Chapter 16

"Your fur is so soft." Damon comments as he washes my blood stained fur.

I yip in response liking the compliment. Besides the nymph that saved me no one else has ever given me a bath and oh my gods it feels so amazing! This must be what it feels like to be pampered at a spa. A lot of people would assume I would be embarrassed by such a sexy guy like Damon washing me but I don't feel that way at all, I mean why should I when the guy has seen me naked plenty of times? I think Damon must've been prepared for something like this happening because he had scented healthy skin and coat dog shampoo in the vanity cabinets, I kind of want to laugh because of it but I guess he was right in buying since it's being used after being here for less than an hour, but I don't whether I should be offended that he bought dog shampoo instead of using human shampoo on me. Large hands gently rubbing the soapy bubbly lather through my fur and against my skin feels wonderful like my own personal massage, if there wasn't water in this tub I would lay down enjoying the pampering, I can only settle on purring and letting my eyes close in pure bliss making Damon grin and shake his head at me. Oh you'll regret that head shake.

Opening my eyes I look at Damon's sky blue eyes and let out a whimper, curious as to what I want he furrows his brows at me. I turn my head slightly to the side like I'm pointing at something, luckily for me there just so happens to be a bottle of conditioner in that direction. Assuming I want that used on my fur he reaches over to grab the bottle, I take that opportunity to start hopping in the water kicking my legs around splashing water all over the place and since Damon is so close he gets drenched. Damon playfully glares at me while I give him a foxy grin. There is water dripping from his messy black hair, face, and his shirt is clinging to his torso showing off every well defined muscle, I have to keep myself from drooling at the sight of him. As if knowing what I'm thinking his glare turns into devilish smirk I feel I'm in heaven as I watch the perfect man slowly strip his shirt off teasing me making my plan backfire on me. Dammit my payback for him shaking his head sure didn't work.

Placing my head over the side of the tub I reach up and lick his face, he sweetly kisses the tip of nose. Our cute moment is ruined when Charlie swings the bedroom door open carrying the cub strutting straight into the bathroom since we didn't bother closing the door. His blonde hair is dripping wet and his face is twisted in a scowl probably from the cub fighting him about having to take a bath. Seeing the scene before him of a soaking wet shirtless Damon and me in my fox form in the bath tub Charlie smirks.

"You're taking staying as a fox seriously aren't you Kitty? Damon, I never imagined you would be covered in water washing your woman as a fox, looks like she had fun since you're just as wet as I was before I changed shirts."

Before Damon can respond Charlie takes out his phone and snaps a quick picture of us making me do the closest thing I can to laughing and Damon growls in irritation. "If anyone sees that I'll rip your head off." He grits through his teeth clearly pissed off at his friend but of course it doesn't bother Charlie in the slightest.

"Oh this will make for perfect blackmail, oh by the way you know the portraits in the main living room of all the high ranking members? Well since yours is the biggest due to you being the leader I decided to replace it with a new picture, I mean that one has been there for three hundred years so it's way past time for a new one." With that he places the cub on the floor and leaves in a blur laughing.

We both are wide eyed wondering what picture he put in the other's place, knowing Charlie it sure can't be anything pleasant it will be something that'll earn himself a punch. At the speed of lighting Damon finishes scrubbing my fur washing the shampoo of as fast as he can which irritated me cause he was being a little too rough. Instead of using the hair dyer or towel to dry me he just picks me up holding me tight and flaps his wings hard and fast getting me completely dry in about two minutes the only problem with that is I look like I've been put in a wind tunnel. Holding me close to his chest he rushes out of the bedroom in a blur making it down the hallway into the living room in a matter of seconds in a hurry to see what Charlie did hoping it isn't something embarrassing.

A small crowd is gathered around where Damon's portrait is, they are all saying 'ahhh' and 'how cute!' finally we hear 'I didn't think he could be so loving like that'. Damon growls making everyone turn around and moving away from the portrait. Walking up to it we are both ready to rip Charlie's head off til we see the picture and sweet smiles cover our faces as we gaze at the beautiful photo. It's my favorite picture taken at the photo shoot, the one where we are looking into each others eyes lovingly, my hand on his cheek and his arms placed gently around my waist as we face each other, his beautiful black wings slightly wrapped around us. Where Damon's name was under the picture now says 'Leader Damon Light and his mate Lotus' seeing the beautiful picture displaying our love instead of being angry at Charlie we become thankful deciding this picture is much better than the old painted portrait that it replaced. Damon looks at me with a loving smile then places the softest of kisses onto all over my face making everyone in the room clap, whistle and cheer, I bury head into his chest in embarrassment.

