Fenced In Hearts

*KASPIEN’S POV*

I flinched away, trying hard not to giggle when Damien pinched my side. On a normal basis I would’ve laughed, but we were in class. Theiudos was already annoyed with us. But it wasn’t our fault his classes were so boring! We were all bored beyond belief. I was bored because this was history. I only peaked in art. Zimmy was bored because he’d rather be working on his latest song, Damien was hyper active, so history definitely wasn’t his subject, and Xavier already knew everything!

Damien pinched my side again, making me squeak. Theiudos turned around, his face unamused as he cocked an eyebrow. Damien and Zimmy burst into laughter. I blushed madly, looking down at the mahogany desk. He took a piece of chalk off the board and chucked it at someone. I frowned when I turned to see the chalk hit Xavier’s head.

He gasped, jolting awake, “What? Huh?”

We all laughed at his dazed face, but Theiudos didn’t look pleased, “Master Xavier. You will not fall asleep in my class.” He growled.

Zimmy laughed when Xavier blushed, sinking further into his seat, “Sorry Theiudos.”

“This proves how boring your class is Theiudos!” Damien groaned. Theiudos rolled his eyes.

“What would you like to do then, my princes?” The old teacher asked. We all looked at one another and smiled.

“Go outside?” I asked sheepishly. His eyebrows raised in disapproval, making my roan ears flatten on my head and my tail curl protectively around my slim waist.

“And what exactly, would you do outside? Climb trees and chase after birds?” Theiudos asked, his voice annoyed. I knew we’ve been bugging him for the past two hours, not letting him carry out his lesson, but he didn’t have to mock me. I looked down, my lip jutting out slightly. I get offended and upset too easily, that’s just the way I was. But after a century, I thought he knew that…

“Never mind…” I mumbled, still not looking up. My hands held a sudden interest to my foggy eyes.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, and I could tell it was Zimmy because of his cold presence. I didn’t understand why he was here though; Damien was the one who sat behind me. I heard him growl softly. When I looked up I saw him standing over me.

“Tedious, watch it.” He snarled.

“C’mon, this lesson is over.” Damien backed him up. I looked a little surprised. The lesson didn’t end for another hour… but the grandfather clock did indeed say the lesson was done.

“What?! But that’s impossible!” Theiudos exclaimed. Xavier sighed and stood.

“No Theiudos. It is over.” He stated, rubbing my ear and helping me stand. I walked out of the library with the others. I really didn’t see what was so wrong, I mean we’ve done it before; go outside to learn. Maybe it was because I got too distracted… but it wasn’t my fault nature was so gorgeous!

“Kaspien, you okay?” Xavier asked. I looked up and shrugged.

“Yeah, can we just go outside?” I asked. They nodded. Xavier leaned in and pecked my rosy cheek.

“Don’t worry bud; we’ve got your back.” He grinned, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

“Yeah, that old fart’s got nothing on you. Don’t you worry your sexy little ass on it.” Damien grinned, his joking tone already brightening my mood. I blushed, leaning into my taller brother.

“Who’s an old fart?” I heard footsteps coming down the hall.

When we turned around, we saw our mom walking out of his bedroom.

“Err… the… fly!” Damien grinned.

Zimmy rolled his eyes and smacked the wolf upside the head, “Nice one.” He scoffed. Damien grumbled under his breath, while he rubbed the back of his head. Alex chuckled, patting Damien’s cheek.

“How many times have I told you to be respectful of Theiudos? He knows what he’s talking about. You four will wear him out one day!” He exclaimed, but the amused smile never left his face.

“Well, he asked for it.” Damien whined.

Alex cocked an eyebrow, “How so?”

“He upset Kaspien.” Zimmy growled lightly. Our mom’s face softened when I looked down.

“Oh, alright. Still though, mind your mouth.” He warned. We all nodded.

“Where are you headed?” Xavier asked.

Our mom smiled, “You fathers and I are going into town.”

Our eyes brightened at the idea, and my ears perked up, “Can we come?” I asked, my mood picking up again.

His face fell slightly, “Oh, I’m sorry baby, but we have some business to tend to. Not this time. But if you want, we can drop you off at Grandma’s and Grandpa’s?” he asked.

My nose scrunched up at the mention of our ‘human’ grandparents. Yes, they were still alive. As was Payton and Macey. Our father –Amaranth- granted them immortality, like Grandma Amanda had to Madame Sae.

“No!” Damien exclaimed. We all looked at him quizzically.

He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head, “It’s just that… well… I’m still full from last time we went.”

My giggled mingled with the other’s laughter. He was right though, we all knew grandma’s love to feed us. She always complained that I was too skinny, and my fur wasn’t shiny enough. So by the time I came back, I could barely fit in my skinny jeans from all the food.

