The first thing Logan did after the spar was redirect all his internal energy to his regeneration. As he did, all of the cuts Lilith’s claws left quickly closed. He couldn’t help but to let out a sigh of relief as the last of the wounds finished paining him. He glanced at the scar the healing left behind on his arm, watching as it turned from an inflamed red to a reflective white. He was glad they never lasted or else he would’ve looked like a bundle of scars with the occasional patch of skin.

  “Admiring my work?” Lilith teased as they walked down the hall side by side.

  “Just making sure you didn’t leave anything behind.” Although difficult to inject a foreign mana into a beast cursed, it wasn’t impossible for someone on the level of Lilith to slip in a little with one of her attacks.

  She gave him a look like what he said was both a horrible insult and an impossible accusation. “Oh Logan, why would you think I’d ever do something like that? It was just a little spar.”

  All he did was send back a blank stare.

  “Okay, fine. But that was one time, and that was because you excited me too much. You know I have a hard time holding back when my juices get flowing.”

  “Fool me once,” he said, letting the rest of the saying speak for itself.

  “It’s not like it’d hurt you even if I did leave a little something behind.”

  “No, you’d just be able to find me anywhere and bother me for the next month.”

  She laughed. “That was fun. You got so paranoid.”

  “Do you blame me? I woke up with you staring at me twice, you almost messed up a mission by startling me when I was carrying a delicate artifact, and you randomly shot me with shadow bolts near daily. Of course I was paranoid.”

  “But your situational awareness improved so much by the end, and you figured out how to purge foreign mana all by yourself. You know, there’s a lot of beings that would kill to have so much of my attention.”

  As much as he didn’t want to admit it, she was right. His situational awareness had improved dramatically, especially when it came to anything involving mana.

  “I’m still not going to thank you.”

  “Never said you should. I had fun and that’s enough.”

  He swore that Lilith and her obsession for entertainment would end him one day. If it wasn’t a spar she “asked” for it was some sort of other dangerous outing. An example was back when he was still a fresh Guardian and she bothered him constantly for a solid week before he broke to join her in trying out some being fighting pits. The worst part was that he actually did have fun in the end and learned a few tricks from the brawlers. They were both summarily banned from the place when she sent three opponents to the healers with serious injuries and when they fought it was apparently “too gruesome for even the bloodthirsty to enjoy.” Again, let’s hear it for magical regeneration and an increased pain tolerance. On reflection, her outings had a 7-3 split with the majority being successful to some extent.

  They walked in silence until they reached one of the most beautiful places on Earth, the Crystal Caverns. The cave system hidden under the HQ was the distillation of iridescent beauty. From the floor and ceiling grew natural mana crystals of all sizes that, unlike their artificial counterparts with their cloudy blue, shone with every color there could be. It only got better as they entered and followed the formed stone pathway carefully held above the floor and fifty feet below the arched ceiling. With every step the gems completely shifted colors in a dance better than any kaleidoscope could dream of showing. One would think that such a display would be an epileptic’s nightmare, fortunately for them there had never been a case of such a reaction even with the most sensitive of such afflictions.

  After the wonder of the crystals that gave the caverns their name was one of the best places for meditation at HQ. The rough stone tunnel led the pair to a grand chamber of green and blue. Towering waterfalls descend into a large pool with dozens of flat stone islands spread across the surface, all surrounded by deep green moss fed by the ever present mist.

  Unlike the aura of energy and wonder the previous tunnel gave off, the chamber infused everyone who entered with a feeling of serenity. It was a place of peace that was so rare in the outside world. It could calm a raging beast as easily as assisting a monk with enlightenment. Logan realized that it might actually be a good idea to bring Sarah there. Since she was having a hard time accepting her predator side, taking an hour or two to meditate in such an atmosphere should be good for her.

  He took a deep breath to let the lightly mana infused mist fill his lungs and enter his body. Unlike when Lilith injected him with her mana, the springs released mana with such purity that anyone, even a human, could absorb without adverse effects. The calm increased as the mana began flowing through him, finding and dispersing the smallest impurities.

  Before stepping foot on the soft moss the two Hunters went through an unofficial ritual. They started with removing their boots, emptying their pockets, and putting whatever weapon they had on a set of nearby shelves. After getting rid of everything not clothing they put their hands together and bowed to the spring. Only after bowing did they walk to the pool’s edge, the impossibly soft vegetation sinking under their bare feet every step, and stepped in. The cool water welcomed them as with every step they and their clothes were cleansed. The blood staining Logan’s near everything barely entered the water before disappearing, the crystal clear pool returning to as clean as before they entered.

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  The further they entered the thicker the mist and mana became. He stopped about halfway in where the mana was concentrated enough to be purifying while not being enough to feel uncomfortable. If he was a regular being with innate mana he might have been able to go further, but there was enough. He submerged himself to get the last of his blood and filth off before climbing up onto one of the islands and sat in a lotus pose. With deep breaths he began sinking into meditation with every breath dropping him deeper and deeper, his overactive mind slowing until reaching a steady stillness.

