Chapter Fifteen

After the hellcat left, I was still prone, breathing hard, while Thorn lay next to me. I wasn’t sure who was shaking more, Thorn or me.

I glanced at Thorn. “You all right?”

“Fine, Your Majesty,” she replied.

“Have you fought a hellcat before?” I asked. Her face paled, and I hurried to add, “You don’t have to answer that if you don’t want to.”

“No,” she said. “It’s okay. I met a pride of hellcats when I was much younger.”

“What happened?”

She lifted the hem of her shirt up until her stomach was revealed. “This.”

It was a mass of scars. I winced at the thought of how much pain she’d experienced.

“That looks like it hurt,” I said.

“They tried to tear out my stomach,” she said.

“Why would they attack humans?” I asked.

“I displeased the PAC leader, Mason Alicante,” she said. “He sent them after me.”

I turned over the information in my mind. “This Mason guy can control animals?” I asked.

“He’s an animal telepath. He can talk to them.”

“Like Doctor Doolittle?”

She shook her head slowly and emphatically. “No.”

I flinched. “So, you think the head of the PAC sent Blackberry after me?”

“Blackberry?” Thorn asked.

“The hellcat liked blackberry pie, hence its name,” I said.

“It could be someone else,” Thorn said, but she didn’t sound convinced.

Skyler came back from the bathroom. “Why are you still on the floor?” she asked. “It’s probably filthy.”

Thorn had been shaking, and it had seemed more important to help her, but Skyler was right. The floor was nasty.

“No reason,” I said before I jumped to my feet.

Thorn stayed where she was. “Is it gone?”

I held out a hand. “It’s gone. But how did it even get in here?” I asked.

“Doors aren’t obstacles for hellcats,” Thorn replied. “They can materialize right through them.”

“What does keep them out?” I asked.

“Wards sometimes work. Salt mostly. When a hellcat comes for you, there’s not much you can do,” she said, then added dryly, “except, apparently, feed it.”

Dave emerged from the back and stared at the mess. “I don’t even want to know,” he said. “But you’re going to help me clean this up.”

A trash can, a mop, and several scrubbings later, it was like it had never even happened. Then I used some of Jure’s dirty money to pay for the pies the big cat had eaten.

Thorn still looked shaken, so I led her to a booth.

Now that the place was clean and Dave hadn’t had to lift a finger to make it that way, he was appeased enough to bring us menus and some water.

I ordered hot tea with honey for Thorn and me, and Skyler ordered orange juice.

“What happened to you guys?” Sky said. “I was only gone a few minutes.”

I told her about the hellcat, while Thorn stayed silent, staring into space.

When Dave came back with our drinks, Thorn was still in some kind of a trance. I ordered her a pile of pancakes with fresh fruit and whipped cream—the sugar would help with the adrenaline crash—and Skyler and I decided we’d have the same. I was shaky, too, and I didn’t think my favorite breakfast burrito would cut it.

“Is she okay?” Skyler asked me.

I gave Thorn a sidelong glance, but she didn’t seem to notice. “Do you want me to call Rose?”

“I’m fine,” Thorn replied. “Stop trying to baby me.”

Her surliness had returned, which seemed to be a good sign. It was better than the blank stare.

I shrugged. “The hellcat freaked you out.” It’d freaked me out, too.

“What is that exactly?” Skyler asked.

“Like a Siberian tiger on steroids,” I said. “A creature from the hidden world.”

“Those beasts have one job,” Thorn said tonelessly.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“To kill,” she replied. “The question is, who wants you dead badly enough to send a hellcat after you?”

I could think of a few people, including my own mother. “The list is long and getting longer,” I replied. I tried to shake off the way my entire body was still trembling. “Enough about me. Let’s talk about you for a change.”

“Connor called the other day,” Skyler said, way too casually.

“He did?”

“I’m not a hundred percent sure why,” she said.

I opened my mouth to reply, but then Dave came back with my pancakes. I picked up a fork and shoved a huge bite in my mouth.

