That was Lara; she always ran a tad late because she was helping someone. Today she had been working at an old age home.
“And I got stuck because the lady just wanted someone to talk to. How am I supposed to say no to that?” she finished, sipping her own wine as she sat next to Bob.
“I don’t know how you do it,” Toni said with a small shake of her head. “I think my heart would die.”
“It’s what I was made to do,” Lara said. “You know, like you were made to be a writer or that Bob was made to be an activist and a politician who is going to one day make equality a real thing.” She smiled brightly at her friends, always positive.
Lara was always the ray of sunshine on the dimmest of days.
“So what now? Are you going to go get a new cat?” Lara asked, reaching out to place her hand over Toni’s.
“No, not yet, it still hurts too much,” Toni said, “but probably next week.” She smiled softly. “You guys know me too well.”
“It’s what we are here for,” Bob said, with Lara nodding excitedly next to him. “But for now I do have to go. I have a big speech to give tomorrow on equal rights for marriage and I need to still write it.” He kissed Toni’s head and then hugged Lara. “I will see you guys soon.”
“I had also better go.” Lara pouted before suddenly perking up. “I’ll be back next week to crochet with you.”
Toni smiled. “I’ll see you then.”
After doing the dishes, feeding the cats and having her own dinner, Toni decided against spending the evening writing and instead she climbed into bed. Winter and Mitty were no longer sleeping in the room and she knew she would probably find them lounging about on an armchair in her study. Snuggles was nowhere to be seen, which was strange, since she normally liked to sleep at the end of the bed and nibble on Toni’s toes.
Content and warm, Toni slowly drifted off to sleep.
~~~~
Chapter Four
“Winter?”
“Winter where are you?”
“Here, Kitteh!”
Toni looked everywhere she could, but she couldn’t find Winter anywhere. She had not seen her since the previous day and she was starting to get worried that someone had hurt her.
She called the pound and the local vet, but with no luck. Alicia at the vet said that Toni shouldn’t worry; Winter would turn up soon enough.
Hardly reassured by her words, Toni decided to get down to writing. The wind had picked up outside and caused her house to howl as if in pain. She sat in her study, her mind distracted as she attempted to complete the section of the manuscript she was working on.
Several times she clicked the screen and dragged up, deleting what she had written because she knew it was utter garbage. Eventually she couldn’t take it anymore and decided to take a break to make lunch.
It was at this point that she realized how cold the house was. She shivered despite the woolen jersey she had on. Donning her boots and a thicker jacket, she braved the outside to go get firewood.
~~~~
The fire roared as it came to life and the heat immediately washed over Toni like a wave. She instantly felt better and decided to put Winter out of her mind. Her cats knew where their home was, and Winter was the one most likely to explore.
Toni focused her efforts on lunch instead. Having skipped breakfast to look for Winter, she was now starving. Snuggles came around the corner and gave Toni a loud meow. She bent down, thinking that Snuggles would like a good ear scratch, but instead was rewarded with sharp claws scraping deep into her hand.
Hissing, Toni rushed to the sink to run her hand under the cold water. The blood came out thick and she sighed, wondering if Snuggles would ever adapt to their home. Maybe this was just her personality, and she should just accept it.
Toni smelled burnt food and groaned, drying her hand quickly to pull her macaroni cheese out of the oven. She frowned, it had not even set yet. She glanced around the kitchen, puzzled as to where the smell could be coming from.
Worst of all, the smell was acidic, as though hair had been set on fire. Toni gagged slightly and opened the back door to gulp down some fresh air before setting off to find the source of the smell.
It was definitely not coming from the cold outside. She walked from room to room, finally going to her study to check if something had fallen into the fire.
Kneeling with the poker in hand, the sight that met Toni made her projectile vomit to her right, spraying her chair and floor with last night’s dinner.
Mitty, what could only have been Mitty, was cooking in the fire. There was no saving her and the stench that emitted from the fireplace was horrendous. Toni needed to put the fire out and get her now dead cat out of the house or the smell would be there forever.
Still gagging, she ran and got a bucket of water. Putting the fire out, meant water running along the floor, with black soot and pieces of cat flesh pouring out of the fireplace as it overflowed. Toni vomited again into the now empty bucket, her body shaking.
After wrapping her hands in two plastic bags and putting on a buff to cover her mouth, she finally plucked up the courage, despite the tears rolling down her face, to extract Mitty’s body from the fireplace.
She carried her cat in a black garbage bag to the backyard, where she buried her next to Lizzie.
Then and only then did she allow herself to break completely, stripping her hands of the bags and shoving them into the grave, she piled the sand on through gasps and tears as she had now lost her third beloved pet in a short space of time, and right before Christmas as well.
Toni wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve as she cleaned up after herself. Praying for Winter to return safely, she made her way back into her house and opened up all the windows to get rid of the burnt smell.
Her macaroni and cheese lay forgotten in the kitchen.
~~~~
Chapter Five
Toni had never been so despondent the night before Christmas. She had been unable to find Winter and she had lost her three cats. All she had was Snuggles, who seemed to want nothing to do with her except at night when she wanted to nibble on Toni’s toes.
It was extremely frustrating.
Toni didn’t even want to bring out her Christmas tree, but a visit from Lara made her do it. After all, Christmas was her favourite season and she had collected a great amount of donations for the pound this year. She would deliver it on Christmas day.
