The Good, The Bad and The Fanged

Zoe happened to notice the cat make a b-line for the window and leap up, her tail twitching. She picked up her jacket and pulled it on, wincing as the fabric brushed over her wound. The darn cat was agitated by something; Zoe couldn’t tell what it was so she moved over to peep out the window. The view was fantastic but down at the bottom was a mail box along with Sam and another woman. She was quite a looker, long legs and excellent coloring could be made out from this distance.

“You don’t like other females intruding in on your life don’t you,” Zoe observed. The cat looked at her and meowed sadly. Since the cat was giving her the kicked kitten expression, she ran her fingers through the cat’s fur lightly. “I will be out of your hair eventually. I just need to replace Sam’s shirt.”

With that she pulled her shoes on and was out the door. She waved at Sam as she walked past him talking to the female. The female eyed her warily as she walked by.

Sam had been talking to the women for some time, getting to know her better, she was 20 years old and her birthday was in a few days, something that Sam would try to remember. He noticed a familiar face walk by him and wave, he flashed her a smile and nodded in acknowledgement, "Someone you know?" Nicole asked, looking slightly dissapointed.

"Just a friend" he said to reassure her, she smiled at him when their relationship was made clearer. Sam suddenly realized he had not fed Amber at all this morning, it was much more efficient to feed her in cat form, it was quicker to fill her stomach that way. Sam and Nicole swapped goodbyes and phone numbers before returning to their apartments, Sam said one final goodbye as Nicole passed him and he entered his apartment. Sam walked into his apartment to be met by Amber in her human form, "Who was that you was talking to?" she quickly asked him, staring into his eyes.

"Will you relax? She lives upstairs, we just talked... What is it with you and the women I know? I can handle myself better than you think... I'm gonna make you some food, where did Zoe go?" Sam entered the kitchen, wondering to himself why Amber keeps acting like this around other women, he would find out one day, but it was probably going to be when Amber was ready to tell him, for now though he opened up a tin of cat food and poured it into a bowl, as he was doing it he heard Amber yell "She is going to replace your shirt", a second later she entered the kitchen as a cat and began wolfing down her breakfast.

Zoe wasn’t gone for very long and when she returned she was carrying a box and a shopping bag. Balancing it all in one hand (because she is awesome like that) Zoe opened the door. The cat looked less than pleased to see her but immediately forgave her for being here after Zoe put the box and bag down on the table, reached into the bag and pulled out a catnip ball. She chucked it lightly across the floor and the cat went scampering after it. Zoe had gotten her hair cut while out, so it was just below her shoulder blades and much more manageable. Also, she was wearing dark blue jeans, a new leather jacket, and a pale green t-shirt.

“Sam? I got you something!” Zoe said, pulling three things out of the bag. A new roll of gauze and duct tape, as wells as a black shirt. In bold neon pink lettering it said, ‘only true men wear pink.’ Zoe found it insanely amusing were as she wouldn’t know Sam’s reaction until he saw it. When she saw him next she held the shirt out for inspection. After Sam took it Zoe opened the box and pulled out food. Sitting down at the table she began to eat what she had bought.

Sam heard the front door open and shut, assuming it was Zoe returning with his new shirt, among other things apparently, she had helped herself to a new jacket, new jeans, a new shirt for herself, and a new haircut. The new shirt that she had bought Sam was of a questionable taste, he appreciated the humour and didn't mind wearing it in public. Sam spread out the shirt in front of him and read the logo with a smile, he turned to Amber and watched her play with a small ball as if it was a new member of the family, even when she had the mind of a human, she couldn't resist her animal temptations from time to time.

Zoe yanked out a box of food and sat down to eat, it appeared she didn't buy any food for him and he was quite envious of her as he watched her as he had not eaten anything substantial yet. "Where do you plan on going next? I mean, I don't even know where you come from" he was right, this entire time he had known her, not once did he ask her where she had come from, she had just appeared out of nowhere.

Zoe saw the look of hunger cross Sam’s face and wordlessly she reached into the box and hand him a bag filled with breakfast foods. Mainly doughnuts… but still food.

“Were do I come from?” She asked, looking amused. She was tempted to say when a mommy hunter and a daddy hunter love each other very much, but she didn’t. “Not here if that’s what you mean. “
She bit into her doughnut and chewed it thoughtfully. Zoe then said, “I plan on going back to were I come from, I need proper medical attention from a place that won’t freak out about the fact I have broken every bone in my body.”

The cat looked at her hard.

“Tell me… what do you know about The Underworld?”

