The room was too dark. Julien didn't turn on the light and instead closed the door and locked it. Knox might come any moment and wouldn't it be weird if he saw him blindly walking around the room with his phone's camera directed at nowhere trying to catch something?
"This is crazy," he whispered in the dark. The only light was coming from the screen of his phone as he turned on the camera. Unsurprisingly, all he could see on the screen is black. This is really futile.
A cold breeze blew from his right and he was immediately alerted. Just now, he felt something whizz past his right side! Does that mean, there really is a creature in this room?
He walked forward slowly, straining to hear any movement. The warning was fresh in his mind and he gripped his phone tightly. He could only make out silhouettes of what's in front of him so he took each step carefully, or he might stumble and make a ruckus that will alert Knox.
He moved the camera from side to side when he suddenly saw something blue hurry in front of him. It was fast and he could make out its shape. It looked to be a ball with two flimsy and wavy tails.
He didn't know how the creature was registered in his camera when it was pitch black. The blue hue didn't look like its color but instead an indication of something living like how thermal scanners worked.
Julien bit his lip and took deep breaths to calm his frenzied heartbeats. It was small but it wasn't called a demon furball for nothing. Why else will the app warn him of death?
He followed the direction it went to. Julien had found its location many times but every time he pressed the shutter button on his phone's screen, the demon furball would dart away. It was almost as if it was playing with him.
He panted and collapsed on the floor after what felt like forever. He didn't know how long it had been, but it felt like it was impossible to catch the scurrying creature. But still, Knox didn't come and check on him so he can't give up yet. His fatigue might just be because he was hungry and lacked exercise.
Just then, something furry brushed past his arm. It was just a split-second feeling and Julien faintly heard the sound of bells jingling. Goosebumps pebbled his skin.
This won't do, Julien thought gloomily. He wouldn't be able to catch a fast creature without light no matter how he thought about it. The only way is to get it to come to him and capture a photo somehow. He was getting increasingly curious as to what it really looked like.
He viewed the second tip again and read about using his blood. With a grimace, he pulled the handkerchief that he wrapped around the cut from before and pinched the sore wound. He held his breath and poured all his strength until blood came out. Maybe he aggravated the wound too much but blood flowed down his arm and dropped on the floor continuously. The coppery scent of blood was oddly pronounced in the room.
Julien didn't wait long to confirm the tip's credibility. Not a minute passed by and he heard the faint jingling of bells slowly approaching. He held up his phone and sure enough, right in front of him, a round and furry creature with two tails slowly crawled towards him. In the black nothingness that the camera captured, only the bright blue hue was showing.
It inexplicably made his heartbeat race and fear took root in his heart. This is a demon furball. What if it liked his blood too much? But it was too late to go back now, the approach of the little creature was becoming quicker. When it was an arm's length away, he took consecutive shots. He wasn't sure how capturing it in the camera will bound it to him. But shortly after, a notification flashed that he completed 20% of the mission.
'What, just 20%?'
He remembered that the app wanted him to capture and bind it. But how does he bind it? Tie it up?
Before he could even think, he felt something scurry past his legs and leap towards his wounded arm. Now at a close look, the demon furball didn't look intimidating at all! Its eyes were round and blue but the black iris was shaped vertically like that of a cat. It was covered in black fur that looked cottony soft but the two black tails, each one meter in length were flat and gauzy looking. Those tails waved side to side as the creature gazed at Julien and he realized the sound of bells came from the very small bells at the tip of its tails.
Julien tried to pull his arm away but the cute thing revealed it's mouth and a set of small but pointy white teeth as if it was grinning at him.
"Mu~" The demon furball emitted a low noise and sink its teeth on Julien's wound, sucking greedily. He gasped in pain but the pain lasted merely for a second. Numbness traveled from his arm and spread to the rest of his body. Julien fell down on the floor but the demon furball continued sucking his blood.
Julien felt dizzy as the seconds passed by. The creature didn't give any indication of stopping. Instead, the two tails seemed to be more alive and swished from side to side. The ringing of bells got louder.
He vaguely felt the phone in his hand vibrate but the darkness slowly and surely beckoned him to its depths. Julien cursed the app in his heart as he lost consciousness.