Dedicated to @divine-wind for being a loyal reader of this book so far! Keep reading!

"WHERE THE PUDDING ARE YOU?!" - Anastasia Waters

Chapter VII

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, I read the note again. My eyes scanning over the words written on the small piece of paper.

He asked me to be more careful and to stay away. Or to leave town. And about losing more than my scarf... did he mean my life? The feeling I had about something going on in this city grew and an uneasy feeling spread in the pit of my stomach.

"Something is definitely going on here," I whispered. And the Alpha clearly wants you to stay away, my subconsciousness added with a knowing look.

I rolled my shoulders. "I'm sorry, Alpha," I said to nothing in particular, "but you won't get rid of me that easily."

I will figure all this supernatural shit out.

My phone beeped from within my purse. I lightly groaned and took my phone out, staring at the screen to see what was up.

I sat up straight. There were six missed calls from both Ana and Alec alike, and even more WhatsApp notifications from them both. "How did I miss this all?" I muttered under my breath. Then I recalled the dragons, the Alpha and all the other weird shit happening to me in the past few days. I guess it makes more sense when all that's added to the picture...

Opening the WhatsApp app to look at all the messages, I put the note and scarf back into the box, pushing them away for now. "Let's see what they have to say."

I scrolled past the numerous messages on our group chat, most of them were basically the same. At first, they were about 'Mr. Mysterious', how I needed to tell them if I walked into him again and what it was like. They also had a conversation about cheese chips and tacos - about which is better. I shook my head lightly at my crazy friend, already feeling a bit lighter inside from today's events.

They also asked how my grandparents were doing and to drop by Alec's place sometime later. When I had not replied for basically the entire day they had gotten worried and demanding for attention. That's when the calls came in.

"Hey bitch!" Alec's voice called through the speakers of my phone when I pressed 'play' on the voicemail he left.

"Jerk," I whispered back under my breath, rolling my eyes.

"We are getting worried. So get your fat arse over here the moment you get our totally fabulous messages," Alec casually said over the speakers, I scoffed. "I don't care what time it is when you get this," he continued, "it could be in the middle of the night for all I care. You are coming over."

His voice took on a much more cheerful tone. "Bye!" I could almost see him waving at his phone like an idiot and chuckled at the mental image.

I listened to Ana's voicemail next. "WHERE THE PUDDING ARE YOU?!" She yelled down the line. I winched and jumped back slightly. "I just went by your home and you weren't there!" She said, still yelling but not as hard as the before.

Checking the time of when she left the voicemail, I saw that it was around the time I left the house with the intention to get some chicken nuggets. But instead encountered two dragons and the Alpha of New York. Just your everyday turn of events, I sarcastically told myself.

"We are seriously getting worried now, we demand some attention!" Ana's voice said, bringing me out of my train of thoughts. "I'm seriously so close to just call the cops and to sign you up as a missing person," she wasn't yelling anymore, but worry still laced her tone, "just contact us alright? We're your friends and we just want to help."

A beep filled the room and had me left staring at the screen of my phone. I was so engulfed in the supernatural events surrounding me lately and to figure out the truth, that I had simply forgotten all about my friends. I covered my face with my hands, ashamed of myself. "Stupid," I cursed at myself, "the least I could have done is send them a few texts."

"Seems like I'm not going to edit those horror books," I said aloud. I went to Ana's contact and pressed 'call'.

She picked up after a single ring. "HARLYNN!!!" My friends voice yelled in my ear. I had to hold the phone away from my ear to prevent becoming deaf.

"Geesh, woman," I said, returning the phone to my ear. "I always had sensitive ears, please don't destroy them permanently."

"You're okay?! What happened? Where are you?" Ana fired away at once, trying to keep her voice down for my sake. "Are you kidnapped?" She whispered.

"What?" I asked in disbelief. Kidnapped? "Who would kidnap me?"

"Mr. Mysterious," Ana replied, dead serious.

"No, Ana," I laughed, "I'm not kidnapped by anyone."

"Okay," Ana said, a bit calmer now. "Care to tell me what happened?"

