Despite her brief and uninspired message, she'd gotten some replies on the companion forum. Quite likely all due to the photos, and not because of what she had written. Now it was hard to sort though, tell the good from the bad ones, the ones who just wanted her for her looks.

  There was one contact whom she considered a good choice. A single man, looking like he was in his mid forties, stable income. Plenty enough that he passed the threshold for a companion guardian. Living in a different town, so if the police had failed to capture all of the mobsters, she would at least be out of their immediate area. Well, if she just wanted to get away, there were even responses from colonies on other planets and moons in the solar system, but she didn't want to leave earth.

  He had written that he owned a small business, but had forgotten to mention exactly what sort of business, just that he had about a dozen employees and to her this seemed to indicate that it was well established and running well enough to hire this many people.

  Now she was in one of the private communication booths together with the hologram of Roger Rose, the one whom she preferred among all who had replied to her search for a new guardian. Unlike Tom who almost always had been wearing a suit, Roger preferred casual clothes. Simple blue jeans and a t-shirt which looked pale yellow to her eyes, and so could be anything from orange through yellow to some sort of green.

  She waved and tried to show a friendly smile with just a little of her fangs showing, "Hello roger, nice to meet you!"

  He smiled at waved back, "Hey Vivian, nice to meet you too. Sorry for being so blunt, but I have some questions. How much cat are you?"

  She tilted her head and wiggled her ears, "How much cat? Eh ... as far as I know my body is more lion than cat. If that is what you mean?"

  He chuckled, "Not quite what I meant, but it's a start. Can you show me your fangs?"

  She gave him a big toothy smile, snout wide enough to show all her teeth, then she had to laugh and crossed her arms in front of her chest, "Roger this feels stupid. Like the old tales, when they judged the health of a traded horse by its teeth."

  He grinned but shook his head, "It's important to me that you are a healthy cat. Show me your claws, please?"

  She held her hands up and wiggled her fingers, "All nicely filed and pointy."

  He nodded, "Yep, looking good. Now, next question, can you jump like a cat?"

  She laughed again, "If there is one thing I'm good at, it's jumping. Just this room is small and I don't know if the holo transmitter can capture all of it."

  "What do you have in mind?" He asked.

  "Give me a moment, maybe it works", she let him know and walked up to the one wall, "Can you still see my hologram?"

  He nodded, "Yes, the transmission is fine."

  "Good. Now watch!"

  She squatted lightly to load her legs with tension, then pushed into a two, three step run in till the opposing wall came close, jumped against the wall, bounced back further up, into a twist and flip and managed to land on her feet, bowed and spread her arms, "I'm all cat!"

  He clapped, "Quite impressive, indeed. So, yeah, I've been looking for someone like you since a while."

  Her ears perked up, "Yes?"

  He nodded, "Yes, but there is something in your record which got my curiosity. You're a sapient animal, what does that mean?"

  She slumped, just after the moment of happiness and hope, "That's embarrassing Roger."

  "If you want to be my companion, you need to be honest", he reminded her.

  "Not so easy to explain. Simple version, I used to be a human, but this body comes with instincts which can just wipe my thinking. So I'm sapient until I'm not", she shrugged, "See, we can talk just fine right now. Most of the time I'm just a normal person."

  He nodded, "Right, I think I get it. Another question, what happened to your voice?"

  She sighed a not so little hiss, "Bad story again. My former guardian ... I don't know. The mob took him, for whatever reason. Then they took me. They wanted me to work for them, and said I need a different voice. I didn't want another voice but they did it anyways."

  "That's not the full story, I think. I've got your criminal record and it said you've killed your guardian but in a state of diminished capacity and so you were not sentenced for murder. I want to know what happened there", he looked at her with a very serious expression.

  She nodded, "Well, yeah, the mob took Tom. Then they took me. Somehow they expected I'm mad at him, just wait for a chance to, yeah, kill him. No idea why they expected that. Tom had been good to me. They tried to trigger my instincts and drew blood on him, and when that failed they drugged me with something and I lost my mind. I just smelled blood and wanted to kill."

