by Amy Sumida
Lily giggled as I danced and sang for her. When I pointed at her, she even delivered the famous line with me; the one about getting dinner from garbage cans. I twirled and she clapped delightedly, but I wasn't focusing on her; my mind fixated on the other cats I wanted to find. One strutting tom in particular. Finding people is easier when you set your sights on a single face. Feet tapping and music echoing through the alley that was so appropriate for my song, I let my sight go distant.
Through the portals and space itself, I flew. I followed Kosmos' trail across the Realms and zeroed in on his location with a satisfied grin. Gotcha. I pulled back into my body to give Lily a big finish, complete with jazz hands, and she applauded.
“I found them.” I tapped her nose. “First, we're going to take you somewhere safe and then we're going to get your family back, okay?”
“Okay,” Lily said, her big eyes full of trust.
I dearly hoped that I'd prove worthy of that trust.
Chapter Thirty-One
We took Lily straight to Kyanite. RS had informed the others as promised, and they were ready and waiting to join us on our rescue mission. Darc had asked Sara to watch over Lily for us so she was there as well.
“Hi, Lily, I'm Sara.” Sara smiled gently at the little girl. “Why don't we see if we can find you a pretty dress to wear?”
Lily looked from Cer's encouraging expression to Sara's shiny blonde curls and sweet face. “Okay.”
“Thank you, Sara,” I called after them as she took Lily out of the room.
“Don't worry about us, we're going to have lots of fun,” Sara called back.
As soon as they were gone, the rest of us clasped hands so I could lead our travel. Since they all had traveling stones of their own, we could do a group maneuver with their stones following mine.
“Where are you taking us, El?” Cerberus asked.
“Planet Bhaaloo,” I said just before we slipped through the Veil.
That name may sound familiar to you. Perhaps you might recognize a version of it as a character from a popular children's book. The word means “bear” in Hindi but it was brought to Earth by the Rikshas and adopted into the Hindi language after the Bear-Shifters of planet Bhaaloo settled in India. I'd never been to Bhaaloo before, but that didn't matter in this case. I'd seen exactly where I wanted to go and that was enough to direct my stone.
We reformed on Bhaaloo in a long, rectangular room with the musty smell of damp stone and were immediately assaulted by a chorus of cats. Wailing, crying, yowling, screeching. So many cats who were so very upset. But they went abruptly silent when they spotted us, leaving an echoing vacuum. The sudden silence alerted Peter Demos, who had been too busy bashing in Kosmos' face with his balled fist to notice our arrival. He paused and looked over his bare shoulder at us, the feral expression on his face shifting into shock.
The sandpaper sound of hooves on cement abraded the air as Peter's henchmen left their posts at his back to leap for the guns on a nearby table. Torin and Slate launched forward to intercept the two men. In seconds, the satyrs were dead on the ground, their necks broken, and magic hadn't even been used.
Peter's fawn-brown eyes narrowed as he pivoted to face us. He shook the curls off his high forehead and shook out his shoulders like a boxer. The crime lord, like his men, had shucked off his clothes to go native for his little torture session with Kosmos. A pair of tiny horns poked through his springy hair and his slim chest slid down into sleek then fluffy fur. The pelt was thick enough to hide most of Peter's peter but the tip poked through. It looked as if he had enjoyed beating on my friend. Cloven hooves clicked ominously as he shifted his weight, preparing to attack.
But instead of rushing us, he shouted, “Get in here now!”
Cerberus rushed forward and punched Peter in the face. One smooth arching movement. A thing of beauty. With that one punch, my bestie did a hundred times the damage that Peter had been inflicting on Kosmos with his puny fists. Peter flew back onto the table on his right, torture tools tumbling over the side before the satyr went limp and fell to the floor as well. He landed on his back, giving us a perfect view of his face, which was caved in. Cerberus had made the satyr's skull into a bowl.
A horde of men came running into the room but paused when they saw the corpse of their boss. Cerberus growled, low and dangerous, and barreled toward them. The satyr in front pulled his gun and shot Cer in the chest. The bullet went straight through and pinged the wall behind me, but Cerberus didn't even pause. He knocked the gun out of the satyr's hand before he could get a second shot off then knocked the guy to the ground and started pummeling him into a pancake.
My men flowed around the Hellhound and went for the other satyrs. Peter's minions looked from the mess Cer was making of their friend to the ferocious men heading their way and didn't even try to shoot, they just turned tail and ran. My guys gave chase, and Cerberus gave up on his flattening efforts to follow them, howling eerily as he went. I stayed behind and scrambled through the detritus of torture implements and carnage for the keys to Kosmos' manacles and the cat cages.
“El,” Kos wheezed as I unlocked his cuffs. “How did you find us?”
