Hellcats: Anthology

by Kate Pickford

  “My pride and joy,” her mother said unprompted, watching her daughters leave. “I don’t worry about them one bit. They have each other and that will always be enough.”

  “Is your eldest reluctant to take the throne?” Rose asked.

  “She is,” the queen replied, “but she needn’t be. She thinks I think little of her and she couldn’t be more wrong. She’s the very best of us. She’s compassionate. She wants the best for everyone. She seeks compromise, and she puts her people and her family first. But that’s to a fault. I pushed her toward that boy so she would find her own boundaries and learn to say no—even to me. She needs to learn to trust her own instincts. That time is coming. I believe in her, and I love her more than she’ll ever know.”

  Rose removed her hands from Drix’s face and her tears flowed freely, ruining Tanq’s perfect makeup job. Nothing she ever received would ever be a more perfect gift.

  “Hellcat to the end,” Hendricks whispered.

  Author, Mama, and Vagabond. Chelle Honiker took her empty nest on the road and writes Non-Fiction, Paranormal, and Urban Fantasy, featuring sassy shifters and fearsome fae from wherever she finds herself.

  Find out more at 929press.com/chelle-honiker.

  61

  Butters

  by Brandon Ellis

  Butters isn't just any ordinary cat, he's the keeper of a secret that can shatter worlds.

  Yesterday, I let Squeakers hold the Way Crystal. And yesterday, the Clawmousers kidnapped him along with the crystal. Somehow, they knew he had it. And soon, when the crystal shined its violet shine, Don Vito, the leader of the Clawmousers, would swallow that crystal whole and take the Universe as his own.

  As the Way Keeper, it was up to me to not let that happen. All the past Way Keepers had always kept it safe and hidden.

  Until I came along and screwed it up.

  I sat on an end table and glared into a mirror. Blood boiled through my veins as I practiced my death stare. “They’ll pay for taking Squeakers and the Way Crystal. They’ll pay dearly.”

  On a normal day, with my white fur, a tan face, and a black stripe down the ridge of my nose, you wouldn’t think this cute, male furball was the leader of the Hellkatz. But right now with my sideways scowl, two of my sharp fangs over my bottom lip, and my cheek twitching, you’d know.

  A parrot’s chirp echoed across the room. In a start, my fur stood on end. I whipped my tail in the air and swiped it back and forth. “What the hell, Mars.” Calming, I arched my back in a stretch. “I’m in the middle of something here.”

  “Hellcatz unite, Boss. Hellcatz unite.”

  My eyes widened and my heart skipped a beat. I twisted around. “Give me the status.”

  Mars—the parrot—was perched on a broken tree branch in the oval, rickety cage that hung from the ceiling. Spreading a wing out wide, Mars jabbed his beak into his green and yellow side feathers and groomed.

  “Mars,” I meowed. “I said…status.”

  Pausing, Mars blinked. “What?”

  “Dagnabbit!” Jumping off the end table, my pads met the cherry-wood floor. I sat on my haunches. “When I say status, you reply with the report of what you saw.”

  Mars cocked his head to the side. “I’d think it would be self-explanatory.”

  After a low growl, I wrinkled my nose. “Status.”

  “Fine, fine.” Mars sighed. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” The parrot turned and faced the window. “The Hellcatz are outside on the back patio and waiting.”

  I didn’t appreciate his less than exuberant reply and before I could respond, he continued with less gusto, “Which is what we’ve discussed Hellkatz unite means. And why you insist on me calling you boss, I’ll never—”

  “Silence.” All that talking made me sleepy. I padded under Mars’s cage and tilted my head back. “It’s time.”

  “Well, good luck then, Butters.”

  “No, Mars. It’s time. You and I, and the rest of the Hellkatz, move on the Clawmousers today.”

  “Don’t you dare. We’ve discussed this. I’m not part of your operation.”

  “Oh, yes, Mars, you are.”

  Mars’s cage hung beside the window, which is why he was my lookout, messenger, and scout. You’d think with all those jobs I’d given him, he’d show signs of gratitude. The son of a gun would rather eat, sleep, and poop. And the singing…he never stopped singing.

