Thanks for all of the positive feedback, everybody! Sorry that I'm taking so long to update. I have SO much going on. But I promise that now I should be more regular with my updates. Anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 2

Oliver stared at Myrnin and the girl from where he leaned against the wall, bored. He just wanted these intruders out of his home, but they kept carrying on this conversation as if it actually mattered to him what the girl was or why she was here.

"I don't understand. There are others like you that can morph into cats?" Myrnin asked the girl.

Amyr replied, "Not just cats. Most of us become our own kind of animal. There are dogs and birds and reptiles. All kinds."

"And you all have powers like mind control?"

"Well, it is not quite mind control, but yes."

Myrnin's dark eyes were very intent and serious as he watched Amyr. "How many of you are there?"

"I don't know."

That made the vampire blink. "How can you not know?"

"They don't let us socialize often."

"'They'?"

"Yes, the…" Amyr trailed off, her grey eyes becoming unfocused. Before anyone could do anything more she announced solemnly, "He's here." Then she calmly stood up and walked purposefully toward the door. Oliver raised an eyebrow as she passed, ignoring Myrnin's voice telling him to stop her.

Amyr stepped out into the hall, and Myrnin quickly swept after her, grumbling irately as he walked by Oliver. Rolling his eyes, Oliver followed slowly.

Soon, the three reached the bottom of the stairs where Amyr seemed to head straight for the front door. "Good. Get out of my house," Oliver called, earning him a glare from Myrnin. But Amyr was not going for the door after all. As she reached the archway leading to Oliver's living room, she stopped and turned to face into the room. Myrnin came up beside her and looked for the source of why she was staring. He found it straight away.

Sitting with his arms stretched casually along the back of the couch was a young man with shaggy, red-brown hair and angry, dark eyes. "Who are you?" Myrnin asked, frowning at this sudden development. At Myrnin's question, Oliver rushed to see who he was asking.

The boy did not answer. He just simply glared unblinking at Amyr. So she answered for him. "He is called Lutharathzmas." Oliver had to admit that although he'd heard some strange names in his many years, that one was the weirdest. She'd pronounced it like "Luther" and "asthmas" mashed together, but Oliver wasn't about to even try saying it. He cared more about how this dolt had found his way into Oliver's home. Stepping into the living room, Oliver ground out between clenched teeth, "Get. Out."

Lutharathzmas leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "That's okay. I'm comfortable right here."

Oliver's fingers unconsciously curled into a very pissed off fist. When he spoke, his voice was dangerously low and calm. "I don't care where you're comfortable; I want all of you out!"

"Oh, believe me; I want to leave as soon as I can. But I can't go without her." Lutharathzmas pointed to Amyr. Myrnin moved in front of her protectively.

"Why do you want her?" Myrnin asked.

"It's not me that wants her."

Amyr placed a small hand on Myrnin's arm, stopping his response. "Lutharathzmas, I do not wish to return to that place. Oliver and Myrnin, I apologize for my inconveniencing you. I will leave here, but I will not go back."

"What place are you talking about that you don't want to go back to?" Myrnin queried.

"We call it the Facility. It is where I come from."

Myrnin seemed confused. "You mean your home?"

Both Amyr and Lutharathzmas adamantly replied "No," at the same time.

"Then what is this place?"

Amyr and Lutharathzmas exchanged a glance, communicating silently. After a pause, Amyr said, "It is where they made us."

"As in where you were born?" Myrnin prompted.

Another look travelled between the two younger ones. "In a way, yes," Amyr said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Oliver growled, his arms crossed angrily over his chest. He saw it was obvious that they weren't going to leave until this issue was settled, so he was trying to urge it along.

Lutharathzmas explained, "Amyr and I were created by a group of scientists who work at the Facility. They've been making super humans by tampering with the brains and DNA of unborn children. We are a small portion of the result."

"Only a portion?" Myrnin said.

"Of course. There are many others like us." Lutharathzmas leaned back, examining his nails as if he was bored by the conversation. "But none of that matters. Amyr has to come with me. No excuses."

"No, Lutharathzmas," Amyr responded defiantly. She flowed out from behind Myrnin and launched herself toward the boy. Lutharathzmas seemed unfazed. He rose quickly, sidestepping her, backing away, and crouching as if to attack. Amyr's grey eyes focused on him intently as she too poised to strike. For a moment, everything froze. Nobody breathed, nobody moved. Myrnin and Oliver were too engrossed in the battle to think of helping the girl.

Then the room exploded into action. Amyr and Lutharathzmas leaped at each other, but when they collided, they weren't human any longer. Amyr had resumed her feline form, and Lutharathzmas was now the bulky, scruffy dog that had chased Amyr the night before. Both were snarling, fangs bared, and both lashed at each other furiously. Amyr's small, agile form allowed her to dart beneath Lutharathzmas, a little black shadow. She dug her claws into the thick fur on his hind leg and jetted up to snap her sharp teeth on his pointed ear. He let out an angry squeal and rolled on his back, squishing her. She yowled and streaked across the room, nearly crashing into the wall.

The dog faced her, his ears flattened menacingly and he barked loudly. She hissed in response. Just as Myrnin seemed about to intercede, there was a knock at the door.

Everyone stopped.