My mind blanked. What am I supposed to tell her?! I panicked. It's not like I could just tell the truth and be like 'I was almost burned to a crisp by a dragon and almost devoured by a second one. Don't worry though, for my life was saved by a probably-demon! No big deal.' Like that would go so well.

"Harlynn?" Ana asked, worried again. "What's the matter?" Damn my friends for knowing me so well.

"Uhm... well," I stammered, forcing my mind to come up with something.

"My grandfather got into the hospital," I blurted out before I could stop myself. I mentally slammed my head against a wall.

"What? Is John okay?" Ana hurried. "I'm sorry," she added. At least she seems to buy it, let's just play along. My subconsciousness said with a shrug of her shoulders.

"It's okay. He's fine now," I said. "He had a small heart attack, but nothing too serious. He's stable now and back at his home," I found myself saying.

"I'm sorry I couldn't contact you or Alec earlier, I had to turn my phone off and I was kind of distressed." At least the last part is true. It kind of scared me about how easily I could lie to my friend.

"It's okay," Ana gently said. "It's kind of understandable seeing how close you are with your grandparents. Is Elizabeth dealing well with it?"

"She was a bit shocked of course," I replied - mentally winching at all the lies I told, "but she's dealing with it now."

It's to keep them save, I repeated to myself over and over. I'm not dragging them into my mess.

"Want me to come over?" Ana offered. "We can have a Supernatural marathon or something. Alec will probably come as well."

I smiled. "Sounds fun. You call Alec?" It might do me well to have some normality in my life.

"Of course I will babes," Ana sang down the line. "Get the snacks ready. Laters!"

"Laters," I replied and Ana hung up.

I threw the phone on my bed and jumped up. "I have roughly half an hour until they arrive," I told myself, glancing between the package and the black feather. "I need to hide those." Just in case they decided to enter my room.

I carefully picked up the package with the scarf still in it, debating on where best to put it.

My eyes glanced towards the closet. "Will do," I muttered. I went up towards the closet and stood on my tiptoes, stretching my arms and placing the package on top of the closet, pushing it back only slightly.

It was far enough not to attach any unwanted attention, but not too far that I couldn't reach it anymore.

Next I went to the feather. I picked it up and again marveled over the soft and almost delicate structure. After putting a little bit thought in it, I went towards one of the drawers and pulled it open.

I put the feather in it. On top of some notebooks and sketchbooks I had put in there.

Looking at my cushion, where I had put the journal underneath. Deciding that for now, that's the best hiding place. If someone were to find it, I could say it was my dairy. If nobody read its contents it would be safe.

"Now I just need snacks," I told myself, leaving my room and going back to the kitchen. I opened the cupboards and looked at what I had hidden away in there. "Chips. Chocolate. Candy. And nuts," I called out, nodding to myself.

"Meow?" Ghost could be heard. I looked down to see the grand cat seated next to me, looking up at me with a questionable look.

"Alec and Ana are coming over. I'm getting the snacks ready," I explained, focusing back on the task at hand. I got out three bowls and filled each one with chips. Paprika for Ana, and cheese for me and Alec.

Alec also got his own little bowl filled with nuts. Me and Ana cannot stand that stuff, but Alec likes it. So we always had nuts in our pantry whenever he came over.

I pointed a finger at Ghost. "Don't you dare eat our snacks," I warned. I went towards the living room and placed the bowls on the small wooden table in front of the television. Together with some chocolate bars, M&M bags, Maltesers and Haribo candy. "Snacks. Check."

Going over towards the fridge, I pulled out a bottle of Pepsi and Fanta and put them next to the snacks. As well as three glasses.

Ghost had followed me around all the time, meowing as he went. I ignored the cat and instead got the Oreo's, popping one of them in my mouth. Ghost meowed louder.

I stared at the cat and got another Oreo cookie, holding it up. Ghost sat down and stared intently at the cookie. His furry ears perked up and mismatched eyes large. "Want the delicious goodness that is an Oreo cookie?" I asked the cat.

Ghost licked his lips in reply, his eyes not leaving the Oreo cookie for even a second. "Well, you know the drill." I said.

