The Cats Of Talamanca

'The fury of a demon instantly possessed me. I knew myself no longer. My original soul seemed, at once, to take its flight from my body; and a more than fiendish malevolence, gin-nurtured, thrilled every fibre of my frame.'—Edgar Allan Poe

On the verdant slope beneath a lofty mountain lies an ancient castle in Sicily, where the caliginous shadows descend from the gibbous moon, within a sinister shroud of looming alabaster mist that veils the sunken sorrows of an eldritch murk. It is an inimitable place where the wandering souls of despair dwell in the incertitude of the aeons, and where the stirred winds redound with ethereal echoes.

There stands a hoary castle, a relic from centuries past, whose innermost secrets are concealed within the immemorial walls of its confinement. There is an ominous legend of which the townspeople of Carini are all too aware. For it is far worse than any nightmare conceived by the human mind. What shall be disclosed in this account—only you, the intrigued reader—may judge the veracity of its entirety.

Thus, the actual horror I experienced was of a preternatural origin. It was close to evening when my carriage arrived from Palermo, in the year 1818. The night was particularly damp and drear. As I stepped off the carriage, I felt the cool effect of the dripping dew from the midday rain upon my cloak and shoes. The soil and grass remained drenched, and the weather was unsteady. I was led through the towering arches of the entrance gate, walking upon archaic cobblestones.

Along the ascent to the castle, I descried the distinctive silhouette of the remarkable structure. It was not until I reached the circumscribed passage that permitted entry by carriage that I truly beheld more of its exterior architecture.

The castle bore a medieval appearance, with its rectangular towers and machicolations, and a gate tower commanding the centre of the south front, while an ashlar round tower protected the eastern end. In the west wall were Romanesque arches of pure masonry, and ancient battlements crowned one of the impressive towers. Most striking was the polygonal shape of Castle Talamanca. It was at this venerable estate that I was to meet a certain baroness, whose name was Bianca Talamanca.

The purpose of my visit was on behalf of a reputable nobleman, who was interested in acquiring the castle and reforming it. I was a solicitor by the name of Gianluca Maldini. Once inside, I was greeted by one of the baroness's faithful servants, for she herself was not present to welcome me at that time. I was informed she was sleeping.

I was asked to wait in the hall until the baroness had awakened. I found this somewhat queer, yet it granted me the opportunity to admire the castle’s interior with a keen curiosity. As I waited, I looked about to see what my observant eyes could behold. I had only been inside a castle once before as a child, but never one so eldritch and mysterious. Thus began my inquisitive urge to explore.

The first floor, which was complanate, held a commodious main hall. On the ground floor, one room contained an external wall with oriel windows covered in scarlet draperies and an entrance door. There was a colossal hall divided by two pointed arches with a central column, and a wrought staircase that led to the second floor. There lay a ballroom with a high ceiling, and a fireplace adorned with a noticeable emblem—a black cat carved above the mantelpiece.

There were also mullioned windows with leaning seats, bedchambers with elegant frescoes in pastel shades, which illumined, with momentary splendour, the adjoining rooms above, including a gallery and a small terrace. It was, in particular, the frescoes that arrested my studious fascination. As I studied them, I turned around and saw the Cimmerian shadows of wandering cats, their sonorous purring startling me.

Then she appeared—the baroness herself—cradling a cat in her arms. At first, I was unaware of her immediate presence and uncertain what to do, but I managed to compose my inopportune reaction enough to address her.

‘Forgive me, baroness. I did not see you standing there. I was entertained by the cats I had seen’.

She was dressed in Gothic raiment: a dark coal-black dress that epitomised her Sicilian features. Her feline eyes were sable and bore a lustre that was uniquely imposing. Her raven hair was long and flowing. Her figure was slim but attractive. Her bosom was full, yet there was something unusual about her aura that I intuitively sensed—something deeply conspicuous.

I had the strong impression that the baroness was appealing in nature, yet inhibitory in her mannerisms. There was a puzzling mystery lingering in her penetrating stare, as I observed the natural gestures behind her composed façade. When she spoke, her voice had a certain malacophanous tone that captivated me.

