I roll my eyes. “Thanks for the diagnosis. Are you being serious about him doing nothing?”
Her light bounces up and down on the wall. Her way of nodding. “If I keep following him, I’m going to need antidepressants.”
Taking pity on her, I say, “You can stop. I don’t believe he’s plotting against me, either. There is something going on, but he’s not behind it. Would you mind following someone else?”
“You want me to follow Ms. Pink Thong, don’t you.” She doesn’t sound pleased. I wouldn’t be, either.
“Unfortunately, yes. I don’t trust her.”
“You shouldn’t. She says nasty things about you.” That’s always great to hear.
“Such as?” Kallen prompts.
“She wants your grandfather to stand up to you and boot you back to the Fairy realm. She used harsher words but the idea was the same.”
Yeah, I bet she did. “Probably not the best time to talk to the Witan about Fairy visas, huh?”
Kallen grimaces. “Only if you want three attempts on our lives tonight.”
I shake my head. “No, two is my limit before I get homicidal myself.”
Kallen doesn’t laugh because he’s not sure if I’m kidding or not. I’m not sure either. Instead, he says, “I could use some sleep before tomorrow brings new troubles.” He gives a pointed look in Nixie’s direction.
“I’m going, I’m going,” she huffs.
I scowl at Kallen before turning to the light on the wall. “Good night, Nixie. Thanks for all your help today.”
Nixie disappears into the hallway and I hear Taz say, “Told you you’d get the boot, too.” I chuckle and shake my head.
“What?” Kallen asks.
“Just Taz whining about not being allowed in.” I stretch and yawn. “I am so tired. I’m surprised I’m still awake.”
With raised brows and a sexy smile, Kallen asks, “How tired are you?”
“Are you sure there are no more cameras in here?” I ask.
“Positive,” he says, then presses his lips to mine. I find I’m not as tired now.
Chapter 23
I wake several hours later to a slap in the face. Well, not a slap exactly. I’m hit across the cheek with a paw. My eyes fly open and I’m about to physically throw Taz off the bed when I pause. It’s not Taz.
“It’s about time,” the cat sitting on my chest says. “I was about to use my claws.”
Am I dreaming? I sit up fast and the pain of the cat’s nails digging into me as it scrambles to hold on is enough to tell me I am not dreaming. “Who are you?” I ask. “Did someone make me another Familiar?”
The cat huffs as it slowly retracts its claws from my skin. “You are a slow one, aren’t you?” the cat says. “Wouldn’t your evil sensing friend have figured that out by now if that was the case?”
My brow furrows until the dip in the center sits on my nose like glasses. “Then why can I understand you?”
“Because I am speaking English. I can speak other languages if that will better help you keep up.
I narrow my eyes. “I didn’t ask what language you are speaking. I asked why I can understand you at all?”
“I realized that the first time you said it,” the cat retorts with another huff.
“Are all your conversations circular?” I ask it.
“Only when someone doesn’t ask the right questions.”
I peek at the clock on the bedside table. “It’s four thirty in the morning and you want to play twenty questions?” The sound of my voice makes Kallen stir next to me but he doesn’t wake up.
“Will it take you twenty to ask the right one?” Wow, I thought Taz was bad.
“Fine, I’ll ask you questions just to get you off the bed. Are you a Familiar?”
“No.”
“Are you a freak of nature that has succeeded in proving Darwin wrong by being an obnoxious, sentient, speaking, pain in the butt cat?”
I swear the cat is laughing at me. “No.”
“Tell me what you are so I can go back to sleep,” I growl.
“I cannot.”
“Then go away.”
“Alas, I cannot do that, either.”
Tired of the game, I grit out, “You are not immortal, you can be killed, correct?”
“Oh, very well. I will tell you what I can. I was sent here to watch over you.”
“By whom?”
The cat shakes its little head. “That I cannot tell you.”
“If you are supposed to watch over me, why is this the first time I’ve seen you?”
“I am to watch you. I never said that you needed to watch me in return.” The cat lifts its right front paw and begins to groom the fur on it.
I am frustrated beyond belief now. “Then why are you waking me up in the middle of the night to introduce yourself?”
Pausing mid-groom, the cat says, “Because there is a murder taking place and I thought you would like to know about it.”
“What?!” I cannot possibly have heard the cat correctly.
My sudden outcry has Kallen sitting up, instantly awake from a dead sleep. “What is going on?”
I point to the black furred cat. “This cat can talk and it says there’s a murder going on.”
He looks at the cat with sleepy eyes. “My love, it is only a housecat.”
The cat cocks her head to the side and says, “You are quite the condescending young man, aren’t you?”
It’s Kallen’s turn to freak out. “What the hell! Why can you speak?”
