Faline

I move maybe a few feet away before I drop back to my haunches, right foreleg held up high and close as I sit there and pant. Mouth open and tongue moving with my breathing. When it looks like he's about to nudge me again, my ears and lips draw back before I make that 'no' growl again.

His long tawny hide lays down within reach of me, orange eyes steady as they watch for any running movements. Don't think anything is broken, probably just dislocated and trying to stretch it out only makes small squeaks slip me.

A sound catching my attention brings my eyes towards yet another cat that's heading full bore for me. What the hell? Is it Faline hunting season or something?

Just as it leaps for me, I duck down as far as I can. The fluffy beast goes over me with no problem, so I think that was its intention; just being a bitch. Which means it can only be one person. Looking over at her, my eyes narrow as my lips draw back.

Her going over me means she's closer to Nicolaus.

Good, take him with you somewhere and have kittens for all I care, just get away from me.

It's a shame something that looks so pretty belongs to that witch. The Vampire, Madaline, is a lynx, more than likely Canadian with as poofy as she looks. Grayish-brown coat with a spattering of spots. The telltale black tufts on the ears make them look more pointed than they actually are.

Same dark blue eyes and huge ass feet. No wonder she's so moody, she's got ogre feet. Either that or the nubby tail. She saunters up closer to the puma, who sat up when I went down. He doesn't look too thrilled. Glad I'm not the only one.

I give a snarl before moving away. Don't want to go too fast and show just how injured I am. She seems to be oblivious anyway as she struts up to Nicolaus purring. So I take the chance and start working my way towards heavier brush.

Chick really sucks at holding his attention, as he ends up in front of me again. Growling, I go around, only to get knocked over by a headbutt to my side. Sometimes, being small has serious disadvantages. Huffing, I stay put, trying not to mewl out from the motion jarring my leg.

Although the funny side of this is, Madaline isn't all that much bigger than I am. Not by too much, just an inch here or there, but still. I find it funny anyway. She again walks up to Nicolaus, stepping on my tail as she does so.

Alright bitch. Let's play.

I swing up like I did earlier on Nicolaus' face, and latch on to her rear end, chomping down on her stubby butt. Biting down hard and pulling, tail fluff is shredded and skinned from it.

I let go and leap away before she can try kicking at me as she screams out. Cat screams are seriously high pitched, oh my God. Landing relatively easy on three legs, I brace myself for an attack as she whirls around.

Her wee nub looks a little worse for wear as my stripping basically cleared it, ripping off the last couple inches that were just meat and no bone. The whole mouthful is still caught between my teeth as I glare back at her. My gold eyes blazing in sadistic laughter.

With my leaping back and her darting forward away from me, Madaline is now around ten feet away, Nicolaus off to the side between us as if he were a referee. Her blue eyes look black as she starts to come at me, a feline grin on my face as if I just caught a mouse.

Instead of jumping at me, she just runs straight for me. Only getting within a couple of feet before a leopard jumps down out of nowhere. Startling me back a foot before falling to my rump, this woman has weird times of showing up.

The lynx stops dead just before running into the Mistress, eyes going wide as she skids. Leopard doesn't even have to growl, just look at the opposing feline with a twitching tail tip. The one green eye and one ice blue are stunning on a furred, spotted face.

The Lady looks over at me, the tuft of tail still between my teeth, a gleam of amusement in her eyes while looking at me. I can just imagine her asking the same thing she had once before, about trouble always revolving around me.

Giving her my best kitty grin and mew, I spit out the foul-tasting fluff and flesh. She looks at it and coughs. Her dual-colored eyes then turn to Nicolaus who hasn't moved.

His tangerine eyes flash between laughter and exasperation. That seems to be going around. I look over to the butt-hurt lynx, and while keeping my eyes on hers, I bring my tail up and clean it. A hiss comes from her, but I just close my eyes as if I don't know what her problem is.

Don't think I'm fooling anyone, especially when the Mistress comes over to me and nips the end of my tail. A protesting meow rises, but her look at me shuts me up. Why does it feel like an adult is on the playground scolding two kids who were fighting?

I sniff and turn around, intending to go my own way, but two different growls have me turning and growling back. Dammit, I hurt, I just want to go elsewhere. The lynx has taken off, so I have two big cats looking at me.

Rotating my shoulder, I yowl out. Maybe one will catch a hint, but of course not. The Mistress just tosses her head in a direction and waits for me to move, while Nicolaus comes up behind me and nudges me forward.

I'm beginning to really dislike cats.

Rising to three legs, I start limping in the way she points. It takes a while, but we finally come up on the small clearing that has the door to exit. Only this is the opposite one I came in from, so its doorway leads to I know not where. Both of them go human, but I stubbornly stay cat, sitting down and giving both a disgruntled look. I know I'm acting like a petulant child, but I don't care.

Subtly I look from the Lady, dart my eyes toward Nicolaus, then back to her. Don't think he sees since he's turned at that point. She raises an eyebrow but inclines her head before cocking it to hide the motion.

