Pandora and The Baron

I want to thank my editor 1sickbastard for all his help in getting this part of my story ready for submission as well as my family who's ears I bent when my brain just wouldn't work.

The sounds of the night filled the air, the call of the wolf echoed out of the dusk. She could hear how the horses whinnied and nickered in the distance of the night. Soft footsteps echoed and bounced eerily off of the obsidian walls. Eyes of emerald green looked around in sheer wonder at the expanse that lay before her. A soft feline purr sounded through the lifeless, deserted castle.

The lean figure of a woman was illuminated in the dim glow of the candle light. Long raven black hair streamed down her back in a silken waterfall. She lifted her head up as dark eyes looked around. She purred softly to keep herself calm in a place that was so very different from her home. Her weight shifted back and forth restlessly. Short, quick breaths filled her nose to find any sign of unexpected danger.

Small hands flexed and relaxed against a sleek and trim thigh. Sharp nails that resembled claws scraped against the black satin pants that clung to her every curve as if for dear life. A green corset caressed her waist and chest as though it were a lover from days gone by.

Bright, watchful eyes looked about the empty hall. She felt that all was not right, but she can't seem put her finger on what was out of place. Her slender shoulders rolled lightly to try and ease some of the tension that she felt.

She turned on a small, black booted foot as she began to make her way towards the kitchen to get a bite to eat when it hit her there were no sounds what so ever in the castle. That in itself wasn't normal. One would expect to hear the sounds of the kitchen staff as well as the chatter of the servants.

Her head lifted up and sniffed lightly at the air with the hope she could get a scent that pointed her in the right direction. Bright emerald eyes began to look about frantically to search for what ever seemed out of place. The only thing that seemed even remotely out of place was the fact that there wasn't a soul around. That in itself was just plain out and out weird. Her head shook as she tossed about long raven black tresses of silk against her back.

As she looked around more she didn't see the tapestries that were normally on the walls. Her mind frantically tried to figure out where in the name of the nine hells she was. The general set up of the castle was the same as her home with just a few minor differences. A low feline purr rumbled deep within her chest. She desperately tried to calm herself down.

She sensed another close to her as her soft purr changed to a low growl of menace. She began to turn around deliberately but only heard the sounds of her own footsteps. Her growl gradually deepened as her senses picked up... something. Small nails elongated into a set of deadly feline claws. She wanted to locate the other that she sensed close to her.

She sniffed at the air once more, and caught the scent of a vampire. She remembered the family that ruled here was comprised of vampires. Then again, the scent just wasn't right. It wasn't one that she was familiar with.

Slowly she began to follow her nose, but a soft white shimmer started to overtake her body. The sounds of bones being snapped and broken bounced off the obsidian walls as the shimmer died away which left the large leopard in place of the woman. Small pinpoint ears flickered back and forth lightly to listen for any sounds her sensitive ears could pick up. Massive paws moves across the stone with a predator's deadly silence. Powerful muscles rippled and flowed under a sleek and shiny coat.

The soft click of razor sharp claws against the stone sounded in her ears. She came to a stop where the vampire scent was the strongest. She sat back on powerful haunches as her long tail wrapped around her front paws bright eyes looked into the darkness.

Small ears flicked back and forth suddenly. They flattened down against her head as her sleek body tensed up. A low growl of warning rumbled deep in her chest.

Her entire body was tense and ready to strike her tail began to lash back and forth like a whip. Her eyes were trained on a pair of red dots that glowed like twin flames; lips curled back to show off lethal white teeth meant to rip and tear. Her eyes were locked onto the two red dots; this was where the vampire smell was the strongest.

She watched as a tall husky figure began to slip out of the shadows. The figure was tall and lean, but broad in the chest which gave him that husky look. The man wore a pair of black leather pants, no shirts, and a long brocade cloak of deep purple. His eyes were a deep, dark crimson red that burned like twin flames.

She shook her head as she began to back away from the man slowly her snarl ever present because she knew things were not as they were supposed to be. Bright emerald pools were locked onto the vampire before her. Her mind was in an uproar in an effort to try and place who this man was. His scent wasn't even remotely close to the vampire family she knew ruled here. She backed away from him till she bumped into a hard object a startled cry tore from her lips as she jumped a good ten foot straight up.

When she landed from the jump her eyes left the man for a mere second to see what she had backed into, only to find that she had backed into a table. She whipped her head back around to find that the man was gone from sight. Small pinpoint ears flickered back and forth hysterically; she desperately wanted to find out where he had gone. She lifted her head up just a bit to sniff at the air as she tried to locate his scent.

Now she gets really confused because his scent was all around her. Now she was scared she knew she wasn't strong enough to take on a vampire. Dark eyes dart around to look for him as she pressed herself back into the table. Then she felt a brush against her haunches, which made her to jump up and hit her head on the underside of the table. She succumbed to the darkness that came to claim her.

