Terry Fowler sat at her desk writing her latest article on the proper preparation of some new vegetarian cuisine when her phone began to vibrate on her desk and then slid right off into her trash can. She sighed and chuckled as she fished it out. She clicked the trackball and watched the screen light up. She checked the text message.
Starbucks. 1 Hour. Phillip.
Terry raised her eyebrow, not expecting to see a message from Phillip, last she had heard, he wasn’t speaking to her. He had run off with her ex-boyfriend and called her everything but a human being. She smirked at the memory, of that July 4th. She was supposed to go with them, but she guessed she was just in the way. That is the way it always was, she was always in the way. Terry shrugged and finished up her report and emailed it to her editor. She picked up her brown leather purse and shoved her cell into it. She angrily slammed her chair against her desk, wondering what he wanted. Phillip was one of those reknown authors, he was well known and there was never a moments peace when you went anywhere with him, one of his ‘freaky fan-club’ were always hovering asking him for his autograph. Terry blanched at the thought of his waving of his hand like he was royalty, and waving his ‘many adoring fans’ away. Phillip Kipps never called you unless he wanted something from you. That is just the kind of person he was, but in all honesty Terry missed talking to him, so she was willing to bite the bait. Terry strolled into the elevator and regained her composure by the time she got to the lobby. She exited and headed for her car, keying in the code and entering, she threw her bag in the passenger seat and grumbled.
Terry arrived at the Starbucks in question, and pulled into her normal spot. She pulled her laptop out from under the seat and got out of her car, once inside she ordered her usual Peppermint Mocha and sat waiting like a good girl for Phillip. Phillip came through the door, tanned and fabulous as usual. His hair was streaked with blonde and white highlights, and he smiled wide, showing off his newly cleaned teeth, all perfectly straight as he saw Terry. He strode over to her table and said, “Princess Terry!” Terry looked up trying to hide her disgust at the name. “Hello Phillip” she responded curtly
Phillip gasped in faux shock, “Really, Terry—bitterness doesn’t become you!”
“What do you want Phillip?” Terry said displaying her lack of patience.
“Moi? Why I am simply coming to see my favorite Fairy Princess of course”
“Right, and I am Mother Theresa”
Phillip extended his hand and said ”Oh my Mother Theresa, nice to meet you in the flesh”
Terry smirked and batted his hand away. Taking a sip of her coffee, she looked to the door to see someone drooling over Phillip from a distance, “New Beau?”
Phillip looked over his shoulder to see a young man with long black hair staring at him with waiting eyes like that of a puppy waiting for his master to acknowledge him. “Paul…come sit” Paul came bounding over, quite like the before mentioned puppy he simulated. He sat in the chair next to Phillip. Phillip looked at Terry with a tired look in his eyes, and a sheepish grin.
“Terry” he began taking her hand in his, “Remember those days when we had fun and adventures in hunting things that go bump in the night?”
Terry tried to pull her hand away, but Phillip tightened his grip. Terry, knowing she had no choice, sighed and continued to listen.
“Well, I have come to you, because I trust you. Paul needs a place to go. He has someone after him, or rather, we both do.”
“go on”
“Well,” patting Terry’s hand more, “He has Ivan after him”
Terry’s eyes widened, her free hand going up to her throat and feeling the puncture marks there. Her mind started to flash back to the Russian vampire of 7 foot tall, and how he had decided she was his intended, and had given her blood red roses along with other creepy gifts for almost a year, then suddenly disappeared. He had gone after a long chase that night, he found a tasty treat as he had said, and went to chase after her, then Terry never saw him again, that was around the time that Phillip and she had parted ways. Terry looked up at Phillip her eyes glistening, “Why me?”
“I trust you” Phillip said
“What if I can’t protect him?”
“Well burn that bridge when we get to it, okay” Phillip said.
Paul who had been silent all this time looked over at Phillip and said, “You’re not going to leave me alone with a fish are you?”
Phillip whirled his head around and slapped Paul right across the face in public, “You will NOT disrespect the Princess! She is putting her neck on the line for you, you will show her the same respect you have shown me, do I make my self perfectly clear?”
