Azazel: The Birth

By Jalhar

Chapter 2

The next months with Azazel proved challenging. To teach her to speak
correctly, Jennyanydots had to take three hours out of her time a day. And
at first Azazel wouldn't even go with Mistoffelees because she wanted so
badly to be with Bombalurina. Teaching her to pay attention was the hardest
thing to do. If she wouldn't focus, she wouldn't be able to use magic at all.

It was Saturday in the junkyard, which meant that the cats would get
together to speak with each other of weekly events.

"So," Jenny asked, "What is the new business? Mistoffelees, how is it going
with Azazel?" Mistoffelees looked very beat-up, and tired.

"She has learned only a few spells. That's it. She's too focused on playing
with Pouncival, Jemima, and Victoria to be focused on magic." He shook his
head. "She has immense magical power, but she just doesn't focus enough to
use it to it's full extent." He sighed heavily, and continued to shake is
head.

"Hey!! I'm not too focused on everything else, I'm just not focused enough
on magic." Azazel said. As of late, she had been hanging around Pouncival.
Jenny was the first one to think that they might one day become mates,
mainly becayse they were of the same age, and because they were at the age
they could almost do that. Not to mention it was only three months away from
the Ball.

"Well," said Mistoffelees, "You need to focus on magic more."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." The issues ranged from the railway to the food market.
Then there was an interesting topic.

"By chance, have you all heard of the recent activity involving Macavity?"
asked Demeter. It figured that she would know. She was involved with
Macavity once before, and sometimes it seemed that she still had feelings
for him.

"Macavity... He hasn't been starting anything for quite some time. What
'activity' could he be up to?" said Tumblebrutus.

"Whoteva' 'et is, 'et ain't nuthin' but trou'bah." Mungojerry said, his
heavy accent almost always confusing the daylights out of people.

"Well, seems that he has been up to his old mischief. He gagged a Peke and
tied it to a telephone pole. That, and he attacked a police officer."
Demeter said. That left many shaking their heads.

"Man, that Macavity isn't anything but evil." said Tugger. As the meeting
drew to a close, Mistoffelees vanished, seemingly without a trace.

"Mmm, man! He left again." said Victoria.

"Well, he's just ticked. He seemed pretty aggravated." Azazel noted.
Victoria stared daggers at Azazel, mostly out of annoyance.

"Gee, you think so? It's because of you. Why can't you just focus? If he
ever thought that I was able to use magic, by golly I'd be paying attention.
And if you really cared, there would be no stopping you." Victoria stomped
away.

"Why's everyone getting mad at me?"

"Ah, they're just mad 'cause Macavity's been actin' up again, child." The
voice was old and gruff. And Scottish, too. Skimbleshanks looked
understanding, as if he were ready to listen to anything.

"But why are they taking it out on me? I am not the one who terrorized them
at the Ball."

"I know, child. In this world, people often make tha mistake of blamin' one
single person for another's mistake. You'll get used ta it. And they'll get
over it." Skimbleshanks walked off, leaving Azazel wondering.

"Sometimes I think that old cat has lost his sanity." she said.

"Probably has." This time, it was a very small, slightly high pitch voice
that spoke. Pouncival.

"Hi, Pouncy." Azazel said.

"Hey, Azzy. Mistoffelees said something about you knowing some spells. Can
you show me? Misto never really cared that much about showing off his
powers. 'Cept at the Ball." Pouncival said. Azazel thought.

"Well, OK." She put her paws together, and slowly brought them apart. A
bubble appeared between her paws, and it was every color of the rainbow all
gathered up in one magnificent swirl. She let it go, and it floated over and
popped on Pouncival's nose. When it did, multicolored glitter filled the
air, swirling around to make the form of a cat's face.

"That was just one of them." she said. Pouncival looked in awe.

