The Cat's Meow: A Halloween Anthology

  “Lady of the Hunt. A year and a day, mortal.” Then the woman vanished. She didn’t step behind a tree or dive into the river. She was just gone.

  A fairy cat…as if. But he looked at Lucky with new eyes. She’d saved him from the mountain lion and always knew when he needed cheering up. She had arrived when he’d been feeling alone and desperate for company. Lucky purred, something she hadn’t done for days.

  What had the woman said to her? What had been wrong with Lucky…what was going to happen in a year and a day? “A year and a day. I’m game to find out.”

  Lucky head butted his chin. He was almost sure that she could understand him. He blushed when he remembered all the things he’d told her. Maybe he could find a way to talk to Lucky. If she really could understand him.

  “Can you nod for yes?” He felt such a dumbass standing in the woods talking to a cat.

  Lucky gave a single nod.

  Right. He swallowed. “You’re really a fairy cat.”

  Another nod but this one was less certain.

  “You didn’t know you were a fairy cat.”

  Lucky gave a definite nod.

  He was playing twenty questions with a cat.

  “Let’s get the water and go home.” They had a year and a day to work this thing out. He gave her another kiss then set her down. Apparently he was more of a cat person than he’d realized.

  He smiled. It was the first time he’d smiled since leaving town.

  More information about the Court of Annwyn, fairies, and Cat Siths can be found here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/87490-court-of-annwyn

  Stories include:

  The Outcast Prince

  Lord of the Hunt

  The Changeling Soldier

  To Love a King

  The Darkling Lord

  Singer of Death

  Taming the Assassin

  The Night Shift

  By Angela Campbell

  “I love you like a sister, but no.”

  Turning around, Hailey Crawford sighed and punched some digits on her new electronic cash register. Point of sale, her ass. She had a better description to explain that POS acronym. She did not have time for this.

  “I am your sister, Hailey.” Melanie reached to stop her four-year-old daughter from grabbing a handful of the zinnia Hailey had just strewn across the counter.

  “Exactly. The answer is still no.”

  Taking her niece trick or treating on Halloween might sound like fun until she factored in the fact she had two early November weddings to coordinate flowers for, orders to get to the funeral home by tomorrow, and at least a two dozen arrangements to prepare for Thanksgiving season parties. Holidays were the busiest time for her florist shop, and since the last two months had been slower than usual, she couldn’t afford to hire anyone else to help right now. Not if she wanted to keep making a decent profit. Besides, Hailey wasn’t exactly the good auntie type. She and kids went together about as well as Harry Potter and the Catholic Church. Harper was a cute little thing, for sure, but…from a distance.

  Melanie should know all that.

  But as she turned around to remind her baby sister, Hailey spotted that frightening old woman peeking through the window front again. Tattered clothes hung from the vagrant’s frail limbs as she gazed down at the specially made birthday bouquet Hailey had placed there that morning. Otherwise olive-colored skin appeared gray around the old woman’s dark, hollow-set eyes, even as a mostly toothless smile softened her haggard appearance.

  The hairs on the back of Hailey’s neck lifted as a sickening sensation rumbled through her stomach. She shuddered. The old hag gave her the creeps, and Hailey didn’t need her hanging around and scaring customers away.

  Ignoring her sister, Hailey rounded the counter and advanced toward the front door. The old woman glanced up, saw her coming, and staggered back and off to the side, her twisted fingers gripping onto a cane. The chime of the bell that announced customers rang out as Hailey got tangled in one of the Halloween decorations and opened the door. She flailed until she was free and forged ahead.

  “Can I help you?” Her tone was purposefully not friendly as she stepped onto the sidewalk.

  But the old woman was nowhere to be seen. Hailey walked to the edge of the building where an alley separated her florist shop from one of those “need cash quick” stores. All she saw was a silver-coated cat stroking its body against the edge of a dumpster.

  Weird. That old lady sure had moved fast for, well, an old lady.

