Hellcats: Anthology

by Kate Pickford

  All the victims were found near Kachina Hills, a residential area.

  Nova wandered under the table and rubbed herself against Lily’s legs. Lily reached down with her left hand and stroked her before returning to her working dinner.

  Lucipurr jumped up on the table. Lily picked him up and deposited him back on the floor with a stern, “No.”

  She returned to the file. There was a shortlist of suspects, but one of them caught her eye: Amos Sinclair. He not only lived in the area but owned a couple of rental properties near where the bodies were found. He also had a history of petty crimes: shoplifting, document forgery, and burglary. He didn’t have many family ties — his father had died several years ago, and his mother had suffered a stroke a few months ago. He was taking care of her. That’s a huge stressor, Lily noted.

  The working profile they had stipulated that the perpetrator likely had some form of medical training or expertise, but Amos had none. He was a college dropout. There were other suspects that fit the profile better in terms of occupation and previous encounters with law enforcement, but none lived as close to the area where the bodies were discovered as Amos did. Moreover, one of his tenants was a regular john for two of the victims. Lily had the feeling that he knew a lot more than what was noted here.

  She finished her meal while thumbing through photos and reports. She rose from the table and took her dishes to the kitchen. She put the leftover food in the fridge then rinsed her dishes and slid them alongside the others in the dishwasher. Nova followed her closely, hoping she was getting tired.

  Instead, Lily returned to the dining room and tidied up the photos and papers, depositing them neatly back into the folder. She grabbed her wallet and a notebook from her satchel. She retrieved her purse from the closet in the foyer. She deposited her wallet, notebook, and phone into her purse. Woah! thought Nova, She’s going out. Not staying in tonight.

  "No," Lily said to both cats skulking around the door. "Stay here. I'll be back in a little while." She put on her running shoes and left.

  Even better. Now I won’t have to wait for her to fall asleep. She heard Lily’s car engine roar and waited until she could no longer hear it.

  Nova closed her eyes, drawing energy from the gate into her body. Lucipurr rubbed against her, but she sidestepped away from him. "Watch out!"

  He jumped back. They had been working on getting Lily to install a cat door for two weeks, but the nightlong crooning and racing around the house hadn't convinced her. Their old house had a cat door, but this one didn’t. Nova would have to go through the keyhole in the lock again.

  Her fur smoldered a little as the transfiguration began. Her form melted away, and she was but mist. She drifted toward the door. The temperature differential helped propel her through the small opening. She was sucked from the warmth of the house to the cold air outside.

  Nova oriented herself toward the southwest then climbed, riding air currents upward until the houses looked like dots and the streets were but faint lines snaking across the landscape below. It was a windy night, so she made good time. The further she traveled, the more illustrious the blue glow became.

  When it brightened to near-white, she began assuming solid form again. As her body became heavier, she descended. She became entirely solid once her paws hit the sidewalk. The glow blinded her. She suppressed her connection to the gate and let her feline vision take over.

  She sauntered down the sidewalk. The soul was close. She could feel it.

  As she approached a house set back further from the street than the others, the scent of rotting flesh with notes of sage and sulfur hit her. This is definitely the place, she thought.

  She surveyed the yard. There was a secluded area in the left corner of the backyard. It was lined with thick bushes and a couple of tall cottonwood trees. She walked slowly down the driveway, clinging to the bushes planted between the soul’s driveway and their neighbor's. She stopped to smell things as a cat would so as not to arouse any suspicion. There were deep cracks in the driveway. Cheatgrass filled a few of them.

  The lights were on at the back of the house. As she got closer to the back porch, she could hear the third movement of Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 spilling from the house.

  The patio door screeched as it rolled open. She dove into the bushes. Best not to be seen, she thought. Some people hate cats. She remained still.

  A figure strode over to the fire pit a dozen feet from her. They deposited a small pile into the pit. Whatever it was must have been soaked in blood, judging by the smell of iron. The figure doused the pile with lighter fluid then struck a match. They flicked the match into the pit then returned to the house. The pile ignited, and the smell of smoke displaced the smell of blood in the air.

  Nova slunk across the patchy grass in the backyard and onto the wooden porch. She looked through the glass patio door, but the blinds were drawn.

  She decided to wait until the house was quiet. She leaped from the porch then cut across to the other side of the backyard. She circled back around to the front of the house. What's that? She heard a familiar rumbling.

  It sounded like Lily's car. It's not her car, just a car that sounds like hers, Nova told herself. It stopped a few houses down. She decided to hide under the neighbor's truck and wait for the driver to get out. She waited for what felt like eons, but the car door didn't open. It wouldn't hurt to get a closer look. She left the shelter of the undercarriage and edged her way down the sidewalk toward the car. The car is the same color as Lily's, but that doesn’t mean anything, Nova reassured herself.

  She needed to see the driver. A higher vantage point would help. The house adjacent to the parked car had a large, elevated porch. Perfect. She slunk across the yard and vaulted onto the railing to get a better look.

