Amos stiffened.
Lily continued, “I saw your trophies. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Why do you take their eyes?”
He retorted, “They also say that people always want what they can’t have.”
He grinned, then tossed the knife on the table behind him and retrieved a garrote.
Up close and personal, is it? Nova thought.
His patience with her had run out. Lily snickered.
Nova dove from behind the monitor to the floor.
Lily’s head cocked in her direction. Good, Nova thought, I hope she’s ready. He hadn’t seen Nova.
She concentrated on her bond with the gate. Manifesting a larger body used a lot of energy; she generally avoided it because it weakened the seal on the gate. Her limbs elongated, and her chest expanded. I hope Lily doesn’t snap.
A gurgling sound followed by a thud broke Nova’s concentration and pulled her gaze toward Lily and Amos. He wasn’t standing by the table anymore, and Lily wasn’t in the chair. What happened? Nova thought Where are they? She couldn’t see where they’d gone, and she didn’t have the wherewithal to both transform and hunt for them.
Nova drew energy into herself as fast as she could. Her fur fell out and scales formed in their place. The webbing between her toes thickened as did her claws, then she felt a hand on her back.
“It’s okay,” Lily said softly.
Nova hadn’t finished her transformation. She stopped drawing on the gate’s power and let her form diminish.
She turned to face Lily. Lily’s normally warm brown eyes glowed amber, and she grinned. Her fingers were twice as long and tipped with curved, razor-sharp claws. Blood caked her hair, and she had blood splatter all over her favorite sweatshirt. Rats.
Nova fought her instinct to remain silent and asked, “How long have you known?”
“Well, I knew you definitely weren’t a regular cat after our first forty years together?”
All that worrying about Lily losing her mind had been a waste of time. Lily was coping just fine. No, better than “fine”, Lily was a hunter, just like her. Nova shook herself and recentered. There was work to do.
“Did you get what you came for?” asked Lily.
“Not yet. I need his soul.”
She arched her right eyebrow and asked, “Hellcat? Reaper?”
“No. Gate guardian.” Nova tried to find the right words to qualify that. “I am of the Earth, a protective spirit. There are no words for us in living languages anymore.”
“Then we’re not so different,” Lily offered, “except that I was human once.”
She led Nova to Amos.
He had fallen forward. A pool of blood surrounded him. His eyes were still open. Arterial spray looped across the ceiling and back wall. Lily had slit his throat. With those claws, Nova would’ve done the same. She tried not to smile.
Nova padded through the blood and climbed onto his back. She laid down. It was harder to pull a soul from a dead body than a living one. It was often—not always but often—easy to get someone to let it go and give it to her.
The dead were different. A soul had to be ripped out rather than coaxed out; reapers, hellcats, and hellhounds were naturals at that unlike gate guardians.
Nova began drawing Amos’ essence into herself, scraping it out of him. That’s odd, she thought. She didn’t smell anything. She normally had to stop herself from retching when she collected a soul.
“This isn’t right,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“This isn’t the soul. This isn’t the one that drew me here.” She sat up on Amos’ back.
Lily paused, then asked, “Are you sure? He’s a serial killer. He was going to kill me.”
“No, this is the right place. That much I do know. He’s just not the soul.”
“Can you still use it?” Lily asked.
“I can use it, but I can’t use it for the gate. Others have tried to power the seal using unmarked, unassigned souls. It’s been a disaster every time.”
Nova stepped down from his body. At least I can use his soul for other things—there’s no harm in that, she thought. The less I draw from the gate’s energy the fewer souls I have to collect. Being a cat for so long has made me lazy, she noted.
Realization spread across Lily’s face. “I think I might know who drew you here.”
“Who?”
“This guy’s mom had a stroke a few months ago. It would be a lot easier for him to take care of her if she were here. Maybe she’s the soul you’re supposed to collect.”
“Worth a shot—it’s either that or I screwed up… and that’s has never happened before. Then again, I usually take them when they’re asleep. Or dead. The civil war was like that—many died before I got to them.”
“Do they die afterward?”
“Not immediately. They ultimately waste away though. It happens more slowly for some. A few have lived for several years without their souls.”
Nova walked toward the stairwell, “You coming?”
“You know I always clean up my messes,” Lily said with a wink.
“That you do. Every night after dinner, you never let the dishes sit. You always tidy up. Do you want me to help? I can take a more useful form.”
Lily laughed, “So can I. Well, for this at any rate.”
Nova snickered, “You sure? I still have plenty of time to get this soul.”
“I’m fine. This is a fairly typical night out for me...not that I go out that often. Go finish your work. I’ll see you at home.”
This is surreal, Nova thought. I never dreamed I’d talk to her. She can shapeshift? Who knew! I have so many questions… so much left to say but first, the soul...
Nova climbed the stairs. The panels had vertical latches at the top and horizontal latches a third of the way from the top and bottom of the panels. She drained part of Amos’ soul, using it to grow large enough and strong enough to slide the latches open. That’s a lot easier than drawing from the gate, she thought. She nudged the right panel open enough to slip through.