  Tail feathers flaring, Mars placed the ends of his wings on his hips. “Every single dang year Don Vito tries to steal the Way Crystal. And every year you’re ready, except for this year. How did you slip up? You knew he’d go after it.”

  On the three-hundred and sixty-fourth day of every year, when the sky lamp descended below the horizon, the dry cat food bite-sized Way Crystal would shine for nine minutes and become one with anyone who dared swallow it. Whoever wielded that crystal, wielded the power to destroy worlds, or control them.

  And today was the three-hundred and sixty-fourth day, and right now the big sky lamp’s butt was heading toward the horizon.

  “If your prophecies are right, your negligence will soon take away our wonderful world.”

  “I’m not scared of the Clawmousers.” My back legs shook and my front paws trembled.

  “I am.”

  “As a member of the Hellkatz, it’s your duty to help me retrieve Squeakers, and take back the Way Crystal. When Don Vito finds out where Squeakers is hiding it on himself, he’ll rip Squeakers apart. Would you want your best friend ripped apart?”

  “You’re my best friend,” said Mars. “And I’m considering whether I’d be happier if you were ripped apart or not.”

  “Not funny.”

  “You were supposed to hide the Way Crystal extremely well.”

  “I usually do.” I walked toward the window.

  “Don’t, Butters. You’re getting me mixed up in something that’ll kill us both.”

  “We don’t have any other options.”

  The two-leggers installed a black curtain rod over the window and blue curtains that dangled down the sides of the window frame. Since my eyes matched the rod and curtains—black pupils and blue irises—I took the hint that these curtains were for me; that this was my toy to climb. The instant the two-leggers finished looping the last drape ring through the rod, I purred my thank you.

  “Stop, Butters.”

  Unsheathing my claws, I leaped onto the curtains. I clenched my teeth as my claws sank through the drapes, and I inched my way up. Pull by pull my leg muscles burned, and my abs tightened. One more push with my hind legs, and I balanced myself on top of the rod.

  “Are you kidding me? Leave me out of this.”

  “Your desire to live does nothing to save the world.” I crouched, doing my best balancing act yet. The rod rolled. “Oh, crap.” I slipped and gasped. My back legs felt the rod’s cold metal and I pushed off. Front legs out, I caught the cage’s door.

  There I hung by the tips of my claws on the edge of a cage wire. Reaching up, I pulled down on the cage door’s latch. The door swung wide. Letting go, I leaned back and performed a somersault in midair. I landed on my feet.

  Ain’t no way a Clawmouser had enough guts to try a stunt like that.

  “You’re free, Mars. Meet me out on the back patio with the rest of the Hellkatz.”

  Mars rolled his eyes as he hopped closer to the cage’s opening. He flapped his wings and glided to the floor. His feet tapped on the wood as he dawdled toward the kitchen where the cat door was located.

  I threw up my forepaw. “Stop.”

  Like a good soldier, Mars did. Like a bad soldier, he shook his head. “What?”

  “One last thing.” A cat’s duty to the two-leggers required keeping them on their toes. My stomach swirled with nerves, though, because doing this took precious time. But I had to pay my daily respect to the two-leggers. This was the quickest way to it and I had to keep in mind that without me, the two-leggers would succumb to an extra hour of lying on the co
uch, pointing a metal rectangle at a box that somehow trapped miniature two-leggers inside. For some sick and strange reason, the two-leggers thought the trapped miniature two-leggers were entertaining. I’d never understand them.

  Never.

  I padded to the end table and jumped on the tabletop. A glass cylinder with fake flowers sat too close to the edge.

  I tapped the cylinder with my paw.

  The cylinder tipped over the side. The sound of the shattered glass sent happy shivers down my spine. “My duty’s done.” Scratching my side, I tilted my head when I saw the contents of the glass cylinder splattered over the floor.

  Water?

  Those weren’t fake flowers.

  Even better.

  But my stomach sank low as an image of Squeakers, his white whiskers, his dark gray face, entered my head. It sunk even lower when the crystal popped to mind. “Let’s go.” I crouched and narrowed my eyes at the kitchen. “To the rest of the Hellkatz.”

  At this time of the season, the orange circle in the sky warmed the land. My favorite time of year; less water drops from dark clouds, and more heat from the giant sky lamp. Yet, at the moment, my fur tingled as the sky lamp headed closer and closer toward the horizon.

