Blood Cure (A Keira Blackwater Novel Book 1)

by K. R. Willis

  Both of their ears flattened against their heads as they approached each other. Their tails flicked back and forth in agitation, and their hair stood board straight. Sabin had a good hundred pounds on Rya and stood at least six inches taller at the withers, making me worry I’d made a mistake in asking her to keep him busy. I’d have to hurry.

  Don’t take any unnecessary risks, I told her as I dove for the crowbar and heard the unmistakable sound of teeth tearing flesh.

  CHAPTER 24

  I slid across the concrete floor, making the holes in the knees of my jeans even bigger. Oil soaked through my pants in splotches where I slid across a grease spot I hadn’t taken the time to clean up. I cursed as my head hit the rear tire of the ’Cuda, something popped and my eyes watered with the impact, but the crowbar was within reach so I grabbed it and wheeled around.

  Sabin had Rya by the back of the neck; his massive form towered over her. She hissed and swatted at him with her front claws, but with her caught the way she was, she couldn’t get a good strike at him like she needed to. Sabin was missing his right ear. Rivers of blood cascaded down his coat to splatter and puddle on the floor. Guess Rya had gotten in a few hits before he’d taken hold of her.

  “Hey!” I screamed. I jumped to my feet and waved the crowbar at him. “Leave her alone, you overgrown tomcat. Your fight’s with me.” Sabin growled and pinned his one good ear flat against his head, the stub of the other one rotated, flinging blood on Rya. His teeth dug into Rya a little deeper.

  Are you okay? She’d gone limp in his grip, the way a kitten would in her mother’s teeth.

  I can’t get loose; the more I struggle, the harder he bites. As soon as I stopped fighting he relaxed a little. She had twin streams of blood running down her neck, and several bald patches where the fur had been torn out, but otherwise she seemed okay.

  I needed to figure out how to get his attention off Rya and on me. “Hey, ugly!” He turned and looked at me, swinging Rya’s prone form around like a ragdoll. “Yeah, you…you ugly one-eared baboon,” I taunted. “Put her down and face me.” If I could make him mad enough he’d drop her and fight me, not crush her neck.

  He shook Rya side to side like a chew toy. She stayed limp, trying to reduce any damage he might do. The twin streams of blood increased in flow.

  I eased to the left with the intention of flanking him, but he caught my movement and spun to face me…with Rya still in his mouth. He just wasn’t letting go. One of my stools I used to sit on and roll around the cars as I fixed them caught my attention and a stupid idea popped into my head.

  Nothing else seemed to be working, so why the hell not. I snatched the small stool up with my left hand—the four curved legs with attached wheels facing Sabin—held the crowbar in my right with the tapered end aimed at his chest, and hoped like hell Barnum and Bailey had it right.

  Like a crazed lion tamer I thrust the stool toward him, waved the crowbar and yelled, “Hah!” Sabin flinched away from me and hissed, loosening his hold on Rya.

  Keep going, she said. It’s working.

  Hot damn! I felt stupid and a little hysterical, but if it worked and Rya was unharmed, I didn’t care. I lunged at him again with the stool out in front. It lengthened my reach and gave me something to protect myself if he swiped at me with one of his enormous paws. He backed up several steps, tracking bloody paw prints across the floor from the puddles his ripped ear created. Not giving him time to recuperate, I lunged again and swung the crowbar. This time he opened his mouth wide to hiss a warning.

  And dropped Rya in the process.

  She crumpled to the floor on her side and lay still for several seconds. Sabin stepped over her motionless body and advanced on me. With his mouth now free of its previous burden, he screamed an ear-splitting challenge and bared his teeth.

  Rya, I breathed. The roles had reversed in our dance, so I took several cautious steps back, making sure to keep the stool and the crowbar between myself and the mammoth cat. The weight of the stool began to take hold, making my left arm quiver. I pulled it in closer to my body. It loosened the strain on my arm, but it also reduced some of the distance I’d kept between me and Sabin.

  Sabin took immediate advantage by lunging in and swiping at me with his right paw. His razor-sharp claws snagged in my jeans, nearly ripping them off below the knee. I staggered backwards, tripped over an airline, and fell to the floor—hard.

