“Good evening, ladies,” Damian said as he shot Sage a glare that said he’d like to take him out with a medieval crossbow and then stomp all over his dead body. Damian expected reverence and didn’t care for dismissal.
There could only be one reason that Damian had meandered over to this area, and that was to talk to Penelope. Damian wanted her. A fact that was clear to every other male in the vicinity because Damian’s desire radiated off his body and his heat for her rose like a mist at dawn. Penelope didn’t have a clue. Whether because of her diminished powers or naiveté, I didn’t know.
Damian trained an evil eye on Pen. Not because she was the best catch in Shadowkeep either. Her kindness, intelligence and effervescent personality made her so. Damian wanted her because she was the most beautiful girl in Shadowkeep and would be a trophy on his arm. He wanted everything that he thought he couldn’t have. That no one else had ever had. Pen did a great job of fighting him off, well aware of his negative charge. But of late, she’d been weakening. All because of the siphoning off of her powers.
“Hi, Damian,” Pen said. “Sage lives here with Talisman and the other animals, because Dr. Collier was able to save his wing after he got accidentally shot with a hunter’s arrow. He’s been with me ever since. I don’t think he feels safe to go back out to live in the wild. It’s dangerous out there for our local creatures.”
“That’s too bad,” Damian said as he continued to glare in Sage’s direction. “He’s such a majestic animal. I can’t imagine someone wanting to shoot down an owl.”
“I can’t either,” Sabrina said. “I’m surprised I’ve never heard that story before.”
“It’s not something I like to talk about,” Pen replied. “It makes me really sad to think about it. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when Dr. Collier brought him here for recuperation before we knew if he’d recover. He kept trying to leave his perch and fly but each time, he’d fall.”
Below Penelope’s jeans-clad legs, I sat watching Damian’s face. The look in his eye was almost gleeful. Like he was enjoying the conversation about Sage struggling to fly but failing. Like he thought nothing of his deplorable behavior.
I had to break up this little tete-e-tete before Penelope did something stupid in her moment of weakness. Like agree to go out with this douche bag. I spotted Dr. Luke standing by the punch bowl and staring over at Penelope and Damian with his sad, brown eyes that followed Pen wherever she went. I trotted over, put my paws on his pant leg and scratched lightly.
“Hey, Tali,” Dr. Luke said, leaning down to give me some strokes on my head, which I appreciated and rewarded with a vibrant purr. “It’s great to see you looking so well. You had me worried there the other night. Can we agree that you’ll do a better job of looking out for cars during your nightly stroll?”
I started to head back over to where Penelope still remained in conversation with Damian. Sabrina had already left to go talk to some other friends. I hoped I wasn’t too late to stop whatever Damian was up to. When I noticed Dr. Luke hadn’t followed like I wanted him to, I stopped dead and turned toward him. He was still staring at Pen like a wounded puppy, and I couldn’t catch his gaze until I let out a loud meow. Once his head snapped down, I motioned with my head for him to follow me.
“Well, if it isn’t Dr. Lucas Collier,” Damian said in a voice that dripped with passive-aggressive rancor. “Saver and lover of injured creatures everywhere. Too bad you aren’t a real doctor.”
Dr. Luke stiffened at the insult and stared at the hand that Damian had offered to him.
The insult may have gone over Pen’s head, but Dr. Luke and I, we knew a prick when we saw one. And so did Sage. I heard him mutter to himself,
Bloody cocksucker. Get away from Penelope before I dig my talons in to your face and peck out your beady eyeballs and then your black heart. Go take a bath with a hair dryer.
I hope the good doctor wouldn’t take the insult lying down. Don’t do it, Dr. Luke. Stand tall … stand firm. Stand up for yourself for the love of God.
Dr. Luke shoved his hands in his pants pocket and Damian had to put his hand back down to his side, his eyes blazing at the slight.
“Dr. Collier is a real doctor, Damian,” Pen said, defending him. “Just like his dad before him. He works on animals most of the time, but you can bet if I had a medical emergency, I’d want him to help me. I have complete trust and faith in his abilities. Not only is he a great vet, he’s a great man.”
