Faline

Hot tears burn behind my eyes. Knowing not why, just feeling hurt. I guess my questioning session is over. Looking around the light purple room and not really seeing it as I get up, most everything is ignored. Walking on two legs again really messes with my equilibrium and balance.

Making it to the bathroom a little unsteadily, and getting better the further I go, I didn't even hear a lock click after he left. Even knowing that, I can't take the chance of walking around as I am. I miss clothes.

The bathroom is like any other, having a shower, bath, a two-sink counter in front of a huge mirror. Another walk-in shower, this one not quite as big as the other. The focus in this one being the mirrors covering one wall that the 'tub' is positioned by. It looks more like a sunk in hot-tub to me.

I like the floor. A black with white spiderweb marbling. Catching a glimpse of my eyes flashing in the mirrors on the wall, I look into the one above the sink. Sure enough, my once hazel color is now a bright gold. The same ones as my cat. Doesn't look like I have slit pupils though.

Turning away, I head into the shower. Towels are stacked on a small table tucked in the corner, so I grab one and drape it over the shower door as I go in. Assorted soaps and cleaners on the small shelves inside look as if someone had robbed the body wash aisle.

I sniff each one, deciding on the strong scent of apples, which I'll never again be able to eat. Or rather, I could, but I'd end up having to bring it right back up. Not a very favorable way to try and enjoy something. I think the one thing every female Vampire can agree on is the blow of losing chocolate.

Well, that and never being able to have a child, not a naturally born one anyway. Can adopt away, but no dead body can produce life. The only plus to that is the loss of mother nature's punishment for not being pregnant.

The water is turned to a warmth my skin soaks in. My hair is a tangled mess, I wonder if it and my nails will continue to grow? Part of that whole regenerative process maybe? I had been cleaned of blood, but I can still feel it as a psychosomatic thing. I scrub with the hard sponge found on one of the showerheads.

The warm spray beats on cramped muscles, helping them to loosen. Apple body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. I'm going to smell like a raging apple by the time I'm done. I spend what has to be the better part of an hour in there. Enjoying the water on my skin.

Feels like forever since I had taken one, but I do eventually get out. Too busy rubbing myself dry, I miss the click of the door. Flipping my head down, I rub at my hair furiously. I don't recall seeing a brush anywhere. Dammit.

Whipping my head up reveals a young man in the bathroom doorway. For a split second, he looks as shocked to see me as I am of him. Any modesty I may have had drops even lower as I take my time wrapping the towel around me. I raise an eyebrow at him, trying to go for haughty.

"Can I help you?"

As his dark eyes make the circuit of my body, I take the time to study him. Not much taller than I, so he's very short for a male. Dirty blond hair reaches his shoulders and curls under, a fishnet shirt stretches tight over his thin abdomen, and brown leather pants enclose his legs. What looks to be combat boots finish the ensemble.

The stranger's dark eyes could be brown, maybe a dark blue. Even the heavy black charcoal around them doesn't help to give a clue. Pale peach skin almost shines from all the dark colors on him. The candles in the front room are low but still send their flickering lights to reflect and play on the walls and reflecting glass.

I think his thin lips are painted, they have a shininess to them that isn't natural. Two small loops on each side join the brightness of his bottom lip, a labret piercing beneath it. Small hoop on his nostril and a septum ring, and at least three barbells in each eyebrow, even his ears are heavy with their bling and chains.

His thumbs are tucked into his pants, rocking back on his heels as he peruses me. He just might be deaf, so I ask again, this time slower.

"There something I can help you with?"

His scent tickles at my nose after getting past all my apple-ness, the perfume very familiar. I squint at him as I scowl.

"She didn't tell me you were so cute. Damn, if I had known that I would have come sooner. Right now she's entertaining your owner, so he'll be a while before he can retrieve you."

Yep, that settles it. The witch with the cloying stench has sent her revenge. Just wonderful. I scowl harder at the 'owner' remark.

"No one owns me, I belong to myself. And you can tell her that when I send you back to her as a bleeding mass of a pathetic whelp. I need no one to protect me."

I keep my voice firm as I glare and talk down to him. Reaching for my cat as soon as I'd started talking. Now all that's left is to distract him. Pulling my towel from me slowly, my arm goes out to my side. As I suspect, his eyes drop to the goods.

Throwing the towel into his face, I fall to all fours as the change takes over fast. Stretching my spine and baring my teeth as it settles over me, the male sees me leap at his face as the towel gets pulled away. His nose gives way as my teeth rip into it, continuing the forward momentum with my long body to wrap around his head.

