Pilot Candidate Fan Fiction ❯ Many Faces (None My Own) ❯ One: False Appearances ( Chapter 1 )

:: Many Faces (None My Own) ::

Megami Kouhosei

Disclaimer: I don't own Megami Kouhosei or any of the characters, nor am I trying to make a profit off writing this fanfic. It's for pure fun.

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Roose/Wrecka, Tukasa/Yamagi, eventual (possibly brief) Yamagi/Roose

Chapter Pairing: Zero/Erts

Heavy Influences: L.J. Smith's The Night World series, the anime Vampire Princess Miyu, possibly the movie X, Kay-sama's Walks Among Thee (I apologize if it gets too similar; tell me and I'll to my best to change it, I promise)...

Warnings: AU, OOC, language, general weirdness

Notes: I have made a vow for this fic! Each chapter from here on will be at least ten pages long. I don't want to rush the fic and this is the best way I can think to draw it out. ^^; I'm afraid if I don't it'll be over all too soon and I want this to be a GOOD fic. I adore supernatural stuff and this will be, by far, the most complicated supernatural kind of thing I've ever done.

I'm slightly uneasy with this, though. I keep thinking I'm copying Kay-sama's Walks Among Thee when I write... Am I? Please tell me if I am...

"No."

A scowl set upon his face as he folded his arms over his chest, glaring darkly at the woman before him. "Why not?"

She paused in answering, and when she did she chose her words carefully. "Our main objective is to kill the One Who Summons... You can not just have fun while the rest of us are working."

He glanced around sullenly, taking in the sight of the room's occupants, most of which were asleep. Noticing his expression the woman leaned forward in her seat, sighing softly as she tried to search for a more suitable reason. Finding none that would please him, she simply said, "I don't want you to grow... Too attached to this toy of yours."

He gave her a level look, though he shifted a little in discomfort for doing so. She always unnerved him, simply because she was so... Possessive. "Please. It would be like any other toy you have. I don't worry about them do I?"

She smiled almost sadly. "No," she agreed. "But then, you hardly worry about me, either."

He didn't care about her, he thought as he gazed past her and at the wall. What they had was completely one-sided. He never returned what affection she attempted to bestow upon him (which, he had to admit, was quite a lot) and had progressively become more and more business-like when it came to more... Intimate moments.

And he would have felt sorry for her, had she not been the one with all claims on him.

Damn the System. Once he was free of her -- which would probably be thousands of years, he realized with dismay -- he was definitely going to have a talk with the so-called "System" she helped run.

"Please," she said softly. "Don't get too attached."

He flashed her a charming but clearly mocking smile. "Oh, don't worry," he replied. "It'll be strictly child's play."

"Thank you," was all she said before she kissed him softly on the cheek. He allowed her to, having grown accustomed to it in the past couple thousand years. He personally didn't understand why she did it; he never returned any kisses unless it was one of those 'business-intimacy' situations. Even then, he didn't know why he bothered to put on a show at all. He was clearly displeased at having to be her pet and never even pretended to be affectionate.

Well, that was her problem then. It wasn't his fault he wasn't interested. Nodding curtly, he strode out of the room. He didn't feel like going to sleep just yet and besides, he'd only gone there to discuss her allowing him to have his little bit of fun. Should he try without permission... Well, his fate would be far worse than death. He was bound by an invisibly sealed contract and it wasn't going to break, crumble or burn anytime soon.

Damn his luck.

He glanced up at the half-moon dangling in the sky, glaring at it as though to blame it for all his problems. After a moment a dull throbbing began to swell in his forehead. Wincing slightly and scowling, he rubbed at the pained spot. It annoyed him; how had that girl done that? There were only a few possible explanations. He turned each over in his mind, contemplating.

1) She was a telepathist and had sensed his presence in Roose's mind. Perhaps she had also sensed something not quite right and had driven her own thoughts straight into his brain. A skilled telepathist could do that, and when they did it the results were painful, like a knife being shoved right through the middle of your brain.

2) She was a vampire or shape-shifter. Vampires had the ability to read minds, after all. But very, very few could control those minds. Reading and controlling were two entirely different things. Shape-shifters could control minds but not necessarily dig deep enough to actually read thoughts. They could get a vague idea what their victim was thinking at best.

3) She was a vampire/shape-shifter crossbreed. Those were even more rare than the human telepathists; at best five existed in the entire world. This was highly unlikely, but not unlikely enough to not be considered.