“Crystal” Paul said holding his face, “Forgive me master”
Phillip looked again at Paul’s pouting face and put it between his own hands, pulling it closer, he kissed his lips gently and smiled, “That’s a good boy”
Terry cleared her throat at the little public display of affection and said, “Shall we go then?” The trio stood and exited the place, heading for Terry’s car, and getting in. Terry already knew that Phillip had used a cab to get here, she knew he never used his own car when he was on official business. The drove down the street toward Judah and 46th street. She took a sharp left turn and drove toward Noriega. She pulled into the driveway of her place, and reached up, to click the garage door opener. Carefully guiding her car into the garage as not to hit Kalor’s bike, she switched her engine off and sighed, trying to figure out how she was going to tell her.
Everyone climbed out of the tiny car and headed inside. Kalor met her at the door and kissed her cheek, then saw Phillip behind her.
“What is HE doing here?” She looked at him, her lavender fairy eyes hissing at him, as she got more angry her lavender tail sprouted from her back side and her ears grew and flattened against her head. She glanced at Paul and sniffed the air, “and a blood sucker too!”
Phillip raised his hands and said”Now, now Kalor, he isn’t a FULL blood-sucker..he is only a blood doll”
Kalor hissed and swiped at him. Phillip jumped back to avoid her claws. Behind Kalor a door slid open and all Phillip saw was darkness then a low growl was heard after seeing the flash of another set of lavender eyes, and looking up to see a human sized Siamese on his chest.
Terry yelled, “Samanthe! Calm down, Kalor is just over reacting!”
“I am NOT over-reacting!” She said with a hiss toward her wife. She raised a claw toward Phillip, ‘I could KILL you with one claw, you know that right? You dirty feline, you have the nerve to come back into my home, and dirty it with your essence, when you left with Silence, we removed you from our kin. You consorted with vermin, and now you want back IN?” Kalor swished her tail, “I do not think so!”
Terry finally reaching her limit, grabbed Samanthe by her collar and drug her back down to her side, and then looked at Kalor, “BE QUIET! Last I checked, you were not the Otto! Calm yourself, have a bowl of milk, I brought him here, as my guest. He will redeem himself when the time is right. Yes, you are Tsuma—but I am Otto, all matters of this nature go before me.”
Kalor bowed her head, hissing under her breath, “Yes, my Otto” she retracted her claws and bound into the ‘Room of Cushions’ kicking the door closed with her back paw.
Terry sighed and made her way to the couch, flopping down on it and waiting for Samanthe to take her place in her lap with her head where she could receive her scritches. Terry absentmindedly scritched Samanthe on her left ear and continued talking to Phillip.
“You will have to stay out of her way while you are here. You can stay in the spare room, there are controls on the wall for complete darkness, that can have an alarm on them for opening when nightfall approaches. There is also a blood bank in Knobb Hill, where you can get a bite to drink if needed. Please just do your best to not fight with her, she is still Tsuma, and she does have say when I am not here, but I will also let her know she isn’t allowed to abuse you. You are still kin.”
Samanthe began to kneed Terry’s leg as the scritches began to slack off, she mewed and looked up, “Myewstress?”
“Yes, my kitty-girl?”
“T-yuna, purrease..Tsuma hasn’t fed m’yet” Samanthe said, laying on her back, her belly exposed showing off her butterfly piercing. She looked up at Terry with her beautiful lavender-pink eyes and purred. She flipped her long blonde hair over her shoulder, making it cascade to the floor, her Siamese features showed even when she wasn’t in full cat form, as she had the most beautiful darkened skin and sharp features. She rolled onto her belly and showed off her tail, which was still out, she wiggled her rear, waiting for the okay command to go get her food.
“Go ahead, but stay out of her mahi mahi—you know the lashes you got last time” Terry said as Samanthe bound away
Samanthe stopped and looked over her shoulder, Mischievousness in her eyes, and said”oh trrust me I rrremember” with a purr and a grin she went to the kitchen and began eating.
