Hellcats: Anthology

by Kate Pickford

  Tanq’s panther hissed in response. She didn’t respond well to being called a failure.

  “Spare me your tantrum, kitten. We are the witches that created the unbreakable accord. We asked only to live in peace. The hounds believe they know how to undo the spell and have taken my granddaughter Ginny. They now have the two instruments to undo the spell…and that will end us all on the next full moon.”

  Hendricks gauged her sisters’ reactions from across the room. She sensed Tanq was still working to calm her cat. Sapphire was trying to puzzle out Rose’s declaration and asked, “What do you mean ‘end us all?’ That seems a little dramatic, don’t you think?”

  Rose took a plate of tea cake from the queen, nodding in thanks and replied, “I said what I said, girl. End us all. It’s criminal that none of you have read the ancient history books and know this yourselves. The spell didn’t just bind shifters to secrecy. There are consequences if someone tries to reverse the spell. A failsafe. A guarantee no one would attempt it without the full agreement of the entire race of shifters. If they cast the spell reversal without total agreement, every shifter and every witch dies.”

  The words hung in the air. Hendricks returned to the group and pondered the situation. Mutually assured destruction. By her calculation, that left three days to find Ginny. Or the necklace. They needed one or the other to foil the hounds’ plans, although she felt sure that Rose would insist that it be her granddaughter. Hendricks was indifferent. A mission was a mission, and sometimes there was collateral damage.

  Rose handed Hendricks a photo of a young woman about twenty with auburn hair and brown eyes. Her arms wrapped around her grandmother and she wore a broad, natural smile. Before Hendricks could react, Rose touched her forehead and Hendricks was standing in a meadow, seeing through the old woman’s eyes.

  Ginny stood a few yards away, her hair flowing freely with a crown of flowers woven through her amber locks. A long white gauze gown set off her tan. She looked healthy. Happy. Bending to pick something from the meadow, she called back to her grandmother, “Is this the comfrey plant you wanted?”

  Inside the vision, Hendricks could feel Rose’s pride and love for her granddaughter. It was nothing she’d felt before. Bright. Limitless. The next moment, hounds burst into the meadow, shifting into their human form. Hendricks’ pulse raced in fear along with the old woman’s. A dirty hand clamped over her mouth, silencing the spell on the tip of her tongue.

  A gruff voice in her ear said, “Now, now witch. We’ll have none of that. We don’t want you. We want the little one.”

  Hendricks saw stars, then blackness, hearing Ginny scream just once.

  When her sight returned, she was back in her mother’s solarium, and whatever apathy or indifference Hendricks might have felt drained away. They would rescue Ginny or spend their last lives trying. It wasn’t just a mission now; it was personal. She’d felt something she couldn’t place. Something worth fighting for.

  Their mother stood and addressed them, “Girls, this is what you were born to do. You are Hellcats. There is no other option but to succeed. It’s my fault that we’ve relied on the elders to guide us in our dealings with the hounds, but that ends now. Plymouth now has access to the books our ancestors left us. He’s studying them and also has intel on where the hounds are. He will outline the mission. Leave it to him.”

  Queen Glendalough addressed her eldest. “Hendricks, please get out of that ridiculous gown. You’re a mess, dear. And when you return, it’s time to have the discussion that you’ve avoided for far too long. I’m ready to hand over the reins, my girl. It’s time. You and Plymouth need to work out your differences and let me retire in peace.”

  Hendricks didn’t wish to argue with her mother about succession. Or Plymouth. One hurdle at a time. Surely, saving their entire species took precedence over planning next month’s kitten club high tea for the young shifters.

  Tanq, recovered from her silent hissy fit, turned on her heel and left the room.

  Ever the diplomat, Sapphire reassured her. “Please try not to worry, Madam Rose. Today was a fluke, I promise you. My sisters and I don’t fail. We simply do not. We’ve battled the hounds for years and given nearly everything to be sure shifters remain safe. Hendricks won’t let them hurt Ginny. None of us will.”

