Light and Shadows: A Kaitlyn Strong Story

by Art DeForest

  To my amazement we saw that there was no padlock securing the latch, even though there was a hole there for the purpose. If Fangs could get a paw through the bars, lift and pull the bar out, he could get himself free. Well, at least from the cage. We could worry about getting out of the room and building later.

  We worked together to free the latch. Fangs’ intelligence was higher than a regular housecat thanks to our bond, but it was still challenging to get him to understand the concept that moving the funny bit of metal was going to get him free. His first inclination was to simply bash at the sides of his cage until something gave way. Men, Sheesh! Doesn’t seem to matter what species they are.

  Still, Fangs trusted that I wouldn’t steer him wrong. He wiggled his front paw between the narrow bars up near the latch. He became more interest when he saw the bar wiggle a little at the touch of his paw against it and things started to click in his feline mind. Cats had a natural inclination to grab things with their front claws and pull. Either to lift themselves up or, in this case, to pull things in, so getting him to hook a claw into the little loop of metal and the end of the bar was a logical extension of that.

  Fangs was starting to make some progress when I heard the door the dog catcher had departed from earlier click open. My concentration faltered and my stomach clenched as I waited to see what fresh hell was headed my way. I could still feel Fangs as he paused in his work, trying to figure out what had suddenly changed. I encouraged him to continue, even as the door swung open to reveal...Lila, standing there with a little grin on her face.

  She stepped into the room followed closely by the dog catcher. His whole demeanor had changed as he looked at Lila with a simpering expression on his face. “As you can see Miss, It’s really her.” he said enthusiastically.

  The grin on Lila’s face turned from a grin to a sneer as the dog catcher came up beside her. “So it would seem.” She said in a haughty tone as her nose lifted slightly in the air. “It appears that you may actually have done something right, George.”

  I looked at her closely as she and George, I guess his name was, approached the clear glass separating us. I trusted Sara’s abilities at compulsion implicitly, but I had no idea what had been going on since my capture. Had Lila been rescued somehow and had the compulsion broken or had she been sent to infiltrate the facility and help me escape?

  Lila came to a stop outside my cell. Well, well, well, Chew...err Ms. Strong, it seems that our positions have reversed rather suddenly.” She said with a superior look on her face.

  “So what now? Payback’s a bitch, or some other tired cliche?” I said coldly. With the correction earlier about not calling me Chew Toy, I suspected she was still enthrall to Sara, but I didn’t want to ruin her act.

  “I’m not going to touch a hair on your head.” Said Lila with an evil grin. If she was acting, she was really good at it. “Antonella would be very displeased if I were to harm you in any way. She wants to see to that, personally.”

  The final word sounded like a death knell and George the dog catcher let out yet another sinister chuckle to accompany it. I swear, the guy had the emotional range of a cockroach.

  “Open the door George. Let’s not keep Antonella waiting.” she said with a gesture.

  George’s eyes widened in shock at that. “We can’t just let her walk out unshackled, miss.” She’s dangerous in the extreme. Why, it was only luck that allowed me to get the jump on her. She’d have had me otherwise.”

  Lila’s eyes widened a little and she bit her lip in thought before quickly regaining her composure. “Very well.” she said drawing herself up. “Get some shackles and be quick about it. The Mistress is waiting.”

  George smiled and jerked his head in a nod before heading out of the door for the required shackles. Unfortunately, he left the door open, so I dared not ask any questions that might be overheard. Lila seemed to understand that too because her right eyelid dipped into a quick wink in my direction.

  During all this, I could still feel Fangs growing frustration as he worked at the latch holding the cage door closed. I sent him a thought of encourage and patience, trying to keep him focused on the task.

  George was back after a few more seconds, holding a pair of heavy silver handcuffs. He approached the door and I readied myself to attack as soon as it opened. I underestimated George’s intelligence however.

  Instead of opening the door, he opened the hatch in the center of it. “Turn around and stick your hands behind your back. Place them through this opening.”

  I just stood there looking at him like he was an idiot. “Yeah, that’s gonna happen.” I said sarcastically. Even if this was an attempted break out, I knew I couldn’t just go along meekly or he might get suspicious. “Why don’t you open that door and come get me?” I said with an arched eyebrow.

  George just smiled and pulled what looked like a dart gun from the small of his back. “You can walk out or be dragged out.” He said with a small shrug. “Doesn’t matter to me any.”

  I figured it would be something like that. “Fine asshole.” I said as I reluctantly turned my back to the door and put my hands through the opening. The cold of the silver shackles seemed to soak into my bones when the were locked snugly into place. A creeping weakness seemed to make it’s way up my arms and sink into my body.

  “Take two steps forward and keep facing the back wall.” Instructed George.

  At this point, there was no reason to struggle, so I simply complied. I heard the heavy latches that secured the door, open with a loud clank! The hinges appeared to be well oiled however since there was no squeaking involved.