4) She was the One Who Summons herself.

The final one was nearly impossible to comprehend. While sources told them the One Who Summons was most definitely around that area, that insanely adorable girl was least likely to be it. The One Who Summons was, as told by legend, one of the most powerful beings alive. The One Who Summons was rumored to be a very strong but unbelievably beautiful creature. Those that had barely escaped with their life from him had described her as such and had been describing him as such for the past few hundred years.

Nevertheless, next time he saw Tukasa he would have to mention it to her.

Drops from the heavy rain shower lingered on the tree branches, dripping on his head as he walked beneath them. He could feel the wetness rolling down his face and bare arms but could not feel the coldness those tiny drops held. Sometimes he wished he could feel differences in temperature and whatnot; he'd always wondered what cold felt like to humans.

Sometimes he could feel exactly what it was like, such as the time he entered that Roose boy's mind. It had been a pleasant sensation to him, but the downfall was that once he left his prey's mind he would have no aftermaths of the feeling. That would be it... It was what happened to the rare amount of crossbreeds. Once they hit puberty at five hundred years of age all feeling of temperature would diminish. It would make you weak, after all. For instance, should an enemy decide to burn you, you wouldn't be able to feel the heat and could focus more on the fight than the burning pain.

Then, of course, the aftermath of the pain would linger. It was a difficult concept to comprehend. Why did his kind have to be that way? It was a curse; a curse crossbreeds had to bear.

After all, sleeping with someone outside of your own kind had to have consequences. Thus, a crossbreed finding a mate was very, very hard.

This was why he was stuck with her for a while, either for another thousand years or until one of them died. Whichever came first.

'And wouldn't it be ironic,' he thought with a smirk, 'If she was one of the rare few with the choice of becoming a spirit after death? Then I'd never be free of that contract.' Well, he could only hope she would hold out until the contract expired then.

'... I wonder how my toy is doing?' He grinned at the prospect of finally having a new pet to play with; it had been so long...

Leaves rustled softly from where he shifted. His chosen spot in the tree wasn't the most comfortable, but then, what was comfort? He clutched a think branch tightly, peering through the dark leaves to watch the boy through the second-story window.

Thin arms stretched to the ceiling as the boy yawned and fell back on his bed. Around his room were all sort of things; toy models, Playstation games, books, clothes... It looked like a typical human ten-year old's room.

But this boy was a teenager, he thought as the wide, innocent green eyes closed. The boy was soon asleep, having forgotten to turn off his light. The demon snorted softly but the tiny problem was soon solved. A woman -- probably the boy's mother -- came in and turned off the lights, smiling fondly at her son. The demon sneered; what a loving, happy family Roose must have.

He hated humans like that.

Never the less, he was still interested and badly wanted some entertainment of his own. He only had to wait until the moonlight was shining through the boy's window. At just the right moment, he could stand up and throw his shadow across the boy's room. If he did this spell correctly -- and it was a tricky one to do -- he would end up in the room.

It was another good half hour until moonlight began to peek into the room. Grinning, he bounced on the branch gently, anxiously; only hard enough to make the leaves rattle softly. Finally he decided it was good enough and stood, nearly hitting his head on another branch above. Lucky for him he was so short; he could fit into tight spots such as this.

There. His shadow was stretched across the length of the room. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on the boy inside, picturing him in his mind: the soft-looking dark green hair, the long eyelashes resting on pale cheeks, the thin frame...

When he opened his eyes he was looking right down at the sleeping form of his prey. A satisfied smile settled on his lips and he loomed over the bed, slowly scanning his prey from head to toe. 'Way too skinny,' he decided. 'He's practically just skin over bones...' He frowned. 'And tall...' He resented anyone taller than him in his true form. Unfortunately for him, his true form was rather small, about the size of a twelve-year old human boy, though he could pass for sixteen in human years at most, anyway. Even that was stretching it, he knew.

To his surprise, the boy stirred. His eyes opened and he looked half asleep and, surprisingly, he wasn't frightened. "Are you 'n angel?" he mumbled.

The demon's eyes lit up with a wicked idea but he quickly hid it. "Sort of," he said quietly enough so that the boy would barely be able to hear it. That way he wouldn't be able to recognize his voice should he never decide to speak normally. "I am an inhuman messenger of sorts."