The cat's ears flattened and he hissed, not agreeing with me. I shrugged my shoulders. "You know the rules in this house," I said casually, holding the cookie up and further out of the cat's reach. "No trick means no cookie for Ghost."

My cat did not look happy about that. He glared at me. "Down," I commanded, holding up the Oreo cookie. Staring at the cookie, Ghost lied down on his furry stomach, placing his head on the floor and lowering his tail. "Roll over." Ghost rolled over onto his back, looking rather annoyed while doing so.

"Cookies, Ghost. Think about the cookies," I encouraged the cat. I swear, sometimes it's like I have a dog instead of a cat, I thought to myself. "Now, stand up!"

Ghost rolled over on his stomach once more and stood up, his front paws left the floor and he stood balanced on his hind legs. Kneeling down I held up my palm. "High five!" Ghost's paw touched my hand.

I held up the cookie. "You deserved this," I said and Ghost's ears perked up. Holding out the cookie, Ghost snatched it out of my hands and he walked away, holding the cookie clenched between his jaws. "Next time we're gonna do a backflip!" I called after the cat. Ghost meowed loudly in protest.

.

I was seated on the couch in the living room, with Ghost sprawled next to me, when I heard the loud voices of my friends enter the home. I looked up and I was engulfed in a hug by Alec. "Sorry about your grandfather. Ana told me," he mumbled, releasing me once more.

"It's okay. Thank you," I replied softly, looking into his almost black eyes.

"Hello, Ghost," Alec said, bringing his attention to my cat, scratching Ghost's chin. Ghost just lazily looked up into Alec's dark eyes.

"Why can you touch him but can I not?" Ana whined, pouting her lips.

Alec turned towards her. "I don't know. Maybe because you stepped on his tail when you first met him?"

"And last year you unintentionally used him as a cushion. You literally sat down on the poor animal," he added with a smirk.

I stared at Ana. Horrified. "You sat down on my cat?" I stammered. Why didn't I knew this?

"It was an accident!" She defended herself, glaring at Alec. Alec put up his most innocent face.

No wonder Ghost dislikes Ana so much. My subconsciousness nodded in agreement.

"Let's just... start our marathon alright?" Ana was quick to offer with a small smile, her face becoming slightly red. "Supernatural is waiting!"

I watched how Ana sped walked up towards my television and took her laptop out of the bag she carried with her. She was fumbling a bit with the HDMI-cable and soon enough, the screen of her laptop was shown on the television. The background she had of Sam and Dean greeted us. "A few more seconds," she mumbled, going online and going towards the site where we always watched our shows and movies.

"This is actually illegal," Alec muttered, grabbing the nuts from the table. "Not like I care."

"You say that every time," I told him. "Stop it."

Alec seemed to ponder it for a while, a frown on his face. "No."

Rolling my eyes, I grabbed a bowl of cheese chips and stuffed my mouth with them.

After having found the season she wanted to watch, Ana pressed play and walked backwards towards the couch – dodging the table, plopping down. Right on Ghost's tail.

The white cat shot up with a loud hiss and did not hesitate even a second in digging his sharp claws into Ana's sides. Ana yelped and jumped away. Alec stared at her for a while before he burst out laughing. "Stop bullying my poor cat!" I said, taking Ghost into my arms and holding him against my side, stroking the distressed cat's furry head.

"You okay?" I whispered down at Ghost. He meowed sadly in reply, staring up at me with wide eyes. I glared at Ana. "You hurt Ghost."

"You should never have pets," Alec laughed. Ghost glared at Alec for still laughing at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Ana said embarrassed, sitting down on the other couch instead, away from Ghost. "Let's just watch our show, alright?"

Still horror stricken about Ana sitting down on my cat, I forced my attention on the screen of my television, absently scratching Ghost behind his ears. Soon enough, I was completely engulfed in the best show of the entire universe.

.

"Shut your cake hole. You don't know anything about my family. I love my Father, my brothers. Love them. But watching them turn on each other? Tear at each other's throats? I couldn't bear it! Okay? So I left. And now it's happening all over again." The archangel Gabriel told Dean on the screen of my television. I stared at the screen, utterly fascinated.

Even Ghost watched the show. Staring intently at the archangel portrayed on the screen.

