The little cop whose name I never bothered to remember, was still reaching for his gun as we blinked back into normal time.

  The sudden rush of impending death made my heart lurch in my chest. There were a jillion spells I used to have which I could have cast right now.

  Unfortunately, I only had three spells.

  And not enough mana to use them all.

  As fast as I could, I spat; “Catcall!”

  A flash of pink light burst over Shadowpaw’s head. She didn’t look up as my buff landed. Nor did she pause. Her gun was still in her hands. She adjusted her aim.

  Pulled the trigger.

  And blew a large hole through the back of the little cop’s spine only half a second before he could get a bead on me. Blood sprayed over the vomit-coated table, making it even more difficult to clean.

  I’d like to say I was revolted by the sight of the cop dropping to the ground with a large hole clean through him, but I’m afraid after ten years adventuring in Neyteria, it was difficult to not become a little immune to excessive gore and violence.

  Especially when some of those years were spent skinning freshly-killed monsters, or cutting random bodyparts off orcs and goblins to prove you killed a set number of them. After a while, blood is just another fluid.

  Shadowpaw never stopped moving. With feline grace and speed, she contorted to send another bullet into her partner’s head. He dropped with a little more gore.

  The medic scrambled away, dashing down the corridor with a shriek.

  The large cop threw himself sideways.

  His meaty fist went for his gun.

  But Shadowpaw was quicker. Her Rogue class combined with the Catcall buff had made her movements a blur and, given she hardly needed to move to deliver lethal force, the outcome was sadly predictable.

  The large man slumped against the wall, blood pumping from two chest wounds delivered by two swift shots. He stared up at Shadowpaw, his mouth slack as blood drooled down his chin.

  She was sleek and gorgeous. Slimmer than Licorice and smaller in the chest. I’d selected Torti Housecat as her breed so her fur was dark and mottled. I figured it would help with her Stealth. Especially at night. Her tail flicked rapidly behind her and her ears twitched.

  “I can’t…” He gulped. “Nekos… So… Hot… Just how… I… imagined…”

  He died happy, I think.

  Shadowpaw squinted at him.

  And threw up.

  “Sorry, Master.”

  “Yes, I know,” I said, patting her head. “Teleportation. It’s your first time, too.”

  “Yes,” she moaned. “My tummy hurts.”

  “I’ll give you a belly rub as soon as we get out of here,” I told her.

  “Promise?”

  “I promise.”

  Licorice’s ears drooped a little. “What about me? My tummy hurts, too.”

  “You too,” I chuckled, giving her a pat, too.

  She started to purr. One thing I knew from before, was just how much Nekos loved a headpat. And a belly rub could drive them into a realm of pleasure they couldn’t coherently describe.

  “This way, Master,” Shadowpaw said, tucking the second gun into her belt. “I know a way out. And I have the keys.”

  We followed her as the alarm kept blaring.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  At the end of the corridor, she shot two more cops and took more guns. One she gave to Licorice, who held it reluctantly with two fingers until Shadowpaw batted her on the side of the head. “We have to protect Master!”

  “It’s okay,” I said, taking the gun away from Licorice. “It’s my job to protect Nekos. Especially Nekos who don’t have a Combat class.”

  Both Nekos paused, their eyes glistening as they stared up at me.

  “Master…” Shadowpaw breathed, moved by my words.

  I scritched her behind her ear. “First, we need to escape, Neko.”

  Quickly putting on a serious face, my ex-cop Neko nodded and led us to a door. “This leads to the garage,” she said. “There’s cars we can take. Maybe a van. I don’t think they’ll get us far, though. I… I don’t know if we can get far enough away, Master. They might use the helicopter to follow us.”

  “There’s a helicopter here?”

  “Sure.”

  “Only one?”

  “The city can’t afford more than that.”

  “Do you know how to fly it?”

  “No.”

  “Is there a pilot?”

  “Anna and Pete. They’ll be in the office, I’d expect.”

  “Anna?” I beamed at her. I knew the System loved me. “Let’s get to the chopper!”

  Cops were beginning to surround the building, ducking and diving behind anything and everything. They were still confused. We had to take advantage of that confusion. Sirens were screaming from all directions.

  To keep it even more confusing, I pulled a fire alarm as we ran through the garage towards a small building near a helicopter perched on a clean little round concrete pad.