  It wasn’t even a minute after Logan reached his calmest point when a voice came from his mental depths. It was a deep rumble and spoke in an almost forgotten dead language, Old Norse. “It’s been a while hasn’t it?”

  Without opening his eyes Logan responded mentally. “It has. And why have you denied to speak with this mere mortal? If you hadn’t noticed, I'm trying to relax.”

  The voice chuckled, “Oh don’t be like that. You know I only poke my nose in when it gets interesting.” Logan could hear the wolf’s smile.

  “Or when you want something. So which is it?”

  “Can’t it be both? It's been a while since we’ve met another possessed. You think they’re up to a date or two? If they’re not up to that, them maybe a quick romp in the forest? It should do them some good.”

  Logan scoffed. “Seriously? You’re such a horn-dog. And no, I’m pretty sure neither of them are anywhere near stable enough for any kind of relationship.”

  “Are you sure? Tell me they wouldn’t be interested if you walk up to them shifted, shirtless, hungry and with a fresh buck over your shoulder. They would be drooling in more ways than one.”

  “You need to grow up.”

  “And you need a lay. How long has it been, thirty years? You know if the tiger isn’t your thing they go for the demon. I’ve been trying to get you to tap that for decades. You saw how flexible she was. I mean, damn.”

  “Is poking at my love life all you wanted? If so, go away.” He said as he had to stabilize himself to stay in his meditation.

  “You’ve gotten boring,” the wolf said exasperated before shifting into a reminiscent tone. “Remember when we first met? We went on so many great slaughters together.”

  Logan’s focus almost broke as bloody memories flashed past his mind’s eye. Claws and jaws closing on screaming men, the pain of bullets impacting him before tearing apart the ones who dared hurt him and the sheer satisfaction of the greatest hunt he may ever have. It was a dark part of his life that he would prefer to keep buried.

  “As I said, go away,” he growled as he barely stabilized.

  “Fine, fine, if you’re going to be like that I’ll leave,” Fenrir said as Logan felt the wolf’s presence withdraw.

  Just as he was going to take a thankful breath the bastard returned, “Oh and one more thing.”

  “What?!”

  His joviality turned dead serious. “Be careful of the tiger spirit. There’s something going on there and I can’t put my paw on it.”

  Logan frowned, “are you sure?”

  “Do I lie?” Fenrir asked with his previous tone returning.

  He was right. No matter how much the wolf tried to mess with him, they never lied. “Fine, I’ll keep my eye on them.”

  “You know I’d be easier to do that if you went on a few dates.”

  “Alright, that’s it!” Logan said forcefully pushing the spirit away with the echo of rumbling laughter.

  He sighed as silence finally returned and his mind stilled, his body soon joined his mind in a place of relaxed peace. Like the water around him all his tensions and worries were purified. He wasn’t sure how long he remained that way, all he knew was that for the first time in what felt like forever he was at peace.

  His peace was abruptly destroyed when a sharp nail trailed from his throat up to his chin. With the contact came a feeling of happy contentment. It was the silent joy that came from just sharing a space with your loved one. His spine shivered and eyes snapped open then the emotions were combined with the sharp sensation under his chin.

  Instead of a seductress grinning at him like he expected his eyes opened to find a sharp toothed creature with its maw open and ready to rip his face off. His heart skipped a beat as he scrambled backward to avoid the attack. With a yelp he fell from the rock he was sitting on and went right into the water with the grace of a drunk walrus.

  When he resurface with a splutter all that was waiting for him was a serpentine black something turning into smoke and Lilith laughing as hard as he ever heard her. By the time the monster that scared him completely dissipated she was leaning on his rock gasping for breath.

  “I told you to stop that!” he said shaking the water from his eyes. The emotion manipulation was really starting to get to him, especially with a reminder of his passenger and their particular attitude.

  Lilith finally recovered after a few deep breaths. “That was great,” she wheezed.

  He was going to respond until he saw how she looked with her wet clothes and clinging hair. He could only think of what Fenrir said. Damn. He was too stunned by the sight to respond before she walked over to him and closed his slack jaw with a single finger.

  Without another word she sashayed by him toward the pool’s edge. And like that his calm was undone. With grumbling reluctance he followed her out of the water and to a small side cave that held the drying stalls. Little rooms the size of bathroom stalls with magic circles that each blasted air dry and hot enough to come from a desert to dry off the occupants. Would he have liked it if the water was just magically pulled off him? Yes. Did he think it was worth the time and complexity to set up such an array just to dry them? No.

  It was Logan’s turn to laugh as they stepped out of their own stalls to see Lilith trying to contain the tangled nest her hair turned into. It looked like she had just stepped inside from a windstorm, which in retrospect wasn’t far off of what happened. The messy state didn’t last long as she conjured a brush and put it to work. By the end her hair looked better than ever.

  Just as he was leaving and letting out an internal sigh of relief of being free of the woman he heard her say, “Where are you going? I have so much else planned.”

  He couldn’t help but say the first thing that came to his head, “Fuck.”