Bound By Blood Part Four

Bound By Blood - Part Four

Machete knew instantly something wasn't right the moment he and Macavity entered the warehouse. The cats gathered had fear etched over their features as Machete stalked through them, supporting his master, whose breathing was ragged as he neared closer to feint. Blood loss, no doubt. The cats parted like water as Machete led the leader down hallways and flights of stairs to Macavity's private room. He kicked the well-oiled door open.

Macavity's room was designed to fit his liking: the floor covered with various sizes of satin and velvet pillows scattered over a fluffy sheepskin carpet. The best pick of loot was stored here for Macavity's doing, but the gold items and jewels held little comfort for him now. Machete gently settled Macavity down on the pillows, and turned to yell over his shoulder in a commanding voice.

"Fisher!"

Fisher, a slim, cinnamon-brown queen with a crafty look about her, appeared in the doorway after only a few moments, leaning casually against it with her arms crossed. Fisher was a dealer in various items, most of which consisted catnip and other herbs and poisons. She had no power beyond her extremely clever brain, but knew how medicines went as far as healing was concerned. She was also Machete's sister.

With a low whistle, Fisher's eyes wandered over the room and the treasures it possessed. "Nice digs," she commented. "He does get the best of everything."

Machete glared at her in annoyance and gestured her over. "He needs help."

Fisher cocked an eyebrow and looked over Macavity's limp form with a demeanor of expertise. "Right. I'll fix 'em up. You might wanna check downstairs...somethin' happened."

Machete knew he couldn't trust Fisher alone in that room, but he really had no choice. Experience told him she would go no further than to steal a pawful of the best items, for she had nothing to gain from killing Macavity. With only that as assurance, he stole away downstairs.

Seriah was the unfortunate cat to break the bad news to Machete. The Abysinnian stormed into the room, making his presence well-known as though it wasn't already, and grabbed the nearest cat, spitting the question into his face, doing his best to invoke the same fear as they held in reserve for Macavity. It worked. "What happened?"

Seriah trembled under Machete's unblinking stare, and whimpered nervously as the cats around him fell silent. "The old cat we brought in," he stammered. "He's...gone!"

In his haste to get Macavity to safety, Machete had forgotten the ancient Jellicle Macavity had abducted. His eyes slowly scanned the room, and true to Seriah's word there was no sign of him. Machete's voice rose though his face remained calm.

"I suppose he just disappeared before your eyes, right?"

Seriah nodded vigorously. "Exactly! There was a flash of light...and...he was gone! Just like that!"

The nods from the cats around him confirmed Seriah's story. The rusty Abysinnian sighed wearily and released his hold on Seriah. Macavity wasn't going to like this.

Fisher had incredibly sticky paws. No sooner had she attached the last clean white bandage around Macavity's middle had her eyes begun to rove over the beautiful items gathered in the room. She stood from her knees and rubbed her paws together, speaking softly to herself.

"Let's see now, Cav...what things in here could be worth your miserable life? A silver cup, perhaps? Nah. Maybe a handful o' those jewels? Or that necklace? Hmm, that could fetch a fine price on the market." Her cinnamon-brown paw unhesistantly reached out for a brilliant gold necklace with a single bright green emerald laying on a purple cushion near Macavity's side. Her claws had only brushed it when a flash of red and black made her cry out in surprise as a hand clamped over her wrist, claws digging in deep. Her shocked expression turned to see Macavity, still resting where he was, but glaring up at her with insanely evil eyes.

"No one takes anything from me," he growled under his breath. He pulled Fisher close, his menacing voice rising to a delirious scream. "You hear me? No one! Nothing! That includes Demeter!" He threw her paw away and laid back, clamping his hands over his eyes as he continued to scream. "Get out! Get out! Get oooouuuuuuuut!"

Fisher stumbled backwards and dashed from the room, eventually the entire building, fearing for her life. Macavity's maniacal scream could be heard even as she ran down the dark streets. "No ooooooooooone!"

The Jellicle Ball had come to a close; Deuteronomy had been returned via the magic of Mistoffelees; a cat had been chosen to travel up into Heaviside; the Jellicles one by one made their way back home. All was as it should be, or so it seemed.