  Sighing, Hailey hurried back inside. She had four more orders to finish before closing, and Scarlett had called in sick again, leaving her to man the front of the store alone. She was tired, grumpy, and wanted nothing more than to dig into a pint of ice cream and watch meaningless TV until sleep claimed her. As it was, she’d probably be here until midnight.

  “What was that about?” Melanie asked, balancing Harper on her hip now.

  “Nothing. Just a creepy old woman who keeps hanging around.”

  Her sister’s concerned glance strayed to the door. “Poor thing. I bet she’s homeless. You should invite her in and out of the cold for a while.”

  “I’ll do no such thing,” Hailey said. “If she’s homeless, there’s a shelter across town she can stay at. I don’t have time for vagrants.”

  “Hailey!” Melanie’s eyes widened with disbelief. “You should be more considerate. What would Mama say?”

  “Mama can’t say anything because she’s dead.”

  As soon as the words left her mouth, Hailey regretted them. The way Melanie’s eyes welled with tears pierced the hard shell Hailey had built around her heart years ago. It hadn’t been easy, raising her little sister after their mother’s death, working three jobs to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. She’d learned too many hard lessons along the way to maintain some kind of Pollyanna attitude now.

  Melanie’s stance shifted, and she blinked back the tears before they fell. “Forget what I asked. I’ll find someone else to take Harper trick or treating, or Dan and I will give someone the tickets he won. I’m not a big fan of concerts anyway.”

  “Melanie,” Hailey called after her sister as she bustled out of the store. Damn it. She didn’t have time to treat her sister with kid gloves today. Guilt eating at her brain, Hailey hesitated and then tore after her sister, but the woman was already sliding behind the wheel of her Kia. “Melanie! Come on.”

  Melanie didn’t even look at her as she pulled away from the curb.

  “Well, damn.”

  “Meow.”

  Pressure against her ankle drew Hailey’s attention to the gray cat weaving around her leg. She took a step to the side, but the cat followed.

  Perfect, because she hated cats. Nasty, evil creatures.

  “Shoo! Go away!”

  The cat pressed against her again, so she kicked out at it. It hissed and drew up its back in an arch.

  A pang of something—more guilt?—speared her in the chest. She was almost tempted to go inside, find a bowl, and at least set some water out for the stray. Almost, but not quite. She didn’t need it to keep hanging around, any more than she wanted the old lady to.

  Stepping inside, she tried calling Melanie’s cell phone, only to be sent to voicemail. Whatever. Her sister would stop pouting eventually and everything would be fine again. That’s what always happened.

  Right now, Hailey’s main priority was keeping her store in the black. These kind of distractions were unacceptable. She’d worked too damn hard to get her florist shop up and running, and she was finally starting to see some rewards. It was time for her to catch a break, dammit.

  She deserved it, didn’t she?

  She’d made sure Melanie finished school. The brat would have finished college, too, if she hadn’t fallen in love and gotten knocked up her sophomore year. For some bizarre reason, Melanie now seemed content to be a stay-at-home mom. Hailey was still amazed her sister and Dan had lasted this long
, but they seemed happy. As long as Melanie was happy, that was all Hailey cared about.

  As predicted, it was close to midnight when she locked up the store and left. Hailey’s head pounded to an unpleasant rhythm in her skull, and her eyes felt like someone had thrown a cup of sand in her face. Mason, North Carolina, was a small town, so she didn’t have far to go to reach her modest one-bedroom home. Reaching to turn on the car radio, she hit scan, hoping to find something loud and obnoxious to keep her awake until she got there.

  A familiar, masculine voice caused a zing of excitement to shoot straight through fingers to her chest, and she quit poking the scan button. A warm, pleasant tingling spread through her belly as memories of that voice whispering naughty suggestions in her ear distracted her from the road.

  “You’re listening to Luke Grayson and Shadowlands Radio on this spooky October night. Halloween is just around the corner, so we’ve got a great topic for you. We’ll be sharing tales of the Brown Mountain Lights, folks. Ever been there? Have proof the lights are communication from otherworldly beings? Think it’s nothing more than ghosts? I want to hear your theories about our state’s most famous legend.”