‘Signor Maldini. I see you have already begun to enjoy the castle’.

‘What I have seen of it so far, baroness’, I replied.

She asked me to join her in the courtyard.

‘You do not mind if we step out to the courtyard for a bit to continue our discussion? I must let the cats outside for some fresh air’.

‘Of course not’.

We stepped outside. The rain had subsided, and we resumed our conversation at leisure. We discussed an array of peculiar topics, but it was the subject of the castle’s purchase that impelled me to enquire further. Unfortunately, she had no intention of selling it—her reasons vague. I quickly perceived that she was not one to be easily persuaded.

That was where my dilemma began. I had assumed, given the declining economic state of Carini and the evident erosion in parts of the castle, that she would eventually acquiesce—but I was sorely mistaken.

‘You must understand, signore. This castle has belonged to my ancestral family for centuries. Its age and architecture are embedded in our memories. It would be foolish of me to sell it’.

‘With all due respect, baroness, there are parts of the castle in urgent need of renovation. The man I represent is willing to finance the work and restore the castle to its stately grandeur. Surely, you agree with that assessment?’

‘That I do not contend, signore. But it changes nothing’.

‘Is there anything I can say to convince you otherwise?’ I insisted.

‘No—there is nothing you can do to convince me to sell’.

‘Perhaps, if I gave you a day or two to ponder my offer?’

‘There is no amount of money that will sway me, Signore. But you are welcome to try another time’.

‘I shall be staying at a local inn in town and shall return in the morning—if that is not inconvenient?’

‘In the morning? You must forgive me, but I do not rise early. Perhaps it would be better if you came in the afternoon, if that is not an issue?’

‘Not at all. Before I go, Baroness, I must ask—why is a lovely woman such as yourself alone in this old castle?’

‘I have had many courtiers who sought and proposed to me, but few have lasted long enough to finish their courtship’.

‘I see, baroness. Unlucky men, they must be’.

‘Luck, signore? I would say it was more their bad luck’.

We concluded our conversation, and I departed the castle, returning to the town below the slope. In Carini, I located an inn called Catalano, where I would lodge during my sojourn. The proprietor was an elderly man named Paolo Viscuso—a willowy man who, like the baroness, had distinctive catlike eyes that were... unsettling. Was this merely coincidence, or did all the town’s residents share that curious feature?

I dismissed the oddity for the moment and focused on how I might persuade the baroness. I had offered her a handsome sum of money, assuming she would concede—but I was wrong.

I had heard several stories whispered about the baroness and her family—none flattering. Her lineage was once noble and proud, but a strange and mysterious origin had long associated the Talamancas with death and evil, ever since the first recorded death in the town two centuries ago.

These tales, whilst intriguing, were not my concern at that moment. Yet they seemed portentous, as though folklore had birthed something darker. Who was this Bianca Talamanca—so protected, or perhaps feared? I knew very little of her. But what I could not forget were her feline eyes—so alluring, so frightening.

Back in my room, I pondered the strangeness of her isolation in the castle, attended only by a few diligent servants. She had never married, nor had she sustained any lasting relationships. There were oddities in her comportment—subtle, and others eccentric enough to be deemed...unnatural.

The wind outside howled, echoing like a vibration from some distant abyss. The mist returned to cloak the town. The night lingered with eerie purpose, and I sat, consumed by the contemplation of the strange events that were unfolding.

Her image began to creep into my mind. I thought I could hear her seductive murmurs whispering through the air. At first, I was unaware of their influence—but soon I felt something pulling at me. Something... forceful.

I stepped outside the inn, needing to escape the murmurs. The streets were nearly empty—only a few children about. They, too, had those catlike eyes... an abnormal trait becoming less coincidental. And everywhere, black cats. Watching. Observing. Countless of them.

It was as if they were the watchful eyes that were observing my every step taken. These inexplicable things that I was witnessing were unsettling me, because I did not fully comprehend their attachment to each other. I had noticed that there was a full moon emerging from the tenebrous sky, and this would precipitate the horrendous episodes of terror that would ensue thereafter.