A sweet smile danced on Roose's lips as he turned over on his side, his eyes closing again as though he could barely keep them open. "M'girlfriend says," he murmured, "that angels are a blessing..."

"They are," he agreed.

"But you're not an angel?" Confusion was beginning to set in, meaning the boy would be awake soon.

He rested a hand on the boy's head, whispering silently, 'Hush, silence, sleep, rest, dream...' Aloud, he whispered, "No... But I will be watching you."

The boy nodded once and yawned; falling asleep quickly both from his own tiredness and from the spell the demon had cast upon his mind. In the morning, he reasoned, he would think of this encounter as nothing but a dream.

And in the morning he was going to start having fun.

'I dreamt of... Something.'

Roose Sawamura frowned faintly, chewing on his right thumbnail as he tried to remember exactly what he had dreamed. He'd picked up a bad habit of biting his nails lately... Or rather, since that strange incident last night. Wrecka had noticed immediately while they were... "Testing our willpower," as she had once put it. Lucky she had a lot more than he did, or they might have gone all the way already. He blushed at the mere thought of it, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing anymore.

Oh, God, what was he thinking? He was really out of it today...

His mother had noticed at breakfast this morning. "Roose, darling?" she'd asked as he simply stared at his bowl of cereal. "Are you all right?"

Snapping out of his daze, Roose had flashed her a sweet smile. "Of course," he'd said cheerfully. Now, looking back on it, he realized that he'd been thinking about... Something. But what? How could he forget so quickly? Had he been that focused on it?

An angel... Something about an angel-- No, wait, not an angel. Something inhuman, yes, but not quite an angel. It had said so... But what, then? Had it told him? He couldn't remember. He sighed in frustration and began working on his left thumbnail. Wrecka was going to scold him for sure. Speaking of whom...

"Roose!"

His hand dropped to his side as he smiled at his cheerful girlfriend. "Good morning, Wrecka-chan," he greeted. They shared a brief kiss, causing him to blush. "How are you?"

"Fine, thank you," she replied as he took her hand and they continued on walking towards the junior high. "You're not doing anything after school, are you?"

Roose hesitated. "Well, no--"

"Great. Can we go shopping? Please?" she added, pouting when he didn't answer right away. "I saw some of the cutest outfits when I was at the Wet Seal last weekend and I've been meaning to go again, but you know, we had that study date last night, I had that manicure the day before..."

Normally he wouldn't want to go, but he'd do anything for her. Still, something was nagging at the back of his mind, whispering softly, telling him he just had to go to this certain place after school. "I..."

Wrecka paused and stopped suddenly, turning to stand right in front of him and look directly into his eyes, smiling sweetly. "Please?" she asked again. "I really need your opinion, you know... I need to model for someone and since you're my boyfriend..."

Suddenly the nagging feeling disappeared and the pressure he hadn't realized she'd been putting on his hand eased. He smiled cheerfully and nodded. "Sure, Wrecka-chan!"

"Great!" They continued on and Roose began to tell her about a strange dream he was trying to remember. He didn't notice the glance she sent over her shoulder, over to a small boy that couldn't have been any more than five years old. He was clutching his head and shooting her a dirty look no child should have been able to muster. Smiling in satisfaction, she proceeded to ignore him. "An angel, Roose?"

"Yeah," he said thoughtfully. "But... Not really an angel. He said he was a messenger... But you believe in angels, don't you, Wrecka-chan?"

"I do," she agreed, pausing at the school gates to look over her shoulder again. There was no sign of the child anymore.

She smiled again, encouragingly. "So, what about this angel...?"

Damn her! He didn't know how she kept sensing him, but she was far too good to be just any mediocre telepathist.

The demon stumbled into the dark room, swearing vehemently. That attack head nearly blinded him! She'd nearly hit a vital part of his mind... Well, that made one thing clear. Never attempt to influence the boy when he was nearby. That made another thing clear; her pushing him out of Roose's mind the night before had been no fluke. She definitely either wasn't human or was a very, very strong telepathist.

He sank into a large chair, still rubbing the center of his forehead. After a few moments a pair of gentle yet strong hands rested on the top of his head. His eyes snapped open; the pain had diminished. "Thanks," he mumbled half-heartedly, turning to look at the blonde boy behind him. He was the only human that knew about him and the other demons, hence why he was there.

