Even though he'd seen the transformation happen, part of him was still in disbelief, not wanting to believe that one of his best friends had just turned into a cat. But that was an inescapable truth as the feline's eyes opened, revealing the azure blue eyes that could only belong to JC. He was still lying on his side, panting from the obvious pain he'd just gone through.

And before Lance could even fully wrap his mind around what'd happened, Vanessa stepped forward as she reached out for the cat. She roughly grabbed the cat at the back of neck, causing him to cry out and try to swat at her. He wasn't able to put up much of a fight though because the hold Vanessa had on him severely limited his movements. Not mention he was likely still recovering from the transformation.

Vanessa started out of the living room and Lance was immediately on her heels. "What are you doing? Where are you taking him?"

"Don't worry. I'm not going to kill him."

There was an unspoken "yet" that Lance heard loud and clear. They were in his kitchen and she disappeared into the laundry room that was right off the kitchen. He tried to follow her, but just as he was about to enter the small room, she came walking out no longer holding JC but a carrier - the same one that used to belong to Dirk. And the low meowing from inside the plastic carrier told Lance she'd thrown JC in there.

"I can't have him running off," she said by way of explanation. "Now follow me upstairs."

She started walking forward, clearly assuming that he was going to be right behind. But Lance remained rooted to the linoleum floor of his kitchen, refusing to do anything with her. He was done following her blindly, especially since he knew she wanted something from him.

"No," he said.

She turned, her eyes narrowed. "That wasn't a request." She then closed her free hand - the one that wasn't holding the carrier - into a fist and suddenly Lance felt his throat close up. He immediately fell to his knees, coughing and unable to draw in a breath. It was like she'd wrapped her hand around his neck and started to squeeze the life out of him, only she was a couple feet away.

Lance could hear the blood pounding in his head and it was almost loud enough to drown out her setting down the carrier and her footsteps as she approached. He saw her feet stop in front of him just before she crouched down, her face entering his line of vision.

"I'm in control here, not you. You've submitted to me, so it's pointless to fight," she said, giving him a hard look. "I won't tolerate insubordination again."

With that, she unclenched her fist and instantly the pressure around Lance's throat disappeared. He took deep breaths, greedily taking in as much air as his oxygen starved lungs could handle. He knew he should be afraid of her, especially given what she'd just done, but the only thing he felt was anger.

Still panting slightly but nearly recovered, he glared up at her as she had straightened from her crouched position. "You're not going to kill me."

"No, but I won't hesitate to kill him," she said, gesturing to the crate that was on the floor a few feet away.

Lance faltered slightly, feeling she was sincere with her threat. He didn't want to push her over the edge, but then, nothing about this situation told him that she was going to just let JC go. Otherwise, why would she have thrown him in the carrier?

"I'm sure it's not much of a life being a cat. JC wouldn't want to live like that," Lance said, eyeing the plastic cage as he got to his feet.

She smiled at him, looking very amused as she too glanced at the contraption that confined JC. "Is that really how he feels? He'd appreciate you throwing away his life like that? Stealing the time he has to be human?"

Lance felt a bit of anger wash over him again as she tried to pull one over on him. "What time? It's over. You cursed him to be a cat."

"For twelve hours a day."

Instantly, all the anger melted away and he stopped dead, looking at her. "What?"

"He only got half the curse." She smirked suddenly. "Mrs. Jones got the other half."

Lance looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Originally I was cursed to be a cat forever, but an old woman found me and took me in. Big mistake on her part, especially since it resulted in her untimely death."

"What did you do to her?" Lance glanced at JC, feeling a bit of fear for him. Of course he had a feeling things were going to end badly regardless, but what else had she done to him? Had she somehow poisoned him or something, made it so he was slowly dying and just hadn't realize it yet?

Her smile grew, like she knew exactly what he was thinking. "I didn't do anything that I haven't done to your friend. I realized she provided me with the opportunity to transfer the curse, but her body was weak and frail. She only lasted two days before she died."

"And JC? How long before he dies?" Lance demanded, moving closer to the carrier that held his friend turned feline.

"If he dies it won't be because of the curse...at least not directly," Vanessa said. "The only thing I gave him was the curse. All he's experienced over the last few days is being more tired than normal and a craving for seafood."

"So he'll transform back for twelve hours a day?"

Vanessa nodded once. "Twelve hours from when he turned, which is always when the sun comes up."

