Upside Down

(1) Gullible Much?

Chapter 1

Wolf : Good :: Kitten : Bad

The large mansion-like house was eerily quiet.

Why?

I don't know.

We had been told there were butlers and cooks, nannies and maids, and dozens more of people, not to mention the actual family we were here for. But the entire staff and the rich Rufus family were gone, disappeared. Judging by their absolutely spotless house it wasn't a forced evacuation meaning they left by choice but why and where did they go?

The father of the family, Alexander Rufus, was one of the high ranks of the clan. He helped their 'Leader' with all their clan business. He was exquisitely rich, with a beautiful trophy wife, Arlandria. He had two children. Both of them were boys, but their first son, the prized Xavier, was deemed to be one of the most important teens in the pack.

And he was suppose to be here today.

The plan was ruined.

"I don't hear anyone." Grant uselessly told me as if I hadn't already figured it out.

"They're all gone, dip shit." I said back, smacking his head. "Of course you don't hear anyone."

"Hey! I just thought it was weird because I thought I smelled someone earlier." He whined, rubbing his head through his brown curls.

I paused. I had thought I smelled someone too earlier.

"Which direction?" I growled and he pointed left, down a cream and blue colored wall. I turned that way, having Grant follow close behind. The hall was long and filled with paintings of fish and oceans but none of that matter as soon as I got to the end with the red door. I smelt it, a cat.

They were disgustingly pompous creatures, prissy too. They took only the finest for them, the best jewels, the optimum entertainment, and unrivaled extordinary lives. I could see this in the Rufus family too as they were known to be very, very, very high class, making sure they were top of the social ladder excluding the clan leader. All their furniture was white leather and designer brands, with clean white tiles perfectly alligned in the kitchen with beautifully crafted sculptures and paintings. They had hand-crafted pillows with silk coverings and thousand dollar Egyption bedding to go on their tall curtained beds, which were about the size of a small yacht.

Not a single thing out of place with a perfect color scheme and symetry. It was just too perfect. I was kind of tempted to knock something over just for the heck of it.

But that would have been inappropriate. We were on a 'mission' of sorts I guess you could say and I knew as I opened to red door to my right that the real action was about to start.

I smelled a cat.

Looking around the room I could tell it was the entertainment room, with its large leather sofa shaped in an L, plasma TV and surround sound. But the cat (a little girl of maybe fourteen or fifteen) was standing in front of the fish tank just watching the fish swim by. She was in very baggy dress, maybe three to four sizes too large, and her long black hair was a mane of tangles covering her head and most of her back.

Thankful, of the plush carpet, I silently walked behind her hoping for a quick grab so we could leave with something at least but then she turned.

Grant and I both jumped, startled out of our wits.

We thought we had been silent!

Not only that, but the girl, she looked like a ghost. The little girl was so small, so thin in her giant white dress which seemed to be two squares of fabric sewn together with no shape and just hung off her like a jacket on a coat rack. She looked like she could break any second, like she was made out of thin and colored glass. Her skin was pale like she hadn't been outside in years and her face a little sunk in. She looked up at me with big grey eyes with dark blue ringing around the edges of her iris.

"Hi." She whispered in a cute small voice shyly and smiled at Grant and me before turning back to the glowing fish tank, taking in the multi-colored fish with gusto.

Hasn't this girl ever heard of that 'don't talk to strangers' thing? Then again she has probably been around so many servants she doesn't even know them all. I smiled; we could use this to our advantage.

"What are you doing home alone?" I asked giving a smile with felt maybe a little too sickly sweet but she only gave me a bright eyed smile.

"Daddy is gone today and said I could do whatever I want!" She exclaimed.

Daddy is gone for a whole day, on a Friday and all you do is watch dumb old fish swim around in your stupid little fish tank? Lame.

Wait did she say 'Daddy'?

"So you're the only one here?" Grant questioned hopefully. The little girl nodded and I was doing a happy dance in my head. This was too easy. "Why are you here anyway?"

"My family lives here," She answered, her smile now gone. "Why?"

"The Rufus family?" I asked a little confused. She had to be one of the maid's or cook's families. The Rufus' didn't have a girl. They had two boys with Xavier being the oldest and Charles being the youngest.

But again, the little girl nodded.

The Rufus family had a girl? Did they adopt? No, no, they wouldn't adopt because they wouldn't let 'disgusting scum from the street' come into their nice clean and expensive home. She must really be their's and they hid her from us? The wolves? She must be very, very, important for them to hid her all those years.

How long have they been hiding her?

"Hey, your Daddy told us to come bring you somewhere." Grant told the girl. "Follow us?"

"Okay," she girl smiled again showing slightly crooked teeth.

Gullible much?

Immediately, she took my hand (took my freaking hand!) and motioned for me to lead. I was staring shocked at the girl then glared at Grant who was trying to hide his laugh behind his hand.

Stupid little girl.

"Come on," I demanded to her a little gruffly as I lead her out.

"So, what's your name, little girl?" Grant asked as we opened the front door. Not really a point in being stealthy if there's no one there.

"Kriss," She answered cheerfully. "What about you?"

Grant smiled at her. He was a softly, Grant, loved little kids especially girls since his wife just gave birth to a little girl. "I'm Grant and this is Emerson."

I grunted at her as she tilted her head to the side. "That's a funny name, Emerson." I growled, slightly annoyed as I set her in the back of the van. This was going to be a long ride.

[Unknown Location]

They looked onto the blurry little screen with delight, watching the whole thing unfurl. The man, wrung his hands with his wife in the corner, discomforted by her husband's plotting but not stopping it. The first boy was standing by his father in as much-if not more glee to see the two strange men in their house.

But the younger boy looked on with disgust. He looked away from them so they wouldn't see the scowl on his face.

"Perfect," The man purred. "They've taken her."