by Marilynn Fae
Her eyes track him as he walks to the edge of the room and opens the door to his fridge. She can't see what he takes out from it, but it must be some sort of cold cut sandwich because he starts to eat it right away.
She tells herself that she's not going to eat the tuna. Canned tuna is bad for her fur. Master only feeds her fresh fish. Her mouth water as she hears the sound of her new master biting and chewing the sandwich and her stomach growls, but the thought of her Master makes her heart clench and she loses her appetite.
She curls up and closes her eyes, tries to relax.
It doesn't take her long to fall asleep, dreaming of tuna.
Chapter Two: Rage
She feels like she's been in the cage for weeks now even though she knows it's only been two days at most. It's hard to tell the time locked up in the cage like this, though. She doesn't see any windows and the only source of light she has comes from the living room.
Shadow's obviously not used to having a pet. He hadn't even bothered giving her water.
Her stomach hurts a little when she wakes and she gives the can of tuna a kitten lick and scrunches her nose. It tastes artificial and gross. The alternative is going hungry and she decides to take it for now. Maybe she'll be lucky and just die in here. She feels terribly melodramatic but can anyone blame her? She just lost her master.
The thing is, she hasn't stayed in her cat shift for so long since she started staying with her Master. He knows how dangerous it is for half shifters like her to lose themselves in their minds. There are shifters like her who are forced to stay in their shifts for so long that they forget they're human and can't shift back. She thinks maybe that won't be too bad. The less human she is, the less she feels. It is still a little disconcerting to have her animal mind seize control. She's fine with staying in her cat shift. It feels a little disconcerting, though. Her animal mind is taking control.
It's easier being a kitten- cat, her brain corrects herself. She's an adult now. She's a cat. Not a kitten.
But she's used to being pampered and getting plenty of pets and hugs and delicious snacks. She licks the tuna again and blanches. It's truly awful. It's not even just catfood. It's the sort of cheap tuna that's made of ground bones and discarded bits from fish that nobody in their right minds would eat.
She's really very hungry though. She mewls and mewls, louder and louder until Shadow finds it prudent to come out and check on her. She yelps when her cage is yanked up abruptly and she losses her balance, tumbling around in the cage. She is all but slammed on top of a table. The can of tuna upends, smattering all over her pristine fur and the inside of her cage.
She sees him looking at her now, all human and pissed off as his eyes look her up and down. She whines and curls her tail up around herself, hiding as far into the corner of the cage and as far away from him as she can.
His expression softens. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he says. "I never wanted a pet. I don't know what you want."
Food would be nice. Maybe some water.
He notices the mess for the first time. "Fuck. You made a mess," he says like it's not his fault that the can of disgusting tuna is all over the cage and on her fur. "Come on. I'll wash it off." He gets the door open and she remembers his earlier promise of hosing her down and she panics, claws lashing out the draw three neat lines across his hand.
He hisses and yanks his hand back. Then, his face and eyes shift, snout growing and teeth lengthening, more wolf than man. He's terrifying and she's- she's-
She's snarling at him because it's obvious now that she has no sense of self preservation.
"Have it your fucking way, then," he says, locking the cage once again and leaving her on the kitchen table.
She cleans herself miserably, licking up the tuna and swallowing fur together with it. She doesn't like it. If she could cry, she would, but all she can do in this form is yowl and meow loudly to get his attention. She hears the door slam close a few minutes later and she's left all alone, still covered in tuna and mouth tasting like artificial chemicals. She hates it already and lets the cat take control of the grooming. Master usually grooms her and she's used to having him comb her fur and massage oil into her skin.
She whines and wishes he would come get her. She yowls louder when she's reminded of the fact that her Master is dead and he's never coming back for her. She's stuck here.
Shadow returns a few hours later, remorseful and full of apologies. He has a bag with him that smells vaguely medicinal and she has a moment of panic when she worries he's going to put her down humanely without knowing she's actually human. Well, partially human. Sometimes. Her panic eases when she sees him taking out cat toys and different cans of catfood down. She recognizes some of those brands. They're the expensive sort that Master would feed her as treats every once in a while.
She lets out a tentative mewl.
"I don't know what to do with you," he confesses. "You're a beautiful little thing, aren't you?" he peers into the door as he says this. "The old man must be smitten with you to have left you such a big chunk of his estate." He drags his palm over his face. "I was hoping to make amends with him before he died. Did he suffer, you think? They tell me you were with him. Was he at peace?"
She looks at him, unsure of how to respond when she's like this. Master hadn't suffered. He had been getting sicker and sicker. He refused treatment. It rarely worked with his kind, he said. And he would much rather die in his own terms. She was upset that he didn't want treatment, but a little bit selfishly glad because if Master goes to the hospital, she can't go with him. He didn't suffer.
"Jesus. I'm talking to a cat," he laughs. "Alright. The vet says maybe you're just upset from the new environment and I should keep you in there for a little while so you don't try to escape. I'm not punishing you for anything, okay?" Then, he makes a face and turns away. She spies the slashes on his hand and feels a little bad for hurting him. He clearly has no idea what he's doing and she shouldn't have punished him for trying.
