Etani leapt free of the vampire and found she could easily walk on the surface of the snow, her black fur a stark contrast against the white.
She leapt through the snow with ease, turning to look back at the group as they struggled to follow after her.
It quickly became a game for her, crouching down on the snow and then leaping away when Daemon got close, his swipes for her half-hearted and he was struggling to keep a smile off his face at her fun.
Leaping ahead, she led the way deeper into Winter, waited and then leapt off again though she never strayed far from the group.
Their pace was slow with the demon melting his way through the snow and the others looking miserable, but they kept up the pace.
After a good hour, she had leapt away from a grab and then went still, her head cocked as she listened to the faintest breath of a sound.
Something lunged at her and she yowled as teeth sank into her side and she was tossed through the air, blood splattering the snow.
Landing less gracefully than she had intended, she turned to see an enormous snowy white fox with a black nose and nine huge, bushy tails prowling towards her, teeth bared and bloody.
She hissed, the sound of yelling coming from further back and she ran for the group, the fox cutting her off and snapping.
He caught her paw, and she yowled again, dancing back and then turning, running away from the fox and the group.
He was faster, more experienced and so she knew she had no other choice.
Mid step, her shape changed, and she spun, hair flying to grab the fox by the jaws and yank him off his feet, slamming him down into the snow and stepping over him, sitting on his shoulders with his head being pressed hard into the snow.
She was naked but that didn't matter, the fox looking utterly baffled as he peered up at her, his black eye wide and flicking over her bloodied form.
He knew he had made a mistake when she bared her fangs at him, and he gave a yip of fear.
His transformation was neither as fast, nor as graceful as hers and she shifted to better hold him down as he became a man, a large red and white fox mask covering his face
Lifting it, he stared up at her in wonder even as she stared at him.
He was snow white indeed, with long black hair and equally black eyes, having no sclera at all, only a slight discolouration of brown in the black where the outer ring of his pupils would normally be.
"I thought you were a cat," he said in an accented voice.
"And I thought you were a fox," she said, blushing when his eyes flicked down to her bare chest and then back up.
He wasn't naked, instead dressed in a long white robe with black and crimson ties around his middle, a pretty flame pattern embroidered into the hem.
He had fox ears, and they came out of the top of his head, but then he also had human shaped ears, and she was curious to know if he heard with both or just the one set.
"Do both sets of ears work?" she asked, tugging at his earlobe and making him scowl.
"Yes, stop pulling on them," he growled, and she let go, only after giving them another tug.
"That's what you get for trying to eat me."
The others joined them finally and the fox looked at them curiously, seemingly content with her sitting on him.
"Why did you try and eat me?" she asked, throwing the others a glance and Daemon looked back at her, happy she was in her normal form.
"You looked delicious, and you were small enough to not put up much of a fight," he said honestly, and she nodded her understanding.
He was like her, a predator. It was something she could understand.
"Why are you wandering around in Faerie?" he asked, looking at the group and then back up at her, or at least as far up her as her chest.
"Stop that," she snapped, accepting Kai's offered jacket and pulling it on backwards, her wings making it hard to wear it normally. "It's funny that you should find us, since we were looking for you."
His face immediately went wary, eyes narrowing and lips set in a grim line.
"What for?"
"Magic. We need yours," she said, and he laughed.
"Oh, you're serious?" his eyes went wide as she nodded and he looked to the others who also nodded.
"Why do you need my magic?" he asked curiously, and she sighed, looking up at Daemon.
The demon frowned and then began the speech on what would happen, and then what she would do in Faerie if she was forced to live there.
The fox was looking only a little anxious by the end and glanced up at her, then back to the demon nervously.
"So it's not like I have that much of a choice, is it," he said and she shook her head.
He frowned, looking irritable by his situation.
"We will just find another of your kind, after I eat you," she grinned and he glared at her.
"You are a kitten."
"Wrong answer…" Uzo said gently, shaking his head.
She had her teeth against his shoulder, his sudden cry freezing her in place, that or it was his hands coming to land on her bare backside as he moved to throw her off.
She sat up and a resounding crack sounded as she slapped him, a welt forming on his face.
He howled in pain, clutching his face and staring at her in horror.
"I didn't mean to grab you there!" he wailed, and she lifted her hand to slap him again. His went out in surrender and she dropped her hand.
"Fine, take the magic!" he said finally, and she smiled, leaning down to press her lips hard against his.
He seemed surprised by the texture of her lips, but he flooded her senses, and she shuddered at the rush of magic into her, the feeling of fur on her skin and the delicious taste of raw flesh under her teeth.
She broke the kiss, and he grinned wickedly, enjoying the rush with her as they shared what he felt all the time.
"Careful you don't give in to that urge, little creature," he murmured, and she squinted down at him, getting off him without another word.
He stood and brushed the snow off his robes, looking between them all.
"You should be more careful when walking through Faerie. Especially as a cat."
"She's not going to be a cat anymore," Damon said as he grabbed her arm and pulled her closer to him.
She shook him off but remained close by as the fox grinned and shrugged.
With a slow change, he was the nine tailed fox once more and then he was gone, leaving them alone in the snow.
"I didn't expect us to get to here," she said slowly, watching the fox until his fur blended into the snow and he vanished.
"Neither did I," Uzo said and turned to Kai, digging through the bag and pulling out a pair of soft leather pants, boots and a vest.
She gave a happy cry and took them, pulling them on and feeling much more like herself in them, even without undergarments.
She kept the jacket, wearing it backwards and she smiled at the group.
"Going to stay in your normal form now?" Uzo asked as he wrapped his arm around her, and they turned back the way they had come.
"For now," she said playfully, all of them ignoring Daemon's warning growl. "I suppose I should be humanoid for Hades. I don't imagine he's going to be all that interested in a cat."
"I don't suppose he's going to be all that interested at all," Uzo muttered under his breath.
She glanced at him but said nothing, instead taking his hand and Kai's on the other side.
They joined together and were pulled into the tear, being dumped back out into Winter though it was a part of Winter she had never seen before.
The whiteness had given in to a deep blackness of storm clouds and the snow had faded, it was too cold even for snow and everything was entirely frozen, hard and rocky.
"Welcome to the entrance to the underworld," Daemon said darkly, and they started forward.