I had often read stories of the supernatural, but I had never experienced such a gruesome chasm of horror that was so vivid in its sequence of occurrences as what I would endure this grim night. The murmurs of the baroness had intensified and caused me to seek her in the castle, but not before I had resisted for a brief period. I did not know how I had managed to resist her.

Instead of walking towards the castle, I took refuge in a nearby cathedral that was centred around the square. Then, I went to the square, thinking I was rid of her taunting whispers. There were people on the streets, staring at me profoundly with a measure of indifference. I could sense the alteriority in their actions. All of them had feline, sable eyes that were haunting in nature.

Unfortunately for me, they would return and with a greater eeriness. I continued to walk down the old streets of Carini upon the cobblestones, not knowing what to expect or what I would encounter next. My anxiety increased, and so did the uncertainty that encompassed my presence.

The unbearable disquietude made me question whether or not I was conjuring the inconceivable thoughts in my mind, or whether it was merely a hidden fear subdued since I had left that imposing castle. Once more, the distant whispers of the baroness reached my ears, and this time I could not ignore them. Therefore, I was compelled to go to the castle during the night to see her. I could not refrain from succumbing to the control she wielded over me. Her powerful spell was impossible to break, and my will was seized.

I had told the carriage driver, who had brought me to the inn before, that I needed his service. We immediately headed towards the winding path that led to the castle. As I was seated inside, all along I heard her voice calling me to come, and come I did.

Shortly, I stood before the front door of the castle, where I was left by the carriage driver. He wore a top hat upon his head, but it was those catlike eyes of his that illuminated in the night. The restless wind had begun to howl, like a symphony at the theatre. The roaming black cats were all around the castle, plainly seen. They were the loyal guardians, who were apparent and committed to the baroness.

As I passed the cats in the courtyard, I gradually entered the castle at my discretion. I passed the hall, and inside were the black cats as well, lurking in the darkness of the attentive shadows. I could hear the enrapturing voice of the baroness call me, but I did not see her, nor could I find her. I felt the coldness of the recesses of the walls, and I walked towards the fireplace that was lit to warm myself. It was there that the baroness was seated in a special ormolu chair waiting just for me.

I began to sweat in irrepressible chills that ran down my spine forthwith. On one hand, I was clueless of the unknown, but on the other hand, I was yearning to see her afresh. Cautiously, I approached her, sensing I would discover the real reason why she had summoned me. The hour had arrived for me to confront my deepest desires and fears.

I would soon discover that the baroness was no normal woman that I had ever met ere. Her history would be attached to the curse that she had been forced to bear. It was an abominable curse that began centuries ago, with her first ancestor, Isabella Talamanca.

Instinctively, she knew I would come, and that I could not resist her irrepressible control over me. The baroness then rose to her feet to greet me, with a sinister smile that I would not forget so easily.

‘Signore Maldini. I knew you would come, once I had called on you. You are no different than the others’.

I stood there listening to her words, expressed with such uninhibited candour. ‘What others are you referring to, baroness? Why am I here?’

‘The other men that were seduced by me, and whose passion I induced, was irresistible’.

‘And what happened to them?’

‘They all succumbed to their passion for me, Signore Maldini. Just like you will’.

She would make a disturbing revelation. ‘I know that you think I look human, but the truth is that I am not completely’.

I was utterly perplexed. ‘What do you mean by that, baroness?’

‘I am certain that you have wondered why there are so many black cats inside and outside of the castle’.

‘Yes, I have! But they are everywhere in the town also’.

‘That is correct!’

‘And the reason for that?’ I enquired.

‘The cats have always been here, signore. Ever since the Romans brought them to Sicily centuries ago’.

‘You spoke of an ancient curse. What curse, baroness?’

‘It is a wretched curse that has condemned me to the need for human sacrifice’.

‘Human sacrifice? Explain?’

‘As I have told you, signore, I am not all that human’.

‘But you look in appearance to be human,’ I responded.

