“Shouldn’t I get to know my future son, dear?” The words stuck in my throat, but they bought me a few more minutes of freedom.
“Very well, but bring her back to me when you’re done, Tiergan. You had your chance and refused her.”
Prince Tiergan bowed to his father and led me away.
My future son. Ridiculous. He was likely older than me. Certainly, he was taller. He swept me onto the dance floor. I still didn’t know the moves, but Prince Tiergan guided me across the room with confidence until we fell into step together. The cat wove in and out between our legs, joining the dance.
“Have you been treated well?”
I glared at him and said nothing. Surely he knew how I had been treated?
His expression said he did, but his gray eyes held no pity.
“Most women would be thrilled to be queen.”
“Perhaps.” What was his game?
“Gold is a remarkable gift,” he said.
“It’s a curse.” I spat the words at him without thinking, but he didn’t look offended.
“What a pity you couldn’t have it removed.”
He gave me a knowing look, and I realized my hands were cold. I glanced at the smooth hand holding mine. Golden rings glittered on his elegant fingers.
“You!”
“Is something wrong?”
“You’re the fae.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” But he did. Mischief glittered in his eyes.
“You said you were trying to help, but you only made things worse.”
“That cat seems very fond of you. Did you ever find a name for him?”
The name! He would help me if I knew his name.
“Did you leave the paper around his neck?”
“Did you find it?” His eyes flashed silver as he stared at me. The music ended, and King Banagher called for us across the room. Guards pushed through the crowd to retrieve me.
I swallowed. “I did find it, Rumpelstiltskin.”
His mouth spread into an impossibly wide grin, and he shed his humanity like a cloak. The fae’s teeth grew pointed. His silver eyes sharpened and slanted like a cat’s. His skin glowed like moonlight, and the hand on my waist felt colder and stronger than before. “Thank you, Emily. Thank you for naming me.”
“What is the meaning of this?” King Banagher bellowed. “What is happening?”
Rumpelstiltskin led me towards the throne. The cat followed us, purring loudly.
“Surely you recognize a changeling when you see one, Sire? Or perhaps you don’t. I should have been named years ago, but none of you had the wits to set me free.”
“Where is my son?” King Banagher demanded.
“Living safely with the fae. He’ll be returned as soon as you release me.”
“Then leave my bride and go.”
I shivered, and Rumpelstiltskin squeezed my hand.
“She’s coming with me.”
“She most certainly is not!”
“Your bride or your firstborn child, Your Majesty. Which will you keep? Let her go, or I’ll make sure the real Prince Tiergan never comes home.”
King Banagher’s face turned crimson, and he shook with rage. For a moment, I thought he would order the guards to kill us both. Then his face crumpled, and he slumped into his throne. “Take her then. Take her and go! A curse on all you fae!”
Rumpelstiltskin gave the king a mocking bow and offered me his arm. I took it, and the cat leaped towards him. The fae’s slanted eyes widened in surprise, but he caught his feline namesake and held him against his chest. Together, we walked out of the throne room.
Out of the castle.
Out of the city.
We reached the woods just as the moon rose over the horizon, and Rumpelstiltskin breathed deeply with relief. His silver eyes glittered as he dropped the cat and pressed a hand against a tree. He belonged here. A wild thing in a wild place.
I stared at my own hands, calloused and freckled and all too human. It seemed I didn’t belong anywhere.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
“Of course not. Thank you for freeing me.”
“No, thank you. I was trapped there until someone recognized me as a changeling and named me, but every person in that court was too stupid to do it.”
“So you can return now. To wherever it is fae go when they leave.” To wherever my mother had gone. Rumpelstiltskin leaned against a tree, apparently not in a hurry.
“I’ll return eventually, but I’ve spent so long trapped in that castle that I’d like to explore a little first. See the world.”
“That sounds nice.” I didn’t dare explore the world with the curse of gold in my hands. I would find a cottage somewhere and spin gold into straw for the rest of my days.
