Elayra ignored Ghent as the shadowmire played into her hand. She crouched, her malicious grin only widening and sword held in a neutral position as she waited for the last possible second to push Ghent out of the way and go in for the attack. But Ghent apparently had no desire to wait for the last possible moment.
	She shouted in surprise when Ghent tackled her, throwing both himself and her well from the beast’s path and to the hard ground. 
	The shadowmire landed on soft paws, the scaly skin retracting into the fur with the force of its landing.
	Careful to keep a grip on her sword this time, Elayra, a snarl twisting her face, pushed Ghent from her. What sounded like a series of sirens went off further in the distance, but they were faint enough for her to pay them little mind. If it was something else after them, they still had time, and it would just have to wait its turn.
	“You moron!” she growled as she hurried to her feet, refusing aid. It took an extra moment, her muscles slow to react, but stand she did. Taking a quick mental note to account for that while facing the shadowmire, she drew her dagger, turned to the beast, and moved to rush it before it could regain itself and focus back on them, but Ghent held out an arm.
	[b]“Are you insane?! We need to go!”[/b]
	“Then go!” she said, her furious words rushed. Her grip on her sword tightened as the beast’s glowing eyes turned toward them, part of its body expanding to create a partial U shape. “There’s no time to explain! Either run,” she threw her dagger near Ghent’s feet, where its tip embedded harmlessly into a crack in the concrete and making it stand up at an angle, “or make yourself useful!” She raised the tip if her sword threateningly. “But [i]stay out of my way.[/i]”
	With that, she moved around Ghent, prepared to push him out of her way if need be.
	Elayra made a tisking sound as she hurried away from Ghent to keep the beast from going after him instead. As she expected, the cat’s eyes settled on her. “Aww,” she began in a mocking baby voice, “the ‘ittle kitten is too slow. Poor thing. You must go hungry without your mother around.”
	The cat gave a hiss that sounded more like stone grinding on stone, its claws digging into the concrete and fur prickling.
 	With her back angled toward the wall of the alleyway obscured by the night, she placed her empty hand almost thoughtfully to her chin and gave a sad shake of her head. “It’s a wonder your master hasn’t just put you and the rest of your litter out of your misery.”
	Elayra’s confident attitude faltered when, instead of just lunging out of blind anger, the cat [i]grinned,[/i] its tail curving into various impossible shapes.
	Another angered growl came from behind her a second before another pair of glowing eyes appeared in the wall as the first readied to jump.
	Elayra looked behind her as another shadowmire emerged from its own shadow a couple feet above the ground, this one an inverse of the first with black fur that made it nearly impossible to discern, and red three-leaf clovers.
	She leapt out of the way, expertly tucking her sword in and summersaulting as she hit the concrete. One of the cats claws ripped the hem of her dress and made her summersault give out sooner than expected, but she still just managed to get out of their reach.
	The two cats, black and red, collided with each other with an earsplitting yowl. Their extended bodies scrunched inward when their skulls hit, a pair of accordions squeezed by an infuriated musician.
	A gloating, vicious smirk on her face, Elayra got to her feet and stepped toward the red one’s flanks, enjoying watching the cats untangle themselves with a series of frustrated snarls and growls.