“Alright, well, have fun. And stay out of trouble, will you?” Alex chuckled, kissing our cheeks before turning to leave.

“Yeah, you too!” Xavier called after him. Our mom turned and stuck out his tongue before descending the stairs.

“So, are we going to go outside? Or just stand here all day?” Damien asked. I nodded quickly, a grin spreading on my face.

“Yes.” I chimed. They all chuckled before we ran down the halls towards the stairs.

“Wait!” I gasped. They all skidded to a stop.

“What’s wrong?” Zimmy asked.

I blushed softly, “Camera…”

They all rolled their eyes and chuckled before nodding, “We’ll see you outside.”

“Okay!” A grin re-spread on my face as I skipped to our room and opened the door. I loved our room. It was big. Really big.

The main room was the only one with a door facing the hall. There was a massive bed against the hall, big enough for six people, but there was only four of us. The main room broke off into five other larger rooms. Xavier’s mini-library, my art studio, Zimmy’s music room, Damien’s workshop, and a bathroom.

My studio was filled with paintings, drawings, sketches and photographs. I even had a darkroom in the back. I had a large, long table in the middle of the room; the base of the table had slots in it for the blank paper of all sizes I always used. I had every tool you could think of. Every material ever invented. Clay statues littered not only my room, but the rest of the castle as well. As did my paintings and photographs.

I spotted my camera hanging off the back of my chair. I sped towards it, grabbed it and slung it on my neck. I skipped out of the room and closed the door. I walked through our bedroom and out into the hall, almost stepping on one of Damien’s new inventions. I didn’t dare pick it up though. There was no telling what it’d do if it detonated. I might be showered with skunk spray for all I know. So I avoided it carefully, skipping down the hall and to the stairs.

I continued my bouncy step into the garden, following the sound of laughter.

“Meow…” Savannah purred, jumping out of the tree. I giggled at the rather large cat that rubbed its head against my white skinny jeans.

“Hi, girl.” I smiled my tail curling around her’s. We linked tails as we walked towards my brothers.

“Damien! Get Monty off of me!” I heard Xavier shriek as happy barks were issued and laughter filled the air.

“Pleaseeeeeeeeee!” Xavier whined. I giggled when I saw him. I took my camera and snapped a picture of him. I giggled at his surprised face and tousled hair. Monty turned around and barked. The next thing I know I’m on the ground, a huge Siberian husky over me. I shrieked when his rough tongue liked my face.

“Off!” I shrieked helplessly, looking at Damien for assistance, but he was too busy laughing. Zimmy chuckled before tackling the dog. I gasped when the heavy beast was lifted off of me. Zimmy was laughing as he play fought with Monty. The dog went for his arm, and Zimmy gasped.

“Wait!” He shrieked, stopping the dog quickly. I frowned, why would he… wait a minute…!

I shrieked when I saw Cancer slither out of his sweater sleeve quickly. I backed away from it, my eyes wide. I didn’t really like snakes unless Zimmy was there; holding me, and telling me that Cancer was harmless.

Cancer slithered over, but before he could crawl in my lap, Savannah jumped on him, her head cocking to the side when he hissed. I heard Xavier chuckled at my Bengal’s reaction. She lifted her paw off of the snake, her head cocking to the side further as she nudged him. I loved Savannah. She was my ultimate pet. I got her when I was a baby… newborn. And even though a hundred years have passed, we all still had our pets. Madame Sae put a spell on them, so now they aged the same way we did. Reason why they were still alive, and not in the ground somewhere.

“Okay, okay. Enough.” Xavier chuckled, picking up the snake and rubbing Savannah’s ears. The cat purred, rubbing her head against his cold hand, and Cancer wrapped himself around the vampire’s arm, resting his head against his wrist.

Zimmy pushed Monty off and sighed, lying back in the grass and staring at the sky. Monty huffed unhappily and trotted over to Damien. The wolf grinned, ruffling his puppy’s ears and kissing the top of his head as he looked around.

“It’s so nice out. So early…” Zimmy smirked. I nodded, breathing in the calm air. I looked around for a moment, something yellow catching my attention. I grinned when I saw the little butterfly land on a russet red flower. I got up steadily, walking over slowly, careful not to scare it away, and snapped a picture of it. I grinned when it took off into the air, and walked back towards Xavier.

The vampire frowned for a moment, his head cocking to the side, “Damien… how did we get out of class early today? I could’ve sworn we had another hour left…” he trailed off.

We all looked over at Damien with interest on our face. He blushed madly, looking around, “Uh… I rigged the clock…” He mumbled.

We all laughed, shaking our heads, “Typical Damien… just typical…”