Secret Lure of a Cat Demon

I watched Zev leave feeling quite upset. When I saw him with Lilith I was ecstatic. I couldn’t believe my eyes for one but another part of me was mad for him following me. He should have been on his mission instead of stalking me. And then mother said she wanted family day to carry on. That meant he would be excluded from it all. But when I saw my uncle talking to him I couldn’t help but smile and be happy. At least someone didn’t hold a grudge against him. I kept trying to watch Zev to watch his reaction to my family life but his face was set on anything but emotion.

Then to my shock, he went to my mother. I was surprised because my mother didn’t just hate the guard but despised it, even if it wasn’t there fault for something. My mother resented Zev because he was the leader and he should be able to change the rules, but yet he doesn’t, and I can see the reason why. My mother hasn’t changed our traditions because she leads the pack, so why should Zev have to change the rules because he is in charge.

My mothers face had changed slowly when Zev talked to her. I don’t know what he had been saying to her but I hoped it helped her cool down a bit. After about five minutes maybe ten minutes, Zev got up, and walked out the cave. He looked back towards me and I wanted to challenge him to stuff my mother but I knew by the way he looked at me he would decline.

He left changing into his wolf form. I sagged a little and regretted coming home. When muttering started up I changed my mood, I became the bitch that people knew me as. And that is when the family spirit got better. People started to get in the fighting spirit instead of just cheering. I was challenged by older members, by males and females. And no one could beat me. I had fair fights and some fights went on and on for at least an hour. It was around 8pm and it was hunting time. It was getting dark and it was the best time for us to hunt. I teamed up with Lilith and a few other fighters. I wanted Tempy there but she had run away and no-one had heard from her. I missed her and hoped she was okay. 5 of us set out to catch three pieces of meat. We had a big family with large appetites.

We took off at a high speed and we soon slowed down. I had paused and I had smelt something alive and kicking but was injured which meant the perfect catch I thought to my self. We were in our panther forms and I used my tail to signal to the others where to go. Lilith was giving me looks but I just winked at her and she knew what I was doing. The others surrounded it and we closed in, we ended up in a clearing and there was a deer laying down puffing and looking around frantically.

We closed in crouching low but then I nodded and Lilith leapt over it and then another leapt and we keep going until the deer was so wildly scared it got up to run but landed in to our trap confusing itself and so ran straight into me. I caught it by the neck and wrestled it to the ground.

When hunting we played three types of hunting; surround, chase, and just kill. This was the surround. We were to taunt the ill until it was time to kill. Then the slowest of us all would go back with the carcass and the rest of us would chase. In the end we killed with three.

A couple of hours later we had finished our fun and we were trotting back with dinner. We had got back to the cave when I heard a stick snap. I stopped. I took a sniff of air and I smelt urgency and need. I dropped what was in my mouth and ran the other way. Soon well sculpted wolf legs came into sight. I looked next to me and I saw Zev’s coat. I decided to follow him and he led me to a little alcove about 3 miles from home.

We slowed and when I first looked I saw nothing out of the ordinary but then I saw a dark mass. A human mass but I recognised it. I quickly shimmered back and I ran over to it. I rolled it over and I fell back.

Temperance lay wounded and unconscious. She looked almost dead but I could hear her breathing. I looked at Zev with anger.

“Why? Why didn’t you carry her home?” I almost screamed.

“I can’t carry her almost three miles, I would have to run, she is a cat, you guys are heavy. And I don’t know much about a panthers body. I needed help. You are in tune with me and so I called out to you.”

“Why not Lilith!” I couldn’t contain it. Tears left my eyes and I ripped open Tempy’s top forgetting about Zev. I looked over her and noticed she had lost a lot of blood and the wounds were deep. I wiped away the tears trying to keep control but I didn’t know what to do. She was going to die.

I wanted to know what happened to her. “They are cat claws” Zev whispered. I looked at him shocked and the need to know was immensely strong. “She was probably attacked by a shifter. Cats can be strong and aren’t strangers to this area and they can have anger problems. Why is she alone?” he questioned. I growled with frustration.

“She loved to run on her own. She ran away and they searched for her so hard but they couldn’t find her anywhere. Oh god. Tempy...” I trailed off.

“I am sorry...” Zev whispered. I shook my head. I drained out his voice and put my hand on her wound. I took a deep breath and concentrated what I wanted to do was enter her body as a spirit find out what had been damaged and whether she was too live. When I was tapped in it was like being in another body, you felt their pain, all their other emotions and I had only ever done it once. When I tapped into my father.

It didn’t take me long to find the main problem, she was bleeding inwards. It could complicated things if I didn’t stop it. Her brain was fine but she was holding on for life. How long she had been here was a mystery. I pulled out to head Zev calling my name. His hands were on my shoulders. I looked at Zev.

“I need your help” I said. He looked at me baffled. “You haven’t eaten?” I asked and he shook his head. “I need you to change and act as though your gonna eat but instead just take the blood that has accumulated and also tear a away for the blood to escape.” Zev eyes went wide and he backed off shaking his eyes.

“Oh, no way, I can’t do that Katsi, what if I mess up and make it worse! I could kill her” He shouted at me. He was scared but I trusted him.

“I trust you” I said.

“So do I” said another. I looked up to see Lilith with a few others there. He sighed but understood our need. He changed and led next to me. I put my hand on his back to show I was there. He took a deep breath and prodded to wounds with his nozzle. It was an agonising few minutes but when Zev pulled his nose back out shaking it, I laughed. He looked at me and nodded. He had done it. And it was true, blood now spew out of the wound. I got up and Zev followed at my heal. Lilith put a hand on my shoulder in silence. I smiled at her showing her I was alright.

One of our larger males changed and another put Tempy on the back of the panther I saw before me. They then ran off in the direction of town. She needed human medical care. It was a five mile run but I knew she would be safe with them. Lilith spoke up then.

“Thank you Zev. I felt Katsi’s upset and I followed your scent. Only Katsi would get that upset over Tempy. But I think we are a grateful you saved her life.”

“I don’t know if I saved her. Her insides are torn. Who ever that person is, will be punished.” She nodded and smiled. She then took off after the two brutes. I started walking in a trance always the way home, what was I going to tell my mother. How was she going to react to it all, how Zev had acted. How was she going to react to me being useless. Maybe she already knew. Maybe she was going to be waiting. Maybe she was waiting to scold me, scold Zev, or maybe she would be sympathetic.

It took us a little while to walk back to the cave. Zev stayed as a panther and I just stumbled along as a human. When we got back to the cave everyone was asleep. The fire was out and the pack was quiet. I walked in hoping to find mother asleep but she sat by her self looking like a mess. I collapsed down next to her and I fell into her arms. I fell asleep in her arms feeling not quiet as safe as I wanted. I didn’t take notice as to where Zev had stopped and curled up but I knew he had to be feeling cold and confused as to what had happened.

It was the early hours of the morning when I had woken. I wasn’t tired and I was raring to get back to the guard. I looked around and everyone was curled against one another besides one. Zev lay at the entrance of the cave asleep. He looked peaceful but I could tell he was on high alert even though he slept. His ears were pulled back and they were alert. I got up and walked over to him. I stroked his fur and smiled. Not only had he saved my life but he had saved my sisters. He had saved the whole pack from the grief of losing a loved one and he still respected my mothers wishes. I sat next to his head stroking him like a pet. I bet if he were to wake and find me doing it, he would freak, but I wanted to do it, it felt right.

He relaxed after a while and his ears weren’t so alert, his muscles weren’t so tense and I think for the first time in his life he slept with no worries, with not having things on his mind, with having to be on high alert.