Taming the Familiar

Chapter 42- Catfight

Alexa turned to face her uncle wondering what he would throw at her now that he didn't have Kaleth to fight. Pitch stepped closer to her again. Obviously he felt Alistar would have another defense behind his back. Alexa stepped forward and pointed to her brother.

"Let him go." she shouted. Alistar shook his head slowly, as if amazed by her boldness.

"Why would I do that?" he smirked, glancing to her brother and putting his arm around him in what if anyone else had done it would have been seen as a loving gesture. With Alistair it was like a giant snake wrapping around it's prey. Alexa stepped forward with Pitch at her side and Alistar laughed a little.

"I'll admit I didn't not expect the dragon to fall. You are quite strong my niece." he said. he was still smiling so Alexa braced herself for whatever he had coming up next. He leaned down to Patrick.

"Call her." he said quietly. Patrick nodded to him and shut his eyes. Alexa's eyes widened.

"Ramona." he whispered. Alexa felt like her eyes were going to pop out of her head as ice seemed to creep from his hand. Soon she was staring at a cat as big as Pitch. For how black Pitch was this one was nearly all white with flecks of grey through it. Alexa was staring at a snow leopard that matched Pitch in size. It laid it's ears back and snarled at him. Patrick shushed her and made a hand motion for her to stand up.

She shifted back to her human self, her head tipped to the side curiously. 

"Hi kitty." she said to Pitch who took a wary step back. Alexa eyed her, then the prone form of Kaleth on the ground. She didn't even seem to notice him now. Alistar grinned.

"Fight the cat and keep him busy for us." he said. Pitch laid his ears back and hissed as Ramona shot forward. Patrick just watched them quietly.

"You had him summon HER!!!" Alexa shouted at Alistar. He grinned and glanced Patrick obviously pleased with her brother. Her stomach rolled as she realized Patrick had see far more of Alistar than was good for anybody.

"She was growing into a poltergeist. If she was summoned or exorcised she would have grown too strong to be controlled." he said. Alexa watched Ramona as Pitch dodged lithely away.

"Is that why she isn't a house cat?" she asked. Alistar grinned.

"Yes." he said. He watched the two cats fighting too. He motioned to Ramona.

"You saw her ghost form, if one sticks around for very long it can grow stronger. Most would move on instead but she is special." he said with a grin. Like she was collecting a relic, not a soul.

Alexa watched Ramona fighting Pitch. Had she been ordered to forget the terrible things Alistar had done to her. How much control over her did Alistar have. Did she follow his orders as if he were her master. Alexa would never do that to Pitch but she doubted Patrick had known all the details. She checked on Kaleth's still form on the ground and wondered how she would free him from Alistar if he couldn't even remember her. She looked to Alistair, some of the defensive spells she had worked on with Kaleth coming to mind. She focused on a spell he had been particularly good at. A lightning spell. It was short, sweet and fast. Maybe she could knock Alistar out before he could hurt her. She readied herself to shout the spell and was thrilled when she felt the surge of magic she shot towards Alistar. She was temporarily blinded by the massive lightning bolt she had created, and the loud boom of it rang loudly in her ears.

She blinked back the burning of her retinas with a triumphant smile. Alistar couldn't be standing after he'd been hit by that. When she finally focused past the burning white light her smile fell. Alistar was standing there perfectly fine. It seemed he had deflected her lightning bolt into her grandmother's house. Smoke was now curling from a blackened hole in wall on the second story.She stared in horror at what her lightning had done.... Nanna's house was burning. Alistar stared at the house but obviously didn't care whether it burned to the ground or not. She stared at the flames licking away at her grandmother's siding. She didn't realize her mistake until she heard Alistar chanting something. She turned and attempted to use her shield spell but Alistar was quick and definitely more experienced than her. She shuddered terrified what he was doing as she felt his bitter magic wrap around her. She shrieked in agony as the spell coursed through her and she fell to the ground. It seemed to suck the energy out of her and as she watched Pitch instantly shifted back to his cat form. Ramona was taller but Pitch had the advantage of being more comfortable as a cat so he still held out. He did send a worried glance in Alexa's direction but couldn't escape Ramona's attacks. Alistar's eyes were alight with amusement as she crawled to her feet. Patrick was staring at her looking a little stunned but it was apparently he wasn't running to help her any time soon. She glared at Alistar and looked down at herself to see what kind of injuries he had inflicted. She was surprised to see nothing physical. Alistar leaned against the arbor and glanced to Patrick then back to her. 

"Order the cat to follow my orders. You can't fight anymore." he said, obviously pleased with the spell he had used, "I drained your mana. There is no way you can fight and the panther is bound to loose now that you can't even sustain his human form. She will kill him if she isn't ordered to stop." Alexa shook her head. Pitch wasn't giving up any time soon and neither would she. Alistar stepped forward and she mirrored his step back. How could she fight him with no mana. She dug deep and tried to force her magic up but there was none there. She looked around for a weapons and debated on going to get Pitch's fallen swords. They were too far away, across the yard. she was sure the second she turned her back to get them Alistar would throw a spell at her. She glanced again at the swords as Alistar took another step forward. She took another step back. When she bumped into something solid her eyes shot around to meet Kaleth's golden gaze staring coldly down at her with a slight smirk on his face. His hands grabbed her shoulders. She tried to wrench free but his hands were like vices and he pushed her forward for Alistar. She looked over to the ground where he had been laying but obviously he was behind her now without her even realizing it. Alistar grinned to himself, obviously glad to have Kaleth back on his feet. Kaleth brought Alexa even closer until Alistar was only a little over a foot way.

"Nice defensive reflex but you overestimated it's effects." he said. Obviously refering to her knocking Kaleth out. She had only done that one other time and she hadn't even known she'd been doing it. Alistar stepped forward, looking her up and down like prey. She coulldn't deny that's exactly what she felt like. Kaleth was holding her arms behind her back and there wasn't a lot she could do to defend herself. Alistar grabbed her chin so he could look her in the face. She spit at him and he roughly tossed her face aside and backhanded her. Her cheek and jawed stung with his slap. She tasted blood as her teeth must have been dug into the inside of her cheek somewhere. She spit again, to get the taste out of her mouth. She saw Pitch's blue eyes flash to her in concern. Could he feel that, or had he just heard the ringing slap across the yard. She locked eyes with him for a second before Ramona attacked again. He was doing what he could, she had to find a way out of this herself. She looked to Paytrick but he was still just staring blankly at the two fighting cats. He must be as strong as she was for Ramona to have the power she did. Could she break Alistar's control. Then she remembered something else Patrick had done and smirked at Alistar. He stared at her curiously and she quickly raised her foot and mule kicked up and into Kaleths groin. She felt his grip loosen and tore free, jogging out of Alistar's reach as Kaleth straightened gingerly up. Now he was angry with her, great... He moved forward and she shrieked and moved to dodge him but he was faster and grabbed her roughly, obviously now more wary of her swinging feet. She felt his scaled tail wrap tightly around bother her legs. He drug her quickly back to Alistar who was smiling. 

"So much fight." he said, grinning. He grabbed her hair and pulled her face up to meet his, she felt Kaleth's hand close over her mouth to prevent her from spitting on Alistar again. Alistar was still grinning.

"We'll get rid of the fight." he said. Her held up his pocket watch and she stared at for a moment and he began chanting. She fought it but her eyelids were heavy and the watch swinging lazily back and forth was making her wonder why she was fighting so hard. She knew she was supposed to be fighting but all her reasons were slipping away.