Chapter 1
Pretty Kitty
Black Cat, Nine Lives, Short Days, Long Nights, Never Afraid to Live or Die!
I ran as fast as my legs could carry me, the alienated woman keeping up pace pretty well. The stage was up in flames, and I left everyone behind as I was pushed away. Tommy ran several paces ahead of me and I couldn't keep up. With horror, I began to realise what was happening. My Runners Athsma symptoms were starting. No! I can't have an athsma attack now! Tears started to bud from my eyes and I heard Tommy call out my name. He stopped short and waited for me.
"No! Tommy, keep...keep r-running!" I said through wheezy gasps. I was just about to reach him when my bare foot stepped on a shard of rock, and I bit back a scream, limping and slowing down. The woman was closer and closer, and she was going to get me. "T-Tommy...g-go!" I grabbed my side, as it started to pulse with pain from the symptoms.
"Adam! Adam, come on!" He urged me and tried to keep moving. He had to leave me, now! Blood was slicking the grass as it flowed from my punctured foot, and it hurt to even limp. I could hear my heartbeat in my ears, my throat was starting to close, and my vision alternated from blurring to clearing. I couldn't breathe! No! I felt the light leave my eyes as I collapsed to the ground, twitching from the lack of oxygen, and I saw the woman, take her claws, and slice into the side of my throat before everything went completely black...
Urgh...I groaned and sat up. Everything was spinning and my head pounded. Good, God where was I? I tried to think of what happened...(A/N: Imagine a white flash as you enter a blurry flashback)
I got on my knees and threw my hat off after Down the Rabbit Hole (A/N: This is the KISS FM Wham Bam in Toronto) and seductively purred, "Who, are you?" then, as Tommy and Monte started Ring of Fire, and the stage turned red, I teasingly stripped off the coat and started to sing. "Love, is a burning thing...and it makes, a firey ring...bound by wild desire...I fell into, a ring of fire...I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went," I shrugged lower and lower until 'down' was done "Down, down, down, and the flames," I sat back up, throwing my free hand into the air as I rose "went higher, and it burns, burns, buuurns, the ring of fire...the ring of fi-iii-iiii-i-yer. The tast-ah!" I threw my head back and slowly turned it back "of love is sweet, when hea-ah-arts like ours meet," I rose to my feet and put my hand to my head like dramatically greiving. "I fell for you like a chii-yild, wooaaaahhh, and the fire went wi-hi-hild," I snapped my gaze to the crowd with half open eyes, and bopped my knee with the beat "I fell into a burning ring of fire, I went down down down, and the flaames, went hi-igher, and it buuurns! Oh, the ring it buuuuuuuurrrns, the ring of fire, yeah, the ring of fi-hire," My hand rose again as I crecendoed "yeaaaah-ah-oh, yeaaaah-oh-oh, oh-woaaaahhh!" My hand slowly went back down. "Woah-ah-oh, woah-ah-oh the ring of fi-iah-aiiiiiire-" I was cut off by a huge crack and gasped. Even the crowd silenced. Everyone was still, and Tommy and I exchanged glances. 'What was that?' he mouthed at me and looked at Sasha. She shrugged and he turned his gaze back to mine. 'I don't know' I mouthed back. The mic gave feedback and I dropped it, covering my earplugged ears and everyone did the same.
