Faline

A few hours later I wake by myself, my undead body saying it's plenty rested and in need of nourishment. I push it down as I take stock of my surroundings before opening my eyes. A large heavy body next to mine smells of Nicolaus's musk.

Musk. Not must. There's a difference.

Judging by the sound and feel of his habitual and unneeded breathing, he's asleep still. Soon as I move though he'll wake. The popping and crackling of the logs in the fireplace are the only other sounds I catch.

The smell of the area reveals that we're in yet another new room. Scents of leather, smoke, stuffy dryness, fur, and old sex. Oh...gross. I scrunch my nose as my head lifts, mountain lion waking up immediately. Orange eyes open and look right at me.

I sneeze, my head shaking then going low as I cover my nose with a leg. His head rises and scents the air, his mouth open to take in taste. Yeah, I'm so not doing that. He doesn't seem bothered, but that's hardly a shocker.

Getting up, I plan on moving away but get stopped with a very large paw draping over me and pulling me back. Tugging in the opposite direction doesn't get me free, but it does stop the movement. He starts chirping, his weird eyes grinning at me.

Sounding as if a bird is in his throat, he rolls to his side, pulling me towards him. The scrapes I had given his nose hours ago are completely gone, as I'm sure all the damage to his back is. Collarbone could still be soft, but I'm sure there's no longer an opening there either.

Stumbling closer to him, I fall against his lower ribs. Voicing my protest again gets me nowhere.

Again.

Fine. Steadying my feet under me, I step up onto him. Wobbling from his skin moving under my feet, you wouldn't believe how slippery something covered in fur is until you try to walk on it and all the loose skin keeps moving.

Taken in a different way, that sounds highly gross.

I slide off twice before I give in and use claws. He groans at me, but his eyes are still full of merriment. I either have to be higher up more on his ribcage or lower on his hip. His long, thick tail is flicking, to some crazy tune in his head, I'm sure.

Deep purring rumbles within him as I figure out what I'm doing. Finally finding a spot that I can steady myself, I lower my legs under me, gold eyes glaring up his body to his face. Of course, now that I'm settled, he rolls again, sending me sliding off.

Mewling in annoyance, I get up and dart away, not wanting to be pulled down again. Purring continues as he watches me walk around inspecting the room. More like a large open den than a bedroom. A lounge chair is set up next to a spot that'd held a window at some point in time.

Might still be there, under heavy shutters and drapes. Not much else in here. Rug, fireplace, high back chair, couple of thick and fluffy couches, and the lounge. Oh wait, I think the marble counter by the fireplace could be called a wet-bar. Possibly.

I don't care to look since it's not like I can drink anything that may happen to be in it. There are, however, a lot of ledges along the burgundy walls. Have to look up to see them, but they're there, each one several feet long and jutting out a couple more. Feline climbing room? I remember seeing setups like this for domestic cats within a home, usually spanning through several rooms.

Making sure I'm a distance away from the huge lazy cat, I ready myself for a jump. He rumbles at me just as I spring, going for one of the lower ledges that's only about five feet up. Landing easily on it, the felt-like material covering it gives my claws something to grip onto so there's no slippage.

Odors come from it as I land, past cats rubbing scent markers on the corners. Jumping from one to another, I go till I'm on one of the highest ones and looking down on the tannish puma, who's looking up at me with annoyance. Doing a completely childish thing I haven't done since he abducted me, I stick my tongue out at him.

Keeping it between my teeth, the motion feels a little weird, but not bad. He growls at me, his mouth opening wide as if he's yawning, showing off big teeth.

Yeah, like that's an incentive to get down.

Not.

I shake my head and lick my nose, crouching low right there as I tease him by not being up his ass and in a spot he can't reach. Or so I think till he stands and heads for a ledge. Quirking my ears and raising back up, I watch.

I learn quickly why the mountain lion has such a long tail as he starts leaping from one ledge to another easily. Balance. He's a huge cat with big feet, but that doesn't seem to hinder him in the least. I let out my zombie sounding groan as I look for a way back down.

The outcroppings are set a decent distance apart, the room being fairly large with a high ceiling. Think I may have screwed the pooch on this. The closest one is around six feet away and lower.

Looking back at him as he comes up on me fast, I take the jump. Landing is no problem, so I keep going, making my way down fast till I just leap out for a couch. It's so plush I sink into it when I land.

This is when things get embarrassing.

The much heavier cat touches down beside me within seconds of my landing.

No real big deal.

Till we find out that this couch is full of air and very bouncy. As he lands, I go flying up. You'd swear we were on a damn trampoline with how high I go.

A startled mew-squeak-like sound comes from me as I fly up and then fall down. Annoyed, I angle myself on the downward motion to land right on his back. Claws dig deep as I grip for purchase, he yowls at me and I return it, bitching right back at him.

Lowering himself onto the couch, I get off. One of my claws gets caught in his hide, but a quick yank fixes that. His scream-growl is loud as he complains, I just turn and walk away with my tail held high as if nothing happened.

Don't get very far though when I'm pounced on. I don't know whether to laugh or cry, just wanting to leave and do something not involving cat play. Teeth grab the scruff of my neck and tug.