Demeter had passed through the magical wonders of it all in a daze. Her mind remained solely on Macavity, the tom who claimed to be her father, and nothing she could think of could chase his fiery image from her mind. Macavity...Macavity...

Demeter dragged her weary self home after avoiding being escorted by Bombalurina, only to find two sides of herself conflicting in her mind. One side was Demeter the Jellicle, who knew the abduction and battle tonight only proved Macavity was as evil as the Jellicles always said he was. Heartless, merciless, brutal...only a few terms that fit him completely. This side hated him. This side knew Macavity would stop at nothing to get her to go with him.

The conflicting side, Demeter the individual, saw things differently. The abduction and the fight she only saw as acts of desperation; ways of showing Macavity truly could care for his daughter if she would only allow him. This side remembered the way Macavity looked at her when she called for him to stop. In that one look, for a fleeting moment, there was no hate, no anger, no deception. This side of Demeter found herself loving Macavity, as only one could love her father. And then there was Alonzo...

Demeter slipped into her human's dwelling through the propped-open window in the kitchen, unnoticed. The house was dark and quiet, the humans having not awakened yet. Mentally and physically exhausted, Demeter dragged herself to her comfortable basket set next to the fireplace, which lay still with only a hint of embers still burning. She circled thrice and settled down, bringing her tail up to her nose and shutting her eyes tight, hoping a night's worth of sleep would help her to clear her mind and think things out. Slowly, she drifted off.

Demeter woke she knew not how long later. Groggily she blinked and looked up. Sunlight streamed through the window, dust dancing through the golden shafts. Demeter's limbs were stiff and sore as she climbed out of the basket. She wasn't used to dancing so much in one night. Slowly, she padded to her pink foodbowl set on the kitchen tile floor and sniffed at the food. She took a few bites of the dry, crunchy stuff and resolved it tasted awful. Her stomach still rumbled with hunger, and she slipped out the same kitchen window, hoping to find food somewhere in the city. But she couldn't outrun it. The memories from the previous night came flooding back to her, and all she could so was wander the streets in anguish.

"Demeter."

Demeter turned, already knowing who it was that spoke. She met his eyes, but didn't say anything. There was no need to. The look on his face said it all. She ignored it.

"Where's Alonzo?"

Munkustrap sighed, eyes falling in disappointment at her first choice of question. "I don't know."

Demeter's guilt and regret was plain to see. It was her fault they were driven apart. She'd put Alonzo up to it. She had followed her heart, and here was where it had gotten her. She thought about the toms...why she felt so strongly towards them both.

"What do we do now?"

"We go back to the junkyard," he said resolutely. "And we forget about any of this." He held out his black paw to her. "We're still mates."

Demeter stared for a long while at his thick paw, following it up to his handsome face. There. She felt it. The rush of feeling coursing through her veins at the brush of his paw against her arm. The rush...the feeling...the fire. She knew what she had to do.

She pulled away. "No, Munkustrap."

Munkustrap didn't try to draw nearer. His face was grave. He knew what was inevitable. "You're going, aren't you? You're going to him?"

Demeter shook her head. "No. Not Alonzo."

"What happened to us, Dem?" he ventured, begging. "We were mates. We were happy. Wasn't I enough? Why'd you go to Alonzo?"

She sighed, feeling the burn of tears welling in her eyes. She fought them back. She couldn't cry. Not in front of him. "There's things inside us...all of us...that make us do things. You can't change them. Some are good, some are bad. That's what devides the good and the bad." She drew out the silence, knowing her next words would be a deciding blow. "It's what devides us."

"Demeter..." He caught her eyes, pleading silently for her not to go. Demeter met him squarely, her heart pounding. This was her mate she was leaving. This was the point of no return. If she left him now, she could never come back. The fire...

"Go," Munkustrap broke the silence that threatened to choke him. He turned away, ducking his head. "Go to him, then. If that's what you want. Go."

Demeter hesitated a moment. Perhaps there was still time. "Munkustrap. I love you."

The tabby didn't say anything. Neither breathed. Demeter turned, and ran.

It's not love, Demeter...