  With one arm holding the shackles around her wrists and one hand on her shoulder, George turned her to face the door and pushed slightly to get her moving. As she walked towards the door on the far side of the room outside her cell, she mentally checked in on Fangs progress. She felt a little thrill of triumph from his as he contemplated the locking bar pulled all the way out of the hole it had previously into. He sat waiting patiently, knowing that she was on the move. He kind of assumed she was on her way to get him. It turned out not to be the case.

  “Where’s Fangs?” I said slowing my steps across the room.

  “No need to worry about the cat, he’ll be fine.” He said, calmly.

  “I’m not leaving without him.” I said, coming to a complete stop.

  “You’ll go where I tell you or I’ll drag your unconscious body wherever I want.” He growled then. “You may as well resign yourself to buying a new kitten, because you’ll never see that one again.”

  He pushed at me, trying to get me to move once more. I leaned forward under the shove and took a step forward, putting all my weight on my left foot. With a sudden jerk, my right leg shot straight back in a mule kick that caught George firmly in the groin.

  A high pitched squeak escaped him as he collapse to the floor. Unfortunately I hadn’t kicked him hard enough to loosen his grip and he dragged me to the floor with him. Laying half on top of a person with your hands shackled behind you, is not a good position from which to fight. The shackles themselves were another issue as I felt the contact with silver, continue to weaken my muscles.

  I tried to put as much weight as possible, hoping to restrain him for a second as my hands tried to get a grip on what I had just kicked. Believe me, no man, vampire or human can stand up to having his balls crushed in a vampire’s grip. George knew his way around a fight however. He’d proven that down in the tunnels. He twisted underneath me like an oiled weasel and before I knew it, he was regaining his feet.

  Weakened or not, I arched my back as I lay on the floor and kicked my legs up and over in an arching motion that had my body following behind. Just like in a Jackie Chan movie I landed on my feet, ready to resume battle.

  The only problem was that George had managed to take a couple of steps back and draw the dart gun. I crouched slightly preparing to spin to one side when the pistol coughed in his hand. A burning pain started radi
ating up my left thigh where the large silver dart had penetrated through the cloth of my pants and deeply into my leg.

  The room started to spin almost immediately. My brain began to go fuzzy. The last really coherent thought I had was to send a plea to Fangs to run and hide before slowly collapsing to the floor. “I’m gonna kill that fucking cat personally for that you bitch.” He whispered in my ear as he hoisted me onto his shoulders. That was the last thing I remembered for awhile.

  7

  Fangs felt the sharp pain in his person’s leg as he waited for her to come get him. Their mind touch started to fade almost immediately and he realized that she’d been poked with the nasty metal fang that made you sleep. Panic for her and a need to go help her fight the bad men, conflicted with the final impulse he felt from her. Run, Hide. Came to him very clearly. He did what his person told him for the important things anyway. Things like “Get off the couch.” were beneath his notice, of course, but when they were serious and came with such desperate power, then he knew he should comply.

  It was hard though. Every fiber of his being cried out to him to go to her. To bite and slash at the bad man’s legs until he fell down, then slash his eyes, so that he couldn’t fight effectively. Fangs sat frozen with indecision for perhaps two seconds before he put his shoulder against the cage door and pushed his way through. He jumped to the floor and stared around himself for another brief second. He knew which direction to go to get to his person, but the dratted piece of metal that was meant to keep him from leaving the room and going where he wanted, was in the way.

  In the past, he’d occasionally been able to force his way through these barriers to his freedom. The blocking thing looked strong though, as he considered it. But Fangs was strong too. He knew he was bigger and stronger than he once was. Things didn’t hurt as much either.

  Walking up to the door he bumped his head against it. Nothing move, not even a little. He thrust his broad shoulder against it. Still nothing. He looked up at the silver ball that stuck out of the barrier. He had noticed how his person would play with the round ball before opening the barriers for him. It brought his mind back to her teachings, and how her mind voice had shown him a way to get out of the metal box. Could the two things be like each other? They looked different, but maybe if he clawed the ball and pulled, like the mind voice had shown him, it would open this barrier like it had opened the side of his box.

  The ball wasn’t too far up. With his new size, he could easily stand on his hind legs and reach the ball. He scratched and scrabbled at it for awhile without any luck. Apparently they weren’t the same.

  As he settled back down on his haunches to contemplate the barrier, his keen hearing picked up the sound of someone approaching the other side of the barrier. His nose immediately told him it was one of the bad men. That suited Fangs just fine. He moved over to the wall beside the door and crouched down, making himself as small as possible. His back legs moved up and down a little as the bad man drew closer.

  If he wasn’t seen, Fangs would run through the door and get away. If he was seen however, he would slash the man and run anyway. He knew this was the man who’d poked his person with the metal claw, so he kind of hoped he was seen.