  Rose’s breath hitched, and a small tear escaped. “I pray you’re right, little lioness. For Ginny…for all of us.”

  Two days later, Hendricks stared at the ceiling of her bedroom, attempting to calm her racing thoughts. She’d pressed Plymouth for the details of the mission for days. “Still gathering intel,” was all he would tell her. She worried her mother placed too much faith in him.

  Hendricks trusted him not to put the Hellcats in danger, but time was growing short. The full moon rose tomorrow night. Ginny was alive, but there was no guarantee she would remain so, or that the hounds were treating her well which only added to her pile of worries.

  She shifted her thoughts to her future, trying to distract herself from the ratcheting anxiety of the mission. Mother was right. It was time for Hendricks to do her duty and lead their people, but in her heart she dreaded it.

  What if I fail? I’m not elegant like her. I’m not fierce like Tanq. I’m not diplomatic like Sapphire. I’m just…me.

  The last mission only added to that angst. She’d been sloppy, ignoring Plymouth’s warning to wait for sweepers to clear the alley before she barreled into it—and lost another precious life.

  She loved her sisters. She loved their missions and loved that she felt useful in serving her people in a way that mattered. Why couldn’t she do this until the end of her last life rather than settle down and raise a litter of kittens with someone she didn’t love?

  “Are you decent?” Tanq called, pushing open the door without knocking. She leaped onto the bed next to her sister, laying on her back next to Hendricks. “Of course you’re not,” she continued. “Let me guess, you’re brooding about the throne, mother, the last mission, the next mission, and Plymouth. Did I miss anything?”

  “Definitely brooding,” Sapphire chimed in, crawling into the massive bed on the other side. “She’s Hendricks. Hellcats’ fearless leader and reigning queen of twisty angst. I’m surprised you haven’t made a soundtrack to go with the movie that plays in your head.”

  Hendricks gave her sister the side-eye, “I like you less and less with every passing day, little sister. I just want what’s best for everyone.”

  Sapphire shot back, “Everyone but you, Drix. When are you going to put yourself first? You’ve only got two lives left. When are you going to live one for yourself?”

  Hendricks didn’t dare. She struggled with the feelings Rose channeled into her during the memory. She’d never been certain her mother loved her, believing she didn’t quite measure up to the standard the queen expected over her lifetime. Hendricks didn’t fit the mold of a shifter queen. What would it have been like to feel unconditionally loved and supported like Ginny was?

  Tanq said, “That. That right there. Sapph just dropped a wisdom bomb. And while I’d love to unpack all this over some gin and cake, your possible future-ex-husband needs us in the Command Center. He’s got the mission plan. Wheels up in two hours. It’s time to hunt some hounds!”

  Hendricks felt her purpose return. Nothing else mattered now. She would deal with whatever her life would be after they completed this mission—if they completed this mission.

  “Let’s go save the world, shall we?”

  Beefeater hadn’t killed Pick yet, but the day was still young. It was only his anticipation of crushing the spell that bound them that distracted him enough to ignore him.

  “Do you think it’s true? That attempting the spell will kill us all?” Pick’s chances of ending the day alive shrunk by half with a single question.

  Beefeater answered as he ran through satisfying murderous scenarios in his head. “Of course it isn’t true. It’s just that brainy cat shifter trying to save his Hellcat gir
lfriend and feeling regret for betraying his people. Why would he come to us with this information now? At the last minute? It’s ridiculous and I don’t believe it for a minute. We’ll proceed as planned. A bargain is a bargain. He handles the queen, and we leave the princess with her last life. Prepare the circle.”

  Pick and Gordon exchanged worried looks but did as they were told.

  Less than forty yards away, under the ambient light of the full moon, the sisters took in the scene. Ginny lay unconscious on the altar, still in her white gown, filthy and stained. Her auburn hair hung listlessly; the dried remnants of her flower crown strewn about her head. Hendricks could hear her labored breathing through the tight gag in her mouth. She was furious. The experience of Rose’s shared memory changed her. Ginny’s well-being and reuniting her with her grandmother was as important to her now as ending the threat of genocide.

