A Promise of Death

Names.

I held my silver and black sister against my chest, walking slowly down the creaking wooden stairs. She was still shaking. The smell of warm, tasty food filled the air, and I could feel saliva forming in my mouth. Riella started purring, licking her muzzle. "Did you...." I started, looking down at her aquamarine eye with amusement. "You just purred...." I chuckled. Her ears tilted sideways, and she looked up at me with a confused glance. I smirked at her reaction.

"Are you coming?" the voice yells from below, and Riella bristles, a soft growl emerging from her lips.

"Riella," I warn her, holding her closer to my chest.

"How about you tell her to shift back," the woman says bluntly, appearing at the end of the staircase, a hand on her hip.

"She can hear you, and understand you perfectly well," I snap at her, my eyes narrowing. She shouldn't be so controlling-- I could shift and rip her face off!

I nearly drop Riella as she starts to shift. Whiskers fell back into her cheeks, which was losing fur in seconds. Her tail flicked and she fell the the ground, fully transforming. She wore a bright white tanktop, and white leggings. Her ears were flattened, and she stared at the woman, her lip curled and a growl escaping her throat. I smiled, always enjoying her ferocity.

"Brother," she mutters, and I take the sweatshirt that was over my shoulders and give it to her, where she then puts it on quickly.

"Sis, you didn't have to shift," I whisper, eyes brimmed with concern. She looked uncomfortable, having been in her cat form for a few hours.

"Simplicity," she replied softly, twitching an ear. She held out her hand, grasping my own.

"What are you feeding us?" I ask, unable to stand the grumbling in my stomach much longer. We were fed barely anything in the lab, and what we were fed was bland. She didn't answer.

I saw Riella studying the woman, so I took a quick scan of her myself. Her brown hair was tied into a tight braid, and she wore a shirt that went all the way down to her knees. Her leggings were black, and she had short, tan boots decorated on her feet. I could see Riella furrowing her brow, and a second later, she turned to me. "Colors?" she asked, her head tilted.

"I'm not sure," I begin, about to suggest a few ideas.

"Not sure of what?" the woman asked, obviously listening to our quiet conversation as we stood in front of her.

"My sister wants to know what color your clothing are," I hiss, my eyes lowered.

"Should I tell you?" she asks, looking at the girl in front of me.

"Name," the teen says, watching the woman with a curious bright eye. Her ears were flattened, however, as if she expected something bad to happen. Instead, the woman laughed, covering her mouth.

"My name is Arachne," she said, a large grin on her face.

"I was once a scientist at that ugly laboratory," she says, raising a hand to gesture towards me and my sister, "that you two were running from."

Fear grips my heart, and my blood turns to ice. I tense up, preparing to bolt any second.

"I ran off with a couple children; they were just like you," Arachne lowers her voice for the last part of the sentence in a comforting tone. "I was found out too early though, and the others murdered them. All of the eight children," she sighed, a slight, sad smile tugging at her face. She looked down. "I truly hope they are safe in a different place in our universe."

She shakes her head to clear her thoughts. "I don't know your names," Arachne says, a happy, caring smile now plastered onto her face, cheek to cheek. "Won't you tell me?"

Arachne nods to Rienna, "I want to know your name first, little balinese."

My sister flicks her head up, ears pricked. "R-Riella, Riella Red..." she stutters, confused.

"How about you Caracal big brother?" she questions, her eyes then flicking to my amber ones.

"31," I answer, remembering the name I was given when I was first taken to the lab. I've been called this number for so long, I don't even remember my real name.

"You aren't a number, I want your name, or haven't you got one?" Arachne asks, walking to the circular table that held the delicious food.

"He doesn't have one," Rienna growls, becoming defensive. "Leave him alone."

"Calm down, I merely asked a question, does he have a name to you or not?" Arachne answers with a calm, unflinching expression.

"He is my brother, and always will be," she hisses.

"What do you mean?" Arachne asks, who then looked at me again. I froze. Her eyes were like needles, piercing into my soul, reading my thoughts. I finally forced myself to look away, to the hardwood floor.

"How about you answer that question, Caracal," Arachne says, nodding to me again. I look up.

"She is my sister," I reply, spitting out the words, "She is the one of which I must protect, no matter what I promised Sophie I'd protect the next child," I continue, mentioning the scientist who had helped the two children. She was the only good that they had ever seen in this world, besides each other. She was thrown into the Grinder as punishment.

"Sophie..." Arachne mumbles, her eyes lost in thought. She narrowed her eyes, then her shoulders sagged, as if she knew her.

"Don't you say her name," Riella growls, still in front of me. I glance towards her, an eyebrow raised in surprise.

"She helped us," I sigh, barely audible to the older woman.

"Is she alright?" Arachne asked, genuine worry in her soft gaze.

"No," Riella growls, crossing her arms.

"She died ten years ago, when I was 7," she continued, her eye twitching. I squeeze her hand, letting her know she had said too much. I could tell she was about to shift again. Riella stiffened, but started to calm down as I spoke.

"What would my name be?" I ask her, turning her so she could look at me. "Riella? What would my name be to you?"

"You want me to name you?" she inquires, her eye widening. "I would name you Felix, because you're fast, you're unexplainable kind, and you're a cat," She replies. She seemed as if she was excited to name me.

I contemplated the name, staring at the white ceiling. Felix. I nod, and smile at her. Felix.

"I agree, little balinese kitten, seems you are capable of more than anger," Arachne teases, her smile dropping when Riella spun to face her, spitting, her eye cold with anger.

"Anyway, Felix, Riella, are you hungry? Food's going to be cold if you don't hurry up and eat," Arachne says, pointing to the meat on the tray that sat on the wooden table.

Riella gives me a hungry look, then drags me towards the table. I licked my lips as I stared at the warm food.

NEXT UP IS @KonKonRacuza FOR RIELLA'S POV