  Shadowpaw exploded into the office, a gun in each hand. A man and woman in overalls were seated on a small sofa.

  A cop was in the middle of the room.

  His shotgun in one fist. A donut in the other.

  “Ah, George,” Shadowpaw sighed as she shot him in the throat. “You’re such a lazy old bastard.”

  The pilot called Pete leapt from the sofa, aiming to grab the shotgun which fell from the dying cop’s grip. Anna screeched. She was short and skinny, but her face was somewhat bland. Still, I was sure I could do something with her.

  The Customization options were, after all, quite extensive.

  Moments later, Skye finished throwing up on the sofa and we headed outside.

  She was now a little shorter than before. I thought she looked cute as a Ginger Housecat. Surprisingly, as soon as I started changing her body, she firmly demanded input and had agreed with my assessment.

  Some of them do get a bit enthusiastic in the Customization process.

  She wanted bigger boobs and more cushion on her butt.

  I always like to please Nekos, so I gave her exactly what she wanted.

  She even picked her own name and class.

  “Transporter,” she said firmly after hearing it.

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes.”

  I let her have it.

  I was proud of her as she skipped towards the helicopter. “Welcome to Neko Air,” she cried, her fluffy tail whipping about happily. “Your one-way ticket to Escape.”

  She whistled a catchy tune as she pulled on her headset. Someone was screaming over the radio, but she ignored it.

  The chopper started with a whine and then a roar.

  Swaying gently, the machine lifted up.

  “Duck!”

  I had time to move my head a little before a bullet screamed past my ear.

  Shadowpaw clung to one side of the chopper and started firing at a small group of cops who’d come running towards the helipad. As she ran out of bullets, she tossed the gun down and pulled another from her belt.

  “Skye! Get us the fuck out of here!”

  “I’m trying,” our pilot yelled back. “Hold onto your panties!”

  My stomach lurched as we suddenly rocketed upward. Shadowpaw fired one last bullet and slithered into the seat beside me. Growling like a tigress, she wrapped a belt around her body and then leaned into me, looking up with wide green eyes.

  “Did I do good, Master?”

  I stroked her hair and gave her scritches. “You did such a good job, Shadowpaw. You’re a good girl!”

  She almost fainted at my words and Licorice grabbed my arm. “What about me? I ran fast. Master!”

  “Hey now,” I smiled at her, giving her the same scritches. “No need for Nekos to be jealous. Believe me, Licorice, no one will go without belly rubs from me!”

  Skye’s head whipped around. “Umm… Does that include me?”

  “That includes every Neko ever,” I said seriously. “You’re all my Nekos. And I will protect you and bellyrub you and snuggle you, too.”

  The three Nekos shivered and let out a long sigh together.

  Sure, there were only three of them. But this was just the beginning. I wasn’t joking when I told the mechanic there would be millions of Nekos. This time, I would cover the world in cute little Nekos!

  I had to.

  I had no choice.

  Because I had a quest.

  Quest: A Kindle of Kittens

  Objective: Populate the world with cute fluffy Nekos!

  I had another quest, too. A little more urgent.

  Quest: Prison Break

  Objective: Escape the Law.

  True to Shadowpaw’s belief, we weren’t pursued in the air. We saw cars trying to follow us, with their sirens wailing and lights flashing. But Skye flew us low, so it was tougher for them to figure out where we were or where we were going.

  Which was made more challenging by the fact that I also had no idea where we were going.

  The System simply wanted me to Escape.

  In Neyteria, I’d been captured more than once and had to complete an escape quest. Traditionally, the quest ended as soon as I was out of range of a pursuing force. I guessed it would be the same here.

  “We need to get out of the city,” I said at last.

  “I know a place,” Licorice piped up. “Skye, do you know Lake Jelis?”

  “Sure,” the pilot nodded. “You want to head out there? We might have fuel to make it, but I don’t know if we can get back…”

  I looked at Licorice. “Why Lake Jelis?”

  “My family has a cabin there. There’s a few out that way, but nobody lives there all year round. They only use them in Summer.”

  I looked to Shadowpaw, who nodded. “It sounds good to me.”

  I put my arms around my two closest Nekos and pulled them into a tight hug. “Then let’s go camping!”