• Prologue.

    "Here kitty, kitty, kitty."

    A soft groan came in reply followed by the sound of a body shifting. A chorus of snickers echoed the groan; the one who had spoken was currently the one closest to the sleeping neko. He smirked to himself, his bat like wings shifting as he poked at the sleeping neko. "Come on kitty. It's time to get up."

    "...Idon'twanna..." Was the muffled reply. His body shifted away from the annoying prodding, his tail and ears twitching in annoyance. The winged being chuckled again, slowly leaning in to whisper in one of the twitching cat ears.

    "...The black coats are going to get you Lazaro...."

    Lazaro bolted up at that with an angry hiss, the fuzzy cat ears on top of his head pinning flat while his upper lip curled back to reveal his fangs. He lashed out at the winged being with lighting speed, his clawed hand seeming to blur from sight. Shadow, a half dragon, jumped back just barely in time with a soft meep, just barely avoiding the blurring claws before bursting out into a gut wrenching laugh. "You’re too easy Kitty."

    ~Lazaro P.O.V. ~

    "Ha, Ha, hear me laugh." I growled out, sending a glare at the others that came with shadow. I hate being the only neko at times... you think Vinnie would find more like me... I thought, watching them leave with an angry scoff. I twitched my tail in great annoyance, turning my glare on my best friend of sorts, plopping back down into my previous position.

    "What do you want Shadow? I was having the best dream I've had yet." My hissed slightly, not really caring if my annoyance showed in my tone or not.

    My expectant gaze landed on him, resting my chin on my crossed arms which where currently resting on my pillow. I hated being awoken early, especially when I had to take the night shifts when it came to scavenging for the clan. Ah our clan, our band of misfits. Abandoned in the alleys of our great city. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

    I watched silently as his expression changed to a more somber one, all traces of his mirth now long gone. As much as I tried to stop it, my curiosity perked. Must be my cat genes. I thought dryly, my expression soon turning to that of disdain, my best friend must have noticed my perked curiosity because chuckled softly much to my furthered annoyance. "Vinnie sent me to get you; he has... a special mission for you..." He murmured, almost sadly.

    My eyebrows shot up entirely at that, sitting up again. Vinnie, or Vincent, is the clan leader. He takes in the ones society won't. Half-breeds, like little Shadow here, Mutts like myself... anyone he finds abandoned in alleys really, only if they accepted his help that is. If you didn't have a name, he'd name you, like he did for me. In a way... he's the only father figure most of us ever knew. Some of us are run-away's and most are human, for it's rare to something that isn't in this city.

    "Did he tell you anything about it?" I asked, cocking my head to the side, one ear pointing foreword as I studied him. He couldn't be more than 3 feet tall; his hair was a deep brown with a tint of red when the sunbeams landed on the short spiky hair. His eyes where very similar to that of an onyx gem, they shone like one when he laughed, they held so much depth like the stone. But what I found the cutest about him would have to be his cute little wings, they weren't big enough for him to go flying yet, I almost didn't want them to get any bigger, they were perfect the way they were. I was quickly snapped out of my musings when he replied.

    "No. Just that he needed you for this one." His voice was so cute in its own little way. It's so hard to find the words to describe it besides using all the clichéd ones. I guess there really is no way to describe it without using them so I won't even try, but know, it's the most beautiful sound to ever grace your ears. I nodded in understanding pushing myself up into a standing position and brushed off my torn jeans before returning my attention to the half-breed in front of me. He smiled up at me, jumping up and latched onto my waist which caused me to roll my eyes at his antics, but chuckle nonetheless.

    I gently ruffled his hair as we started to head towards Vinnie's private quarters. Our 'home', if you could call it that, was really an old abandoned hospital. It shockingly still had power and running water even after all these years of being abandoned, but the thing I’m most grateful for, is that we're safe here. The Black coats had no idea of its existence or what it was harboring.

    I slowed to a stop when we neared Vinnie’s wing of home and somewhat awkwardly detached little Shadow from my waist. Inwardly, I groaned when he sent me his infamous puppy eyes, his grasp only tightening around my waist. “Shadow you can’t come.” His pout only deepened at that, which caused my ears and tail to twitch in annoyance.

    “But I don’t want you to go!” He whined, his arms tightening. “…I feel like we won’t see each other ever again if you go…” he whimpered softly, his grip only tightening even further, now close to the point where It was starting to get hard to breathe.

    That caused my eyes to widen majorly; his feelings where always true when it came to something like this, which was one of the reasons Vinnie never let him go outside, for fear of losing him to the black coats. Slowly bowed my head so I could gently kiss the top of his head. “…I still have to go to Vinnie Shadow… I’ll tell him your feelings on this matter and I promise to see you either way ok kiddo?”

    Slowly his grip loosened and he nodded sadly, his gaze saddening before they grew distant. I waited silently, inwardly wondering what he was seeing. I grew worried as tears started to form in his orbs, which held so much knowledge whenever ever he got a vision like he is now. His orbs slowly started to clear and he clung tightly to me, his shoulders shaking with silent sobs. “…goodbye kitty…” he whimpered softly.

    Then it hit me, he knows what’s going to happen when I’m talking to Vinnie and, judging by his reaction, I’m not going to be given the chance to see him before I have to go. I hugged him back just as tightly, blinking back my own tears as I all but clung to him. “…goodbye kiddo… we will meet again… I promise…” With that, I pulled away and slipped past the swinging doors without another word, blinking back my tears.

    “Welcome Lazaro, I’ve been waiting for you.”