Cat's Out - Book 4

Chapter 3 - two's a pack

Antonio pulls an old sheet from a kitchen table and produces a couple cans of Coke from a cooler under a kitchen cabinet.

I plop into a squeaky, but sturdy, wooden chair. "Soo, I take it you come here often?"

He drops into the seat opposite mine and pops the tab on his Coke. After several long gulps, he grins a sad grin. "I live here. Since I was born."

Oh. Now I see it. Everything carefully kept in order. More or less clean. The posters on the wall. Nature scenes. No sports. I can see that. "And that was your bedroom?"

"Yeah."

"And your parents?"

He doesn't look at me, just stares off into a corner and shakes his head. Dad's dead. My ma...don't know. She disappeared three years ago. Bank took the house. But, since no one is going to buy a house in a dying city, I just moved back in."

"All alone?"

Antonio gulps his Coke. He's had a long night. Probably thirsty. He wipes a sleeve across his mouth and nods. "I tell anyone else, they'll take it. It's the only safe place I got. So I try not to stay too often. Couple nights a week. Until..."

Now I get it. "Until you can buy it."

"Stupid, huh?"

I remember a story about a house in Detroit selling for $5. "No. Not stupid at all. Everyone needs a home."

"Even a shifter?"

Now we're getting down to brass claws. I turn my gaze downward. "Yeah."

He pushed the second Coke closer to me. "Drink that before it gets warm."

I pop it and let the almost cool Coke run down my parched throat. When I take my fill, I start on...what? A plan? Pack rules? "Okay...we need to think about this new situation."

"Sit-u-ation." Antonio innunciates the word. "Is that what we call it?" He studies one arm. "I'm a cat."

"A panther, to be more precise." Not helping. "You didn't get to choose like I did."

"Why not? I'd be a better bear."

"Too skinny for a bear. But you didn't get to choose because I'm still alive. I'm the alpha. If I'd died before you'd changed, you would have been whatever...it's hard to explain...you'd be whatever your spirit animal is. My alpha told me that I'd get to choose. That was only half right...and I'm just guessing here...but I didn't think 'I wanna be a panther' after he'd bitten me. It just happened. If he'd lived, I'd be a dog."

Antonio laughs. "Bow wow. Trust me, you ain't no dog." He stares off into the darkest corner of the kitchen, where a refrigerator probably once stood. "Wonder what my spirit animal is."

"Well now it's a panther. And you need to know how it works."

"What? There's rules? Bad enough I'm a monster. Now I got rules."

"Only if you want to survive." I tap the coke can with a fingernail. "First, you can change whenever you want. I'll show you how. Took me a long time to figure it out on my own. Second, you can also change when you're stressed, so learn to control your temper or you might just shred somebody over a stupid argument."

"Good to know. I'm usually a pretty passive guy."

Wish I could say the same. "Next. Don't let anyone see you change. And try not to let anyone see you as a cat. We're hard to catch, but not impossible."

"Can we be killed?"

I think about Jacques lying in his own blood, the life draining from his body. "Yes. With a silver bullet. Or knife, I suppose."

"Seriously? I thought that was Hollywood B.S."

"Most fiction is based on a little truth. They got that part right."

"Then we're okay," Antonio says. "Who has silver bullets these days?"

"Your old friends."

"Moloch? The Resurrection?" His eyes widen.

"And gang. Moloch knows about shifters. And how to kill them."

"Oh...yeah. That makes sense now. So we need to stay clear of them."

"Except...they're making zombies out the local druggies and he has my sister."

"Your dead sister..."

I nod. "Yup."

"If ain't seen the things I seen...and if I weren't a cat...this would all sound crazy."

"Tell me about it." I finish off my Coke.

Antonio pulls the empty can to his side of the table. "Returnables."

Always environmentally conscious. "We do have one problem."

"Just one?"

"Okay. A lot of problems. But the one I'm worried about is the ambulance paramedics. You were seen changing."

"Oh yeah...that." Antonio stands and drops the two empty cans into a paper bag under the sink. When he turns, he leans on the counter and crosses his arms. "Only one saw me, I think. The other was driving."

"That's one too many." I think for a minute. "She would have told the cops."

"Yeah." Antonio stares down at the floor. Then suddenly looks up at me. "Wait...did you see the cops?"

I shake my head. "No. I took off after you, remember?"

"Did you see what cops were at the old factory where I was shot?" He looks down at his mid-section, as if remembering that he should be mortally wounded.

"I didn't see any, but I heard one. Pretty sure it was that detective. Detective Knight."

"Then he might have gotten to the ambulance first." Antonio is pacing now. "Maybe he's the only one who knows."

"And this is good why?"

"Because he's a friend. And we might be able to talk him into keeping it quiet."

"We?"

"Don't you see?" Antonio stares down at me like I'm a dumb kid. "He wants to stop The Resurrection. We want to stop The Resurrection before they kill us and get your sister out of whatever hell they have her trapped in. Knight needs us."

I'm not so sure. Revealing our secret to a detective doesn't jive with keeping a low profile. Of course, he already knows about Antonio. As far as he knows, Antonio has always been the panther. He knows me, but not my secret. Now Antonio is suggesting we bring him into the pack. Jacques wouldn't approve. "I don't know Antonio. Can we trust him?"

"We don't have to. We've got a big card to play."

"And what's that?"

"Your sister. The queen of his heart. And he'll want to save her as much as you do."

Crap on a couch. He's right. We need to shut Detective Lance up. And get his help. "Well, we'd better get going before he starts filing reports. Police station?"

"Probably. So we'd better hurry. Aaand we'll never make it on two feet."

The sigh that escapes me would fill a hot-air balloon.

Antonio pulls off his sweatshirt. "You'd better make my shifting lesson a crash course."