Crimson Smoke

Chapter 1 -home sweet home???-

<<<Nathaniel on the view

Nathaniel's POV

I was waiting with my luggage in my hand in the aisle to get to my seat. The plane from Paris to NC was packed. It took my three months after the "incidence" to save the ticket money from Istanbul to NC with one stop in Paris. Why Paris?? Well it was where it all started. I decided to finish some errands and say my goodbyes to some of my friends living here before going back to home for good

My very first time, out of US was to Paris. It was where I met the first foreign person who would be my first and best friend Joshua, a wereleopard of the Silverforest Panthera in Istanbul. He was also in Paris to study in university, like myself. After a few months later we became very good friends and we both went to visit his family and the panthera in Istanbul. The city the people the life it self in the city were so colorful and so engulfing that after a few more visits, I decided to live my life in Istanbul so I called my family in North Carolina, announcing my permanent stay in Turkey, Istanbul. They first thought I was braine washed by some terrorist group but after several visits back to NC with Jashua, they pretty much got the idea that I found myself some other panthera to continue my life. Although my family was a little disappointed with my line of choices eventually they came to terms with my never ending curiosity for discovering different places and trying different things but most of all my deep love for the city and its people.

Unlike werewolves we, wereleopards, use the word "panthera" instead of "pack". Comparing to hierarchy of werewolf packs our Alfa named as Krugen and Luna as Kunin. We don't have thirds and omegas or different layers in pantheras like werewolf packs. Everybody fights when push comes to show except kittens, well children in this case.

We love close proximity and touching more than werewolves probably because of the feline blood we have. For an outsider that may look pretty weird and uncomfortable but we don't care at all.

The mating process, which we name, the "claiming" process, is rather a very vicious process. Because once the claiming starts the leopard expects the partner to prove itself worthy. Strong and capable enough to protect and strengthen the leopard, the beast. During the claiming, the leopard goes on some kind of frenzy, attacking to kill its partner to test its strength and abilities. If the partner is worthy enough it should find a way to submit the leopard to its will without killing it while defending itself against leopard's deadly attacks. Most of the time incapacitating the beast or drawing some blood from a non-deadly wound suffice.

One of the biggest difference is, our mates are not always from among each other but sometimes from vampires. Probably because our leopards wants the strongest and most fitting mate who can strengthen them as well, which makes vampires a very edible choice. The bond that form during the claiming between the leopard and its partner cause the leopard to gain different abilities and strength depending on the partner's abilities. Therefore it is quite frequent for leopard to turn to or attracted to a vampire. The least the beast would gain is immortality of the vampire which in itself is quite promising let aside other abilities that could be gained.

Although it is the search of the leopard, almost always the claiming is started by the partner. That is probably the partner is more attracted to the leopard and its host and can't resist to start the claiming process. Once the process starts the leopard goes through some kind of process before the final claiming battle begins. It may take minutes to days before final battle begins depending on how much the leopard and its host resist the process

While I was thinking through my time in Istanbul, I realized I eventually got to my seat. I put my luggage to upper compartment and seated immediately, letting the queue behind me to proceed. Seated with a sigh I thought back my first day when I first saw my mate, Mikael, a Russian 400 year old vampire with the most captivating icy blue eyes and blond hair with ever present smirk on his face. Added to his very athletic appearance, a constant show-off attitude and confidence made Mikael a cause for drooling and great distraction ending me being the clumsiest wereleopard ever.