  He seemed to think about it for a while, "So, you've been set free because they had drugged you?"

  She nodded, "Yeah. The stuff just wiped all my will."

  "And your voice?" He prompted her again.

  She rose her hands in a helpless gesture, "That happened a day or so later. I don't remember much. One of them told me it's 'time to see the vet', shot me with a stun gun, and when I woke up again, I couldn't speak at all first, and now I sound like this. They told me this is how they wanted me to sound. Even told me before that I need a new voice. It's not been an accident, they did it on purpose. It's pretty shitty if you are captured by the mob and cannot even beg for anything 'cause you can't speak." The last part came as a very angry hiss.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  He nodded, "Yeah, I get that. But honestly, I like your voice. It suits you well." Now she saw him smiling.

  She covered her face with her hands, and spoke more quietly but with none the less hiss, "Roger please, this isn't funny. They made me kill my former guardian, and I really didn't want to. They killed my voice. And now everyone calls me beast and one day they gave me cat food instead of meat. And I even sound like an angry beast which hisses words."

  "Vivian the killer beast. So I need to put you in a cage every evening to be sure I'll still be alive the next morning?" His hologram watched her with some amusement it seemed.

  "Roger, please. I'm not ..."

  She took a deep breath and remembered the officer's words, 'to share a room with a killer.'

  "If it makes you feel better, safer, I don't care. Just give me an emergency call if a fire breaks out or you suffer from a heart attack so that I don't have to die in there 'cause of something stupid happening." Another long hiss. She wondered if he managed to understand her.

  He rose an eyebrow, "I expected more refusal."

  She shrugged and lifted her hands, palms up, "I live in a cage anyways. Maybe a bigger one, but that doesn't help much if there are no friends around and I can go nowhere." Her tail was flicking quite nervously now and she had not enough control over it to hide her inner tension.

  "You're living in a cell at a police station, right?" He seemed to be more serious again.

  "I do", she nodded lightly, "It's just another, bigger cage. I want someone again. And a chance to live. Go shopping. Go for a walk with you. Do sports. Or whatever you like to do in your free time", she spoke quickly, arms held openly to her sides.

  "Alright Vivian, I think we should meet for a few days to get to know each other better. Did you check the contract proposal that I've sent?" His hologram appeared calm.

  She nodded again, "Yes, I have. I'm aware of the requirements. Five years sounds good to me, I think it's fair."

  "So, how about next weekend? I can fetch you Friday afternoon and bring you back Sunday night", he offered.

  "Sounds good. I don't have a lot of clothes to choose from though, so unless you want to buy things for me, you'll have to live with what I have now", she let him know.

  "We'll see about that. Anything else I need to know?" His hologram was looking at her.

  "You don't need a cage, but you'll need a stun gun. They won't let me join you if you don't have one with you", she tried to say that in a matter-of-fact style.

  "This is a joke, right?" He seemed to be amused.

  She shook her head, "No, the police is quite serious about this. I'm too dangerous if I lose control. Everyone who was looking after me so far had to have one."

  He laughed again, "Alright, got it, no cage but a stun gun. So, I'll see you Friday then?"

  She nodded once more, "Yes, I'll let the officers know that I'll have a temporary guardian for the weekend. You'll have to sign some documents, but it's just a formality. I've had a temporary guardian before."

  "Alright, then until Friday!" His hologram waved at her,

  "See you Roger!" She waved back and stood there some more minutes even after his hologram had faded, trying to get her emotions under control again. This had been one confusing conversation, and despite everything he had made her confess, she still had a date. A chance to show she wasn't just a dangerous beast.

  She pressed the panel besides the door and waited for the door to open. This time it was a female officer with almost black skin waiting for her, "Done with the sweet talk, murderfloof?"

  She gave a curt nod, "Yes, Roger will fetch me on Friday, he said."

  The woman rose her eyebrows, "You can't be serious. What did you tell the guy that he takes you on a date?"