"OH MY GOD! LOOK!" Someone in the crowd shouted at the screeching of the feedback faded. I looked up and everyone gasped in unison, the light was cracking, and getting louder. It started to wiggle and I prayed it wouldn't fall. Tommy leapt on the platform and clutched my arm
"Please, no, please, no, please no, please, God, no." I murmmered not letting my eyes leave the threatning object. Sure enough, the hinge came loose. Before I even thought of myself, I shoved Tommy off of the platform as the light hit right next to us. I leapt and grabbed Tommy, who was on the ground stage and he groaned. "Tommy? I'm so sorry, I-"
"Adam, your leg!" He shouted and cut me off, and I saw that a spark had caught my leather pants' hem on fire. I gasped, and just looked at it. "ADAM, ARE YOU INSANE? PUT IT OUT!" He grabbed my leg, causing me to fall and beat it with his sweater. The fire went out an I started to feel a stinging, tingling, burning sensation where it was. The adrenaline rush was gone and I felt the burn and winced. He grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, and I had no clue why he was so scared. The fire was out, wasn't it? Nope. No where near. Behind us, the platform was ablaze, Cam jumped off of the stage and landed, chaos surrounded us as the projection screen burned on fire. I stared wide eyed and he shoved me once more. "Move!" I scrambled to him and stopped short when I saw something...a woman? On the platform? How...She emerged from the flame and I gasped. it was a tall, beautiful woman...or at least it was, and she had blood red eyes, no pupils or whites, sharp, toothpick like fangs for teeth with disgusting black cracks all around her mouth, and filthily discolored skin and sharp black claws. (A/N: If you've seen Torchwood, there's an episode called Something Borrowed. it looks like that creature) I watched in horror and Tommy yanked the back of my shirt, choking me, and I ran with him...(A/N: Another flash as we leave the flashback)
Oh my God! Where was Tommy? I looked around in horror. I was in my...my bedroom? But...how? I got up and yawned. Okay...first priority was to find Tommy. As I got up, I felt strange...Everything was bigger than me. Huh? I looked around once more and rose an eyebrow. "O...kaaayyy? This is weird." I said to myself and started out. The hallway, normally my height, was HUGE! Like, I was in the Empire State Building, huge! My eyes widened as I reached the stairs. Euh...how was I...I took one step and half my body shrugged forward. Next foot, I was off kilter, and my body was leaning forward. One more step, and I tumbled down, falling and collapsing at the end of the stairs. "Nnnghhh." I groaned and got up, shaking my body. I was in the livingroom on the white, porcaline tile floor. I stepped and was about to head to the patio, when I heard the fridge door open. At least there was someone home! I turned and slowly padded into the kitchen. Wait...Was it Neil? I quickened my pace and saw him grabbing a beer from the fridge. "Neil! Oh, thank God! What happened? Have you seen Tommy? What's-"
"Ack! A stray!" He cut me off. Stray? What? He grabbed the broom and held it securely. "How did you get in here? I gotta fix that cat-flap." He can't understand me? "Shoo! Shoo! Get out!" He shoved the broom at me and I yowled in protest. Wait...I could yowl? I scritted away and to the door. "Out! Out, out, out!" He shoved the broom once more and the bristle hit me in the eye. I hissed in pain, and he opened the door, and kicked me out-quite literally. I groaned and I looked down, and gasped...I don't have human feet! Instead, I was looking at black fur covered paws! Oh, my...WHAT? I sprang up, and whirled around, and my body was covered in shiny black fur, that sparkled with glitter in some places, and a long, fuzzy tail was emmiting from my back. I followed it and got dizzy, falling on the floor. I shook my head to regain my bearings and got back up. Okay, okay, calm down. Calm. Down. You can figure this out, Adam! I groaned and rose to my...paws once more. Oh my goodness, this was confusing! How come I could hear myself speaking English, but all Neil heard was meowing? I sighed and felt a tear bud at my eye...wait, cats can cry? Oh, my God this was going from bad to worse for me. As I padded across the front yard, being kicked out of my own mansion, I stopped short, remembering something. What about Bella? Neil's bengal cat? SHE was a cat...would she be able to understand me? I looked around and tried to find the small, autumn colored cat. My vision was surprisingly amazing! And...I could smell something...It wasn't normal, it was like a floral scent, mixed with a tropical breezy, salty type of smell, like an ocean.
My...well, I suppose brow bones, or where my brows would be, furrowed and I tried to locate it. In the corner of the yard were two cats...the neighbors cats. The one on the right, was Seashell, I knew from when I used to visit the neighbors when we first moved here. She had pale grey long hair, the same length as mine, with my eyes and a black dot on her leg. The one on the left, was Syracuse, an orange tabby tomcat that was a bit overweight and had muddy yellow eyes. I narrowed my eyes in curiosity and padded over. When I was about three paces from where I was, they both stopped short. Seashell turned her head towared me and eyed me with suspition. I tried to make a greeting smile, but she curled her lip at me. Syracuse cocked an eyebrow at me and growled low. I felt my ears flatten and I crouched. Seashell padded a few feet toward me.
"Who are you?" She asked. "Why are you so..." She paused a moment to sniff and opened her mouth. "...familiar?" I said nothing and she got closer.
"Wait! Shelly!" Syracuse hissed at her. "He could be an Alley!" Alley? What's an Alley? She got close and started circleing me, taking an occasional sniff. I didn't dare move. Or breathe. It took a few seconds, but Syracuse walked up and sniffed me. "Smells like the stench of an Alley. What do you think?"
"He's got no collar...but he looks different...what cat sparkles?" She whispered back to him, like I wasn't even here.
"Erm, if I may intervine?" I asked quietly. Their gazes snapped to mine with disgust. "You're the neighbors cats. Remember, I came with Neil to visit when I first moved here?"
"What are you talking about, fleabag?" Syracuse spat. That wasn't nice. "I've never seen you in my life!" Seashell wasn't as hostile though. She recognized me?