  Hailey shook her head, even as a smile lifted her lips. Luke Grayson, the sexiest man she’d ever laid eyes on, aired his nightly paranormal radio show out of Asheville, which was thirty minutes outside of Mason. He taught classes on mythology and paranormal investigations at The University of North Carolina’s Asheville campus, or she assumed he still did.

  She hadn’t seen Luke in about six months, not since she’d decided to end things because his brand of crazy was the last thing she needed in her life. And no matter how much he’d tried, she simply couldn’t make herself believe in any of the ridiculous things he did.

  Bigfoot? Good grief. Aliens? Sure. Here’s a strait jacket.

  Vision blurring again, Hailey lifted a hand to rub her eyes, grateful the roads were empty this time of night.

  No sooner had she opened them again than she saw gray streak through her headlights, heard a loud thump, and felt her body lurch back and then up in her seat as she slammed on the brakes. Chest heaving, alert and anxious now, Hailey glanced around.

  Had she hit an animal?

  Oh, god.

  She fumbled with her seatbelt before finding her feet on the pavement. She hurried to the front of the car and felt an immediate rush of dizziness when she spotted blood on her bumper.

  Grabbing the hood for support, she looked around and spotted a pale, human-shaped figure lying near the edge of the road.

  Oh, no. No, please, no.

  Rushing over to the person, it took a few seconds for what her eyes saw to register with her panicked brain. First, the person was naked. A woman. It was a naked woman?

  “Are you okay?” she asked, kneeling beside the figure covered in shadows, hands hovering because she was afraid to touch and do more damage.

  Hailey tugged off her jacket and draped it across the woman’s body.

  A moan escaped the victim’s lips, and Hailey pulled out her phone to dial 9-1-1. After explaining to the operator what had happened, Hailey finally registered the features of the woman who was struggling to turn over. Tangled, silver hair glinted in the moonlight.

  It was the old hag.

  No. No. No.

  Dropping her phone, Hailey reached to comfort the woman until the ambulance came and squealed when gnarled fingers clamped onto her wrist. The woman raised her head and began murmuring words Hailey did not recognize. The hag’s eyes narrowed menacingly as they met Hailey’s gaze dead on.

  Goosebumps spread across Hailey’s arm as a tingling unease followed in their wake. Even though the air had been still, a brisk breeze tossed Hailey’s long auburn hair across her shoulders.

  “What are you saying?” Hailey bent to listen, but the words sounded strange and…spiteful. Some kind of foreign language, maybe. Pulling away, the old woman spat on Hailey’s leg, fell back, and then moaned until no more sounds escaped her lips.

  The ambulance arrived minutes later along with the police. The old woman was barely hanging onto life. The police kept asking Hailey, why was the old woman on the road? What had she been doing? Where were her clothes?

  Hailey wanted to know the answers to those questions herself. The possibilities haunted her as she went home and fell into a restless sleep.

  As much as Hailey would have liked to take the following day off work, she forced herself out of bed the next morning, feeling sluggish and…odd. That was the only word for the strange sensation wiggling around deep in her gut.

  Scarlett was at the shop when Hailey walked in. Her pixie-like assistant took one look at her and proclaimed, “Oh no! I made you sick, didn’t I?” Then she sniffled and blew her nose into some tissue.

  “I’m not sick,” Hailey argued.

  “Then why are you wearing your sunglasses inside?”

  Hailey yanked them off. Everything seemed extraordinarily bright today.

  “You look…different.” Scarlett sneezed. “You have weird color in your cheeks.”

  “I’m fine,” Hailey growled, and set about fulfilling the assortment of orders on her slate. Thoughts of the old woman lying crumpled in the road, memories of the words she’d spat, the pressure of her fingers on Hailey’s wrist all filtered through her brain throughout the day. Sharing the accident with her assistant crossed her mind, but Scarlett would ask too many questions, no matter how sniffly and congested the petite blonde was.

  Concern for her employee got the better of her after lunch, and she told Scarlett to go home. As the clock crawled closer to five, she wished she’d made the other woman hang around. Customers came and went, but the anxious, jittery feeling wriggling inside her body like a parasite remained. At one point, she decided to close early and go home.