Lance looked down at JC, feeling for the first time that all wasn't lost. He could grab JC and make a run for it, try to get them both of out there. But he was almost certain he wouldn't be able to make it to front door before she stopped him somehow. The fact that she needed him for whatever the hell she had planned was motivation for her to keep him around, but she didn't have a use for JC. So if JC could get out of the house, he'd be safe and maybe even find a way to save Lance from this psychotic woman. If you could even call her that.

But before he could make a move to unhook the latch on the door of the cage, he had to distract her. Otherwise, it would be all too easy for her to stop him. It didn't have to be anything major as he'd only need a second to set JC free, but he needed her to turn her back instead of boring those knowing eyes at him.

As subtly as he could, Lance looked around the area surrounding him. He was standing on the edge of the kitchen, practically in the short hallway that led to the front door and the stairs that led to the second floor. He was too far to make use of anything in the kitchen like a knife to potentially wound her. The thing that seemed to be closest to him was the powder room.

Without pausing to think about it, he launched himself into the small room and immediately locked the door. He glanced around and began to search for something he could use to ensure he had at least a few seconds to set JC free. The element of surprise he'd have when he jumped out of the bathroom would give him a small advantage, but he couldn't just throw himself at her as she would quickly recover from it. He needed something else to give him those few extra seconds.

"You're only delaying the inevitable you know," Vanessa's voice came through the door suddenly, sounding like she was right on the other side.

Lance said nothing, still looking for something to buy him some time. Then he spotted it. In the back of the cabinet under the sink hidden behind rolls of toilet paper and other various toiletries was a can of hairspray that his last girlfriend must have left behind.

He grabbed the canister and turned back towards the door. His heart pounded as he tried to ready himself for what he was about to do, taking a deep breath and releasing it as way to calm his nerves. He poised his hand over the doorknob, knowing he had to open the door in one quick motion because turning the knob slowly would just alert her he was coming out and he needed the element of surprise.

Taking one last breath, Lance held the hairspray canister up in his right hand while his left closed down on the doorknob, quickly turning it and pushing the door open at the same time. He jumped out, immediately locating Vanessa who'd been standing just to the right and took just a second to aim for her face before pressing down on the spray button on the canister.

Vanessa shrieked and brought her hands up to try to protect her face, giving Lance the opportunity he needed. He quickly closed the gap between him and the carrier that JC was trapped in, dropping down to his knees in front of it. The lock had two small pulleys with levers as part of the actual locking mechanism that needed to be squeezed together in order to pull two of the metal rods out of the plastic pegs and swing the door open. He'd just squeezed the two levers together and went to pull open the door when he suddenly was jerked to the right, dislodging his grip and allowing the metal rods to snap back into place. At the same time, he was slammed into the nearby wall.

Lance gasped in pain as his back connected with the unyielding surface, the action stealing his breath away. He crumbled the rest of the way to the floor, dazed. Desperately, he tried to shake off the pain and get to his feet, but his body wasn't cooperating. His mind was foggy, obviously from the knock to the head when he'd been thrown like a limp ragdoll. As his body was still recovering, all he could do was watch as Vanessa approached, hearing hissing from a couple feet away.

Her gray eyes that he'd thought of as stormy the first night he'd met her seemed ten times more threatening, especially since they were surrounded by angry red skin. He felt a bit of satisfaction in knowing he'd gotten her in the eyes, but it only lasted a second as he realized he was in hot water. There was a look of pure fury on her face and he anticipated the threat she'd give him, but none came.

Instead, she roughly yanked on his arm, forcing him to his feet. "C'mon," she snapped. Lance struggled in her grasp, but she tightened her hold, the tips of her long fingernails digging into his skin. He bit his lip, not wanting to give her the pleasure of him crying out and did his best not to stumble as she dragged him along.

She stopped briefly to grab the carrier with her free hand and there was more hissing. Lance glanced down, unable to see JC because of the tan plastic top, but he could imagine having been so close to freedom had put him on edge. And he desperately wished he'd been able to pull it off, afraid of what was going to happen now. That'd likely been their only chance.

It was a struggle to get up the stairs, Vanessa continuously pulling on his and making him trip as he tried to keep up to her. When they got to the top of the stairs, he made a last ditch effort to get away from her somehow knowing that once she got him into his bedroom that'd be the end of his chances. He yanked back on his arm, trying to dislodge it from her grip, but he'd underestimated how strong she was even one handed. But he continued to fight, hoping to weaken her hold. She put down the carrier and used her other hand to squeeze a part of his neck, causing him to instantly drop to his knees.

"I'm done screwing around," she practically growled. "Try something like that again and I'll remove your arm for you. Now get up."

Lance got to his feet, feeling kind of shaky as he tried to recover from the pressure point she'd activated. Once he was standing, she took hold of his arm again and took a step forward only to stop.