Yes, I whispered, doing a mental high five.
Even if Pen’s behavior had been bizarre of late, her impassioned speech about Dr. Luke said it all. She admired him. She probably loved him but couldn’t or wouldn’t admit it to herself. We’d get there. Dr. Luke just needed help and I’m just the kitty to get it done.
After Pen’s oration about Dr. Luke, his body returned to normal posture from its former slumped state.
“No offense, Dr. Collier,” Damian said, but he didn’t tear his lurid gaze away from Penelope to acknowledge the quasi-apology or see if it had been accepted. He didn’t care.
Ouch!
Before I realized what had happened, Damian had stepped on my tail with his booted toe. That was going to leave a mark. It wasn’t the first time Damian had come after me. Like he wanted to take one of my nine lives. Penelope had turned to make sure Sage rested comfortably on his perch, but Dr. Luke saw the whole thing and leaned over to scoop me into his arms. I took that opportunity to snuggle and give him a warm meow to thank him.
The bell above the door jingled and Bianca sauntered in to the room, her long auburn hair piled atop her head in a riot of wayward curls. She surveyed the room, her head pivoting like one of those automatic sprinklers watering the grass after dark. She honed in quickly on her prey with her emerald green eyes and wiggled her ass in tight jeans as she made her way to Dr. Luke’s side.
“Hello, everyone,” she said to no one in particular. “What a great night for a get-together. I heard through the grapevine that Jessie made apple pie just for the occasion. I can’t wait to have a slice.”
I’m calling bullshit on that one. Bianca’s reedy figure had never seen a piece of pie in her life. Her idea of an afternoon snack appeared to be crack laced with Adderall. She was here to scope out the situation, put her rank moves on Dr. Luke and fill Elias with so much gossip and innuendo it would swarm his head like a flock of shitting crows.
After the greetings were exchanged, Bianca sidled up really close to Dr. Luke so that her entire side was flush with his. Any closer and she’d be blowing tiny breathy whispers in his ear. It had to stop. I shifted in Dr. Luke’s arms so that I came between him and Bianca. Then, I hissed in my loudest, scary voice, right in her shocked face. She jumped back like a rabid raccoon had tried to saw off her nose with his incisors.
“Can’t you control this cat, Penelope,” she exclaimed, spitting in my face with her angry words. “He’s rude.”
“Who’s rude?” Harry asked as he walked up to join the conversation with Jessie in tow.
“That mangy animal is rude,” Bianca said while pointing a long, red fingernail in my general direction. I just snuggled closer to Dr. Luke and purred my loudest in response.
Shrew.
Nice to know my friend, Sage, was still with me. At my back, like a Gatorade-pouring teammate after the winning touchdown run. I locked eyes with Pen. Was she thinking what I was thinking? She had to be, and now was the perfect time to put a plan in motion, because Bianca and Damian were the perfect distraction for Jessie and Harry. The oldsters weren’t even going to know what hit them. I hoped their moldy, chapped lips were still operational.
Bianca had purposely stepped between Dr. Luke and Penelope, and that put her in the perfect position for what I had in mind. Jessie’s plump hands were flying through the air as she tried to explain to Harry how hard it had been to bake five pies in one day. Harry was so intent on Damian's accounting of a recent fishing trip to Alaska, he wasn't even listening.
I gave the signal to Sage, who flew down from his perch, aiming right for Bianca’s red head. He hooked one of his long talons in one of her curls which caused her to fly forward and knock Jessie right in to Harry’s arms. Jessie gazed up at Harry, and he didn’t push her away. Their gazes locked. If she’d only bring her lips up one more centimeter before Bianca started bellyaching. Just one more millimeter …
Bingo.
Chapter 8
“Miss Jessie. That was the most delicious pie I’ve ever eaten,” Harry said. “You’ve outdone yourself this time.”
What? No blustering. No insults. No evasion. Jessie still had her fingers laced around the back of Harry’s thick neck.
Ah … now all was right with the world.
