Della; 1st Person POV

I stirred slightly as I felt the cage I was kept in move, the chains they forced onto me clinking as I shifted. I couldn't see where I was being moved to as a thick covering was placed over the dog crate I was confined in. I glared at the floor of my "cell", my entire being consumed with a loathing for people, especially the ones responsible for my pain and my current predicament. My furry cat ears laid back against my skull as the fur onlg my tail began to bristle with anger. Before you ask, yes, I am not fully human. At least appearance wise, given I have cat ears, a long tail, and retractable claws. I can also transform into any beast I know of. This, and my "odd" appearance, is what isolated me from everyone else. And I was persecuted for it. Violently, at that. As my hate tried to overtake me, I felt a soothing presence inside me, pacifying the so-called monster within me. I sighed, knowing what, or rather who was responsible. You see, my soul is actually infused with someone else's. Someone who was, is, dear to me. The only human who ever cared for me and actually loved me. But now she is gone.... at least in body... she lives on within me as part of her soul is infused with mine, but I still miss her. I miss her comforting presence.

Shutting my eyes to keep the tears at bay, I clenched the necklace that was given to me before my human friend, Yuki, departed.

"It will be okay," I heard her voice speak from the confines of my mind. "We'll get through this, one way or another. You're the strongest person I know."

"And yet," I thought forlornly as the sheet covering the cage began to be lifted, "I couldn't protect you...."

My mind became quiet as I stared out stoically out at the crowd before me as they stared and gawked at me. I glared at them; I hated being treated like a zoo exhibit. Not that they paid attention. They never do unless I am attacking them.

The auctioner banged the gavel on his podium gaining the attention of the audience.

"Here we have the star of tonight's bidding!" The fat man in tasteful clothing announced, making some audience members lean forward in anticipation. I bared my sharp canines angrily. If only I had more strength... then I could bust out of this uncomfortable dog crate and tear some throats out before I burned this god forsaken hellhole to the ground.

"It is quite... wild, but given time and discipline, it will make a great specimen for magic." I bristled at being called an "it." Excuse me, I am not a damn object! I'm an actual living and breathing organism and I do have a gender! (A/N: No offense to non-binaries; this OC identifies as a female, but she also accepts the pronouns "them", "she", "her", and "they") "It has many capabilities, from stamina to being able to transform into many species of magical beasts! Even the ones thought to go extinct!" I tensed as the auctioner announced this. How did they know all that?! Sure I was branded as missing after the events of when my family tried to kill me and I fought back, but the news never announced that!

"The bidding starts at ten thousand pounds!"

Pounds?

"It would appear that we were taken to somewhere in Europe..." Yuki murmured from the deeper part of my mind.

"When did we make it to Europe?" I questioned, surprised. Last we checked we were in North America, the last place before I was hit with a tranq dart was in the fields of rural Oklahoma.... To think we went from there to here.....

"Forty thousand!"

We were jolted from our internal conversation as the crowd began placing bids to purchase me.

"Seventy thousand!"

"Hundred thousand!"

"Five hundred thousand!"

"One million!"

As the bids kept increasing, my eyes got bigger and bigger. How much am I worth? Especially to these rich bastards!?

As it increased to five million pounds, Yuki suddenly tensed, our senses going on high alert as a result.

"Someone is coming." She warned, making me suddenly turn my attention to the doors behind the audience as they suddenly flew open, making everyone become silent as the newcomer strode into the spacious room.

Despite the dim lighting where the audience sat, my eyes adjusted to take in the sudden "guest". They wore dark colored robes, like the ones from what I have pictured from the books of Harry Potter. Only they also wore something similar to what Soul Reapers wear in the manga/anime series Bleach. So it was a mix of that.

But their clothes isn't what drew the most attention from both me and my partner. Rather, it was their face. Or what we assumed was their face as it was basically a skull of an animal I was kinda familiar with from when I visited graveyards to see my more ghostly "monster" friends. In the eyes sockets of the skull head was green flickering light, like a candle's flame. I felt drawn to this, for some odd reason, and so did my partner.

Who the heck was this?

And why are they walking up onto the stage?

The green fiery light seemed to start burning brighter as they neared me inside the dog crate. Despite the appearance intimidating the audience and the auctioner, I felt not a trace of fear in either me nor my partner. Rather, I didn't feel anything. Nothing I could readily identify anyway... Emotions can be a fickle thing to decipher....

As we stared at each other, the auctioner finally got the balls to speak up for the first time since this stranger appeared. "Um sir," he cleared his voice as it cracked slightly, "If you are going to participate, I suggest you-" He was suddenly cut off as the skull headed stranger suddenly brought out a staff, which was shaped and fashioned as a bone, and the end of it suddenly lit up in a bright green flame, matching his suddenly flaming eye sockets.