Phillip chuckled which brought Terry back to the room she was in, “I see she hasn’t changed much”
“No, she hasn’t she is still a sentry, and still my kitty-girl…I believe she gets in trouble on purpose sometimes”
Phillip chuckled, “All that aside, we need to talk strategy”
Terry shook her head and yawned, she was wiped out from the days work and the evening’s excitement, she pointed to the bedroom where they would stay and Phillip nodded, picking Paul up like he was a child, as he was sleeping soundly on the couch. He carried him to the bedroom, and placed him gently on the bed, then pulled his boots off of him and covered him up. Phillip went to the bathroom and began to clean himself, applying bactine to his cuts and bruises. Terry knocked and entered bringing him towels, and stopped when she saw the cuts and bruises. “Are those from Sam?”
Phillip looked up, “No, those are from Ivan and Macy, Mostly Macy as Paul was hers.”
“You didn’t say Macy was involved.”
“Surprise”
Terry stared blankly at the wounds on Phillip’s body and knew her sister was involved deeply, from the depth of the marks. Macy didn’t get involved unless she could benefit from it somehow. Love wasn’t it at all, Paul had something that she wanted, he wasn’t just a simple blood doll. She would have to delve more into it once she had more sleep. She set the towels down on the counter and turned around saying good night under her breath, knowing he heard her and closed the door behind her. She wandered to the room Kalor had stormed into earlier and opened the door, she looked in to the the moonlight shining though the blinds and showering her mate’s face in light. She looked to the left of her mate to see Samanthe sitting in the window seat staring out onto the road. She didn’t move a single muscle as Terry entered. Terry smiled at Samanthe, she noted her beauty once again as the moonlight shone on her as well, the silver light made her blonde hair look almost silver. Samanthe briefly looked at Terry, glowing her eyes to acknowledge her presence then went back to her sentry duties. Terry purred in response then went to lay down next to Kalor, she cautiously lay down with her and then sighed as Kalor wrapped herself around Terry. Terry pulled Kalor’s small frame closer to her and fell asleep on Kalor’s shoulder. A few hours later, her alarm sounded a shrill, unrelenting ding to awaken her for the day, she opened her eyes and blinked, looking around, she was alone. She straightened her body and stretched. Standing up, unsteady at first then gaining her footing she exited the room. Without a word she walked to her coffeemaker and groped the counter for her cup. Terry picked up her carafe and poured coffee into her cup. She grunted as she grabbed the half-and-half from the refrigerator and poured it into the cup as well. She reached into the bowl on the counter and took out a sweet & Low packet and opened it, adding it to the cup, then stirred it with the spoon on top of the coffeemaker. She stepped back from the counter and took a deep drink and heard in her head “All systems now loading” She grinned and walked into the living room with her cup and sat Indian style on the futon. Samanthe looked up from the afore mentioned futon, which she was sleeping on, noting her Mistress’s form she purred and went back to sleep. Terry sat on the unoccupied space at her feet and drank her coffee. When she was awake enough, she reached over and picked up the house laptop and turned it on. Sitting her coffee on the coffee table she started tapping away at the keyboard and checked her mail, logging into her Gmail account, She had 15 emails, 13 of which weren’t important, 1 from her editor, thanking her for her submission and one from Macy.
With trepidation, she opened that email. She leaned over and picked up her coffee and took another sip from it as the email loaded.
Terry,
You have something that belongs to me. Give it back and no one will be harmed.
Your sister,
Macy
Terry propped her feet up on the coffee table, and lifted her eyebrow as she read the email, sipping from her cup. She shook her head and let out a small sigh. As she did this, the bedroom door opened and Phillip came out with extreme bed-head. He looked over at Terry and waved sheepishly. He padded to the coffeemaker, poured himself a cup and padded back to the living room.
“If only your adoring fans could see you now” Terry quipped.
“Ah yes, but you see..some people find the just freshly awoken Phillip sexy”
“I not being one of them”
“Thank God for small favors, eh”
“Indeed”
Phillip fell silent and drank his coffee watching Terry intently. Terry returned to her email, not paying the slightest attention to the fact that she was being studied. She tapped out a reply to her sister and then shut the lid.
“Macy knows you are with me”
“I’d expect nothing less from New Orlean’s Tsuma” Phillip stated, into his coffee cup.
