On that same day a year ago, Caihong thought she was going to die. Thirty minutes before she had that thought though, the cool summer night disguised her as she leapt like a gazelle through the shadows of the building, closer to her target. The neighborhood watch sign across the street was an empty threat; nothing around would compare to her combat power. The smell of easy money and the metallic blood of her victim lingered in her nose. One strike to the throat with a sharp vertebra, and that's it. It should've been that easy. As she crept into the house in her bone boa form though, an ominous matryoshka doll stared at her movements. Vandalism wasn't necessary for a stealth mission, but just in case, Caihong sent a mini-drone to disable whatever surveillance tech there was perhaps inside. Now that matter was taken care of. Someone's snoring, hopefully, her victim. Slithering through the crack of the open door, another matryoshka doll appeared. Ignoring it, she crept past it, turned back human, and aimed steadily. However, a series of strings seized her legs and began to sew some stitches into her flesh. Pain shot through her, and she turned around. The doll's shell split to reveal linked yarn dolls wrapped around her. Her surroundings blur in motion, and friction scalded her back before concrete and the night air slammed against her. Caihong ripped the yarn dolls away and pierced her stretching spine at a figure, likely the person behind that trick. The figure turned out to be a petite young woman, more of a girl actually, with black hair, every other riotous strand curling upward in the ends. Someone not part of the plan. The girl dodged the attack and simply stood there. She's a fool for standing there, a hundred possible weak spots exposed like that. Her hand a sharp ivory knife, Caihong pounced for the woman's forehead, but the tip of her knife-hand stood frozen the moment she barely touched her. Her opponent smiled smugly, almost animalistically, and created a ball of yarn onto her own hand.

“You can have that back.”

A tap to the side of the head — SLCH! The impact felt like her own power working against her, the incision exact and ruthless. Surprised, Caihong evaded to a reasonable distance, her torn cloth mask slipping off in the process.

If I keep going like this, I might catch more attention, and the police will come after me.

Caihong dashed away from the neighborhood and into the abandoned construction zone miles away. Agile footsteps followed her.

“Was following me really necessary?” Caihong snarled before evading the exploding matryoshka figures barely popping out out the ground.

She pressed her eyebrow “piercing,” which in fact is a power analyzer.

Not surprisingly, a high-force material was covering the girl, the thing likely protecting her from attacks.

Caihong fashioned two scissor blades from gigantic finger bones and poured some drops of Efkasy Co.'s solution for formidable victims. She advanced with a sweeping cut, but the girl blocked it with a roly-poly toy coming out of her hands. The demon's fingers sliced through the object's chest, and the yarn holding it together jittered wildly before unraveling. The girl eyed the blades nervously for a moment before throwing a small object.

“Shit!” Caihong yelled, seeing its power bar on the analyzer, but — FWWWSH!!

She squinted through the dust, not seeing a human-shaped silhouette anywhere. The other woman disappeared somewhere, but she couldn't have gone far. The device detected a glowing dot near the scaffolds. Her. Caihong walked a few steps toward it before sending more mini-drones to attack her. It should buy some time; the painkillers from hours before were losing their effect already. She slipped three pills, one for neutralizing the high and two for the pain numbing, into her mouth, feeling them dissolve in her saliva. A somatic premonition. She jumped out of the way, and a rush of air pressed against the back of her head. Something narrowly missed her, probably that power.

Caihong dashed toward the source of the glow and launched herself forward with her bones as a spring. Time slowed down in the air, and immediately, she knew the woman was targeting her. However, she refused to be the prey, not today. She turned her torso and with some improvised armor and more poison coating, turned her legs into a ground drill. Her foe tried to shoot her with those annoying things, but she was too slow. Caihong managed to drill off her entire arm and shoulder in a few seconds. She lacerated her ribs as well.

The little woman clutched the twisted remaining flesh, and it regenerated back although slower than expected. She grimaced and spat out something bright and yellow, which discolored the area of concrete that touched it. Caihong did a hook kick, but this time, that deflecting protection was still there and did its work. Although it hurt, it wasn't like before when nearly all of the impact hit back. There's a chance! She forced extra vertebrae to grow onto her arm and whipped at her, but she ended up hitting the air.

Several cuts made their way onto Caihong's whip and up the rest of her arm. This fight was dragging on too long. Her enlarging bones emerged out of her body and transformed into the giant skeleton of a boa. The boa slithered, sensing something small in its track. A flash reflecting the color of the moon popped up. She pounced once more. Shortly after, she tasted her own blood.

Caihong woke up with holes punctured into her body and a broken jaw. Death begged for her to come back home to hell. The fact that she's dying with horrible physical pain added to the pile of disappointment of losing her gig. She pressed a finger onto another piercing, another one of Efkazy’s smart devices. In this case, it tracked her nervous system's activity and sent a wave signal to the company indicating its employee's health.

There's a chance the company might lay her off since she's less useful to them now … if she survives. If that ever happens though, there's always that librarian job.

* * *

It's another dreary day at the library, a reminder of the prison Caihong used to be stuck in. Another month of recent arrivals with its mostly subpar books. Burning Boy? Nah, its ratings are too low. Seduction at its Finest? The title is pretty deceptive for a story that barely mentions sex, but patrons wouldn't be happy seeing it around.