  Tanq returned from surveying the perimeter in her panther form and shifted back to give them and Plymouth a status report. “Thirteen hounds in the clearing, but I suspect a few more in the woods surrounding them. Maybe ten. Their scent is everywhere. It’s impossible to get an accurate count.”

  Plym’s voice came through their comms. “Roger that. We have support on the perimeter. You’ll only need to focus on the thirteen and that’s easy enough. When you move in to extract the girl, our team will flood the woods and keep them busy. Looks like the vamps might just get dirty after all, Sapph.”

  Sapphire said, “It’s about time. They’re just so damn dainty.”

  Hendricks nodded to her sisters. “Let’s do this. We’re cutting it a little close for my comfort. Plym, we’re radio silent. See you on the other side.”

  “Copy that. You’ve got this, Hellcats.”

  Plymouth removed his comm, leaving it on his desk. He couldn’t convince the hounds to stop their plan, so he’d planned a perfect mission so the Hellcats would. Taking them into battling as humans had been a tough sell, but he needed Drix to lose a single life. In the end, he’d justified it by telling the girls that the hounds wouldn’t be able to distinguish their human scents from Ginny’s human scent. He expected more pushback, but the sisters didn’t argue.

  They will take out the hounds, and I’ll clear the way for us to take the throne as planned. No one ever needs to know what I’ve done.

  He had eight minutes and eleven seconds until the girls were back online. The solarium was a two minute, six-second walk. A round trip still left time for tea and one last chat with Queen Glendalough. He thought poison was a particularly nice way for her to go and hoped the girls would never be the wiser.

  At the height of the moon’s rise, the hounds formed a circle of thirteen around a makeshift altar on which the Beefeater stood with the bloodstone in his meaty hand. Ginny lay still on the altar as the hounds began the spell’s chant.

  Before the first verse was finished, Tanq entered in her human form and faced off against Pick and Gordon at the head of the altar. Tanq began to serpentine rhythmically back and forth in front of them as a gentle form of hypnosis and the hounds backed up until the altar boxed them in.

  “We don’t want to fight you. We’re here to save us all. The witches weren’t playing around when they crafted this reversal spell—and we all die if you attempt it.”

  Confused, Pick and Gordon looked to their leader on the altar, who was scanning the treeline for the others.

  Tanq continued, “It’s not too late. We can all walk away now. Just give us the little witch and we all live to see another day.”

  Beefeater barked at Pick and Gordon, “Ignore her! I told you it’s not true. It’s another desperate attempt to keep us from our rightful place in this world! Remember who and what they are…enemies. They want to dominate us, and the witches help them!”

  Emphasizing his disgust, Beefeater kicked the unconscious Ginny. It wasn’t enough to injure her, but it was hard enough for Tanq’s protective instinct to cause her to shift to her panther.

  Pick and Gordon defensively shifted to hound and frantically barked. The negotiation was officially over.

  The Hellcats earned their name that day.

  Seeing her sister shift, Sapphire entered the circle opposite Tanq and swatted seven hounds against trees with her massive lioness paws, soundly knocking them out. It wasn’t a fair fight, but before she celebrated a victory, more hounds in their human forms stepped from the trees to take their fallen brothers’ places chanting the spell.

  Without breaking a sweat, Sapph swatted them like gnats, not extending her claws to keep from killing if possible.

  Hendricks entered the clearing to the right of Sapph, with a singular focus and exquisite slowness. She wanted Beefeater.

  Sapph gets to play her favorite game, Squishy whack-a-mole, but with hounds. She’ll ride that high for days.

  Plymouth’s intel was especially good this time. Even if he hadn’t been standing on the altar, Hendricks could have picked Beefeater out of a lineup. Plym’s dossier included his penchant for tweed coats and wingtip shoes, and she could smell cheap cigars from across the field.

