Redemption

Chapter One

Chapter One

The blaring alarm clock sounded through the bedroom. Had he not already awoken, the loudness would have woken Darius Laporte. As usual, he hadn’t slept well during the night and woke long before the alarm went off. He had stayed in bed, hoping he could fall asleep again, but that never happened. He turned the alarm off, allowing silence to reign in the apartment. At least, it was as silent as it could be given that he lived in a major city. It never was truly quiet, but his apartment came very close to it.

                As he got out of bed, he crashed into the table next to his bed, nearly knocking over the lamp. Swearing, he caught it and steadied it. Once the lamp was out of danger, he looked to the foot of his bed, and saw nothing but blankets. He walked over to the window and looked out, hoping to catch a glance of gray fur on the fire escape or in the alley below, but he saw no signs of movement anywhere. Once again, his only friend had gone out early in the morning, leaving him alone.

                “Stupid cat,” he grumbled under his breath, although he didn’t mean the words. He loved Viceroy more than anything in the world and recently, she was his only motivation to get out of bed in the morning. Another day with her was always one worth living, even with all the drawbacks. Such as lack of sleep. He took one last look outside, but she wasn’t in view. If he really wanted to , he could find her easily enough as they shared a special bond. All he had to do was concentrate on the lihnyg and feel for her, but the thought made him frown.

                Lihnyg. The Anitreh word for the bond shared between human and animal. He had used the term most of his life, but after being betrayed by the Anitreh, he wanted nothing to do with them. Not even with their language. Unfortunately, there were many Anitreh words that Darius constantly found himself using as they were so deeply ingrained in his mind and so very simple. No other language had a way to convey the meanings of some of the Anitreh words.

                Darius stepped away from the window and left his bedroom, trying to force all thoughts of the Anitreh from his head. The last thing he needed to think about at that moment was the Anitreh. He crossed his messy living room into the even messier kitchen, making a mental note to clean his place up eventually. His coffee maker sat in its usual spot on the counter, surrounded by dirty dishes. Inside the pot sat week old coffee. He hadn’t gotten around to dumping it out before he left town on his latest mission. When he opened a cabinet to grab more coffee grounds, he remembered that he had run out. When he made the last batch, he thought he’d have time to get more before leaving, but he had run out of time and by the time he returned last night, it simply wasn’t on his mind.

                Now he needed coffee. Or anything with caffeine. He glanced at the week-old coffee and considered it. It did have caffeine. He grabbed the pot and took a sip, and then nearly spit it out. There was no way he was going to drink that. Even he had his limits. Feeling even grumpier than he had before, he returned to his bedroom He needed coffee and it was obvious he had to go out for that, and if he had to go out, he didn’t want to look as horrible as he felt.

He took a quick shower and when he stepped back into his bedroom to get dressed, he saw his friend back from her morning walk around the city. The snow leopard was laying on the bed, steely blue eyes watching Darius carefully, as if she were a predator observing her prey before deciding on the best method for attack. Darius knew he had nothing to fear from her, however.

“Hey Viceroy,” he said, a slight smile forming for a brief moment. He stepped over to his bed and pet her gently on the head, which he followed with a good scratch behind the ears.

Feeling a bit better with Viceroy back home, he stepped over to his closet. Like the rest of his apartment, it was a disorganized mess. Looking through, Darius decided that all his regular clothes needed to be washed. Another chore to add to the list. He found the least dirty t-shirt and pair of jeans he had and threw them on and headed out the door. His clothes may not be in perfect  condition, but he only planned on going to his favorite coffee shop two blocks away.