Two Worlds Apart

Miut

I walked around the house, trying to find the kitchen I was formerly introduced to Alessandro last night. After my meeting with Alessandro, Mrs Kinston checked me out and said that I was fit for tasks, but should get a good night’s rest first. No one came to wake me up this morning which was a relief but my internal clock woke me up a few minutes past noon. I really needed to find my phone.

The house was unusually quiet, but I could hear a whole lot of cheering and yelling coming from outside. I followed the sound, noticing the tray of chocolate chip and vanilla flavoured muffins sitting on the counter. I looked around me once before taking one and heading outside. I was still in the clothes of yesterday only difference was I didn’t put on any shoes since I fell asleep on that amazing bed. I ate the muffin, craving to go get another one but my curiosity was more directed ahead of me.

You would think that this was a hotel the way the hedges and trees were manicured. I walked down a worn path quietly, listening to the shouts and whoops getting louder. The crowd sounded extremely excited. I noticed a crowd around the tennis courts and stopped, staring at the scene with something close to horror sown onto my face.

Inside the fenced walls, two cats were fighting furiously to get the upper hand. It looked like a leopard and mountain lion. I watched them, mesmerised as they fought furiously with a mixture or awe and terror. But mostly outrage, furious at these people who found entertainment in this. The mountain lion nearly pinned the leopard on the back, but the leopard kicked it off. The amber eyes of the leopard glowed as it snarled and bared its teeth at the mountain lion, more mocking then an actual threat. The lion snapped its jaws at the leopard, becoming more agitated and began circling its attacker.

Unknowingly, I had walked closer to the tennis courts and was slipping in between the crowds to get a better look of the fight. The crowd was screaming at the two animals with excitement that it reminded me of the gladiator fights in the Ancient Roman era. I looked around at the crowds of people and felt myself want to run at the scents of the felines cloaked around me, unfamiliar but also feeling at home here. A girl with long light brown hair was next to me, watching the fight with amusement and shouting out encouragement from time to time.

“Kick his ass, Ari!” She laughed softly but stifled it when the guy standing behind her with his arms around her shoulders growled a warning.

“Ari better kick his ass. I got a lot riding on him winning.” The guy said gruffly, his eyes narrowing on the two cats who tackled one another again.

“Calm down, Jason. Ari knows how to handle himself.” She rolled her eyes, smiling up at the guy and catching me watching them. She shot me a friendly smile and I was about to smile back when my attention was snapped back to the fight.

The sounds were dangerous but exciting, the urge to shift increasing as they continued to wrestle each other into a submissive hold. Claws dug into fur and drew blood, leaving gashes on the shoulders of the mountain lion. The lion and leopard clawed at each other back and forth, each drawing new slices of blood along their forelegs and shoulders. There was something graceful about the way they fought, twisting out of each other’s reach just before they could pin each other down.

My eyes were stuck on the leopard, noticing the small things that indicated that the lion was being toyed with. The leopard jumped on the lion’s back, biting into its shoulder and clamped down its jaw until I heard a crunch. I smelt the blood and felt the crowd’s volume increase gradually, knowing that the end of the fight was near. 

The lion roared and went down on his belly, exhaustion showing as he couldn’t buck off the leopard. The leopard jumped off and circled the fallen lion, chuffing warnings at it. The lion submitted to the leopard and the crowd went wild. The lion sent out a soft growl and shifted back to his human form, a dirty blonde guy laying curled up on the tennis courts covered in slashes on his arms and 4 streaks on his back. The leopard snapped its jaws at the guy curled up on the ground and smoothly shifted back to his human form, standing up from his hands and knees and rolled his shoulders. He wasn’t that bad looking, his black hair almost shaggy and his eyes flashed amber before fading back to a dark brown. The impression of an mixed bloodline was prominent but also something cat like about him.  He flashed a smirk at the crowd and walked to the side of the tennis courts where he started to dress, wiping away the blood streaked across his arms. I watched him, my mind reverting back to the leopard he was when he shifted. My attention was pulled away by a couple of guys arguing next to me though.