  Beef stopped chanting long enough to address Hendricks. “Well hello there, Darlin’. We’ve been expecting you. Although I must say we were told you’d come in your human forms. That was the plan.”

  Hendricks hissed.

  “Did you figure out our little secret? You’ve got quite the ardent suitor in your beau Plym. We agreed to let you keep your one last life, but since you’ve figured him out I don’t think we’ll need to keep our end of the bargain. He’s a dead cat walking”

  Human hounds with rifles stepped into the circle behind the girls, locked and loaded. Hendricks knew they only had seconds to save Ginny and stop the spell.

  With typical arrogance, Beefeater closed his eyes to concentrate on the spell, secure in his belief that victory was imminent.

  Which meant he never saw Hendricks coming.

  For a split second, she worried that Rose’s shield wouldn’t hold and she and her sisters would die in the clearing. She thought of her mother and hoped she hadn’t made the wrong choice by altering Plymouth’s carefully crafted mission. Something about his insistence they come as humans didn’t sit well with Hendricks and for the first time, she trusted her own instincts over anyone else’s.

  To her relief, the deep magic Rose wielded from the shadows protected them, bullets falling to the ground like soft raindrops. Sure that her sisters were safe, Hendricks moved like lightening the last yards to the altar, dispatching Beefeater quickly.

  A quick death was more than he deserved. But it’s what he got.

  Seconds after the magnificent cheetah ended her prey, the human hounds shifted and fled into the forest. Sapphire let them go. Her priority was reuniting Rose and her granddaughter, now stirring on the altar.

  Tanq, satisfied that her sisters would make sure the witches were safe, took her opportunity to pounce on Pickering and Gordon. They joined their leader in a quick demise, and she followed the hounds into the forest to coordinate the cleanup team.

  Rose stepped from the shadows of the forest joining Sapphire in the clearing, nodding once at the lioness in thanks before hurrying to the altar.

  Rose removed the gag from Ginny’s mouth and swept too-long bangs from her face. Ginny’s breathing eased as her grandmother’s hastily whispered healing spell took effect.

  Ginny woke to her favorite smiling face, and unabashed tears slid down both their cheeks. “So was that the comfrey plant you wanted?”

  Hendricks welcomed the numbness, staring vacantly at the crowd gathered.

  Feel something. I should feel something. Shouldn’t I feel pride that Mother inspired such a turnout? It represents the entire supernatural realm.

  Even the mysterious Fae had come as a sign of great respect. She nodded an acknowledgment to the Dark Fae Princess and her ginger-haired Scottish vampire consort.

  Yet, the nothingness persisted.

  Mourners filled the great hall. Hendricks st
epped to the podium to deliver her eulogy, but not alone. Never alone. Her sisters flanked her, as they always would. She moved, and they moved, shadowing one another in support.

  “Today, we mourn the death of our mother, great Queen Glendalough, a Hellcat like her mother, and her mother before that. She lived nine lives with grace and dignity. And yet we grieve today because it wasn’t enough…”

  They took turns praising their mother and wept when the other shifter elders honored her. It was precisely the pomp and circumstance their mother would have loved.

  After the service, the girls stood in each corner of the room, dividing and conquering the onslaught of guests and well-wishers.

  Fake it ‘til I make it. That’s the only way I’ll get through this. Now I really will have to take the throne. Mother, I’m sorry I failed you.

  She smelled magnolias a second before she felt Rose’s warm hand on her shoulder. They embraced warmly, and then she hugged Ginny. “Thank you both for coming. I know we only just met, but I feel you are family.”

  Rose took Drix’s face in her hands. “We are family, dear girl. You saved my baby girl, my coven, and all your people too. They owe you a debt they can never repay. I’m just so sorry about your Mama. She had enough fight in her to take down that nasty boy though, didn’t she? Even after he poisoned her. He came for the wrong queen. Hellcat to the end.”

  Like she did in the solarium, Rose showed Hendricks her memory. This time she sat across from her mother having tea and watched as she and her sisters exited the solarium.