Her thin body is toned and pale, small breasts and softly flaring hips help with the androgynous look. Short black hair with red streaks look a little mussed from her shift. Pulling a sheer green robe from the wall next to the door, she motions for a naked Nicolaus to pick me up.

I dearly want to protest, but she's letting me stay in feline form so I'm not nude with him. Granted I don't think there's anything she can do to make me shift, but I'd rather not find out. With the way others react to her, I wouldn't be surprised.

He kneels down and picks me up, amazingly careful of my right foreleg, considering he's the cause of it. The wounds I'd given him still bleed lightly down his back, a small almost healed scratch across his nose is all that's left to show of my efforts.

Catching me looking at it, he gives a lopsided grin. I look away, out towards where we're heading. These halls don't look familiar at all, many even have paintings in them.

I recall Avina having said that the Mistress went to art auctions and such. Guess you need a lot of wall space if you're going to live forever and have a fondness for art, huh? Most are canvas pieces, but some are sculpture and even pottery.

Really makes you wonder to the ages of the Vamps when you get glimpses into their lives. We take lefts and rights, even up several flights of stairs. A whole wing of the house to herself? Well, I guess if you own the place, why not?

A few slaves are seen here and there, and to my surprise, they aren't in the usual position outside of any of the rooms. They're either cleaning art pieces or going past us. I recognize them all from having come to the kitchen at least once.

Remembering because each one is either extremely pretty and handsome or has some kind of striking feature. So I gather the Lady of the house likes to surround herself in beauty, that much is obvious by what I see in these areas. No one talks, but I do hear music playing from somewhere.

Finally, we come upon a set of heavy double doors that she opens. They open up into a large room that looks like it branches off into other rooms. This main one looks like a combination of a small library and an office.

Shelves line the walls going up so far, then it's all hanging artwork. The wooden structures are full of books, art pieces, and ancient-looking pottery. I now recall the small sculptures that I'd knocked down in a different library. Really hope I'm not expected to buy 'em now.

Nicolaus' fingers keep rubbing in my fur as he carts me around. Not like I can jump down though unless I want to hurt myself more. The Mistress walks up to a huge corner desk and pulls up a phone receiver, talking softly into it as she tells someone to come to her office.

While she does that, I look around some more. The Vamp holding me refuses to put me down anywhere. Not surprising, that. One doorway looks like it leads to a bathroom, also not surprising.

Another leads to a bedroom, can't tell about the third since the door is closed. The really amazing part is the wall behind the desk; the huge windows going at least ten feet high and just about the length of the wall.

The world behind them has me squirming in Nicolaus' arms. He grips me harder but that just causes me to squirm more and growl. Sighing, he crouches down and lets me go.

I head straight to the windows, rearing up on back feet to look out. The sky is black yet lit up with hundreds of stars. I haven't seen the sky since I was taken from my life. Not even sure how long ago that was.

There's a ledge, or windowsill, so I hop onto it and just stare out. I lose time as my nose is maybe half an inch away from the cold glass. The small lamp on the desk behind me sheds a soft light that reflects part of the room onto the window.

The sight aside, the sky is not one I recognize at all. I think I'm in the front of the house, but not sure. Sculptures and trees, grassland and gardens, dirt and paved trails that could be a road are what I make out.

Can also see what appears to be a smallish shaded parking area. Different types of wildcats and canines can be seen from here. Not close enough to tell what they are, just that they're big. Guards? Just how big is this place?

The architecture doesn't tell me much, as it looks to be all stone. Several stories high, which I already know. The grounds themselves look just as humongous.

Nicolaus coming towards me catches my attention, can see him in the glass reflection. I hunker down, feet under me, and hold my lame leg up. It's a little awkward, but manageable. He doesn't stop till he's right behind me, pressing close.

Don't think I've ever met anyone as clingy as this man. It's gotten to the point that I wonder if he thinks I'm his security blanket or something, which is downright hilarious. Long fingers sink into the fur on my back and rear.

I ignore him and the other as I keep looking out. Just the sight of the sky causes me to become calm enough to start purring. An ear quirks back when I hear someone coming in though, causing the rumbling to stop instantly as I sit up and look.

Have to stick my head out farther than I want since a bare body is in my way. Soft footfalls go across the carpeted floor right up to the desk. It's the healer woman. I start backing up slowly, working my way down the windowsill.

I'm abruptly stopped by a hand at my rump, but that doesn't keep me from trying. That just gets me picked up again, to which I yowl my displeasure. He grabs me with my back legs held tight between his arm and body, and my front uninjured leg held out.

Perfect hold to keep me from clawing him up. Well, that just ruins all my fun. I yowl again as he takes me over to the older woman, who I'm sure has to be tired of seeing me by now. Trying to pull away from Nicolaus is getting me nowhere, him holding my left foreleg while leaving the injured right to dangle towards the healer. Not holding my head though, so I turn and bite into his collarbone, he stiffens but keeps going.

Don't do any more than that, just bite into him, not even drawing blood.

Yet.

The woman walks up and studies me, so I squeak at her. Basically telling her to hurry and get it over with.