Phoenix didn't want to dwell on her dream man. As of that moment she was not ready to face what that would mean if her dream man was real. Not to mention the surge of rage she had felt t hear another woman's voice in his mind. The only reason she hadn't snapped was because the voice wanted to help and didn't seem interested in her dream man outside of saving him. Phoenix had never considered herself to be a jealous woman and thought now left a bitter taste in her mouth. She had more important things to worry about. Turning back to the giant cat that was hovering over Snow.

His hands and transformed to human hands, the fur had receded to about his elbow. Working slowly and methodically he probed for any other injuries other than the bite marks. After only a few minutes he confirmed that all her bones were intact.

"I do think something took blood from her but I don't think it was a vampire." That surprised Phoenix. She approached him and glanced at the wound.

"What makes you say that?" The cat gently rolled Snow's collar so they could see the puncture wounds better. He pointed to the wounds themselves.

"When was the last time you saw a vampire attack where they didn't rip into one of their victims?" Phoenix swallowed hard. She had come across a vampire's kills a few times down darkened alleys. The bodies were always mauled and broken with fear frozen on their faces. Vampires were sadistic creatures and half the pleasure for them was having their victim in panicked state so their blood was spiked with adrenaline.

"Out of the few I have seen? None." The cat nodded then he rubbed around the wound and held his hand up to Phoenix.

"Smell." Phoenix sniffed and an odd smell tickled her nose. It was familiar in strange way, but she couldn't identify it.

"What is it."

"If my guess is correct it is a paste that slows bleeding and prevents infection." That's not the act of a vampire, that's the act of someone who cared about Snow. Then something else occurred to Phoenix.

"How did you know where she was?" The cat looked her in the eye meeting her suspicious gaze.

"I have been watching out for you and your group for a while now. Steering you guys away from trouble and trouble away from you." Phoenix remembered when her and Riptide had been bringing diner home when gunfire had slip the night air. There had been returning fire. Phoenix had shoved Riptide behind a trash bin and protected him as best as she could. Voices came down the way they had come and Phoenix heard one of them load his gun and step closer to their hiding spot. A crash echoed in the building across from them. Footsteps raced in that direction away from their hiding spot.

"It was you. That night during the turf war between Mazy and Big Dog. You pushed over those cans in the other building." The cat nodded and smiled showing sharp canines.

"I also hid your guys scent when a vampire was here and lead it away." Phoenix nodded she had felt the foul creature, but she had also felt it die.

"How did you kill it?"

"I didn't. A hunter did."

"A vampire hunter?" she had never heard of such a thing except in stories. The cat shook his head no.

"They call themselves Carpathian. Theirs is an ancient race that is very powerful."

"I think I've heard this." Phoenix remembered stories her mother had told her when she had been little. Ancient warriors fighting to keep the darkness at bay not only in the world but in themselves. Always searching for the one who would return light to them. Their other half. "They are shape changers and magic wielders."

"Yes and no." replied the cat cryptically

"They wield energy. A mage is a magic wielder, and I am a shape changer." Phoenix crossed her arms and fixed that cat with a look that said he should continue before she decided to burn him to ash. He didn't need to know she was too weak to access her flames. "I am a Bakeneko." Phoenix blinked of all the things he could have said, that was not what she had expected.

"So you are Japanese vengeful spirit of a cat that has come to avenge his master or mistress?" He snorted and let his body shift. Phoenix watched fascinated as black fur receded up his body becoming shoulder length hair that resembled black silk. Then his limbs took a more human likeness. Then a bare but very well muscled chest took form. Phoenix was able to keep from looking away even though this man was naked before her. He seemed completely unabashed flaunting his body, and Phoenix supposed he had no need to be ashamed of that body. Yet she felt nothing. Odd.

"My name is Daisuke. I am Japanese, but a vengeful spirit I am not. My kind is even fewer than the Jaguar people and they are an off shoot of us if I understand correctly." He was about to say something else when the door to the warehouse banged open then slammed shut. Heavy breathing echoed around the large space and soft footsteps approached them. Phoenix looked up at Riptide. He was taller than her even though she was a year older. His hoodie and dark torn blue jeans looked like they had never been clean. Phoenix gaze traveled across his dark skin and stopped at his eyes. His left eye looked like it was starting to swell and his lip was split. The younger boy was out of breath but he stopped short when he saw Daisuke.

"Who the hell are you?" Phoenix knew trouble was coming and headed it off before Riptide could jump to conclusions.

"He saved us." Phoenix grabbed her bag shuddering at the claw marks in it. She pulled long woolen sweat pants out and her deep blue hoodie that was two sizes too big for her. She handed them over to Daisuke who took them grinning wickedly. He used the sweat pants to cover his manhood as he strode over to the bathroom area. Riptide watched go a mixture of animosity and admiration.

"He's got balls, I'll give him that." Phoenix snorted letting him know what she thought of that comment. Riptide crouched by his adoptive sister brushing her hair out of her face. There couldn't have been two people more different in appearance. Snow looked was so pale and her naturally white was a stark in comparison to Riptides thick night black hair that was a tangled mess of impossibly tight curls that feel in his face. Their different races had made a lick of difference Riptide when his foster father came home drunk and tried dragging little Snow to his bedroom. It had been that fact that a little boy with nothing went up against a man who had power and controlled everything in their lives that Phoenix had intervened on behalf of both of them. Flames had licked up the curtains changing into demons reaching for the pitiful excuse for a man. He screamed and shoved both children into the flames.

It had been a shock to Phoenix when water had burst from the pipes and clashed against her flames causing steam to bellow out the house like smoke and left everything drenched. It had taken a while to assure the young boy that she had meant no harm. She also apologized for not getting there sooner. Together the three of them had left and together had been since then.

"What's wrong with her?"

"It looks like something drank her blood." Riptide paled. He knew what it meant to be fed on by a vampire and he did not want his sister to become infected with their parasites. "We don't think it was a vampire though." the relief was pliable.

"If it wasn't a vampire what was it?"

"We think it might have been a vampire hunter." Riptide blinked. Phoenix had told both kids the same stories her mother had told her. They had especially liked the battles between the undead and the lone hunters. Both children admired the power the hunters wielded and Snow had wept for the undead saying she would save one of them. "Now where did you get those bruises?" Riptide winced like he was hoping she wouldn't notice.