Nova walked through the foyer to the stairs then climbed them to the second floor. Light bled out from beneath the door at the end of the hallway. Mist it is, she thought.
She drifted under the door. With the haze that passed for vision in this form, it appeared that the bi-fold closet door was slightly ajar. She remained close to the floor, rushing into the closet.
Once inside, she flowed behind a shelf then solidified again. There was a narrow gap in the center of the door where the hinges were. The strong odor of rotting flesh mixed with sage and sulfur washed over her, and she was confident she had the right soul this time.
It was the perfect spot—she could see the room well enough, but it would be exceedingly difficult for anyone to see her. A queen-sized bed was directly across from her.
Amos’ mother leaned back against the headboard with a book in her hands. Nova doubted that she’d go to sleep any time soon. She was tempted to take a nap while she waited, but this assignment had gone so horribly wrong already that she couldn’t risk it.
Nova sat motionless; her gaze locked on her target.
The most interesting thing to see was the turn of a page. Better than watching paint dry, but only just. At least Amos’ mother was running out of those bit by bit. She eventually reached the last one. She placed the finished book on the night table next to a lamp made with two taxidermied squirrels playing fiddles. Like the pieces hidden behind the bookcase, these were perfect except that buttons were used instead of glass eyes.
She readjusted her pillow and laid down on her side, reaching over to the night table to switch the lamp off.
It was completely dark. Nova was getting drowsy, and the darkness didn’t help. Amos’ mother turned from side to side several times. I wonder if she knew what her son was up to in his spare time, Nova pondered. She waited until she heard her mark gurgle a little bit in her sleep. She slid past the shelf and out of the
closet.
She launched herself onto the bed, stepping softly across so as not to wake her. When Nova reached her pillow, she gently draped herself at the top. She inched herself down to the soul’s head.
Amos’ mother had dark dreams—dreams of eyes locked in terror. Of screams, and blood—Nova knew better than to look too hard into a soul’s mind, but her curiosity got the better of her this time. Looks like she knew exactly what Amos was doing. Seems like she knew he killed numerous small animals for his projects and that he enjoyed it, she thought. Even worse, she encouraged it because she found it amusing. She actively encouraged his bloodlust.
It wasn’t hard to get her soul. Not in the least. She practically pushed it out herself once Nova touched it. That was immensely helpful. She reeked of rot. Nova fought a wave of nausea. She drew the soul out quickly then retreated. Amos’ mother was still in a deep sleep.
She dropped to the floor and transitioned to mist. She wafted underneath the door again and back down the stairs. She opted to use the lock in the front door and drifted into the open air.
It was even windier than earlier in the evening. Might still get a good night’s rest after all, she thought as she rode up the air currents again, steering herself northeast.
She made it back to the mesa and traipsed past the rest of her company, their sun-bleached forms gleaming in the moonlight.
Just shy of the first trees around this clearing, a parliament of magpies assembled overhead. They flew in loose formation, black specks spiraling around one another. They dove toward Nova then flipped and sailed high into the air.
No matter the uncountable number of times she had done this, it was always unsettling. She stood on her hindquarters and stayed still. One by one, each of the magpies flew squarely through her chest and drew out a small part of the soul.
Nova felt dizzy and euphoric all at the same time. After the last one exited her back, it joined the rest of the flock above her.
They flew faster, diving toward the ground in small groups. The ground began to glow blue. Like the magpies, shocks of blue swirled and darted around one another. It soon stabilized, and the magpies flew directly through the center of the spherical gate. With each one that passed through, a spark flew into the air briefly before the gate absorbed it.
Once the last bird completed its task, they dispersed. The mesa was quiet again. Nova’s delivery should keep the gate sealed for several weeks.
She sailed the wind back home, cruised through the lock, and resumed solid form on the living room floor.
Mission accomplished. The Earth was safe and so was her beloved Lily.
Lucipurr was watching from under the couch. His tail was puffed up and he was ready to attack. “Nova! Why do you have to do that?” he lamented.
“No cat door here, remember.”
“Oh, right.”
“Is Lily back yet?”
“No.”
“Did you get it?”
“The soul? Of course.”
“Good,” he said, “I caught a mouse and saved some of it for you.”
Nova beamed. “Thank you. I could really use something to eat, and a nap. It was a long night.”
“I left you some water too,” he teased.
His tail twitched as he walked down the hallway to Lily’s office. Nova followed him. Underneath her desk was a half-mouse. Nova made short work of it while Lucipurr sat near the door, keeping an eye out for Lily.
“Oh!” Nova exclaimed. “I learned something else tonight. Lily’s not human.”
“I tried to tell you that earlier but you—”
“She’s a shapeshifter!”
“I know! You kept arguing with me and cutting me off.”
Nova sighed. “You could’ve saved me a lot of trouble.”
“You could have saved yourself a lot of trouble by listening to me. I know I’m just a kitten but—”
The sound of the garage door opening derailed his train of thought.
Nova scanned underneath the desk to make sure she didn’t leave any mouse evidence behind then followed Lucipurr to the kitchen. They both sat across from the door at the end of the kitchen waiting for Lily. They heard the garage door close.