  Something wasn’t right.

  As she turned the OPEN sign to CLOSED and locked the door, she noticed the sky in the distance. It was getting dark sooner now that it was October, and the clouds were painted a pink and purple hue in the distance. Halloween decorations on the building across the street danced in the wind.

  Her fingers trembled as she started her car and drove home. She took a different route than the night before, just because.

  Shadows covered her yard as she pulled into her garage. Hailey had just climbed out of her car and moved to close the garage door when the first sharp stab of pain ripped through her limbs. Burning heat spread like lava through her brain, blinding her and causing her to fall to her knees with a cry of agony.

  Her phone. Where was her phone?

  Oh, god. She was dying.

  Everything tilted and went black.

  When Hailey opened her eyes again, she had no idea how much time had passed. Darkness spread before her, and she realized she was looking at her car’s tires. Lifting her head, nothing felt right. Moving felt…different. Her muscles felt less encumbered. More flexible.

  Disorientation threatened to send her down again, so she stood still a moment longer.

  Wait.

  A glimpse of black fur as she looked down caught her attention. She reached for it, and a black paw lifted instead. She glanced down. Then she glanced up again.

  She was standing, but she couldn’t see above her tire?

  What the hell is going on?

  She moved forward, and she felt as if she was crawling. Her mouth opened to yell, “Help!” but a shrill “Meow!” came out instead.

  Panic seized her insides.

  She must have hit her head harder than she thought. Have mercy. She needed help.

  Moving forward, she wondered if one of her neighbors was home. The Renwicks lived the closest and were friendly. She moved quickly, too quickly, than felt normal. Nothing appeared as it should. It was as if she were stuck to the ground, observing things from too low. The darkness didn’t seem all that dark, considering one of the streetlights had been out for a week and hadn’t yet been fixed.

  How could th
is be?

  She hurried to the front door and stopped on the Renwicks’ porch. The strong odor of paint overwhelmed her, even as she dodged ginormous-sized paint cans tucked beside the railing. Looking up, the doorbell seemed impossibly high. She reached for it and fell back when she again saw two black furry paws in front of her where her hands should have been.

  “Help!” she tried to scream. “Help me!”

  Over and over she shouted, hearing only an annoying yowling escape her mouth.

  This. Could. Not. Be. Happening.

  The porch light came on, almost blinding her in its brightness, and the creak of the door as it opened vibrated through her body. A pair of man’s boots covered by jeans appeared at eye level, so she looked up and felt a spike of hope seeing Jimmy Renwick, her neighbors’ teenage son.

  “Jimmy! Help me please!”

  “Get out of here,” he said and pushed his boot toward her. “We don’t need another cat hanging around.”

  “A cat? Jimmy, please! Where are your parents?”

  “Stop that caterwauling. Shoo. Go away.”

  “Jimmy!” She reached for him, only to feel his boot connect with her midsection and send her sprawling backward. As she sprang to her feet again, the clap of a door slamming shut hurt her ears, and suddenly, she was plunged into darkness again as the light turned off.

  “Jimmy!”

  The splash of water on her nose caused her to jerk her head and scream again. The water stung like acid on her skin. Droplets splashed around her, slow at first, then with more stinging force.

  She dashed under the porch deck, crawling until she was safe from the rain.

  “Help!” she continued calling out, hoping someone would eventually hear her.

  Eventually, she gave up. No one was coming out to check on her. No one could hear her. The rain continued to pelt the ground around her, and she shivered, cold where the fur covering her body was still wet.

  Fur.

  Black fur.

  She examined it more closely once exhaustion calmed her panic. Every limb she moved appeared to be covered in black fur.

  She had to be dreaming.

  Had to be.

  “Miss Crawford?”

  Blinking exhaustion from her eyes, Hailey felt momentarily blinded by the sunlight streaming through the window. Her fingers reached for the blankets and scraped through something soft and scratchy instead. Glancing down, she saw her hand caked in mud.