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“Nah, my phone is shit,” I replied casually, lifting the ancient Nokia that I was still shocked got reception in this place. “Wouldn’t be able to read it. Did you make the list?”
“Yeah, and I saw you did, too. That’s awesome.” She paused, rubbing the back of her neck. “Uhm, I uh, I know you’ll do amazing.” Her sweet soft demeanor poked through, but behind it was a crack of unease. Without much thought, I raised my sixth sense, finding her usually moss-colored aura of charity and bright golden hues of patience tinged with gray and deep burgundy hues.
“Are you okay?” I asked, tilting my face slightly to one side.
She blinked and withdrew as if I had shocked her.
“Yeah, uhm, yeah,” she replied as if trying to come up with a suitable response. “I’d better get back upstairs before anyone finds us down here. Want to come?”
I shook my head. “I can’t relax. Going to try to get in a workout.”
Penny nodded and snuck past me. I turned my head to watch her go, a crease furrowing between my brows. She clearly wasn’t okay, but at this moment, I knew I had bigger fish to fry as I followed the corridor to the catacombs.
Chapter Ten - Kitten’s Claws
Aeryn
The dilapidated catacombs exit had been as dank as I remembered, the stale water and rich earth permeating my nose as I shifted through the cramped quarters. I was thankful I hadn’t worn white as dark streaks of brown water trailed down my face and hair, leaching into the shirt on my back. I had just left the tunnel and exited the ravine into which it was built when I sensed a change in the air. Instinctually, I raised my void, anticipating the need to tap the reservoir that was brimming with dark blue swirls of lust and rusty orange hues of gluttony.
I slowly monitored the forest around me. All I could feel was the soft earth beneath my feet covered in brush, pinecones, and leafy debris, along with the soft sway of a scattering of trembling aspens mixed into the array of red-hued pines that surrounded me. Early morning light peeled in between breaks in the canopy, lending a golden halo to the natural earthen hues of brown and green.
There was, however, an eerie void of sound. No skittering of creatures. No rustling of branches. The presence deep inside me stretched languidly awake, pushing toward the forefront of my mind. It urged me to raise my shield, and I did so without deliberation.
The softest of crackles arose from a nearby branch, a split second before a great burst of aquamarine fire crackled against my shield, followed by a massive growl and hiss. I arched back, falling more than anything else as a massive black cat bounded from the branches, her swirling turquoise irises doing nothing to detract from the grotesquely sharp claws that sank deep into the earth where I had stood just moments before. She snarled, her lips peeling back to reveal grotesque dual canines on her upper and lower jaws. Her tail swished dangerously back and forth, the tip coated in the same aquamarine fire that nearly overfilled my reservoirs with the deadly energies of sloth.
Her growl sent tingles down my spine, an odd sense of déjà vu wrapping its tendrils around my troubled thoughts.
I slowly raised to my feet, hands splayed out before me placatingly. Despite everything I had studied about hellcats, I had never come face to face with one. Being of the sloth line, they usually did all they could to avoid humans, preferring to keep their own company but for only the most essential interactions with the demons they served. But despite their usually reserved and overtly lazy natures that mimicked the ordinary housecat, they were honed to a deadly edge for the easiest possible kill.
The great cat hissed deep in her chest as she began to circle, her swishing flame-tipped tail swaying in an act meant to distract. Her claws sliced through the leaves and needles beneath her like a hot knife through butter as my heartbeat a near frantic rhythm.
I could try for the catacombs entrance, but I was unlikely to get back into the ravine and down before she could get to me. And despite all the emotions running through the keep, I hadn’t bothered to stalk up on the virtues, which would really come in handy to drive this kitten back into a manageable form.
Relaxing my breathing as best I could, I pulled up what I could conjure, the slightest traces of patience and charity I had subconsciously absorbed from my interaction with Penny. I only had enough for one shot at this and had to time it right. My powers of persuasion over beasts waned if a beast was not first weakened or was willing to be controlled, and at this moment, this gal looked anything but ready to bow down.
The great cat continued to circle, and I stood stalk still, closing my eyes and feeling the void around me rise. I tugged up what remaining shield I could, cloaking myself in the rich sloth essences I had just absorbed. While it wouldn’t do much against a physical attack, anything she further threw at me could be, at the very least, mitigated with the reservoirs I conserved.
It wasn’t long before she stopped, and I felt a rush of wind against my back as I spun, raising my glowing golden and green palms up to press into the cat’s stomach. She shrieked, deflecting from her current trajectory of my jugular before landing nimbly on her feet.
Great - all that had done was piss her off.
I could see my tombstone now:
Here lies Aeryn Ryans, sans jugular, who thought tickling a hellcat would be fun.
If I survived this, there was no way I would tell Ness. I’d never hear the end of it. But hey, at least I couldn’t blame my attire for the mess I was in. This time, at least.
I pulled at the threads of compulsion I used on other divine beasts, stretching my mind out to seek hers. I came slamming up against a barrier that was flooded with desperation, not anger or fear, as I would have expected. Despite all the hateful energy I could feel pouring from the creature in waves, she wasn’t motivated by a desire to do harm. And I took a moment to really study her, taking note that her belly contained a pronounced loose pouch, swaying slightly as she walked. And given her nipples were also extended, she must have only just given birth.
I didn’t have long to ponder before she dove at me again, and I bounded back, her poison-dipped claws digging deeply into the back of my calf as I tried to swing up onto a nearby branch. My palms dug into the bark as she tore down, and I was pulled unceremoniously off the tree, the blood from my torn hands nothing in comparison to what gushed from the wound she had just gouged. The entity deep inside me again tried to press to the surface, its presence an animalistic thing that wanted to take over.
I fought it down, afraid of what would happen if I let it go, and tried pushing my mind against the cat’s again, throwing a desperate spark of wrath and sloth at her to push her away. She snarled louder and lowered her head, her mind fracturing for an instant as I pushed and prodded. She fought back against any hold I could grasp, her head swaying back and forth in a violent effort to fling my psychic control away. Her desperation clung through the connection, seeping into my mind with an overwhelming urgency. I took this as my chance to run, but the limpness in my leg dragged me down, slipping into a pool of my own blood.
Any tentative hold I had over the cat’s mind snapped, and she snarled, readying herself to pounce.
Just then, the spicy, recognizable scent of autumn and cinnamon filled my nose over the overwhelming coppery scent of my own blood.
Hello Little Thief.
