To Zing or Not to Zing
Chapter Four: Please
Will somebody please just listen to me?!
-Kiara, 'Lion King 2, Simba's Pride'
xxXxx
"Now, now, Miss Haru. There's no need for tears," he tried to console her with his smooth French accent, but Haru wasn't having it.
It was just so unfair. She didn't think she was asking for much. Just a night at home, making bombs and happily minding her own business. Why did all these cats keep chasing her?
"Why?" she asked in a tired moan through her rubber-gloved fingers.
"Well, I hardly think that you would find Mephistopheles to your liking, so I thought I would arrange a meeting you would find more… suitable. Allow me to introduce myself, my name is… ah, Miss Haru? If you would kindly direct your eyes at me?"
Haru slumped back into the chair and folded her arms across her chest. "Get it over with," she sighed with resignation while taking in his appearance.
It was a bit redundant to see a tuxedo werecat wearing a tuxedo. His muzzle was a bit longer than the others, and he had waxed his whiskers into a handlebar mustache, which Haru considered an immediate strike against him since she never cared for the look. He had yellow eyes like that of his minions, who were barely more than shadows compared to him, but there was definitely something deeper in his eyes.
Haru was strangely certain she wasn't interested in finding out what it was, though the resemblance between master and servants was so clear in both this cat and Mephistopheles, she couldn't help wondering if it was possible to special-order cronies.
"I am Meowrice DePhht," he introduced himself with a grand bow while keeping his seat, though it wasn't hard to see that he was a little miffed by her lack of enthusiasm.
'That's the most pun-heavy name so far,' Haru couldn't resist thinking with an eyeroll. "Fine, Meowrice. Would you like to be the one to explain what's going on?"
"I should think that would be obvious," he responded while opening a chilled bottle of champagne and pouring two glasses, though he had to steady them when the train began moving down the tracks.
Great. Now she couldn't even use a distraction to get away at least until the next stop.
"Not holding me against my will and trying to pass it off as a date," Haru clarified while trying to keep her growling tone perfectly human. "I meant the real reason werecats are coming out of the woodworks and acting like I'm the last female on the planet. I might have been able to pass off one or two as stupid, but you're number five."
He blinked his large yellow eyes but continued smiling like everything was still going his way as he finished pouring the second wine glass and handing it to her. "Well, did you really think that you would be free from cats after your little stunt last month?"
Her glare intensified as she took the wine glass and intentionally dumped it on the floor while maintaining eye contact with her latest captor. "You're right. I was obviously giving cats way too much credit to think that they'd avoid a girl with a literally explosive temper. On top of that, I'm pretty sure you know I'm a minor."
"Werecats," he corrected, though his own eyes were wide and panicked as he looked at the alcohol sliding across the unfurnished metal floor thanks to the train's speed. "There has long been a dispute between werecats and normal ones, as well as with humans. It is a very distressing thing to not be accepted by either half of your heritage."
Haru felt that statement deep in her bones but wasn't about to open up to a guy that could literally stare at the floor and somehow miss her bare and dirty feet. She set the wine glass back on the table and let him worry about it falling off and breaking when the train would take a turn. "That sounds like last month makes me worthy of a high five, not getting chased, stalked, kidnapped, tricked, held against my will-"
"I did none of those things!" he said while holding a paw-like hand against his chest to emphasize how offended he felt.
The teenager tilted her head while narrowing her eyes at him. "Really? So if I try to stand up and go sit somewhere else on the train, your friends won't stop me?" she accented the question with a head gesture towards one of the black cats surrounding her like a wall of darkness.
"Well, why would you want to?" he asked, his offense turning a bit more genuine.
Haru slammed one rubber-gloved hand against her forehead. "Didn't you hear a word out of my mouth? Chased, stalked, kidnapped, etc.? I had my fill of all this stupidity last month! Why are you cats making me go through all this ag-"
She was thrown from her chair as the table suddenly shoved itself deep into Meowrice's ribs from the immediate stop, pinning him to the ground when his chair fell backward. He yowled with displeasure, especially when Haru's hands automatically braced themselves against the table's edge to keep herself from getting catapulted into the wall like his three minions.
