Nine

Jessica is sleeping soundly on the bed in one of Miles' many rooms in his penthouse. Miles hasn't slept. He spent the whole night watching Jessica, staying with her until she woke up, but mostly he sat there watching her, admiring her beauty.

This isn't the first time he has stood watching her sleep; he has done this many a time before. Even though he has told himself many times to stop because stalking is a crime, he still finds himself drawn to her like there's some kind of magnetic pull.

He just can't stay away from her; he doesn't know how and what kind of an attachment this is. Miles has never had a mate. This is the first time he's experiencing having a mate, and for some reason, that mate happened to be human the first time he saw her.

Now that she's Nytheri, it seems like he has a faster and deeper connection to her. he doesn't know if she feels the same way.

Of course, she doesn't feel the same way, you idiot. She just met you. He thinks to himself, almost hitting himself on the head. But he doesn't want to because he doesn't want the sound to wake her up, and Nytheris wake up to the slightest sound.

But God, she is beautiful indeed. He's lucky to have found her, very lucky. But now the question is, will she accept him or will he be rejected?

The only time he left the room was to make breakfast and to take a shower, so he gets ready for work.

So he's in his work clothes. A white shirt, with the sleeves rolled up, black pants and black suits. There's a golden wrist watch on his left wrist and a chain around his neck. His suitcase is on the floor. He's lucky he's the boss at his company, because he gets to go to work anytime he wants. He's going to go to work if he sees Jessica is alright and she eats her food.

He made her favourite, sausages, scrambled eggs and orange juice. It's what she loves to take every morning, either that or coffee. But he didn't want to give her coffee; he wanted her to eat something because she probably didn't eat anything yesterday.

He wants to know how she's doing before leaving because last night she looked scared as hell.

Yes, Miles grew up in this life. He has been told since he was a little boy that he was born to keep humans safe from evil. He's known what he's supposed to do from a very young age. But Jessica was born human and was raised human, so she won't be used to all this right away.

Maybe he shouldn't have brought her back to life, because after all, it is against the rules to lend your life to a human. But still, he felt like he had to do it; he had to bring her back because it was not her time to go.

And then he remembers at that moment that he doesn't care if he gets in trouble or not.

Jessica moves, and her eyes open up. She's awake. She begins to look around, confused as to where she is right now.

"Good morning," Miles says to her. Jessica shoots her head up at Miles, and she screams. Then jumps out of bed, she hisses and brings out her claws. Miles looks at both claws with a smile on his face. Jessica puts her hands down and groans.

"You did this to me," she says.

"Did what? Bring you back to life?"

"But why? Why did you have to do that? Why didn't you just leave me to die?" She cries, and Miles stands to answer her question.

"That's because you didn't deserve to die. I felt like saving you because… I don't know. Something made me do it. It felt like you weren't meant to die or you were meant to die but reborn into something new."

Jessica, who has had her eyes on Miles' eyes, finally looks away. The fact that she's keeping eye contact with people is strange. She used to be shy; she could never set her eyes on someone else.

The shyness is gone indeed; it feels like something has been lifted off her shoulders, and the alter ego that she's always wanted to be released is finally free.

But…

"I'm not human anymore, what am I?" she asks him. "I know I'm a Nytheri, but what is that. I've never heard of that before. Is that a non-fictional name for a werewolf?"

"Oh God no," Miles says in disgust. "We are not that, and also they're not called werewolves; they're called Varkari."

"Hmm, okay, so what are we then?"

"Well, I'd like to know you better before we get into anything serious, so I think-"

"What?" Jessica stops him "That's not what I'm talking about," she says, looking at him confused. He smiles

"I'm kidding," he giggles. Jessica isn't laughing. He stops laughing when he realises that she's not laughing.