"He asked me to," was all he said in a soft, almost depressed voice before he quickly moved away. The demon scowled; he, the one that boy had mentioned, just happened to be the one demon he tried his best to be rivals with. Unfortunately, High and Mighty Prince of the Magic-Users was definitely stronger and better than him in nearly all fields, despite the fact his own kind was a rarity and had been gifted special powers.

"What happened this time?" an overly cheerful voice asked as something cuffed the side of his head. "Did Hiead get you again?"

"Don't open your wings in here, you bastard," he snapped, rubbing the side of his head. "And, no, it wasn't Hiead again. I'm not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice."

Laughter rang out from the blue-eyed demon before him and the tip of a black-taloned wing nudged the side of his face where a nice bluish color stained his tanned skin. "Then what's this?" the playful demon teased. "Did Tukasa finally punish you for being insubordinate?"

"Fuck off, Zero," he snarled, slapping the wing away. Tukasa was his superior but definitely not Zero's. In fact, they weren't even a part of Zero's "team", which was a good thing in a way. If they had been, Yamagi would have been severely punished for telling the Magic-Using demon to "fuck off". He was more likely to get praise, really, since it was Hiead that led this little team, and only Hiead was on equal footing with Zero.

"It was a girl," the blonde boy offered. Zero's eyes lit up and the other demon scowled, standing up. He wasn't going to stay here, not if--

"Yama-san, where have you been?" a soft but firm voice asked. Snarling under his breath, he flopped back down. He definitely wasn't going to escape so easily.

"You granted me permission to have a pet," he said irritably. "I was simply following him to see if I could lure him away later." She almost immediately fell silent, clearly unhappy that he had more devotion to his "pet" than he did her, but said nothing.

"You let him have a toy?" another voice demanded as someone sat up on the other side of the room, his hair rumpled with sleep and his eyes hard and accusatory. "That's not fair at all. None of us have time for a toy anymore, what with all the One Who Summons shit and all that..."

"Aracd, be quiet," a womanly demon snapped. "If you can't shut up, go to sleep. Either way we'll get the same effect."

The Magic-Using demon Zero sat down as well, stretching his legs and pulling the blonde boy down with him and hugging him almost protectively. "I don't see why you need a toy," he said simply. "Just find one permanent solution; nothing wrong with that..." The blonde human looked oddly happy to be resting in the demon's arms, yet no one else thought anything of it. He had been with them so long it just wasn't unusual anymore.

"Easy for you to say," the crossbreed demon muttered sullenly.

"Now, Yama-san," Tukasa chided, earning a glare of resent. She sighed and corrected herself. "Yamagi..." His glare softened somewhat, but he was still clearly displeased. "You know you can't spend too much time with this human. You play a role in helping us find the One Who Summons--"

"I don't care about the One Who Summons," he snapped. "I just want to have fun and play with the human mind like demons are supposed to. At this rate we'll be hunting the damned One Who Summons until she finds us. And wouldn't that be pleasant?"

"Please, Yama-san," she said quietly. "I promise to grant you more time with your pet the more you help us."

That was certainly tempting. Yamagi scowled and leaned back, picking under his nails to clean them. "Fine," he muttered. "I'll help as little as possible."

Tukasa frowned faintly in disapproval, but before she could speak Zero asked aloud, "Is Hiead coming or not?" He clearly didn't care one way or another, but he was also impatient and wanted to continue on with business as usual.

"He's busy," was all Ikhny offered. She was akin to Hiead's slave, really; she served no purpose to him but to be there when he wasn't and do her job right. In a way, she was like a spokesman, but he controlled her far too much for simply that. He did worse that ignore her; he seemed to find beating her for anything she did wrong amusing. As a result, she was covered with bruises, scrapes and cuts from head to toe, her short, dirty brown hair always a mess.

Zero gave her an almost sympathetic look before smiling brightly. "Well, then, let's get started." When Hiead was around the both of them usually spent over half the time arguing and even getting into physical fights, but without one or the other around they could actually resolve things without such problems. Not that the problems were really big at all. Usually they just tried to figure out where the One Who Summons should be and go on from there. Good thing the meeting was going to be short today, thought Yamagi as he lazily straightened up. He wanted to get out of here; he had to find away to separate his pet from that psycho chick.

"I haven't seen anything," the female demon -- they knew her as Kyoko, though whether that was her real name or not was questionable -- said calmly. Her brown-eyed partner made a vague motion with his hand; he hadn't seen anything either.