  Rats! The car was parked underneath a burned-out streetlamp. No matter. She concentrated on the figure sitting motionless behind the wheel, letting her eyes adjust to the shadows. It can't be, she thought. But it was. It was Lily.

  Nova flopped off the porch and snuck back across several lawns to the soul’s house. She settled in some bushes at the front edge of the house where she could see Lily’s car and monitor the backyard at the same time. The house was quiet, and the light on the back porch was off. They must be going to bed, Nova thought. Not too much longer.

  A car door creaked faintly in the distance and drew her attention.

  Lily, what are you doing?

  She got out of her car, slinging her purse across her body. It thudded lightly against her hip as she walked. Nova held her position, watching her all the while. Lily rummaged through her bag as she walked.

  She pulled out a bundle of translucent fabric as she turned into the soul’s side yard opposite Nova. Nova bolted from the bushes and crept into the backyard. She couldn’t see Lily but heard the patio door screech open again. She saw it close after a moment. Interesting, Nova thought.

  Contrary to what Lily assumed, the interior was brightly lit. She double-checked that she was fully concealed under her cloak. Beneath its folds, Lily was invisible so long as she didn’t move too quickly. If she did, it would look like rippling to an outside observer; while someone wouldn’t necessarily know that it was her, it would certainly attract attention.

  Lily surveyed the dining room. There was a heavy wooden table in the center of the room. Opposite the patio door were two archways in the dining room wall. She walked around the table, peering through each doorway.

  To the right was the kitchen, and the living room was to the left. She doubted that there would be any evidence in the kitchen and snuck into the living room. She had noticed a green room encased in glass on the front of the house that was flanked by a square room as she entered the yard. The living room didn’t have a small alcove that would match that layout.

  Maybe the square room is a potting shed? Lily thought to herself. She decided to check the living room thoroughly just in case.

  The couch sat beneath a large window tha
t opened into the green room at the front of the house. There was no door to get into it from the living room though. To the left of the couch were two large bookcases. Across from the couch was a coffee table and an oversized loveseat beyond that.

  The bookcases looked a little out of place beside the couch—they could have easily gone on the empty wall. Instead, the largest pieces of furniture in the room were crammed along the same wall. She ran her hand along the outside edge of the rightmost bookcase. She felt a draft.

  Nova entered the house through the patio door. She navigated to the living room using shadows under the table and chairs in the dining room. She didn’t see anyone, but the right edge of the bookcase beside the couch was a few inches away from the wall. That’s odd, she thought. A dim light bled from behind the bookcase, casting mottled light across the dark rug.

  She heard muffled rustling behind the bookcase. She dashed through the doorway to the living room and scampered under the couch. She peeked out, then slithered into the gap between the bookcase and the wall.

  She saw shelves with a variety of curiosities lining the back and right-most walls. The shelves possessed a few taxidermied animals, jars containing viscera, and several metal boxes.

  The taxidermy was incredibly lifelike. They were works of art and would have been at home in any museum save for their eyes. Instead of realistic glass marble eyes, dark shank buttons were sewn into the eye sockets. The pieces appeared to be well maintained. Despite death, the fur and feathers appeared lustrous—probably more so than when they were alive.

  Nova watched as a jar containing eyeballs floated slowly off the shelf lining the right-most wall. It settled on a small square table positioned in front of a small reading chair. Between the chair and the shelf along the back wall was a floor lamp, the sole source of light in the room. A metal box from the shelf along the back wall drifted down to join the jar on the table. The lid of the box swung open on its own. Several photos sailed out of the box and settled around the table. The eyeballs bobbed around the fluid inside the jar.

  Were these objects enchanted? Nova wondered. She hadn’t seen powerful enchantments like these since the time of the Templars.

  The magic the Earth generated was tied to various portals all over the planet, but there was little left for anything else now. Over time, more and more gates were forged. Every continent—indeed just about every country—had at least one. The more gates there were, the less magic for things like enchantments, potions, and spells.

  There were still many objects imbued with magic during ancient times scattered across the world. Of course, blood and soul magic still worked, and infernal and divine entities could still draw from their respective sources. It’s just that natural magic was on the decline.

  Nova scanned the room. There really wasn’t anywhere to hide except under the table in the center of the room. With one exit, she wasn’t thrilled about going in there.

  Nova eased herself along the wall, then ducked under the table. She bumped into something pliable. A snarl escaped her lips as she was wrenched back by her neck. She was suspended mid-air, but she swatted nonetheless. Her swats didn’t land and only served to circulate the stale air in the stuffy room.

  A familiar voice called out, “What are you doing here?”

  Lily’s face emerged directly in front of her, “We have to get you out of here.”

  Nova replied with her sweetest meow.

  Lily’s eyes narrowed. “How did you get in the car?”

  The illusion broke as Lily lifted her cloak. She slipped Nova beneath the folds of fabric, holding her tightly. Nova stretched her paws up and wrapped them snugly around Lily’s neck. Lily adjusted her cloak then shoved the bookcase open a little further. It grated along the floor roughly and rather loudly.

  Lily rounded the table, and then there was a loud crack. Something slammed into them.