She wishes she could move around in her cage though. It's getting a little cramped in here. She curls up and tries to sleep a little more.
Chapter Three: Half-Human
She is mostly asleep when she hears a familiar voice at the door that follows a confused Shadow. The old woman marches in with all the wrath of an avenging god. Or in this case, a pissed off caretaker. Master Monty's primary caregiver is a terrifying woman and keeps order around the house with an iron fist.
She must have been so sad when she came back from her son's graduation and found out that Master Monty had died.
"Melissa? What're you doing here?" Shadow sounds uncertain for the first time since she's been here. "How did you get in?" he continues, completely flummoxed.
"The staff tell me that you took Anna with you," Melissa says and her ears perk up at the sound of her name. "Where is she?" Louder, she calls out, "Anna? Anna, darling. Where are you?"
Melissa has a sweet spot for her. The older woman practically raised her. She's neither wolf nor cat. Her animal is a bear and she sorts of looks like one, though Anna was never brave enough to say it to her face. Melissa is as big as one, tall and broad with fat and muscle in equal parts and talks with an undertone of 'I can break your bones with my bare hands' that makes the animal side of her tremble and want to hide far, far away. But Melissa has always been kind to her.
"It was in the will. She's important to the old man, I gather?" Shadow is attempting to make himself sound less surprised by the unexpected visit and get a hold of himself, but Anna can hear his heartbeat and he is a little scared. She wonders if Melissa raised him too.
"Where is she?" Melissa doesn't wait for an answer, sniffing the air and following her nose until she is looking down at Anna, curled up inside of her little cage.
"Mreowl," she whines up at the older woman, who lets out an outraged roar that echoes through the room and makes the walls vibrate. She wonders if the walls would crumble from the sheer force in her roar, but they only shake
a little, holding firm.
Anna has never seen Melissa shift before. Most people can only shift from their fully human forms to a half animal shift. She's special because she is stuck in her half animal shift and can shift into a fully animal form. It means she's closer to her animal than she is to her human form and it also means she has less rights as a human. Normal humans don't shift much because they think it makes them less human.
Melissa doesn't care about propriety now. She's is half shifted, her tall frame growing even taller. She bends over and grabs her cage by the sides and breaks it apart like it's made of paper. It shatters, the fragments falling into her eyes. She closes her eyes and curls her tail around herself again.
"What're you doing, Melissa?!" Shadow is behind her.
Melissa ignores him and shrinks back into her form. "Darling, how long have you been in there?" she asks, her voice softer than Anna has ever heard her before. "Come here, darling. You poor thing. Come here."
She mewls and stumbles into Melissa's open arms, shifting as she unfurls from her little corner and she hears Shadow's sharp intake of breath. He backs away, eyes wide with shock.
"I didn't know- I didn't know she's-" he starts but Melissa's rumbling purr drowns away whatever else he has to say.
Anna hides her face in the larger woman's bosom, finding comfort in her warmth. She feels safe here. Her arms and legs ache from being shifted for so long and it is nice to have fingers and toes again.
"Poor baby. Are you alright? Have you had anything to eat?" Melissa sniffs and must have smelled the can of tuna that has been smeared all over the sides of the cage and on her face where she couldn't really clean herself. It's a little comforting to see her little prison now shattered in pieces all around them. Melissa swears in a foreign tongue that she can never quite catch and then, still carrying Anna like she doesn't weight a thing, turns to Shadow. "Do you have anything in the fridge?"
Shadow nods. His eyes are locked onto her, wide and glazed over, like he can't believe what he's seeing. Anna clings to Melissa, curling her tail around herself and ears perked back, ashamed of her nudity even though she knows, logically, that she has nothing to be ashamed of. "I'm sorry. I didn't know," he says. "I thought you were just my father's cat."
"You would know if you had read the letter he wrote for you," Melissa brushes past him. "Come now, Anna. You're too big to be carried like this."
"Should I change back?" Anna asks. She rather likes being carried, but she's a little afraid that if she's small, she'll be caged again. She doesn't want to change back just yet.
"No, puppet. I can't very well cook with you here, can I?" Melissa laughs and carries her to the living room. She dumps her unceremoniously in the couch. "Stay. I'll see what I have to work with." And she's off, probably making a feast out of the meager supplies in Shadow's fridge. She curls her tail around her and mouths at the tip grumpily. The couch feels nice. She kind of wants to scratch it up a little bit and she does. She sinks her claws in the edges and picks at the seams a little bit. It used to drive Master crazy when she does this, but he's gotten used to having furniture that's all sliced up and indulges her. Her eyes burn with tears but it's satisfying to see the inside of the couch. She had been staring at the back of the couch for the past several days and it had frustrated her so.
"Anna?"
She startles. She has forgotten about Shadow. She is a little bigger now that she's not a kitten, so she can meet his eyes, but he's still very big and imposing and she feels so much like prey. It relaxes her a little bit when she notices that he's not looking at her like he's planning to eat her with a side of fries. She quickly pulls her claws back and stop cutting into his expensive upholstery. "I'm sorry," she mumbles, curling up even more, pulling her knees up to her chest and hugging them tight. Her tail is even fluffier in this form and she can curl it all the way around her, giving her a sense of being hidden and her hair is long enough to cover her breasts. She's still a little bit embarrassed though. He doesn't know her and she doesn't think he's interested in mounting her, so she shouldn't show off her lady bits like this. Master insists on clothes.
