I knew the next blood drive was scheduled for later today. “These cats, how many are there?”
“I’d guess around a dozen, give or take.”
“Thanks, er, what’s your name?”
“Name’s Fluffy. I was living with Murphy before those Avarice Demons moved in. Now I’m prowling around, looking for a new gig. Thinking maybe you could set me up at the Psi Phi House.”
“Dude, you are so barking up the wrong tree.”
“Hey, I was good to you. Now it’s your turn to be good to me.” He stamped his paw in annoyance.
“If what you say is true, then I’ll do what I can. But I can’t make any promises.”
He sniggered at me, the little poop. “Some all-powerful Slayer you are. Can’t even find a home for a helpless cat.”
“I said I’d try; give it a rest.” And I ran the rest of the way to Psi Phi House.
I arrived in time to smell fresh cookies baking in the oven. It was marvelous. Aunt Chloe was orchestrating treats for the anticipated donors. The sullen faces of half-bloods had me realizing they were not helping out of the kindness of their hearts.
“Why the long faces?” I asked Angie.
“Would you want to be baking cookies you can’t eat?”
She made an excellent point. “Where’s Aunt Chloe?”
She tossed her wild brown hair in the direction of the kitchen. Aunt Chloe was issuing orders like a drill sergeant.
“Pick up the pace, ladies. If you want to get to bed, you have to finish this last batch. You can’t get something for nothing, you know.”
“I did last night.” One of the new girls tittered and several others joined in.
“I’m not talking about that, girlie. I’m talking about blood. If you want to feed, you have to give back to the community. Those are the rules. How often you want to be listed on the ho chart is up to you.”
The girl gasped, but kept quiet after that. You had to love Aunt Chloe.
“Have you seen Colby?” I asked as soon as I was noticed.
“No dear, she went to school early this morning. What’s wrong?”
I debated telling her about the cat’s message. I didn’t feel like sounding crazy in front of the other inhabitants of the House, so I just shook my head and asked to use the phone.
After a quick call to Animal Control complaining about the poor health and living conditions of the cats at Mrs. Murphy’s house, I tried to call Hunter again. This time a very groggy Slayer answered the phone.
“Yeah.”
“Morning, sunshine. Everything okay over there?” I jumped to the point right away.
“Piper?” He was still muddled.
“Yeah it’s Piper. Expecting another girl to call and wake you up?” I tried not to sound jealous, but really. I hardly knew anything about the guy except he was a Demon Slayer and too sexy for words.
“Sorry, I’m just so tired. Hard to wake up this morning. I need some tea.” I smiled at his reference to tea instead of coffee. We always met at the teahouse.
“Anything unusual happen this morning? Any unexpected visitors?” I tried to keep the urgency out of my voice. After all, I only had the word of a very suspicious cat.
“No, I don’t think so. ’Course I’ve been dead to the world so a football team could have played through here and I wouldn’t have noticed.”
Nice to know Demon Slayers were such light sleepers. Not.
“Great, well, meet me at the teahouse in an hour, okay?”
“Will do.” And he hung up.
I should have known better than to believe that Colby was going after Demon Slayer blood. I was such a fool. That cat was gonna get it the next time it crossed my path. But still, I shouldn’t take any chances so I flagged down Angie, who was heading the blood drive.
“Angie, I think maybe some demons might be after Aunt Chloe. I heard they might crash the blood drive. Can you have Tribunal Security greet the van?”
“Sure, but why not ask Thomas to do it?”
Yeah, that would work. Let me ask the guy being possessed by the head demon to protect us. Thomas had no idea what was happening and I couldn’t be sure Barnaby couldn’t read Thomas’s thoughts.
“Have you seen Thomas?” I asked instead.
She shook her head. “No, but I can call security. No biggie.”
I watched her pull a cell out of her jeans and flip it open. Great, that should help ward off any unsavory surprises.
Colby entered the house about a half hour later. I was waiting for her in the living room. The cookie patrol had long since headed to bed.
“Hey,” she said, slowing removing a hoodie when she saw me.
“Hi.” We were both shy in light of our recent argument. “Where you been?”
She shook out her hair and it fell back into perfect form. Straight and sleek, blonde and beautiful.
