“That’s what I’m wondering,” Frank muttered. “How does a cat that hasn’t been seen since World War II suddenly appear in our local park?”
My stomach twisted. I had an idea, and it had everything to do with Bloody Mary.
“What do you need us to do?”
“You deal with the cat, I’m hunting that fucking demon. Tracked the damn thing to the bell tower.”
I nodded, tightening my fist around the phone. “You can count on us.”
Frank hung up on me, and I headed into the house. “Get your shit ready!” I told the guys, heading toward the shower.
“What?” Hunter sounded tired.
“We have a purple people eater and a demon cat to hunt.”
Before they could ask any more questions, I slammed the bathroom door and turned on the shower. If they wanted to be dumb-asses and shrug off the banshee’s warning, let them see the consequences. But me? I was going to take a shower and eat a burger… then kill some demon cat.
As I stripped down and stepped beneath the spray of the water, I tried to hold onto my anger, but it felt like it kept slipping between my fingertips. An image of Mae with her head thrown back, stroking the grass, appeared in my mind and wouldn’t fade away. This woman had trouble in every fiber of her being. Every instinct inside of me was screaming to get her as far from the guys as possible.
So why did a tiny part of me remember a young unicorn newly freed from a hunter’s cage, touching the earth, and glorying in the feel of something other than cold metal? Why did a tiny part of me feel a strange connection to the woman?
I thought of her lying in Hunter’s bed, and I froze. It took me a long minute to reach for my shampoo. But even though I tried to rush through my shower, the woman haunted me more effectively than any ghost.
4
Alastair
We had woken Mae up while Ellis was showering to let her know we were heading out. To our surprise, she’d wanted to come with us, and we couldn’t think of any good reason not to bring someone with her abilities. She had, after all, proven that she could take care of herself.
But the look that Ellis gave her when he saw that we were bringing her along was like nothing I'd ever seen on our unicorn's face before. “She’s coming?” he snarled.
“I’d like to help,” Mae said.
“Might be best for you to stay behind. Trouble seems to follow you,” Ellis said, although with less venom than before.
“She’s coming.” Hunter’s voice had a finality to it that said he was looking for a fight, so I was grateful when Ellis let it go.
I wasn't sure why the witch irritated him so much, but she definitely did. So much so that a general air of uncomfortableness lingered in the air. Before any of us could say anything else, he launched into what was going down.
"Frank called. He's going after the demon and needs someone to go after the horned cat. I said that we would, but I also think he's going to need backup. The demon he described is as big as a human male and as much as I'm sure Frank can kick ass, he’s getting older. Hunter, you and me are going to go and assist Frank, Grim and Alastair go after the horned devil cat. Mae, if you insist on coming along, you should go with Alastair and Grim. Frank would kill you as soon as he saw you."
Yeah, I'm sure that was the reason he was sending Mae with us. Definitely didn’t have anything to do with the heated looks she and Hunter had been sharing. Something happened between them in the mirror realm, I was sure of it.
I turned to the witch and looked into those vibrant blue eyes as I said, "You're welcome to come with us, but you can also stay at the house. We can handle whatever is out there and you should probably rest."
"Like I'm going to give up the chance to hunt a devil cat? That sounds awesome! Besides, I only ever got a couple hours’ sleep at a time in the mirror realm, so I'm good to go." She smiled, and it was like standing in a sunbeam after a long, dark winter.
I pushed the thought aside. The last thing I needed was to get involved in whatever was going on with her and Hunter, and it was clear there was something going on. I also had no doubt that Ellis was splitting them up for that exact reason.
"Sounds good," I replied, returning the smile.
When I turned back to Ellis, he was glaring at me. There was definitely a bee in that unicorn's bonnet when it came to Mae.
After a moment, Ellis said, "Let's go. Oh, and when you're finished with the cat, call us in case more random shit is happening as a result of us rescuing her."
We all just stared at Ellis for a moment, surprise silencing us.
"Wait, you think this is happening because of me?" Mae asked, incredulous at the insinuation.
"It’s a bit too much of a coincidence that the second you're free the shit hits the fan. The demon Frank is chasing is only supposed to exist in Zanzibar and the cat was last seen during World War II, so to say these are unusual would be an understatement, don't you think? The only thing they have in common is that they arrived shortly after you did," Ellis spat at her, his expression thunderous. "Now, we need to get moving before another good person loses their life because of you."
He stormed out and we all just stood there in shock. When we didn't immediately follow, he came back and bit out our friend's name as a curse, "Hunter?"
Our fae had no choice but to follow along when Ellis was in this kind of mood, not that I'd ever seen him in this kind of mood before. He was acting more like a verbal version of Grim rather than himself. The two of them left and a moment later I heard one of the cars start up before the tires squealed as they pulled away.
"Well, that was interesting," I mused before turning to Mae and adding, "Shall we?"
She nodded.
We headed toward the door, and my thoughts spun. It was rare that we brought someone outside of the four of us on a hunt. I knew what each of the guys were capable of, but I wasn’t entirely sure what Mae could do. Part of me couldn’t decide if she was someone we needed to protect, or someone who could fight at our side.
Opening the door for her, my gaze ran over her tiny frame. She didn’t look dangerous, but I knew that meant almost nothing in the supernatural world. "Do you need a weapon?"
"No, I'm the weapon." She smiled as she flicked her wrist. Her hand had a ball of fire floating above it a second later.
Impressive. It took a certain amount of power and control to be able to call magic to oneself so easily. I knew first-hand. Only master warlocks had full control over a specific element.
"Good." I grinned at her. "Me too." I mirrored her motion except I conjured a ball of ice instead, though mine vanished much faster.
"Are you two finished with your magic tricks?" Grim asked as he nodded toward the car.
I smirked. Grim was never impressed by magic like ours, not that I blamed him. If I could do all the things he could, I’d probably feel the same way.
The ride to Lincoln Park was quiet and a little awkward. I knew I could break the tension, try and start up conversation, but I felt self-conscious, which was a new thing for me, and honestly, not something I liked. It was like I was an awkward teen all over again, and it was all thanks to this witch. There was just something about her that at least gave the impression she was incredibly confident and put together, which turned me the fuck on.