  A blur of blond fur entering my periphery was my only warning. I had just enough time to raise the stool in front of my chest before Sabin’s weight came crashing down on top of me, knocking the wind from my lungs. I gasped for air like a goldfish, each subsequent breath harder to take than the last.

  Rya! Sabin’s teeth, stained red from tearing into Rya, snapped just inches from my face, trying their damnedest to make a meal of me.

  I’m here! She tore into Sabin’s right side and he yowled. He turned his anger and teeth on her, but he refused to relinquish his hold on me. Instead, he went back and forth between snapping at her and scrabbling to grab hold of me. My heart pounded out a terrified rhythm. I had to end this now before one of us got killed.

  The crowbar had been knocked away in the initial melee, and rolled about three inches farther than my fingers could reach. I scratched and scraped the concrete, trying in vain to make it roll closer, before realizing the airline I tripped over lay between me and it. With great effort, because Sabin still crushed my chest, I grasped the airline in my right hand, flipped it over to the other side of the crowbar, and pulled. It only slid a few inches, but it was just enough that my fingertips could touch the crowbar’s cold metal.

  It was covered in grease, but I grabbed it with the tightest grip I could muster and swung the straight end at Sabin. Something warm coated my arm as the crowbar found its target. Sabin screamed as muscles tore and bones snapped, then the crowbar pierced his heart. His dead weight collapsed on top of me and I sagged with relief.

  His fur was slick with blood, so grabbing on to him proved difficult, but I managed to and shoved him off me with what remained of my strength and gasped for air. It felt like a small car had been lifted from my chest. I rolled onto my side and heaved as I checked on Rya. She lay on her stomach with her blood-covered mouth open, panting. Tufts of Sabin’s tawny fur covered her tongue and nose.

  You okay? I asked her as I sat up. The world tilted for half a second as my oxygen-deprived brain caught up with my body.

  Yeah, Rya said. I haven’t fought like that in a very long time. She panted hard; her chest rose and fell in quick little bursts, but she seemed totally pleased with herself.

  “That’s good,” I said aloud. I was curious about when and where she’d fought like that before, but I was too damned tired to ask. It could wait until another time.

  I was in the process of pushing to my feet when I noticed something strange about Sabin’s body. The blood and saliva that had covered him just seconds earlier had disappeared. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the ear Rya tore off had also reappeared—intact and completely perfect.

  “What the hell?” I scrabbled away from him so fast I landed on my ass…again. The impact rattled my teeth and made my head pound.

  Rya growled and bounded to my side. She stood close enough that her soft fur touched my arm, but she didn’t block my view or make it so I couldn’t get to my feet fast.

  The crowbar I had embedded in Sabin’s chest clattered to the floor as it passed through thin air. Sabin’s body disappeared and was replaced by a shadowy, shimmering image of a puma—his ghost maybe? The image wavered like it might blow away, but then solidified in front of me. Sabin’s ghost bowed its head and spoke in my mind the way Rya did.

  Thank you for freeing me, the deep male voice said. I have been his prisoner for far too long. Normally, I would return to the Great One who created me and be with my master, but you have many trials and tribulations ahead of you, little sister. I have been given a choice, and I have chosen to stay earthbound to help you.


  “What do you mean?” I rolled forward onto my knees—not caring that they were sore and the concrete hurt—keeping myself eye level with the big cat. A thought occurred to me. “You’ve been around him; you were his prisoner for many years. Can you help me? How do I defeat him?” Hope welled in my chest. Sabin had been on the inside; he knew the Evil One intimately. If anyone could help me he could, right?

  Sabin shook his head sadly, crushing what hope I’d dared have.

  I am sorry, but no. I was but a mere whisper in the wind while under his spell. What I can offer you is the power I retained while imprisoned in his shadow cat form. He approached me with caution—head lowered, submissive, feet padding lightly on the concrete. Rya hissed a warning, but didn’t attack.

  Without stopping his forward motion he said, Only you can right this great wrong, and leapt.