Before anyone could say anything, he suddenly lit the stage on fire, catching everyone, including me and my partner, by surprise.

It wasn't until a moment later that the panic set in as the people in both the audience and on the stage near my cage as they were surrounded by bright green flames.

I, however, instead of feeling fear, was mesmerized by the flames and the color. I almost felt hypnotized by the way they moved and danced as the flames consumed everything in its path.

As I stared at the bidders getting burned alive by the green fire, my partner suddenly piped up ever since that mysterious skull-headed guy made his entrance. I barely paid attention to the burning feeling that began to rise in my throat as smoke filled the place.

"We gotta get out of here, right now!" Her words snapped me out of my stupor as I suddenly realized that the place is on fire and we had to move quickly before we too share the same fate as these rich bastards.

I quickly tried to reach the bars of my cage to hopefully bend them enough for me to break out of here, only to forget something rather important. The shackles chained to me on my wrists, neck, and ankles. I tried to rip them off, only to find that due to the tranq dart weakening me and the lack of food made me terribly weak. Not to mention the beatings I took when I tried to fight back the first time before I was shoved in here took quite a toll on me.

I began to panic, even as I began to transform into my more beastly form, my hands turning into paws, my feline ears more pronounced, my hair getting longer, my pupils narrowing into slits, and my fangs elongating. Desperately, I rammed my head against the cage door, despite my partner's warnings to not attempt something so foolhardy. Regardless, I threw myself multiple times at the cage door, only for it to barely budge.

"How weak have I gotten?!" I panicked, fear as searing hot as the flames licking the curtains began to consume me from within. I began to choke a bit on the burning feeling as the smoke and ashes filled my nostrils and lungs, making me cough.

Before I could panic further, the mysterious figure who had set the place ablaze suddenly appeared in front of my small prison. I pulled away from the door instinctively, my back hitting the far wall of the dog crate, still trying to hold my coughing down. I watched wordlessly as the mystery arsonist calmly reached for the latch on my cage and merely snapped it off in just one gloved hand, crushing it in his palm as it suddenly caught fire, making it melt while his gloved hand remained unscorched by the flames.

Seeing this as an opening to escape, I lunged for the door, taking the figure off guard as I burst out of the enclosed prison I was sentenced to not a few hours ago.

Unfortunately, my moment of freedom didn't last long, as the boneheaded person (haha) had quickly recollected themselves and suddenly caught me by grabbing the chains that I totally forgot about, tripping me before I even got off the stage. I began to struggle, fearing for what they might do to me. Only to be surprised when suddenly, my chains also caught fire. I reeled back, waiting for the burning sensation of pain. To both my and my partner's surprise, the flames only felt pleasantly warm. Not only that, the chains burned away into ashes, freeing me. Stunned even as the flames disappeared, I didn't think about bolting as I looked up at the skull-headed figure, a million questions going through my head all at once, leaving a jumbled mess for my partner to sort through. Before I could ask a single coherent question, they raised a hand, making me stop and stare in apprehension, a little worried that they are about to do something else.

But this person is just full of surprises as they suddenly spoke, their voice a rich tenor, indicating that this figure might be a male (A/N: can't go assuming genders, now can I?).

"I mean you no harm," he, I guessed, spoke, his voice having some sort of allure to it, making me and my partner internally lean towards it, like metal being attracted to a magnet. "My fire spell is only meant to purge the guilty ones." Guilty ones? What does he mean by that? He then reached for me, making me reel back on instinct, a warning snarl on my face as I bared my fangs at him. He didn't seem deterred as he merely advanced towards me, his hand still out to possibly grab ahold of me. I backed away shakily; my legs have been curled underneath me for awhile, so the circulation is slow to come back to them. Add in the fact I haven't eaten anything in who knows how long and the beating I took beforehand, the odds of me making a quick exit were not in my favor.

Doesn't mean we can't try, now does it?

However, the second I tried to turn and bolt away, a wave of vertigo hit me, making me lose my balance as I had a sudden coughing fit, the smoke and ashes getting the best of my respiratory system. I hit the ground with a heavy thud, making me hiss in pain, trying to keep the tears at bay. From what, I'm not sure. Whether it is from the fire burning making my eyes water or at the pain of my previous wounds and now my sudden tumble or the stress of the situation catching up to me, or maybe a combination of all three, I am not sure. Either way, the everlasting stubborn side of me refused to show this "weakness" in front of the honey-voiced skull man. He may have taken the chains off me, but that doesn't mean he doesn't have any ulterior motives.