Haru knew it was way too soon for the next stop, and it was too abrupt to be anything less than an emergency brake. As bad as it was, she couldn't resist hoping that it was the result of someone else's drama.
A larger door than the one she had slipped through came open of its own electronic accord, assuring her that this was still about werecats.
"Who wants to bet that's Thiris?" Haru asked with resignation, walking over since she had managed to survive the stop with nothing more than a scraped and bruised elbow, which she nursed with her gloved hand sorely. "He seems to be the tech whiz out of all of you."
"No, you don't… you really don't…" Meowrice tried to gasp, but he was having trouble wrestling the table off of him as his minions tried to regain their senses.
Haru poked her head out enough to see that the train had stopped on a long bridge, and she could hear the yelling and complaining from the other passengers. She looked straight down to gauge the distance from the water and wonder if it was worth it to swim to shore.
Then she heard the whirring of helicopter blades draw close as her brown, shoulder-length hair began dancing in the artificial wind. Haru looked up with a resigned sigh.
It was a sleek machine, ran by artificial intelligence, or so she could only assume since Thiris had a laptop in his hands and no clear place for a pilot to sit or even control the flight.
"Haru, take my hand!" the sphinx werecat managed to call above the noise while setting the laptop aside so that he could take an anchoring grip on his seat with one hand and reach out to her with the other one.
"Thanks, but no thanks," Haru responded coolly, not bothering to speak above the noise since the train's vibrations were telling her that werecats were hurriedly rising to their feet to interfere.
Marking the shore she wanted to go to, Haru hurriedly performed her best swan dive into the ocean, selfishly enjoying the screams of chagrin that followed her. Even the other passengers on the train were screaming on her behalf.
It was even worth how shockingly cold the salt water was when it engulfed her. The waves were already pushing her this way and that, but luckily this wasn't the first time she had swum in open water.
Her mouth gasped hungrily for air when she broke the surface, reaffirming for her that the real reason cats hated water so much was because of how body hair stinks when wet. Grateful that she had already trained herself not to mind water or the resulting smell that much, she began swimming as straight as she could manage for shore. 'Good thing this is one of the kinds of exercise I'm good at, or I might have had to risk being under Thiris' control.'
She could hear him closing in above her while screaming something unintelligible, but Haru really didn't have the energy or time to spare to hear him out right now. All she could focus on were the familiar lights that marked where she wanted to go.
The beach that she and Hiromi always liked to visit for summer breaks. It wasn't that far from their homes, but they always had to time when they went to avoid the crowds. It wasn't that long until the next one, only another month. Would all this have calmed down by then? Would she be able to put on a swimsuit without worrying if some creep would see her?
Haru couldn't resist longing for the days when guys acted like she was some other species. That just didn't seem to be a good deterrent anymore, especially since she wasn't all that certain just what her own species was these days.
Her entire body was sore and exhausted by the time she was able to experimentally lower one foot and finally feel sand and rock. Nearly breathless with relief, Haru managed to get to her feet and start stumbling closer to shore. She shivered at both the natural and artificial wind since Thiris was still following her. She wrapped her arms around herself for a tiny bit of warmth and tried to keep her shaking under control as Thiris had his mini helicopter go slightly forward to land on the soft sand.
"That was completely ridiculous!" Thiris fumed as he exited his flying contraption to stomp up to the shoreline as close as he dared. He crossed his arms and glowered as Haru came closer to land… but then made a sharp turn to keep walking away from him, staying ankle-deep in the waves to encourage him to keep his distance.
Haru could only hope that her own hair was stench enough to keep him away.
"I was right there, all you had to do was take my hand, and you wouldn't have had to go through all that trouble, and for what? What if there had been sharks in the water?! What if you had run out of energy before getting back to shore?! I could have helped you, and now just look at you!"
"U-ugly enough… to be left alone?" Haru stuttered hopefully past her nearly frozen lips.