Forepaws grip into the top of his head and the front of his neck while my back feet kick strongly into the left side of his face. I can feel his hands grabbing, pulling hard, and digging into me. My snarling and growling lost in his face and shouts.

Front foot claws dig in deeply, so if he succeeds in pulling me off, he's also pulling off strips of his own skin. Back claws shred the side of his face and neck, almost kicking myself a few times, all while my sharp teeth dig deep into his facial tissues.

Never let a pissed-off cat, or female for that matter, this close to your face when they have a mouthful of razor teeth and stiletto claws.

I drag my bladed, sandpaper-like tongue into his wounds. The bristles ripping deep through the soft inner depths of his face. My back claws catch on his earrings and give, getting torn off.

I can vaguely hear the thick tearing of flesh. My teeth now sink into his bloody lips. He likes piercings, right? I'm just giving him a few extra.

Combined with his constant pulling and the outpouring of blood from his wounds, my grip shifts. Grabbing handfuls of my back with both hands, he yanks hard. Bad move jackass. His screams get louder as he becomes the cause for the skin on his shoulder being ripped off, as well as the scraping on his skull from one of my forepaws having made purchase at the top of his head.

He throws me hard. I hadn't even realized we'd moved into the bedroom till I land, hitting the edge of the bed. Thank fuck for soft mattresses, I don't care to have any more brain bleeds. Healable or not.

Maybe I should get a helmet though. Just in case.

Gaining my feet, I rush him again. His eyes too filled with blood to see me coming, I go for as much pain as I can. Rearing up and slashing both front feet down his body, the fishnet splits quite nicely. My claws may be small, but they're wicked sharp. He jumps back, colliding with the dresser standing behind him.

The small man's hands are over his face, my body readying for another lunge when the door is thrown open. I jump back as people come rushing in. Nicolaus grabs me up and tosses me onto the bed. A huge male standing by the bed is the lion from before, looking from me to the one screaming with evident satisfaction.

The next person to come in is cloying stench bitch. I yowl loudly at her, lips going back hard as I stare her down. I'm getting ready to jump for her when Nicolaus grabs onto my scruff. I growl, moving neither forward nor back. Behind her are Anthony and the Mistress of the house. Shit.

"Someone care to tell me what is going on in here? I'm all for fun and games, but we have specific rooms for it. How many rooms are you going to trash?"

Her voice is low, a seductress wrapped in silk. I sit back on my haunches and start my return shift to human. A slight wince touching me as the mild bruising on my back moves. The tall as hell lion hands me the blanket as soon as my hands form enough to grab for it.

"Just a wee misunderstanding between me and the fellow here. I had a need to teach him some manners. I told him I was going to send him back to his wench as a bloody mass. I try to keep my word."

I look right at the perfume whore as I talk to the Lady of the house, then actually look to her as I say my last, only seeing from her eyes up. Each eye is a different color, one green and the other blue, and what looks to be short black hair on one side while shaved on the other.

"I do seem to be going through the rooms quickly, huh? Little blood decorating is all. But hey, none of it's mine this time, so that's a plus in my book."

Aside from the mewling mess, everyone else looks at me with either contempt, amusement, or in disbelief. I shrug my shoulders, step off the bed and walk up to the stank bitch. In her heels, she's almost a full foot taller than me, but I don't let that stop me, I've been short my whole life, I make up for it in attitude.

I press close to her, drop the blanket at her feet, and run a bloody finger over her pushed up bust.

"I also have another message for you, dear wench. Lay off the damn perfume bath. Everyone in this house can smell you from a mile away. Just have to remember, it's the same rule with make-up; less is more."

With that parting remark, I turn and go back to the bathroom. I hear her outraged gasp as my foot hits the marble flooring. I turn my head just enough to see what's going on in my peripheral, looks like she had taken a step towards me after snapping out of her shocked stupor.

Nicolaus has her by the throat, Anthony by his side. I don't see the Mistress, and the lion is pushing the mewling sap out of the room into the hallway. I leave the drama, closing the bathroom door softly. I lean against it for a moment, then get back under the water. Can I not go one day without blood being shed? Is this going to be my life now?

My body now starts to shake as the adrenaline high fades. Leaning back against the glass wall, I slip down it onto my rear, pulling my legs up and wrapping my arms around them. My thoughts had been so bloody, wanting to cause that man pain, having it last. I was becoming a bloodthirsty...thing.

I lay my head down on my knees, water cascading around me. Granted that man did get what he deserved; he intended me harm, I just fought back, defended myself. The messed up part is that I don't regret it, I feel like I should be feeling bad for not feeling regret.