  She fell backward with Nova still pressed against her. Her back hit the floor first, and her head followed with a sickening thwack.

  The cloak’s fabric dragged quickly yet softly across the back of Nova’s head. Its gossamer caress was replaced by rough fingers around her neck. The owner of the fingers tossed her aside. A wiry man with dark hair crouched down over Lily. She was out cold.

  Nausea and dizziness washed over Nova as it became harder for her to breathe. Not long. With what little strength remained, she concentrated on her bond with the gate. She drew from it. Her breaths became shallower. She attempted to suck in a deep breath, but it was cut short by stabbing pains radiating throughout her chest and back. Nova choked and sputtered. She tried to kick her feet. For Bird’s sake! Yeah, nothing.

  She kept pulling from the gate, but spinal injuries were nearly impossible to heal—indeed crushing injuries of any kind were a pain in the ass. Though not in this case—Nova felt nothing below her midsection, let alone her ass.

  The man slid his arms under Lily and hoisted her up. Her head bobbed and her arms swayed as he carried her out of the living room. Nova couldn’t see her anymore. She let go and stopped trying to heal herself. She let go and drifted into darkness.

  Nova was trembling when she awoke. It was still windy but clear enough to see the moon. In the glade were two bobcat carvings: sun-bleached cat totems of a bygone people. The last of my associates, Nova thought. They look ominous in the moonlight but are completely harmless—in this form at least. Oh, shit! Lily.

  She had forgotten. Resurrection was always disorienting.

  She focused and drew energy from the gate to transfigure herself. She rode high on the winds back to the soul. Back to Lily.

  She slunk around to the back of the house. Please be alive, Lily. No time for a covert approach. But how overt? If Lily was awake and saw my true form...

  The last time Nova spoke to a human, they were sent to an insane asylum and were never the same. Death would have been a kindness over that. Nova couldn’t let that happen to Lily. Not again, she thought. Not for anyone or anything. But none of that matters if the Unformed escape—the whole world would be touched by death, including Lily, thought Nova. Still, there must be a way to collect the soul and save Lily…if she’s still alive.

  Nova decided to sneak into the soul’s house through the front door this time. She summoned energy from the gate and transfigured, wafting as mist through the lock. Unlike last time, the house that appeared dark from the outside was also dark on the inside. She drifted to a corner in the foyer and assumed solid form again.

  Nova was about to climb the stairs to the second floor but noticed a sliver of light cutting its way through the darkness. The light was coming from below the panels covering the scaffolding that supported the stairs.

  Pulling more energy from the gate, Nova fortified herself then worked her paws underneath the center seam of the panels where the light was bleeding out and heaved. It didn’t budge. “Nothing’s ever easy,” she muttered to herself. Her fur smoldered briefly as she transformed into mist again, skimming the floor as she drifted under the slim crack under the panels.

  She found herself at the top of a steep stairway and contemplated resuming her feline form. She thought better of it in close quarters with no accessible exits. Everything was blurry to her in this form. Her very atoms were so agitated they vibrated, and she couldn’t see the world around her clearly.

  Thick padded material lined the walls and ran all the way down the stairs into the basement. Soundproofing? It’s either that or terrible interior decorating, Nova thought. Most of the houses around here didn’t have basements. This one clearly did although it wasn’t obvious from outside or even inside the house.

  Nova floated down the first few steps. The basement was furnished though it was hard to make out details. She was confident she knew what the blurs were: a few bookcases, a couple of tables, and a few chairs.

  Across the basement stood the same wiry man.

  Nova resumed solid form again. As her vision sharpened, she could see that she was beside a table. She darte
d under it.

  The man was bent over another table at the very back of the basement.

  Nova scanned the room—there didn’t appear to be another exit, but there was a chair set back in the corner of the room. Lily was tied to it with rope.

  Between them was a small desk with a large monitor on it. He still had his back turned to Nova. She raced to the desk and jumped, landing directly behind the monitor. She crouched as low as she could, concealing herself in the shadows.

  Lily’s head swayed slightly from side to side.

  The man shuffled around the side of the table toward the chair.

  “Who are you?” he demanded.

  Lily snapped her head up. She pulled against the ropes holding her down to no avail. Her expression hardened with unwavering determination.

  I need his soul to save the Earth, Nova thought. But maybe there’s a way to save Lily too. I still have a couple of days to get his soul to the gate. But, if I don’t take him soon, he’ll kill Lily. If I take it now, I risk her mind.

  Nova’s train of thought was interrupted.

  “Who are you?” he asked again.

  He reached toward the table and withdrew a large kitchen knife, “Who are you?!”

  A wry smile crept across Lily’s face, “Does it matter?”

  Across the basement, she spotted Nova.

  Nova waited. She had decided to let Lily take the lead and wait.

  He chuckled, “No. I don’t suppose it does.”

  He crossed quickly in front of her.

  “What’s wrong, Amos?”

  “Ho… How… How do you know my name?” he stuttered.

  “I know a lot more about you than just your name,” Lily replied.

  He lunged toward her, brandishing his knife.

  “Yeah, I don’t think this does anything for you until I start screaming.”