Thiris closed his eyes and silently counted to ten as he walked a good parallel distance from her to avoid the edge of the waves. "No, you're not ugly, Haru. Just… foolhardy!"
There was no holding back her nearly hysterical laughter. "You… knew! All of you knew! Crazy, that's me! Why are you here? Why are any of you here?!" she demanded, her heavy amusement melting into rage as she stopped sloshing through the freezing water to glare at the werecat. "Last month does not make me the only girl on the planet!"
His mouth flapped open soundlessly, privately disappointing her. A smart stalker would have thought up an answer to that before tracking her down.
"Which of you started this nonsense?" she snarled as she continued to shiver and hold herself against the freezing wind.
Thiris blinked. "I don't understand the question."
Haru growled her frustration as she struggled to maintain her balance against both the waves and her own exhaustion. "So much for your 'superior intellect' then! Which of you was the first to decide, 'Hey, check out that chick dropping homemade bombs like confetti! I should go hit on her!'?"
His dark eyes went huge and panicked.
"I know I didn't see a single werecat during my forced visit last month!" she continued to scream at him, enjoying how uncomfortably he was shrinking back now. "How did all of you find out about me?! Why did any of you think that hitting on me was a good idea?! How many more of you are coming to harass me, and which of you started it?!"
"I-I thought I was the only one coming to see you!" Thiris protested while holding his arms out like he thought this made him innocent.
"Obviously that's not the case! This many idiots doing the exact same thing is mob mentality, so one of you set it off! Now tell me who!" Haru demanded, though her chilling stutter was making it hard to get all the words out.
Although it was the last interruption she was expecting, flashing red and blue lights began reflecting down the pale beach as sirens played, distracting her enough to look over with delight.
Five cop cars were racing to her rescue!
She tried to turn back to Thiris with a smirk, but he was already running back to his helicopter to power it up and take off again. 'I don't even care. Werecats can't move in with cops to back me up.'
ooOoo
Haru happily snuggled deeper into the emergency blanket that Officer Tohru kept in an emergency kit while sitting in the back of his police truck. "I'm sorry, Mom, but I just barely got my cell service back," she explained, keeping the phone on speaker so that the huge officer could listen in and ask questions as well. "I was outnumbered and tricked, that's all."
"That's all?! Haru, the restaurant and train incidents are all over the news! Where are you?!"
"The same beach we go to with Hiromi and her parents for summer breaks. I think the cops tracked us by following Thiris' helicopter when he was following me over the water."
"Yep," the huge officer confirmed in a deadpan voice. "The werecat got away, though."
"I did try to ask him why the werecats are acting like we're in a survivor movie and I'm the last female, but he wasn't giving up any information. About all I got out of him was that he, at least, thought he was the only one trying to talk me into a relationship. Now that I think about it, a few of them were shocked that there were others with the same idea, but this is past ridiculous."
"You're telling me. Hand the phone to the officer."
Haru nodded while offering it to the huge man without a needless explanation. He delicately took it with a nod before turning away from her for a hushed conversation.
Although he didn't tell her to, Haru went ahead and closed the door to the truck and locked it tight, just in case another werecat tried to show up and steal her away while Officer Tohru was distracted.
With how tonight had gone, it wouldn't have surprised her that much, but Haru was just too tired at this point to be interested in anything that didn't involve getting home and passing out on her bed.
It had taken everything she had not to collapse from exhaustion until Thiris was flying away and the large cop was carrying her to his truck while his companions tried to give chase.
Haru couldn't resist a little smile that crossed her lips as she looked at the huge man through the truck window. Officer Tohru looked a lot more like a sumo wrestler than a cop, and even before monsters came out of hiding, she'd have thought that he had some giant blood in him.
She decided not to say anything about his possible heritage unless he did first. There was a fair chance that others have been bringing it up in a ruder fashion than she would, and he was definitely owed this courtesy.
More flickering lights from behind the truck began echoing down the pale sand, making Haru look over her shoulder with interest. But that interest soon changed to dread.
They were vans, and she could just see a logo on the side of one as it turned to display the name of a popular news channel. Haru looked at Officer Tohru while opening her mouth, but he already noticed.
