Behind the Mask

I walked up the stairs to my brownstone home that I secretly shared with Owen, Ace, and my brother. That is if he ever decided to come back long enough to call it his home. Everyone has their own floor to do as they please and mine is the top floor. I opened the door and walked into what I thought was my empty home when I heard voices come from the living room.

“He isn’t stable right now. It would be murder to go back now, Caleb!” a woman’s voice cried. I shook my head; I knew that voice all too well.

“Dammit Tabitha stop being such a coward! He’s just pissed off a little, because he hasn’t seen Vivi in a while. He isn’t mad at you.” He paused and then let out a long sigh, “Let him cool off for a while. I’ll bet after he’s himself again he’ll apologize for what he did.” I couldn’t help feeling alarmed at what Caleb said that I rushed into the living room. Tabitha saw me and her face drop as her complexion paled. My eyes fell on Tabitha’s left arm as Caleb was cleaning four large gashes in her forearm. Caleb didn’t even turn around to know I was standing in the room he only ringed out a red towel into a blood stained bowl next to him. “Welcome home, V. How was school?” Caleb asked as he started applying ointment to Tabitha’s wound.

“What the hell happened to Tabitha?” I could feel my anger rising inside of me.

“She tried to protect a small boy that came between Ray and that smart ass Nigel in a heated brawl.”

“What was a child doing in Ray’s room?” I asked looking at Tabitha, but she kept her eyes averted from me.

“They weren’t in his room at all. Ray was walking to the conference room with Garret when Nigel started acting like an ass. He was all up in Ray’s face telling him to “act more like a leader”, “not to be so hung up on you”, and oh this was the final straw. To” drop you, because he didn’t see you fit to be Ray’s companion”, then Ray snapped,” Caleb snapped his fingers still not looking at me, “just like that he lunged at Nigel letting his rage take control of him that he didn’t even see the kid between them. Luckily our Tabby cat here jumped in between them or that kid would have died.”

“Some hero I feel like.” Tabitha said sarcastically as Caleb finished bandaging up her arm.

“Well I think you’re a hero.” Caleb smiled up at Tabitha before standing up to face me. “Because you’re you Vivi and Ray wouldn’t dare hurt you, could you send my thoughts his way? On this matter,” he held up the bloody towels and bowl. I nodded, “Thanks kitten I can always count on you.” He smiled and walked away to the bathroom. I looked at Tabitha who sat still on the couch looking at the picture frame I have on the mantel. It was me, Garret, and Ray when we were younger and I mean young. I had to be one in the picture while Garret and Ray were seven holding onto me so I would fall over into the koi pond. I walked over to it and set it face down before I looked at Tabitha.

“Do you need anything?” I asked her feeling the need to take a long shower to cool off. I hate it when Ray hurts people, especially my friends.

“No,” she finally looked at me as she got up off the couch. She stood face to face with me at her 5’11 height looking at me straight in the eye. “Are you going to see him tonight?”

“After I do a job tonight, then I’ll go see him and assess the damage.”

“I don’t know how you do it, V. That man is a ticking time bomb and you are glued to his side during times like these. Not to mention you’re in school and you tend to miss a lot of it when he has one of his episodes. I understand he is to become our next leader and everything, but why must you be the one to suffer Vivi?” She looked at me with sympatric eyes.

I reached for her bandage and she winced at my touch, “I stay by him so I can prevent things like this from happening. Deep down he really is kind, but that is a side you rarely see since he only shows it to me. I can assure you he has never raised a hand to me or make me do something I didn’t want to and so I stay by him. I don’t understand why he becomes ruthless when I’m gone for so long, but I apologized for him if it means anything to you. So I will say this only once to you Tabitha. Don’t you dare pity me; because that is the last thing I need from you. What I need is your support to keep me grounded when greed, jealousy, and corruption surround me on a daily basis. When my hands get drenched in blood and when I taste iron in my mouth I need to know that you will be by my side. Just like Ace, Owen, and Caleb who stand by me and keep me from losing my mind and falling into the darkness. I need to know if I can count on you.” I let my hands fall to my sides as I stared at her.

