Zars was right- the smell hit Ashenai long before she saw them. It smelled of death, decay, and sickness- a horrible combination in the small, cramped tunnel. By sheer force of will, the neko kept herself composed so she could follow Zars through the labyrinth of tunnels, knowing good and well that getting lost in this dark could be fatal. Her cat ears were brushing the top of the tunnel, making her whole head prickle at the sensation. Her fingers made minute dragging noises on the slippery stone wall, no doubt picking up whatever slime was lurking there on the tips of her claws.

Being more focused on the filth gathering on her claws, Ashenai picked up on the breathing long after Zars did. The little lady could see much better in the dark than Ashenai, picking up the twisted shapes of the humanoids on the ground, some dead, others sitting and watching them as they passed. The blood's stench filled the tunnel now, making them both crinkle their noses in disgust.

"It's just ahead," Zars said softly through the breathing, waking some of the twisted things as she spoke. "There should be a light around the next turn." Dragging noises and the clicking of canes against the floor now accompanied their footsteps. Ashenai shivered at the noises, occasionally glancing over whenever the sounds seemed too close. Her whole body was tensed up, her left hand instinctively wrapping around the sword in her belt just in case they got too close.

"Hiiii," it was a breathless exhalation on Ashenai's neck, the taste of decay lying on his rotten breath. The neko screamed and quickly turned on the balls of her feet, sword drawn and searching for whatever had spoken. She waved the piece of metal all around her, finding absolutely nothing. The dragging and clicking had ceased, but she was too afraid to step away from Zars to stab any of them- they obviously had an advantage in the dark.

"It's harmless," Zars said, startling Ashenai. "We're almost there, sheathe your goddamned sword before you kill someone." When the satisfying sound of metal sliding into leather hit her ears, the little woman grabbed Ashenai's hand and lead her a few more feet and around the corner. A door blocked their entrance, its dark bulk invisible to Ashenai. As Zars dug through her pockets for a key, the dragging sounds became quicker, like they were trying to stop the duo from doing something.

"Noooo!" The wails echoed through the tunnel over the dragging and clicking, making Ashenai double over in pain from the noise. She didn't understand why the wailing was making her ache, considering Zars was completely unaffected. When the idea hit her, it was painfully obvious why. With a loud creak, the door screamed open and flooded the tunnel with light that blinded Ashenai for a few moments while her eye adjusted to the single light fixture in the ceiling of the old room. Blood-curdling screams followed Ashenai and Zars into the long-forgotten area, the neko hardly being able to stand up from the overwhelming pain she felt from the denizens' cries.

When Zars shut the door, she was suddenly upon Ashenai, knocking the neko over and holding a backhanded knife to the neko's throat before Ash even knew what happened. The first thought that ran through her head was that Zars really did take her all the way down here just to kill her, but whenever the knife just touched her skin and went no farther, Ashenai opened her squinted eye, trying to see if she could understand the woman's intentions. Zars' expression was unreadable, her long hair enveloping them in a strange twilight.

"You've had the blood," the woman hissed, surprisingly hostile, "and you told no one?" She shifted her slight weight forward, digging her knees into the neko's stomach as she leaned closer to Ashenai, the neko's horrified glance being lost on the elf. Ash had tried it once, then twice, and it had soon become a recurring habit. She never told anyone about it simply because she knew they'd kill her if they knew she'd turn into one of the twisted, mindless things that wandered the sewers.

"I don't want to die for my mistakes," Ashenai rasped, not wanting to open her mouth too wide in fear of the knife digging into her skin. Zars seemed to consider this a moment, then nodded but didn't move from Ashenai. The neko squirmed underneath the little woman, knowing that she could easily throw her off but the knife at her throat simply scaring her from doing so.

"Everyone shall know, then," Zars said so quietly that Ashenai had to strain to hear. The tiny woman took extreme care to keep Ashenai from standing, placing her right hand almost on the neko's neck before moving the knife up to her forehead. Ashenai let out a wail as the knife carved something into her forehead, right down to the bone. It didn't take long, yet it felt like an eternity to Ashenai before Zars got up from on top of her. The little woman examined the bleeding mark on the neko's head, admiring the two lines for the second she could before Ashenai's hands went to her face.

"Why?" Ashenai cried, her eye squinted shut to hold back the tears of pain. Zars casually licked the tip of her black knife for whatever blood it may have had on it before returning it to its sheath at her belt.Grabbing Ashenai's elbow, she was able to drag the taller lady to her feet with absolutely no problem, then pry the girl's hands from her face. Blood ran over her eyelid almost as soon as she stood, keeping the girl from looking at her attacker. Zars pulled a dirty yellow cloth from out of her pocket and put it in Ashenai's hand so she could wipe the blood from her eye.

"If you turn into a mindless thing, Ash," Zars said calmly as soon as Ashenai opened her eye, "the idiots upstairs will think that these monsters are zombies or vampires or some other ridiculous notion and crawl back up to the city, letting the sewers overflow with them and letting them onto the streets above. Of course, they would have just known that you were snorting that shit if you didn't come down here where the things live, which is why everyone must know that you're one of the idiots who are on blood." Ashenai's blank stare told the whole story of her incompetence to Zars, so she just waved her hand in the air as if to just shrug it off.

She sighed and beckoned Ashenai over to the black cabinet, pulling herself to stand on top of it. The neko warily came over to Zars, still holding the rag to her forehead. The little lady, who was now taller than Ash, grabbed the rag from her hand and pulled out a small metal canteen. She took a swig of what was inside before pouring the clear liquid onto the rag, returning the canteen to her pocket and offering the rag back to Ashenai, who reluctantly took it and ran it over her head.

The neko flinched as the wet rag came in contact with her forehead, but silently continued to hold the cloth to her head. Zars hopped down from her perch and opened the black door set in the wall next to the filing cabinet. Ashenai could have just stayed there,but she decided to follow Zars through the door so she could see whatever she was dragged down here for.

"Since you're going to turn into one of them," Zars said from the darkness, her hand wrapped around the chain dangling from the ceiling, "their screams and wails and pain in general is going to affect you. You'd be able to tell where they are if you were in a more advanced stage of the addiction, but for now I guess you'll just have to settle for their wails." She smirked a smirk she knew Ashenai probably couldn't see and yanked the chain from the ceiling, which made a fluorescent light flicker to life above their heads. The wailing and screaming started all over again and Ashenai held her hands up to her ears, her cat ears laying flat against her head in an attempt to block out the horrible noise. Their pain rushed into her and she collapsed to her knees, holding back a scream of her own.

Zars was glad for Ashenai's scattered brain, otherwise she knew the neko would wonder how she knew all the things she did about the twisted things down here. The blood already seemed to be taking her over, seeing as a few weeks ago she would have some common sense about being attacked by Zars and not accepting anything that she handed her. No longer was the neko a calculating individual- she had become a follower in the few short weeks since she likely started the drug.

What had ever compelled the young woman to do that?