Lily cracked open the door, “Cleocatra?”
“Yes, but my name is Nova, not Cleocatra,” she replied.
“Noted. Sorry about that. I didn’t know. Anyway, I could use a hand with this.”
“No problem!”
Nova darted through the door and into the garage.
“What kind of shape—er, form do you need?” Nova asked.
Lily replied, “Anything that can help me load this meat into the freezer.”
“Meat?”
“Yes. I’ve got about two hundred and twenty pounds.”
Nova’s tail twitched. She wondered how Lily had the time and energy to stop to pick up over two hundred pounds of meat on her way home. Wait, did she? No. She wouldn’t.
Nova consumed more of Amos’ soul and reformed herself as a human. She always had trouble with eyes though, they still looked feline. The rest of her was that of an athletic ginger woman in her twenties. It’s been a long time since I’ve done this, she thought, hundreds of years ago when they were executing cats during plague outbreaks.
“It’s in the trunk,” Lily remarked.
Nova followed Lily to the already open trunk of her car. Inside was a cooler. Lily chuckled and said, “I like to be prepared.”
No doubt, thought Nova as her eyes scanned the rolls of plastic, boxes of garbage bags, and the milk crate filled with duct tape, hand tools, and cleaning supplies.
“How did it go with the soul?” Lily asked.
“It went fine. Dropped it off. The gate’s sealed up tight, and I won’t have to worry about it for weeks.”
Nova opened the lid of the cooler. Inside were neat little bundles wrapped in plastic and taped up like presents. She grabbed several of the bundles, “Where do you want me to take them?”
Lily pointed to a large standup freezer in the corner opposite the door to the kitchen. Nova shuffled over to it. There was a table beside it, so she set her macabre parcels there then returned to the trunk to get more.
“I wish I didn’t have to do this,” Lily remarked.
Nova played dumb and replied, “Do what?”
“Eat people.”
Nova raised her eyebrows, feigning surprise. “Why do you have to eat people?”
“It’s the curse… what I am now. If I don’t, the beast will take over and many would die.”
“So, this is what you meant when you said it’s a typical night out for you?”
“Yes.”
They fetched the remaining parcels in silence. Once all of them were laid out on the table, Lily removed the cooler from the trunk and sprayed it with peroxide. It fizzed away inside the cooler. Lily sprayed the lid then closed it.
She returned it to the trunk, closed it, and then marched over to the freezer. She opened the door briskly.
Nova handed two parcels to her at a time, and Lily placed them on a shelf with a makeshift duct-tape label that read, “Special Diet.”
Nova thought for a moment, “You don’t feed any of this to us, do you?”
“No. Never. I only eat it when I feel the cravings getting strong. It’s the main reason why I’ve aged more quickly. When I was younger, I would put it off a lot longer than I really should. It’s also why I took the job: fewer killers mean fewer deaths. It’s my way of trying to redeem myself.”
That’s a relief, Nova thought as she handed Lily two more parcels.
“On the drive back, I thought a lot about tonight,” Lily mused, “I was wondering if I could tag along with you when you’ve got a soul to collect.”
Nova thought about it for a few seconds then replied, “I wouldn’t mind that. Just let me collect the souls before you kill them. It’s a lot harder to take souls from the dead.”
“No problem.”
“On my way back, I was a
ctually thinking about how much easier it was to use Amos’ soul than siphoning power from my link to the gate. The less power I use, the fewer souls I need to collect.”
Lily arched an eyebrow, “Maybe you should come out with me from time to time? I deal with rotten souls every night, but I only need their meat.”
Nova nodded. She had to think of a way to repay Lily. Perhaps if she siphoned some of the extra soul power to her, then her human-not-human-shifter Lily wouldn’t age any faster? No need to bring that up now, she thought. All in good time. She’d wait until they had a target in mind. Nova’s sense of time was hazy at best, but she figured they’d been together for a little over sixty years. Why not make it another hundred?
They finished loading the last of the parcels in the freezer then joined Lucipurr in the house.
“I really need a shower,” Lily groaned.
“So do I,” said Nova.
She returned to her feline form, then took up residence on the couch to settle in for a nice long bath. Lucipurr hopped up at the other end of the couch and went to sleep. Nova planned to curl up with him as soon as she finished scouring her fur with her sandpaper tongue.
Kris Bowes is one part of D. K. Parker. Dale (D) and Kristina (K) collaborate on everything from world-building and character development to drafting and revising. A mutual interest in fantasy, science fiction, and horror brought them together and eventually turned into a strong drive to create new worlds of their own.
38
The World’s Greatest Being
by Navin Weeratne
A tale of of friendship, love, and thuggery
“The vet says no more cheeseburgers, my shots are coming up, and my human can’t get a date.” I put the cigarette between my paws and lit it. “And now we got this discount gigolo dealing on our turf.”
The jigpanzee was a skinny white kid in a tracksuit who put more time into his goatee than he did into bathing. I’ll let you guess where the slider between the two should be. His sneakers looked expensive. Not spendy henchman expensive—just shit-under-his-nails, end dealer.
Hellcats: Anthology Page 66