Episode 2-1
Returning Home


'So now you know how my story started. It's been a while since then, although I'm still atending Ranson. I had taken on a few more demons, and things were getting exciting.'

It was late. Almost midnight. Kain and Cat sat on his bed as they talked. Kain was planning on heading into town for the coming long weekend.

"It's dangerous for you outside your territory," Cat said seriously.
"Come on, Cat, I've beaten plenty of demons," Kain was trying to assure her. "I'll be fine."
"It's not just the demons I'm worried about, Kain," she said, hinting at something.
"What are you talking about?" asked Kain. Cat responded with only a sigh.

"You're not the only one, Kain."
"Yeah... I know that there are other Chosen besides me. What of it?" he asked.
"Wandering outside of your territy can bring you a lot of trouble," Cat warned him. "Don't ever let your guard down."
"Don't worry, I won't, Cat," Kain assured her.

By the next morning, he was riding a bus back home, along with many of the other students. His parents were out for the weekend, so he'd have the house to himself. While he'd like to be able to see them, he knew that they were planning to stay home during most of the other holidays, so he'd still get to see them sometime. He also wasn't sure how to explain the mark visible on his forehead, which he knew they'd question.

It really hadn't seemed like long before it was starting to darken outside. His parent had left a note with some emergency phone numbers stuck to the fridge, as well as another telling him that there were some frozen dinners in the freezer should he not feel like cooking anything.

Certainly, this was what Kain went to. He opened the freezer and began his excavation for something decent. There was plenty there which he could easily pick out and put in the microwave for a few minutes. It wasn't long after his dig had started that it was over, and he put an opened tupperware container with a generous amount of lasagna into the microwave. He threw a couple pieces of bread into the toaster, and he smiled, glad that his father had finally had the circuts fixed the previous summer, else he'd have blown a fuse, having both appliances on at once.

The toast popped up, he buttered it and placed it on a small plate, before fetching a fork out of a drawer, retrieved the lasagna from the microwave, and headed to the living room. He set them down on the coffee table and, with a quick flicking motion, picked up one of the nearby remotes on the table, lifted it up, turning the television on, and placing the remote back down again.

The news was on. That was fine. He picked up his tupperware and fork and started on supper as the evening news played on the sceen.

"Not an hour ago was there another victim of a dangerous, vicious cat, which has been terrorizing south-western Mairwell over the past four days," announced a man on the screen. Kain's interest was peaked. That was the area of town he lived in.
"It's huge, and it's black," cried a woman, presumably the victim, who had large scratches all over her body. "A man saw me panicking, and he quickly let me into his car and drove away from there."

"This is the sixth victim, with four badly injured and one fatality," said the first voice. "Victims claim that it is a black cat, at least as large as they are, that attacks before you even see it. Most of these claims are considered skeptical, but are still being considere by the police as they continue their search to locate this dangerous feline. Says Chief Grey, officers taking part in the search are to be armed and defend themselves if necessary." A photo of the officer showed on the screen. "Citizens are advised to take caution  when wandering the town's south-west."

After that, the announcer went on to discuss other recent events. Kain was silent, his fork stuck in his lasagna and ready to bring his supper to him to eat, but was frozen in place. Slowly he put the container back down. He had only eaten a few bites, and hadn't touched his toast.

Kain put away the dinner he hadn't even eaten and walked out. Almost eight o'clock. He had suspicions about this killer cat.

As he wandered down the street, he sensed another presence, and abruply stopped. A large shadow jumped down from above him, and landed with a crash onto a nearby dumpster. It fit the discription perfectly, but there was more. It glared at him with blood-red eyed, and had a blood-thirsty aura about it.

"Gate of Hell, open!" he shouted. In an exact reverse of when he closed the gate, black markings appeared under his eyes, and his right hand took it's claw-like form. This demon needed to be sealed, or else it would hurt a lot more people.

It tried to jump down onto him, but a quick swipe with his shadow knocked the demon toward a wall. The feline made sure to surprise him when it landed against the wall, then jumping back toward him, claws aiming to tear him in half. He used his shadow to knock it back down the alleyway several meters, although it landed on its feet again. Almost just as quickly, it lunged at him another time, and he had little choice but to send it into the wall again, and back away to make sure he was too far to try to pounce on from the wall.

This time, though, when the cat landed on the wall, the wall suddenly seemed to collapse over it. The demon dropped to the ground, and dissolved into the shadows edging the wall. Kain hadn't done that. He turned. There was another, near the wall behind him. The boy, hidden under the cover of the shadows cast in the alleyway, watched him now with cold, dark eyes.