Chp. 5

There is something about the rain. Something about it that is hypnotizing, almost like nature's lullaby that just simply puts the world to sleep. There are many people that love it, strangely so did she. There was something about the way that the water seemed to wash away all the scents of the world, giving everything a clean slate. It was nice.

The girl by the window chuckled to herself. Already she was strange and now she was openly admitting that she now liked rain. In general most cats don't like rain. However to a panther there wasn't anything all that terrifying about the rain. Then again nothing in the world really was to such a powerful animal. If anyone hadn't realized the girl was Keller a shapeshifting panther, a nightworlder.

And right now it was raining and it seemed as though the world was on a stand still. No stood outside in the world, there was no trace of what was really going on either. The rain hides the truth of everything all so well; everything that was really going on in the world, how people hideaway in their home without realizing the danger that they were all in and they didn't want to care. Maybe that was why she loved the rain so much, because it gave a false safe hood. If only for a moment.

Keller had just come in from the rain, her jet black hair still dripping from outside. She laughed at herself, getting caught in the rain. She was so caught up in running, her legs pumping and her muscles straining and burning as she ran faster and faster. Then is started to rain and she felt herself slip away from it all. The panther had to admit it had been pretty fun.

Her towel soaked up the remaining water and for the moment allowed herself to be brought up in the comfort of soft fabric shorts and a cami. Her clothes were normally those of animal fur so when she shifted she was completely able to return into a human that was fully clothed. Thankfully.

I don't really want to imagine shifting back to human without clothes. Especially when missions required small groups with little to no privacy for days at a time, it was a bit of a relief.

She yawned, the rain's song putting her to sleep. Like any cat Keller loved sleep. It was something that could chase away fears and she could be the ruler of her world, a world that would only exist for her and Galen, her soulmate and true love. Her dream would be of a night sky that would never end, only the sunrise and sunsets. Maybe there would be rain, the perfect one that would coat all the leaves and grass and decorate the budding flowers. It would play this melody. Galen and she could run through the jungles and forest; the trees, their beds, to hang from and bask in the moon's light. Thierry's mansion was nice and wonderful, but it felt like it should only be something to look like, never to touch. So now that she was in here in one of his many rooms it seemed as though sleep was eluding her. No matter how much her eyelids felt sleepy it didn't seem like she could.

The door clicked open and quietly. Keller let the smell filled her every sense of being, from her toes all the way up into the strands of her hair. It smelled of the forests that she loved and the grass that she would lose herself in by rolling through. Galen's arms wrapped around her middle, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"What are you looking at?" he asked

Her head fell onto his golden hair. "The rain."

"I didn't think you liked the rain."

Keller's hands trailed down his arms, her fingers entwining through his own. "I like the rain it's just the other stuff that comes with it."

"The other stuff—"

The thunder rolled then, the lightening partnered up with it. Keller felt her skin jump away, a feeling in the core of her stomach twist and knot together. In the lamest terms possible she jumped at the sound of thunder and dug her fingers into Galen's skin.

He chuckled, a cute smile on his face, "easy, easy, I'm right here"

Against wanting the warm of his skin on hers or the beat of his heart vibrating through her chest, she pulled away from him. He still smiled and that was why she loved him. Because he accepted the moments when she was torn between the human wants of herself and the animal that ranged within herself. The past that fought with the present and he took it all in stride.

Galen still loved her. He never stopped telling her either.

"You love the rain but not the thunder? Isn't that a bit..."

"Yeah I know, I know...the whole you can't have your cake and eat it too."

Galen sat on the edge of the bed waiting for an answer with a patience that no one else could have. The only problem was I didn't want to tell the whole story all over again.

"My mother loved the rain; she made games when I was little dedicated to the raindrops. I played with it the night that she left me in the box, but only alone at night hearing only the thunder...it wasn't my friend."

Keller felt his hand in hers, pulling her closer toward the bed, toward him. She fell back into the cushions, letting the overstuffed pillows envelope her head.

"A mighty panther afraid of the thunder?"

"You know I think I liked you better when you hadn't picked up sarcasm." She mumbled.

Of course that was a lie. She loved the way that this sweet person could have bite to him. It was another side of a Galen that made her feel as if she had a hand in this new character. Everybody loved him; there was no one that she'd met who had any real problems with him.

He hugged her to him, the animals inside each of them, one panther and one leopard, stirred with awareness of the other. The smells taking over the vibrancies of anything else, it was so intoxicating. "You can sleep," he breathed, "I'll stay right here."

Because he said it she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

She could smell her mother's perfume. The light hint of roses and rolled off her in waves now seemed plastered against her skin by the rain. She wanted to play in the rain, to stop and splash in the puddles and dance like she'd done so many times before.

But this time was different; she knew that when her mother stopped the car, they hadn't brought an umbrella with them, her mommy's heels clicked against the concrete of the ground. Some of the water, she could swear tasted like salt against her mother's cheeks.

