Werecat Avenue

by Anjela Renee

  “Brother, I have what you are looking for.”

  “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not buying”

  “You look for the Seelie King’s mistress. Until today she was staying with my neighbors. I followed her here, but she left with a woman in a car. Unfortunately I do not own a car.”

  “Who was the woman she left with?”

  “That will cost you.” Blake was becoming frustrated with the games the young Fae was playing. He looked around and saw that there was no one around and grabbed the Fae by the neck. He held him against the side of a brick building off the ground.

  “Tell me what I want to know or I send you home, in pieces.”

  “F….ine.” He choked out. Blake put him down so he could talk.

  “She left with a female Werecat with violet eyes and streaky hair. That’s all I know I swear.”

  “Go, and tell no one you saw me.”

  The Fae ran away quickly. Blake was trying to figure out what his next move should be. The Fae in the area were not as helpful as he thought they would be. Normally when he hunted Fae they were the hard criminals most Fae were happy to turn in and get rid of.

  *****

  Adrian awoke as his Fae portal became activated. He was dressed only in boxer shorts as he walked to the living room when Queen Brianna appeared.

  “Enforcer Adrian I am Queen Brianna of the grand Seelie court.”

  “My Queen please excuse my poor appearance; this is quite unexpected.”

  “Your appearance is of no consequence to me.” The queen looked quite proper in her all white gown. She had Pink hair and blue eyes, and her skin was light and shimmery.

  “How may I be of service Seelie Queen?” Adrian hated how fake he had to sound due to protocol but he had to do what his job required.

  “Adrian you are an excellent enforcer so I was surprised you have not captured my prisoner yet.”

  “I apologize my Queen, she is a sneaky one. I am working very hard to capture her.”

  “I sincerely hope so, she is not what she seems. Do not let her innocent appearance fool you. Capture her and you will be rewarded. Fail and you will be sorry,” the Queen said as she smiled a sinister smile. The Queen gave Adrian a nod and the glass was once again clear. It was only 8:00 a.m., still early. He quickly took a shower and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. He grabbed a piece of fruit as he ran out the door. It was time to meet with Kieran and find out what his plan was.

  Chapter 8

  Cam walked into Gretchen’s house trailing behind her. She stopped in the living room where she spotted a decorative glass and began staring at it. She touched it and was shocked that a Fae portal was in Gretchen’s house.

  “How do you like it? It was gift from my grandmother.”

  “Your grandmother is Fae?” Cam asked.

  “Oh no, just a Werecat like me.”

  “Gretchen you do know this is a Fae communication portal, right?”

  “What are you talking about; it’s just a piece of decorative glass.” Gretchen didn’t know what to think about this; maybe it just looked like a Fae glass.

  “Fae use special pieces of glass to communicate, this is one of them.”

  “Why would my Grandmother send me a Fae glass?”

  “I don’t know but nothing about you makes any sense.” Cam started walking away when Monroe padded up to her and sat by her feet. She just stared at the cat intensely. She got a feeling he was more than an ordinary cat.

  “That’s my cat Monroe. C’mon let’s get you settled in your room.” Gretchen led Cam through the house, past a hallway, to the spare room. It had white walls with a full size bed but nothing else.

  “Sorry it’s so empty I just moved in and barely got my own room decorated. At least this way you can pick out whatever you like.”

  “It’s perfect. Thank you, Gretchen.” Cam gave Gretchen a big hug and just hung onto her. Gretchen peeled her off and gave her a warm smile. Gretchen didn’t know why, but she was very happy Cam was living with her. It felt like a long lost sister had finally come home. Gretchen had noticed a lot of strange feelings lately, things that didn’t make any sense.

  “Well I’ll leave you to get settled. If you need me I’ll be in the living room.”

  “Thanks again, for helping me.”

  Gretchen left Cam’s room and found Monroe sitting in the hallway waiting.

  “Come on Monroe leave her to get settled. Want some tuna?”

