Chapter Nine
I trudged around the house, desperately wishing it was considerably smaller. The tears continued to dribble from my eyes. I tried not to think about all the people who had lost their lives because of me. They had died to protect me, and I could barely remember their names.
I should have been the one to die. Had Nik given me over to them, none of this would have happened. I now had two reasons not to like him: first that he wanted to kill me, and second that he wouldn't do it when it was needed. I realize those two emotions don't jive, but I couldn't help but feel both. I hated the idea of him killing me for the convenience of his seethe. On the other hand, I wanted him to sacrifice me rather than innocent, weak humans. I was very confused inside.
By the time I got there, Nikolai was waiting for me, dressed in a more casual, less bloodstained outfit—designer jeans and a snugly fitting knit sweater. He led me to a large SUV that read “Land Rover” across the back. I literally had to climb into the passenger seat.
“Are you in the phone book?” Nikolai asked as he backed the Land Rover out of the enormous garage and turned the vehicle around. I shook my head. “What about the Internet? Have you advertised your address there?”
“Like on Facebook?”
“Anywhere.”
“I don't even have the Internet, thus no Facebook account. Internet costs money. Does this mean we're going to my place?” I asked.
“I guess. It's that or a hotel. I'm just not sure if it's safe at your place. The werewolves already knew where I live, so it's no surprise they found us there. Though how they knew you were with me…?” He trailed off with a shrug.
Shock cut through my haze of exhaustion. “Werewolves?”
Nikolai nodded. “Just assume that pretty much any myth you've heard is true to some extent.”
I shivered. By this time, we were out on the main road leading back to Olympia. Nikolai pulled his cell phone out again and pushed the speed dial. “Nik?” Mikhail asked in an exasperated tone. It was weird to hear both sides of the conversation. Evidently being a vampire had its perks.
“The wolves attacked.”
“Attacked what?”
“Us,” snapped my guide. I had a feeling he was the only one in the seethe who could snap at Mikhail and live through it. I wondered who was older. “My house. Ashley and I are the only two who survived. One of them escaped.”
“The wolves?”
“Yes,” sighed Nikolai.
“Do you know what they wanted?”
“What do you think?” Nik glanced at me.
“The girl?”
“Exactly.”
I shivered again.
“This is getting complicated,” Mikhail said. There was silence on the other end. “Take her somewhere safe before the sun comes up. Tomorrow night, bring her to the club. Hopefully, by then, I will have some information for you.”
Nikolai didn't respond, but hung up and tossed the phone into my lap.
“So where are we going?”
“Your place I guess. I don't like hotels. Too many people with master keys. Not that your place is exactly the Tower of London.”
“Lot smaller.”
Nikolai ignored me. I was nearly asleep when he parked the Land Rover two blocks from my apartment. I didn’t ask how he knew where I lived; maybe Josh had told him. I was too tired to care. I stumbled out and followed him. We ascended the stairs as quietly as possible and entered my dark apartment. I felt weak when I noticed the faint hint of yellow lining the horizon through my window. I moved to the one window and pulled the heavy drapery across it. Luckily I liked to sleep in and had splurged on the one black-out curtain. My new friend and guardian shut the door, noted the broken lock, and pushed my four-drawer dresser in front of it. He turned to stare at my tiny apartment.
“I didn't have much in the way of expectations… but… this is pathetic.”
“Bite me,” I snapped.
Nik cocked an eyebrow at me. It took me a second to realize my mistake. That was an invitation to a vampire.
“Do you expect another attack?” I asked, eyeing my small home and trying not to imagine it littered with bodies.
“The only people who know where you live are Isaac and his seethe, and they won't be attacking during the day. Why don't you clean up and get some sleep.”
I obediently went into my bathroom. It was hard to tell what color my clothing had originally been. My shirt and pants just looked brownish-red. I reached up and touched my hair. It was matted and crusty with dried blood. My fingers stopped on something that felt like a finger. I tore it out and dropped it in the toilet. It wasn’t a finger, but it was a body part of some sort. I flushed the toilet.
I took a long shower that included a lot of scrubbing. When my skin had turned pink, I let the hot water pound against my back. My small water heater eventually ran out and I climbed out. I dressed in my warm, concealing pajamas—a psychological protection from the jerk waiting for me in my apartment.
In the main room of my apartment, I found Nik sitting on the foot of my bed, staring at his hands. The wrinkles in his fingers were still stained with blood. He rubbed absently at one of his knuckles while watching my cat head-butt him in the shins. The look on his face made my heart twist.
“Are you okay?” I asked from the doorway. The damp heat from the shower washed against my back as it escaped into the cooler room. It felt comforting—a stark contrast to the sudden change my life had taken.
“What do you mean?”
“You just lost all… ” I trailed off, unsure what to call the people he fed on.
“My food source?” he scoffed, the lines of his face transforming into a sneer. “Don't read into this. They were nothing but cattle to me.”
I stared at him in shock. Those people had just died for him. How could he be so callous about it? “Guess I shouldn't be surprised,” I murmured as I moved to the edge of my bed and pulled the covers back.
Nik rose and walked to my computer desk. “Get some sleep,” he whispered back.
Nik settled into my desk chair, stretching his legs out across the floor and resting his head against the wall. It didn't look very comfortable. In the meantime, I nestled down into my bed, pulling the blankets up to my chin. I felt cold, afraid, and alone, the man in my room notwithstanding.