Penelope could breathe a sigh of relief, and we could get to working on her True Love’s Kiss. With Dr. Luke. I looked at Sage to see if he could do that again, this time pushing Penelope straight in to our favorite veterinarian, but he’d already returned to his perch, scared that Bianca was going to make him the next victim of her latest curse. The way that witch carried on, you’d think she’d lost her whole crowning glory instead of just a couple of strands.
“Bianca,” Damian said. “I think it’s time to leave. I’ve had enough of this three-ring circus. Penelope, I’ll call you. We’ll go out.”
Her number’s disconnected. Maybe not right at this moment, but by the time you call, it will be. I’d take her cell phone, burry it in my litterbox and piss all over it before I’d let Damian call Pen. Human form, here I come. I know how to get rid of her contacts when I have deposable thumbs. The ones I don’t like and never will.
In this century, you don’t have to make excuses or apologize for doing good deeds in this town. I won’t and neither will Sage. Pen’s spell might have been ill-conceived, but it was also well-intentioned and now as Air Supply would say, “There’s two less lonely people in the world.”
Jessie took Harry by the hand and led him over to the cages where the cats were located, determined to have him help her pick out her new family member.
“I’d be happy to oblige, Miss Jessie,” he said as he followed.
Wow. In all the years I'd known those two, that was the first time I'd ever heard Harry use her given name and not call her woman in his derogatory tone. It was a testament to the power of True Love’s Kiss.
Penelope stood and grinned, highly satisfied with herself and the final outcome of the spell. With a little help from her friends, that is. The creative juices continued to flow, and I had psychic flashes of ways that I could get Dr. Luke and Pen together. I was just about to call to Sage when Elias Stout blew through the door with his notepad in one hand and pencil stub in the other. Why would he be here on business? This was purely a social evening.
“Ah, there you are, Penelope,” he said as he adjusted his spectacles on his hawk-like nose. The appendage so narrow, it didn’t provide much stability for his eyewear. “I have a few questions for you about the shelter. I thought I’d mention it in my client newsletter.”
Penelope was about to answer when Jessie and Harry came up to say goodbye.
“Penelope,” Jessie said. “I want that orange tabby with the kind eyes. I’ll be back tomorrow to pick her up.”
“We’ll be back tomorrow to pick her up,” Harry interrupted. “Come on Miss Jessie, let’s go get some of that fancy chocolate mocha frap stuff that you love so much.”
As the new couple left the shelter, Elias’ eyes narrowed and he glared at Penelope. “I thought you said you didn’t have any cats right now?”
Dr. Luke saw the conversation headed straight south of the border toward Tijuana, complete with sombreros, tequila and the corrupt Mexican police interrogation.
“That one’s new, Elias,” Dr. Luke said, jumping in to save the day. Like Mighty Mouse with his yellow and red leotard and steroid-induced rodent biceps. A blast from my former life cartoon watching past. “Someone dropped her off at the clinic yesterday, and I brought her here to Penelope as soon as I knew she had a clean bill of health.”
Pen shot Dr. Luke her grateful look, and he must of seen that as a subtle invitation, because he used it to step closer to her. So close they were within an inch of touching each other. Then, like a movie in slow motion, Dr. Luke reached over and pulled a leaf that had nestled in Pen’s long, black hair. He held it up to the light and then let it slip through his fingers to flutter down to the cement below. They both stared at it laying there. Then, looked up at the same time as both blushed the color of a Red Maple in the fall.
The tender moment proved a distraction for Elias, because he forgot all about the cats. Or, lack thereof.
“Elias,” Pen offered with a bemused smile, basking in the afterglow of her interlude. “I'll make sure I call you as soon as another cat comes in to the shelter. Please be patient. Lately, we’ve seen our fair share of dogs, but not much else. It might be the season for canines.”
“Okay, Penelope,” he replied. “You do that. By the way, where’s Miss Amelia Foley this fine evening? I still need to talk to her about the library. We have that in common and I wanted to ask her about that new antique volume of Shakespeare's sonnets they just got in. My favorite is number seventy-three and I’d like to know which one she holds most dear to her heart.”