Two steps put him on the driver's side of the police truck, and another one positioned him at the right door as Haru quickly reached over and unlocked it for him.
He quickly got in while cutting short the conversation. "Yes, I'll have her home by then, and will stay with her until my replacement shows up. Stay safe, meet you soon."
Haru wrapped the blanket over her head for a makeshift hood to cover her face before accepting her phone back and slipping it into the same pocket as her father's harmonica.
She'd have to remember to clean that before passing out tonight to prevent rust, and sent up another grateful prayer that her phone was waterproof, if low on batteries.
"I don't want to talk to reporters," she informed him, unable for the moment to stop it from coming out in a tone that made her sound like a tired little girl.
Despite himself, the large man gave her a gentle smile. "You don't have to. Seat belt," he reminded while clicking his own into place and starting the truck.
This had to be a specially made truck to accommodate his size, but again, Haru decided to keep her mouth shut while buckling herself into place.
While turning the truck around, the large man grabbed his radio to start talking into it. "I'm going to need a few cars near the beach square to cut off reporters that might follow us. Yoshioka's fine but done with everything tonight."
"A-men," Haru muttered under her breath, since it wasn't a good idea to interrupt a radio call for law enforcement.
"Roger. Don't forget a full report."
The large man scowled as he set the radio down. "One day he'll forget to say that," he muttered under his own breath as he gave the reporters a wide berth.
Neither of them were surprised when the vans did a U-turn to follow them like a turn of the tide.
"I am sorry," Haru said again to him, feeling a bit lame about it. "I really did just want a boring night at home."
He didn't dare take his eyes off the road, but he grunted in agreement as he raced for the road beyond the beach. "So did I. Other than the 'at home' part."
Haru snuggled deeper into the metal-colored blanket, secretly grateful that it was now strapped tightly against her. "I just wish those jerks would understand that treating me like this is going to look bad for all monsters. I mean, I don't want to be arrogant about it, but I do kind of fit one of the profiles that will publicly rile people up if jerks mess with me, no matter who or what they are."
"More than one," he agreed, stifling a small smirk when he managed to pass a light turning yellow, timing the car just right so that the reporters were trapped by the red light. "I'd break buildings if any of this happened to Jade. My best friend's niece," he added with a silly smile. "Sometimes I forget she isn't my niece, too."
Haru shrugged while contentedly imagining this giant doting on a little girl. "If there's love, who cares?"
"Exactly," he agreed with an easier smile now that he was taking enough turns to make pursuit harder.
Haru secretly hoped he was enjoying talking to her, too. After trying to throw the 'vampire' bouquet from the window, no one at school had been interested in talking to her other than trying to find out details about who sent it. Then when she was escorted home, she was immediately informed about Thiris trying to talk her mom into letting him date Haru before he was run off by the policeman that had taken her home.
Not that he had been able to say much thanks to her mother's monster phobia, but it was just the gateway to the second half of what had really been a rotten day.
"So. No ideas why the werecats are fixating on you?" Tohru asked gently as he deliberately took a scenic route to throw off anyone that might get past that far-back red light.
Haru shrugged her shoulders, wishing that she had been able to talk to her mom first so that she could tell him about last month. "They heard about a science experiment of mine, no idea how, and I think one of them thought I was cute first. No idea which one started this, but the way they're acting is making me feel a lot more like a trophy than a person, because I'm not… emotionally available for dating right now. None of them will respect that, so why should I take any of them seriously?"
"Good girl," he approved with a smirk. "Dating's hard enough."
"I wouldn't know," Haru giggled, though just a bit wistful that she hadn't managed to get in a first real date before the werecats started showing up. That wistfulness got a bit stronger when she thought about Machida, and how that small opportunity window had never really been open to her.
It would take a miracle to open that window up for anyone at this point.
ooOoo
Even without talk of Jade, it was plain to see that the large policeman had a little girl in his life. Not only had he insisted on carrying Haru into her home thanks to her lack of shoes, he was even gentle about washing off the dirt and grime from her feet that still lingered from walking to the train station to preserve her home's carpeting.
