Chapter twenty-one
"I don't give a damn what your laws state, I want my daughter back!"
Chloe's eyes widened; she had never heard her mother speak like that. Peeking into the room, the girls saw Amy, Paul and Valentina standing against the wall while Meredith glared at a nervous-looking man sitting behind a desk. "But your daughter is a Mai. They cannot be seen as good creatures!"
"So what?" Meredith cried. "Chloe is MY daughter, not the daughter of Russian law and I want her back NOW!"
"Also," Valentina said, moving forward. "My husband was a good man. He didn't kiss me once during our relationship because he knew that something could go wrong with just one kiss."
"But you have a daughter-." The man said in confusion.
"Your point being?" Valentina demanded calmly. "Like I said, My husband knew the consequences and he wasn't going to risk it. Not one kiss no matter what."
The man stared at her and said, "But that does not mean that all Mai are good creatures!"
Chloe had had enough. "That's what I'm trying to straighten out." She told him, striding into the room. "I'm trying to get the humans and the Mai to coexist peacefully. How can I get that to happen if you lock us away?" She leveled the man with a glare and he fidgeted underneath her gaze. Chloe heard a small beep and wondered what that was.
A growling sounded from behind them and Jasmine rushed forward and pinned the man to the wall. "If your forces come here and touch anyone in this room, they will not survive and neither will you." The tan girl snarled at the suddenly terrified Order leader.
"B-b-b-b-but she could have b-b-been lying to me. How do I know she's the Uniter? All Whitley told me was that she was blonde and had pale skin."
Jasmine looked to her mother in surprise. "Whitley was here?" Valentina demanded softly.
"Yes, he-he said that Uniter was coming here to disrupt peace in Russia."
Chloe rubbed her forehead and groaned. "You know, that guy makes my job SO much harder when he does that." Sighing she turned to the Russian guy. "Look Mr. Order leader guy, we don't want to cause harm. We only cause harm when it's for self-defense. Granted, not all of the Mai did that, but we are working on making sure they do. Now, are you going to hear us out or do you want to die before your men get here?"
The Russian man quickly shook his head and Jasmine sat him down as four large men hurried into the room. "Stop!" they ordered, aiming their guns at Chloe's and Jasmine's chests.
"Call them off." Jasmine growled.
The Russian man looked from Jasmine to his men and waved his hand at them. As bullets went off, Jasmine pulled Chloe to the side and out of the line of fire. The man at the desk screamed in agony; he had forgotten one crucial detail. Jasmine had positioned both Chloe and herself so that they were right in front of him and when the men opened fire, the bullets hit the man behind the desk. The men with the guns lowered them uncertainly as they watched their leader die.
Jasmine stepped forward and asked, "Is there a second in command that we could talk to?"
The men nodded and led them to the room next door. A kinder looking man looked up as they entered through the door. "Hello?" he said uncertainly.
"Yeah, are you second in command here?" Chloe asked slowly.
"Yes I am." The man said. His English was a little better than the other man's and he seemed more willing to listen.
"Well, we're here on behalf of the other Mai and we wanted to know if you'd hear us out." The man folded his hands and gestured for her to go on. Everyone else in the room sighed in relief as Chloe began explaining what was going on.
When she finished, the man nodded. "Well, I see no reason for the Mai to be jailed after I hear the story from an actual Mai. But tell me, why did you not go to Dominic about this?"
"Because his men shot him dead." Jasmine replied.
"They did?" the man asked.
"Yeah, he gave them the order to shoot the two of us and we moved out of the way. We only attack if we're threatened."
"Not all Mai do that though." Chloe added. "We're trying to work so that it's all Mai, but it's been a really hard battle to fight. We were wondering if you could join the other major Mai countries and help us show the humans that we're not trying to overpopulate and rule them. We just want to live in peace with them." The man nodded and everyone began making their way through the hall. As they were reaching the door a scream of fear penetrated the air.
"It's a beast!" someone shouted.
"It's hideous!"
"It's going to devour us and slaughter our children."
"What do we do?"
"Stay away from it! It could be diseased."
"What if it has monstrous children like it?"
Chloe and Jasmine glanced at each other and ran through the door in time to see all of the men backing away from an unmasked Felina. "Felina?" Chloe called.
The blonde cat woman fell to her knees with her hands over her face, sobs racking her body. "Don't look at me!" she screamed.
Chloe and Jasmine hurried over as Raton and Safire did the same. Felina jerked away from them and snarled at Chloe.
