Felidae
Chapter One
The large van rolled into the parking lot of the supermarket. My person, Liam, got out.
"Stay here, Nat," he chided as I attempted to leap outside after him. "We'll be there soon."
I yawned, stretching my lithe tabby body and settling onto the upholstery of the passenger side seat.
I'm a brown tabby cat with dark brown, almost black, stripes, and striking green eyes. Liam is a redhead with brown eyes, and he's a pretty good human. Or can opener, as most cats call them these days, especially the strays.
As I was thinking this, a mottled gray cat with a twisted paw and bad eye sauntered by the window. He looked up, his good, yellow eye blazing accusingly up at me.
"Got yourself stuck pretty good, eh, kitty?"
I was shocked to hear his amused tone, and even more surprised by his question. "What do you mean?"
"Human toy," the cat replied, his voice just reaching mine from the cracked window(Liam always left the window open when I was in the car incase he was gone longer than anticipated).
"I am not," I replied angrily. "I'm a house cat!"
"Same thing." The mottled tomcat squinted at me. "You got a name, kid?"
"Nat," I said, though I didn't know why I was telling him. "You?"
"Snappy." He flashed a crooked grin, his lopsided teeth flashing.
"Makes sense." In more ways than one, I added to myself.
"You just passing through?"
"No. I don't think so. This is Cleaver, isn't it?"
"Smart cat. Yeah. This is the place." Snappy glanced back, and I saw Liam was returning. "See you, kid. I'll be interested to get to know you if you live long enough."
"Meaning what?" I yowled as Snappy strolled off. He merely turned and gave me a knowing smile.
"You'll find out soon enough, Kitty."
And with that, Snappy was gone.
Liam couldn't write. When that happened, we moved.
We move a lot.
As I jumped onto a windowsill to survey my new grounds, something caught my eye.
It appeared to be a Brother, a black one, lying under the oak tree in the backyard. He was one his side, sprawled out, and for some reason the sight of him sent chills up my spine.
I jumped out the open window and took a few tentative pawsteps in the brother's direction.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Kitty."
I jumped, turning on my heels to see Snappy lounging on the stone wall overlooking the garden, yellow eye watching me in amusement. "Miss me, Kitty?"
"Snappy!" I managed, staring at him. "What are you doing here? And who's he?"
"I go where I please," Snappy replied shortly. "And a better question would be 'who WAS he'."
"What do you mean?"
"I think you know," Snappy smirked. "But if you don't, you could just saunter up to him and find out for yourself."
Cautiously I turned and inched toward the Brother, then yowled, arching my back at the sight of him.
His throat was torn open, his green eyes staring off past me and his claws still unsheathed. "He's dead!"
"Yup," Snappy agreed, jumping down beside me and eyeing the tom. "Poor Shawn."
I glanced at him, surprised by his calm tone.
"Okay, not really," he admitted. "He was an ass. Good riddance."
"Who would...KILL him, though?" I asked, still eyeing the corpse uncomfortably.
"Pretty much any cat in the neighborhood," Snappy said. "No one likes him much; he's an annoying squit. But in all honesty I bet it was a Can Opener."
"A Can Opener?"
"A human, to you."
I stared at him. Was this cat for real?
"Trust me, you're better off without him," Snappy continued. "He used to say this was his turf. Now you've claimed it and the bastard can't do anything about it. Wish I could've seen his face. But the idea of his expression should be enough to satisfy my craving."
"What are you talking about?" I demanded.
"Oh, it's all just a big game," Snappy said, waving a paw dismissively. "I'm just messing with you. There's only a pawful of cats around here I'd really worry about."
"Like who?" I asked, curiosity gnawing at me.
"Well, Papa and Brainy for starters,"Snappy said thoughtfully. "Then Hefty, of course, and his cronies Draco and Crutch."
"Anyone else?"
"Besides Claudandus and Mordecai?" Snappy chuckled, while I merely looked my confusion. "Naw, except maybe..."
He frowned, thinking hard.
"What?"