  She bared her fangs, "Told him I've killed someone and I'm half an animal. Happy now?"

  As usual she was grabbed at her arm and pushed towards her cell, "Whatever you told him, make sure he's still alive when you come back. You won't get away with murder another time."

  ----

  Friday was coming closer and with it her chance to see the world once more without iron bars. But today had another highlight, Trisha had agreed to come for a visit. And she could hear steps approaching now, a pair of boots and shoes with harder heels. That had to be Trisha. She got up and walked towards the door of her cell, waiting till she could see Trisha coming around the corner with the usual police escort. She bounced and waved, "Hey Trisha!"

  Trisha had risen her hand to wave as well, but froze mid motion, "You sound horrible."

  The officer meanwhile opened the cell door and addressed Trisha, "Miss, remember the panic button. If there is something wrong, don't hesitate to call us."

  Trisha looked angrily at him, "Yes I know. Mind you, Vivian lived at my place for a while and there never was a problem."

  He shrugged, "Just making sure you know."

  They met halfway between door and bunk bed and just held each other tight for a while.

  "So, that's your new voice?" Trisha asked eventually and they parted slowly, still holding hands.

  She nodded, "Guess it is now."

  Trisha pulled her into a new hug, "Any hope that it will get better?"

  She rested her head to Trisha's shoulder, holding tight as well, "It was much, much worse at first. A while I couldn't speak at all. Won't get any better than this without an operation. I can't pay though. Police got the mobsters, but they say there is little chance to sue for redress, because I don't know who actually did it. And I don't have money for a lawyer. At least I can speak proper words again, and people actually understand me."

  Trisha rubbed her upper back, but didn't respond right away,

  "Come, lets sit at the table", she invited Trisha after a while.

  Trisha still looked concerned, "Does it hurt to speak like that?", but followed to sit down at the table.

  She gave half a shrug, "It sure did during the first few days. Now it hurts more to hear than to speak. A horror I cannot escape. A while I didn't want to speak anymore at all."

  They were holding hands again when Trisha spoke up, "I can understand that. I wouldn't want to speak like this either. Is there really no way you can sue them for redress?"

  "I can try, but with no money for a lawyer and not even knowing whom exactly to sue it's kinda hopeless. Each of them says it wasn't them. Probably it was some medic whom they extorted like so many others and who's now desperately trying to erase all traces", she shrugged.

  Another thought came to her mind and she smirked, "On the other hand, there is a guy on the companion portal who says he likes my voice. So maybe it's not all that bad."

  Trisha looked a bit annoyed, "So you'll do the pet thing again?"

  She shrugged once more, "Don't got many options. Unless you want to pay for therapy and a voice op?"

  Trisha held her hands more tightly, "I would, but I don't have the money."

  She nodded, "Wouldn't want to put this burden onto you either. My first holo call with him was quite rough, he wanted to know all the details what happened with Tom and my voice. And when I thought I'd lost him, he still offered a date to get to know each other better."

  Trisha looked at her, skeptical, "And you think you can trust him?"

  She nodded swiftly, "Yeah, I think. He owns some small business with a dozen employees. Any sort of scandal will be ruinous for him. It's weird though, how he wanted me to confess that I've killed Tom, joked about a cage for me and then seemed surprised when I told him he needs to carry a stun gun. He didn't seem to be actually scared, more joking about the situation."

  Trisha shook her head, "I don't like the sound of this at all."

  She gave a little shrug, "I think it's still better than some of the other options. I'm not so much worried about him, but of all the things that can go wrong. Imagine he wants me to eat at a restaurant. Or go watch a football match. I'll fail so badly."

  "And the other candidates?" Trisha inquired.

  "Most of them don't have the money to pay for a voice operation or therapy. Some don't even live on earth. I want to get something out of this too", she explained.

  Trisha gave her hands another squeeze, "I wish you good luck then. But I want to see you back in good health, so take care of yourself, will you?"

  "Sure thing", she smiled at Trisha.