I give the cat, who has gone back to grooming herself, a dirty look. It’s a wasted effort since she is more interested in her fur than me. “She won’t say.”
“What did you mean, there is a murder taking place?” Kallen demands.
“Oh, that. I wondered how long it would take before you two got back to that tiny detail. Someone just entered your grandfather’s room.”
“Did you see what he looks like?” I ask, throwing the covers back and accidently getting the cat curled in them. Okay, maybe it wasn’t an accident.
“Mmmph,” is my response until it can at least dig its head out. “No. I am afraid I am quite blind in the dark.”
“Cats have strong night vision,” Kallen says, getting out of bed.
“I suppose if I was always a cat, that would be true.”
“You are a shape shifter of some kind?” Kallen asks, making jeans and a t-shirt for himself. Does that mean the cat is a Fairy? That doesn’t seem right because none of the rest of us can speak while in our animal forms.
“Perhaps, or perhaps I am a cat with a sense of humor.”
“Not a funny one,” I grumble. I let Kallen create jeans and a t-shirt for me, as well. “Where is Grandpa’s room?”
“Finally, you are asking the right questions.”
I turn to Kallen. “Is it really murder to kill a cat?”
Jumping down from the bed, the cat walks towards the door with her tail in the air. “Yes, it is.”
“It might be worth the darkness on my soul,” I mutter as I follow after, Kallen right beside me. It’s amazing how violent my thoughts are nowadays.
Chapter 24
Grandpa’s room is in a different wing, one directly opposite from ours. He put us as far away from him as possible. Figures.
The cat stops in front of his door. “Ta ta for now.” It prances away and disappears around a corner.
I put my ear against Grandpa’s door. That is definitely not snoring I’m hearing. I try the door handle but it’s locked. Kallen puts his arms on my shoulders and pulls me back a few steps. The door explodes into tiny slivers of wood.
When the dust and debris clears, we’re faced with a horrific sight. My grandfather has a noose around his neck and is crumpled in a heap on the floor. A syringe is lying next to him and it’s empty. Whatever was in it must be inside him now.
There is a bank of windows against the far wall and one of them is open. Whoever is trying to kill the King of
the Witches must have just gone out of it. Kallen is already striding towards the open window. Turning to his raven form, he disappears out into the night. The culprit will have a hard time escaping him.
I rush to my grandfather and place two fingers on his neck looking for a pulse. He has one. It’s stronger than I thought it would be. Pulling my magic, I search his body looking for poison, but all I find is something that seems to be a sedative. It’s not hurting him, just keeping him unconscious.
Feet pounding down the hall make my eyes fly to the door. Aiden barges into the room and ignoring me, goes directly to the window and shoves his head and half his body out. After a moment, he pulls himself back into the room and spins towards me. “What the hell happened here?”
That’s a stupid question. “Considering you came running, I assume you know someone was trying to kill my grandfather. Kallen and I got here about three minutes ago, so we know as much as you do.”
Aiden isn’t convinced. “How did you know to come here? Where is the Fairy now?”
I am about to sound stupid and snarky at the same time. “A cat brought us here, and Kallen is off doing your job, trying to catch whoever did this.” I gesture to the noose around my unconscious grandfather’s neck. A shiver runs down my spine. I’ve lived through multiple death threats now, but to hang someone after rendering them unconscious? That is both personal and cowardly. With my death threats, I’ve always had the ability to fight back. Grandpa didn’t.
Aiden brings me out of my thoughts. “A cat? Brought you here?”
I glare at him. “Yes.”
“Was it black?”
I’m so stunned by his question that I can’t answer for a moment. Finally, I manage, “Yes.”
He shakes his head. “It’s good to know I’m not crazy.”
“I take it you’ve seen the cat as well?”
His whole body tenses. He doesn’t want to answer me, but he does. “It’s been around for a few weeks. So far, though, I’m the only one who has seen it.” He pauses, then says, “Did it talk to you?”
I can tell he’s scared of my answer. He really did think he was going crazy. Maybe that’s part of the reason he’s been such a jerk. I nod. “Yes, it did. It came into our room and pawed me in the face until we woke up and then it brought us here.”
“You said the…” he flushes, “your husband went after whoever did this? How did he get out the window? There’s no balcony and it’s a twenty foot drop.” He’s not being sarcastic or mean, he’s honestly curious.
“He flew.”
He doesn’t believe me. “Flew?” he scoffs.
I nod. “Yes, he flew. Fairies have an animal form they can shift into at will.” Is the cat really a Fairy? No, Kallen would have sensed that even if I didn’t. He’s the one who asked it if it’s a shape shifter. “Kallen’s animal form is a raven.”
He’s still considering if I’m telling him the truth or not. “What’s yours?”
