Chapter 5: Gallon

"Mom, who's Gallon?" Lily asked my mother, as we sat in the table waiting for my father to come home from work. We all wore our animal forms as we normally did.

Mom stared at her than at me.

"Where did you hear that name?" she replied casually playing with her nails.

"Some army dude followed us home after school." I said stabbing a chicken leg with my fork.

"'An army dude'?" She quoted me.

"Yeah... He knew stuff about us," said Lily.

"Probably asked around." She suggested as she bit into a chicken breast..

"He called me 'Cat'." said Lily.

We all turned to look at the door just before there was any indication that anyone was about to open it.

"Something smells good!" Said my father walking into the room in mid transformation from man to werewolf.

"Hey, Gallon..." Said my mother getting up and kissing my father.

Both my sister and I stared.

"Now that's a name I haven't heard in centuries." He replied taking my mother into his arms.

My parents were both half creatures. I'm not sure if there's a real name for us. My father is a werewolf so he could change between a man or werewolf. Although he was forced to stay as a werewolf during a full moon and a man during a new moon.

My mother was different as she was half cat. She could fully control her transformation from human to cat woman and anything in between as she pleased.

Both Lily and I inherited a combination of those traits. We could control our transformations, cat and dog respectfully. We could stop in any way we choose even during the different moons, although we used up a lot of energy if we forced ourselves into any form.

"So, you're Gallon?" asked Lily bluntly.

"Evening to you too... Who told you that name?" He asked sitting down to eat.

We told him the story about the army man and how he knew stuff about us, stuff that we didn't want too many people to know.

"I don't know any army people." My father said as he shoveled rice into his mouth.

"So how does someone know about us?" I asked, "It's not like we are monsters that need to be hunted down."

My parents looked and each other.

"Kids, let me tell a story." Said my father then flinched when some food fell from the edges of his muzzle.

"Years ago, hundreds of thousands of us existed all over the world, not only as animals but as powers too... Humans hated our kind and, for the most part, still do."

"Why?" Lily asked.

"Humans see us as a threat," replied my mother.

"Ironically, some people saw some of us as gods. Hmm..." He stuck some more food into his mouth.

"Do our kind have a name?" Lily asked anxiously.

"We have been called many things throughout the centuries: Vampire Saviors, Night Warriors, Witches, Monsters , Dark ones... But I think we're more commonly referred to as Darkstalkers." Replied my father but trailed off listening to something.

The silence was broken by someone knocking at the door.

"The hell?" Asked my father... Changing to human form.

He answered the door.

"I smell strawberries..." I started and noticed my sister and mother staring at me.

"Hello, Ms. Archer, how are you this evening?" asked my father.

"Good," replied the girl who had knocked "I'm sorry to bothering you this late, is Jonathan home? He dropped his Id in class and I forgot to give it him earlier."

"Yeah come in."

Christine walked in excusing herself. "Good evening everyone, sorry to bother everyone so late."

"Its fine dear, how are your parents." Asked my mother.

"They actually had to leave in an emergency, during dinner, again." She started, "my mother wanted to return this." She put a couple of plates on the table. They were warm, someone had just washed them.

"Thanks honey, are they coming back home tonight?" Asked my mother.

"I'm not sure... Probably not... They normally don't get back till after I get back from school."

"Well how about you sleep here tonight?" Said my father placing large werewolf hand on her shoulder, I didn't notice him change back.

"No, it's alright," replied Christine "I'm used to it now". She tilted her head back and smiled at my father.

"We insist," said my mother.

"It'll be fun!" Said Lily smiling.

Her coming over had changed the atmosphere that had tensed during our conversation.

"If it won't be a bother." She continued.

"We could spend some quality time," I added as my mother and Lily stared at me.

Christine was over at our house several times a week but she hardly ever spent the night, it's been years actually...

"No, it's fine. Plus I can't have my other daughter sleeping in a dark house by herself." Said my father "Jonathan help her get her stuff."

"Yeah." I said getting up, changing to my human form and walking outside with Christine.

"I love your family, Jonathan, they've always been nice to me." She said as we walked over to her house.

"That's how they are" I replied as we got to her house then she unlocked the door. The scent of vanilla and perfume filled the air. She turned the lights on to reveal a fully furnished and decorated house but no one in it. A few candles sat on cabinets, filing the house with rich aromas.

"Jonathan," started Christine as we walked up the stairs "can I ask you something?"

"Depends..." I replied.

"Who was that man you guys were talking to earlier today?"

"The army guy?"

"Yeah."

"No idea."

"Oh... I think he's been following us for weeks now..."

"You've seen him before?" I stared at her

"A few times, it started around the same time that new girl in your class happened to appear." She replied opening the door to the room.

"Hmm," I replied picking up a candle and smelling it.

"Do you think they're connected?" She picked up a few sheets and handed them to me.

"Probably" I replied while looking out of the window of my room. I caught sight of a pair of green cat eyes staring at me.

"Do you like her? Melissah I mean..."

I sighed.

"What?" She said opening a drawer.

"My mom is looking at us," I replied.

She stopped and stepped in front of her full length mirror and arranged her hair. The mirror stood on the other side of the window so she would be able to look into my room.

"I see her... Well her eyes anyway." She said grabbing her pj's from her bed, "why would she be keeping an eye on us?"

"I'm a guy..."

"Yes."

"And you're a girl."

"Last time I checked."

"She just wants to make sure that she's not a grandma any time soon." I replied walking into her bathroom.

"She doesn't have to worry about that," she replied.

"I think she does." I said handing her a toothbrush.

"Whatever, doggy."

I changed into my werewolf form and walked up to her "call it dogs intuition."

I left her window opened in case we needed something from her house.

We made our way outside and she locked the door. I was back in my human form.

We started walking back towards my house "Jonathan, I think you should be careful," she nagged me "I'm not sure what's going on but I don't like it."

"The army dude thing?" I asked.

"Yeah, maybe Melissah is trying to get to your family through you."

"Maybe she just wants some puppy love." I replied smartly.

"I'm being serious!" She stopped.

"Fine, I'll be careful."

She stopped "Jonathan! I'm not playing around!"

"I'm not either."

We continued walking and she pulled out a pair of black cat ears and a matching attachable cat tail. "You think that this will make me fit in?" She asked and I just stared as I opened out front door

We entered my house.

The three of us decided to sleep in the living room downstairs. Lily encouraged Christine to wear the cat attire.

"Why do I have to sleep on the floor?" I asked annoyed as I looked at my sister and Christine who had moved the sofa and love seat closer and covered them with their blankets.

"Because, dogs sleep on the floor." Said Lily tapping me on the head with a rolled up newspaper.

"Stupid cats thinking you rule the world," I replied.

"Yes we do." Said my mother from behind me.

We normally try not to hide our real forms when we're at home, especially when Christine is around. She actually got a kick out of it. My mother's cat ears and tail were longer than Lily's, along with her large paws on both her hands and legs. She wore her sleeping gown with a small hole in the back for her tail to move freely.

My sister had some pj's that were decorated with musical notes. Her cat parts were smaller than my mothers, her ears and tail each had one small black spot while her paws were slightly thicker than her arms, they were white up to her hands where they turned slightly darker and ended up black by the tips.

My dad and I slept with our shirts off with some sleeping shorts, both in our werewolf forms. We both had thick fur but his was blue with white in the chest and face while mine was blue in the body and black around the chest area with some white to divide the different shades.

I waved my tail playfully, simple because I could. I noticed Christine staring at me, she reached out and caressed my fur with her hand.

"You guys really go all out with your real forms, don't you? I wish I had fur." She said while she adjusted the cat eared headband on her head.