"Sir if I may be bold enough to say this but I think this picture is much better and should stay up, it shows a side of you we haven't saw before." A young man with red hair says this, he looks kind of nervous like he's afraid he'll have his head ripped off.

Damon gently smiles at the man. "I agree that this one is better Kevin, I like the idea of everyone seeing just how much we love each other."

I jump out of Damon's arms shifting into my true form and appear in front of the red headed man named Kevin pulling him into a hug for wanting the picture to stay up. A growl sounds from behind me which belongs to Damon, Kevin becomes stiff at my embrace at the growl. Before I know it I'm picked up by Damon for hugging someone else, wanting to be playful with him I shift back into a fox making him lose his hold on me, I stick my tongue out at him. Growling he tries to pick me up but I dodge him wagging my tail and barking at him, this goes on til everyone in the room is laughing making Damon even more determined to grab me which he fails miserably at. As usual whenever I'm having fun I hear the yip of the cub making my ears perk up, Damon thinking he has me he quickly reaches down but I take off running just barely missing his hands by an inch. I trot over to the cub and pick him by the scruff of his neck and carry him towards Damon which irritates him because if he tries to grab me he could cause me to drop the cub possibly hurting the little guy.

"Alright I give up." Damon hold his hands up in surrender then rushes out of the room ignoring the booming laughter, he sure keeps leaving me a lot since we've been here.

"I think I like this girl, she manged to beat up my stuck up sister and made Damon give up." Kevin laughs out. "Lotus would you mind shifting back and telling us about yourself? You're here to be protected so we need to know a little more about you to do our job better."

That is a huge request for me especially since I just met this man but for some reason I feel safe around him in the same way as I feel safe around Charlie. Not sure of what to do my ears lay back and I let out a whine. My eyes flicker between the man and the cub in my mouth, if I shift back I could protect the cub better and I guess he is right about needing more information about me in order to do his job better. Contemplating on if I should shift back I glance around at all the people around the room, becoming a little scared I whimper, as if knowing what I'm thinking Kevin asked everyone but the higher ranking members to leave, luckily that's way over half of the people in the room. I'm still scared of the amount of people but it's better than having all those other people in here as well. Setting the cub down I sigh and shift back, damn I've shifted a lot today and it's making me tired. Picking up the cub and clutching him as tight as possible without hurting him to my chest I walk over and sit on one of the chairs. Everyone takes seats on the couches, chairs, and even a couple on the floor waiting for me to tell them whatever they want to know.

"This is a lot to tell but not too much, please don't be offended because there are some things I won't tell, even Damon doesn't know everything, he learns about me whenever he sees me doing something. I don't feel all that comfortable revealing too much at one time" All eyes and ears are on me, everyone giving me their complete attention beyond curious about the strange supernatural in front of them. Trying my best to ignore the stares I take a deep breath and continue.

"A thousand years ago I was a human and saw some men hunting about to kill an already wounded fox, I felt sorry for the poor animal that just happened to be my favorite animal so I jumped in front of it to protect him, the men shot me in the back with an arrow that managed to go all the way through me piercing my heart killing me. As my life force and soul was leaving the fox revealed itself as a god and created me to be a creature whose sole existence was to protect foxes because he had a forbidden love and foxes was something they bonded over. After awaking as a kitsune in Japan I was trained by another kitsune for a few hundred years to perfect my protection skills and powers. When my training was complete my trainer deemed me as ready to protect on my own, I traveled around the world protecting foxes and creating bigger packs so they could protect themselves better when it's time for me to leave to go protect other foxes. I've lived in forests, jungles and the artic for over a thousand years being completely cut off from civilization and other creatures, I only went into a human town once a month on a full moon when I lose all my powers and become a normal human. It's unknown as to why I lose my powers, all kitsune do or they did. Over the years I felt the horrible pain of my brethren dying one by one til I'm now the only one left, I have no idea how they died. I'm a very peaceful creature that would like to avoid violence but if I feel as if a fox is in danger I will mercilessly attack by instinct which some of you witnessed earlier. Like most supernaturals I have enhanced senses, I can also do witch craft as good as a low level witch, for some reason I have the power to levitate which is just pointless, the blue fire I summoned is called fox fire and it'll completely incinerate what I want it to til there's only a pile of ashes, I have very limited knowledge of all creatures which Damon and Charlie have been helping me learn more about. Luckily I only have one weakness and it's not something a hunter can possess so they aren't really too much of a threat to me. I guess that's all I really have to tell you." After my long introduction of myself I shrug my shoulder nonchalantly like it's no big deal what all I told them when in fact it is a huge deal.

