Secret Lure of a Cat Demon

So, Tempy kept my secret, one I even tried to deny myself. Everyone had at least something to lie about. Millie had lied about something too. I knew that. I couldn’t figure it out but I knew if what she said was all truth then it would have added up. Byrne was up next and as he sat down in the chair something occurred to me. Gur hadn’t been seen for a while nor had Lilith. Had my mother sent them on a mission to keep out of the way? I knew Gur had been involved with Katsi’s appearance here in the first place but I never knew he was the reason I ended up investigating her. I had been the guard member who had been following Katsi’s sister but only because she was doing reckless things. I had tried to forget it but now it seemed to come and haunt me. I knew if Katsi ever found out that she would not talk to me.

Someone new went up to question Byrne about what I had asked him to do. It wasn’t causing harm, just a few errands; pick up a few people to help within the trial. That was all. There was no harm in that. I also knew that they would not find anything to pick on besides the fact the Byrne wasn’t a guard member. That was all they could pick at him for. There could be more things from that. Maybe they would go off in the direction of Byrne not being faithful, doing his own things in between requests. I knew of course that Byrne wouldn’t do this to me. He couldn’t. If he did, he would be refusing the prince. He would be refusing my blood line. Byrne of course relayed everything he knew, he answered every question and I didn’t detect a lie.

I sat there wondering; wondering what was going to happen after this. It was the biggest event since a little while ago. Danni had always tried to make things bigger and better and this certainly was it but I also knew he had tricks up his sleeve. I was waiting for something to happen but so far it hasn’t. Was I expecting too much?

I looked over at Katsi and she was watching with great intent. She was listening, maybe trying to resist the urge to blurt something else out. She was sat on the edge of her seat. She knew something was up. She could feel in her bones like I could. She glanced at me and I locked eyes with her. There was fear. There was tension in the air. Everyone could feel it. The only person sitting calmly, silent was Danni. I looked at Danni and Katsi followed my gaze. He was smirking. People started fidgeting, muttering. My mother called for silence but it didn’t do much help. She sighed telling us there was to be a half hour break. We were to stretch our legs calm down. I didn’t think I would be able to. I jump to my feet and rushed down to the floor. People around me were moving out of the hall. I stayed in the middle and Katsi ran up to me.

“There is something very wrong here.” She said to me. I nodded.

“I know. Have you noticed your sister and Gur are missing? I haven’t seen them for a little while now.” She nodded at my words.

“I thought they had just been sent else where.” She said to me.

“So did I.” I saw Millie walking over looking concerned. I looked at my mother who was walking out the room and then I looked at Danni and I saw the great big grin on his face. “Danni is seriously up to something. Look at him, he is grinning. He knows something we don’t and I don’t like it. This is just like Danni. Planning things in his head and then implementing them when they needed to be implemented.”

“Should I keep an eye on him?” Millie asked. I nodded and she ran off. We were the only three on high alert. I knew people felt what we felt but they weren’t taking much notice of it. I set off at a jog towards the room mother was now probably drinking tea in. Katsi followed and when we got there we barged in, we didn’t care who was in there.

“Something is seriously wrong.” I told her instantly. She looked up at me.

“I know but we will have to ignore it.” She said calmly.

“This isn’t something we can ignore. Danni is involved.” I pleaded. She placed her cup down and stood up.

“Son, you are paranoid, Danni knows something, he has planned it, and we anticipated this from the start. That is why when Kieran comes in the room, only Katsi will be sat inside. Danni will remain where he is, the audience will also remain in the room. I believe it has something to do with Kieran’s questioning but I can not be sure.”

“So, what? You are hoping to lure him out by removing everyone but me, why me?” Katsi questioned. My mother just nodded. “Look, I don’t care if you are the queen but don’t you think that is a bit unwise. You know full well that it will piss Kieran off, it will piss Danni off. It will turn in to an up roar. Kieran will not stick to the plan or he will stick to the plan but let something slip.” Katsi explained.

“I am sorry but that is how it is going to go. The only way to get Danni to make a mistake is to get him angry. If Kieran decides to lie, about everything, it will piss Danni off as he knows the truth in the matter. He might let something slip. His plans will be ruined.” I stared at my mother. She was completely insane. I stormed out pretty much raging about the whole situation. This one my mother would not change her mind about but there was something bugging me. I know Katsi can handle her self and I know that the room is full of guard members if Danni attacked Katsi, but the guard would not protect her as she is not formally one of us. She would be her against two.

“Where is my sister!?” I heard some one shout. I looked behind me. I had stopped a little while back. I was just around to corner from my mother’s room of tea. “You can’t hide her from me! You know where she is! Tell me!” It was Katsi, she hadn’t left yet. I know she was protective over her family, but Lilith wasn’t much of a pack member. I walked slowly back towards the room and listened in.

“Look,” Katsi carried on. “I know you probably think that she has moved on but she would have at least told me. My sister doesn’t seem like a family person but I know she is. She cares about me and the people around her and so she just wouldn’t disappear like that, the same with Gur. He is part of Zev’s team, there is no need for him to go anywhere, so please tell me where are they.” My mother contemplated it all. She looked at Katsi and a small smile formed upon her lips.

“She is on an investigation. One only her and Gur can complete. Top Secret,” my mother explained. I heard Katsi sigh hard and I knew she was disappointed with the answer but at least it kind of let her know that Lilith was safe and not tied up somewhere, unless she was. Katsi soon started walking out so I backed away. I leant against the wall and let Katsi walk by like I was never there. As she walked past me I saw something I thought I would never see. There were tears. I rushed up behind her and threw my arms around her with out even thinking.

“She could be tied up somewhere, in a dark place alone, Gur could be dead and I don’t know where she is.” She whispered. Katsi looked helpless, weak; I didn’t really know where to put myself.

“Your sister is the best undercover agent I know, she will be fine.” I said trying to comfort her.

“But Zev what if she isn’t okay?” Katsi asked turning to look at me. After this, after the next bit of the trial, when the jury are deliberating, I will ask my mother, she has to tell me where they are, okay, and their status.” Katsi was silent but she nodded. At least it showed she trusted me.

“What if Danni attacks me?” Katsi asked. I put my hands on her shoulders. “I know full well the guard don’t welcome me as much as I hoped. I know they think I am just a parasite that invaded their home, changed their leader and that this whole situation is my fault. If it weren’t for me, Danni wouldn’t be here right now. I know that, and so do they.”

“If I could order them to respect you like they respect me than I would but you know I can’t do that, you need to show them you aren’t anything to do with him. That you are one of us.” She just stared at me. I started to think that I had said the wrong thing. She didn’t say anything and it was starting to bug me. She sighed but didn’t say anything. Did she think I said the right thing?

We stood there in silence for a long time. I felt foolish but I wasn’t going to leave Katsi on her own. With about ten minutes spare Katsi started walking. It was aimless and the passage choosing was erratic. We weren’t aiming for anywhere in particular. I started to hate what life and fate was throwing at us, at her. It seemed that everything was out to get her and they were set on breaking her down so much that she became an empty cold doll.

We were just about to around another corner when I grabbed Katsi’s hand. I was getting annoyed at her trance like state. I span her around and slapped her. Just like I had in the woods. Her eyes shot up to look at me. She was in utter shock, and a good thing to. No words were exchanged but she smiled. It had seemed to snap her out of what ever she was in. She cracked her knuckles and put on a determined face. She stalked back to the court room faster than I could keep up with and I lost her. This time nothing was going to stop Katsi from getting her revenge on Danni.