  “I’ll eat it but I still don’t like what’s going on here,” Monroe thought to himself

  As Gretchen walked into the kitchen to open a can of tuna for Monroe she couldn’t shake the feeling he wasn’t very happy about their new roommate.

  “Don’t tell me you’re upset about Cam, she needed me. You’ll see once you get used to her you’ll love her too.”

  Unlikely.

  Gretchen gave the food to Monroe and walked into the living room. It was still early and Gretchen was still sleepy so she decided to read her book for a bit. She was lying on the couch when she heard a knock at the door.

  For the love of the goddess what now? Gretchen slowly got up from the couch as the knocking continued at her front door. She opened her door to find her older brother Richard at the door. He wasn’t very tall, only 5’8, but what he lacked in height, he made up in muscles. He gave her his all too familiar charming smile – the one that made all the girls swoon.

  “Richard!”

  “The one and only.”

  Gretchen moved aside as he entered the house and plopped on the couch, making himself comfortable. Richard looked around taking in the house his baby sister now lived in. “Nice house. Looks much better than the last time I was here.”

  “Cut the crap Rich. Why are you really here? It’s only 10 a.m. You haven’t gotten up this early since we were kittens.”

  “Gretchen, I need a place to crash for a while. Mom is making me crazy with this entire find a mate business, I can’t take it anymore.”

  “Rich, I love you but I moved out to get some privacy. I can finally have a normal social life without having my dates threatened.”

  “Hey remember Norman? I scared him so bad he wet himself and ran home.” Richard laughed.

  “That is not funny, I really liked him.” Gretchen pouted.

  “He was a dork; he turned into a fluffy white cat. What kind of man turns into a pretty cat like that?”

  “If this is your attempt at convincing me, you are failing miserably.”

  “I’m sorry Gretch, will you forgive me and give me a chance? I really need to get away from mom. Wait what is that I smell?”

  “My new roommate Cam, and no she isn’t available.”

  “Says you, she smells so sweet. I feel the pull Gretchen, I feel it.” He said with his eyes wide and with fear. He wasn’t ready it, was too soon.

  Cam came out from the hallway shyly. As she walked over to Richard he froze and just looked at her longingly. He saw that she was very pregnant but to him that only meant that she was able to have more of his children. When a male Werecat felt the mating pull it was more powerful than anything ever felt before. The females had it a little easier, for them the pull built slowly over time but eventually they would feel it just as strongly.

  “You must be Cam.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I am Richard, Gretchen’s older brother.” Richard looked at Cam and wanted to touch her so badly, to stroke her beautiful red hair. To feel it fall onto his face as she rode him until she found her pleasure.

  “It's nice to meet you Richard.”

  “Gretchen, I’m starving. You know the pregnancy. Could I make myself a snack?”

  Gretchen pushed Richard back on the couch and led Cam toward the kitchen. She opened the fridge rummaging through the few contents.

  “This is your home now so just help yourself to anything you need. I'm not much of a cook but there is some fruit and left over spaghetti.”

  “I can handle it from here, thanks G
retchen.”

  “Trust me you don’t want anything Gretchen cooked.” Richard said as he walked into the kitchen. “Let me make you something. I'm an excellent cook.”

  “Please, don't trouble yourself. I can make my own food. You should finish your visit,” said Cam, uncomfortably.

  “C'mon Rich, let's leave Cam so she can make a snack.” Gretchen grabbed her brother by the shoulder and dragged him back to the living room.

  “Rich, you need to go back home, now!”

  “Please, Gretch I can feel she's the one for me. I need to be near her even if it's just as a friend.” Richard looked at Gretchen with pleading eyes. She had never seen her brother looking so panicked.

  “Fine, you can stay. But you better not make Cam uncomfortable or I will throw you out on your ass so fast….”

  “Thank you, Gretch you won’t regret it.” Richard began hugging her and kissed her on the cheek. “I'm going to go home and pack. I'll see you tonight, Cam.” He yelled as he left.

  I'm already regretting it.