Macavity's haunting words echoed through her memory, bringing an involuntary shudder through her again despite the warm sun on her back as she raced, blinded by tears. What if his words were true? That she loved neither Munkustrap or Alonzo? She was merely acting upon...urges? It was a hard truth to face, but the more she thought about it...the more it seemed real. Macavity was her father, there was no doubt about it. Now the question was could she accept him? That his blood ran in her veins? That her actions may very well be a reflection of his own?

It didn't matter now. This mere act of running away from her mate to the cat that stood against all she had been raised to believe would seal her fate, and she knew as much as Munkustrap himself that she would never be able to return. Her mate may have been able to forgive her for breaking their bond with each other, but the Jellicle tribe would never forgive her for this. Never.

There was only one place she could turn now.

Macavity's lair was a center of confusion and bickering-nothing unusual-after the news spread of Macavity's being wounded. Machete alone kept order among the potential mutineers, at the same time administering to his master's wounds. It was no easy task for the Abysinnian.

"Here, sir," he said in his smooth voice as he held a silver beaker of red wine out to him. Macavity took it on his own, leaning back against his prop of pillows with a sigh as the liquid partially numbed the sting under his bandages.

"Ahh, nothing like warm red wine."

Machete nodded dutifully. "Yes, sir." Macavity emptied the goblet in another gulp and handed it back to his right-hand cat.

"How are my followers faring?"

"Better than was expected, sir. There have been brawls and wagers as to whether you will live, but the outspoken mutineers have been punished to the point to silence any other suspects."

"Good. No one is to leave this building until I give word. You may go."

Machete bowed, his whiskers brushing the ground, then turned to leave the Mystery Cat's private chamber.

"Machete, wait."

The Abysinnian stopped, turning back from where he stood holding the door. Macavity lay where he'd propped himself up, eyes slitted dangerously. He gestured his right-hand cat back in, and nervously Machete shut the door and stepped forward, standing respectively with his head lowered.

"Machete, what do you remember about Demeter's mother?"

He'd hit a nerve, and it showed. "I...remember, sir...that you took a liking to her after I'd...brought her here, sir."

"But if I recall, it was you who claimed her to be your mate."

Machete clenched his eyes shut, forcing his voice to remain steady. "It was against your wishes, sir. I did no such thing."

"Don't lie to me, Machete. You loved her. She loved you. I came along after you two became mates. Perhaps I was jealous. But it was my kittens she bore, not yours. And then she was killed." He waited, watching the Abysinnian's lowered face intently. "Doesn't it make you angry?"

"Not if it pleased you, sir."

"You're a strange cat, Machete. Any other tom would have fought me to the death. But you continue to serve me after what I did. Why?"

"If this is a question of my loyalty, sir, I assure you mine is complete."

There seemed to be no way to get under that hard outer core built around the Abysinnian. He kept his anger bottled, hiding under the mask of a mindless machine which did only as Macavity ordered. His extreme loyalty was indeed a thing that puzzled the Mystery Cat. "Very well. You may go."

Machete turned and left without a sound, just as mindless as when he'd entered. Macavity admitted only to himself Machete was the closest thing he had to a friend, and on his current path the slim rust-colored cat's future did not look bright. But Machete walked away, once again surrendering all his will to the Hidden Paw.

Macavity was on the verge of sleep when he heard the familiar creak as the door to his room opened and closed with a clang. The proceeding outraged voices from beyond he thought nothing of, thinking they were only the bickerings of his followers. He opened his eyes and raised his head to see who it was, and gasped.

"How'd you get in here?" he growled after a moment or regaining his composure.

"Machete," Demeter said simply, hands folded behind her back. For a long while silence reigned.

"...why...?"

"I've come home," Demeter said softly, her voice quiet even though the room was enveloped in silence. Macavity slowly pushed himself into a sitting position, only half-believing she was actually there.

"Demeter..." he gasped, equally quiet. His sunken gold eyes never left hers as his arm raised and slowly he extended his hand. As though in slow motion, Demeter gracefully took a step forward and gently set her small hand in his. Black paw closed over white. The barriers fell. The bond was sealed. Demeter let out a sound mixed between a laugh and a sob and fell forward, throwing her arms around him.

A small tear traced down Demeter's cheek as she felt Macavity's embrace returned around her, and buried her nose into his unkept fur. "I've come home," she said again. "Father."

THE END