For the love of God and all that was holy. That sounded like the old skinny, avian man had a thing for Amelia. Gross and unacceptable. He had to be at least forty. Secondly, where in the heck was Ami? She’d never miss one of Pen’s events for the shelter. I hadn’t seen her for quite some time and by the look of concern that flashed across Pen’s visage for a split second, my concern was warranted. What if the black witch had done something to Ami? Just as she was siphoning off Penelope’s powers. Ami was a mortal and didn’t possess any powers that could counteract any curse or spell that was cast her way.
Dr. Luke stood there, looking confused. And thwarted again. I knew he wanted to ask Pen to the movie, so I had to get rid of Elias and give those two lovebirds some alone time. I mentally called to Sage to see if he knew anyone who could distract Elias.
Hoot. Hoot.
Everyone within a few feet of Sage turned to look at him as he spread his wings as if to fly, but instead was calling out to his bird friends in the night. Since the evening air was cool but not too chilly, Pen had left the windows open a crack and in flew a Canyon Towhee. The elusive bird flew right by Sage and landed right in the middle of Elias’ bald head. A gasp rang out in the crowd as they crept closer to Elias to view the beautiful bird. Most natives of Arizona had never even seen one.
Sage, nicely done.
Anytime, rodent catcher.
“That is a beautiful little bird,” Pen observed. “I’ve never seen one up close before tonight.”
“Neither have I,” Dr. Luke replied. “My dad and I would see one on occasion when we’d hike in the foothills. My dad used to laugh at me because I was always looking in the trees. Finally, he told me that the Canyon Towhee liked to hang out in the low brush. Once I knew where to look, occasionally, I’d spot one.”
Sabrina came over to Elias and engaged him in conversation about the bird, which had now flown to rest next to Sage on his perch. Elias beamed as he realized he had a female victim willing to put up with his brand of ennui. They stepped away from Pen and Dr. Luke to get closer to the Canyon Towhee and Sabrina leaned into Elias as she gestured toward the bird.
Pen turned to face Dr. Luke. “Do you miss your dad?”
“Every day,” Dr. Luke replied. “Back when I was in college, I found his pushiness annoying, and I just wanted to express myself and test my new found freedom. But now … now that he isn’t here, I find that I wish the phone would ring and he’d be on the other end advising on how I could do things better. My dad had a heart of gold. All he wanted was to help as many animals and people as he could.”
“I wish I could have known your dad,” Pen sighed. “I miss my parents too.”
I might have to lighten
the mood with some kitty theatrics. I’m all for the getting to know you better convo routine, but couldn’t they start with their favorite foods and movies? This subject was headed straight off the cliff into the morose. Dr. Luke reached out to lightly caress her hand, and she didn’t pull it away. Now we were getting somewhere.
“I wish I could have met your parents before they passed.” Dr. Luke’s voice poured over us both like a wave of support. I lent mine as well, by weaving in and out of her legs in a kitty embrace. “It must have been so hard to lose them both in such a tragic accident.”
Tragic accident my foot. I mean … paw. Pen suspected the Chokecherry’s were responsible for the car accident that had taken both her parents when she was four years old. Someone had tampered with the brakes of their sedan before they’d set off on a drive through the red rocks from Phoenix to Las Vegas for a long weekend. After they’d been missing a few days, the authorities had found their car at the bottom of a cliff, the bodies burned beyond recognition.
Of course, Dr. Luke was a mere mortal and he didn’t know about the Chokecherry’s and their evil doings. How they came from a long line of hedge witches that were stripped of their rights by the Shadowkeep council of witches and warlocks. Because of their past use and continued use of necromantic magic and curses. It had been said around town that Bianca and Damian’s mother, Lucinda, had been ill of late and losing her powers.
Losing her powers.
Why hadn’t I thought of it before? Maybe Lucinda put the curse on Pen before she got sick. The curse that was clearly siphoning off Pen’s abilities. Maybe Bianca and Damian were helping their mother. Those Chokecherry's stuck together, thick as thieves and would stop at nothing to save Lucinda. The leader of their motley crew. Including raising wicked spirits from the dead to help them with their cause.
Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy Page 5
