take long for them to reach the house, when they were greeted by a voice.

"Welcome."

Noah instinctively shielded Feng Yue behind him, as he looked at the direction of the voice who greeted them. 

The voice belonged to a woman of undetermined age, who wore a traditional red kimono with peach blossoms embroidered on it. She had a pleasant face, and she was smiling at them.

"Hello there. This is a beautiful place. Are you the owner?" Noah asked her in his low voice, but he didn't lower his guard, although he didn't feel any ill-intent from the woman. He doubted if she was human though.

"I'm just a humble guardian of this place." She bowed down deeply to them. "It is an honor to meet you both, and I think it's fate who sent you here to help us. If you don't mind, would you like to hear our story?"

Noah looked at Feng Yue, who decided to move forward to see the woman more closely.

"Sure, please do tell us about your story. We love a good story, don't we, baby?" She nudged at Noah, who nodded. If that's how she wanted to play, then he would follow.

"Please, do come in, we have prepared a humble feast for you both." She gestured for them to walk inside the minka, which was opened and showed a traditional Japanese room with tatami and there was a low table in the middle, filled with abundant food.

Both of them walked inside, while Feng Yue quietly cast a protection array on Noah's back. But she was surprised when it bounced right back. Someone had already put a stronger protection array on him. She had a suspicion that it might be Xie Lian, her uncle, judging from the strength alone. But why did he put a very strong protection array on Noah?

Well, that's a question for another day. Right now, she was very interested in this non-human entity. She could see her aura, and it was different from any other monster she ever saw. The human form was made by an obvious effort of a few smaller entities. She thought that maybe they would ask them for help about something, an exorcism maybe, since she could faintly feel a dark aura somewhere not too far away. And it seemed that Noah could feel it too.

The other possibility was that they were being led into the beast' lair as a sacrifice.

Anyway, they could always fight their way out of that, although with the risk that Noah would somehow find out about her true identity. But his safety would always come first, no matter what the consequences.

They sat side by side on the low table, and the woman started to serve them tea. The food was one of the most delicious and freshest sashimi, sushi, grilled unagi that was out of this world, and other varieties of seafood. Feng Yue tried a couple of dishes first, since she had a poison resistant body, and she didn't feel that anything was amiss, so she served Noah, who ate them all with gusto.

"This is the best seafood I've ever tasted." She spoke to the woman, who kneel before them and watched them eat with satisfaction in her dark eyes. Feng Yue swore that she saw that her pupils were like those of a snake, and she had a good idea what this was all about, after all, she grew up learning about myths and tales of monsters of the different countries, to familiarize herself with the local monsters. "So, tell me, what favor would you like to ask from us?"

The woman looked at her, and at Noah, then she bowed deeply to them, while crying.

"Please, please save our Toyotama-hime, she was consumed by anger over her husband's breaking his promise and we don't know how to calm her." Her voice was trembling. "We tried to do everything we could think of, but she's in a rage, especially when Hoori-sama took their child away from here. We have to seal her inside the hallowed cave, but she's growing stronger each day. We can not hold the barrier anymore, that's why when we found out that you're here, in this realm, we invited you in. Please help Toyotama-hime…"

Toyotama-hime… the Dragon God–Ryujin's daughter. 

"Toyotama-hime, as in Ryujin's daughter?" Noah asked the woman. 

"You know the Japanese deities too?" She became very impressed with Noah's knowledge. 

"Well, if your works involve monsters and demons and deities, you have to learn about all of them, and from all nations. And it seems like you're familiar with them too."

"Only from books." She smiled at him. "So, no need for more words. Please take us to the hallowed cave. We will see what we can do for your Toyotama-hime." 

"Arigato gozaimasu, Shinigami-sama. Please, follow me this way."

What.

Did she just refer to her as Shinigami, the Grim Reaper? Fuck. This little snake must have thought that she was her mother, Wei Wuxian. That explained her words earlier, that they found out that she was in this realm.

Feng Yue glanced at Noah, but he didn't seem to understand the Japanese words, since his face didn't show any unusual sign. She sighed. This was all too much, all those lies. She'd better come clean to Noah soon.

The woman led them to the back of the house, where there was a strong kekkai, a barrier, to prevent whoever inside from escaping. But Feng Yue could feel that the barrier was weakening, and there was something else too, something… unusual.

"We should go inside the cave to see her." Noah spoke to Feng Yue. He actually heard what the woman called her, and since he was quite fluent in Japanese, he understood that the woman was calling Feng Yue the Grim Reaper, and he knew right away that she mistook her as Wei Ying. But he kept his face neutral so as not to let her know that he knew. On the positive side, he'd trust her to have his back, since if she's really Wei Ying's daughter, then she would be at least at the same level with her mother. Which was at the catastrophe-level. On second thought, he wasn't really sure if Feng Yue's self-control was better than Wei Ying. Hopefully so. Otherwise this island would be no more.

"Yes, let's see what's really happening to Toyotama-hime." Feng Yue started the process to unseal the barrier. "I have a feeling that something sinister may be in play here."