“Hello, buddy. You liking work so far?”

Caihong automatically flinches and looks up to see a handsome man with his long black hair tied to a sleek ponytail. She glares at him before resuming her browse. Of course, that ex-coworker has to be here.

“What do you want from me?”

“To change your bowl cut into something more appealing.”

“Ha. Ha. Very comedic of you. If that’s all you have to say, go away. You’re gonna hold up the line real soon.”

“Fine. Wanna go to my other workplace tonight? You look stressed out. Before my shift starts, we could catch up on things like our personal lives.”

Caihong sighs.

“If I see you doing erotic dances in a jock strap and leather boots again, my sanity would reach an all-time low.”

“You could just turn around and not look at me this time.”

“That doesn't magically erase the image of you obscenely moving your hips.”

“My hip movements are wonderful, thank you very much.”

“Whatever you say,” Caihong states, rubbing her eyes. “You aren't being very persuasive right now for your case. What could make me change my mind?”

“We have more varieties of alcohol than before.”

Her eyebrows raise.

“Oh, I'm in. When can I go?”

…

After library work is done, Caihong drives off to Powerful Sins, an underground club with gaudy neon lights surrounding the building. She squints, partly from disgust, partly from the sheer brightness of the lights hitting her eyes.

Dennis waves to her, and she parks not too far from his location.

“When does your shift start?” Caihong asks.

“In an hour. I want to talk to you while I can. I forgot to give this to you after you got fired from your job at Efkazy almost a year ago,” Dennis says, reaching into his pocket and producing a moderately thick envelope from it. Caihong looks at the envelope then at Dennis uncertainly.

“I can’t take this.”

“Accept it. My conscience would feel better if you do.”

“Didn't you want to move out of your apartment before?”

Dennis waves his hand dismissively as if swatting off flies.

“That's nothing. I mean it's not the worst place to live, and you need the money more than I do.”

A long pause fills in between them.

“Dennis, you bastard … ” Caihong half-heartedly takes the envelope of money and places it away in the glove compartment, slamming the door. “Let's get inside. I'll drink so much I'll forget this ever happened.”

Dennis only smiles and walks out of the way for her to get out of the car.

They enter together. The dark blue walls inside make the spotlights on the barely clad dancers stand out more. However, what catches Caihong's attention more is the upgraded bar adjacent to the stage. She quickly goes to a stool and sits down.

“Bartender, could I get the godmother cocktail?”

After a minute, a glass slides to her, and she takes a slow sip, looking around but making sure not to direct her eyes on the dancers.

Dennis sits next to her and asks, “What have you been doing over the last year?”

“Not much. You?”

“I've been thinking about getting a date.”

“What about your girlfriend? She seems like a perfect match for you.”

“Well, it wasn't perfect, and things didn't work out. Moving on. I want to have a new beginning, and yeah, relationships take work. But still, I don't want to be stuck in this stasis of mundane life.”

“Maybe it'll come soon, and if not soon, someday,” Caihong assures him. A shock hits her. Why tell him this though? She's not invested in human emotions at least, not greatly.

“Maybe … ” Dennis says and gives a sly smile, “never mind.” His smile lingers still.

“Don't make that face. It looks weird,” she replies and lightly pushes his head.

He forces himself to stop despite quiet protest.

In what feels like forever, he leaves to do work. Caihong reluctantly cheers when he goes on stage for his dance routines. She drinks more until her belly could burst. At least, she still has money in her wallet tonight, not to mention the envelope although its contents are better spent elsewhere.

She stumbles her way into her car's passenger seat. Dennis ends up driving the way to her home.

“I wanna throw up,” Caihong mumbles.

“Go ahead and throw up in your own car. Tomorrow you'll have to clean it up anyway,” Dennis replies.

“Shut up. You're tempting me.”

Caihong turns on her music playlist and mindlessly nods her head to the rhythm.

Neither of them say anything else; in any other situation, it would've made a sentimental scene. However, something in the air doesn't make it right for particularly moving emotions.

Fifteen minutes later, BOOOOOOOOM!

A fireball crashes onto the road in front of them, its heat immediately striking and its impact throwing the automobile back a good distance before it lands ungracefully with the car roof over their heads scraping horribly against the road.

“Ah! What the hell?!” drunk Caihong hollers.

Dennis' breathing gets increasingly frantic. They could have died a moment ago; if he had gone a little faster or went slightly earlier, then … A high-pitched noise rings in his ears, and some blood is pouring on his mouth.

He has to get out of here. But how?

Dennis pulls out the headrest from the driver's seat and bashes it against the window, causing it to break a hole.

Before he could tell Caihong to go with him, she had already busted the door and crawled out.

An enormous hole in the road lies between them and the rest of the road to Caihong's house.

“Don't fall into the hole, okay?” Dennis yells to her.

“Even if I do, I can still climb out of there easy-peasy.”

Dennis rolls his eyes at her response. It could be true, but people tend to be overconfident idiots when they're drunk. Caihong might not be exempt from that despite her being a powerful demon.

He peers closer at the hole; in the middle, a young blonde man with a long ragged cloth around his waist is unconscious.