Chapter 1: The monster arise part 1
"And done. Please take care of your cat next time" the soft voice of a man called out, soft hands petting the cat that laid on the table before him.
The cat let out a soft purr in satisfaction, yet it was too medicated to do anything else at that moment.
"I see. I'll take care of her this time around. Thank you for your time Doctor Li" the older lady sitting in front of the doctor said, her hands making small movements in her lap.
Although she was the owner of the cat, at that moment the woman only had the eyes for the man sitting opposite to her.
The man almost cringed from the unwanted attention being bestowed onto his person, but unfortunately, all he could do was grin and pray that this unwanted interest in him would dwindle.
"Please none of that Mrs, You're a regular customer here and your cat is always welcomed here" the doctor patted the cat to show support to his words.
The woman pretended to swoon at his words which was not something he wanted to see at all since he and the woman had a marginal age gap between herself and him. Not to mention, her already present family's presence in this situation.
Overall, this was not a situation he fancied himself in being, every.
But the woman had been persistent in her endeavours, going as far as to involve her pet cat (or a stray she took in any way and made Mark's clinic a regular centre for visit.
At least the cat was a good company to keep anyway. Far better than the old lady. Mark had no idea what she was planning and he was not going to go out of his way to find out either.
He had enough on his plate.
From behind, a dog barked (one of his patents he was meaning to release) which broke the strange atmosphere. Mark withdrew his hand from the bed which had been nearly grasped by the lady. The lady let out, what she hoped to be an embarrassed laugh, but all it sounded like was awkward coughs to Mark.
"I'm afraid you should return home now Miss. Your family must be missing you. Also, your cat is in excellent health so you should really slow down your visits to this vet" the woman gave the cat a glare that basically said that everything that was going wrong was its fault.
Somewhere back in his mind, the alarm bells signalled that it was getting to a dangerous situation. That did not seem to be a good look in Mark's eyes. He really needed to interfere in this situation then.
The entity would not appreciate Mark letting this go and the result would not end up well at all.
"Ah, on a second note the cat seems to have a problem I missed initially. Why don't you leave it here for a while longer? I'll contact you when you need to pick her up" the woman looked much happier now.
Even her glares at the cat had softened into the blow and the feeling of danger around Mark felt remarkably less than before.
A soft exhale of appreciation left Mark's mind when the feeling of danger abated as the woman left the clinic.
"Let's get you in" Mark picked up the cat who just looked up at him with intelligent eyes. Mark just groaned as the cat settled down in his arms, a mark glowing right at her forehead.
The backdoor of the clinic was opened gently to enter into an almost forest which was looked natural in no way of the world.
Mark let the cat jump down from his arms as it began to run wild in the area. Soon more cats with similar designs on their forehead joined the first one till a whole dozen arranged themselves around the first one.
"Where do you all keep appearing out of? And you're all just a case of problems too. Why do I have to get stuck with this job at all?" Mark's mumbling was not appreciated for the next second he had a heap of not normal cats sitting on his body.
They were heavy and their claws dug into his arm, a small blade of blood appearing where they gripped a little too hard. Mark almost cried out at the abuse he had to suffer.
Of why him? What did he do? Was it because of all the pranks?
"Mind the hair" the cats just ignored him as they continued to chew on his hair and he gave up for the time being. He'll just take a shower later then.
"Fine, you demons, you win this time" Mark didn't mention that these cats won every time something like this went down. He was weak to their charms, after all, so he could only endure in silence.
Mark would have been content to lay there the whole evening to let the cats tire himself out if the phone hadn't rung. That was the one motivation he needed to push the cats away.
The phone that was ringing had not been the clinic's but his own personal one. Only so many people had his personal number and no matter who was calling from his known group, it must be important.
Mark was a known troublemaker, surely no one wanted to call him in anything but an emergency. And once he picked up the phone, his theory proved to be correct.
"Hello, Mark you there?" The voice was angry, as it often was. But Mark knew it was not at him but rather at the situation that the other was facing right now.
"Yes, En? You're calling me? Has the sun risen from the north today? Or did you just miss me?" Mark greeted his tone not quite able to keep the teasing out of it.
"Don't be an idiot or are your purple eyes just for show? We have received a case of another unusual injured animal, this one is really similar to the previous records we have. We need a hands-on-deck, so you in?" Mark just grind at that.