"Do you possess anymore powers or abilities?" Kevin asks.

With a simple nod I reply. "I do but I'm afraid to tell everyone them all and I'm afraid to tell my weakness as well, please understand that I've been taught to trust no one especially supernaturals and being the last of my kind I need to protect myself by keeping some secrets. Oh also I'm immortal."

"Since you're with Damon do you plan on becoming a protector yourself?" Someone asks.

I furrow my brows and purse my lips. "I never really though about that before but I doubt Damon or Charlie would allow that since I'm so rare and never even been heard of plus my instinct is to protect foxes only, at the home where Damon and I live there are over one hundred foxes I protect. Sorry if this makes me sound like I don't care about protecting others, even if my instincts would allow me to protect others I probably wouldn't cause it would involve too much fighting and death, as I already said I don't like violence."

"How did you manage to tame a Pegasus? They are incredibly moody and don't exactly just follow whatever someone wants them to do and definitely not keen on showing affection." The man speaking sounds in awe.

This makes me smile, Pegasus is a big baby when it comes to me and is sort of protective of me. "I guess he senses my pure aura and how much I love animals. We clicked as soon as we laid eyes on each other, honestly if you didn't say that I would've just went on forever thinking they are loving and caring creatures. Guess it makes sense as to why he is hostile towards Charlie, he's not really hostile to Damon but it's obvious he isn't Damon's biggest fan."

"How did you and your kind manage to stay hidden so well that no one even knew you existed?" That is a really good question and it is unbelievable that we've never been discovered.

"We keep on high alert twenty four seven, move our packs about once a week and usually stay in hidden caves. As much as I hate it but whenever we ran into another supernatural we see them as a threat to our pack and kill them. Plus there were so few of us spread all over the world, at most I believe maybe one hundred of us existed at one time but that was before I was created, at the time of my creation there was about fifty of us."

"When you shift how come your clothes don't rip or fall off? They just disappear then reappear when you shift."

This makes me giggle. "I have no idea but if that did happen I would probably just live naked instead of bothering to buy clothes."

"If you stayed away from civilization except for the one day a month you're human how did you have money to buy things?" Out of all the things Kevin asks this is what he wants to know making me shake my head.

"As you know a lot of supernaturals and even humans like certain animal pelts so I save the pelts of the predators I killed and would sell them for a high price." This seems to blow their minds, I guess nobody ever thought of making money that way.

The questions kept coming, I don't know how many hours have passed of us all talking. Most of the people told me what they were, their powers, weaknesses and a little history about themselves. Kevin is a Lares which is a guardian deity from ancient Rome, he was meant to observe, protect and influence what happened in the territory he was in but since ancient Rome fell he just wondered around living an empty life without purpose til Damon came to earth three hundred years ago and created the Protectors, he is also kind of like the historian here since he is the oldest and observes every detail of what happens. His sister, the red headed woman I beat up, is also a Lares but for some reason she appeared way after Rome fell, she is only eight hundred years old. The two are also rare creatures but since their purpose of creation no longer exists they don't have the instinct to protect anything for hundreds of years but somehow their instincts managed to come back telling them to protect other creatures of the world. He understands my strong need to be around and only protect foxes, he told me if ancient Rome was still around then he would be the exact same way as me. My first day here and I think I already made a friend, maybe I don't need to be scared of the people here and stay in my fox form.