"Oh and Lance?" She waited until he looked at her before she continued. "Remember how I said I won't tolerate resistance?"

She turned slightly, positioning her foot just right and it was at that moment that Lance realized she hadn't picked up the carrier again. It was now in line with her foot and he had a sickening feeling as he sensed what was about to happened a second before she braced her foot on the top edge of the cage and kicked her foot backwards. It sent the carrier over the edge of the landing where it slid down the first couple stairs before momentum caused it to hit the edge of a stair and flipped continuously as it rolled down the rest. There was an agonized cry that Lance could swear sounded more human than feline and he pictured JC being flung about inside, crashing against the plastic walls, unable to go anywhere.

Finally, it hit the bottom of the stairs and, amazingly, the door was still shut tight. "JC!" Lance cried, thinking everything was too still.

Vanessa turned back to Lance and said, "Consider that your punishment."

"JC!" Lance yelled again, hoping for some sign his friend was okay. But then Vanessa was shoving him forward, directing him into the master bedroom. He didn't struggle - afraid to now - but he turned his head, trying to see or hear anything.

There was nothing.

As he was shoved into his bedroom, he knew he should be worried about what was going to happen to him, but all he could think about was JC. He wondered just how badly he was hurt after that stunt Vanessa had pulled.

"Go check on him. Please," Lance pleaded with her, allowing her to force him onto his bed. The sheets were still rumpled from the sex they'd had just a half hour ago.

She ignored him, grabbing a couple of long silky scarves off his nightstand that he hadn't seen before. It was obvious she had to have stashed them somewhere and then placed them out in the open before she'd followed Lance downstairs, wanting to be prepared for what she had planned. Something he still had no clue of.

"You should try to relax. Being tense is just going to make it harder on you," she told him as she tied his right hand to the bedpost with one of the long scarves, making the knot tight.

Lance watched her, resisting every urge he had to rip his hand out of her grasp and punch her in the face. It'd be pointless as she'd already shown that she'd get control over him before he could escape. That and she'd likely take it out on JC some more, making whatever he'd suffered from the tumble down the stairs even worse.

Once his left hand was tied to the other post just as tightly, Vanessa got up and moved the floor length mirror from the corner of the room to the foot of the bed. He wasn't sure what it was for, but it put him on edge. And for the first time since he'd gotten out of bed to go investigate JC's scream, he realized he was only wearing his jeans which made him feel exposed and vulnerable. He wondered if it was something she was going to take advantage of.

Lance's eyes followed her as she moved about the room, positioning things in various spots. She lit a large white candle on the nightstand near his head, and he found himself unnerved at how prepared she seemed to be - obviously having planned this for quite a while.

"What's all this for?" he asked her.

Once again he was ignored as she walked out of the room. She returned a minute later, carrying the portable cage JC was trapped in. Lance couldn't stop the relief that washed over him when he spotted movement inside, finally reassured that JC wasn't dead.

"I couldn't very well keep an eye on him with him down there now could I?" Vanessa said by way of explanation, placing the carrier on the armchair that sat by the window. "Besides, I figured he'd like to see you before the end."

Lance's heart stopped at that. What did she mean the end? The obvious answer was death, but whose? His? JC's? The uncertainty was enough to cause his heart rate to increase, his stomach churning nervously.

"What are you going to do?" Lance asked, fighting to keep his voice even and not let her in on how terrified he was right then.

Vanessa smiled, looking amused. "I can't tell you everything. Where's the fun in that?"

"I think I deserve to know. You're about to do God knows what to me."

Her smiled slipped from her face as a more sultry look replaced it. She seemed to float as she walked over to him, gently lowering herself onto the bed to his left. "You nervous?"

Lance didn't bother to try to deny it because he knew she would see through it. So he just gave her a knowing look and said, "I don't even know what the hell you are."

"I suppose that depends on what you believe," she said, still lounging beside him. She seemed so relaxed and so casual, which just put him on edge even more. "But what I know about you...demon is probably the most way to describe myself."

"Demon?" Lance repeated, unable to really pinpoint how he felt.

"You're surprised?" She slowly dragged her finger down his bare chest, the action causing a chill to run down his spine.

"No," Lance choked out, shaking his head slightly. "Just trying to wrap my head around it and what it has to do with me."

Vanessa raised an eyebrow. "You think I picked you for a reason?"

"Didn't you?"

"I could've picked anyone to be in your position right now. I picked you because I'm attracted to you. I was as soon as I saw you, so I was kind of mad you blew me off."

