Tay Barnam

"Little boys who play with fire get their fingers burned" ~Mamma Mia!

Milo didn't stop telling her what a bad idea it was to go hunting alone until she threatened to leave him behind. Never mind that she never could, it would hurt her too much, but she seemed serious and angry enough that he shifted from his usual big dog shape to an adorable ferret, twined around her feet and climbed up her pants and draped himself over her neck, nuzzled and licked and nibbled her ear until she laughed and stopped being angry with him.

It wasn't long before they found their quarry - a young and relatively weak Glaysa-Labolas demon with a jackrabbit Other. Tay was certain that she'd be able to handle herself, with her old .45 and her knives, but the demon proved... resilient. He bore down on Tay, faster and stronger than her, and had cut her up quite a bit already by the time Milo (in tiger form) got the hare between his jaws and crunched down hard.

The jackrabbit disappeared, and the demon twitched and fell to the ground, unmoving. Tay stood, panting and bleeding for a moment, making absolute certain the demon was dead, though how he could be living without an Other she couldn't guess. After a few moments, though, she fell to her knees and buried her face in Milo's fur, and the Other did his best to clean her wounds and cheer her up.

No one asked about the injuries when she got home, and she bandaged herself up. Most of the cuts healed without a scar, but she ended up with one down her forearm, a reminder not to overestimate her own abilities.