Sam opened the box that was slid over to him and he took out a doughnut, with one swift bite, he quelled his hunger temporarily. Sam was getting what he wanted, he wanted to know where Zoe came from but she wasn't exactly making it easy for him. When she asked what Sam knew of the Underworld, Sam immediately thought that is where she came from, from the different things he had seen, he had not seen anything as attractive as her come out of a place like that, it was mostly a place of demons and dead spirits roaming it. "As far as I know, it is known by lots of different names, but its mainly known as the spiritual place down there" Sam pointed to the ground, almost dropping his doughnut in the process, Hell was typically known as the place where bad people go when they pass. "Although I prefer the spin that Disney took with it in Hercules, makes it feel like a better places when you know Hades is voiced by James Woods... that is if it is real..." Sam was just waiting for her to reassure him that it did in fact exist, and that she had come from there, another new weird friend to add to the collection he has started.

Zoe laughed at the look that crossed his face, “No. I wasn’t born there. I was born in Liverpool England in 1478. If you look up the name Catalina Elanes, that was the name I was born with. I was left on a couples doorstep. So I have no idea who my parents are. The underworld is very real and is nothing like in that petty movie Hercules. My accent has long since left me since I spend most of my time in the states. However I was in Scotland some thirty odd years ago and developed quite a strong accent.” She gave Sam a few minutes to digest this information before continuing.
“My people originate from the Underworld however, it is filled with dark creatures. Weres, Vampires, Demons… you name it.”

Zoe finished her doughnut and grabbed another pudding filled one. It was all sugar and fluff but they were delicious. She watched the cat go back to her toy before her eyes flicked to Sam.

"A fellow Brit huh?" Sam said to his surprise, "Never would have guessed it" at least he had something in common with her now. And the fact that she was born in 1478 was of some surprise, but he met a dragon guy back in England who was born way before that, these new people that he was meeting were being less and less impressive than the last, not to say that Zoe was not impressive. Sam had never seen any kinds of demons around before, which was probably a good thing, that is the best way to stay alive. Sam sat down on the table, on the opposite side of where Zoe was sitting, Amber hopped up onto the side and studied the sugary treats through the plastic lid of the box, Sam grabbed another one with his left hand and allowed Amber to lick the sugar off of his fingers on his right hand, something that tickled Sam slightly.

"Catalina Elanes..." he repeated the name out loud as he studied it, "That's a nice name, what made you change it?" he asked out of interest.

Zoe smiled sadly, “I haven’t been there since I was twenty. That’s probably why you couldn’t tell.”

Zoe had lived practically everywhere, Scotland, France, Norway, Belgium, and several other places. Learned most languages, dialects, and accents, as well as cooking native dishes, learning dances and customs.

“I have also lived many places, adopting their tongue and accents… so my accent is probably hidden under all of that. Give me a while of hanging around you and it should come back. My name changed for a few reasons,” Zoe said. “Mainly because my old name was dragged around a whole bunch and was bringing unwanted attention. Besides, I like Zoe better anyway.”

She reached into the box again and pulled out a cold container of chocolate milk. It was rather addicting stuff

Zoe sounded like she had lived a pretty interesting life and she has probably seen the majority of the entire world, something that Sam wished he had the time to do, too many places to see and not enough time. He peered over his shoulder to the multicolored crystal he had placed on a small pillow on a wooden desk, the same coloured shard that a woman known as Aurora gave him, apparently it was a way the two would be able to communicate, Aurora promised Sam that she would come up with some way to make him ageless but it would take some time, Sam was a patient man, but everyday he looked forward to the fact that he could become an ageless man who could possibly live forever, if not that, for a very long time. Sam has met a couple of people that do not age now, the more people he meets with the strange power, the more he wants it to himself, imagine if he was to find an ageless woman that he loved, then the two of them could be together forever.

Sam shook his head as his mind began to wander, he turned back to Zoe who was now drinking chocolate milk, if this was Zoe's idea of a meal, she would have a lot in common with Salone, it appears they both have a sweet tooth. Amber stepped onto Sam's lap on curled up into a ball, it seemed that Sam was stuck there now and for who knows how long. "Don't go to sleep on me" he said softly to the cat, almost as if he was begging. "Well I guess I don't have much else to offer you, you gave me some new gauze, duct tape and a... questionable shirt... in return for staying the night, I guess that makes us even, you can go whenever you feel like it" he looked back down to his cat and ruffled her ears before getting a response.

Finishing her drink Zoe pulled an apple out of her box and crunched on it, listening to Sam talk.
“That is an awesome shirt! Not questionable. I can always take it back and get the sparkly purple my little pony shirt.” She stated, being mock offended, reaching fingers towards the shirt sitting on a table. “I do need to leave so I can get this wound taken care of… “ She trailed off, clearly thinking before looking at the cat. “But before I leave, Cat! I know you are no cat. You reek too much of a different species all together. “

Zoe crossed her arms and stared at the multicolored being. The Arae was not stupid, she had her dumb moments yes, but she was not dumb enough to be blocked by a shape shifters guise. Zoe was well versed in such a thing, being one herself. “I can expect a little honesty, since I was honest with you.”