Lance's brow furrowed in confusion. He couldn't ever remember telling her no. He'd been so enamored with her from the beginning that he'd been willing to do whatever she wanted. "What are you talking about?"

Vanessa's eyes flickered over to JC for a second before she looked into his green eyes with her gray ones. "Your friend adopted Sheila as a gift for you and you weren't interested. You hurt my feelings." The last part was said almost mockingly.

"So you did all this to get back at me? To prove I could fall for you and then use me for whatever whacked out thing you have planned?" Lance's eyes widened suddenly. "Did you do something to me? Make me fall for you so quickly?"

She laughed. "Please. You men think too highly of yourselves. I just played off what you were feeling and what you wanted. You were already attracted to me, I just built on it."

Lance couldn't help but wonder what would've happened if he had accepted JC's gift. Would he be dead or dealing with whatever she had planned for him by now? Or would he and JC have switched places with her transferring the curse to him instead? But he quickly rid those thoughts from his mind; what ifs wouldn't help him here.

"Enough chitchat," she said, pushing up from the bed. "Time to finally finish what I started."

"What?" Lance asked.

She glanced at him briefly, adjusting something on the other side of the room that he couldn't see. "I need to kill my lover's soul."

Lance felt a bit of panic rise up within him. "I don't...I'm not..."

Another laugh escaped her lips, this one much more genuine and deep than the previous one. "Oh baby," she cooed. "I don't mean you. I killed Jerrell, but his damn sister got in the way and cursed me before I could finish - before I could kill his soul."

"And what does that have to do with me?" Lance asked carefully, sensing he didn't really want to know the answer but needing to know exactly what was going to happen.

"Well, I've got to draw his soul in somehow. It's the only way to kill it."

Lance frowned at her as she moved to his side again. "But-"

"Shh," Vanessa whispered, putting her hand over his mouth. Immediately he realized that it wasn't just her hand that was pressed against his lips, able to feel the sticky adhesive that was on the back of tape.

He gave her a look, hating that she'd taken some more of his control away of him. He was practically helpless before her now with no way of vocalizing his protests - at least not very loud.

"I can't tell you everything, remember? It'll ruin the surprise." There was a slight pause and she added, "Besides, I don't know how you'll handle this and screaming gives me a headache."

Lance felt his anxiety rise as she stepped back, putting a few feet between them but still standing near the side of the bed. She put a hand to chest, a couple of her fingers resting on her pearl necklace as she began to speak softly in Latin. He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from her, terrified of what was about to happen.

Vanessa suddenly broke from her chanting as she grabbed the white candle that'd been burning by the bed and reached out, tipping it over to drain the wax. Lance jerked as the hot wax hit his bare skin, leaving a burning sensation behind from his belly button up to the middle of his chest. He was barely aware of her putting the candle back on the nightstand and speaking in Latin again, everything becoming really hazy. It was actually pretty strange because while the hot wax burned, it shouldn't have that kind of an effect on him.

But the feeling just seemed to increase, causing him to feel less and less in tune to what was going on around him. Suddenly, there was an almost crushing feeling like something or someone was lying on top of him. He felt like he couldn't breathe and for some reason that made him snap back to a more aware state. He found he was no longer looking at Vanessa but straight ahead into the mirror that was at the end of the bed, and what he saw shocked the hell out of him.

His reflection wasn't there.

No, the mirror wasn't empty. There was a reflection. It just wasn't his. In the mirror was the image of a man with dark skin, his face alight with terror but whether it was the man's or his own, Lance wasn't sure. The only thing that he recognized of himself that was projected back from the shiny surface was his eyes replacing the dark brown eyes Lance was sure the man had.

"Good to see you, Jerrell," Vanessa said from Lance's left. She was out of frame of the mirror, but she obviously was in a position that allowed her to see into it without her own reflection being projected. "I bet you thought you'd escaped, but lucky for me there was a loophole in that little curse your sister put on me. And now I can finally pick up where I left off."

Lance felt sick as he finally realized what she'd meant earlier when she'd needed to draw is soul in to kill him; his soul was sharing his body with this past lover of hers. The man, Jerrell, didn't say anything and the sudden thought that Jerrell couldn't because Lance couldn't. And maybe that was the real reason she'd put the tape over his mouth - so she wouldn't have to listen to her ex-lover.

"Thanks for everything," Vanessa told him, her voice almost sarcastic as she smirked. Then she grabbed a piece of paper and lit it on fire while she muttered something in Latin.

