“Oh yeah, you can talk,” Bria retorted. “Why have a nice meal when you can save a dime and eat some frozen hot dogs.”

The guys in the kitchen made “uh-oh” faces and turned away. Bria and Zorn had some strange friends-with-benefits situation that was turbulent at best. No one else wanted to get involved. We had enough problems.

“Okay. Well, worst-case scenario,” I said, “we eat a good, big meal, all tuck in for the night in the two itty-bitty houses that our benefactor seems to like—right, Kieran?”—everyone chuckled or smirked—“and we battle if we need to. We’ve been through worse.”

17

Alexis

“Protect yourself.”

The strange slide made of rainbows disappeared from my dreamscape. I floated toward consciousness, confused, but was waylaid by a playground made out of melting chocolate. I bent to lick the ground, not a rational thing to do, perhaps, but the chocolate was calling.

“Rise. Protect yourself.”

It was a man’s voice, at the edge of the playground. Something zoomed past me, rubbing against my legs. Little feet pitter-pattered.

I jolted and felt my physical body jolting with me. I was near wakefulness. This was usually when the shadow thing would swoop in and take me into the spirit land. When I was strangely conscious yet not awake.

A strange little chirp met my ears, then a small weight settled onto my left thigh.

I froze as candy apples fell into the pooling chocolate. It occurred to me how fucking weird my dreams were.

“Wake up! Something is here!” the voice repeated.

I looked around the nightmare candy land, the apples now glowing a toxic red, looking for the source of the warning.

The weight moved up my body, and something rough, like wet sandpaper, ran up my cheek. Again. The third time it scratched against my nose before the weight settled on my chest.

I jolted again and fluttered my eyes open, struggling to wake up.

Something small and furry stood on top of me, looking down at my face.

It was the damn cat.

It chirped, an unexpected sound. I froze. Cats didn’t chirp, did they? Was I still dreaming?

My inactivity was apparently a green light, because the cat kneaded at the edge of my boob with its paws, taking turns pushing and releasing with each foot. A moment later, a claw dug into my skin. Pain shocked into me, and I slapped at the creature.

It was already moving.

It let out a small meow-purr as it bounded away, hitting the floor with an elegant plop, if such things existed, before darting into the shadows.

My heart thudded. I sucked in startled breaths, staring wide-eyed in the direction the creature had run.

“What is it?” Kieran asked sleepily.

“I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a dead cat, that’s what it is.” I flung back the covers and threw my legs over the edge of the mattress. The door stood cracked open. The cat was nowhere in sight, but I doubted I was lucky enough that it had left the room. “Out,” I whispered, bending to look under the bed.

Without warning, something darted at me, swiping. I flinched, nearly losing an eye but refusing to lose the battle. I rushed forward, reaching out for the blasted thing, but it took off, its bright body streaking across the floor and through the black crack out of the room.

Opening that door was probably Daisy’s idea of a joke. Or maybe a challenge to see if she could pick the lock and open the door without getting caught. Well, the joke was on her—or it would be tomorrow when I punished her within an inch of her freedom.

Speaking of Daisy, I did a quick check to make sure she wasn’t wandering around the house, looking for more mischief to make. I found her soul in her bed where it should be. Mordecai’s, too. Donovan was in the spare room, and the cat was nowhere to be found. It had probably taken off downstairs after realizing it was in mortal danger. Its soul had a smaller signature than a human’s, more of a wisp, but for some reason it seemed even wispier tonight. The spirit floating through the air in droves had clearly messed with my reading ability.

Still annoyed, knowing I wouldn’t get back to sleep right away, I wiped my face and stepped into some jammies. If I didn’t get some water and regroup, I’d just toss and turn and bother Kieran. There was no point in both of us losing sleep and being grumpy in the morning.

The house was quiet as I walked down the hallway and descended the stairs. The curtains and blinds had been drawn so no one could see in, and I navigated mostly by memory. I walked across the chilled floor to the front door and pulled the shade a little, just making sure all was well. The darkened street lay deserted, the few streetlights covering the ground with circles of light.

I turned and walked down the short hallway to the kitchen. Halfway there, the cat darted out from the side and clawed at my ankles.

“What the—” I jumped and kicked and staggered in surprise, ramming my shoulder into the opposite wall. The vile thing took off toward the back of the house. “Your days are numbered, you little dickhead,” I said through gritted teeth.

I stared after it for a moment, half inclined to stalk it around the house, catch it, and toss it outside. But the little bugger was fast, Daisy was asleep, and a locked door really should suffice. Tomorrow, though…

Continuing on, I nodded in determination. Tomorrow, that thing was goneskies. I didn’t care if it made me public enemy number one in the house.