"No one's picked up a single hint?" Zero demanded, not looking very pleased at all.

There was some hesitation before the blonde boy in his arms murmured, "I believe Yamagi knows something."

Yamagi turned a fierce glare on the human telepathist; the boy remained unfazed. He simply averted his eyes as though to say, it's not my fault; I'm only doing my job.

"Well?"

The short demon sighed in annoyance. "I was just messing around last night, looking through this boy's mind," he explained. "But the girl he was with noticed something was off. She looked into his eyes and threw me out." He paused and added absently, "Last night and this morning."

"She couldn't be a vampire," Ikhny said quietly. "They can't push others out of someone else's mind."

"Could be a shape-shifter then," Kyoko suggested, appearing interested in her long, talon-like fingernails. "A powerful one, anyway."

Zero turned to Yamagi again. "And how did you find her again?"

Yamagi scowled. "I already told you, I was looking through my pet's eyes and--" He stopped himself abruptly, realizing too late he had played right into Zero's hand.

"Then she must be a good acquaintance of you precious toy," the black-winged demon said cheerfully. "Tukasa, tell him he has to keep tabs on her. You never know if she could be the One Who Summons herself."

Simmering, Yamagi sulked in his seat and glared angrily at the floor, ignoring Tukasa reminding him to keep an eye on the girl. 'Damn that Zero,' he thought. Why was it that every time it was used against him he completely forgot that Zero was a master at getting what he wanted? He had feigned ignorance for a few brief moments and had gotten Yamagi to fall right into his trap. Lovely.

"So that's it? Good. You all can go now," Zero said cheerfully, barely pausing for breath.

'Finally.' Yamagi stood and got out of there before Tukasa could pull him aside. If she asked later, he'd simply say he hadn't seen her trying to get his attention. Besides, he had better things to do then play around with her...

"He thinks she might be the One Who Summons."

"Really, now?" Zero began to pace while the blonde boy simply watched, expressionless aqua eyes taking in the now-normal site of the large, taloned black wings protruding from a lithe, slender body. Three years ago he definitely would have found them at least a little bit frightening (though not very, since he'd always had strange visions of a similar demon as a small child) but now he was used to them. "Did he neglect to mention anything?" he asked.

"No," came the soft reply. "But you know, Zero..." The demon stopped pacing and looked directly at him and he paused.

A grin spread across Zero's face when he noticed his hesitation. "Hey, you know I don't care what you say to me," he said. "I'd never even consider hurting you, Erts. I'm not like Hiead."

Erts smiles faintly. "I know," he admitted, allowing the demon to embrace him again. He was the only being Erts would touch willingly and didn't mind being touched by. Simple skin-to-skin contact allowed him to see into another's mind; it had been like that for as long as he could remember.

Of course, this "gift" hadn't been kept a secret. It was hard not to feel something strange or different when a telepathist touched you. He'd grown up completely without as friends as a result. After all, who likes to have their mind read?

Except for Zero, he remembered. Zero had all but saved him three years ago, taking him into his world. Both grew inseparable until they had gotten to where they were today...

"Yamagi doesn't seem to like spending his time helping us," he murmured.

"I know," Zero said simply. "But there's nothing I can do about it. He's Tukasa's." Then he shrugged. "Besides, if I hadn't given the orders Hiead would have, and God knows we all have enough reasons to hate that bastard already."

Erts nodded and closed his eyes, deciding to let the matter drop. Zero was right; Yamagi was Tukasa and Hiead's problem, not theirs. Maybe it was just a slight bit of empathy he felt for the demon. Like Yamagi was Tukasa's, Erts was Zero's. The biggest and most important difference was that not only had Zero asked him first, Erts had been in complete agreement with it all. It was the only way, the System had argued, that Zero could let Erts in on his secret without being punished.

"But he's not hiding anything from us, right?" Zero asked suddenly, startling him.

"If he was I would have told you," Erts replied, feeling hurt that Zero didn't trust him.

The other demon seemed to sense this because he grinned. "I know," he assured him. "I just want to make sure..." He brushed a hand across the boy's face, allowing him to see his thoughts and understand his feelings. Erts gave him a small smile in return.

Zero's eyes brightened suddenly. Since his hand was still in contact with Erts's skin, the human boy knew what he was thinking even before he made the suggestion. "Well, hell, everyone's gone now. They ought to be busy a while..."