‘I am from an ancient race of beings whose genes had bred with humans, and I was naturally born from a full-blood black cat and a human. My parents, their parents, and the rest of my lineage were born this way too. It was not of their selection, but they soon embraced their gift, as I have embraced mine’.

‘A gift? Have you gone mad, baroness?’

‘Not one bit! You will soon understand, once you have become one of us’.

‘Become one of us? How?’

‘By allowing me to make you mine’.

She began to walk towards me. ‘Don't be afraid, Signore Maldini, I swear that it will not be painful at all. Once our bodies yield to our sensual pleasures, you will not notice the difference’.

I took several steps backwards, trying to stay away from her, but as she continued to walk forward and talk, she then transformed into the unbelievable thing that was half human and half cat. I was in sheer shock at what I had seen, as her feline eyes penetrated into mine so profoundly that they mesmerised me.

It was then, when the dauntless cats that had surrounded us in the castle altered their appearances into naked humans. What I did not know was that all the black cats, including the ones in the town, were half human also in their constitution. It was too surreal to fathom, and it was like an incessant nightmare that never ended.

I wanted to scream out loud, but I was incapable of expressing the madness that I was confronting. I scurried out of the place with unrestrained chills and ran towards a surreptitious vault that had a narrow passage leading to an old catacomb that lay beneath the castle. I grabbed one of the lambent torches.

As I walked through the darkled passage, I could see bloody imprints still impressed on the stone walls. I looked back to see if the beasts were not following me into the hoary catacomb, where bones were aligned in the ossuaries.

For a moment, I was all alone to ponder the unnatural episodes of terror that were impossible to describe with mere words of apprehension. Immediately, I had to think rationally about what my next move would be. I could not stay hidden in the obtenebration of the catacomb for long before I would eventually be discovered.

The night would soon turn to dawn, and the rays of daylight would ultimately reflect through the niches of the eroding walls. Perhaps there was a particular passage that led outside the subterrene catacomb. I followed my instinct and searched for the passage out of the castle. Ultimately, it would take me to a solitary chamber that was covered in picturesque frescoes and selcouth drawings.

I recognised some of the frescoes, but the drawings were foreign to me. For a moment, I pondered the significance of the drawings, but to no avail. There were also some descriptive letters that were more Roman than Greek in their derivation.

It was difficult to guess where exactly the egress from the castle lay. There were no clear intimations to steer me in the right direction. Thus, I was indecisive and uncertain of what would be my next course of action. The only thing I knew was that I could not remain a fragile hostage to the terror that dwelt inside the castle.

I started to walk back towards the catacomb when I heard the familiar sound of the dreaded cats once more. This time they were hissing. There was no doubt in my mind that they were looking for me everywhere, in every nook and cranny I could hide behind.

I had to react. I hid behind an ossuary that was full of bones and skulls amassed. As they approached, I could see an imposing figure emerge. From the shadows emanated a strident sibilation. It was the baroness. She began to call on me with her devilish whispers that tantalised me with an uncontrollable urge I could not resist. There was nothing I could do to break her immense influence.

She had located me, and when she did, she transformed back into a human and performed a spell on me that left me unconscious. When I awoke, I was in one of the tapestried chambers upstairs. I was not bound or restricted in my movement. I still had the vivid memory of the catacomb in my head and the last encounter with the baroness.

What did she have prepared for me was the question that haunted me? The anxiety in me incremented into a ceaseless desperation. There was no window inside the chamber that I could open to flee. Once I realised what was occurring, I tried to escape through the door, but she would thwart me. The door was absolutely locked, and I pounded on it with all my might. It was impossible to open or budge it.

I knew then that I was an unwilling prisoner of the baroness and a participant in her perverted game of diversion. What I had no clue of was the outcome. Would I succumb to my demise, or would I live to tell the insidious horror of the castle?

After waiting impatiently in the chamber, I was escorted then to her bedchamber, which was also upstairs, where the baroness was waiting for me. There she was, dressed in a lustful black dress that was intended to provoke my most sinful stimulations.