“Stay inside today”
“Aye, aye, Otto-sama”
Terry smirked and headed to her room to shower and change for work. She entered her room, and walked to her closet, picking out an outfit suitable for the office today, she chose tan linen pants, a tank top, and a matching blazer, then slid her feet into Birkenstocks and exited the room. When she entered the room Samanthe had Phillip pinned on the floor, hissing at him, her tail fully fluffed out and growling, speaking in Egyptian to him, her claws sunk into his neck. Phillip let out a hiss to match hers. Terry lifted an eyebrow to watch the two of them, and waited for them to notice her presence. Samanthe noted her first as intended. She jumped off of Phillip and sat on the futon like nothing had happened, Terry shot her a look of disapproval, which in turn caused Samanthe to lower her head and flatten her ears against her head, as if she were just verbally scolded. Phillip watched all of this with interest, and widened his eyes, rubbing his throat all the while. He sat up and then reseated himself on the ottoman, staring up at Terry.
“You two behave while I am work, I will be back at 2 o’clock….no bloodshed!” She finished up looking at Samanthe, who looked disappointed.
Terry clicked her tongue as she reached down and picked up her purse that had been knocked off the coffee table in the scuffle. She walked to the door leading to the garage and opened it, with a final good-bye, she opened the door to her car and sat inside, reaching up on her visor she clicked the garage door opener and backed out of her garage, tapping it again to close it. She drove out to Market Street and up to the building where she worked. She went to her office, and found someone who looked bitterly identical to herself sitting at her desk. She entered her office and put her purse down in the chair by the door. She shut it with a snap. Macy’s eyes met hers and she smiled a wry smile to her fraternal twin sister.
“Macy..”
“Terry..”
“to what do I owe this displeasure?”
“Oh come now, is that anyway to greet your twin sister?”
“when I know she has come to terrorize my city, yes, that is actually too kind..”
“Give me the boy, And I will leave peacefully..”
“Now, you know I cannot just hand him over to you, especially since you are involved with Ivan”
“That is none of your concern..” Macy lifted her claw toward Terry and hissed as she spoke.
“It is my concern, the minute they set foot in my city, it became my concern.” Terry hissed in response
“Fine, you won’t hand over the boy, I will just go take him”
Terry bound across the desk toward her sister and lifted her up in one motion, slamming her against the wall behind the chair and hissed,” You will LEAVE my city, and leave the boy within it’s walls, Do I make myself clear?”
“Nah…”
Terry dropped Macy on her rear, and Macy scrambled back to her feet, she flipped her red hair over her shoulder and grabbed her purse, throwing it over her shoulder, she left the office with a slam. Terry chuckled vehemently and sat at her desk, waiting for her editor to call her office. Terry watched the clock, and signed into her Facebook account while she waited. She noticed that Samanthe was online, and she stared at her name for a few seconds, alerting Samanthe that she wished to speak to her. Samanthe’s IM surfaced on Terry’s screen, she tapped the touchpad on her work computer and began the sentence
Terry: Just so you are aware
Samanthe: Macy is in town
Terry: Yep
Samanthe: And judging by your tone, she just left your office
Terry: Right again
Samanthe: I know.
Samanthe: what do you want me to do with the stinky tom and his toy?
Terry: Keep them sheltered.
Samanthe: …can I eat them?
Terry: taps her foot
Samanthe: eeps
Terry: No, but you can eat my fish in the freezer if they are still alive when I get home
Samanthe: ^_^ okay! Your wish is my command!
Terry logged off her Facebook and finished up some paperwork. She had just finished signing her name when her editor called her office phone. She answered and had a 5 minute conversation with him, concerning next weeks issue and her column. She hung up and then stood up from her desk. She noted the time, it was noon. She decided to do some shopping and get some coffee and lunch. She walked down to Embarcadero and ate at Carl’s Jr. She bought a coffee from the Starbucks coffee cart just slightly up the street from Embarcadero, and then continued on to the Virgin Megastore. She rode the escalator up to the third floor and bought an Anime DVD then decended to look at some Ben Sherman clothes. She picked up a couple plaid skirts for herself and Kalor, and then reached over for a mesh shirt and short shorts for Samanthe in a gold lame color. She went to the register, and smiled at Greta the cashier. Greta was a member of her clan, and she came to visit the house often. Greta smiled sunnily at Terry as she rang up her purchases. Greta’s grape colored hair looked almost burgundy under the Megastore lighting. She handed the bag to Terry at the end of the transaction and mewed to her. Terry smiled and exited the building, heading back to her office, she stopped once again at the coffee shop and picked up another mocha. She proceeded to her office and to the parking garage. Terry sniffed her car, to make sure Macy had not messed with it. She reached for the doorhandle as her phone began to ring. She reached into her purse for her phone, pulled the antenna up with her teeth for better reception, and answered it.