  We didn’t have much time.

  I paced on the patio and my lips curled downward at the short, vibrant-green lawn beyond. The too-much-hair-on-face two-legger cut the grass yesterday with the growling machine. My protests were not heard, and never were when that machine came to life. Nothing should be that obnoxious. When I get a chance, I’ll destroy that machine. But first things first.

  “Hellkatz! Roll call.” Two cats, and Mars, stood in a line.

  The tabby raised his paw. “Yes, Boss. Louie here.” His shoulders were rolled forward, his eyes drawn to the cement.

  “Stand straight. Don Vito isn’t that powerful…yet.”

  Louie slowly shook his head. “He will be.”

  “That ain’t positivity, Louie. Think from the end. A rescued Squeakers and a rescued Way Crystal is a rescued world. That’s what I want you to think about from now on.” Chest out, lips pursed, I shifted my focus to the gorgeous all-black female.

  She stood at attention and winked. “Hey, darlin’. Twinkles present.” Her sleek tail gave one swipe, coy and sexy-like. She eyed me as if in heat.

  If I could blush, I would. But no time for crushes. I had a best friend and a crystal to save, let alone a world to keep alive.

  She winked. “You’re so brave.”

  I swallowed down fear-vomit and nodded. My insides shook like a wet dog. “I know. And, Mars?”

  “Yes, Boss?”

  I halted and raised a brow.

  Mars looked left and right, then behind him. “I’m not catching what you’re throwing at me.”

  “I said, roll-call! Are you here or are you not here?”

  He lifted a wing and shook it a few times. “Again, self-explanatory.”

  I paced more. “Everyone, this mission is about stealth and teamwork. We have to make sure, at all costs, that the Clawmousers don’t know what’s about to hit them. It’s an in and out operation. Do I make myself clear?”

  Louie flicked a look over his shoulder at Don Vito who sat on the wooden fence that divided my two-legger’s grounds from Don Vito’s two-legger’s grounds. “Does it matter that their leader is listening to us?”

  Flinching, my muscles tensed. Don Vito, the white Persian Clawmouser, licked his shoulder. A blue house with white trim stood behind him. On the second story, Squeakers sat downtrodden on a windowsill. Beat up, his fur was messy as hell.

  My fur stood on end and rage shot out of my claws. I wanted to kick my kitty litter box and throw my hardened poop at the Persian.

  Don Vito no doubt forced my best friend—my everything—on the sill to taunt me and lower my gang’s morale. But I didn’t see the crystal. Good. Perhaps they hadn’t found it on Squeakers yet.

  Don’s henchmen, Barbed-wire and Pep, moved back and forth behind the window, the tips of their brown tails in view, the rest of their bodies hidden like cowards below the windowsill.

  Narrowing his eyes, Don Vito held out his paw. One by one, he unsheathed his claws.

  Mars took a step toward the cat door and yawned. “Looks like our plan is foiled. They know we’re coming. It was nice knowing you all. I’m going to get some sleep before the end of the world, all right?”

  I stepped between him and the cat door. “No, Mars. We just improvise. It’s simple. The Clawmousers look left, we go right. They look up, we go down.” I nodded at Twinkles. She smiled. I knew she had my back and understood how my genius worked.

  Mars leaned back, his tail feathers touching the patio. “We won’t survive. It’s that simple. Let them have Squeakers. We’ll gamble if this Way-thing will kill the world or not. I’m betting on the not part, but I’m still mad at you for letting this mess happen and taking me away from my singing.”

  “When Don Vito swallows the Way Crystal, you bet your pretty feathers Don Vito will kill the world. Get that in your thick skull,” I said through gritted teeth. Mars knew nothing of the cat prophecies and legends. For us felines, it ran through our veins and was passed down from ancestor to ancestor. “We fail, the world is Don Vito’s. We win, the world remains…well…kinda sane and still a little odd and all that, but most importantly, not in Don Vito’s paws.”

  Louie and Twinkles nodded.

  Shoulders sagging, Mars nodded as well. “I’ll assume you know what you’re talking about.”