Kosmos' eyes were nearly swollen shut and his lips lacerated. Blood stained his pale hair and painted his thick body. Flushed, fist-sized circles, the beginning of bruises, dotted his abdomen. As soon as Kos was free, he stumbled forward, nearly taking us both to the ground. But he steadied himself valiantly and turned his fall into a hug.
“I sang, of course,” I said gently. “Now, come on, we've got to get your people to Tír na nÓg.”
It turned out that I didn't need another key. The cages didn't have locks, just those sliding bars that most pet cages have. Within such restricted space, the Cats had been unable to shift so the paltry locks were good enough to hold them. No doubt, that was done purposefully add insult to injury. Kos and I quickly flung open the cages, and cats came pouring out, rapidly shifting into naked people. Entire families clung to each other in relief, children crying as their parents comforted them. There were so many cats that there wasn't enough room for everyone to shift, some had to remain in cat form.
I went over to Peter's corpse and kicked it viciously. I wanted to yell obscenities at him but there were children present so I satisfied myself with another kick, using the movement to turn him over so the kids wouldn't have to look at his lack of a face.
“They're dead,” Darc announced as he rejoined us.
“Along with a couple of rikshas,” Slate added with a vicious grin. “Those were fun. I suppose I should have saved one or two for my arena but I couldn't stop myself.”
“Totally understandable,” Cerberus said as he sauntered in covered in blood.
“Are you all right, Cer?” I went to inspect his wound.
“I'm fine.” He gently pushed my hand away and gave me a cocky grin. “Already healing; he missed my heart so it barely stung.”
“I want you to take Kosmos to Kyanite right now and have William fetch you a healer.”
“I can wait,” Kosmos protested. “See to the others first.”
“No, Kos, you're going first,” one of the male cat-shifters said. Then he grinned and added, “You look like hell and it's upsetting the children.”
“Theo, there you are,” Cerberus said in relief. “We found Lily; she's safe in Kyanite.”
“Oh, thank goodness,” the woman with Theo sobbed and fell into his arms. “I was so worried about her; my little Lily all alone.”
“She helped us find you, Ari,” Cerberus said to her. “She's a sharp one. You should be proud.”
“She did?” Ari's eyes went wide.
“She did,” I confirmed. Then I turned back to Cerberus. “Now, get Kosmos to Kyanite or I'm going to start freaking out and it won't be pretty.”
“Come on, Kos.” Cerberus slung an arm around the other man's shoulder. “It's best to just do as she says when she gets like this.”
I released a relieved breath when
they disappeared. “Okay, let's start transporting everyone else. I'll stay here with Darc just in case more satyrs show up.”
“No, I will stay with Darc,” Torin said firmly. “You will help with the cats.”
“Fine,” I huffed. “Try not to split up families,” I said to the other men as I went to a couple with two young boys. I knew the parents, Huck and Diane, but this was my first time meeting their sons. “I can take two of you at a time.”
Diane, a brunette with bright orange eyes, shoved her little boy into my arms. “Take Jovi first, please.”
“Hey, everyone is safe now,” I reassured them as I put the crying toddler back into his mother's arms and then took both of their hands. “No one is being left behind. Slate and I can take your whole family together. And when we return, we'll bring Kyanite soldiers with us to help us transport all of you faster. We'll have you off this planet in no time.”
“Thank you, Elaria.” Huck clasped my shoulder then leaned down to kiss his wife. “I'll see you two over there.”
“Daddy,” Jovi whined and reached for his father.
“It's just a few seconds, Son,” Huck reassured him. “Close your eyes and count to ten. When you open them, we'll all be together again.”
Jovi obediently closed his eyes and started to count. I jerked my head at Slate, and he came over to clasp hands with the father and older son. Gage, Banning, and Declan went to collect their first passengers, and soon we were all zipping through the Veil. We arrived in Kyanite before Jovi made it to five.
Chapter Thirty-Two
When we had everyone safely in Kyanite, Kosmos stretched out on my bed under the care of a jewel healer, Cerberus as good as new, and Lily reunited with her family, we went back to search the hideout on Bhaaloo.
It was a simple structure set within an ancient forest. The enormous trees creaked in the breeze and animals scampered through the underbrush but those were the only sounds to be heard. No neighbors. No witnesses. The cats had been kept in the basement which was oddly larger than the upper portion of the cottage, but even if they'd been upstairs, it was doubtful that their cries would have attracted attention. Obviously, the place was used for clandestine proceedings.
“I'm assuming that Peter paid the rikshas for a safe house where he thought I wouldn't be able to track the cats,” Cerberus announced as we headed back down to the basement to search it once more before we left.
“That would be far better than the alternative,” Gage muttered.
“Which would be?” I asked.
“Rikshas allying with Demos Family,” Slate answered for Gage.
“Right,” I whispered, my stare on the tools Peter had used to torture my friend.
I kicked his body again. And again. And again.
“Hey.” Slate caught me and held me tightly. “It's okay. Everyone's safe now.”
