Meow, Meow

Penelope closes her eyes, her slender fingers pressed against my chest. A soft stream of those foreign syllables leave her mouth, different from the ones I heard when she was putting that protection...spell on my house.

My body tenses automatically, my hands deafly spring up to grip her hand. But I relax almost immediately, feeling a rush of something warm, hot and tingly. It’s intense and soon my eyes drift shut as it begin to vibrate all my nerve ending in my body, starting from the focal point of her hand.

I become wrapped up in the feeling, it’s amazing, comforting, even slightly arousing in a way. It’s like she’s bringing life to every cell in my body, making them wriggle and squirm with excitement and pent up energy.

I’m not sure how many minutes pass, I’m too wrapped up in the feelings coursing through my body, making me sigh and moan happily. But just as quickly as the feeling came, they end.

My eyes fly open.

“Penelope,” I whisper, instantly knowing that something is wrong. Terribly wrong. Her skin is pale, pale as a sheet of paper. “Are-are you okay?” I ask, my voice, rising in a panic.

“I-I’m sorry,” A wheezing gasp emits from the feline shapeshifter’s mouth, and a shudder goes through her petite form before her body crumples onto mine.

Breathing her name over and over, I shake her body gently, shifting in an attempt to put us both into a more seated position.

“No...don’t,” I hear her soft, gasping words as I feel her feel her hand grab my arm suddenly, tightly, too tightly, her fingers digging painfully into my skin.

She lifts her head up, hair nearly hiding her pleading expression. “Don’t reject me, please.” She manages, tears begging to streak down her face.

Shaking my head, I press my now trembling fingers against the smooth skin of her face. “You don’t have to worry,” Her body shudder again, this time more violently, so I wrap my arms snuggly around her, “I’m not going to reject you.”

Her face breaks into a brilliant smile, lighting up her face, despite her obvious pain. “T-Thanks,” She mumbles just before her whole body quakes again, a high whining noise escaping her lips.

“Tell me, tell me what’s wrong, Penelope?”

The fiery haired girl in my arms doesn’t answer my question with decipherable words. Instead her eyes lolling in their sockets and her body begins to warm with fever. She clings onto me even tighter, mewling and kneading her face against the bare skin at my shoulder.

This is all my fault, I can’t help but think as panic and fear courses through my veins. I don’t know what to do. She’s hurting…bad and all I can do is hold her helplessly in my arms and murmur reassurance into her ear.

“Penelope? Narissa?”

A low, yet feminine voice startles me, making me squeal. Trying to calm down my already racing heart, I look up to see a purple-eyed female, dressed in a pastel, standing in the doorway.

“Who are you?” I clutch Penelope closer to me, immediately getting defensive. As I do, she makes this weird noise as if she wants to say something, so I lean down to hear her whisper the word friend into my ear.

The girl rushes into the room instantly. I watch as she leans down and inspects Penelope, running her fingers tenderly along her face. The girl in my arms sighs at the contact, relaxing in my arm slightly. A pang of jealousy hits me, but I brush it away, to answer the girl's soft spoken question of what happened.

“I-I met the Tracker tonight at the bar. He told me he was going to make her listen, then he did something to me. She showed up and healed me, then this happened.”

“After she healed you?”

I nod my head, my voice thick with emotion as I ask, “So, c-can you help her?”

"I'm going to try..." The girl leads off her face intense, her eyes narrowed, "But we have to hurry." Straightening up quickly she turns, calling over her shoulder, "Laurel, come here ."

Within seconds, a dirty blonde female with blue-gray eyes and porcelain skin is standing in the doorway, gazing into the room with a near passive expression.

"Help me get her to the living room,” Her slender hands reach down to clutch Penelope under her arm, just as the blonde comes in and reaches for the other.

Even though I know they're only going to harm her, I hold her tighter to me, not really wanting to let her go.

The dark headed girl smiles slightly, fingers touching the arm I have wrapped around Penelope's shifting form. My fear, panic, and guilt dissipate like a fog as a calmness washes over me. The frantic thundering of my heart slows and my muscles relax.

"It's okay, Narissa," The girl reassures, edging her apparent friend completely from my now loosened grip.

Penelope makes a whimpering noise, her body moving slow and unsteadily in-between the supporting grip of the two unfamiliar females. When they're gone from my view, I jump up from the bed, running to grab something to cover myself.

While I'm tossing the clothes around in my dresser all the calmness I just felt slinks away and I’m hit with a torrent all of those same emotions once again. Groaning, I lean heavily against the thrift store dresser. My hand creeps towards my chest and I close my eyes tightly against the tears welling up in my eyes.

In and out. In and out.

I breathe deeply, trying to regain some sort of composure. The act itself helps slightly at first, but more so as the seconds tick on by.

I messed up, I know this. She's hurting because of me. Because I didn't listen to her, and be careful. Because I lost her earring. Because I couldn't get her to leave. I can't change any of this, but I'll be damned if I keep making the same mistakes.

With one last deep exhale, I finally begin to pull on a pair of loose fitting shorts and a Thomas College t-shirt. As I do an earthy smell tickles my nose, making me sneeze.

“You should be with her.”

A voice makes me practically jump out of my skin and turn to stare at the striking blonde, the purple-eyed girl called Laurel. I can tell from her stance, her unearthly beauty, and the animalistic look in her eyes that she’s not human either.

"This is intense. It's crazy and overwhelming. But you are her mate. And she needs you."

The intensity of words and her piercing gaze has an effect on me.

I haven’t been thinking about how she feels, what she wants, what she needs. I've only considered myself. What I did, how I affected her, how I feel. Not her. I've been foolishly selfish. And she’s out there in pain, serious pain, and she...she might even...

Tossing the horrible thought from my head, I nod simply, following her out into the front of the house, where I hesitantly step into the now hazy living room, afraid of what I might see.

My heart speeds up once I see Penny. She's slouched at the center of a pentagram that has somehow been drawn on the floor. Everything about her drained, sickly. Her skin is much paler than before, the coloring in her fiery hair is less bright, and the intensity of her gaze is foggy.

I begin to cross over to her, but the dark haired girl emerges from the corner, surrounded by smoke. She motions me towards her. Throwing a glance at Penny, I reluctantly follow her unspoken command.

I'm too busy trying not to inhale too deeply to hear her exact words as she waves this burning incense all around me. The moment she finishes she steps back and I head towards Penny, making sure to avoid the candles and other weird looking objects that now litter my floor.

"I'm here, Penelope, I'm here for you and I'm not leaving. Ever. I'm not going to reject you." I reach out to her across the pentagram, hand enclosing hers tightly, which she returns with pressure of her own.

She stares into my face, her smile weak, yet still glinting against her ashen skin. Her eyes hold mine and I stare back into them, hoping she feels how much I really care about her and just how true my words are.

"Alright," Laurel's voice prompts from a far away place, "Rhea needs to perform the ritual."

Slowly, I entwine our fingers and get up to stand by Laurel, who is casually standing at the threshold into the living room.

"Come on," She murmurs, smiling comfortingly when I throw a glance her way that lets her know I have no plans on moving, “It’s so our auras don’t interfere with the magic.”

Throwing a glance at Penny, I follow Laurel into my room. She shuts the door behind us and I wait.