Kneeling down next to my fallen body, I glared at him feebly even as my eyes stung from the heat building up in the area. He paid no heed to the smaller fires surrounding us on the floor as he reached for me again. I feebly smacked at him as he picked me up in a princess carry. I'm not sure what was making my cheeks so hot, but I am just going to blame it on the fire in here for sake of my pride.

"Now now," he chuckled as he dodged a weak slap to the face, his laugh making me irk with anger. "There is no need for that, kitten." I choked on my own spit before I glared at him angrily for that jab. No doubt he is referring to my catlike features.

"Why you-!" I was interrupted by yet another coughing fit, this time more painful and it went on longer than my last one. I barely saw his fiery eyes in the sockets of the beast skull soften.

"You poor thing. They have hurt you and now you are sick..."

Before I could argue that point, he suddenly placed a hand on my head. I was about to lash out at him again as suddenly, my fatigue felt even stronger, my eyelids suddenly becoming heavy as lead.

"Rest, little kitten. I will purge everyone else here with my flames...."

The last thing I saw before blacking out was him raising his staff once more and I could have sworn I saw a dragon made entirely of green fire rise from it before darkness overtook me.

Timeskip....

When I awoke, I immediately knew we were no longer inside the auction house. My eyes adjusting, I realized that I was outside and that it was very dark out, as I barely made out the few stars in the sky. Trying to move, I realized, I was being held. A sudden rush of memories hit me like a freight train as I instictively looked up at who was holding me. I felt myself heat up again as I stared at my captor's face. The skull was pulled back to reveal a face of what I guessed is a teenager, or someone close to my age, and he had a mop of matcha green hair and matching soft verdant eyes. To think that this guy actually set an entire room on fire, burning many people alive.

Speaking of...

I turned to see that we were now outside the auction house, which the entire building was now pretty much on fire.

As I stared at the flames burning away the foundation of the building, the one holding me spoke, his voice light yet soothing.

"Glad to see you have awaken. Though I am surprised you awoke so quickly after I cast that drowsy spell."

I then suddenly remembered how I blacked out, making me whip my head to stare at him with a stormy expression as I didn't exactly appreciate the gesture.

"But he did get us out of that cage and those horrid chains." My partner pointed out, trying to placate me, just like old times when she would hold me back from doing something reckless.

"But even so," I argued mentally, "he could very well be someone with ulterior motives. I mean the guy set an entire building on fire and literally burned several people to death."

"But be real," Yuki pointed out, "those scum lords deserved it, as they were more than willing to buy a human like some sort of slave."

That made me pause, as she did have a point. Hell, if it weren't for me being so weak from lack of food and being beaten up, I would have broke out of that damned dog crate and slaughtered everyone with my bare hands alone. So maybe they did deserve death. Despite my dislike for humans in general, I still have my morals, even they seem a bit questionable at times.

"But that doesn't exactly clear this guy's name," I pointed out, bringing us back to the original topic.

"Not to interrupt your banter," I jolted in surprise as the guy still holding me spoke, interrupting our inner monologue, "but I think it is best that we get going." He was right, as my sensitive ears picked up on the sound of sirens approaching our location. I didn't care if it was the cops or the ambulance, I want nothing to do with any of that. For one, me and the cops don't mix. Second, hospitals and health clinics in general make me queasy for several reasons. One of them is that smell of formaldehyde and I'm not exactly fond of needles.

"Don't let go." He said suddenly, raising his bone staff, a vortex of green flames covering us. I clung onto him on instinct, scared I was going to get burned alive. To my surprise, the fire didn't touch us. And instead of the heat being suffocating, it actually felt comforting, like laying near a fireplace on a cold winter's night.

The fiery vortex encompassed us, coccooning us before we were whisked away, just as the police and the fire truck arrived on scene.

Timeskip

I do not know how much time has passed as we were being teleported. I could only feel us moving through what I guessed space. I buried my face into the mystery man's cloak, not wanting to chance looking anywhere as we moved in case I get motion sickness.

The moving stopped as I felt the warmth of the flames leave us, leaving behind the familiar chill of the early spring weather. Lifting my head slowly, I saw the last of the verdant flames disappear into nothing, leaving us in front of a cozy looking house on the countryside.

All around us were wildflowers going on for miles, a house here and there spaced out between grassy fields. It looked like a landscape painting come to life.

It all became too much as so much was happening so fast and I had no time to even catch up mentally with it all. So I did the most natural and human thing possible.

I fainted.

The last thing I heard was the matcha-haired boy's voice calling out to me in worry as my old friend darkness overtook all of my senses.

Annnnndddd scene!

This was loosely based off an RP session me and my girlfriend yuki_no_fuyu did some time back. So I hope you guys enjoy this prologue!

This is the ArtVampire signing off!

Ja ne!