I can feel the anger in me boil up as I attempt to control it. My efforts are futile however, as she continues on. If she could learn to shut her mouth, I wouldn't be having this problem. She's either talking about some trivial memory of hers or complaining about this or that. She insults my race and then begins again with her stories of pomp frivolity.

This woman, I swear; always needing to take a break in the midst of training, or stopping our search because she's too tired. When the day comes that I no longer need her I'll destroy her with my own claws. Then there are the times when she's too dirty, or her long golden hair has a split end—whatever the fuck that is—and we must stop whatever it is we are doing to find a town. She'll then spend hours locked away in a bathroom or skip around the snootiest of clothing establishments. The nerve!

She wastes our time with such dainty human desires when we should be training. The battles are beginning to pick up with the weeding out of the weaker demons. Then again, that blonde excuse for a prince is still in the race, so not all the contestants are elite. Yet. That brings me to another point of my partner's many irritating decisions. We have had many opportunities to crush that child but every time, but no he's too weak to be a bother. That's the point, Sherry. She's leaving him to get stronger, and mark my words if that pipsqueak is the reason my book burns, I will be back in 1000 years, regardless of the rules, and I will destroy whatever bloodline she has left.

Gah, there she goes again with the complaints. I don't give a damn about what this cliff is going to do to your shoes.

Brago's glare towards the blonde woman was finally met, as she turned her blue eyes to look at him. The sentence coming out of her mouth trailed off when she caught sight of it.

"You've been in the foulest of moods lately, fouler than usual. Which is saying something," she remarked as she tried to carefully scale the cliff they had come to.

"Your constant stream of babbling is the cause," he snapped back.

Sherry was about to fire a scathing retort at her demon partner when she thought better of it. Several times a day the two would bicker back and forth and her throat was beginning to feel sore and she wouldn't serve much of a purpose if she ended up losing it. For if she could not call out the monster's spells she would find herself in more chaos.

Brago had quickly scaled up the cliff, his dark furred attire sprinkled with dirt now, as his glare beat down on her. Angrily, he spat at the ground and turned to the trees beyond. With an irritated sigh, she bit the corner of the book, pushed up the sleeves on her dress and continued her ascension with a greater resolve. Only when she reached the top did she feel uneasy, though the thought of being stranded in this wilderness with no protection kept her feet moving. She tried in vain to brush the debris from her dress.

Brago stopped, and turned to look behind him, but his deadweight of a partner was nowhere to be seen. Figuring it best to allow them privacy from the other, he turned once again. If she felt the need to keep close she could run; he was done with waiting.

At his perch, high up in one of the tallest trees, the mamodo could see the whole forest below. The technical lens at his left eye allowed him to zoom in to various locations. He'd been following the progress of another book pair. At the moment they were split up. His lens also let him know he was downwind from the other, and therefore undetected. With a flap of his large wings, the mamodo swooped through the skies back to his awaiting partner.

"Nyeh heh, they are split up right now. They have not sensed us yet, though the demon is bound to sooner than later. Have you gotten a good look yet?"

The bird's partner shook his head with a smile, "not yet. Anything in particular about these two? You seem awfully excited."

The bird shook his feathers with a caw of laughter, "It's the one I've told you about!"

"Oh! That's good! This will be an interesting battle then."

"Don't cut our losses Drew, we still have a chance…"

The crunching of twigs and leaves under Brago's feet gave him a sense of satisfaction. The demon's scent he had picked up earlier was getting stronger. It had been here earlier today and with any luck it would still be around. As he pushed through the underbrush he caught sight of a long black feather as his partner's scream resounded through the forest.