"Wow. That was pretty good. Do some more." Azazel smiled. She loved to show
off. She was so much more different than Mistoffelees. Mistoffelees was
humble, Azazel was proud. Mistoffelees was small, Azazel was large.
Mistoffelees had no sense of play, and Azazel was one of the most playful,
loveable cats in the world. She had the tall grace of Bombalurina, her
adoptive mother. She had the lovely voice of her friend Victoria. And she
also had the magic of Mistoffelees, her mentor. Mistoffelees was the only
thing she had that even resembled a father. She focused her energy into her
paws, and produced a red silk larger than herself. Something Mistoffelees
himself had taught her. She wrapped it around herself, and then let the silk
hit the ground, and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, where are you?" asked Pouncival. He looked around. "Hey," he said,

"This isn't funny. Where are you? Come on. Cut the joke." He called out a
few more times. Nothing. He was getting panicked. That's when he saw a large
shadow grow over him. He turned around, and came face to face with Azazel,
going full speed towards him. He was bowled over, and ended up smashing into
a trash can.

"Oww!! Hey, that hurt!" he said.

"Crybaby."

"Am not."

"Are too."

"I am not!"

"You are so!" Pouncival's brow went down, and he jumped forward towards
Azazel. They played a game of chase, with Azazel always vanishing from
sight, allowing Pouncival to slam into the nearest thing available. In their
own innocent way, they were falling in love. It was so sad, one mind
thought, that they would never get the chance to have a life together.
The large orange and red cat slinked away, slithering in a way which made
most serpents turn greener with envy.

"She," Macavity said, "Will be reunited with her rightful family." He
looked back, to take a final look at the vision of loveliness which was
Azazel. "Sister," he said, "Soon you will be back home. Home, with your
brother." He walked off, laughing to himself, careful not to be too loud, so
that the others would not hear.

It was dark. The sun was just going down, and the sky, on one side, was a
deep blue. The other side was a mixture of red and orange, that made the sky
radiate like a glowing ember. In the middle of this, between the crosshairs
was a thick grape blanket, seperating the two. The first hint of stars were
etching their way into the sky. And in this, on the top of the scrap heap,
stood the almost omnipotent force of evil which was the calico himself,
Macavity. He dwarfed everyone from this point.

"Tonight," he said to his rag-tag group, "We will bring back a member of
our benevolent family. She is surely an ambivilent angel. Let us bring her
home!" Even though his soul was evil and cold, his words were warming and
ecouraging. He was a living deception, a web of lies and a tangled net of
oblivious falsehoods.

He began his march onto the Jellicles, silently. He and the other five that
had come with him were armed to the teeth. Aside from being regarded as a
ruthless killer, Macavity was also a brilliant military strategist. He had
spent all hours of the day planning the attack. When they least expect. The
Jellicles were calmest about now. Right when the sun was setting. The
setting sun drew the attention of most cats that were outside, for as they
saw it as a beautiful sight, he saw it as a perfect time for infiltration
and attack.

"Remember, you are here for the sole purpose of backing me up. If I get in
trouble, you all jump in and get in trouble with me." Macavity said. His
crew of cats nodded. He took a quick look, then turned away. They were
hideous. More grotesque than some of the people Macavity had fought with
after a brawl. They had mange, their fur was matted and torn, one of them
had no left eye, some of their teeth were missing, and they looked overly
monstrous. He crept about silently as the cats looked at the sun. He saw
her. Azazel, his sister, sitting there watching the sun. She was alone. This
was so perfect it was almost sad.

"Almost." Macavity said aloud. Azazel went straight up, her fur seeming to
stand on end. Macavity remained completely silent now. She settled down
after a few minutes. Macavity put all his energy into his haunches, ready
for the attack. Just as he was about to spring, a bumbling male cat came
into view, and stopped Macavity dead in his tracks.

"Curse it all." He said too quietly for anyone to hear. In the distance,
Azazel and Pouncival were having a conversation. Just a normal, ordinary,
quiet conversation.

"So, what's up?" Pouncival inquired.

"You ever have your hair stand on end when there is no sign of danger?? I
just had that happen to me. It's spooky."

"Yeah, it is. It's just the wind, maybe."