  The round ball on the barrier started to wiggle and Fangs crouched even lower, ready to spring into action as soon as the way was clear. The bad man was making mouth noises as he entered the room. He recognized the word “cat” since his person tended to use that work when she seemed angry at him. Not that he ever did anything wrong, to his way of thinking anyway.

  The man moved into the room a little ways and came to an abrupt stop and stared at the metal box that Fangs had escaped from. Fangs made his move, trying to get out the door without drawing the man’s attention.

  “Where’d that fucking cat go!” Came the mouth noises from the bad man and Fangs tried to move faster to get away. He turned the corner in order to go out the hole left by the opened barrier, but the floor was hard and slippery and Fangs’ back feet lost traction, sending his hind quarters into the hard metal beside the barrier. The soft thump of his furry rump hitting the metal was enough to have the man whirling in place and charging towards Fangs, making more mouth noises. “God Damn it! Get back here!”

  The man started to chase Fangs as he made the mouth noises, but Fangs was fast. Fangs was faster than anyone. Well, maybe not Kangee when he dived at Fangs as he lay crouched in the short green clearing by his big brick den. Stupid bird.

  Fangs was however faster than any man thing. Even if he as having a hard time getting a grip in the floor. Slipping and sliding, Fangs none the less, accelerated quickly down the hall, searching desperately as he went for some place he could hide, like his person had told him to do.

  “Wally!” Came mouth noises from behind him. “That fucking mutant cat’s getting away!” More mouth noises.

  He was almost to the end of the hall and he was afraid he was going to have to turn and fight. Hunters like Fangs didn’t like to fight other hunters. There was too much chance of getting hurt. If you were hurt you couldn’t protect your person as well. That was unacceptable.

  Fangs started to slide to a stop as he approached a barrier at the other end of the bright tunnel he was running through, when it actually started to open up. He started running once again aiming for his chance to escape.

  Fangs was almost through the slim opening in the barrier, when a rough hand grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. “Oh no you don’t!” Came mouth noises from above. Once, when Fangs was small, the grip on his neck might have stopped him. Not now though. As the grip tightened, Fangs felt his front paws start to leave the floor as the bad man from the dark tunnel, tried to pick him up. This was what Fangs was waiting for. A large front paw came up in the same motion he used when he washed his ears. Only this time it was done as hard and as fast as Fangs could do it.

  Fangs’ mighty war cry screamed forth from his lungs as he extended his wickedly sharp claws and slashed the man’s arm just behind the hand that grabbed him. Skin, muscle and tendon separated like tissue paper, rendering the man’s grasp immediately limp. Feeling the release of his coat, Fangs used the momentum of his still moving hindquarters to turn himself nimbly around to face his attacker.

  The bad man didn’t even have time to straighten up before Fangs long teeth bit down and tore at the tendon at the back of the bad man’s knee. He saw that the first bad man had almost caught up to him by that time, so rather than waiting to slash his opponents eyes. Fangs turned and fled.

  The small room he fled into had a bumpy trail in it that led around the wall and down towards the ground. The bumpy trail gave Fangs’ claws a much better grip and he nearly flew down into the steps, looking for a place to hide.

  Up above, George stopped by his compatriot as he started to chase after the damned cat. The mistress would be furious if it got away. “Wait,” said his buddy, nursing his injured wrist. “You won’t find him now without help. Let’s get Roscoe.”

  George turned to look at his partner for a second before a vicious grin started to spread across his face.

  ++++

  The copper and iron taste of blood, snapped me back to consciousness. Well, more precisely, it woke the beast inside me. My fangs slid out to their full length as I plunged them into the tender flesh held before me. A low growl escaped my throat as I feasted.

  “Easy child, you’re among friends.” Sara’s calm voice brought me back to full awareness as she sat beside me, calmly holding her wrist to my mouth. I took two more gulps of the crimson essence leaking from the proffered limb before regaining my composure and forcing my fangs back into place.

  “Sorry about that.” I said sheepishly as I wiped my lips on the back of my hand.

  “No need for apologies.” We needed to counteract the tranquilizer that was used on you as quickly as possible. Giving you some of my blood was little price to pay to have you back among us.

  The events that lead up to my involuntary nap, came rush
ing back to me as I stared confusedly around, trying to get my bearings. The first thing I noticed was Deacon’s broad shoulders and cobalt blue eyes, staring down at me in concern. Boxes and shelves caught my attention next. Then I saw Marcus with his back to me, keeping watch out into the front of Mo Ping’s store. “Fangs!” I shouted suddenly as I tried to scramble to my feet. The traitorous room around me tilted sideways on me however and dumped me back on my posterior with a thump. As I gathered myself for a second attempt, Deacon gently put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

  “Slowly, Kaitlyn.” He said quietly. “Get your bearings first.

  Sara also reached out to me. “What about Fangs?” She said with a quiet sense of urgency.