"Well, she doesn't get pissed often," Snappy said slowly. "But I'd advise against making Alexis mad."
"Alexis?"
"I'm sure you'll meet her soon enough," Snappy shrugged. "When you meet her, just remember to be nice, and don't mention Claudandus, or Mordecai. She hates the Sect."
"Sorry, but what's 'Claudandus'? Or 'Mordecai'? And what's this 'Sect'?"
"You've never heard of the Claudandus Sect?" Snappy asked, tipping his head to the side.
"No."
"Oh. Well, no matter, you'll learn all about it pretty quick around here." Snappy smiled.
"So, Shawn's death is something I shouldn't worry about?"
"Nope. Plenty'a cats get killed around here; I wouldn't worry too much about what happened."
"What?!" I asked. "You mean there's a murderer on the loose?!"
"Pff, no," Snappy shook his head. "Only a couple'a cats. Lesse, Kevin, Lamoni, Derek, Dominick..."
"That sounds like a hefty list," I said, watching him closely.
"No, just five. Not that bad."
Not that bad? Was he serious?
I was forced to ponder this question in silence as the cat known as Snappy leapt over the wall and out of sight.
~*o*~
A few days later Snappy was back. "Found another one," he called. "Old Greedy. His throat looks exactly like someone was testing an icepick to see how it worked."
"Hmm," I said to myself, pondering this.
"Any questions?" Snappy asked me.
"Just one. Was Old Greedy a Tom?"
"Yeah, but it's not like he still had an interest in females," Snappy replied. "He was as good as a Kitty."
"A... Kitty? Isn't that what you call me?"
"Yeah, 'cause you're neutered and he was as good as," Snappy shrugged. "You coming?"
"Yes, yes, of course," I replied, following him.
~*o*~
I followed Snappy, noticing the way he carried himself despite his marred eye and mangled paw. The way he acted, any cat would have assumed he only had a slight cold.
We rounded a bend on the large stone wall we had been walking on and I saw, to my surprise, a huge Tom. He was white in color, with black an ginger markings.
"Hey Snappy!" He chortled, an I noticed two skinny males lingering at his sides. "I see you've been cruising the gay scene for a change! Mind showing us the tricks your little friend showed you?"
"Oh, no, I think he'd rather show you himself, Hefty," Snappy replied. "Oh, and Draco and Crutch. Do me a favor and don't start telling me how rewarding a neutered life can be. I'm well prepared to take your word for it."
The cats just snickered to themselves as Hefty pushed past them, a maniacal grin on his features. All four of the other cats began hissing, and not knowing what else to do, I joined in.
Hefty laughed at my pathetic, unused hiss. "Something tells me we're going to have a meeting in the not to distant future! So, until then, sweet thing!" He called, jumping into the bushes, Draco and Crutch following.
Snappy immediately pressed forward. "Snappy," I said awkwardly, "don't you think you're contradicting yourself?"
"Why do you mean?" He asked gruffly.
"Well... You told him I'm your friend," I replied. But Snappy just growled and kept walking.
~*o*~
We reached a shed. Spattered around the outdoors was a blood trail, leading inside. I followed Snappy inside, seeing a yellow Brother lying across some sort of machine.
Old Greedy's green eyes stared at nothingness, his throat torn.
"Well?" Snappy demanded.
"He was attacked outside. That's obvious from the blood in the garden. Then he dragged himself in here. Not bad for a fella his age."
"So it was a C-"
"This wasn't a human, Snappy, don't fool yourself," I chided. "He wasn't killed with an icepick, these marks were made with teeth!"
"Hmm."
"'Hmm' what?"
"Alright, tomorrow I'm going to take you to meet Alexis. She's smarter than you, an with your combined brains maybe you can solve this thing."
"Alexis? As in, a Sister?"
"Yeah, a real clever bitch too. But don't make her mad, I'm warning you. She's got claws from hell, plus that dog Alex on her side."
Not waiting for me I ask another question, Snappy turned to leave the shed while I followed him, abandoning Old Greedy's body in the machine shed.
Surely someone else would come find it.