As a man, I was aware of the susceptibility of faltering to the temptation of my inner desires. How could I oppress them and resist the carnal flesh of her feminine persuasion? She insisted that I come to her willingly. Slowly, I walked towards the canopy of the bed in which she lay, covered with the scent of a senticous and dusky rose that was of a muted colour. She began to undress me, as she used her long and pointed fingernails to scratch my chest. I could sense the excitement in her—and in myself as well. The gnawing restlessness in me had been effaced by the wicked concupiscence that she had aroused in me with pleasure.

'The anxiety in you will soon be over, Signor Maldini. Allow yourself to be enraptured by your desires to want me'.

'I can't! I shouldn't want to desire you, but I do'.

'Don't fight it! Let your natural desires manifest and allow you to enjoy the pleasures of my flesh'.

'What will become of me if I do?' I asked.

'Your world will forever change. You will become one of us. You will no longer have to occupy your mind with senseless fears, uncertainties, and thoughts that enslave you.'

'No—I must resist!' I screamed, as I rose to my feet.

'For how long can you resist?'

In the end, I could not resist her, and I succumbed to her carnal flesh. I too was then one of them—half human, half cat. It was something that I struggled to accept as my finality. It was easier to embrace my new life than to continue to permit the torment to burden me, but I could not concede to the notion that I was no longer my quondam self.

The baroness attempted to convince me of the wondrous adventures of my new life. The human essence within me could not bear this radical alteration of not only my life, but my mortal soul. It was doomed to the merciless depravity of my animalistic side.

It was extremely difficult to refrain from the acute senses I had acquired. I could smell and see things that a normal human could not dare to perceive. Bright light would affect my eyes. I dreaded to look into the mirror, because it meant I too bore the reflection of the cat-like eyes of the others.

I broke all the mirrors in the castle, which infuriated the baroness. She had instilled in me the beauty of my eyes. However, to me, the mirrors were a reminder of the umbrage of the curse I would have to endure for the rest of my natural life.

Although it was a curse afflicting me, the baroness had come to accept it and told me it was pointless to reject my new life. It was time for me to bury my old life and assume who I had become. This caused me to suffer and lament my fate. I would no longer be able to enjoy the rays of the sun or the splash of the sea. This saddened me, and the gloom of the castle burdened me.

The days became weeks, and the weeks became months. Despite my struggle to resist, I eventually yielded to the life that seemed destined for me. The baroness no longer had interest in me, and she began to seek other fresh prey to transform into her species of beings and quench her insatiable thirst for sexual gratification.

Many men would soon fall prey to her lascivious seduction and become half human and half cat. This was how the baroness discarded men, like unwanted toys to be forgotten. I was free to remain in the castle or seek earthly pleasures elsewhere.

For a whole month I left the castle and travelled abroad, but I could not forget the intense attraction I still had for the baroness. There was no other woman who could replace her. Though I tried, I was unsuccessful in my endeavour. She drove me mad to the point I could not tolerate her being with another male. I wanted to live a normal life and regain the life I could never return to in its felicity and equanimity.

Therefore, I was racked with unnecessary guilt and hopeless despair. I had revelled amongst the most beautiful and sensual women in ephemera, but none could fulfil the core of my lust like the baroness. There were moments when I thought of committing suicide by throwing myself over a cliff or drowning in the sea below. In the end, I did nothing.

The continuation of my curse would not cease to progress or torture my soul. There was only one thing left to do, and that was to return to the castle of the baroness. To be with the cats of Talamanca. My intuition was linked to them, as was my instinct. No one would understand my new life better than they.

I stopped at Palermo to speak to my brother Marco, and I was wayworn. He was the only person to whom I confided my innermost secrets. How would I even begin my earnest confession? What specific words could I express that would be convincing, not irrational? Would he believe that I was deluded?

When I reached his home, just outside Palermo, I told him what had happened to me and who I had become. I had to disguise my eyes with dark spectacles so that he would not be discomposed by their hideosity. At first, he did not believe my narrative. I was forced to remove the spectacles, and when he finally saw my feline eyes, he gasped in apprehension. Before I left him, he told me to save my soul, before the grace of God.