As we ate, I kicked myself for not warning her about Connor earlier, and finally I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Skyler, do you think that’s a good idea?” She was going to go nuclear. My voice squeaked, so I cleared my throat.

“What are you talking about?” she replied, but her usual smile was gone.

“Do you think it’s a good idea to start talking to your ex again?”

She squinted, like she was either trying not to swear or not to cry. “He apologized. He asked me to forgive him, says he wants another chance. Would you give him one?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I still want to give him a junk-punch so hard they’ll feel it back in Ireland…or wherever he ran off to.”

Her face went red, then pale. “It’s not like your boyfriend handled it much better.”

“Vaughn did handle it better,” I said. “At least he didn’t move to Ireland and break my heart.”

“Okay, fine,” she replied. “But Connor says he wants a second chance. And part of me thinks I should give it to him.” The sadness on her face made me want to find Connor and suggest that he take the first available plane back to Europe. But Connor had already proven that he only did what he wanted, with no regard to anyone else’s feelings.

She clutched her phone. “Gotta go,” she said. “I promised Gertie I’d go with her to the doctor.”

I searched my mind for anything to keep her there a little while longer. I didn’t want her to leave while she was still so upset.

“How’s the ‘cooking for vampires’ plan going?” I asked.

“The what?” Her face went blank, then she snapped her fingers. “I’m still searching for a commercial kitchen. I could ask my dad, but he’d want to know about my customer base.”

Since her customers would be anyone with fangs, I saw her point. I was still in awe that Skyler was willing to interact with vampires, after all she’d been through, but she’d always had an entrepreneurial spirit, which she’d gotten from her dad.

“You know,” I continued, ignoring the face she was making, “I really like the Bloodsicles.” She’d laced them with animal blood and thought it would be a good way to provide a service to vampires and earn a little extra money. She’d even worked up a logo with an image of a fanged mouth licking one of her frozen treats.

She smiled. “I thought maybe I could put them in the vampire newsletter.”

“Maybe we can use some of the kingdom’s money for a business training program, get you some help in expanding your venture,” I said. “Not all of the Bleeders had somewhere to go after the band broke up. They could help you with production.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Skyler said. She seemed to have lost her sudden desire to leave, because she went back to talking about my problem. “Do you think the crones know anything about hellcats?”

I nodded, but my mouth was too full of food to speak.

“You have to tell your grandmother what happened here today,” Thorn said. “Or I will.”

Dave came by with our check. “Was that a jaguar?” he asked.

“You saw it?” I asked.

“Yeah, it just trotted off,” he said. “There was someone with it. Maybe a trainer? Are they shooting a movie around here? That would be cool.”

We exchanged looks. “What did the person look like?”

He threw up his hands. “I don’t know. They had a hoodie on.”

“Did you notice how tall they were? Anything about their face?”

“No,” he said. “They looked like a normal person, you know. Someone you’d pass on the street without looking twice.”

After Dave left, I asked Thorn, “Exactly how many people have access to a hellcat?”

…

When we got back to my house, Thorn said she had to call in the attack to the PAC and took off.

“I’ve got to go, too,” Skyler said. “Gertie’s waiting on me.”

We said goodbye, and then I went inside to find out what my grandmother knew about hellcats.

I summarized the attack at the diner for her. Granny took the news fairly well.

“The important thing is that you managed to escape,” she said. She hesitated and then asked, “Are you sure it wasn’t a werewolf? No, it couldn’t be. They can walk upright.”

“It was a feline, not a canine. I saw its face up close,” I said. “I think the PAC sent it.”

“Let’s not jump to any hasty conclusions,” Granny said.

“Who else could it be?” I replied. “Thorn even said that when she pissed off the PAC, they sent hellcats after her.”

“You are the ruler of a large kingdom now,” she pointed out. “And vampires covet three things: money, power, and blood.”

“You never really think about vampires saving for retirement, do you?” I asked.

Granny chuckled. “But why would they need a hellcat to do their dirty work?” she asked. “Vampires just kill people and take their stuff.” She glanced at my face and added quickly, “Not all vampires, of course.”

“You may be right,” I said.

Who would send a hellcat after me? And more importantly…why?