The black of their outfit melted in together with the dark of the moon sky. No cars passed by theirs. No one could stop her, not even the child in this woman's arms.

There was a box under the pole of a picnic table, the rain sliding off the sides and barely splattering the cardboard box. Her mother leaned over it, pulling at the small child who clutched to her black dress. She didn't want to be put in the box. Her mother left her jacket, wrapped clumsily around the small frame. Cold shivering lips pressed against a damp forehead, "Raksha, someone will come for you. There are people out there who can keep you and watch out for you better than I can. I cannot do this right. Someday forgive me if you can."

Her mother's hand uncurled a folded up paper and placed it in the front coat pocket. Then she walked away, there was no good-bye, there was no I love you. Just a back that blended into the shadows.

Suddenly the child was scared, there was no one there; just an owl in the nearby trees and the pelt of the rain against the umbrella. Then the thunder started the one that vibrated through her chest, the animal inside her screaming and crying against the stranger's sounds. None of this was safe, it was in the open and dangerous. This wasn't safe. She needed the safety.

"Mommy! Mommy I'm cold! Mommy I wanna go home! Mommy...mommy...MOMMY!"

Yet no one responded. The thunder bellowed out again, erasing the next cries, she was alone. She huddled in the far corner of the box, afraid to move again. Her cheeks were wet, but not from the rain.

Then she felt it, the slight warmer skin that not braced her body, her ears twitching at every sound now. Her hands were no longer covered in smooth skin, but black fur that held way to nails that were long and sharp. There were the claws that she watched on TV, the ones that her mother never let her watch, where the animals hurt each other. Sometimes laying there even after the winner had walked away. She was a girl yet she had these things.

Where was mommy?

"Mommy! Mommy I'm sorry! Mommy please come back, I wanna go home! Mommy!"

The Thunder crashed above.

The Thunder crashed above, Keller's eyes flying open and she bolted up. Claws were extended, her teeth growing long.

"Keller! Keller!" Hands grabbed at her claws, pulling them wide. Galen knew how to keep both of them from getting hurt. "Keller! Keller, it's alright. It's alright."

His voice was stern and so soft she had no trouble leaning into them. Thankful that is was all gone, that it was all over. Yet she couldn't calm her heart beat or the ragged breath.

Galen's warm hands cupped her face, making her look up at him, at the most beautiful eyes in the entire world. He smiled, but it never reached into his eyes.

"You saw?" she asked.

The smile faltered, "Yeah I saw. And it was so painful to watch. You were so little." He pulled her towards him, his arms becoming a safety. She released herself to it.

"I'm so sorry that you had to see that. I'm so sorry."

His face was buried in her hair, "I couldn't move. I wanted to pick you up, I wanted to make that little girl feel safe and to stop crying. I wanted to do so many things to keep you from hurting like that. All I could do was watch."

This is why she loved him. This is why she opened herself fully into him because there he never questioned her past, only took it with him and helped her to support it so that it wouldn't suffocate her. He made her feel safe from the world and all its problems.

"I'm sorry you had to watch all that." She said

"I wish that you had never gone through that." Was all that he said.

It was still raining outside, the thunder rolling ahead and crashing through the clouds. It kept her awake and for that she was thankful. "I don't think I could sleep anymore."

Galen pulled away from her, looking into her face, "Yeah I don't think I could either. With all this noise."

"The thunder is a bit loud."

"I was talking about your snoring!" He laughed. Though the laughing was muffled, his face came in contact with a pillow and his vision blocked by the sight of raven hair and laughing resolving in his ears. What could be better than the person you truly love staying beside you? All while the rain continued its sweet melody.

It continued to rain, all the lights in the large mansion turned off, each concealing soulmates with warmth and their own loves. All except one window, one that had refused to turn off since the moment that its occupant first arrive, disheveled and his hair singed. He was so confused; confused about the world, the people, both human and nightworlders, but more than anything else about the blood that still pumped through his veins.

What was he? Why was this all about him? Blood that seemed to thicken and stir whenever he saw that one person that made me so confused, this was of course all her fault. Before he had known what was what, that the sun was bright and the night was dark. She had betrayed him, leaving him to die. Yet when she could have just left him there, to be engulfed by the flames like he wanted to, she didn't. Instead she saved him saying, "I promised someone."

Those words sent him reeling, remembers another woman, someone warm and bright. How he hated them both. The two that had disappeared from his life for so long and then come flooding back into his memory...his heart.

What was he supposed to feel? He had always been told what to do, how to think and what to do in any situation. There was no training for this though, there weren't any books about these emotions or the way to fix up old wounds. Why wasn't there someone to tell him who to hate, who to care for...who to love and trust?

Because he knew what the plans were, what the person he had called father had in store for the people around him. But now that he had come here, tired and scared, with friendly faces at every corner , he didn't know who to trust...or even what side to be on anymore.

Timmy didn't know.

But it was happening soon.

Please R&R what you think! I really like to know! thanks

Keep reading,

~Trissica