Inwardly sighing, I go limp as he carts me off back to the rug in front of the fireplace. Nicolaus lays over my back legs when we get there to hold me down while he goes to town with another bath. I am going to go bald if he keeps this up, but all I can do is lay there and deal with it.

It's while he's rubbing his head into my side that a door opens somewhere then closes. A smallish white-faced coyote pads carefully around a couch in front of the Mistress who is again in a suit jacket with nothing under it, slacks cover her legs this time instead of jeans.

Her red-streaked black hair is combed to one side, leaving her shaved side exposed, head cocking as she sees us. A zombie noise comes from me as I just lay there. Back legs still caught under his chest.

Nicolaus had looked up when the door opened, but he's resumed his scent marking. Swear at times it's like he's using my fur to clean his face. Maii tries to come closer to me, but each time he does, the moody puma curls his lip.

The skittish kid still bobs around, testing boundaries. He really should stop though, I don't want Nicolaus to go after him again. The next time he lifts his lip and growls, I pop his nose with a forepaw.

Orange eyes direct themselves to me intently, his jealousy swirling in their depths. I sneeze at him, telling him how ridiculous he's being. This whole time he's kept licking, the side of my belly is now soggy.

As he and I glare at each other, the Lady sits in the high backed chair a few feet away, tossing the clothes over to the couch. Alternating between watching us and looking at the fire, her face is unreadable. A cold nose touches the skin on my belly, I jump and pop him again.

Undeterred, he keeps nosing at me. Keeping his eyes closed most of the time, when they're open they're looking right at me. He steadily works his way down, touching on the short spotted fur on my lower stomach.

I growl, working into my 'no no no' noises. The woman in the chair looks over at me with a raised brow and a smirk. Maii cocks his head as he sits next to her chair, reddish-brown eyes curious.

Great, now I'm a sideshow. I pull on my legs, they move a little bit, but he has them pinned. Could try flexing them, extend claws and see if that gets a reaction. Doing so, his slit eyes open and mock me.

I yowl low in indignation, but all that gets me is small nibbling bites to soft skin. Moving so I'm sort of upright and on my forelegs, I twist my lower body till I feel myself coming loose. Front claws dig into the rug as I use it to slowly pull free.

Wiggling my rear end practically in his face, I finally get free. I'm up long enough to stand upright, then I get pulled over again, laying on my opposite side. Legs aren't pinned this time, but his claws are set into my hip.

This is getting ridiculously redundant. Glaring over at the woman in the chair, she's lost in the flames, so I start snarling. Twisting around to swat at his face, I don't care that needles are slicing into my outer thigh.

Can hear the skin tearing as blood starts to flow. That, of course, catches her attention. Dual-colored eyes swing my way as I bat at Nicolaus's face while he pulls his lip back over long teeth. Growling low at him in determination, I swat at him.

"Do not mark her anymore Nicolaus, you've been quite overzealous about leaving your mark. Everyone knows she is yours as soon as they see the scars."

He glares up at the woman as he starts licking at the wounds, and I bound away after one last slash to his face. The claw catches on the bridge of his nose and goes across it. Ignoring his complaint, I jump onto the wet-bar counter thing and crouch low, keeping my eyes on all of them, tail tip twitching irritably.

"Having seen her back myself, it's obvious you enjoyed yourself immensely. Her skin being near untouched before your pleasures. I wonder if she enjoyed it though? Not that it matters one way or the other, seeing as how I like to see them crying myself."

This woman is nuts. Pulling my ears back, I stand and work myself backward. Not sure where I'm going, but wanting to be as far from them both as I can get.

"Don't go far Kitten, you are to still show me the outfit you picked. The sooner you come and put it on, the sooner you can return to your fur."

I really hate that nickname. And of course, as soon as she says it, Nicolaus starts his shift to human. This just keeps getting better and better. Not.

Grumbling in protest, I hop down, making a wide berth around my bane. He eyes me with a smirk as he stands and stretches. Which of course draws my gaze to his abdomen and the defined muscle tone.

Snatching my eyes away from pale skin, I hurry to the damn couch and shift. Sooner I get into the damn thing, the faster I can get out of it. Why does that not sound quite right?

Standing sideways to keep an eye on where he is, I pull on the underwear, then step into the dress. Soon as he takes a step closer, my head snaps up, glaring hard as I hurry and zip the freakin' thing up, fixing how my bust is supposed to be after it's zipped. Laughing orange eyes herald his snicker that I work at ignoring.

I look down in disgust and make sure everything is in the right order. Smoothing my hands down the sides where the crisscrossed laces catch on my fingers. I was able to ignore it before when messing with the panties, but a small trickle of blood is going down my leg.

Before I can wipe it away, the woman clears her throat. I wince and turn so she can get her damn look. My hands clench at my sides as I glare between her and the slit-eyed Vamp, who's getting very happy at looking at me, and not at all shy about who knows it.

Biting my tongue, I keep my eyes on the Mistress. Anger darkening them as I watch her look me over as if I'm something she wants to buy.

I hate Vampires. Like, really really.