Instantly, Lance experienced a searing, white hot pain that seemed to engulf his entire body. His back arched and he struggled against the silk scarves that bound his wrists to the bedposts, trying desperately to stop the burning feeling even though he knew it was futile. As he might have thought the hot wax had been, this was ten times worse. A scream rose up in his throat, but it had no way to escape, muffled behind the tape that seal his lips shut.

Then as suddenly as it began, it was over. He fell back against the bed, panting and sweating as he slowly recovered from whatever the hell had just happened. Reflexively, he glanced in the mirror, not all that surprised to see just himself now. He may not have understood the whys or how of it all, but Jerrell's soul was gone forever. That much he was sure of, the lack of the other presence that'd given him that almost suffocating feeling confirming it.

Vanessa blew out the white candle on the nightstand before leaning over, grabbing hold of the edge of the tape. She ripped it off in one fluid motion, taking Lance by surprise and making him gasp. Before he could recover, she covered his lips with her own, kissing him aggressively for a few seconds and ending with a bit to his bottom lip. It reopened the previous cut and once again she sucked on it briefly before pulling back.

"That wasn't so bad now was it?"

Lance didn't know if she was referring to the kiss or what she'd done to him - how she'd used him to kill her lover's soul. So he didn't say anything, figuring she didn't expect much of an answer anyway.

"Can you let me go now?" Lance asked, trying not to sound pitiful and scared but not quite sure he managed to pull it off.

She laughed. "Oh no. That wasn't all I had planned for you. You're still very useful to me."

"In what way?"

"You'll see," she said with a wink before walking out of the room, pulling the door closed behind her.

Lance stared after her, wondering if she would be right back. The closed door suggested she wasn't, but he had to wonder why she'd even shut it in the first place. It wasn't like he could go anywhere...or that his door locked from the outside. Maybe she was gathering the things she'd need for whatever else she had in store for him and didn't want him to somehow begin piecing things together. Regardless there wasn't anything he could about it but lie there and wait for her to return.

A half hour passed without her appearing again, but Lance certainly wasn't complaining. After everything she'd done already, he'd be happy never to see her again. That wasn't realistic though; she'd back and probably soon. But maybe, just maybe, he could see to it that one of them got away.

Lance's eyes strayed to the carrier where his friend turned cat was still trapped, the feline's blue eyes seeming to be locked on his own green. For the first time he allowed himself to think how strange it was that one of his best friends was a cat as it was something he'd never thought possible. But as weird as it was for him, it had to be even worse for JC since he was actually going through it. He wondered what it was like and just how much JC was able to comprehend. Almost immediately he realized that JC must be aware of everything considering he wasn't really a cat and he was sure Vanessa had likely displayed some humanlike characteristics as a cat. Not he knew from experience because he hadn't been to JC's since he'd first tried to give him the animal.

What he did know was that JC would likely end up dead if he stayed because Vanessa didn't seem to have much use for him. He'd just been a means to an end - a way to get rid of her curse completely. Lance needed to get him out of there and then he could worry about himself.

With that in mind, Lance twisted his right wrist around in the scarf, trying to position his hand in such a way that his fingers could work on the knot. It was tight and hard to hold his hand in such an awkward position for long, causing him to take frequent breaks. But he was determined and a good while later, it paid off as he was finally able to untie the knot. When his right hand was free, it was much easier to take care of his left hand.

Once both of his hands were released from the long silk scarves, he quickly got up from the bed only to drop to his knees as the room tilted dizzily. He gave himself a minute, figuring he'd gotten up too fast for having been restricted to lying on his back for the last few hours. When he felt more in control, he stood up - slowly this time - and crossed the room to JC.

Lance squeezed the two levers together and opened the door. JC stepped out carefully, and he frowned at the slow pace JC was using. He reasoned he could just be stiff because while Lance's shoulders and arms hurt from being tied over his head, JC had been confined to a small cage. But then maybe something was broken from that tumble he'd taken down the stairs after Vanessa had kicked the carrier off the second floor landing.

"JC, I'm going to open the window and you should be able to use the overhang from the roof to get to the tree and climb down."

The cat meowed and Lance could've sworn his eyes narrowed. It was clear that JC was objecting to his plan, not wanting to leave him behind.

"Yes," Lance said, glaring at him. "She's going to kill you otherwise and this way you can get help."

If JC had another objection, Lance didn't see it as he reached up to unlock the window and push it open. His attention was drawn back to the other side of the room as he heard the doorknob jiggle. They were out of time.

"JC, go," Lance hissed.

JC jumped onto the windowsill and slipped through the open window just as the door opened. Lance quickly shut the window and turned to face Vanessa, trying to swallow back his nervousness and fear at how she would punish him for this.