  CHAPTER 25

  There was no substance to Sabin’s form to crash into me. No claws to rake my skin, no teeth to tear out my throat. Instead, the warmth of his essence passing through me spread throughout my body, and the cool air his magic created swirled around me and lifted my hair off my shoulders.

  I gasped.

  It didn’t hurt, it just felt strange. Strange in a way I couldn’t explain. My arms tingled. All the hairs stood on end and goose bumps broke out, marching their way like an army of ants from my hands to my neck, then they turned south and the sensation raced down to my toes. I shivered and rubbed my arms, trying to make the odd feeling go away.

  “Well that was weird,” I said. Rya looked at me, but I just shook my head. “Never mind. Where did he go? Do you see him?” I pushed to my feet, ignoring the pain that shot through my body from being pinned by a mammoth puma and landing on my ass twice, and joined Rya in her search for Sabin.

  I don’t see him. She took several big sniffs of air, using her flehmen response to separate the different smells in the shop and pinpoint Sabin’s. I no longer smell him. Not even his blood. He is truly gone.

  If Rya said he was gone, then I knew that he was, but I couldn’t help feeling like I was missing something. I rubbed my arms again, but not because of goose bumps or because I suddenly felt cold. I rubbed at them this time because I felt like something—or someone—watched me.

  All of a sudden, the shop felt creepy and unsettling. Maybe the lingering essence of the evil Sabin still floated around, making me uneasy. I didn’t know. I just knew I wanted to leave, fast. Even Rya seemed anxious: her tail swished from side to side with quick, agitated jerks, and her ears flicked back and forth, as if she listened for something.

  Come on Rya, let’s go home. We’ve had enough excitement for one day. She didn’t argue; she trotted out front and led the way to Old Red.

  ***

  We were halfway home before either of us spoke. I’m sure she knew I was running through everything that had happened, and patiently waited until I was ready to talk. She had stretched out across the bench seat with her head on my right leg; her tail flipped up and down as I stroked her fur.

  What do you think Sabin meant when he said he could give me the power he retained from his time as the Evil One’s shadow cat? What power? I turned onto the street that led to my apartment. City streets and office buildings gave way to quaint houses and quiet neighborhoods.

  I do not know. But as I share my power with you, all Spirit Warriors can share their powers with those they choose. She head butted my hand when I absentmindedly stopped petting her. When I started again, she continued. It seems Sabin has chosen you to share his power with in order to help you defeat the Evil One instead of returning to the Great Father.

  What power had I seen him use? When I first started seeing him he was nearly invisible, but I didn’t know if that was it because I saw more and more of him each time he appeared. Maybe I just hadn’t noticed him in the beginning.

  I sighed. The answer eluded me. The outline of my apartment building came into view, drawing me out of my inner monologue. It was late, but not quite dark yet, so people milled about outside.

  There’s still a lot of neighbors out and about, Rya…you should probably go ahead and take your place as my tattoo. She could use her powers to make it so the neighbors wouldn’t see her, but I didn’t see the need for her to waste the extra energy, and I didn’t feel like dealing with people freaking out and calling the police about a wild puma.

  She stood in the seat and stretched, arching her back so that her butt was in the air for everyone to see for a few brief seconds, not really long enough for anyone to see her or realize what she was. Rya acted as though she was going to head-butt me, but instead of feeling the bump of her head along my side, I felt a prickling sensation as her claws kneaded and pulled and her body melded seamlessly with my own. I shivered, still unaccustomed to the sensation. Not sure I ever would be.

  The sun had dropped even further from the sky as I walked up the sidewalk toward the back doors that led into the building. Once inside, I sidestepped a young woman with a stroller I vaguely recognized from the first floor, but couldn’t remember her name. I smiled when she gave me a quick wave, then hopped into the elevator and punched the button for the second floor.

  As the elevator crawled its way to my floor, I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes. It had been a long day. Hell, it had been a long couple of weeks, and I still hadn’t done anything to prove my innocence and keep my head off the chopping block. The Lorum on my back tingled at the thought, making me wonder for a brief second if somehow Loukas was listening. I shook my head to clear it, choosing not to think about it lest I drive myself insane with the idea.