Upon the lurid lightning and peals of thunder of a rainy evening, I returned to the town of Carini. This time, not as a mere stranger, but as a familiar face. The townsfolk knew who I was, without my uttering a single word. They knew it was only a matter of time before I would return to be with them again.

I rented the same room at the local inn where I had previously stayed, when I first came to the town. My intentions were to remain there and assimilate to the life that the townspeople had assumed. Perhaps, I had forsaken my soul to the devil in accepting my new life. I was tired of fighting against my other half that was not human, and I wended my weary way back to the place of my unnatural transformation.

So much of this new life of mine was predicated on accepting the remarkable attributes I had acquired. Through my procurement of their eventuality, I lived with the thoughts of my unwanted downfall. When I returned to the castle once more, the baroness had recently disposed of her latest conquest. A young man who, like myself, was condemned to the irrevocable curse of the Lady Talamanca.

It was impossible to know how many men had become her reluctant victims of sacrifice. She had no pity for them, because to her, it was giving them a life that only a few could ever obtain as mortals. She had not changed at all. Her appearance was still ravishing in her long black dress, adorned with exquisite jewellery. She was standing near the terrace when she sensed my presence. There was an urgent need in me to confront her and tell her everything I had endured under the affliction of the curse, but I desisted once under her immediate enchantment.

'Signore Maldini. I knew you would return to the castle—and to me'.

'Why can I not resist you, baroness? Why do you continue to torment me with other men?'

'It is a natural thing that you are experiencing. Your jealousy does not concern me. You must learn to control it and enjoy me while you can'.

'But how?'

'It is a primal instinct with which you were born. You must tame your jealousy by realising your desires are endless, but you must accept that I do not belong to one man. I am attached to you with the blaze that burns inside us. This is how it must be'.

She started to seduce me, and soon her feminine persuasion stirred the untamed passion within me. It was a passion I could not resist. We made love, but whatever jealous sensation I had before only increased. I was welcomed to stay, under the condition that I would do whatever she requested of me. For a whole year, I was an obedient slave to her demands and desires.

One day, I determined that I had had enough and yearned to abate the madness of the castle. Once more, I thought of taking my life. However, I was too much of a coward to execute such a grievous task. I even considered taking the life of the baroness. But that would only be a temporary relief.

Therefore, I decided to burn down the castle. It would not be an easy thing to do, because the baroness and the other cats would sense what I was planning. I had to be astute in my deliberation and preparation. There were sufficient torches in the castle to burn it down from within its ancient structure. I knew this would mean that the cats would also be burnt. I did not fault them for what I had become. It was merely a choice I had to make. Nor did I seek to kill the baroness. I only wanted to reduce her lair to absolute rubble.

I waited until the baroness was away from the castle, and the cats were occupied. This would be the revenge I exacted upon her. Perhaps it was madness on my part, but it was the only course of action I had to punish her.

There were manifold things in life that I had forsaken and once cherished. Indeed, it was the moment I had to seize then, if there were ever a time to take advantage of its timeliness. Thus, I grabbed as many torches as I could and began to burn the draperies first. Afterwards, I proceeded to burn the rest that could be burnt. I watched in absolute horror as the fire spread throughout the entirety of the castle and its opacity.

Many of the black cats fled through the apertures of the walls, while others perished. Some attacked me. I was able to accomplish my task of burning as much of the castle as was feasible. I could not bear the inhalation of the smoke and was forced to leave. The baroness was alerted and arrived. Her attempt to save the castle was futile. I grabbed her and pleaded with her not to go inside. However, I could not restrain her for long. She cursed me and told me that she would never be mine. This blinded my wrath even more.

'Why have you done this to me, Gianluca?' She asked, with sheer astonishment.

'I wanted to punish you!' I answered in anger.

'This is how you punish me—by destroying the castle that has belonged to my ancestors for centuries?'

'It was the only thing I could do!'

'Don't you realise that by punishing me, you're only punishing yourself?'

Then I understood what she was trying to relay to me. 'Good God, what have I done?'

