Fury

Xiezhi

I spent 3 days snooping around Jackson's apartment and discovered that the carving I had found in his bathroom were all over his house. I don't know why I never found it peculiar before, but I knew this held some sort of significance although I wasn't sure what it might be. I found sculptures and paintings of it in various sizes some ranging from the more traditional Asian looking works of art to more modern depictions of the strange looking animal. This had to be more than him just simply being a fan of whatever the hell it was. I took several pictures of it and sent an SOS text to Mark saying we needed to meet up but unfortunately, he was out of town on a modeling gig. It made sense since Joy's aura wasn't as powerful when he wasn't around. She really liked Mark. If only she knew the truth but then again, it's a good thing that she didn't. My phone rang, and I sighed seeing Joy's name pop up. Speak of the devil.

"Yes Joy" I answered.

"Were having a girl's day out, you should join us" Joy said happily, now used to my rude behavior.

"Who is going?" I asked.

"It's me, Clarissa and another girl you don't know. Her name is Lorianne. Come with us, it won't be as much fun without you" Joy pleaded. I knew she was lying but she always tried to drag me out of my little bubble.

"Fine, text me the address and I'll catch a cab there" I stated hearing her squeal with happiness before I hung up.

Within 20 minutes I was stepping out of a cab, holding my coat closer to my body as the snow lightly began to fall around me. Joy and the rest of the female counterparts were inside the little nail shop before me and I was kind of excited. I had neglected my nails a bit and it was one of the mundane activities that they did that I happen to actually enjoy. I spotted Joy sitting on a pedicure chair with Clarissa to her left and an empty seat to her right. A petite dark-skinned girl, who I assumed was Lorianne, sat next to Clarissa. She smiled at me shyly and I smiled back. The energy radiating off of her was mellow and pleasant, Clarissa's aura however was not. She was clearly annoyed that I was here and tried her best to hide her scowl. I smirked as I sat next to Joy who made the introductions.

Conversation flowed easily between us and we all finished our pedicures beginning to move to the manicure tables.

"Feorie, you still have that picture of the lingerie set you bought on your phone? I wanted to show Lorianne to give her an idea of what to buy for her husband" Joy held her hand out for my phone.

"Um yeah, I think I saved it" I said handing it over, "try looking for it".

Joy found the picture and showed it to Lorianne who gushed about how sexy the corset looked while Clarissa rolled her eyes. If her aura had a scent I'm sure it would smell like cat piss and vomit. I looked up just in time to see Joy and Lorianne looking at my phone strangely.

"Why do you have a picture of this ugly looking weird thing on your phone?" Joy asked me, turning my phone over to reveal a picture of the small statue of the beast I had taken. I grabbed the phone from her quickly but not so quick that it would arouse suspicion.

"Are you into Xiezhis?" Lorianne asked me.

"What?" Joy, Clarissa and I asked simultaneously.

"Xiezhi" Lorianne repeated with a giggle, "They're part of Chinese mythology".

"And how the heck would you even know that?" Clarissa asked her, both eyebrows raised up in surprised, mouth set in a twist frown.

"I minored in East Asian studies back in college and folklore and mythology was a class. I remembered something just like this. They're called Xiezhi, some kind of justice animal. I can't really remember much more than that but I do know they're part of Chinese mythology. I think Koreans and Japanese people call them something else" Joy explained.