The man had brushed her hindquarters which startled her, his head tipped to one side. His eyes had calmed down to a warm chocolate brown color. He crouched down beside her as he ran a hand through her fur, he was amazed at how soft and silky her fur felt. He shook his head a bit which caused his long silken locks of crimson to bound against his cloak.

He took a hold of her front legs and very carefully pulled her out from underneath the table and over to the fire place. His fingers snapped and a fire jumped to life to through out a soft glow over her sleek body. Slowly he would rise up to his full height to tower over the prone body of a beautiful leopard. He had seen many different creatures in his centuries of life but a leopard was a creature he had never before encounter. He was curious of this new creature before him.

This was his domain after all so he set to work and bound her paws in cloth to protect himself from her deadly claws he even wrapped up her muzzle so she couldn't bite. Lastly a collar with a length of chain was snapped around her neck. The length of chain was attached to a stone support pillar. He figured she would be too fearful to shift to her human form. He got a chair and brought it close to where she lay unconscious.

Little by little she began to wake up; "Welcome back to the land of the living beautiful" sounded a low and gentle voice.

Her eyes snapped open as a low growl of menace rumbled deep in her chest. As she slowly rose to her feet, she thought 'My feet don't feel right'. She looked down and saw the cloth that encased her paws. She would not be able to defend herself . Emerald pools narrowed down as she looked over to the man who sat in a chair not far from her.

She was still afraid but right now anger was more predominant in her mind. She shifted her weight little by little to her haunches; her eyes were locked on to him. She gave a little waggle before she took off at a dead run towards the man. She hadn't felt the collar that had been placed around her neck.

The man watched as she sprang into action, without the knowledge that she was chained to a support pillar. The chain snapped tight as it jerked her back hard which knocked the wind out of her and bruised her ass. She got back to her feet as a low growl rumbled deep and low in her chest her eyes were locked onto the man. She tried to snap her teeth only to find her mouth closed, and she unable to open it.

"Did you think I wouldn't take some precautions with such a deadly beauty?" he said lowly as he settled back in his chair. She fought the chain, snapping it so hard that the pillar groaned in protest.

The man just shook his head and laughed "You will find, my deadly beauty, that the chain and collar won't give any."

Finally, she lay down to rub at the cloth that bound her muzzle to try and work it off. She had developed a hatred for this man. Never had she been treated like this in her entire life.

She got the make shift muzzle off. She began to work her jaw a bit, then she set to work at the cloth that bound her paws. When at last the bonds on her paws were off, she laid her head down.

Dark pools locked onto the man as a deep growl rumbled low in her chest. She had developed a large and rather nasty hatred for him. Hell, she didn't even know what his name was. His warm chocolate eyes looked to her; his head tipped lightly to allow a few stray strands of crimson hair to fall down over his right eye.

If she had been human she would have wanted to reach out to tuck away the stray strands of hair. She shook her head slightly as she growled to herself because she had let her emotions rule her. She wanted to get the hell out of there, quick.

His eyes never left her. He could almost read her mind just through her expressions and body language. His voice was calm and cool against her riled nerves, "So it would seem that we are at a standstill, my deadly beauty. You have worked yourself free of the bonds meant to protect me."

He paused a moment and reflected. "I'm not stupid enough to approach you when you are aggravated and upset. When you calm down we shall see to the questions we both seek answered."

He stood up and moved off towards the back of the castle. She jumped to her feet and let out a low cry. She didn't want to be left out here alone, not knowing what other creatures called this place home. He stopped and turned to look back to her, "Well, well, is my deadly beauty afraid of being left alone?" he asked softly.

She shook her head faintly a low pitiful whine came from her. She didn't know what other creatures were with in these walls. She looked to him, dusky eyes pleaded with him to not leave her alone. His head canted a bit as a smile curled the corners of his lips, "So my beauty is afraid of being alone."

Truly she had to admit defeat because she was afraid of being alone. She dropped her head down as a soft voice entered his mind 'afraid of what I don't know.'

This gave him reason to pause and think for a few minutes. He studied her general body language which told him she was truly afraid. He shifted his weight lightly on booted feet as his gentle voice sounded in her ears "Well, my beauty, if you swear not to attack me, I will take you up to my chambers. You can sleep at the foot of my bed on a pile of furs."

She thought about this for a few moments. She wasn't thrilled with the idea that she was to sleep at the foot of his bed like some common house cat. But it was that or be left down here alone and she defiantly didn't want that.

A low sigh escaped her as she nodded her head in agreement to his terms. His smile made her skin crawl as he unhooked the chain from the support pillar. She remained still until the chain was in his hand. Then and only then, did she move to follow him as he led her up to his chambers.

The main doors looked as though they were big enough for a dragon to walk through. They carried the emblem of a dragon that held a pair of crossed swords; not one of the emblems she was familiar with.

He lifted up his free hand and laid it over the dragon's heart, and whispered a few soft words in the language of vampires . She watched as the dragon's eyes lit up a pretty shade of dark blue. He slowly his hand withdrew and the doors began to scrape open into his chambers.