I stare at him, debating how much I want him to know about me. I decide on full disclosure. If I want the Witches to trust me, I can’t hold back information. “I can shift into a Pegasus.”
He laughs with real humor. “You cannot.”
I can’t help but smile. “It’s the truth.”
Whatever he was about to say next is lost when a raven lands on the window ledge. Aiden’s mouth hangs open a bit as he stares at Kallen. “You were serious.” He suddenly averts his eyes as Kallen shifts back. Naked. He remedies that immediately but Aiden is still blushing.
Amused despite the dire situation, I say, “I hate the naked part, too.” I get a raised brow from Kallen as he dresses himself. Okay, I don’t really hate it. I was embarrassed at first maybe, but Kallen looks really good ‘sky clad’. I’m more than fine with it now.
“What the hell?” Gunnar has appeared in the doorway. “Get away from him!” he orders, striding to where Grandpa is lying on the ground.
Coming quickly to our defense, Aiden says, “It wasn’t them.”
Gunnar stops mid-stride. He looks from Aiden to Kallen to me as if he has walked into an alternate universe. I can understand why he’d be surprised about Aiden sticking up for us since he was the most vocal about hating us.
Coming to stand by me, and making sure he is between me and Gunnar, Kallen says, “I attempted to follow the culprit, but he shifted and disappeared around the barn.”
“Shifted?” Gunnar scoffs. “What are you talking about?”
“Does that mean it was a Fairy then?” Aiden asks, the edge returning to his voice.
Kallen shakes his head. “No, not Fae. I believe it is a Skin Walker.”
Annoyed that I’ve never even heard of such a thing, I’m the one who scoffs, “A Skin Walker?”
Kallen doesn’t appreciate my snark but he explains anyway. “It was believed that the last of the Skin Walkers had left this realm long ago.”
“How long ago?” I ask.
“At least a thousand years.”
“What are they?” Aiden asks. He’s back to believing we aren’t the bad guys.
“Dangerous.” Kallen lets that word hang in the air for a moment.
“How dangerous?” Gunnar finally asks. He’s standing with his legs slightly spread and his arms crossed over his massive chest. He’s not ready to believe anything yet.
“A Skin Walker can become anyone it touches. They can be anyone, or any animal.”
“Like the black cat,” I say, growing more uncomfortable with the idea that there may be two Skin Walkers around.
“What cat?” Gunnar asks.
Kallen doesn’t respond to that. Instead, he gives us a brief history of our latest enemy. “Skin Walkers are known to be devilish.”
“Evil?” Aiden asks.
Kallen thinks for a moment. “Evil is not the right word. Malicious mischief is a more apt description.”
Aiden says what I’m thinking. “He was about to hang the King, that’s more than being mischievous.”
Kallen’s lips purse for a second before he responds. “Skin Walkers are not usually killers. They often find humor in the macabre, but they are more about pranks and tricks. They were cruel to those they targeted, but they would rather turn another being’s life upside down than kill them. There is no fun in pranking a dead man.”
That’s it. As soon as this mess is cleared up, I’m going to make Kallen sit down and make me a Being Identification Book. If the cat speaking to you is mocking, turn to page 73. If it wants to help you, turn to page 24. If it claims it can change forms, turn to page 85.
I go back to what Kallen said a moment ago. “Why did the Skin Walkers leave?”
With a wry smile, he says, “They were not exactly welcomed wherever they went and they did not leave on their own. One of the few treaties that existed between the Witches, Fairies and Cowan was set forth to banish the Skin Walkers from this realm. They were systematically hunted down and either sent to an isolated realm where they could do no harm, or they were killed.”
I exhale loudly. “Even the ones who hadn’t hurt anyone?”
Deadpan, Kallen says, “If there were any that fit that description, they were well hidden.”
I stand up, leaving Grandpa in a heap on the floor. “It’s a little hard to believe that all Skin Walkers were cruel enough to be killed.” Kallen glances at Grandpa and then back to me. I flush in response. Not to be deterred from my argument, I ask, “Why couldn’t they put them in jail instead of killing them?”
The patience on Kallen’s face has craters around the edges now. “If you can transform into something as small as a mouse or take on the appearance of a prison guard, your time as a prisoner would be brief at best.” He has a point but I’m still not convinced genocide was the answer. There had to of been another way, a magical way maybe.
“Are you positive it is one of these creatures?” Gunnar asks. He’s on the believing side of the conversation now. Neither he nor Aiden seem to have a problem with the concept that all Skin W
alkers are bad.
Kallen shrugs. “I cannot be one hundred percent certain. As I said, these creature were supposedly driven from this realm a millennia ago. However, I cannot think of any other creature with this ability.”
Blood of the Exiled (Witch Fairy Book 10) Page 17
