Cat's Out - Book 2

Chapter 7 - the followers

The good news is that I can honestly say this is the best second date I've ever been on.

Grant isn't so sure. "Who are these people you're mixed up with, Darla?" He pounds his steering wheel, not for the first time that night. "I mean, you're in town for two days and you've got half the Mafia after you."

"Technically, I don't think they're the Mafia."

"Not helping. They were going to kill me!" He's still trembling. So far, I've made and almost killed two new friends in as many days. There must be a merit badge for that.

"I know. I said I was sorry." How do you make it up to a guy after you nearly get him tossed off the upper deck of a baseball stadium? I mean, besides that. "You don't have to go anywhere with me ever again."

A little smile catches the corner of his mouth. "Are you kidding? You're the most interesting girl I've ever dated."

So we're dating? "And how many girls have you dated?" I really have to control my jealousy, especially since I might end up using one of his ex-girlfriends as a scratching post.

"Counting you....two."

Well, so much for the Bloomfield Player. "Let me take a wild guess as to who the first was."

He nods. "Kari."

The blonde bombshell from Frosty Freeze. Yeah, I could see sharpening my claws on that one. "How long?"

"Only a few months last year, but she didn't seem to get the break-up memo." Grant turns onto the exit and we glide through Bloomfield Hills.

A tall man on the sidewalk catches my attention. He stares at us as through hollow eyes we pass. A chill ripples through me. I turn back to my date. "You're not one of those guys who changed his Facebook status to 'Available' and called it a break-up, are you?"

"No way. I Snapchatted it to her."

"Well, that's personal."

He laughs. "I'm kidding. I told her face to face."

"So why'd you break up with her?"

"She wants the perfect jock type. A trophy." Grant slows the Camaro to a stop at a red light.

"Well, maybe I do, too."

"I doubt it. You'd probably eat your arm candy." He flashes that smile at me again. It gleams in the soft green lights of the dashboard. "I get the feeling you bite."

"Only if I like you." Who is this speaking? If there was class called Flirting 101, I'd get a D minus, and probably detention.

Grant guides the Camaro into my mother's driveway and kills the engine. Neither of us moves to get out.

"Are you sure you don't hate me?" I can't even meet his eyes.

"For almost getting me killed? No. But if you get yourself hurt, I may not be able to forgive you." He leans closer to me. I wouldn't have noticed before I was bitten. But now I feel the heat from his body and hear his heartbeat. It's beating very, very fast.

Or is that mine? "I'm not going to do anything stupid." I'm already breaking my promise not to lie, but how do I tell him that any decision I make on Saturday will be a stupid one? I'm one cornered cat. "Unless this counts." I lean toward him and he doesn't back away.

Without a word, he brings his lips close to mine. His scent is overpowering. His heart pummels  against his ribs. Mine matches it. I take one deep breath just as he--

"Jesus!" Grant cries out. He backs away, his eyes huge. But they're looking past me.

I turn to see a figure in a white gown standing at my window. My own scream almost reaches my mouth before I recognize her. "Jack!" I open my door and jump out, pulling her into my arms.

She hugs me back, but I can't tell if she's glad to see me or being polite. "Hey, Darla...Grant."

Grant is out and pulling her into his own hug. "Shouldn't you be resting or something?"

Jack pulls away from him. "I've had plenty of rest. Though I can't really sleep." Her eyes dart between me and Grant. "I've been waiting for you to come home."

An odor floats on the air. It reminds me of Chemistry class, but I can't quite place it. I shake my head. We've got to get Jack somewhere where we can talk. The downstairs windows of my mother's house are dark. "Let's go inside." I take her hand and lead her onto my porch and through the front door. Jack and Grant take stools at the kitchen island while I round up drinks.

Once we're settled, Jack takes a ragged breath and eases into her story. "I saw things while I was high on whatever it was they shot me up with."

The Dark, I wanted to say, but thought best to withhold that information for now.

"They drugged you?" Grant flashes me a glare. "I didn't know about that."

Desperate to keep her from revealing what she'd seen in that warehouse, I interject. "Of course you saw things. You were stoned out of your mind."

She'd tied her hair back with a red ribbon, and it flops as she shakes her head. "No. It wasn't like that. I mean, I've never done drugs or anything, but I'm sure what I saw was real."

"What did you see?" Grant says.

She's going to out me. I try to speak, but Grant holds up a hand to stop me.

After a long swig of her Coke, Jack closes her eyes for a few seconds, then speaks. "They're...like demons. Ugly and laughing...but it wasn't like funny laughing. It was like hysterical screaming laughing. They circled my body."

"Those were the gang members," I say.

"No. I saw them, too. Four of them." She described each one in detail, including Moloch, as well as the candles around her. So far, nothing about giant black panthers. "But between them, and all around them, were these...things. They had horns and spiny backs and claws." Tears stream from her eyes now. "Oh God...it was like hell had been opened up."

Grant and I exchange a look. He shrugs. I reach over the counter and take Jack's hand. She's shaking so hard the stool rattles. "It's over now," I say. "You're safe."

She shakes her head again. "No, you don't get it. It's not over."

It is only now that I see her eyes darting to every corner of the kitchen. And I understand why a panther wasn't such a terrible shock. She'd seen something far, far more terrifying. "Jack...what do you mean it's not over?" But I already know. It's what I've been smelling since stepping out of the car.

She cries, choking out the words. "They followed me." She points to a spot next to me, the tip of her finger shaking violently.

"They're here."