It was too late, and the Baroness Talamanca perished inside, with the remaining black cats that had guarded the castle. My obsession for her had caused me to commit an abhorrent act of desperation. I could hear the sonority in the sombre cries of the cats—and hers as well. The fire could be seen from afar, as the townspeople arrived to witness the burning of the castle.

A sudden regret overcame me, as I stood observing the scorching flames that I had lit with the torches. Never again would I see the interior of the castle as it once had been. Nor the seductive presence of the baroness anew. But the terrible curse that had afflicted me did not cease with her untimely death.

Instead, it would only grow stronger and torment me with such unrelenting guilt I would never be able to erase completely.

I, Gianluca Maldini, would forever be half cat and half human.

The town of Carini would change little in the months to come, but to my eyes, everything seemed shrouded in a somber hue. The fire had not only destroyed the castle—it had disrupted something older, something spiritual. The villagers would speak of strange happenings in the hills: the howls of unseen beasts at dusk, cats vanishing from their barns, and the growing sense that the baroness's spirit had not been extinguished in the flames.

I could not sleep. Each night in my nightmare, I wandered through the narrow alleys of the town, my senses alert, my hearing unnaturally attuned to the slightest scuffle in the dark. The curse had not faded—it had evolved. The eyes I hid behind smoked lenses still gleamed like polished amber. My nails would grow unnaturally fast and sharp if I failed to clip them. I still could see the soul of a bird flitter before its death, and I could smell rain in the air before the first clouds gathered.

But it was not the physical transformation that haunted me most. It was the emptiness—the absence of the baroness’s presence. Even in my torment, I had come to depend on her, as a moth does the flame. Her voice would still echo in my dreams: 'You will never be free of me, Gianluca. We are bonded now, for eternity'.

One evening, as the wind came in from the sea, I decided to return to the ruins of the castle in Carini. The memory of that night had never left me, and I needed to confront what remained, if anything. The path up the hill was overgrown, and thorns scraped my skin as I walked, but I welcomed the pain—it reminded me I still had a fading semblance of humanity left.

The castle was barely recognisable. Its once imposing walls now lay in smoldering ruin, collapsed stone intermingled with blackened wood. But the terrace remained. A half-crumbled balcony of stone, where the baroness had once stood and declared her dominance over my soul.

I stepped onto it and closed my eyes. The wind howled through the gaps in the stone like a mourning choir. I sat for a long time, unsure of what I sought. Forgiveness? Closure? Absolution?

Then I heard her voice.

Faint, distant—'You are mine still, Gianluca'.

I turned, startled, but no one was there. Yet I could feel her. Not as a living woman, but as something else. A presence that pulsed through the soil, through the air. In burning her body, I had not vanquished her essence. I had released it.

Suddenly, I felt something brush against my ankle. I looked down and saw a black cat with eyes the color of blood-orange rub against my leg. Then another appeared. Then a third.

Within minutes, the place was filled with them. Silent, watching, unblinking. They sat in a circle around me. I was not afraid—I knew them. These were the remnants of her power, her familiars, her sentinels.

The lead cat approached and stared into my eyes. In its gaze, I saw memories not my own. A thousand nights of seduction. A lineage of men—kings, poets, soldiers—mesmorised, transformed, discarded. I was merely the latest in an endless pattern or her powerful seduction. I was never special. Only ripe.

Suddenly, the cat leapt into my lap, curled itself against my chest, and began to purr. I felt a warmth spread across my ribs. A strange calm. I closed my eyes and heard her whisper again, clearer this time:

'You cannot destroy what you are, my love. You were never meant to be free'.

I opened my eyes.

The cats had vanished.

And yet, something in me shifted. A subtle realignment. No longer did I feel like a victim. I was something in between—a bridge between two worlds. Neither wholly man nor entirely beast.

I descended from the castle ruins that night with a new purpose. Perhaps I had not chosen this fate, but I would no longer fear it. My human self would learn to live beside the beast. I would master it.

And in doing so, I would finally begin to understand what it truly meant to be one of the Cats of Talamanca.

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