Rumpelstiltskin studied my face and scowled. “You’re coming with me, of course.”
“I am?”
“Don’t you want to?”
“The last time I told you what I wanted, you nearly got me killed.”
He grinned. “A minor setback. In my defense, I did try to save you when you first arrived.”
“You insulted me and bargained for my firstborn child.”
“And you found my name.”
“You gave me your name.”
“A minor detail. You are released from that bargain. Unless you want your child to be mine.” He gave me a look I couldn’t quite fathom. It almost seemed affectionate.
“You really want me to come with you?”
“Of course I do. I’ll even tolerate the cat if you want to keep him.”
“Rumpelstiltskin.”
“Yes?”
“The cat’s name is Rumpelstiltskin.”
The cat yowled to confirm this. The fae looked confused.
“But my name is Rumpelstiltskin. We can’t both be called Rumpelstiltskin.”
The fae and the cat stared at each other, green eyes challenging silver ones. Neither blinked for a long time, and eventually they looked at me as if they had reached an agreement.
“The cat says he’ll share you with me if I share my name with him.”
“Is that so?”
I laughed and took the hand Rumpelstiltskin offered. His cold magic mixed with my fire.
“It’s rather a long name. May I call you Rump?”
“Absolutely not. Call me Tiergan if you prefer. It feels strange to abandon that name completely after wearing it for so long.”
At some point, he had moved very close. My heartbeat quickened as I stared into his brilliant silver eyes.
“I still don’t trust you,” I said.
“Very wise of you. I don’t trust anyone. Although perhaps we could learn to make an exception for each other?”
He leaned closer, filling my senses with moonlight and silver until I didn’t feel cursed anymore. I didn’t feel too fae or too human or anything other than what I was meant to be.
“Perhaps we could.”
There was more to say, but it would have to wait, because Rumpelstiltskin was leaning down to kiss me.
A.G. Marshall loves fairy tales and has been writing stories since she could hold a pencil. Now she writes them in the castle in her backyard (yes, really). When she’s not writing, Angela works as a pianist and teacher and loves to travel.
Find out more at angelagmarshall.com.
18
Here Kitty Kitties
By Jenn Mitchell
With her Pa missing and presumed dead, Rhyleen Cooper has some big boots to fill when a pack of Japanese nekomatas start terrorizing the Antelope Valley. Can this feisty cryptid hunter wrangle up these savage Hellcats before they sink their claws in to anyone else?
A Rhyleen Cooper, Cryptid Bounty Hunter Short Story
“Jeez, Roy, you really are an idiot. You do realize that there is a two-hundred-pound mountain lion and not a house cat, right?”
“Shut your piss hole, Bert. I can’t concentrate with you yapping.”
“I’m ju
st saying, if your plan is to dance around him in circles until he dies of dizziness, it don’t seem to be working too well.”
“No, my plan is to use the element of surprise. I’m gonna make my move when he least expects it.”
“You don’t say. I guess I’ll just shut my piss hole and let you get to it then.”
I wasn’t sure which amused me more, their conversation, or the fact that these a-holes thought they could go claw to spur with a Japanese hellcat and not end up chuck steak.
I won’t lie, part of me was tired of competing with the Jessop twins for bounties and I considered staying hidden. Why not let the nekomata enjoy a final meal before I punched a hole in its chest and crushed its ticker?
I was sitting in the branches of a huge pine, about fifteen feet above the beast. The scent of fresh pine needles masked my pheromones and so far, neither the nekomata nor the Jessop brothers had any idea I was there.
I hated to break it to Roy, but I’m not sure he understood how the element of surprise was supposed to work. I watched him get his ass kicked for a few more minutes while Bert shit himself trying not to get cat-slapped. As much as I hated these inbred twat waffles if they got eaten they might get replaced by someone more competent and I’d actually have to put some effort into cryptid wrangling.