He crinkles his forehead as though Anna was the most confusing thing he has ever come up against. "I'm really sorry, Anna," he says.
She shrugs and looks back at her tail. Hair is beginning to gather on her tongue. She hasn't been groomed for a while and there's an itchy spot between her ears. Her gaze drops onto his large hands and she drops from the couch onto her hands and feet. She slides up to his legs and lifts her head up until she is butting his knees. "Pet me," she demands. pushing her head into his palm.
He's holding his hand in tight fists and she watches as he turns a panicked look towards the kitchen. She meows at him to get his attention, and when he's still frozen in spot, she bats at his hand, careful to keep her claws hidden. Her tongue darts out and she licks his hand.
He yanks it away sharply. "Melissa! What do I do?" he calls out in a state of panic.
"Best do what she says, Shadow."
Shadow looks torn for a second, indecisive and uncertain. And then, his fingers brush between her ears tentatively. The fur is mixed with hair there and she knows it's soft to touch. She turns her head a little, guiding his touch to the spot beneath her ears where it feels good and purrs when he gets the right spot. He's still standing, which makes it a little harder for her to climb into his lap and demand better scratches. Maybe she can get him to train her better.
She gets distracted by the way his hands brush over her ears, though. She thinks of her Master and how he would do this for her when she's stressed too. She wonders how many days she's been here.
"Have they buried my Master?" she asks, voice trembling a little. She doesn't really know if she wants to hear the answer, but it feels important to know they dealt with his body properly. She doesn't want him to get eaten by the animals that roam in the forest by their home.
"Yes," Shadow answers at length. "The funeral was this morning," he says.
"Oh," she says. She wishes that she had been there. Did they bury him with his phone? He's a little obsessed with that silly little thing. What if he gets bored? What if he gets lost without having her around to boss him around and guide him places? He gets lost in the house, sometimes. He's almost a hundred years old and even though he puts up a strong front, but he's really very weak. What if the other dead people make fun of him? "Do you think they would let me be buried with him? What if Master gets lonely?" She doesn't realize she's said this out loud until Melissa gasps and drops something. It doesn't even have the decency to break. Shadow stops petting her.
"No, darling," Melissa says, marching out of the kitchen towards her. "No," she says, looking brokenhearted, eyes filling with tears. She looks as though she wants to come over and hold her again, but she's curled into herself and leaning closer to Shadow.
"Pharaohs in ancient Egypt would mummify and bury their cats," she tells them softly. It doesn't sound like a bad way to go, to follow her Master.
"Master Monty loves you, darling. He would never allow that," Melissa says. "You know he would want you to live, darling."
She doesn't know what. Master Monty loves her, but he had gotten so confused towards the end. He didn't even remember her name on the bad days, so she turns into a cat during those days and kept him company that way. She kept him entertained and kept his mind from wandering too far. She didn't want him to die.
"My father must have loved you a lot to have sent you to me," Shadow tells her suddenly and she frowns at him, not knowing what he means by that. "Both of us, we have more money than we can ever find use for," he starts. "And we've stopped giving each other gifts because it's just things. We can buy everything we need on our own and anything else would just feel insincere. The old man, he didn't really know what he's supposed to do with me. He had gotten so used to using money to fix things that he didn't know what to do once I no longer needed it. It told myself I didn't need him because it's true. I didn't. He had other
sons, younger sons and grandchildren."
She nods. She's met them before. They're not very pleasant people. She doesn't tell him that but she has a feeling he knows. She had been staying with Master for years and nobody really visits.
"He promised he won't give me anything unless I couldn't put a price to it." He squats down so that he's looking at her straight. "And he's given me the most precious gift he has."
Chapter Four: Heartbreak
There's white heat burning in her chest. She gasps, opening her mouth and somehow not getting air in no matter how much she struggles. Her heart is churning as though she had been running and a raw sound escapes her. The reality that her Master is never coming back for her smashes in on her and while half of her mind tells her that she already knows this for days, the other half hasn't even begun to grieve yet.
She scrambles away until her back is pressed against something solid and she suddenly wishes the cage was back so she can curl up in the small space and shift back, pretend none of this matters. Tears stream down her face and she cries, hands closing over her mouth and the side of her head clumsily when she tries to quiet her tears. Her whole body is shaking and doesn't know if she's crying for Master or for herself. She doesn't like that she's alone now, doesn't like having a master who's dead and who's never coming back for her. She hates it.
She feels him leave her side and tries not to feel too upset about it. He's not her Master Monty. She steels herself for an apologetic talk about how he's not ready for a pet, especially not a broken one like her, and maybe she should be going back with Melissa. But that doesn't happen. Instead, she feels a cloud of soft weight over her shoulders and the broad brush of something being tugged down her back. After a second, she feels herself being held, pulling forward and resting her head on something solid and warm for a second as the weight, a light, cottony thing, is wrapped around her.