“Not everyone; there are still nymphs out there somewhere, being used as sex slaves.” I pushed away from him determinedly. “And this asshole”—I kicked the corpse again—“tortured Kosmos in front of children. He kept them in cages as if they really were animals.”
“And Cerberus killed him,” Slate said calmly. “He's dead and there's no point in kicking a dead satyr.”
“Two down, sixteen to go,” Cerberus muttered.
“Sixteen?” Slate glanced at Cer.
“That's how many bosses are left,” Banning explained.
“Hopefully, they won't find Peter's body,” I murmured.
“So what if they do?” Cer growled. “Let them come for us.”
“I don't want them skittish at the funeral,” I growled. “I want all of them there, blissfully unaware that death is coming for them.”
“Oh, right.” Cer's eyes started to gleam. “The funeral.”
“This might come in handy.” Torin pulled a cellphone out of a pile of clothes set on a chair.
I took it from him. “It's locked.”
Cerberus knelt by Peter's body and tore off the right index finger. “Let me try.”
Cer held his hand out for the phone, and I passed it to him. He set the finger on the sensor and the phone lit up.
“I'll take this back to Earth and check the messages for anything we can use,” Cer said.
“Be quick because they could track you with that,” I pointed out.
“They won't know to try that yet. I might even be able to delay their panic. I'll vaguely answer any texts that come in.”
“Okay. Meet us back in Kyanite when you're done,” Darc said.
“You got it.” Cer disappeared.
“Are there any keys in those pockets?” I asked Torin.
After a quick pat-down, Torin held up a key ring triumphantly.
“Good. Let's hold onto those. I'd like to search Philip's house and that's most likely where Peter has been staying.”
“What are you hoping to find?” Declan asked.
“Files.” I shrugged. “A ledger. Any kind of account of the nymphs. We need to track down the rest of the nymphs.”
“And if we can find their buyers, we can find them.” Slate nodded.
“Find them and maybe some new gladiators for your arena.” I leveled a dark stare on him.
“I have lots of empty cells,” Slate announced gleefully. “I'll take anyone who survives.”
“You might actually get me to attend an arena match willingly, Zone Lord.”
“I knew you'd come around eventually.” Slate pulled me back into his arms to kiss me.
“Sure, all you had to do was tempt her with vengeance.” Cerberus snickered.
Chapter Thirty-Three
“How did they manage to catch all of you?” I asked Kosmos the next day over breakfast.
I didn't want to move him the night before. After Kosmos was healed, he had fallen asleep in my bed so Darc and I had slept in Torin's tower with him. But now, the tomcat looked like himself again, not a single bruise left to tell the tale.
“They caught one of the kittens first; lured him with a can of tuna.” Kosmos grimaced before he took a swig of coffee. “His cries brought his mother, hers brought the rest of her children and their father then it snowballed from there. They must have gotten one of the little ones to talk because they knew all of our hiding spots. Lily was the only one smart enough to hide somewhere new and stay put.”
“Did Peter let anything slip that might be useful?” Cerberus asked. “I got nothing off his cellphone. I answered a few texts and bought us some time, but even those conversations didn't give me anything useful. Criminals tend to keep their texts vague.”
“Nothing.” Kosmos shook his head. “He just kept asking me where to find you and Elaria. He was about to move onto hurting the others to get me to talk when you arrived.”
“Good timing,” Declan murmured.
“Where are the other cats, anyway?”
“There were too many to put in a tower so Sara has them downstairs in the keep,” I said. “Everyone's fine. They'll be taken care of until we can clean up this mess.”
“What about my brother? Where's Kas?” Kos looked toward the balcony as if he were expecting Kasteo to come walking in at any second.
“He... uh...” I stammered. Damn it; I'd completely forgotten about Kasteo.
“I'm right here,” Kasteo announced.
We all turned in our seats to see Kas stride in from the living room.
“Kas.” Kosmos got up and hugged his brother. Then he froze and pulled back. “Why do I smell blood? And why are you so damn dirty?”
“I just returned from Olympus.” Kas looked from Kosmos to me. “She wasn't there, Elaria.”
“What do you mean; she wasn't there?” I gaped at him.
“Who wasn't there?” Kosmos asked as he looked back and forth between his brother and me.
“Helene rejected me and left,” Kas said grimly. “She was supposed to have gone back to Olympus with her people to help defend the Nymphs from the Demos satyrs.”
“But she wasn't the
re?” I asked.
“Never showed up.” Kasteo plopped into a chair, and Kos resumed his seat beside him.
“She left you?” Kosmos gaped at his brother. “After all we did for her?”
“I was going to win her back,” Kas said to his brother. “Fight for her people and show her what kind of man I am. You know; be heroic and shit. But Helene wasn't there, and then Hades and Persephone showed up with their army, and I figured I wasn't needed.” He grimaced. “I was about to come back but then the satyrs attacked.”