I took a deep breath then swung backward off the branch letting my momentum carry me soundlessly downward. My trajectory was dead on. I landed in the center of the big cat’s back, wrapped my thighs around its girth, and dug my spurs in just below its sternum.
The beast threw its head back and roared. I grabbed its muzzle and yanked hard to the right. Its neck snapped with a loud crack and we tumbled to the ground, landing in a tangle, and sending up a cloud of dust.
Roy spit a wad of tobacco juice in my direction then bellowed, “What the hell are you doing you, crazy bitch? That was our bounty and I had him right where I wanted him. I have half a mind to gut you.”
I pushed the corpse off me and propped myself up on my elbows. I flicked a long, dark curl out of my eyes and snorted, “I’ll tell you what boys, if either of you think you’re man enough to take this bounty from me, be my guest. I’ll just lay here and let you try that element of surprise move again.”
I waited patiently while they stared at each other, trying to figure out what to do next. I gave them a few minutes, then offered them a deal they couldn’t resist.
Bert hooked his thumbs in his belt loops and sucked in his paunch. I assumed he was trying to look intimidating, but all he managed to do was cut off his own air supply and increase his voice an octave or two.
“Let me get this straight, you want us to team up and wrangle these cats?”
Not wanting to appear too eager, I gave him a flat, “Yes.”
“Why the hell would we do that when we can do it ourselves and not have to give you a cut of the bounty.”
“Because, I could put you two halfwits together and still not have a whole. If I hadn’t killed this one it would be dropping little shreds of you two in scat piles all over this mountain.”
Roy glared at me. “Don’t you get uppity with us, Rhyleen Cooper. You’re just lucky I had that tiger all wore out for you.”
Bert’s hand darted out and caught his brother in the side of the head. “You idjit, I already told you, that there is a mountain lion, there ain’t no tigers in these parts.”
Roy scuttered sideways, threw up his fists, and started circling Bert. Bert thumbed the side of his nose and shot a wad of snot toward Roy. I knew where this was going and I didn’t have the time, or the patience, to watch these two lock horns like rutting elks.
I pulled out Mabel, one of my Smith & Wesson Model 3s, and fired into the air. Both of them hit the ground and covered their heads. I slipped Mabel back into her holster and glanced over at the nekomata. I saw the tips of its split tail twitching and knew I’d better peel Burt and Roy off the ground and get out of sight before kitty finished waking up.
I grabbed them by the back of their shirts and tugged just as the nekomata raised its head. Roy screamed like a groped saloon girl and Bert reached for his gun. I stepped between them and told them to calm down, but they both started babbling over top of each other.
Normally, I’d just let them keep going until they ran out of words, which wouldn’t take long given the shallow gene pool these two were spawned from, but we didn’t have the extra two minutes to spare. I pointed at the stirring beast, held a finger to my lips, and jerked my head toward the tree line.
Much to my surprise, they got the hint and hauled ass toward the trees. I stayed tight on their heels while keeping an eye on the nekomata. By the time we reached the edge of the woods, he was back up on his feet and sniffing the ground where we’d just been standing. It wouldn’t take long for him to track us, especially since my companions reeked of BO, whiskey, and cheap cigars.
Just inside the tree line, Bert grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. “We seen you break that thing’s neck, but it sure don’t look dead now. What ain’t you telling us, Rhyleen?”
I yanked my arm free and glared at them both. “The next time one of you puts your hands on me, you’ll both be crapping blood for a week, you got that?”
They both winced, they knew I was serious.
“I’m not hiding anything from you, you just haven’t shut up long enough for me to tell you why I proposed a partnership.”
They stared at me for a quick second then Roy asked, “Well, why did ya?”
“That isn’t a tiger, or a mountain lion. It’s a nekomata.”
“Neko what?” Roy sputtered.
“Nekomata. It’s a Japanese yokai, and it’s not the only one wandering around here, there’s an entire pack of them.”
Bert spit out a wad of snuff. “Horseshit. What would Japanese demon cats be doing in Nevada, Rhyleen?”
