Hedgesville, West Virginia
Caspian Residence
Sunday, August 25, 1996
4:23 PM

"This thing is annoying," Jennie complained as she fingered the collar around her neck. "Why does Rowen wear it? Or more like...how can he wear it? It's irritating."
"I wouldn't take it off," was the reply she was given as Jennie peered to Reiyl who stood beside her at the kitchen counter. Both had volunteered to do the dishes after dinner.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Jennie could see the cat demon. His cat ears were bared back while his tail flicked back and forth. He had been like that most the day. And she was sure his face was in a permanent scowl.
"Rem said he‘d get me a different collar, but Nick said it be better to just wear this one," Jennie said, drying a plate. "I understand. It‘s so everyone has to be reminded of their mistake."
"Mistake?" Reiyl questioned, stopping in the middle of cleaning a glass. He peered down at her with eyes that appeared to be dark.
"Everyone was too busy playing around. Not watching me close enough," she replied with a smirk while continuing to dry the dishes. "So it’s pretty clear that it's your fault that I have this thing on my neck."
"If you want to point fingers, how about yourself? It doesn‘t take a genius to know that if you‘re ‘someone of importance‘, you should be near ‘the ones who guard over you’. Instead you decide to go somewhere that none of us can see," Reiyl replied. "That‘s not helping you or us."
"Whatever," Jennie mumbled as she placed the dish in the cabinet. "But what about..."
"I know we made a mistake," Reiyl said before she could finish, "but there's no need to put blame on any one person. We're all at fault."
"I suppose," she whispered, leaning her back against the counter while gazing at Reiyl as he placed the washed glass in the drying rack. "You seem especially annoyed by this though."
"I'm not annoyed," Reiyl said calmly as he picked up another glass and began washing it.
"You sure about that?" she asked as he nodded. "Well, this says otherwise."
Reaching out abruptly, she snatched up his whooshing tail. The sound of glass shattering startled Jennie as she looked up to find Reiyl harboring a handful of broken shards.
“Holy…what the hell?!”
Blood dripped into the soapy dish water while Reiyl held the remains of a damaged tumbler in both his hands. His eyes were scanned downward.
"Okay, so maybe I'm a little pissed about it," he replied as he walked over to the trash can and dumped the glass into it. He fumbled with his hands, plucking out pieces of the glass that had broken through his skin.
"Why?" she asked, trying to pick up glass that had fallen to the ground.
"Rowen is pushing his luck," Reiyl replied. "Marking you without permission then cutting off Kasei's hair. I can't have my little brother kicked out of the village. Not when I already have one brother banished. Another one would be..."
Silence filled the room as Jennie stared at Reiyl with an anxious gaze while he held a defiant stare. It was a look she had seen before on the younger brother.
"Just stay away from him," Reiyl abruptly stated as he left the room, nursing his hand.
"What?" Jennie asked with wide eyes. She thrust a fist into the side of her head a few times and made a face. "Are all you cat people messed up in the head or something?”
Dropping to her backside and sitting with a fuming face, she glared at the doorway. “Telling me to stay away, you and your stupid-ass brother, maybe you both should just go home. Oh wait, I forgot. YOU CAN'T! You suck!"
Standing swiftly and whipping around on her heels, she headed for the garage. Her hands grabbed a hold of the doorknob and flung the door opened as the breath in her throat was stifled.
Someone was standing in the darkness of the garage, staring at Nick's car. All she could determine was that the person was a man and was carrying a guitar case on his back.
"Hello?" she called out as the person turned to look at her.
"Nick around?" the person said back as Jennie noted the voice was very fluid sounding and seemed slightly haughty. When she didn’t answer right away, he gave out an annoyed grunt. “You know, the jackass you owns this place.”
"Yeah," Jennie replied as the person stepped into the light from the kitchen as Jennie's mouth dropped open.
Confusion crossed over her eyes as she gazed at a young man who had blue hair that was a shade the same as Janiston's except for a dark red section that was in the man's fringe. A bright red star was tattooed on his left cheek and she couldn't help but gawk at the black ring in his lip and the multitude of earrings he was wearing. There was even a chain that connected the lip ring to one of his earrings.
"I know you," she said abruptly as the man gave her a perplexed stare.
"Good for you," he replied. Pushing past Jennie, he stepped into the kitchen where he dropped his guitar case to the ground. He propped the object against the counter then glanced back at her with a fleeting expression. "So where's Nick?"
“He’s in his study.”
Jennie’s attention turned to the hallway to find Reiyl returning. The cat demon paused in the doorway as his eyes were on the stranger.
“Gotcha,” the man remarked.
Reiyl stood silently while the stranger walked through the kitchen then headed back the hallway toward Nick‘s room. Jennie stepped toward Reiyl with a bewildered gaze in her eyes.
"What's wrong?" Reiyl questioned as he peered downward as the bewildered girl.
"I think," Jennie whispered, staring at the ground, "that‘s my dad…"