"He's no fleabag, 'Cuse." YES! She recognized me! "It's the upwalker. The one with the black sparkly hair." I smiled.
"You know me? You can tell it's me?" Seashell nodded, Syracuse was still eyeing me. "Wait...you can understand me? And I, you?" They looked at me like I had three heads.
"Of course we can."
"But...I tried talking to Neil, and he..."
"Oh, you upwalkers are oblivious to our speech. Don't even try." I felt somewhat offened the way she said 'you upwalkers'.
"How oblivious?"
"You tried to talk to him correct?" I nodded. "Well, there you go. Some cats don't know that, though, and to the humans, it's like they won't stop aasking for attention. All they hear is meowing." She explained. It made sense though.
"I...I have to go. I need to find my friend." I was about to turn and leave, when Syracuse called me back.
"Hey! I'm pretty sure your friends busy finding you!"
"What?"
"I said-"
"No, I mean what do you mean?"
"Our human's have been saying about you before. Neil's come over and said you've been missing. It's been weeks now." Weeks?
"Wait, you mean all this time...how long? How many weeks?"
"I believe...three or four now." I've been out for a month? I felt my stomach droop with my with my ears and I dashed away. I had to find Tommy!
Tommy's POV
I grabbed my bass and packed it up for the final time. A tear rolled down my cheek as I took in the fact that since Adam's missing, I'm out of a job...and a friend. I looked around the studio, and smiled. I saw the ghosting figure of all of us in the recording area. Me strumming my bass, Longineu on the drums, Cam with beating the keys, and Monte wailing the guitar...and Adam...He was singing Music Again...his eyes never leaving mine as he sang. I looked down and blushed, and when I looked back up, we were all gone. I knew they were giving up on the search, and as much as my heart refused to believe it...it was most possible Adam was dead. Or close to dieing anyway. I choked a sob as I picked up my bass, and it fell out of my hands. My knees threatened to give as I sobbed. This went on for a full six minutes before I calmed and picked up the case, and walked out. I was the last one. Everyone knew this place was most special to me. As I walked down the halls, I ran my fingers across the walls and shut off the lights behind me as I went. Soon, I passed an open door and froze...the audition room...I thought. My eyes wandered into the doorway and I saw another ghosting. Me strumming my guitar, while Monte and Adam watched...Adam's mouth twitched in a smile as he leaned forward, intruged, and flexed his locked fingers. I finished the end of the song and his smile turned into a white flashy one and he laughed. I smiled and moved my fringe aside. 'You've got talent, Ratliff.' he said. It echoed off the walls. My smile faded. 'But?' 'But we already have a guitarist.' I looked down. So, he rose from his seat and walked over to me. He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, but his smirk still showed. 'Have you tried bass?' he asked, cocking an eyebrow. My head snapped up. '...no?...' he sighed and his smirk faded. I quickly tried to find words. 'But! B-but I...I-I can always, y'know...i-i-t's always great to try new...things?' His smile returned. 'You got your self a deal, Tommy.' He shook my hand and gave me a hug. 'Thank you, Mr. Lambert! Thank you, SO much!' I said enthusiastically and he just laughed. 'Call me Adam. I don't got no surname, and don't plan on getting one 'till I'm 40. Okay? You see wrinkles? Grey hair?' He teased and I shook my head, hysterical with glee. 'Thank you.' 'No problem, Adam.' He gave me another hug, and we faded. I was still crying.
"...No problem..." I whispered and swallowed a hard lump that had formed in my throat. My hand slowly drifted to the lightswitch and the lights went out. I stared into the blackness for a good twenty minutes before turning and walking down the halls again. Turning off the lights...*click*...I passed the rec room, and I was standing with Adam. We laughed and held our drinks into the air. 'Happy birthday Adam!' Everyone cheered in unision and We hugged, drunk, happy-go-lucky, and loving life...*click*...I passed the confrence room. Adam was sitting next to me and draped an arm over my shoulder, we both listened to his manager. He leaned down and whispered. 'I say after this we get so drunk, we don't remember a word she's saying.' I covered my mouth and laughed, blushing and trying to stay quiet, but neither of us could. 'Something I said funny?' she asked. Adam shook his head and warbled, 'Nope! Keep going.' I couldn't breathe I was laughing so hard...*click*...I stood in the front hall. Adam was leaning on the counter, talking to the lady at the desk. I furrowed my eyebrows, not remembering this memory. I was about to click the light when he turned. He looked straight at me. At, ME. Not a subconsious version of me.