The knock sounded again, oddly foreign in the situation. Vampire glanced at vampire; dog glanced at cat; cat glanced at vampire, all in confusion. When the knock turned into a frantic banging, Oliver walked past Myrnin to reach for the doorknob and open it slowly, suspiciously.

Outside, standing on the porch in jean shorts and a yellow halter top was a tall, young girl with vibrant, flowing, red hair. Her pale blue eyes peered at Oliver from under luscious, dark lashes. They watched each other for a moment before the girl glanced past Oliver into the house. He watched as she struck a long, slender, pale leg across the threshold, his eyes widening at the action. He could tell she wasn't a vampire. How were these non-vampire people entering his home without his permission?

The girl swaggered toward where Myrnin stood in the archway of the living room, Oliver following her, his tongue ready to lash like a whip. But she spoke before he could. She pursed her pouted, red lips and growled, "Luth, this isn't how we agreed to do this." The big, rust-colored canine that Lutharathzmas had morphed into made an argumentative noise like dogs do when they want something. The red-head girl sighed, "Would you please change back so you can speak? I'm not a pooch. I don't speak dog."

Lutharathzmas's dog formed rolled his eyes—a very strange sight, seeing such a human mannerism performed by a dog. Then right in front of their eyes, he shoved himself onto his hind legs and began to take the shape of a human. Oliver grimaced at the fact that Lutharathzmas no longer wore any clothes. Thankfully, however, he reached down and yanked his jeans on, but left the rest of his clothes on the floor. Then he dropped back onto the couch and glowered at the red-head.

"Thank you," she said before taking a seat on the couch opposite him.

As the staring contest between the two continued to drag on, Oliver hissed, "Well, shall I bring refreshments? Because I'm obviously hosting a party!"

The red-head snapped her head to gaze at him with half-lidded eyes as if she was bored. "Oh. Sorry. We'll be leaving as soon as Amyr agrees to come. We can't go back without her," she said. Then she scanned the room for Amyr. "Speaking of which, where did she go?"

Startled, Oliver frowned and glanced around for the little, black puff of fur. She was nowhere to be found. Then he caught sight of the open front door. Oops, he thought. Mildly, he pointed to the door. When the red-head followed his gesture, she scowled and stood up. Lutharathzmas followed her, but Oliver barred both their ways with his arm. "First, I am going to pummel both of you for entering my home uninvited. Second, you are going to explain how you entered uninvited. A feat which should be impossible and I have a feeling you know why. And third, who are you?" he said, his voice low as he glared coldly into both their eyes.

Yet neither seemed fazed. The red-head crossed her arms and shifted her weight sassily. "First, you wouldn't win a fight against me despite your superhuman strength—yes, we know what you are. Second, we got in here because we wanted to. We get what we want. Third, my name is Christabelle. Happy?" She returned his icy stare with an equally blazing glower. Oliver had to admit that she could possibly rival his powers of intimidation. Maybe.

He screwed his face into a snarl. "Happy? Happy? If you think answering my questions makes it alright for you to—"

Christabelle interrupted him with an exasperated scoff and roll of the eyes just before she ducked beneath his arm and swept toward the door. Oliver's expression was wiped clean from pure shock. That insolent, little— he fumed silently. Lutharathzmas smirked, amused. That was the last straw. Oliver flitted to stop Christabelle at the top of porch steps. If she'd had normal reflexes, she'd have bumped into his chest. But as it was, she just raised an eyebrow and looked into Oliver's eyes. She sighed, "Look, you ancient fossil," Oliver's mouth dropped, "I'm not going to—"

"I will twist your obnoxious, flaming head off, you little twit!" he muttered dangerously.

"Oh? I don't think so." As the last word flowed from her glossy lips, she began to shrink. Oliver watched, mesmerized, as she transformed into an unusually graceful pigeon with feathers spattered with black and white. The bird caught the yellow halter top she'd been wearing a second before in her beak and began to flap away. Oliver still wasn't used to these strange transformations.

"She's a stubborn chick, huh?" drawled an amused voice from the door. Lutharathzmas was leaning against the doorframe, a cocky smirk on his face.

Myrnin shoved past him. Giving Lutharathzmas a glare, he said, "This is no time for puns. We should go find Amyr."

"You can. I don't have time to waste on this mess," Oliver mumbled, stalking toward the door.

Myrnin grabbed his arm and asked, "Do you really want to just leave her out there on her own? She's only a child."

"Yes, a child who enchanted her way into my home. These children are more trouble than they're worth. Do you not recall being controlled last night?"

"Exactly. Do you really want to allow children with power like that to go unsupervised in the town?"

That caught Oliver off-guard. He frowned, thinking.

"Well," Lutharathzmas said, pushing away from the doorframe, "while you geezers stand here and contemplate your options, I'm going to go catch me a cat."

O.o.O

Heart set to burst, Amyr pelted through the dark streets, fear rolling off her in waves. She was not returning to the Facility. All she wanted was a little freedom, and she wasn't going to let them take it from her. Glancing up again at the tiny shadow in the sky she knew to be Christabelle, Amyr considered finding a hiding place. But then again, Lutharathzmas would sniff her out easily.

Just as she decided to find a puddle or something to wash or mask her scent with, a deep, guttural hissing sound came from behind a dumpster at her side. That was no normal cat's hiss; she knew that sound. Trembling slightly with instinctive fear, Amyr backed away as the giant crocodile stalked out from his hiding place.