“Fine,” she nodded her head, “You have me Vivi, my loyalty, and life.”

“Is the girl talk over now?” Caleb stood behind me leaning on the wall. Tabitha chuckled breaking our serious atmosphere to something more relax. She walked back to the couch and picked up her leather jacket.

“Let’s go Caleb,” Tabitha said playfully fighting his arm, “I told Skylar earlier that we’d be dropping by his place. Heard tonight’s supposed to be hot night in the wolf community so a lot of bounties are going to be coming out. That means the three of us will be hitting the clubs and bars.” Caleb rolled his eyes before picking up their motorcycle helmets from the coatrack. He handed one to Tabitha and started putting on his gloves when he glanced at me.

“You going out tonight, V?” he asked.

“Yup.”

“Then tell Owen that at least two of you need to be baring claws, you understand? Since he has those damn weapon charms on him I think you and Ace should go stealth mode.” Caleb said keys in hand, “this is just my advice.”

“No, no I understand. I’ll tell him so don’t worry about it and since we’re going to meet up at Rex’s I bet that’s what we are going to be told.”

“That’s good then,” he said opening the door.

“Kill’em if they put up a fight!” Tabitha yelled as she walked down the stairs to the gate.

“You know I will!” I yelled back to her and Caleb as they got on his black Ducati.

“Hope you get one hell of a bounty!” Caleb yelled with a wave. I waved back and he roared his bike to life and with a quick salute to me he rode into traffic.

I closed the door and started waking up stairs thinking of what Tabitha said about tonight being a hot night for the wolves. If she is right than most likely tonight things are going to get ruff to the point where the bounty won’t come in alive. That means blood, lots and lots of blood. I could feel my senses coming back as the drug started wearing off and I ran to my room. Everything, everything, became so vivid to the touch that just touching the railing made my heart jump with anticipation. My heart started beating faster and faster that I knew I wasn’t going to make to my room that stop on Ace’s floor and ran to his workout room. Once I got in there I quickly started stripping as my breaths became short and my vision began to change. Finally naked I got down on all fours as I felt my bones begin to crack and rearrange themselves. My body grew fur and my nails were replaced by claws while my jaw extended letting my fangs seep out from my gum line. I could feel my hips change as my tail rip out from underneath my human flesh making me scream in pain, but all that came out was a roar. Finally feeling my spine realigned its self in position of my other form I knew I was completely change into my deadly nature. I opened my eyes and saw my reflection in the mirrored walls on one side if the room as I stalked over to it. My eyes green as emeralds and black fur sleek and shiny as ever glistened under the lighting of the room.

I looked like a panther, an abnormally big panther, but a panther nonetheless. Everything thing about me screamed danger and I loved it, this feeling of power and control. Still I could feel the rage from before that I tried to suppress when I saw Tabitha’s arm. I spotted Ace’s punching bag and attacked it breaking it off its chain that held it onto the ceiling. I tiered into it ripping it apart spilling its contents all over the room knocking over dumb bells and weights. I ripped up the floor padding and some of the wall padding too. Hell I broke a few holes through the plaster wall! Before I knew it I changed back and I was standing in the middle of a trashed room that would take a couple of weeks to repair. I padded my way out of the room feeling the a/c chill my bare chest up the stairs. I don’t know how but I felt both completely venerable and yet powerful by the time I reached my room. I entered my room and walked right into the master bath feeling my body begin to overheat as my heart beat start to return to normal. I turned the shower on and waited for the water to be the right temperature when I walked over to the sink and look into the mirror.

Everything about me and everything that isn’t me was reflected in this one mirror, in my own face. I scowled at it and punched the mirror shattering it as shards of glass fell into the sink and onto the floor. Blood covered my knuckles and licked it tasting the iron that was my own that so many would want spilled, or would like to claim. Other than the tangy taste from my werecat DNA nothing seemed special about it. To me it was just mere blood with no merit, but to others it was a treasure that I have yet to understand. I licked my hand before stepping into the shower to wash away my thoughts of reason and morals before I went out to most likely kill a person who probably is as care for and beloved by others as I am.