Eve turned to Vincent and asked him, "Do you think it is possible?"
"Considering how the Moriarty bloodline originally branched from the royal family of King Gauntlet, it is possible," Vincent replied with a slight frown.
This was why Timotei was here. It wasn't because of vacation or because he wanted to become a person. But because he was curious if Vincent was the man from the past, Eve thought to herself.
If what Timotei said was true, then that also meant that Vincent's soul was part of King Gauntlet's family.
Timotei cleared his throat and asked Eve, "You will still turn me into a vampire, won't you? A pureblooded vampire," he looked at her with his big eyes, donning a sweet and innocent appearance.
Seeing how the black cat wasn't causing any intentional but only unintentional harm and was only having the wish to turn to a person walking on two legs and not four, Eve didn't see why she couldn't help the cat in this matter in the future. But then she heard Vincent say,
"You are an untrustworthy cat. I doubt I could have had any pet like you in my previous life."
The black cat looked offended and said, "It wasn't I, but you who picked me up and said that I would be your cat! Do you think I wanted to be your personnel cat? If it weren't for the bunch of ra--raspberries hanging on the branch, that I was going to eat. Ahem, I wouldn't have been your cat in the past. Right now, I am my own person. I have been for the last few lives," the cat harrumphed.
Both Vincent and Eve could tell that it wasn't raspberries but a bunch of rats that had tormented the black cat. It seemed like Timotei was just a spoiled little cat, who had probably been coddled and was scared of rats since the very beginning.
"Eve," Vincent addressed her, gaining her attention and she looked away from the cat to meet his red eyes, "Don't turn Timotei until we get all the answers about his past life. The one in the beginning," Eve agreed to it by a nod.
"What?!" Timotei meowed at the end and came to Eve's side. He gently tugged one side of her long skirt with his paw and said, "You cannot do this to me, Eve!"
"I am sorry, Timotei, but I will have to side with Vince's decision here," Eve offered an apologetic look at the black cat, who fell flat on the floor as if his life was doomed. "If you are really from that time, there must be important memories. And didn't you just tell us that it is because you are a cat, that you still have pieces of your past memories? Once I turn you to a vampire, it might end up with you losing your memory for good and never remembering anything."
"I dug my own grave," Timotei whispered to the dusty floor. But as he spoke, dust rose from the ground. He quickly got up and coughed.
"You have waited this long, a little more time shouldn't make much difference. Now that we know that you were a cat since the beginning, the probability of turning you into a human or a vampire is low," Vincent reminded the cat of the harsh reality.
"The earlier sea creature could do it, which means Eve has all the ability to do it too. She's a mermaid-siren, which is rare. So you see? Rare abilities?" Timotei spoke as if trying to make them see his logic.
Vincent's lips twitched, and he stated, "If that is true, you don't need Eve's help as you can do it yourself. You are a rare cat who talks. I am sure you will find a way on your own."
Timotei glared at Vincent, doubting whether this pureblooded vampire was really his first owner. Probably he was wrong, the cat thought to itself. From what he could remember with his feelings, he remembered clinging to his cat-father. Perhaps he had only imagined it? He nodded his head, while Eve and Vincent watched the cat bob its head in silence.
"How often do you remember things about your past, Timotei?" Eve asked the cat, who for five seconds stayed quiet before realising she was his key to vampirism. Once he would turn into a vampire, he would chase all the rats and make sure the land he was going to live in would be free from those pests. "Timotei?"
"Ah, yes. It doesn't have any fixed time. The longer I am near familiar things or people from the past, the quicker those missing puzzles come to me. Aren't I amazing?" Timotei asked them.
"Maybe the longer you two bond together, we might be more clear about your past life?" Eve asked Vincent.
Vincent held a frown, his lips set in a thin line, and he questioned the cat, "You said a siren cursed you. But she never cursed you, did she? She turned you to a cat who could speak, but blessed you."
Silence fell in the room, and Timotei coughed, "I might have twisted the story a little so that all of you could believe that I needed to be turned urgently. But that didn't happen," he said in a disappointed tone.
"Why did she give you the ability to speak?" Vincent questioned Timotei, who blinked.
"I don't know, maybe she was beguiled by the charming me and thought she could use me as a person to talk to, though I don't remember what we spoke. I told you I was a ladies man," Timotei raised his front paws.
"I don't think he has the memories of her or what happened," Eve said to Vincent. "There are probably many spaces in his memories that haven't been filled even after he has lived many lives."
Vincent stared at the black cat that continued to speak to Eve. If the person blessed the cat with speech, and had granted him nine lives, it only meant that the person wanted to pass something important through this cat.