  *****

  Adrian arrived at Kieran's home. He was about to knock when the door opened. Kieran stood at the door and smiled. Adrian stared at him. He looked like Kieran but had an innocence that Kieran didn’t have. The Kieran look-alike put his hand out to Adrian.

  “Welcome, good friend. I am Kieran; it’s nice to meet you.”

  “It's nice to meet you Kieran, I am Adrian. Could I come in and talk for a minute?” Adrian said, pretending to be meeting Kieran for the first time.

  “Oh, yes of course. Come in, come in.”

  Adrian entered the house of the fake Kieran. He had never been to the house before but everything seemed to be in order. The house was a collection of human and Fae antiques. The couch was the only thing in the room not an antique. He could tell a Fae had made it. It was red and had the comforting magic attached. He would have loved to own one himself but they were very expensive and only a few Fae in the human world made them.

  “So Adrian, my new friend what can I do for you?”

  “You can start by telling me who you are. I know you’re not the king.”

  Out from one of the bedrooms stepped the real Kieran.

  “It’s okay brother we can trust him. This is my twin Cayden. He is part of my ingenious plan. We will give the queen what she wants most, me, then I can finally disappear with Cam.”

  Adrian looked at Kieran and Cayden — they were definitely twins. He couldn’t find any differences between them. Cayden had an innocence that Kieran lacked. If he could see it surely the Queen would also notice it.

  “And you think your brother will fool the Queen? I wasn’t fooled and I don’t even know you that well.”

  “It will work, especially with your help.”

  Adrian sat back on the couch making himself comfortable. He was hoping Kieran’s plan would be a good one. If not they would both be dead.

  “I’m listening. What is your brilliant plan?”

  “My brother will replace me as King. He looks like me but as you point out the personality differences are easy to detect and there is no way he could know everything I know. So what we will do is stage an accident, and tell the Queen I have lost my memory. My brother will make it look like I’m falling in love with the Queen all over again. And since I would have no memory of Cam, she would most likely call you off.”

  Adrian sat thinking about all the ways this plan could fail. It had a chance but he just wasn’t sure his life was worth risking. “It’s not a bad plan. You know the risk if this fails?” Adrian asked.

  Kieran and Cayden both nodded their heads at the same time.

  “I have been a prisoner in my cabin home more years than I care to think about. I would rather die than to continue that way. My brother finally found a way to get me out, I think I could be happy with the Queen,” said Cayden adamantly.

  “Fine, against my better judgment I will go along with this insane plan.” Kieran and Cayden both smiled at the same time. All three of the men stood up and shook on it.

  “We will contact you soon with the details of the plan.” Kieran said as he walked Adrian to the front door. Travel safely enforcer Adrian.”

  Chapter 9

  It was almost 10:30 p.m. After the morning excitement Gretchen decided just to have a lazy day at home with Cam. Cam spent a lot of time in the kitchen eating; Gretchen was amazed someone so small could eat so much. They even had to call Richard to bring back some groceries on his way back from breaking the news to mamma cat.

  Gretchen walked into the kitchen to find Cam making more food. It looked to be some kind of soup in a large pot.

  “Smells good, what is it?”

  “An old family recipe, flower soup. Many Fae including my grandmother are vegan.”

  “Are you vegan too?” Gretchen asked. Gretchen, like all Werecats, was a big meat eater but it smelled delicious and Gretchen was starving.

  “I’m not Vegan but I don’t eat a lot of meat generally. I could take it or leave it. Would you like some soup? It’s ready now.”

  “Yes, please that would be great. I couldn’t imagine not having my steak and hamburgers.” Gretchen laughed as she got a bowls for the soup. Cam scooped out two hearty helpings for herself and Gretchen. They sat at the table and began eating. Gretchen was surprised how good it tasted. She had never tasted soup like that before. They continued eating when there was a knock at the front door.

  “Keep eating, I’ll see who that is,” Gretchen said to Cam as she left the kitchen. Richard beat her to the door and was standing there with a scowl on his face. Gretchen looked and saw it was Tanek.