"I told you!" she sobbed. "I told you the world would see me as nothing more than a monster; a hideous, ferocious, dangerous, repulsive MONSTER!" She bent her head and continued sobbing her eyes out as all of the men looked on in confusion.
"Isn't she going to eat us?" one of them asked.
Jasmine snarled at them all. "How dare you!" she growled quietly. "How could you make someone feel unwelcome just because they look different? She's as human as you and me, but with different qualities. So what? So what if she looks like an animal, we're all animals anyway. You even more so for wounding her in such a way."
"Yeah!" Chloe added, standing beside Jasmine with her arms crossed. "She's done nothing but help us through this entire thing, but you treat her as though she's a dog that's got rabies. Who's to say none of you have any diseases or some strange mark on you that you're not covering up? But none of us would say anything because it's not our business as to how you got it. But you'll stand there and insult someone that was trying to help everyone else." Chloe shook her head and turned back to the crying Felina.
"Es bueno, mi hermana." Raton was saying.
"No es bueno!" Felina shouted. "Yo soy una monstrua!"
Safire sighed and watched as Dimitri walked over. "Don't look at me Dimitri." Felina pleaded.
Dimitri hesitated, but then set his jaw and came forward to lay a hand on her shoulder. "Show me your face, Felina." Dimitri requested.
Felina shook her head. "You'll leave."
"We will not know for sure if you cannot trust me."
Felina froze for a second before slowly turning to face him, her eyes shining with tears as she watched for his reaction. Dimitri's eyes widened and he leaned closer, stroking the fur lined cheeks and running his fingers along the flattened, triangular nose.
"You are… magnificent." He breathed, his fingers reaching up to finger her ears slightly before he looked back down at her eyes.
Felina's eyes widened in utter shock; Dimitri nodded to her and more tears welled in her eyes. Felina sniffed and leaned forward to embrace him, crying into his shoulder.
"Thank you." She murmured, looking up at Chloe and Jasmine.
They nodded to her with twin smiles and Dimitri pulled back. "Do you feel better now?"
Felina nodded and made to stand. Dimitri pulled her back down and leaned in slowly, pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. Felina froze with wide eyes and the others looked at her worriedly.
"I'll take care of her." Raton sighed. "I think so many shocks in one day are too much for her."
Picking Felina up, Raton cradled her against his chest and held her while Chloe and the new Order leader spoke to the guards. "Wait," one guard said. "We are now supposed to let all of those people in those cells go because of the word of one of their kind? That seems a bit foolhardy, don't you think Anton?"
"This is their Uniter. She is here to help both species, not just her own. I will believe her word until the Mai do something to provoke us again."
Chloe breathed a sigh of relief. "Can we go to the prison and release all of the Mai into a closed space so that I can talk to them?" Chloe asked.
Anton nodded and gestured to two guards to escort them to the prison. They told the police what was going on and then all of the Mai were let out into the courtyard. Chloe looked at all of the unfamiliar faces staring up at her and gulped, feeling her knees go weak. Chloe heard footsteps behind her and turned to see Jasmine coming toward her. The tan girl laid a hand on her shoulder and Chloe took a deep breath before explaining to the Mai what was going on.
When she had finished, they all cheered and a few even rushed forward to kneel at her feet. Chloe blushed and moved away a bit, as Jasmine motioned to the Russian police. Grudgingly, they opened the gate and let all the Mai pass through before shutting it once more. Chloe thanked them and shook hands with Anton before the Order leader told some guards to escort her to the nearest hotel. The group was taken to a nice hotel and they rented four rooms each. Meredith and Valentina stayed in one, Amy and Paul shared another, Safire and Raton bunked together and Dimitri stayed in the last with Felina, Chloe and Jasmine. Chloe collapsed on the bed and began drifting off immediately. Jasmine looked over at the other bed skeptically.
"We'll be good, Jasmine." Felina told her, taking off her mask and her boots. "Besides, I should be the one telling you two to behave."
Jasmine blushed, but Felina intrigued her as the cat woman finally got her boots off. It was the first time Jasmine had ever seen her feet and the tan girl was slightly surprised to see the paws that protruded from the legs of the pants. Taking off her gloves, Felina flexed her claws and Jasmine saw that her hands resembled those of a cartoon animal.
Jasmine cocked her head. I never imagined her body would be like a cat like her face. I always just thought her body was human. Jasmine shook her head and climbed into bed beside Chloe. Soon she too fell asleep and Felina just smiled.
I'll have pictures for all my stories on my site soon, but I haven't gotten around to making the pictures yet. Review and tell me what you think so fa.