“Maybe you should just stake me before anyone else gets hurt on my account.” I grimaced. I'd been thinking about the dead again and the words slipped out on their own accord. When I opened my eyes, Nik stood over my bed staring down at me. I could see him clearly despite the lack of light in my room.
“Do not tempt me. I don't want to have to tell Mikhail I disobeyed and destroyed his pet project.”
I couldn't bear to look at him or his black heart. I closed my eyes and tried to hide my face in my pillow. Nik took the hint and went back to the chair. I heard him shift a few times and tried not to imagine the old seat breaking under him. Muffler jumped onto my bed and nestled against the small of my back.
I sighed. “I'm hungry.” Man, I got to stop sharing every thought that runs through my head!
“Eat your cat. It'll tide you over.”
“Please don't eat me,” a voice said from the other side of my bed.
My eyes went wide with shock. Nikolai jumped up and flipped the light on. Muffler was staring at me in a very serious manner, the usual epidemic purring suddenly stopped. It became official. I had completely lost whatever was left of my sanity. At least I wasn't alone in la-la-land. Nikolai glanced at me; his eyes were the size of saucers.
“Did the cat just…?”
I shrugged. “I take it talking cats are new to you?”
Instead of answering, he knelt next to my bed. Muffler climbed to his feet and sat down, his eyes still on me. Muffler's ears twitched a few times.
“Does this mean you've decided not to eat me?” the voice asked.
We were staring at Muffler this time so I knew his mouth hadn't moved. Nikolai's e
yes had grown to the size of Frisbees. I didn't know what to say to my cat.
AHHH! seemed like a good response.
Though I often talked to my cat, I never expected him to talk back. What am I saying! Cats don't talk. Especially this one. I knew Muffler. He's the type of animal with too much personality for his own good while at the same time being too dumb to use his personality in his favor. In fact, it usually just got him into trouble. There was no way this cat, of all animals, could learn how to talk.
“Shit, shit, shitty, shit shit!” I chanted, my hands combing through my hair in a frantic gesture.
“The modern age scares me,” commented Nikolai.
“My cat just talked, and you're scared by my language?”
Nikolai and my cat ignored me.
“I'm sure you have a few questions for me,” the voice said.
“Yes, just a few,” I said to my cat. Ok, time for the padded room. I'm talking to my cat… responding to my cat… conversing with my cat. The whole vampire thing was hard enough to accept. This was just straight and simple insanity. “Like, who the hell are you and what have you done with my cat?”
Muffler suddenly began to purr just like he usually did when I talked to him. You know the type of cat, the one that purrs if you look at it or talk to it or casually think about it from two blocks away. “I've always been your cat; I just didn't announce myself to you. Now that you have entered the world of the mystical, I figured it wouldn't hurt to share, especially since you were thinking of killing me.” Muffler stopped for a second and lowered himself back into a lounging position as if it was too much work to remain upright—very catlike, to be honest. “My name is Tereus. I was a fae but was transformed into a cat.”
Nik groaned and slouched back against the wall. “What?” I asked. “What does that mean?”
“Just what we need… faeries.”
“Fairy. As in Tooth Fairy?” I made a wing flapping gesture with my hands.
“No. A bit scarier than that. Ever heard of the Greek gods? Hades, Athena, Hermes, Aphrodite, Hera? All fae. A fae is a mystical creature from ancient times. They are very powerful, though not nearly as powerful as they were before the invention of cold iron and industry. They come in many different shapes and sizes. Many of them do not look human but try appearing so through a glamor.”
His brief description was far from satisfactory. I had many more questions, the writer in me seeing the potential. Before I could begin the interrogation, the cat cut me off.
“Relax,” said the voice in a tone that sounded a great deal like a purr. “I'm hardly a threat. When I was transformed all my powers were taken. In truth, I'm little more than a cat.”
“Yeah, a talking one. Gosh, I feel like Sabrina.”
“Ah, Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn. Great movie. They don’t make them like they used to.”
I stared at him for a moment before I remembered the old, black-and-white film. “What? No! Sabrina the Teenage Witch.”
“A witch?” demanded Nik, his eyebrows constricting with anxiety.
“No. The T.V. show.”
“Huh?”
I rolled my eyes. “Pop reference. Don't worry about it.”
Nik stared at me as though I'd lost it, which in truth I had. After all, I was listening to my cat's backstory.
“Who turned you into a cat?”
“Phonoi.”
I glanced at Nikolai. He had turned white… well, whiter. “Do you have any reason to believe Phonoi would come after you?” Nik asked.
“I have no reason to believe anything, either way. I have spent the last some-odd years mostly in this apartment. It is possible. Like all fae, Phonoi knows how to hold a grudge. Granted, he may consider my debt to him as repaid. I simply do not know,” responded Muffler, his eyes closing occasionally in near sleep.
“And if it is Phonoi that would be bad… right?”
“Let's just say, if you come across a fae leave it alone.”
Muffler meowed while at the same time the voice said, “Good advice.”
I sighed. “So what now?”
“Get some sleep. We can't do anything until nightfall.”
I collapsed on the bed, hearing Nik shift back to the chair a moment later. Part of me wondered if sleep was possible especially with a talking cat lying on my bed. Then again, I'd accepted the concept of vampires and werewolves.
Why not talking cats?