Catharine watched from under the table as Daniel screamed when Desmond sunk his large deformed mouth full of jagged teeth into his prey's shoulder. She almost got dizzy from the scent of blood as Desmond pulled his face back; red liquid gushing down to the floor. Daniel fell.
Getting away from the torture, she nudged open the basement door, and followed the scent she first picked up when taking her transformation.
Strutting down to the dimly lit basement she could sense a lingering heat from the corner. It moved and moaned, and Catharine went over and nudged the body against the wall. A young woman in the basement.
She was covered in mostly her own blood and sweat, tied to the shelves attached to the wall. The basement stank not only from blood, but waste and Catharine was finding the smells overwhelming. Her mind was starting to slow, unable to comprehend all her new senses.
The young woman looked down at the small cat and smiled for a moment, before her eyes went cold and lifeless. Catharine kneaded her claws in the side of her leg and meowed, but the woman didn't move. The smell of death came off her.
Catharine twirled in circles, desperately wanting to walk on two legs again. She was growing anxious and couldn't wait to leave this house. Though Desmond had told her that this woman's soul was dark, all Catharine could see was a young woman terrified begging for her life.
Guilt pierced through her, when she realized she needed to help. She didn't want to become a monster, yet she wondered if it was too late to be a good person.
The ears on the top of her fury head twitched as Desmond began to descend the stairs. "Kitty-cat, we're leaving."
Mentally she slapped him every time he called her 'kitty-cat' but as of right now there was nothing for her to do about it. She meowed and nudged herself to the girl.
"She's dead," he said bluntly. "Now come on, we need to get him to the manor."
She didn't move. "Catharine," he yelled to her his tone changing from playful to serious. "I need you now, or I will leave you here stuck as a cat."
He headed back up the stairs letting her follow behind him. She did, but when they had gotten back upstairs to the kitchen she jumped back up onto the table. A cell phone laid on top and after trying to open it, she jumped back down realizing she didn't have a lot of time to keep trying to just get the screen to light up.
With her head whipping from side to side, she then noticed the rare object on the wall. A land line phone hanging next to the counter.
Making her way up to the counter she precisely jumped to the phone knocking it from its base and when it hit the floor the back of it flung pieces of plastic across the tile.
Her paw dialed the numbers 9...1...1.
Suddenly her ears perked hearing through the phone a woman on the other line. "Nine, one, one, what is your emergency?"
Catharine meowed and shrunk back to herself realizing there was no way of talking to let anyone know to come. Instead she let the phone lay on the floor as she could faintly hear, "Hello? Can you talk?" from the phone as she walked out the back door Desmond had left open for her.
Sprinting through the grass to the car Desmond had turned slamming the back door and opened the passenger side. As she leaped into her seat she was again naked and human.
"Seriously?" she yelled covering herself with her arms as she took a seat. "Couldn't wait till we got to the house?"
Desmond threw her the clothes that laid in the grass. "What took you so long?" was all he asked.
He went around the car as she started to get dress. First her shirt and then trying to get her pants around her ankles. The driver's side door flung open and Desmond tossed himself into the car. "I could have used you to get him in the back seat."
She peered over her shoulder after awkwardly getting dressed they got back on to the main road. Daniel's body laid in the back seat, a sickening scene of blood, bones and just ripped flesh. The smell of copper stung her nose.
"I thought you were going to change him, not dismember him," she said as she peered back to the vampire.
His eyes were fixed on the road. "Killing him is part of the process."
"Ok yeah, killing the guy I get, maybe, but couldn't you of just stabbed him?"
"Oh?" he said his eyebrows raising. "I'm sorry, next time I will be more polite when I kill someone." His tone was sarcastic and a smile grew wide on his face as he chuckled. "Wanted to have my fun, I won't feed again till Daniel has transformed so that I can take him out."
She sighed. "I didn't know I was going to be apart of gruesomely murdering people," she admitted.
He was silent and his body went still. Finally. "Look, you're alive, you're protected, and your little hunter is still out there gallivanting due to my kindness. You will do and be apart of whatever I want so that I can put this pack together."
First she was flushed with embarrassment. He had done all those things for her, but, "I thought our arrangement was I clean and maintain the house."
The car was now back on the highway and after he had merged replied. "That was just for your life and I think it was more than generous."
She shrugged to herself and didn't say anything else the whole ride back. Desmond would occasionally flick his fingers to tunes on the radio against his knee. Things to him were normal while Catharine sat twisted in her seat unable to get the smell of dirty pennies from her nose. It was so heavy that it felt like she was tasting it. She pushed her fingers to her temple soothing the headache the stench had induced.
Unsettled by her memories of Daniel's screaming she asked, "So torture is fun to you?"
"Don't feel bad. He deserved it. If you could only smell his soul, you'd know what he's done. I've chosen him for this, but I thought it'd be fun to give hi back what was given."
Finally, they had arrived back at Desmond's manor.
When she began up the path Desmond called to her. "I need you to help me with him."
She looked back and exaggerated her sickness. "Please, I can't. The smell of him is making me nauseous."
The look of aggravation flared in his face as he opened the back door. "Fine, but go clean the room next to yours on the third floor."
Dragging her feet into the house and to the room she slowly peered through the door. Cold hit her face from the dark as she flipped on the lights. The room wasn't as messy as hers was and with a look over she felt things might be easy.
