Chapter 6
Bella
Bella purred lightly as the human stroked her back. The cat rolled over onto her back.
Bella wondered why Liberty was being so rude to her. All Bella did was say "hi" to her. Of course Bella had come into her home without much warning, but Liberty could at least try and be nice to her.
The white cat almost followed the human as he walked out of the room and across the hall way. She sighed as she was left alone in the room on the soft bed.
Bella had a better chance of being friends with the elderly dog than Liberty, even though she didn't speak dog, Bella only could understand other cats. Liberty, it seemed, was different-even for a house cat. She still wondered how Liberty could understand what the humans said. Maybe she just made that up so she could give her a new name?
Then Bella began to wonder if the mysterious cat could understand the dog, too. Now that would be weird.
Bella rested for a few moments on the bed. She was wishing she could be back in the wild again with her family.
Maybe I could ran away and find them, she suggested to herself.
Then again, she could be much to far away to find them. Like her, they could be in a safe home as a pet. There was no way all of her family members could possibly live locked up in a home like this and be happy with it; mainly her brother, Leon.
Bella would do anything to help her brother from being trapped, because it was him, most of all, who would hate it. But, she didn't see Leon in any of the cages at the building the humans had held her as prisoner. He could still be some were in the wild, but alone.
The cat tried to ignore the problems and laid her head down to rest for a little. Bella hoped for a good dream.
Bella blinked open her eyes to see it was early morning. She jumped down from the bed, yawed and stretched her back. She quietly and careful made her way down the steps.
She wasn't used to the human den, yet. It was different from the dens in the forest.
When she got to the bottom floor Bella pricked her ears as she heard Liberty talking to someone, Another cat?
Bella stalked to the front door to hear Liberty on the other side.
"And that’s not all," Bella heard her say.
She sat near the side of the door to listen in.
"You see it wasn't just a dream..." Liberty trailed off.
Bella began to wonder who the cat was talking too. The only cat in the house was her and Liberty.
There was the dog...She can't be talking to the dog!
But Bella must have been wrong; she could hear the dog murmuring a reply.
"Yes,” Liberty replied to the dog as he finished. "And everything started to come back to me."
Bella somewhat felt relieved that Liberty wasn't talking about her.
"So this thought came to my mind like a memory," She went on, "My death, it must have been years ago."
Bella narrowed her eyes and become more interested in what Liberty was saying. Her death? What in the world could she be talking about?
"I would predict about 40 years ago. I know this must sound crazy Bob, but when I died... that is when I came back to life and became this way."
For a moment Bella was confused. Why was Liberty talking about her dying and coming back from death, and then... "Became this way?"
Why was she talking to Bob...a dog? Bella really wanted to confront Liberty and ask her what she was talking about. Maybe this cat is just insane.
Bella did notice her blazing red eyes, too. Did that have something to do with it?
"Thank you Bob, I'm glad you understand."
Understand what? That she is insane?
Before she could be spotted, Bella made her way on to the far end of the red couch in the front room. She was ready for more time to nap.
Shaking off the creepy thought that came to her mind about Liberty, Bella tried to sleep.
As soon as sleep started to overwhelm her she heard a voice call her name, “Isabella!"
But it wasn't Liberty; it was a tom cat's voice.
"Isabella? That's your name, right?"
Bella became startled. Who could it be?
"Hello?" she said looking around.
There was no cat in sight.
"Who's there?" she called out when there was no reply.
Bella began to think that she was only hearing things.
She heard the tom cat speak again, "Oh it's only me," he said, "Can you see me?"
Bella looked around and then spotted the cat as he made his way closer to the sofa she stood on.
"Y-Yes, Who are you and what are you doing here?"
She suddenly felt scared because a stranger was in the home, obviously unwelcome. What would Liberty do?
Bella crawled back to make room as he jumped onto the sofa close to her. Her heart lurched and she flinched back as she saw multiple claw scar marks covering his brown tabby pelt. He wore a black fabric around his head covering his eyes.
"I'm Toby," he announced.
"I am...well you can call me Bella."
She looked at the cat and saw how deep the scars on his pelt were. Most of them looked like opened wounds that were deep enough that it could have killed.
"Are you okay?" she asked forgetting that this cat was an unwelcome stranger.
"Oh I'm fine," he sounded back in a sarcastic tone.
"Also what is with that black fabric tied over your eyes? Wouldn't you want to see?" Bella asked ignoring his sarcastic answer.
"You want to see why?"
Bella thought for a second. How could she see why?
"Um, okay."
She wasn't to sure about this.
Toby bent his head and pawed at the fabric to pull it off of his head. Bella gasped.
Toby's whole left side of his face was clawed away to reveal a nasty scar and both of his eyes were completely gone.
"Oh!"
Bella understood it now. The fabric covered his eyes to hide the scars and he couldn't even see if he didn't wear it.
"What happened to you? And-and why are you in...My home?" she asked the question as it came to her mind again.
"Well, this home was once my home," the tabby began, “I...I don't even know how I’m talking to you," He said, turning his scared face away from Bella, "I died here years ago.."
The she-cat felt numb from shock. First Liberty and now this cat, Toby? What is wrong with this world?
"It was Liberty," he went on when the white cat didn't respond, "She was the one who killed me!" His voice began to rise in anger. "And no; I am not a vampire too. I am a hopelessly lost soul!"
Bella was a bit too young to understand what he meant. She had the though that this cat that "died" was him as a spirit. Was she talking to a ghost?
"Vampire?" the question came inexplicably out of her.
"Yes. Liberty your home-mate is a vampire!"
Bella began to have the thought that maybe it was her going crazy.
"What is a vampire?"
Toby thrusted his scared face back to Bella, and said in a harsh tone, "They're murderers Bella! Liberty killed me because I was on her territory!"
Bella froze; "This is my mansion, my territory...honey!"
She swallowed hard as the words echoed in Bella's mind. Her belly clutched with fear.
"Oh but don't worry young cat. Just do what she wants you to and you should be just fine."
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