She had all the donations wrapped and under her Christmas tree just waiting for the animals to tear at them, and she couldn’t wait. Maybe she would pick up another kitten or two while she was there.
She had also taken to drinking a little bit more than she was used to. The loss of her family, for that was how she treated her cats, had taken its toll on her, and Toni often fell asleep on the sofa after drinking deeply from a large glass of wine.
The night before Christmas was no different.
The wine made her feel warm and fuzzy, but the sofa was uncomfortable and, after spending the last few nights on it, it had finally given her enough of a cramp in her back to wake her up.
Something was on her and, as she opened her eyes, she smiled at Winter’s perfect and sleeping face in front of her … but couldn’t understand why it looked so strange.
Toni closed her eyes again. He had lost a lot of weight as well because, even though he was laying on her chest and abdomen, she couldn’t feel him. She opened her eyes again to stare at his flat face, and reached up slowly to stroke him. His face went flatter.
She sat up and the pelt of her cat dropped to the floor. She couldn’t contain herself. She screamed like a banshee. She dusted herself off, as though she had been infected with a disease.
Snuggles came to sit next to Winter’s pelt and commenced cleaning her bloody claws, before looking at Toni and meowing loudly but deeply.
It gave Toni the creeps.
Snuggles looked up at the tree and meowed again, and Toni looked at it as well.
&nbs
p; Hanging from the tree like an ornament was the skinned body of her cat. Just hanging there. Lifeless.
Toni shrieked again, feeling sick to her stomach. She needed to call the cops. Whoever was doing this was targeting her and her cats and she needed to protect Snuggles.
She launched herself off of the couch, dashing for her phone. Her cellphone was not where she had left it. She ran to the kitchen instead and picked up the phone hanging on the wall. The line was dead.
She looked down to see something had cut through the wire.
Whoever was after her was possibly still in the house.
Toni went to the back door and unlocked it. She needed to get out of here and alert the police that someone was after her. She got the back door open, but as she was going through it Snuggles wound around her feet, causing her to trip. She hit her head on the way down and landed half outside of the house, half inside.
Dazed, she could feel a weight on her and opened her eyes as best she could to see Snuggles climbing all over her. Snuggles reached her shoulder and sat down, flicking her tail this way and that.
“Pitiful human,” Snuggles said in a deep, scary voice, “your soul belongs to me now.”
She was hallucinating. Perhaps whoever was after her had put something in her house.
That was when Snuggles reached up with both sets of claws and swiped repeatedly at Toni’s throat. Toni tried to cry out, but she still felt dizzy. She attempted to coordinate her arms to throw Snuggles off, but they felt too heavy.
And that was when Snuggles managed to claw through the artery in Toni’s throat, and sat back, watching her ‘human master’ bleed out.
She cleaned her paws once again, enjoying the taste of Toni’s blood, before turning around and going back inside to dispose of Winter’s body.
~~~~
Chapter Six
“It was a real tragedy that happened here, yes, sir,” Office Michaels commented, standing above Toni’s covered body. “To be attacked by some wild animal the night before Christmas.”
“What do you reckon did it?” Officer Johnston asked.
“Probably a cougar or something, definitely feline.”
“Heard she loved cats,” Johnston offered.
“You think a little kitty did this?” Michaels laughed, shaking his head. “No, sir, besides we only found one cat inside. Collar reads Snuggles.”
“What will happen to it?” Johnston asked, “’cause I got a kid at home who wants one.”
“Sure, you can take it, just clear it with animal control,” Michaels said.
Johnston smiled and went inside. “Here, Snuggles,” he said, holding a hand out. The cat immediately made her way to him and he scooped her up. “Come on, I have the perfect home for you.”
~~~~
Other Books by this Author
Horror Titles
The Kiara Books
Ensnared
Liberation
The Butcher Books
Tatum
Kallista
Sylvana
The Asylum Series
Asylum I
Asylum II
The Watcher Series
Watcher
The Watched - Coming Soon
To Watch - Coming Soon
The Demon Cat Khristmas Specials
Killer Kitteh Khristmas
Merry Meow - Coming soon
Jingle Fur - Coming soon
Stand Alones
The Culling
#RIPJohn - Coming Soon
Belladonna - Coming Soon
Buried - Coming Soon
Hex - Coming Soon
Shh… - Coming Soon
The Priestess - Coming Soon
The Reaper- Coming Soon
The Witch in the Woods - Coming Soon
Fantasy Titles
A Spacehiker Adventure
Unlikely Hero
Hidden in Plain Sigh - Coming Soon
Homeward Bound - Coming Soon
Balancer Books
Neutral Ground - Coming Soon
Holy Demons - Coming Soon
Murder Mystery Titles
Bullseye - Coming Soon
Stones - Coming Soon
General Fiction Titles
Balancer Books
Neutral Ground - Coming Soon
Holy Demons - Coming Soon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hailing from Johannesburg, Southern Africa, Sian B. Claven has enjoyed stories for all her life, whether she was reading them or making them. She has written for as long as she can remember, but Ensnared is the first book she decided to publish. Moving towards writing more for a horror genre, when Sian isn’t thinking of ways to terrify people, she enjoys writing science fiction stories, poetry and rather long and gushy birthday wishes. When she isn’t working on her writing you can find her knitting, scrap booking, reading, or playing Xbox. Sian was previously a reviewer for The Blithering Bibliomaniacs and clearly doesn’t know what the words rest and relaxation mean, at least not in the traditional sense.
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Killer Kitteh Khristmas Page 2