Haru barely felt safe going up the stairs to start charging her phone and retrieve dry clothes, blanket and towel since Tohru literally couldn't fit up the stairwell to follow her, but that was thankfully uneventful before using all the hot water for a nice long shower to keep from getting sick.
It should have bothered her that a man that had never met her before tonight was standing guard on the bathroom door the entire shower. Especially after what's been happening with all the other 'new men' in her life. Yet her nerves had felt calm and steady the moment he had insisted on carrying her to his truck right after Thiris bailed. If she was worried about anything right now, it was keeping herself braced against the tiles so that she wouldn't topple over from sheer exhaustion.
When Haru eventually turned off the water, she could hear her mother's voice from the other side of the door. 'Odd. I'd have thought that she'd be more vocal about being home.' Toweling off quickly, the teenager slipped a nightgown over her head, since it was the only pajamas that didn't require her to bend over or balance on one leg for pants since that would have surely made her topple. Wrapping the blanket tightly over her shoulders, Haru unlocked the door and opened it while walking out. Steam billowed out of the doorframe as if to announce her appearance. "Hi, Mom."
Naoko broke off her surprisingly hushed conversation with the policeman to look around him as the mountain of a man also turned to look. "Haru!" she nearly yelled, jumping at her child for an almost desperate hug.
Haru was immediately thrown against the wall thanks to her complete lack of energy. "Ow," she moaned without much enthusiasm.
Tohru's eyes flared angrily, but Haru managed to gesture to him with one hand to stay calm even as his mouth opened to start scolding the woman.
"Oh, honey! I'm so sorry, you must be exhausted if just that was too much for you," her mother apologized, grabbing one of her daughter's arms to wrap it around her neck to help with movement. "Let's get you to bed, sweetheart."
"Mom, I think I should sleep down here," Haru said quickly, making the woman stop with surprise. "Tohru said he'd stay to keep me safe, but he won't do me a lot of good if he has to break the stairwell down if one of the werecats comes in through my bedroom window."
Her mother gaped in surprise. "I thought you were going to do 'home improvements'."
"The stinking werecats grabbed me before I made more than the one bomb to trap one. They all looked identical, so I thought there was only one outside the house. My head's too fuzzy to do it now, so I'll do it in the morning."
"Home improvements?" Tohru asked Fumio, who shrugged a little.
"She makes prank bombs that the kid from Home Alone would sell his soul for. Didn't you say that the werecats knew you make those, Haru?"
"Literally the first thing they knew about me," she confirmed, leaning her weight to the couch in the living room. "Just let me sleep down here, Mom. I don't want to wake up and find out a cat slipped through my closed and locked window, because it won't be as cute if he's as tall or taller than me."
Naoko gave a fearful glance to the large policeman. "Are you sure about this, Haru?"
To anyone else, it would have only been a question. But Haru could tell that it was partially asked because her mother was thinking the same 'giant' thoughts that she herself had upon meeting him. But they were in a less favorable direction.
Haru felt her own face turn stern. "I like Tohru. I feel safe around him." With that, she managed to wiggle out of her mother's grasp and start using the wall for a brace.
"Here, let me," Tohru offered, but he was cut off as Fumio quickly walked in front of him to sweep the girl into his own arms.
"You really should listen to your mother, young lady," he said sternly.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you want me to get kidnapped again tonight? Because I doubt that I'll be waking up to do anyting about it this thime." Her head was now nodding with exhaustion as she tried to point at the couch, but wasn't sure if she was pointing at it or the little table where she and her mother normally ate their meals. 'Am I using my words right? Something sounded off just now.'
He looked at her mother and said something but listening to him was like trying to follow a conversation when your head was under water.
There was just enough consciousness for her to register that she was being laid on the couch instead of her bed, but not much else.
ooOoo
A large hand was gently shaking her shoulder. Haru made some sounds of discontent but was able to groggily open her eyes.
It was still dark, but she could see Tohru in the darkness. Worse, he looked worried.
"We need to stay quiet. Your mother's getting her wish, after all."
