Jennifer's pov
"Jennifer, I don't want you to think bad of me." Rido said. I took a deep breath.
"It's not that. I just didn't think a notorious pureblood out to kill one of my friends would be my boyfriend." I said. He chuckled and moved a few of my loose strands of hair behind my ear. I stiffened when he moved my long hair behind my shoulder.
"You smell nice." Rido said as he moved his face closer to my neck. My legs felt like jelly and I fell onto the bed. Rido chuckled and rested his left knee on the edge of the bed and he still stood on his right leg. I tried to stand but he had a firm grip on my left shoulder.
"Stay still. If you struggle, it will hurt more." he whispered and he nuzzled my neck. For a few seconds he licked my skin but once his fangs brushed my neck, the door swung open and someone burst in and jumped on Rido's back. I regained my senses that Rido had seized temporarily and I stood.
"Let the power of the tiger take my body!" I yelled and I morphed. I heard Rido growl and he ran out the door. A boy with red-ish brown hair had his back to me and I so I knocked over a book from my table with my tail to get his attention. He slowly turned to me and he tilted his head to the side.
"Rima, I just saw the girl. Why is there a white Bengal tiger in her place?" he called lazily out into the hall. Rima, a girl with orange hair and blue eyes, came in and stood next to the boy, his silver eyes darting to her before looking back at me. I twitched my tail and yawned.
"I would like to think that that's her, because I doubt your father would try and bite a tiger on the neck." Rima said, pointing to my neck. I glanced at the mirror on my closet door and I in fact did see a trail of blood going into my fur.
"I jumped on his back while he was bending over someone so he must've ripped the skin when he tried to face me." the boy said. He came over towards me and he patted my head and then started to scratch behind my ears.
"Shiki, will you be able to get her into human form?" Rima said. Shiki shrugged. I sat on my haunches and leaned against the bed while I transformed back. Rima to a blanket from my closet and draped it over me while I transformed, shooing Shiki out and closing the door. Once I transformed back, Rima crouched in front of me.
"Are you Jennifer?" she asked. I managed a nod, my energy gone from the transformation.
"Why are vampires here at my house?" I asked hoarsely. She sighed and dug through my drawers to get me some clothes.
"As you probably saw, Rido Kuran was here. Kaname, his nephew, wanted you to be protected and he said he had no idea where you were. So we've been wandering around the coast of California looking for you. We got here a little late though." she said and I got confused.
"What do you mean you got here late?"
"Mr. Kuran ripped your skin enough to get blood running, and now that he got a little taste, you'll be really easy to find." she said and I caught the clothes she threw to me. I got the shorts and tank top on and Rima opened the door for Shiki to come in.
"She explained to you why we're here. What we need you to do though, is to stay away from anyone suspicious enough to have the tendency to attack you." Shiki said. I gave an exasperated sigh.
"Everyone I know could attack me. I run a business for shape shifters. They don't know how to control the animals they get and so I give sessions on how to do it." I said. He blinked.
"Shape shifters? Sessions? You said words to turn into an extinct tiger. That's not losing control." he said with a hint of disbelief. Rima cleared her throat. I looked at her and spoke.
"Look, I am the only shape shifter still alive that can turn into anything at will. These other people are born with a specific animal that they have absolutely no control over. I help them and that's how I pay for my necessities. Now if you excuse me, my friend is going to arrive and I need to answer the door." I said in a huffy voice and they followed me down the hall. The doorbell rang and I opened the door before it finished going off. My friend Lynette was standing there with a large bruise on her cheek. Her brown hair was disheveled and her eyes were on the verge of tears. Shiki stepped up from behind me and whispered.
"Who did this to you?" he asked. Lynette shook her head. I pulled her inside by her arm and she started to wail as I shut the door. I stood there with my arms crossed and waited for the crying to subside. Once it did, I went into the kitchen and threw a package of frozen peas to her.
"Feel better?" I asked and she nodded.
"I fell off my bed and my cheek hit the edge of the pile of textbooks I have. It caught me by surprise enough that I transformed and I fell on my head." she said and Shiki and Rima stared at her. I snorted and shook my head. Rima looked at me and then at Lynette.
"Why are you laughing at her?" she asked and I shrugged.
"You don't fall on your head when you're a bird. They fly, they don't go splat on the floor." I said rudely. I rummaged around in a drawer and pulled out a tiny pill box. I popped one of the pills in my mouth and grabbed a water bottle from my fridge and chugged it down.
"Was that what I think it was?" Shiki asked. I just stared at him. After a while he broke eye contact.
"There's a lot of things people don't know about me, and if they think they do know, they're wrong." I said and set the empty bottle on the white counter. Lynette shifted uncomfortably and she sat down at my dining table.
"Will you be doing sessions?" she asked, the bag of peas already forgotten. I nodded and Skiki and Rima spoke up.
"You aren't going to do it today at least." Rima said.
"You just got attacked and Rido could come back again." Shiki said after. I sighed and Lynette stood.
"If you got attacked, we can do a lesson today and I could stay here tonight after that to help protect you." she offered. I knew that once she offered something, it didn't matter what you answered. You were going to get the help whether you like it or not.
"No because you don't know anything about what is attacking her and you could get hurt." Rima said. Lynette frowned.
"I'm staying and you can't do nothing about it." Lynette stubbornly said. I walked over and put my arm around Lynette's shoulder.
"Rima, did Lynette or I say anything about what kind of bird Lynette is?" I asked and Rima looked at Shiki.
"Lynette, why don't you go right ahead and change. Attack me as best as you can and don't hold back." I said and she smiled. She went into the other room and I stood in the middle of the room. Shiki and Rima went over against the wall and a brown owl with black stripes came flying at me. It's ears were tufts that went back and stuck out the side of its head a bit. It screeched and I sidestepped it holding my arm up for protection. It's claws went right up my wrist to my elbow and a gash appeared. The two vampires got looks of alarm.
"Don't worry, I heal fast." I said and as soon as I told them that, I started to heal. The owl landed on the counter, its claws clicking. Dots of blood on the floor started drying and I waved my hand in the air. The blood disappeared, the bird was clean, and my sleeve was sewn back together again. I grabbed a glove hanging next to my fridge and put it on my left arm. The owl flew over to me and landed on my hand, nipping at the covered fingers. Shiki kneeled and Rima just watched me and the bird.
"This is Lynette. She's a Ketupa, or Ketupu. The scientific name is Ketupa Zeylonesis." I told them and Rima smirked.
"A brown fish owl?" she said, her nose crinkling. I nodded.
"She is a fish owl, but since she doesn't hunt fish, she smells much nicer. I would've sprayed her with perfume or something if she smelled like rotten fish." I explained and Shiki stood straight.
"How'd you do that? Are you a witch of some kind?" he asked and I laughed.
"Hardly! Can't you tell I'm a vampire too?" I asked them and they looked at each other with wide eyes. Lynette flew off my arm and clicked her way across my tile floor, back into the room to change back. Once Lynette was out of sight, I heard the glass window in my living room shatter. I ran into the carpeted room with Shiki and Rima behind me and I saw a grotesque looking human in my room. Shiki blocked me with his arm and took a step forward.
"This is a level E vampire. We can get rid of it for you." he said and two, no three, more came into the room. They all had a hungry look in their eyes and I stepped back. One of them spoke.
"Kill those two and retrieve the girl!" one said in a hollow raspy voice. The three others split up, two for Shiki and Rima, one for me. My nails grew and I slashed the one that was coming towards me in the face. It screeched and hissed at me. After that, all I could feel was pain in the back of my head and blackness.