"Sure. Wind. But there isn't any." Azazel always had to find another
reason, even though one was already given. "Maybe I'm just jumpy. Everyone
has been talking about this Macavity person. It's almost the time of the
Ball. I'm afraid that he'll come. After what Mom said he did to her... I
just don't want that to happen to anyone. Especially not me!"

"I can understand that. Alonzo and Munkustrap got into it with him at the
last Ball. Man, Alonzo was messed up after that. He couldn't walk all too
good."

"Well."

"What??"

"Well. All too well." Azazel still had the talent. Correct mistakes made by
others. Macavity stifled a chuckle. It was always the punctuality. It was a
mark of someone from his clan. There were also the marks. Each of them were
given a distinct mark. The family crest so to speak. Orange marks, going
outwards in all directions. It was somewhere on their bodies. Macavity could
clearly see it on her forehead. Like a compass rose. And the peculiar red
mark that made sure they could be identified as a member of that clan. The
red mark that went down the side of their bodies.

"You can fix mistakes in nothing flat." Pouncival said with finality.

"Not necessarily. I still can't make out a thing Mungojerrie says." That
got a laugh for the first time that day.

"Hey!! Pouncival, get your butt over here!" Alonzo called.

"Sorry," Pouncival said, "I gotta go. See you at the ball?"

"Sure." Pouncival seemed as if he had more to say, but was grabbed by the
tail and taken away by Alonzo. Macavity saw his chance. He lunged forward,
and grabbed Azazel by the waist, and put a thick paw over her mouth, so she
could make no sound. A moment he was carrying her, the next, he held
nothing.

"What kind of.... Mistoffelees had to have taught her this."

"No kidding. So you're Macavity..." Azazel was shaking. But she tried not
to let any form of fear pass her. "You'll get killed. All I have to do,"
Azazel said, lifting her paw into the air, "Is shoot up this danger signal.
It's a flare that hangs up in the sky for ten minutes." She knew that she
would win this fight. She focused, and began to launch the flare. As it took
off, a paw came to intercept it. Macavity's paw. Was he so ruthless he
didn't care about his own health? He reeled away in pain. Azazel found
herself at a loss for words. The only thing that came out of her mouth was a
muffled, "I'm sorry." She moved towards him, seeing his fur singed and his
paw slightly bleeding.

"Let me fix it..." She moved towards Macavity, but was quickly knocked down
by a large cat. She saw its face. Horrid. Freakish looking. Utterly
disgusting. She fought, but she was taken down by a large paw coming down
onto her face. She was knocked unconscious before she even knew it.

"You fool!" Macavity screamed, as he tossed the cat as if it were a ragdoll
into a long, sharp point of a pipe. It sliced the cat's side, leaving him
broken and bleeding. Macavity picked up Azazel, and fled the scene. Just in
time, he thought, to see the Jellicles recognize the Hidden Paw in full
form.

It wasn't so long a time for them to reach Macavity's hideout. It was
actually the most unlikely place in the world. An orphanage, long forgotten
by its owners. It had suffered a fire a long time ago, but it was still
useable. For feline use, anyway.

"Put her on those pillows. The soft ones." Macavity ordered. He stood tall.
His paw was singed, and the air reeked of hair that had been burned away by
a bright red flare.

"Mac, what's going on here? What's with the girl?" Griddlebone asked.

"My sister. When she wakes up, make sure she gets some food. I have to tend
to my wounds." Griddlebone rose an eyebrow. She saw the cat lying on the
silken pillow, breathing normally, but her head bleeding from a cut.
Griddlebone shook her head.

"All the women in Macavity's life," she said, "Are almost always the ones
that come in bleeding." She remembered her own past. Oh, yes, indeed they
came in bleeding. She picked up a clean hankerchief by the edge, and applied
pressure to the wound. The cat, a Jellicle, rose up quickly.

"Where am I!? Who are you!?" She was quite hostile. Griddlebone held out
her paws to her side, so that the Jellicle could see that Griddlebone had no
weapon.