Not for the first time, I wondered if angels were real. If dragons are real and there's so much evil in the world to be found, why can't there be good as well? I asked myself, absently watching the conversation between Gabriel and the Winchester brothers.

Maybe angels are walking alongside us. Maybe they are in Heaven and just don't give shit about the events happening on Earth. Or maybe they simply don't exist, just like my grandfather insisted.

So many questions and so little answers.

A tapping sound reached my ears. I furrowed my eyebrows together. The tapping was heard again, more urgently this time; it reminded me of claws tapping against a window. I glanced towards the window and my eyes slightly winded upon what I saw. You got to be kidding me.

It was the same black kitten who had tumbled down my fridge and stole my food, before being chased out by Ghost - a kitten who was possibly 'Mr. Mysterious'. Intelligent midnight blue eyes stared at me from behind the window and the cat grinned. Actually grinned. Eyes sparkling in amusement upon seeing my reaction by seeing him. The cat poked out its tongue.

Alarmed, I glanced towards my friends and Ghost. They were too engulfed in the show to notice the – supernatural – cat, whose possibly not even a cat, seated outside the window.

I glanced back towards the kitten. The small cat had its head tilted to the side and stared at me with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. As if it were inspecting an alien species.

Tilting my head towards the sides as well, I stared back. Just for the fun of it, I dropped my left eye in a wink. Seemingly utterly startled by it, the cat jumped back and stared at me wide-eyed. The cat's appearance altered. And I watched mesmerized how its shape seemed to ripple; as if I were watching through water. I saw how the cat's form altered and how a grand eagle took its place.

My mouth dropped open and the kitten-turned-eagle towered to its full height. The light of the moon reflected on its golden-brown feathers and the eagle bowed its noble head. His left eye – which was still blue instead of the golden-yellow eyes eagles normally had – dropped in a wink as well, copying me.

Spreading his grand wings wide, the eagle soared up, disappearing from view and leaving me staring after it.

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The next chapter is up, as you can see, my little demons.

First of all, about cats and 'human food'. Don't give your cat (or any animal for that matter) food that is meant for consumption by human; this also includes cheese and milk - almost every adult animal is lactose intolerant. Giving your pet let's say Oreo cookies can get them seriously ill. So don't do it, if you want to give your pet a snack, keep it to 'animal snacks'. Obliviously, Ghost is not a normal cat so he can consume it without any trouble whatsoever. Ghost is also Harlynn's first and only pet, so she does not yet realizes that Ghost is special, seeing as she has nothing to compare her cat's behavior with.

Fun fact about my story: Harlynn got Ghost when she was 3 years old, meaning that Ghost is '18 years' (that she knows of ;) The normal life span of an ordinary Norwegian Forest cat is roughly 14 years, I believe.

About the picture on top... I couldn't think of anything specifically fitting, so I used a picture of Sam and Dean from Supernatural XD They DID watch Supernatural in this episode, after all!

This chapter might be less exciting compared to my previous chapters (or what I have planned) - in my opinion at least. I mostly just wanted to focus on Harlynn's friends and about Ghost; mostly about how intelligent he is and the alike. You guys probably thought I had Ana and Alec kidnapped or killed, right? Sorry to disappoint you, but I have something else planned for the two of them. It won't disappoint, I hope XD Btw, the eagle-species 'Mr. Mysterious' turned into is called a Gold Eagle.

What are your opinions on this chapter? What do you think of Ana and Alec to far? What about Ghost and his tricks for cookies? What about the little appearance 'the kitten-turned-eagle-whose-idendity-we-all-know' pulled? (I couldn't resist having them watch Supernatural btw, I'm a fan - and so is Harlynn) And that sentence I quoted from Supernatural (what Gabriel said), think it has any hidden meaning in this story? Why Gabriel? Or do you think it's simply because I like that quote and character? ;) Predictions?

Until the next time then! Don't forget to vote/comment/share if you liked it. Hugs and knives,

- Luci

Ps. What's your own favorite Supernatural character? (if you watch the show - if you don't, you should. You really are missing something)

My favorite character is Gabriel :) But then again... I really like Castiel and Lucifer too... they are so cute