Felanthroid

by Zytharros

The Man-Cat Meets the Mafia

I shivered under her gaze. The largest of all the llamas was the gray-blue one. Emily, we called her. She had a commanding air about her, and a straight-edge stare that, were it a weapon, could easily bisect a cat four times without a twitch of effort. She was one of the second three, a group of llamas we picked up from a kindly retired couple out East. The other two were her baby, the onyx and white mother mimic Ebony, and the red and white skittish energy ball named Rita. They stood, front to back, in that order.

Shine and Allegro, who apparently liked to call himself "Legro-Legro", were a part of the original six we had bought. Half of that party had met tragic ends, whether by infighting or illness, so only three were left. The last llama of this original group was a brown llama named Sunny. He was farthest to the back of the pack, standing just outside in the cloudy day.

"So, whadda ya doin' on our turf?" Emily asked.

I looked back at the door. My stomach let loose a frightful and ravenous growl. "I just want some food."

Emily frowned and whined. "Likely story. Tell us who y'are and whatcha doin'."

I gulped. "I'm Zytharros and I tell you the truth: I only want to pass into that little hole to eat something."

"Zytharros," Ebony stated flatly.

I nodded.

"And all you want is food."

Another nod. A new voice joined in.

"Did you not think to go around?"

All the llamas parted ways as the brown one at the back stepped forward. Sunny glared at me.

"There is a route outside of our territory," he stated. "I had hoped you would have asked someone before you got here what the lay of the land was. I guess not. Tell ya what. I'll letcha go with this warning."

He got down low and bunted me up against Shine's legs. "If you cross that fence again..."

He raised a cloven claw hoof to his neck and slowly dragged it across his throat. "Ca pie skee?"

I swallowed and nodded.

"Good. Toss him over the fence."

Shine bent over and grabbed me

"W-wait..."

All the llamas turned to look at cowardly Rita. The llama who looked like a living Canadian flag gulped and tried to talk. She had to gasp and clear her throat first.

"Isn't Zytharros... th-the one who... who cleans our barn?"

Emily glared at me. For several seconds, her eye-piercing glare, steadily joined by her compatriots', burned ten different holes into my soul. My ears flattened.I nearly wet myself. What were they going to do?

A snort. The entire barn lit up in laughter.

Ebony cackled, "It is! It is the Pelletpicker!"

"He's been turned into a cat!" Rita declared.

Emily's smile turned dark. "Looks like the 'high and mighty human' has been tossed into the world of animals. How about we throw a shovel at your head?"

Blanket fucking turd stomping...

Rita's laughter picked up, but not in the humorous ha ha way. It was more like an I'm going to kill you and eat your guts as a side dish ha ha. I was deeply disturbed by the affair. The look she gave me, pushing aside her friends and stepping forward almost sent me to an early litterbox.

"Oh stuff it, you overgrown rug."

Rita reeled back. I was shocked. Did I just say that?

"Yeah, that's right. And as for the rest of you, I wouldn't want you to get hurt. After all, I've put up with enough of your rat droppings to last me the rest of my life."

I began sweating. That was NOT me!

"After all, Ms. Fabulous would not like to get her coat dirty."

... Opal?