Was he ever ready for a job? No
Was he ever given a choice in the matter?
Also no.
"Mark me down and mail me the address" with just that the phone call was dropped and there was a mischievous sir in the clinic room. The grin on the person's face could not bode well for anyone and yet it somehow suited the person a lot.
"Another day, another job and another animal to be rescued. Now, why don't you lovelies stay here while I go out and save one of your comrades from this cruel cruel world" There was a twirl in Mark's steps as he moved around the room.
The dozen or so pair of eyes watched the man dancing around the room in leisure, all amused at the unusual behaviour the human was exhibiting.
"Let's see what all I will need" tired purple eyes looked around the clinic to spot the things that would be needed.
As the local vet, Mark was often tasked with handling certain cases that related to local animals in the vicinity.
There were abuse cases and even the ones of rabid animals losing control and attacking. As the animal expert, it was Mark's job to handle it all, just like his parents before him.
He only had vague memories of their job and this clinic as a whole while he was a child but he was sure they had loved this job.
So he loved it too in his own way.
Plus, helping animals in need was something he had come to appreciate as a job profession. It calmed him down to spend time with these animals.
Sometimes he even felt as if he could understand them if he tried hard enough. That just made his job much more endearing to him in the long run.
This job was also how he had made acquaintance with En, the local police chief in charge of the area.
Mark made sure his bag had everything that could be needed during this trip ever. His injections with anaesthesia and other drugs were filled quickly and correctly while he also made sure that his gloves and other equipment were sanitised well enough did he decide to get the move about.
"I'll be leaving now. Be sure to behave yourselves. And please don't break anything" seeing how the call back there seemed urgent, Mark decided to trust the cats to behave themselves and left in a hurry.
At such a late hour, the streets were almost deserted which had to be a given. Nights really got spooky here in these parts and pretty fast at that. As such, it was rare to see people outside their houses after it struck 8:00 pm.
That made travelling at such an hour so convenient for Mark. He opted not to take the car since the tagged location was marked close enough to reach by the foot. And once he was near enough, he saw the gate to the place.
It was the local public school, not a place Mark has a pleasure to visit since his parents had set up a trusted fun to have him home tutored with heavy instructions. He loved them for that all the same too.
"En, what is it?" Mark asked, his eyes vigilantly taking in his surroundings. The police force was covering the whole of the circumference of the school building which seemed too much in the eyes of Mark, but he would not be the one to actually go forward and burst the police's bubble.
Their part of the town was too quiet and serene with hardly anything for the police to participate in. So, these people could get a little spirited when the time came to showcase their skills.
It was something that Mark could understand very well. In fact, he had been the same when he had first started his own professional career. He had since mellowed down a lot with time and he reckoned it would be the same for most people here.
Besides, most of these looked like good people and not the pranking type Mark had been or still was.
"Nice to see you actually be on time and WHY ARE YOU NOT IN THE PROPER GETUP?" the yelling caused some of the people nearby to cover their ears at its loudness. Even Mark winched at the loud volume before he adjusted.
To be fair, he did not think he had enough time to change and to still be here on time, but he was not going to tell En this was the reason he was in shorts and not the recommended track pants inside the field.
"Hey, nothing wrong with looking dashing, is there? Maybe you should invest in fashion too so that you're not so grumpy all the time" Mark could see that his comment was not appreciated at all. The other looked like he was ready to burst their cover at any time which almost drew a chuckle out of Mark.
Really, En was much too easy to tease and much too angry to not have any fun while doing it.
"Y-You disgrace. If only we did not need your expertise I would never have to see your face again" Mark just gave off a little laugh at those words.
En said the same almost once a week and it had since become a routine between him and his somewhat friend? Mark was not sure how to label their relationship at all.
"Alright, calm down before you get a fever. Now can you brief me?" Yup, Mark's words were not appreciated at all. However, luckily for Mark, a junior decided to interfere.
"C-Chief, it has started to move around. W-what should we do?" clearly the person was too young which was evident by the stutter in his words and Mark just let out a sigh. Hopefully, the person would not quit after one time like so many others.
"I see. Mark, It's your area of expertise now" En's words had a finality to them as he began walking away and all of sudden it drew on Mark. He was the one who would have to clean up this mess now.