The aqua-eyed boy turned bright red at the mental images he was receiving. "But... Shouldn't we be worried about the One Who Summons?" he protested feebly. It was hard to argue with Zero, especially when he was trying to get something he really wanted.

The funny thing was if a demon owned someone, he could do whatever he wanted with him or her. And yet, Zero never did anything that concerned Erts directly without his consent. It was amusing to see the demon asking the human to do something he wanted him to do.

"Don't worry about that," Zero said good-naturedly. "Yamagi, Aracd and all them... They have everything under control. Besides, Hiead demanded to be in charge of this little mission. None of the blame gets put on us in any way." Zero absolutely loved it when Hiead was punished and he wasn't, just as Hiead enjoyed Zero getting reamed while he watched from the sidelines. The two completely loathed each other, and yet they were on completely equal footing when it came to their rank, importance, strength, abilities... Just about everything, really.

Even still, Erts could remember exactly what Yamagi had. The strange blue eyes that girl had possessed, the stabbing pain in his head...

To say he was concerned was an understatement.

It wasn't really late, considering, but Roose was tired anyway. The shopping trip with Wrecka had lasted until nearly seven and, finally, they had stopped to get something to eat. Almost immediately afterwards she wanted to go home, so he had waited outside the main entrance of the mall while she called her father, asking him to come pick them up. He'd been dropped off at his house and only had time to bid her a brief goodnight before she was whisked away again.

And he was exhausted.

But that didn't mean he wasn't happy. Roose loved spending time with his girlfriend; he honestly did. Sighing heavily, he dropped his backpack off at the front door and headed straight for the living room, collapsing in a chair while he watched his little brother and sister argue over something or another. It was stupid, really, but he didn't mind. It was nearly their bedtime anyway.

"Roose-niichan," his little sister whined suddenly. "Where were you? You promised to take me to Kyana's house today!"

He winced, realizing she was right. "I'm sorry, Tahni-chan," he apologized. "I forgot..."

Tahni pouted at him. Almost instantly, though, she was back into a childish squabble with her other brother. Roose felt very guilty about breaking that promise, but he'd make it up to her sometime soon. He made a mental note to offer to take her and her friend Kyana out for ice cream sometime.

Yes, he was tired... And yet he suddenly didn't want to be there. He had the unexplainable urge to go outside, maybe take a short walk...

Yes, that was what he needed he decided when a doll just missed his head while his younger sister threw a fit. A walk would be perfect right about now. He was beginning to get a headache and Tahni's loud wails weren't helping matters at all.

"I'm going for a walk, Okaasan," he explained as she went rushing past him to calm her daughter down.

"Fine," was the answer. She wasn't angry with him, he knew, she was simply preoccupied.

Roose stepped outside, trying to ignore his sore feet as he wandered down the steps. He didn't think about anything, he simply let his legs carry him where they wanted and observed the outside scenery as it quickly grew dark.

It hadn't even been five minutes when he was startled by a movement in the bushes. He blinked a couple times; was the neighbor's cat following him again? She always did that, kind of like she had a radar on her to tell her where Roose was.

A dark-colored feline emerged, much to his surprise. The neighbors cat was white, but this one... He couldn't be called a cat; he looked much more like a kitten. Roose smiled and knelt on the ground, reaching out to the kitten. "Hello," he whispered, as though expecting a reply. The cat stared at him with silvery eyes but practically leapt into his arms. His eyes lit up with delight; what a lovely kitten! "You're cute," he said, smiling sweetly as he stroked him behind the ears. "Are you a new kitten? Did the Suzuki's adopt you?"

Suddenly the cat hissed and bit him sharply on the hand. Roose gave a sharp scream of fright and fairly dropped the kitten, clutching his hand in horror. The cat stared at him for a moment then licked the crimson stains from its jaws, an almost evil look in its eye just before it turned and scampered off.

Roose whimpered softly, running home, tiredness completely forgotten. That had never happened before. The cat had looked so evil and it had... It had licked his blood, lapping at it like milk or something...

He completely ignored his mother, who had probably caught a glimpse of the red now staining his pale blue t-shirt, and went straight to his room and for the phone, pressing the numbers he knew all too well. "Wrecka-chan?" he gasped, trembling. "C-Could you come over? You won't believe what happened..."