First she started a load of laundry to lay the bed with fresh sheets and blanket. She tossed all the trash, dusted the corners of the room, and after vacuuming the throw carpets she left the hard wood around them still wet from mopping.
Walking through the bathroom she now shared with a serial killer she turned the water on the tub leaving her hand under the water to feel the temperature.
She preoccupied herself as long as she could with the room so that Desmond wasn't able to call upon her for whatever his sick needs were, but before she could have the pleasure to cork the tub and lay in the water she could hear a terrible growl from downstairs.
For a moment she wondered if she should go find out what was going on, but when she started into the hallway she knew exactly where she was going.
She got to the second floor and more roars echoed from the library. She took her descent with a deep breath and knocked on the large wooden doors. "Come in," Desmond seemed to beam from the other side.
She opened the doors and what stood before her against the books shook her just as Desmond's beast form did. Now another monster was added to his pack.
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"You ready, guys?" Nick asked to the back of him his arms reached out ready for the dive.
Xara and Xavier looked at one another. "Are you sure you want to start this high?" she asked concerned as she took in Nick standing on the ledge, the city lights around them. It seemed her brothers were making it a habit of taking things to the edge.
He nodded and a grin crossed his face. Suddenly his body dropped from the edge and Xara gasped while Xavier ran over to his brother's spot.
All they could hear on the way down was Nick calling wooo . Xara grumbled not wanting to cause a scene. It was something the cops were getting use to around the city. Kids going out doing stupid things, because they suddenly have powers and invincibility.
Just yesterday there was a stir on the web about a girl walking through walls of banks to steal money. She was caught all on tape and at the young age of sixteen was in jail. Xara was finding the ages of the kids taking Mary's Blood disturbing. Though there were plenty of adults getting themselves into trouble too, but luckily for the gang they knew how to keep a low key.
The authorities didn't want to believe that the drug was giving people superpowers so they were convincing people who watched the news that they were all infected with a disease through tainted party drugs.
As Nick landed to the bottom and safely got back up, he started to sprint away from the scene of his landing. "Woo!" Xavier screamed pumped. "God, that looks like fun."
Xara eyed her twin. "Don't get any ideas." She was cross.
Sighing he figured he'd wait till he saw Nick who could tell him all about it and share in the excitement.
"So," the sister began as the walked down the hall to the elevator. "I don't want to be rude, I'm just worried, but where were you last night?" she tipped toed her words around him.
He shrugged. "I met a girl."
She raised her eye at him. "Oh really?"
He smiled as he thought back to the girl on the swings and the bliss on her face.
Then he was taken back to the memory of the monster that had attacked him and didn't know whether or not to tell his sister. He knew she was stressed from what they were trying to handle already.
"Yeah, we swung on the swings, talked..." he dropped off not wanting to continue about the horned beast.
It was occurring to him that he felt like he needed to save her. For someone he had just met last night he was compelled to her. Though a lingering fear took over his sober belly. He was actually a coward, even running away from the hunter lifestyle, only to be found by his sister and brother later broken down and drunk.
Saved he paid them back by helping them with the Mary's Blood case, but ultimately he still drank for courage. Though his only family he had left thought they had pushed him away and he had never correct them.
"Going to see her again?" she asked and her words left a heavy pain lay on his stomach. If he didn't become a hero probably not.
"I don't know," he replied. "Didn't get a number."
"Did you get a name?" she asked.
"Just Cat," he said with a twisted lip to the side.
They had reached the entrance of the building and walked out to the car where they were to meet Nick. Though he was absent.
"Really?" Xara said clapping her hands to her side.
Xavier took the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car. "He's probably gallivanting right now. Let's just go."
"How's he going to get home?"
"He's got superhuman fucking speed and for all we know the ability to fly. He didn't meet us here, I want to go home." He got into the driver seat and slammed the door.
Xara got in, slamming the door as well and with a snide remark. "You just want to go home and drink."
He hit the wheel and yelled. "After all the fucking shit we see, don't you want to even drink?"
"No," she said shaking her head. "Because I know how to keep a clear head."
He sighed and shook his head as he started the ignition.
They were almost to the apartment when Xara began with, "I don't want to push you out of our lives, but do you want to keep doing this with us?"
He wondered if she thought of him as a coward now that she knew, but he couldn't tell. His sister always had such an understanding heart. "I'm not going to leave. Not now."
"Good," she answered.
When they had finally gotten home, both of them waiting for the news he wondered when he should leave and how long the whole drug thing was going to last. There were hunters in multiple cities dealing with the same thing. It was hard to find help when everyone that was willing was already somewhere else.
The city was so small that the three of them were managing just fine, but too small for big things like this to be happening in the first place.
He didn't want to be a hero. He just wanted to be a normal guy. Go to work, have a girlfriend, maybe even go to an AA meeting.
He couldn't help but stare out into the cold night through the window. Xara came into the living room sitting next to him. He asked desperately for a sign telling him he should walk away, but that was all forgotten as his head whipped to the TV.
"Coming up... A fire in downtown. Verdict for Lander's trial and Catharine Hopkins still missing."
His eyes blinked at the screen. The familiar face hung on a blue background, a selfie they probably got off social media. In awe, he knew now exactly who Cat was.
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