She remained behind him and peeked around his legs just enough to see. The chamber was dimly lit with a few blood stained candles. He started to walk into the chamber and she baulked. The darkness was so impenetrable, she couldn't see in. He looked over his shoulder at her "Is my beautiful one going to reconsider my offer to sleep at the foot of my bed?" he asked teasingly.

She lifted her head up and looked at him; she shook her head and stepped into the chamber. She followed him by smell, sound, and the chain that was attached to the damnable collar. When he stopped she ran right into the back of his legs and got knocked back on her ass.

Slowly she got back to her feet as she shook her head. She growled softly, mainly to herself, because she ran into him. She heard faint sounds of movement in front of her which made her stop as small pinpoint ears flicked back and forth to listen to the sounds around her. "Do forgive me, my beauty. I forget that you can't see in this darkness like I can," his voice came from within the darkness.

She heard him as he spoke a few soft words and it seemed that the darkness had been lifted. She now saw all that was in the chamber. She was curious now and wanted to explore all that was around her, but this was not her place to be able to do so. She made out that this was a dragon sized chamber. The bed looked as though it could have held her entire pride.

She was very curious of the things she saw in the chamber, but a light tug on the chain brought her out of her daydream. She turned her head calmly so she was able see the pile of furs at the foot of his bed. She walked over to the furs and sniffed.

The chain rattled as it was attached to a bed post. She really didn't care at this point, so she arranged the furs to suit her. Small ears still flickered and listened.

Once she had the furs to her liking, she turned several circles and plopped herself into them. The man watched her from the edge of his bed. He shook his head at what she did with the bed furs he gave her.

When he was sure she was settled, he got up and made his way to his closet. He released the small steel clasp at his throat to allow the cloak to fall free of his broad shoulders. He knew she had watched; her nature was to curious not too. He chuckled softly as he bent over to slip his boots off as he set them off to the side.

He shifted his weight back and forth on bare feet as he stretched out his long legs. He tipped his head so warm brown eyes looked to her. He had been right; she had watched him but only half-heartedly as she had been in the process of cleaning her face. That didn't bother him any. He knew it was going to take time to get the attention of his deadly beauty.

She watched every move that he made even as she cleaned her face. She took in the fine muscular lines of his shoulders and back, the way his waist narrowed but still had that small flare to the hips. She took note of how deadly pale colored his skin was. She knew of only one other whose skin was so pale it was almost white.

She put more effort into cleaning when she saw him look over to her. There was no way in hell she wanted him see that she was interested in him. Nope, not gonna happen. She wanted out of here as soon as possible.

She had no intention to stick around here when she considered how he had treated her; this gave her mind pause to think. Other than being chained and collared he had been very nice and polite to her. Now there was twist that she truly didn't understand at all. Why was he so nice to her when she was his prisoner. She was at his mercy, so why did he not take what he wanted from her? Yet he was kind to her. This was a twist she just couldn't wrap her mind around.

He saw the perplexity in her eyes and knew she wanted to put things together in her mind. A gentle smile curled up the very corners of his lips, "I choose to be kind, because for one, I am not what you think I am. Two kindness will get one farther than cruelty ever will."

His voice was soft and smooth to her as she thought about what he said. She knew he was right. He reached into the closet and pulled out a pair of black silk robes. One had the same dragon emblem that she had seen on the doors, the other had a big bright red rose on the back. He tossed the one with the rose to her. She looked to him, then at the robe, and back to him in a befuddled manor.

His warm eyes looked to her as a smile danced across his lips, "You can wear that should you wish to take your human form."

She shook her head lightly. Yes, she wished to be able to talk to the man and learn more about where she was. Did she have enough trust in herself to take that first step? She let out a soft, low sigh. She got to her feet and walked over to the bed to sniff at the robe softly . She found that it smelled of roses, her favorite.

Slowly she turned her back towards him as she lowered her head down. A soft whine came from her. The sounds of bones being snapped and broken echoed through out the chamber. The shimmer surrounded her body then slowly died away. This left the dark haired woman he had seen earlier.

His quick eyes caught sight of the multitude of claw like scars that covered her back. The mere glimpse of those scars was enough to cause his blood to boil. Who in their right mind could have ever brought her so much pain?

She quickly got the robe on to cover the scars on her back. She wanted no one but her pride to know about the scars. Scars given to her by the one who created her. There was a day that was never to be forgotten. She had been brutally attacked by a rouge member of the pride.

He had left her for dead. The only thing that saved her were the warriors that had found her. They took her back to the pride where she was nursed back to health and welcomed as family.

She shook her head to dismiss those memories. Then she tied the robe off at her waist. She straightened up and turned to face him.

He saw the momentary flash of pain in her shadowed eyes. That only served to anger him more, but he quickly brought his anger to check. He marveled at the beauty of the woman who stood before him now and thought about the exotic leopard he knew she was. This caused a smile to curl into a languid dance across his pale lips.