Sam's eyes widened when Zoe made the bold statement, he would try to cover up for Amber but she hadn't been making it easy for him, constantly judging Zoe whenever she was around, Sam could feel Amber's cat hairs stick up with fright as she turned her head to Sam. Zoe had been honest with him as far as he could tell, so in the interest of fairness he jabbed his head in Zoe's direction whilst looking to Amber, she meowed which Sam assumed was a sigh and she trotted off into the kitchen. She then slowly exited the kitchen as her human form, one hand grasped onto her other arm and rubbing it with her thumb, she seemed very nervous and she still stood quite close to Sam for protection which he was willing to give, her eyes darted between Sam, Zoe and the floor, with the floor getting the most attention, she must have felt like she was on show.

Zoe seemed pleased with herself, it appeared she knew there was something different about this cat all along but she just needed enough evidence to accuse. Sam looked to Zoe, "Are you happy now? Yes Amber can shapeshift between cat and a person and for obvious reasons, we wanted to keep it a secret for as long as possible."

It was silent until Amber said softly "Sorry..." as if she had done something wrong.

Zoe looked satisfied, sitting back in her chair. “I would understand why.”
That’s what Zoe did most of the time, hiding and waiting. Planning and recovering. Hunting, tracking, and finding… scrub, rinse, repeat. The same tasks daily.
“Thank you for being honest with me,” Zoe said standing. “Take care kid, don’t apologies for anything. It’s my fault for being to blunt anyway. Keep him away from the siren upstairs, once she gets her lips on him. Well… it’s not good. “
She picked her jacket up off the chair and made her way to the door, pausing to ruffle Amber’s hair.

Zoe had been pretty aggressive when trying to figure out what Amber actually was, and now that she had what she wanted, she seemed sorry for the girl. Zoe said goodbye to her and explained that the woman that Sam had been talking to was a "Siren", an attractive being that lures in people with their charm just to kill them and devour them, there was a good chance that Zoe was right, but Sam had already introduced himself and he did not have the ability to stop this woman if she was going to try and kill him, he just needed to act normal until he could figure out how to stop her, the only way he could think of was that Zoe could help him, but in the state she was in with her wound, it would be rude to ask for help.

Sam watched as Zoe picked up her coat and ruffled Amber's hair, she flinched slightly as she did it, she didn't know what Zoe was going to do to her, she probably could have killed her easily as Amber was quite a frail girl. Amber slowly moved and sat next to Sam on the table as Zoe looked around the house a bit more before heading to the door, "I doubt I will ever see you again, so good luck with whatever is you do" he said with a small smile.

Zoe gave him a sad smile, “Generally if I come in contact with a human… meeting them again is never a good thing.”
It was a sad but harsh truth. Zoe pulled on her jacket, zipping it up before opening the door and walking out. She had a very bad feeling about the siren. Zoe would be gone for about a week… it generally took longer than that to act…
***
Three weeks later…
It was hot in California as Zoe made her way across town as a stray dog, long and lanky with shaggy blonde brown hair.

Sam and Nicole had been on several dates now over the past few weeks, Nicole did not seem so bad, the two of them had a lot in common and they both shared the same sense of humour, perhaps Zoe was just saying a little white lie as a joke to shake Sam's confidence. Amber was not a fun of the pair, she would act strangely whenever Nicole was in the apartment and was not a fan of her at all, she took Zoe's sign seriously and constantly begged Sam to stop seeing her for his own safety.

The couple was returning from a date at an Italian restaurant, sharing stories and laughs on their return journey. They both jumped when they walked by an alleyway and heard a trash bin shake, but when a stray dog revealed itself as the creator of the nuisance, they both released a sigh of relief and continued back. They both entered the apartment complex, Nicole persuaded Sam to skip his apartment and go upstairs to hers, she disliked the cat more than she led on, and Sam could understand why, she was beginning to become quite annoying for the both of them.

Sam walked in and sat down on the couch before looking up to Nicole who said "Wait here, I have something that I need to do in the bedroom first" Nicole wandered off and Sam stood up to look around the house, Nicole had a lot of paintings on her walls of women sitting by the sea shore, she must have collected these paintings, after closer inspection, a man could be seen swimming towards each women in the picture, a strange edition to the image he thought. Sam stopped everything he was doing though when he heard a singing voice, the most beautiful voice he had ever heard before, he turned to his right to realize it was coming from Nicole's bedroom. Sam found himself slowly walking towards the singing voice, he wanted to find out if it was Nicole who was making it, he couldn't resist it.