“Mushi Mush”
“Don’t touch the car”
“Kalor?”
“Yes..don’t touch the car, I just had a vision…”
“Alright baby, I will take the train”
Terry could hear Kalor’s grunting nod on the other end of the phone and hung up. She exited the parking garage again and went to the train station at Embarcadero. She walked down the stairs toward the MUNI line and put her pass into the turnstile pass validation station, once it was cleared she ran down the stairs to catch the N line. She was on tenterhooks as she waited, her senses extremely heightened because of the darkness of the station. She kept her ears perked listening, and her nose kept a constant run of scent. Terry glanced over her left shoulder and noticed one of Macy’s men standing distractedly staring at two women making out. She widened her eyes, and hoped none of her watchmen ever got this distracted. The N line arrived and Terry got onto an empty train. As the doors shut, Macy’s watchman looked up and frowned and started yelling as the train began to pull away. Terry didn’t bother sitting down, because she knew she might have to take off. She looked down at her purse and began to adjust it, turning it into a backpack. She shoved her bags into it and strapped it to her back. She took off her shoes and stuffed them into it as well. She knew she might have to run. She waited as the N line went through each of the station stops. More people flooded onto the train. As they finally exited after Civic Center and headed toward Dog Park, she breathed a little easier, because, the stops were limited to people pressing the stop button now. She began to pace less as they passed Carl & Cole. A couple who were part of her pack got on the train there, and smiled at her, then looked at her barefeet and frowned. The male of the couple stood up and came over to her.
“Otto-sama, do you need my assistance?” he asked in a volume level only cats could hear.
“keep your eyes open..” was all Terry replied.
The young man nodded and went back to his mate. He stood sentry until Terry exited the train at her stop of 46th & Judah. She ran like a jogger toward her home on Noriega. As she arrived at the house, the garage door slid open and she entered, tapping the button to close it as she got to it, she entered the house and instantly called for everyone to meet in the living room. Everyone began to file in from their respective spots in the house and sat down. Terry paced back and forth in front of the coffee table.
“As you know, Phillip is here because of Paul…Paul formerly belonged to Macy, and Macy, is in the city”
Samanthe perched on her legs on the couch, as if ready to pounce. Terry shook her head and Samanthe frowned and sat back down.
“We will need to have a clan meeting. Plain and simple, the clan needs to be alerted to the current situation. This is a situation that is potentially volatile, and lots of people could get hurt, Macy is just petty enough that she would start hurting our members to get at me. Kalor nodded and blinked. She looked to Samanthe and nodded. Samanthe bound out of the house and headed to gather members. Terry, knowing this would take several hours went into her room, Kalor followed close at her heels, she turned around to face Kalor, taking her into her arms, and pulling her close. She kissed Kalor deeply and removed a golden chain from around her neck. On the chain was a golden key, she leaned down to a shiny, lacquered black chest, with a simple keyhole in it, from a quick glance you couldnt even see that the chest opened. The chest was made of solid onyx. Terry inserted the key, and turned it to the right, a loud CLACK sounded and was followed by the sounds of gears whirring quietly. The top of the chest shifted upward and a smaller chest appeared. Terry nodded to Kalor, who knelt beside her and kissed directly in the middle of the two doors on the gold plate. The doors popped open and revealed a keypad. Terry tapped in a sequence and hit the emerald key, then stepped back. The chest began to rise off the ground and levitate slightly, then moved over to the closet. It began to stretch and grow to fit the size of the closet. The chest settled on the floor in front of the closet and slid into place. A rumble sounded and then two doors appeared in the onyx structure, they opened up to reveal what looked like a swirling vortex. As the doors opened and settled, Kalor transformed into her full feline form and sat before the portal. Terry half transformed so that her feline features showed more. As they finished, several felines and half felines came through the portal. They bound out and landed on this cushion or that one. This continued for several minutes until each and every member save Samanthe were in the cushion room. Kalor led them out into the living room, so Terry could shut down the portal. Within minutes, Terry emerged from the room and took her place in front of the crowd. As she did, Samanthe came in holding two wriggling forms from her mouth. She set them down on the floor and took her place as sentry. Terry looked down at the two forms on the floor, that suddenly revealed themselves as small children, identical in appearance. Terry blinked for a moment and then went back to her meeting.
