Chapter 1 - Cornelius and Jamaica

        Cornelius walked quietly down the busy street, the hood of his sweatshirt pulled carefully over large, floppy cat ears. Humans despised catkids: people with DNA with an extra supernatural element woven in. Humans related them back to werewolves and vampires. "If bitten," was their theory, "You will become one of their kind." We weren't like that, and if we were, what catkid would bite a human..? They taste awful anyway..
        The boy stepped into a shop. He was wary of this shop, it was where he'd blown his cover once before, that was an unpleasent experience, was a painful one too. The shopkeeper had bumped into a coat hanger, one of the hooks swung out and hooked the boy's hood down, exposing his ears. Yeah, the whole thing was a pain in the neck. The upside of it all was that the shopkeeper had been reduced to a snuffling lump sitting behind the cash register. He sat there, his feet off of the floor, eating his lunch. Cornelius used his penname where ever he went in the human world, of course, but with this man, he was especially picky. The hooded figure slipped behind a rack of chips as a woman walked in and started talking animatedly to the cashier, who surprisingly enough spoke back in that same happy voice. Cornelius snatched a bag of chips and a soda at random and headed to the counter.
        Just as the boy reached the counter, the woman looked around, scanning him. "Hey, cutie." She giggled.
"Hello, miss.." Was Cornelius's reply, making an extreme effort to make sure his cattish, vampire's teeth didn't click as he talked. The man behind the counter rang up the chips and soda,
"So, like I was saying, he runs the motorbike off of the jump and he goes, 'What the heck'd I do that for?!' and then he hits the lake." The girl returns to listening intently to the man, laughing at an unseen joke in the perfectly logical sentence the cashier belted out. Cornelius could see saying "What the heck'd I do that for?!" if he ran a motorcycle off of a ramp and into a lake perfectly acceptable.. or he just didn't see the humor in human logic.
        He handed a five dollar bill to the man for the two dollar item and headed for the door, not waiting for change. And then it happened again, the girl reached out, meaning to grab the boys shoulder and pulling the hood off instead. A shaggy, brown haired head appeared, ears clearly visible now. He turned around and hissed, having just enough time to kick the girl in the shins before that man behind the counter yelled, "You!?!?!" and he pulled a tranquelizing gun out from under the countertop. Cornelius didn't have enough time to turn and run, because the dart hit his shoulder with a thump. He felt the tranquelizer seep into his veins. His vision clouded, but he was determined to destroy anything before he blacked out. He ran at the girl and knocked her over, leaping over her onto the counter. He had just enough time to slash the man's arm before he shot the boy a second time, this dart pierced his arm. A second wave of exaustion sliced into his brain like a steak knife, but he smiled, revealing vampiric teeth to the man, and slumped over backwards dramaticly, landing headfirst on the tiled floor.

        Cornelius awoke in a dark room, his head throbbing painfully. Have I been captured? Meandered across his addled brain. He raised a shaking hand, feeling for the box that was surely incasing him, but he felt nothing. Puzzled, he lowered it again, it landed upon soft sheets. Ah, I'm in bed, but where? Thought He. He heard a knocking, and his eyes flickered open. "Come in." He croaked, struggling into a sitting position. A door opened in the corner.
"Hi! Glad to see you're awake." Said a voice filled to the brim with sunshine. "Don't mind if I turn the lights on, do you?"
"No, go ahead." Replied Cornelius. Lights burst into life above him, dazzling his weary eyes. A girl, who couldn't be any older that thirteen walked into the room, a clipboard in her heavily bandaged hands.
"My name's Jamaica. I'm just going to ask you a few questions." Said Jamaica kindly and the clipboard slipped from her hands.
"Are you okay?" Asked he, pointing at her band-aided hands.
"Oh, yes. That's nothing. I just.. er.." She picked up the dropped board.
"Come on, I won't laugh if that's what your thinking." He urged.
"Okay, fine. I.. I don't.." She stuttered, "I don't like needles." She finished, crossing the room quickly. "They make me shake, and when I try to do something with them, they just.. go where I didn't intend." She raised her hands. "But, I deal with needles, and if I need to scrape a living, I guess a couple of pin pricks isn't a bad exchange."
        "Ah." He sighed, listening to her story.
"Okay. Number one." Said Jamaica, pulling a rolling chair up next to the bed. "Do you know where you are?"
"No." He replied truthfully.
"You're at Lexis Hospital for Catkids and other Socially Challanged Beings." She shrugged, pointing to his ears, then hers. "Number two: How old are you?"
"Thirteen." Replied he. She scribbled something down on the clipboard.
"Number three: What happened to you?"
"Uh.." He thought hard. "My ears were exposed in a human infested.. I mean, inhabited area."
"And?" Jamaica tempted.
He sighed. "And I inflicted bodily harm to a human." He stared at her. "Happy?"
"Yes, I am." She smiled and set a plate of breakfast infront of Cornelius. He thanked her and she departed. He had a feeling, being in bed all day was going to get real boring, real fast..

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