More of her mind woke up enough for her to cover her eyes and hope that he didn't see her irises change shape to accommodate the darkness. "What wish?" she yawned, sitting up with some difficulty since she was still very sore and exhausted.
"She wanted me out of the house. I told her not until my replacement showed up."
"So you want to introduce me to the replacement?" she asked, but the following silence gave her a tight uncomfortable clench in her stomach.
"… I don't want to sound paranoid," Tohru tried to break it to her gently, but she could hear the strain in his voice. "But I was told not to wait for one, and to return to the station immediately."
Haru immediately knew what that meant. "No," she moaned, now burying her face in both hands.
"So you know," he stated like he expected her to blow up at him.
"At least three of the werecats hinted they had money to burn." Haru took in a deep breath, fighting desperately not to look at him in case he noticed her irises, though she did see both her mom and her mom's boyfriend sleeping on different chairs close by. "You'll lose your job if you stay anyway?"
Tohru's flinch came very close to being audible. "… I am sorry. But… finding a new job for someone like me is… especially if I'm fired from being a cop…"
Haru forced herself to stand up and touch his large arm. "I understand. I'll tell Mom an emergency came up and you were called to help."
He gave her a look full of gratitude.
At least, Haru could feel his gratitude when she turned away from him, still gripping him gently by the arm to lead him to the front door. "They shouldn't try anything with Mom and Fumio around, though, so I should at least be able to get the sleep I need. Be safe, and hug Jade for me."
Just before her fingers were able to touch the door handle, the police officer swept her into a big hug. Since she desperately needed one, she turned and buried her face in his lower chest to return the embrace the best she could.
"Make those bombs," he ordered, sounding like he was fighting to keep a tremor out of his voice. "Lots and lots of them."
"Sir, yes, sir," the teenager assured him, squeezing the man like the oversized teddy bear he was. "Thanks for letting me know before leaving."
She felt him flinch slightly, as if he was expecting trouble for even giving her that much warning.
"I feel like a coward for not doing more," he confessed, but Haru patted his enormous arm and opened the door to let him out.
"You helped me. That's not coward's work," she assured him warmly, though she could literally feel the sense of safety leave the house as he stepped out and began miserably walking to his large truck, which he had been forced to park a block over due to street regulations.
Haru closed and locked the door, deciding that an extra step probably wouldn't be a bad idea. Keeping her steps light and noiseless, she walked back to the little table and grabbed one of the chairs to jam it under the doorknob.
Before she could so much as tilt the chair to the appropriate angle, the door was being banged on. She groaned both in annoyance and sheer exhaustion. "Go away," she growled directly into the crack between the door and its frame.
"Haru, will you just hear me out for few seconds?" Neko replied almost desperately. "I'm your Zing!"
ooXoo
"He did not!" Dracula roared like thunder, making Haru jump out of her narrative and almost completely off the couch in surprise, both from his tone and his suddenly glowing red eyes.
"Wait, zings are real?" she asked with more than a little astonishment. "I thought it was a corny way to get my attention."
"That complete idiot!" Frank yelled, standing up from his seat to pace around. "Did he really think that he wasn't going to get beaten to a pulp for trying the 'Zing' card on you?!"
Murray grabbed her hand with an almost hungry expression. "Tell us, just tell us you got him good for that!"
Haru was a bit surprised that they were getting this worked up about it but shrugged her shoulders. "After I opened the door and let him give his idea of a Zing to me, I punched him in the face, told him I'd have felt something if it was that powerful, then closed and locked the door in his face before shoving the chair in place. I'm just disappointed his yowls had to go and wake Mom and Fumio and start another argument over opening the door by myself when they were right there."
Dracula beamed at her. "If you had to point out that you would have felt a Zing, then he didn't really explain it at all."
"Shocking," Haru deadpanned without much surprise. "Since they're real, would you mind giving me an actual description of the word?"
"Not in the least," the vampire eagerly agreed, taking Frank's vacated spot on the couch next to her. "Humans have stories of Cupid's Arrow. That is a mere bee sting compared to a Zing."