  “Go away vampire, we don’t want your kind here.”

  “I have come to call upon Gretchen; I thought she might enjoy an evening walk.”

  “Richard, I believe I am capable of speaking for myself.” Gretchen smiled at Tanek standing at her door. He was looking handsome as ever. She never pictured herself with a vampire, but why not?

  “Gretchen, you aren’t seriously going out with this guy. He's the walking dead. Mom would kill you.”

  “Don't worry about mom, besides you will have Cam all to yourself if I leave for a while. She's in the kitchen and I'm sure she would love to feed you some soup she made.” Richard didn’t like the idea of his sister dating a dead guy. As much as he hated it, he knew if he gave Gretchen much more grief about it she might throw him out.

  “Vampire, you keep your fangs and your hands to yourself.”

  “On my honor your sister will be treated like the lady that she is.”

  “Never forget it.” Richard left obviously unhappy. Gretchen stepped outside and joined Tanek on the porch. Her house had a large country style porch, perfect for sitting on a nice evening.

  “I can’t be too long. I have work at midnight.”

  “Don’t worry about that, Penny will cover for you until you show up. That is if you want to show up. Either way, I’m paying you plus tips.”

  “That’s nice of you but I don’t want any special treatment.”

  Tanek smiled and held out his hand to her. “Let’s go for our walk, shall we?” Tanek asked

  “Sure why not.” Gretchen took his hand and was surprised how warm it was. She always thought vampires would have a cold touch. Tonight he wore his blonde shoulder length hair down. It blew gently in the breeze and reminded Gretchen of a cover on one of the romance novels she loved to read. He was dressed much more casually than she was used to seeing him and she liked seeing him this way. He had on a black shirt with black jeans. He looked very much the part of a vampire.

  “Do all vampires like black?” She asked.

  “Well, I’ve never thought about it but we do seem to favor darker colors. Where should we walk? I’m not familiar with this neighborhood.”

  “There is a path over here that leads to some woods. I love to run in the woods in my cat form.”

  “Would you like to run as a cat? Don’t worry, vampires are very fast; I can keep
up.”

  Gretchen didn’t know why but that idea excited her and she wanted to see if he could really keep up.

  “That actually sounds like a lot of fun. I normally run with Monroe but this would be a nice change.”

  *****

  Cam sat at the table as she continued eating her flower soup. She started thinking about her grandmother and the time they spent picking flowers and vegetable to make soup. She lived in a remote cottage far away from the other villages in the kingdom. Her grandmother had always warned her to stay away from the Fae of the court that they could never be trusted. Her mother grew up in the country with her grandmother; she met her father on one of their rare trips to gather supplies from the closest village. He immediately fell in love with her and they were married shortly after. Cam often wondered what she would be doing if she had never met the King. Would she be married and living a happy simple life? Cam knew the king was madly in love with her but she wasn’t sure anymore if she really loved him or if she got caught up in the excitement of being loved by the King.

  Richard entered the kitchen and sat next to Cam as she ate her soup. Cam looked up at him and wondered if he saw through the Fae mist like his sister.

  “Hello Richard, How are you tonight.”

  “Oh I’m doing much better now that I get to sit with you.” He smiled.

  “Richard can I ask you a question?” Cam asked as she continued eating.

  “You can always ask me anything.” He was hoping she would ask if he was single or something that would show she was interested but he knew that was unlikely.

  “What color does my hair look like to you?”

  “It is the most stunning color of red I have ever seen. And your eyes are a lovely shade of blue.”

  “You are like your sister, you can see through Fae mist.”

  “What is Fae mist?” Richard asked confused.

  “Fae like myself are able to look more like humans so we can blend in. Humans normally think I have brown hair and eyes. But you can see my red hair. You are different and special like Gretchen.” Cam grabbed Richards’s hand and felt a heat go through her body. She looked at Richard and saw a desire in his eyes she had never seen in any man or Fae. Even the king had never shown her such a look.