"Sorry, okay, so we're what the fictional media calls werecats. But we're called Nytheris. We're a cat race descendant of Bastet, a Goddess who is part cat, part human. We have very distinct abilities. We're flexible, can see in the dark and can see and hear things from afar. We can glamour humans, and we're fast, faster than Varkaris, and we can see what humans can't."

"Like what?" Jessica knows what she just wants to be sure.

"People's aura, especially if they're evil, some of us or the majority of us, can see ghosts and spirits. Witches are our allies because they help us help humans, and Varkaris are our enemies."

Jessica only stares at Miles, trying to process all that she has heard. The rest is simple to her. Nytheris were created by the cat goddess Bastet. Nytheris are fast, flexible, and have special abilities. Witches are their friends and Varkaris are their enemies.

It's normal for dogs and cats not to get along. She's not going to be asking more than that.

"Okay, what about the life thing. How can you give life?"

"Nytheris have nine lives. You can lend a life to a human with a kiss. It can only be done when the human is dead, when a Nytheri gives you their venom. Especially when you die a premature death, you're going to come back to life."

"Premature death?"

"Well, we can only bring people back who died in an accident, homicide, suicide, and murder. Anything that isn't remotely natural, but we can't bring people who die of cancer or any sicknesses back to life. You can imagine even our venom can't cure cancer."

Jessica looks away. At first, she thought that if she had known Miles or the Nytheris sooner, then they would have saved her mom, but it seems like even a supernatural venom that can cheat death can't cheat their way through cancer.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmm? Yeah yea. It's all too much to take in. Wow, I'm a cat."

"A Nytheri."

"Yeah, sure, a nytheri. So you guys fight vampires- I mean, nocturnes."

"Not just nocturnes, demons, rogue vakaris, evil spirits, chimaeras, you name it. The Goddess brought us into this world to protect humans. That's why you had the instinct to save someone from a nocturne. We're programmed to protect people from evil."

"So now I have to save humans from evil."

Miles nods.

"Okay, but what if I mess up? As you can see, I didn't save that human on time."

"Hey, we all mess up sometimes, but you have to understand that we must not see that as a means to just give up. You can do better. All you need is training."

Jessica nods. She didn't like the idea of fighting nocturnes and demons before, but if that's what she now has to do to save people from death, then she's going to try her best.

She catches a glimpse of the breakfast that was made by him on the bed, and she furrows her brows and tilts her head.

"Is that for me?"

Miles turns his head. "Oh, yeah, it is." he picks up the tray of breakfast and hands it over to her. "I know it's your favourite."

Jessica doesn't take the tray of her favourite breakfast. "How do you know that?"

"Oh, uhm… a hunch." he shrugs, then rubs the back of his head.

"A hunch? Have you been stalking me?"

He scoffs nervously. "What, stalking? That's - that's a crime. Uh… would you look at the time? I have to get to work. He walks toward the door. Please feel free to eat anything you want. There's food in the kitchen, and if you want to know more about Nytheris and the supernatural world, then you can go to my study. The shelf to the right will have all the answers."

He smiles and makes a run for it.

"Wait, at least tell me your name!" he stops immediately and feels like a fool for not telling her his name. He turns around, lets out a sigh and walks toward her slowly. he stands in front of her and brings out his hand for a handshake. "My name's Miles Gonzalez."

Jessica takes his hand. It's soft and strong at the same time, signifying how he came from wealth yet still gets his hands dirty from protecting people.

The feel of his hand is electric; it shakes something in her, a spark? A flame? She doesn't know. But she knows she's beginning to feel a kind of connection to him, and no, it's not just because they touched hands.

"Jessica Humphrey," she says, looking straight into his eyes.

"I know." He says. He didn't mean to confess that, but the feel of her soft hands and the beauty of her eyes compelled him to just open up.

"Ah, so you have been stalking me."

"A little." There's no hiding anymore, and also she's not mad about it. She just stands there smiling at him. They're both smiling at each other.

None of them know this, but this is going to be the start of an epic love story.