Here's Chapter twenty-one guys. I was wondering, what did you guys think of Chloe's name last chapter. Chlorina because Chloe had to come from somewhere, Sapphire because of her blue eyes and Marie because no name would be perfect without it... well, some names are but it just sounded right. Anyway here you go.

Chapter twenty-one

"Mom, remember when I turned sixteen and I didn't tell you everything right away?" Meredith nodded. "Well, it's because some things were kept away from you to keep you safe."

"Like the whole assassin coming after thing was to keep me safe?" Meredith asked slowly.

"Yes and no. See, I'm a descendent of the cat-goddess, Bastet and since I am her 'daughter' I guess you could say, then I have some cat-like abilities, like claws and heightened senses and landing on my feet all the time."

"So you're a cat?" Meredith asked.

"Again, yes and no. I'm half human half-cat. But anyway, apparently, I'm special. I am the Uniter. I'm supposed to get the humans and the Mai, which is what we're called, to co-exist with each other peacefully. But it's made harder by the Order. That's an organization that is trying to kill me because they want all the Mai dead. Anyway, they've sent three assassins after me so far and I'm down to only six lives."

"Wait, Felina killed you?" Valentina demanded.

"Wait, you have SIX lives? And who is Felina?" Meredith inquired.

Chloe let out an aggravated groan. "Let me speak please." She asked.

The two women nodded and Chloe continued. "Now, Being the Uniter I was born with nine lives and acquired those nine once I turned sixteen. The first assassin killed me by pushing me off the old tower. Then the second assassin killed me by shooting me five or six times in the chest and stomach. The third time, the assassin didn't kill me, but the leader himself did. Do you remember Brian?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Meredith asked.

"Because… I killed him." Chloe replied slowly.

"You did what?" Meredith exclaimed.

"He kissed me and a kiss between a human and a Mai usually leads to death. I was dead, I didn't know that he'd kissed me until I'd come back to life, but the leader of the Order is his dad and his dad wants revenge on me for killing Brian. While I was being killed, Alek was being killed as well by an assassin sent after Valentina."

They all looked to Valentina who bowed her head for Alek. "So, as revenge, Brian's dad, Whitley sent his best assassin after me, Felina. She attacked Jasmine and me with bombs, poisonous gases, lasers, and hand-to-hand combat. She kidnapped us a few days ago and kept us both prisoner in the old Jackal tunnels."

"Wait, Jackals?"

"They are descendants of Anubis, the dog-headed God. I kept one named Kai in our house once so that he could sleep and bathe and that's the only reason the Jackals didn't kill me."

Meredith put a hand to her forehead. "Wow. Ok, go on. We are going to have a talk about secretly keeping boys in the house, but continue."

Chloe nodded. "Anyway, she kept us in there and tortured us for only maybe a day, because Whitley wanted her to kill us and he came in. He stabbed me multiple times with one of her knives and killed me again. So now I only have three lives. But Felina decided not to kill us because she didn't like how Whitley had a blatant disregard of how many lives I had, so she let us go. But not before I found out that this week, next week, and the week after are both of our weeks of predatory bliss."

Valentina suddenly stood and hurried to a room at the back, coming back with a collar. She quickly wrapped it round Chloe's neck and sat back down.

"What's up with the collar?" Chloe asked, tugging at it.

"It keeps you tame during those three weeks." Valentina explained. "Have you attacked yet?" Chloe raised an eyebrow and looked down at herself and Valentina's eyes widened. "Oh." Was all she said.

Meredith looked between the two and asked, "What does Chloe being covered in blood have to do with any weeks of predatory bliss, whatever that is."

"Weeks of predatory bliss are the times when a Mai becomes most powerful and deadly." Chloe explained. "They have to be kept inside because they could kill. I hadn't had mine until now and I didn't realize it in time. I went into San Francisco and…"

Here, Chloe felt tears slide down her cheeks as she suddenly remembered the homeless woman she had killed. Jasmine patted her shoulder gently and Amy rubbed her hand. "I killed someone." Chloe finally said. "I killed someone and very nearly attacked both Jasmine and Felina. I took off running and somehow Felina was able to bring me back to my senses and she let both me and Jasmine go free. That's how we ended up back here."

Chloe didn't want to tell them what Felina looked like or what she had told her. Valentina nodded. "You should probably go get cleaned up, Chloe. Dried blood can settle into clothes and not come out and it gets very itchy on the skin."

Chloe nodded and began making her way down the hall when someone caught her hand. Looking back, Chloe saw Jasmine looking at her in concern.

"Do you need help?" the tan girl asked.

Chloe was about to say no, but then stopped when she realized that had it not been for Jasmine, she would probably be dead and this constricted her throat painfully at thinking that Jasmine would have died before she let anything happen to her. Nodding slowly, Chloe led Jasmine down the hall with her.

"You WHAT?" Felina neither cringed nor made any show of emotion at Whitley's outburst. "I'm paying you to kill the people I want dead, not set them free!"

"Actually, Whitley, you don't pay me at all. I quit."

Whitley's eyes bulged in horror. "You what?" he demanded again. "You can't quit! I initiated you!"

"No you didn't. You just promised me a warm meal and a soft bed. I willingly came and that's how our employee/boss relationship started. Now however, it is over because I quit."

"No!" Whitley shouted, making a lunge for her arm. Felina deftly moved out of the way and Whitley nearly fell.

"Where are you going to go?" he sneered. "No one will hire you with that face you have. No one wants to be near someone that's always wearing a disguise. Who will make you feel welcome when you have nothing? You are nothing more than a hideous creature that should stay behind locked walls. You shouldn't live with how you look."

Then his eyes softened. "We can fix you Felina." He said soothingly. "We can make you look human. We can change your face so that it looks just like ours, hairless, regular nose, side ears. We can cure you."

Felina smiled. "I don't need to be fixed Whitley," she said calmly. "Because I'm not broken anymore. Working for you, I was broken and unsure of myself. Chloe was right, I am not different, and even if I was, I'm different in a way that should be used to help people rather than get rid of them. Good-bye Whitley."

Whitley snarled and pulled out a gun, pointing it at her, he fired five times and killed her. Felina fell to the ground dead and Whitley stared down at her in disgust. "Another assassin I had to kill. How pitiful."

Suddenly, Felina twitched and stood back up. Whitley backed away in terror. "No, you can't be alive. Only the Uniter has nine lives. No other Mai has nine lives."

"I'm not a normal Mai." Felina told him, turning away. "And I can't be conned into working for you ever again."

She jumped out his window, did a flip and landed on her feet before racing for an abandoned warehouse. She knew that if she were to stay in the tunnels something would go terribly wrong, so she had moved all of her things to the spacious warehouse and waited, thinking of the offer Chloe had given her.