Haru tilted her head a little to the side. "Cupid's Harpoon?"
"More like a cannon at close range," Dracula corrected, even as his eyes began to fade from sweet, sweet memories. "You're living your life, minding your own business, and then you see someone… incredible."
"Everything you see turns purple," Frank added over one shoulder. "It's intense enough that anyone that's looking in your direction can see a purple light flash through your eyes. You literally can't see anyone but that special person."
Murray was rubbing his chin with thought. "Didn't Mavis and Johnny get headaches when you made them break eye contact too soon, Drac?"
The vampire flinched guiltily. "Mmh, perhaps," he answered with an uncomfortable smile before making the expression more genuine for the feline teenager. "After the purple fades, you simply know you're meant to be with this person for the rest of your life. That moment stays engraved in your mind forever," he added, his blue eyes turning sad and lost with an ancient pain.
Haru didn't need an explanation for his sorrow. She didn't even feel any hesitation about reaching over with her free hand and gripping his long fingers to offer comfort. "I bet she was amazing." It didn't feel like there was much she could say about a woman she had never met but felt pretty confident that this kind vampire had Zinged with someone incredible.
Dracula shook his head slightly to return his mind to the present. He smiled sadly at the teenager while squeezing her hand with warm gratitude. "She still is, and I have Mavis for proof. But back to the point, humans can feel a Zing as long as they're meant to be with a monster, so it wouldn't matter if you were like this or still completely human, as long as your mate is a monster."
Haru's eyes narrowed angrily. "So those idiots knew as soon as they laid eyes on the Cat Kingdom footage that they weren't the right one for me?"
"They knew," Dracula confirmed darkly as his eyes once again glowed red with rage. "That's one of the reasons Baron's being so vigorous about hunting them down and punishing each and every one accordingly."
Now growling deep in her throat, Haru turned to the camera again. "Forget what I said, Baron. Do whatever you feel is appropriate, because I have no idea why they thought harassing me was going to end well before knowing about Zings. That sounds like it saves a lot of dating hassle if monsters pay attention to it," Haru couldn't resist confiding in the monsters still surrounding her.
It suddenly occurred to her that if she felt scared or they were taking more threatening poses while she took her human form, the scene would probably look like it came from a cheap horror movie.
"Well, that depends what you mean by 'hassle'," Frank answered evasively as his eyes tried to look at anything but her. Then suddenly darted to a grandfather clock. "Hey, Drac? It's nearly sunrise."
The vampire snapped to attention. "Already? Sorry, Haru, we should have paid more attention to the time. You were exhausted when you got here."
"This was important, and going public was my idea," the teenager brushed off the apology with a yawn, only now realizing just how tired she was.
Dracula turned to Griffon. "Go ahead and shut it off. We can hear the rest of the story tonight."
"Party pooper," the invisible man pouted as he complied.
"Probably just as well," Haru sighed, tiredly pulling the blankets off her so she could struggle to her feet. "It's only going to get worse from that point."
"Then you're going to need your rest to tell it," Dracula informed her firmly, taking her by the arm to escort her back to her room himself.
Haru bit her lip nervously when they were two hallways away from the library. "Is my mom okay?" she asked in a tiny voice that was dreading the answer and scratching at her large triangular ear from nerves.
"The first thing Baron did after arriving in Japan is take her under his personal protection," Drac informed her with a warm smile. "He says she was shaken up at first and not willing to cooperate with him, but they managed to come to an agreement."
Haru couldn't resist shaking her head with a disbelieving breath. "His negotiation skills must be through the roof if he talked Mom into having anything to do with a monster, let alone a werecat."
The vampire's smile turned just a bit smug. "It's not exactly an accident that he's the Head of the Werecat Society. If he can talk me out of something I desperately wanted to do, your mother didn't stand a chance. No offense," he added quickly.
"None taken," Haru answered automatically as she both began to hope that maybe she wasn't going to lose her mother after all and trying to think of some way to really thank Baron for going this far to help her. Her face nearly split from a wide, tired grin. "None taken at all."