The conversation with everyone in the room ends when a pair of warm strong arms wraps around me picking me up off the chair making me squeal as I'm carried bridle style out of the room with the cub still on my lap. I'm taken into a huge dinning room with probably two hundred supernaturals sitting at one incredibly long table surrounded by big but smaller round tables. Damon sits at the head of the table placing me right beside him and Charlie is seated across from me, all eyes are on the strange creature that is sitting next to their leader holding a tiny fox cub, some of the supernaturals in the room already saw my display outside and in the living room so they give me smirks of approval, but most here have no idea who or what I am. Sensing my discomfort Damon leans over kissing me on the forehead and rubbing one of my ears, the cub yips jumping up and down in my lap making me smile, seeing their actions are relaxing me a little they both continue what they're doing til plates of food are served in front of us.

Never having saw the food on the plate I eye it skeptically and sniff it, my face scrunching up at the foreign smell makes Damon and Charlie laugh. The cub on the other hand looks at the plate with twinkling eyes almost drooling, loving the smell and look of the food. Gasps sound all around me when I pick up some of the strange food off the plate and feed it to the cub, listening to everyone's whispering I pick up that apparently not eating the food served and feeding it to an animal is an incredibly huge insult to Damon since he chooses the meals the chefs prepare. The food is supposed to be very nutritional with plenty of stuff to give you energy in case it's needed and supposedly very delicious. My ears lay flat hearing that I'm insulting Damon, my tails curl under the seat, Charlie covers his mouth with one hand trying to stifle a laugh, Damon just glares which most are assuming is meant for me. Suddenly Damon stands up from his seat at the head of the table then rushes off in a blur, the whispers become deafening at the abrupt departure of their leader thinking he is angry. In about a minute he returns carrying a new plate, he places the dish in front of me, then takes the cub off my lap setting him on the floor giving him the plate of fancy food. Staring at the plate of berries, pizza, and my favorite meats I begin digging in making both Charlie and Damon laugh loudly, the room goes silent as everyone is shocked at the behavior of the two, their leader making me my own special plate and feeding the other to an animal is something they never would've imagined happening. Damon pets my ears before sitting back down in his seat at the head of the table smiling at me as if I'm the cutest thing in the world.

"Sorry babe I should've told the chef to make you a special meal."

"In three months besides pizza, pancakes, ice cream and popcorn we haven't been able to get you to eat anything else that normal people eat kitty." Charlie winks. "Damon do you remember when we saw her outside digging around in the ground with her claws and pulled out some kind of gross roots and began eating them?"

"Ha ha ha! We looked at her like she was crazy then she growled like we were gonna take those disgusting things from her then she ate them as fast as possible while glaring at us. It was super hilarious when she managed to get one of the roots stuck to her canines and couldn't pull it off and we let her walk around for an hour with a giant root hanging off her teeth and out of her mouth." I growl at Damon, those two were such an asshole that day, they said that's karma for being aggressive towards them.

"She was so fucking pissed at us, when we finally helped her get it unstuck she bit both of us." I smirk, the only thing I like about always having canines no matter what form I'm in aside from human is the ability to painfully bite someone.

Someone takes the seat next to me, "Looks like our Lotus is a feisty one." I look over and see it's Kevin, he stares at my plate and frowns. "What the fuck is that? Who the hell eats berries and strange meat when there's delicious fancy food served here?"

I sheepishly smile looking down. "Can't change thousand years worth of eating habits easily." Charlie comments.

"Please tell me she'll at least eat the desserts served here."

Damon stifles a laugh then points down at the cub eating the plate of food with a fancy dessert on it. "Unless it's ice cream she's not touching it."

"Dear gods a fox cub is eating better than most beings in the world, she sure is an odd one." Kevin looks exasperated as he shakes his head.

"You don't even know the half of it." I glare at the chuckling Charlie.

I grit my teeth and growl in annoyance. "Don't you fuckers realize I have ears so I can hear you?"

All three men burst out laughing as everyone else is silent just watching our interaction looking baffled. The fact that I can call the top three highest ranking members fuckers and decline the food served for me is mind blowing to them, something that's never been done cause they see it as disrespect towards the three. Plus seeing how close we are all acting seems almost foreign to everyone, Charlie and Damon mostly stick together, Damon basically is only friends with Charlie from what I hear, Kevin is nice and friendly with all the creatures so it's not surprising he's joking with me even though I almost killed his sister earlier. This seems to be the most unusual dinner they've had here and over time the dinners will become even more unusual and weird.