“As some of you may have heard, Macy is in our city. I felt this meeting is important because it is only fair you know why, she is here and our current position on the situation.”
The clan members murmured amongst themselves, looking to each other then to Terry. Terry walked to the spare bedroom and opened the door. She pulled Paul out by his arm. Paul was followed by Phillip. A few hisses resounded around the room as well as a few interested churrs. Terry walked Paul to the center of the room, where she had been previously standing. She put a collar around his neck and sat him down in front of the fireplace. She looked over to Phillip and nodded. He took the floor at this point and began filling in the clan on the details of what he was doing within the city,
“I know several of you do not like me, and I can appreciate that and respect it, however, I came seeking sanctuary for this young thing here. He was previously owned by Ivan and Macy, and was badly beaten when I found him. He is the son of one of the Louisiana oil tycoons, and holds the deed to several hunting grounds as well as some very interesting real estate that Macy is trying to get her greedy little paws on. She is willing to kill anyone who gets in between her and this young fop.”
Several comments were yelled from the room, and Phillip nodded in acceptance of them, whether they were slanders or approvals. He finished up and nodded back to Terry. Terry stood up and looked at the crowd. She took a deep breath and stepped toward them and kneeled down before them. The room of felines looked at her in shock.
“I humbly ask you to protect this young one, I do not demand it, it is your own choice of course, and there will be no ill-will if you choose not to accept. I have faith in those that will help, and I appreciate your sacrifice.” She spoke, once finished she remained knelt. She waited in the silence, for a response. After a few moments she felt her clan members surround her and nuzzle her sides, and lay against her. She purred and lay down herself. She finished shifting and lay among her clan members. They had all agreed that Paul would be protected.
Terry glanced to the two young children and smiled, she motioned for them to come lay with her. They looked at Samanthe and she nodded in approval. Terry sniffed them and picked up the decisive scent that identified them as one of their kind. She looked up at Samanthe with tears in her eyes, knowing these two had been abandoned due to their affliction. Samanthe looked down at Terry and nodded, still stiff and in sentry mode. Terry pulled the girls closer to her and nudged Kalor who was right against her and looked down at the children. Kalor nodded in approval. The girls were lifted up, and Terry began the usual clan member entrance chant. The two girls looked around with wide eyes. They clung to each other. They were still too young to speak, and thusly were presented by Samanthe to the clan for approval.
“Samanthe, what have you to present?” Terry said in a light yet firm tone.
“I present these two young ones, that I found near Larkin Youth Center, when I went to gather the clan…they were discarded by someone in this city..I mean to find out whom, but I also would like to bring them in as my wards, train them in the ways of the ancestors, and bring them up as our clan members to be future sentries”
Terry and Kalor nodded, each taking a girl. Kalor took the necklace from around Terry’s neck, and uncorked the vial that lay on it. She put a drop of oil on each of the girl’s heads and annointed them. To the girl in her lap, she said “I do swear to protect you, and you shall hereby be called Areyel” Areyel purred and nuzzled Kalor’s hand. Terry lifted the other girl up and said,” I took swear my life upon you to protect and teach you in the ways of our ancestors, and do hereby call you Selina” Selina licked Terry’s hand and purred. When the room erupted in cheers the girls jumped and clung to each other again. Terry and Kalor chuckled and pryed them apart from each other and hugged them close, soothing them. The two girls were handed back to Samanthe, who carried them into the cushion room and put them to bed. Samanthe drew a magic box around the two sleeping girls and exited a room, now they could sleep peacefully and undetected.
The clan members all started to disperse from the house, one by one or in groups of two. Terry retired to the bedroom, it being late in the evening she was very tired. Kalor as usual, was right at her heels and curled up inside of Terry’s arms and they both fell fast asleep.
