Familial Bonds (4)

Alarm clocks had to be the most evil things in existence. Iris jumped in fright the moment her eardrums were pierced by the loud noise, looking around for danger. Her sight didn't fall on anything life-threatening, but her mind did start working in the meantime.

The sun was already up, sending its soft light through the curtains. Iris would have enjoyed the calm beauty of it, but a certain sound was getting on her nerves. She rushed on top of Kyro and hit him with her paw. When that didn't wake him up, she hit his neck and jaw a few more times, putting more force into it.

Noticing her actions, Lucifer stood up as well. He yawned, stretched, then came over to sit down on Kyro's face.

This showed up to be more effective than any force Iris might have applied. Kyro instantly woke up, choking from lack of air, but when he tried to push the cat away, Lucifer was already off. He was lying on the small pillow on the side, a satisfied smirk on his face.

O_O

Iris admitted defeat without any hesitation. This cat was a genius. Not only did he wake Kyro up right away, he even did it with style. It was nothing like her own petty attempts.

"Right, I forgot to kick you out of the room," Kyro huffed, glaring at Lucifer. But the cat couldn't care less. He stretched his front legs forward and flexed his nails, not minding his owner's fury in the least.

Suddenly, Iris realized that she'd made a huge miscalculation. She'd been buttering up the wrong person all along! It wasn't Kyro she had to win over but Lucifer! He was the true ruler of this place.

"Stop looking at him with those worshiping eyes!" Kyro scowled. He pushed the blanket off himself and straight on Lucifer.

The cat huffed, displeased, but didn't even stand up. He just pushed the blanket off the head and that's it. The owner in the meantime left for the shower.

Still on the bed, Iris looked from Lucifer to the disappearing back of Kyro. Was this the morning ritual? Did they always act like this, huffing at each other like they were the 'real' per- creature with a higher moral ground that was giving way to someone less intelligent?

Amused, Iris jumped to the ground and stretched herself, exercising her limbs. Pain rushed through her being, and a soft whimper escaped her lips. What the hell was this? Why did it hurt everywhere?

Then, in an instant, she realized what it was - she'd overexerted herself yesterday and now her muscles were sore. Tears almost flowed down her cheeks. Why hadn't she considered this possibility yesterday!

It hurt to move now. Like a fragile flower that was dealt a severe blow, Iris folded upon herself on the ground. She didn't want to move anymore. Besides, she could smell cat food still in her bowl, and that was as tempting as eating four day old chicken that's been in the sun at mid-summer.

However, she was not given a choice. Lucifer jumped down and picked her up by the scruff and brought her to the bowl. He then pushed her to eat. When she resisted, he growled at her, snapping his jaws closed by her ear.

'Alright, alright!' Iris rushed to her feet, obedient like a well-trained puppy. She swiftly picked a mouthful of the granules and began chewing them while stealing glances at Lucifer. The cat seemed happy with his achievement and wandered off.

Iris then slowed down her eating speed to not choke on some bigger piece. The food wasn't bad in truth; she was just already sick of it. Never in her life had she eaten the same thing four days in a row, three meals each one. There had been some lean times when she just went to study in another city, but they had never been bad enough for her to live on noodles or rice alone. She could at least eat them interchangeably!

Once she finished and drank some water, she stayed around for the morning show. Any time now, Kyro would be leaving the shower, and he didn't dress up fully after leaving it. At least based on yesterday's experience.

Soon, her hopes were answered. He left the shower while drying his hair with a towel, his skin already cleaned but still wet. It glistened in the morning light, and Iris was instantly reminded of a certain vampire cliche. Was he one of such creatures?

With a smile, she pondered the question while studying his figure, for scientific purposes of course. After all, she needed to evaluate how handsome he was, since it was currently the best known method to determine if one was a vampire or not.

First came the face, but it was handsome so it was an instant pass and not interesting. Second, were the abs. His weren't overly defined, so that made it unlikely he was a vampire. One usually needed to have an eight-pack for that; six-pack was already out of style.

His skin was also not pale enough. It wasn't paper white nor ash gray, but more on the yellow side. Not having met many foreigners, Iris couldn't really tell if it was his normal skin color or just tan. She felt a bit of a failure for that. It was easy to recognize and categorize 'pure-blooded' people into countries and races in online photos or movies, but mixed-blood people in real life were a whole different matter.

Her mood dropped a bit when she realized she couldn't even guess Kyro's origin. Had he always lived on this side of the Atlantic? Was he a first generation person or fifth? Was English even his first language?

As she wondered that, Kyro left her line of sight, moving into the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. Iris left the bedroom to follow after, hoping he might drop a morsel or two for her. Although she had already eaten, there was always place in her stomach for something tasty.

Kyro noticed her puppy dog look upon looking down, but didn't give her anything. He finished chewing what he had in his mouth and shook his head at her. "Can't give it to you. Lucy once sniffed it and told me its poison in human-food form. You wouldn't want to be poisoned now, would you?"

Her eyes narrowed. 'Why are you eating it then?'