"Adam?" I asked in a hushed voice. He smiled. 'Not for long.' He replied. My brows furrowed again and he walked toward me slowly. Was I hallucinating? He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a ring and held it out to me. I didn't touch it, afraid if I did, he'd dissapear. "What's this?" 'When you see it, don't let it out of your sight. Promise me.' "Why?" He said nothing, just looked at the ring, and back at me. It was silver, with a very thin band, and the marking was a thick silver skull held in two hands, the eye sockets were filled with jewls that matched his blue eyes...I believe it was tourmaline, and the skulls' mouth held two fangs. I looked at it curiously, then met his gaze. "...What did you mean by, 'not for long'?" He waited, then, withdrew the ring, and his body sizzled. I gasped as I watched him change. His eyes' whites turned pale blue and his pupils slit, he grew four canines, claws, and shrank. Black hair splotching in areas of his body, and soon, I was looking at a large, long haired, furry black cat with shimmering fur, and his right eye bearing the same mark as his eye of Horus tattoo. I blinked and leaned down so I was closer to the cat that used to be Adam. It looked back at me and flashed a fang in a toothy smirk, and his face made Adam's signature eyebrow look. I smiled and tried to pet the cat, but as expected, it evaporated, and it was like it was never there.
Okay, so I had to look for that ring...well, not look persay, more like, if I see it, I follow it, but I'm not concentrating on that mission in particular. I sighed, clicked the light and walked out the front door. Did it really get that dark? How long had I been in there watching my memories? I looked at my phone, and it read 8:14. When I started shutting off the lights, it was about six. Woah. I took a deep breath, watched the fog from the cold air hitting my breath dissappear, put on my jacket and scarf, and locked the doors to the building. As soon as the tumblers clicked, I left a long, lingering touch on the glass door, and picked up my bass. I was going to miss this place. I think more than I'm supposed to. But that's no matter. I walked to the end of the block, and turned up to the bus stop, waiting for the bus. It was late, and although it was dark, there were a lot of people at the stop. I smiled when they noticed who I was, and gratiously obliged to pictures and autographs. But inside I was wanting to rip one of their pretty little heads off. Fans only annoyed me now since Adam left. But, I still smiled and waved, and pretended I was loving life. Not the easiest thing you'd expect. Soon, (Thank God) the bus came and I got on, the fangirls and one guy sat up front, and I went all the way to the back, where no one sat. During the busride I thought of the nightmares that one night gave me. The creature that captured Adam, and threw me aside to a rockface where I blacked out. What was it? It was ghastly! I sighed and took out my phone. When I hit shuffle, Can't Let You Go played, and I nearly threw the phone across the bus to the front window. Instead, I reflexively dropped it...with some force...and bit my lip as I tried to stop it from playing as quickly and calmly as possible. When I put it back and looked back up, everyone was staring at me...greeeaaaat. I puffed my cheeks out and leaned back, trying not to think of the facade I had to play.
After about five stops, we came to the one that was a block from my house, and I got off. I walked up Mainstreet, passing the lit up houses for halloween, and turned the corner. I couldn't help but to think of the sexy 'glampire' Adam would be this year. I smirked as I remembered last years' costume. He looked like...a sexy glampire! In his old snakeskin shoes, leather pants, and muddy gold pleather jacket, the fangs poking out as he sang Ring of Fire and Mad World. I was on my front doorstep. *sigh* I clicked the lock and walked inside, to be greeted by Queenie, Adam's Jack-Russel. She jumped and whirled in circles and I had to smile. I gave her a quick pat on the head and walked into the dark house. I walked through it to the backdoor in the kitchen, to let her out, and froze. There on the windowsill...was a cat. Not just a cat. A black cat. It watched me intently, as if waiting for something. Queenie growled. My brows furrowed. No. It couldn't be. My furrowed brows soon became anger, and I shooed it.
"Go on, get out! How did you get in here anyway?" It seemed hurt, and it's mouth was agape, like it wanted to say something, but couldn't. I kept shooing it and it slithered through a crack in the window. I slammed it shut in frustration. Today was giving me too much anxiety for me to want to deal with that thing right now. I stormed upstairs, not caring about Queenie's buisness, and went into my bedroom. Queenie slithered in behind me and I locked the door as soon as her tail passed the crack. I didn't even bother to turn the lights on, or get changed into a pair of sweats. Instead, I stripped out of everything except my boxers and socks, and collapsed on the bed. Within moments, I felt my eyes refuseing to open and drifted off...
...But I swear, through the glass of my window, I could hear a cat in Adam's pitch, meowing Can't Let You Go...
A/N: So, this is the first idea that I think is GOOD that I'm putting on here. Reviews welcome! But, please no flames. *puppy faces* Hope you liked! And, just so you know, reviews also keep me going. So, if you want more, SPEAK UP, PEEPS!
Luv-n-Higs,
Ali-Kat
=^.,.^=