Before I could answer him, the nekomata roared again and started barreling toward us. The astringent scent of urine, and the puddle forming near Roy’s instep, told me he was pissing himself. I could also see the panic glittering in Bert’s eyes as the hellcat surged toward us.
This time, I reached for Bessie. Before I’d left town, Father Kelley had given me a few rounds of salt and holy water ammo, and I’d dropped them into Bessie in case a situation like this arose. They wouldn’t kill the beast, but they’d burn big enough holes in it to slow it down.
I took aim, then adjusted slightly for the wind and the hellcat’s speed. I’d just squeezed off my first round when the boom of Bert’s rifle almost shattered my eardrum. His shot caught the nekomata in the center of the chest, but had no effect on the beast at all. My shot caught it in the right shoulder. It yowled, then stumbled, but kept coming at us.
Roy raised the rifle again, but I grabbed the barrel and shoved it toward the ground. He opened his mouth to cuss me out, but I was already gone. The whoosh of tree branches and the crunching of leaves under their feet told me they were right behind me.
I kept running, but stole a look over my shoulder and saw that the nekomata was gaining on us. The shoulder wound I’d given him had almost healed and the only thing keeping the Jessop twins from being cat chow was the thickness of the underbrush. The massive beast was having difficulty navigating through the twisted vines and fallen branches littering the forest floor.
As the trees thinned out, I reached the edge of a ravine and skid to a stop. I peered over the edge and felt my heart begin hammering in my chest. I’ve never blinked twice when it came to hunting the things that go bump in the West, but I’m not quite so brave when it comes to heights.
The West Walker River wound its way through the canyon about sixty feet below me. The nekomata may be a demon, but it was still a cat, and it hated water just as much as any house cat. I knew we needed to get to that river before the two-tailed hellcat got to us, but my feet disagreed.
I was still frozen in fear when Roy and Bert came screaming toward me like they were on fire. I glanced past them and let
a four-letter word slip out of my mouth. The nekomata was only about two body lengths behind them.
I took a deep breath and started working up a plan, but it was short-lived. Roy ran straight past me, leapt off the edge, and let out his own string of cuss words as he tumbled toward the water below. I snapped my eyes shut, too afraid to see his inevitable demise. I turned my head toward the hellcat and opened my eyes just as Bert slammed into me, wrapped an arm around my waist, and hollered, “Hold on, Rhyleen.”
The fall felt like it took an eternity. I screamed myself hoarse, and the only thing that kept me from soiling myself was that every opening in my body was clenched tight as a rosary in a dying sinner’s hand.
We hit the water so hard it felt like my lungs collapsed. I couldn’t feel my arms or legs and started to sink until a hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the surface. As soon as my head was above the water the feeling returned to my limbs. I thrashed around a bit until I got my bearings.
I looked toward the shore and saw Roy waving at me.
“Hey Rhyleen, I saved your hat for you.”
If I were the crying type, I’d have wept with joy. The derby was old and beat, but it was all I had left of my Pa. He’d worn it on every one of his hunts, and I’ve worn it on every one of mine since I took his place. It was as much a part of me as Mabel and Bessie and I’d be lost without it.
I managed to get myself to shore, but had to crawl out of the water. My clothes felt heavy as wet horse blankets and my boots kept sucking into the muck surrounding the shoreline. I flopped onto the rocks and laid there listening to the rushing water until I caught my breath.
I heard footsteps and looked up to see Bert trudging toward me. He sat down beside me.
“So, seeing as I just saved your life, I was wondering…”
I bolted upright. “Bert Jessop, you better not even be thinking about making a move on me right now.”
He snorted. “Jesus Rhyleen. I already got a wife, and a girlfriend. Even if I were dumb enough to go adding another chicken to my coop it sure wouldn’t be one that’s a better shot than me. I’m unfaithful, not stupid.”
Hellcats: Anthology Page 28