  “Good, we’re in agreement.” I stood on all fours. “We ride.” Chest out, butt toward the sky, and ready to kick some butt, I sat again and scratched off a bloodsucker from behind my ear.

  Louie wagged his tail. “My two-leggers aren’t home, Butters. I mean, next time they leave in their four-wheel creature, I guess I could jump in for a ride?”

  Mars leaped in the air and flapped his wings in a hover. “And I can fly. No need for me to ride anywhere.”

  I pawed my face. “It’s an expression.” Padding forward, the Hellkatz parted.

  Twinkles narrowed her eyes. “Let’s bloody up those Clawmousers.”

  I jumped off the porch. My soft pads touched the thick, cool grass. I strode toward a wood picket in the fence, its bottom broken off and missing. That way led to a street behind my two-legger’s backyard. Operation Way Crystal was well underway. “It’s time to save the world.”

  Don Vito and his right-hand man, Sonny, a black and white alley cat, watched us as we crossed the street. Around a mailbox, we dashed through too-many-wrinkles-on-face’s tall grass, and to the next yard where frowns-too-often chased us away.

  Part of the plan.

  Mars flew from tree to tree. The plan was that Don Vito and Sonny wouldn’t notice the parrot, and would watch us instead.

  Yes, genius filled my mind.

  At another two-legger’s fence diagonal to Don Vito’s two-legger’s home, we climbed.

  Hopping to the other side of the fence, I eyed Louie. “Cover me.”

  “With what?”

  “What do you mean, with what?”

  Louie shrugged. “You want me to rip some grass out and cover you with that?”

  A roll of my eyes, I flicked him across the ear with my tail.

  A second wink in one day from Twinkles, and my insides tingled.

  She gave me a soft purr. “I’ll cover you, baby.”

  “No, no. Listen, cover me means—” I tossed them a dismissive paw. It didn’t matter. Teaching these two the techniques I knew would take eight lifetimes, maybe nine.

  In front of me, and next to his dog house, sat Sammy the white and brown bulldog. Quiet and eyes closed, he nodded off to sleep and straightened. Nodded off and straightened. Nodded off and…

  …you get my point.

  Covered in green ivy and vines, his two-legger’s place reminded me of my two-legger’s shed. But bigger. Much bigger. Fallen leaves from a giant oak that grew in the middle of the
lawn, hid the grass underneath. I took a step onward and the leaves crunched under my paws.

  “Sammy,” I yelled.

  He smacked his lips and muttered something inaudible.

  “Sammy, do you have the item?” I took a step forward and his eyes launched open. He swiped his front foot at me and I dropped to the leaves. Thank the cat Goddess that Sammy missed or I’d be knocked out, dreaming of the apocalypse that would come if I didn’t get the Way Crystal in time.

  Bark after bark, Sammy ran in a circle. Gnashing his teeth, he slammed into the fence and twirled to the ground in a horrific crash.

  He jumped to all fours in a flash and grinned. “I almost got you, didn’t I?” He wagged his happy butt in my direction.

  The dog could see as well as a bat. “Sammy, I’m over here.”

  He spun, his tongue out and to the side. “You thought I was asleep, didn’t you?”

  “Sure. You got the item?”

  His lips downturned, and slobber oozed like clear slime from his mouth to the earth. “It’ll cost ya’.”

  I gestured toward the oak where Mars perched. “Hand my associate the item, and you get your payment.”

  “What was my payment again?” Sammy asked.

  “You’ll see.”

  Sammy ambled inside his dog house. Metal against metal clanked, and dog bone against dog bone clacked. A moment later, Sammy came out with a large key between his teeth.

  I nod at Mars, and the parrot swooped down to snatch the key from Sammy. The bulldog lurched away, and shook his head.

  Mars missed.

  Out of the corner of his mouth, the bulldog growled, “You forget. I can still hear, and your parrot isn’t as stealthy as I’d hope from a Hellkatz member. You don’t get this key until you give me my payment.”

  “Dagnabbit, Sammy. You know as well as I that the key is the main ingredient to retrieve the Way Crystal and save Squeakers. With that key, we unlock Don Vito’s house.” My gut twisted at the thought of Squeakers being tortured. Again, like a brave cat, I remained stoic.