"Look, girly, I don't want to hurt you. I just want to help. Would someone
that wanted to kill you put a bandage on you?" Griddlebone said, motioning
to the cloth on the ground. Azazel stared down at it. She closed her eyes,
and clapped her paws together three times. She opened her eyes, and they
quickly became eccentricly large.

"Why am I...? No, no!!" She fell to the ground, wondering why she could not
execute a spell. "It must have been the strike to the head," she said, "It
must have stopped my powers..." She cried.

"Hey," Griddlebone said, "Easy. Take it easy. I'm just here to help you
out. Now what're you talking about 'power' for? Take it easy... Explain it
all at one time." Griddlebone was trying her best to be kind to Azazel.

"I can't believe it... Mistoffelees will kill me... If he knew I couldn't
do that simple trick..."

"Girl, take it easy! What's your name?" Griddlebone was trying to calm the
savage beast. I wasn't working. After a moment of crying, Azazel finally had
the courage to answer Griddlebone.

"My name's...Azazel... Who're you?" Azazel said between tears. Griddlebone
sighed.

"I'm Griddlebone. I'm nice. Trust me. So you're Macavity's sister?" Even
though Griddlebone was only making conversation, Azazel jumped up.

"I am not sister to that monster!" She screamed. She fell, though, still
stunned by the blow to the face.Griddlebone picked her up, and dusted her
off.

"Easy, girl. If you keep this up, every one of Mac's guards'll end up dead.
He takes his anger out on the little guy, if you know what I mean." At this
time, Griddlebone spotted the peculiar red strip down her side. "Hey,"
Griddlebone said, "Nice looking stripe." Of course, Azazel couldn't help it.

That one little imperfection made her look even more disireable. Probably
why she was receiving the lecherous stare from a cat in the room.

"Hey," Azazel said, "What's with that guy?"

"Oh, him? He stares off at nothing. Don't worry. He isn't staring at you.
Trust me, he's a good friend." Griddlebone said in responce.

"Friends are few and far apart. That's why you should keep them so close.
You never know when you're going to lose them." The voice seemed to come out
of the cat without his mouth moving.

"Creepy, isn't he?" Griddlebone giggled.

"Creepy. Suiting title, Griddlebone. Allow me to introduce myself, Azazel.
My name is Track." He stepped into the light, just partially. He was quite
handsome, Azazel thought. He was solid black, with golden orange stripes
unfurling across his face and body. The most interesting features, though,
were the silver lines above and below his eyes. Then there were his eyes.
His malevolent, beautiful green eyes.

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything to him, Azazel?"

"Oh, sorry. Hello, Track. I'm Azazel." Azazel was nervous. Very nervous.
But, she wondered, why? Probably the menacing appearance of this Track
fellow. She didn't worry about him too long, because a loud crack was heard.
Standing in the light were two cats. One was painted with thin, curving
yellow stripes on an orange canvas. The other, meanwhile, was a work of
abstract art.

"Hello," the dainty one said. "My name's Felony."

"I am named Misdemeanor." So. They were given names based on crime. How
original, Azazel thought, when they are in a place of crime and hatred.

"Mine's Azazel. What is this? A place for formal introductions?"

"Sadly, kid, this isn't a place for any introductions." Griddlebone said in
responce. She shook her head, and took a step back. Sighing, she said,
"Well, kiddo, you're the new recruit. We here are some of Macavity's finest.
I think he wants us to either protect you, or train you.

"Train me?" Azazel asked. It hit her like a ton of bricks. "I am not gonna
be trained by anybody. Not nobody tell me what do." Azazel said. She cursed
herself. Her usage of Jellish was slipping. As it always did when she was
mad. Then she heard the door open, and saw the other cats in the room
straighten up as much as possible. So the figure in the doorway was
Macavity. The ginger cat that Bombalurina had spoken of. Evil. Pure evil.

"Welcome," Macavity said, "To your new home."

Chapter 3