  The elevator dinged and the doors opened, dumping me in the middle of the hallway several apartments away from mine. I stepped out into the hall and headed for my door. The hideous green carpet, which I swore came from some salvaged ’80s house, was soft and helped quiet the footsteps of everyone on the floor, including the few pets that lived in the building…which is why I didn’t hear the pitter patter of clawed feet behind me, warning me I had company. Scrappy, my elderly neighbor’s Schnoodle, let out a series of barks and yips that would have done any warm-blooded Mastiff proud, even if it was a few octaves higher.

  My heart leapt into my throat and tried to gallop away as I screeched at the top of my lungs. I spun to face the annoying ankle biter and give him a piece of my mind—and a close-up view of my booted foot—when I heard his owner, Ms. Henderson, call for him from three doors down. She poked her curler-covered head out the door and looked both ways before spotting him at my end of the hallway and frowning.

  Lucky mutt, I thought as I pasted on a smile for his owner and placed my weight firmly on both feet again. One of these days I would show him who’s boss.

  You want me to eat him? Rya asked, her tone playful yet serious at the same time.

  Don’t tempt me, I warned. “It’s okay, Ms. Henderson, no harm done,” I gritted out. “He just caught me off guard.” Mangy scrap of bones, I thought at the little dog. It hit me that his name fit him perfectly.

  Ms. Henderson came out into the hallway, her flowery robe looking more like a muumuu on her rounded body than anything you’d find in Bath & Body Works. “Scrappy, what are you barking at? Get back in here right this minute,” she scolded, as though she hadn’t seen or heard me.

  “Honestly, Ms. Henderson, it’s no big deal.” What I wanted to say was that she needed to muzzle the little brat.

  She marched down the hallway straight at me, but never took her eyes off the dog. Scrappy sniffed the carpet in a circle around me, but stopped when she snatched him up off the floor. “There’s nothing out here, you silly boy. Let’s get you back inside and I’ll give you a treat,” she cooed.

  Huh…maybe she needed glasses and a new hearing aid.

  “Helloooo, Earth to Ms. Henderson.” I waved my arms in the air and jumped up and down, making as much noise and movement as possible. She turned and shuffled back down the hallway, making smooching sounds and baby talking to
Scrappy the whole way, not once acknowledging me in any way. She stepped into her apartment and shut the door with a resounding thump.

  “Huh.” Maybe I’d insulted Scrappy’s bloodline one too many times. I shrugged. I had more important things to worry about than my neighbor and her irritating dog.

  I grabbed my keys out of my pocket and reached for the doorknob…only to have my hand pass right through. My body’s momentum had nothing to stop it since the door wasn’t solid so I had just enough time to screech “Oh shit!” before my body followed my hand through the door. My vision blurred for several heart pounding seconds before it cleared and I found myself in a room that looked nothing like my apartment.

  A dark-haired man in his thirties paced back and forth, his bare feet padding loudly on the stone floor. He struck a clay pot, knocking it out of the carved alcove it sat in. It shattered into thousands of tiny shards when it hit the hard floor. As if that angered him, he threw his head back and roared, the sound vibrating all the way to my bones. I gasped.

  He snapped his head in my direction and penetrated me with his dark eyes. Their smoky gray color intensified as he visually raked me from head to toe with a look that made me want to shower with bleach and scrub my skin with a wire brush. I tried to back away, but my body felt weightless and I wasn’t sure how to make it move.

  A cruel smile coated his lips. “Ah, you do not understand the power that has been given you. This will make things easier.” The atmosphere around me changed. “Come, stay with me,” he purred, each syllable more beautiful than the last. His words sank deep into my soul, coating every nerve, every organ, weighing me down. The urge to leave dissipated, smothered to death by the overwhelming need to go to his side.

  I picked my foot up with every intention of taking a step toward him, but someone screamed my name in my head. The voice sounded frantic, desperate even, breaking through the haze that clouded my mind enough to make me pause. A thin thread seemed to reach out to that voice and anchor me, holding me still.