“School, then breakfast. You’re here early.”
“Yeah, I got a line on some demon activity I thought you should know about.”
Colby’s face took on the same exasperated expression she wore the last time we spoke. I tapped down my irritation and decided to give her a quick heads-up then go meet Hunter.
“Don’t. Just don’t, okay. I know you don’t believe me but you need to know that Barnaby is going after Aunt Chloe to distract you. It’s going to happen at the blood drive. Zombie vamps in the van.”
“I would ask how you came by this information but let me guess: talking cat, right?”
I stopped in front of her. “You know, you make it very hard to like you sometimes.”
She rewarded me with a long-suffering sigh. “Look, I know how hard it is for you. I really do. You think I signed up for this? Being the Protector’s best friend probably sucks almost as much as being the Protector does. But it is what it is. It doesn’t mean you’re not important or special. You mean the world to me. You don’t have to be a Demon Slayer for me to respect you.”
Have you ever met a cheerleader who didn’t have an ego? Make her Undead and give her a purpose like protecting half-bloods and I’ll show a very self-centered vampire.
I took her by the shoulders and said slowly, “I know this is hard for you, but just try to focus. My being a Demon Slayer has nothing to do with you being the Protector. It has nothing to do with you,
period
. Difficult though that is for you to grasp, do us both a favor and just try, okay?”
I was done trying to convince her. I was going to help her, whether she wanted it or not, because that was my job.
She touched my shoulder and said, “It’s not that I don’t believe you Piper. It’s just—”
“You want proof? Well, I can’t give you that unless you have a possessed cat around I can talk to; but then, you wouldn’t know it was talking back to me, would you? You would have to take my word on it. And we know how good you are at that nowadays.”
“Piper, that’s not fair!”
“You know you aren’t perfect, right? I think maybe you’re a little confused about that. People need help once in a while. You’re not an island unto yourself, Colby. It doesn’t make you weak or bad at your job if you ask for help.”
She took a step back. “You can’t help me, Piper.”
“Just watch out for Aunt Chloe, you egomaniac.” I slammed the door on my way out, hard. She was the most exasperating person sometimes. I must have had the patience of a saint not to write her off and go home. But unlike Colby, I could recognize when a situation wasn’t all about me.
It was time to meet Hunter.
Thirteen
COLBY
C
all me an egomaniac, would she? Hah! If she was
really
a Demon Slayer, then Ms. Weatherbee would have sent me to get
her
blood and not that of a real Demon Slayer, that bad boy from the mall that found us in the parking garage. He was trouble, exactly like I said to Piper. Why didn’t she listen to me? She had to be right all the time. It was exasperating.
I managed to get the blood I needed and a little breakfast without him so much as waking up. Some Demon Slayer. If I’d been Barnaby, the only thing left of him would be a scuffed pair of boots.
I wisely kept the details of my morning from Piper. I didn’t need her getting all over me for that too. I’m sure she would have jumped to his defense and said he could help us if we just trusted him. Yeah, trust a Demon Slayer not to kill Thomas if he suspected him of being possessed? Not likely. As for Piper being a Demon Slayer, I refused to even dwell on it. That would mean she would try to kill Thomas and that was ludicrous. Piper was not a cold-blooded killer.
The only time she’d ever killed was trying to save me in the parking garage. I couldn’t even count the first time because I’d used her to trip the vampire. That was what staked him on the picket fence, not some glorious attack by my wussy best friend.
I found Aunt Chloe in the back of the house, getting ready to take a nap.
“Did you see Piper, my dear?” she asked when I peeked in her bedroom.
“Yeah, she’s on her way out.” I decided to sit on the bed and visit with her. It seemed we rarely saw each other, even though we lived in the same place.
“Hmm, probably meeting that boy on the motorcycle. Not that I blame her. I wouldn’t mind meeting him.” She winked at me.
I became very still. “What boy?”
She pulled the covers down and said, “That one you two were fighting over. The one from the garage. They went out the other night. He took her to a cemetery, isn’t that something? Very original. Didn’t she tell you?”
I stood up. “No, she didn’t mention it.”
“Probably thought you’d disapprove. You need to have more faith in your friends, my dear.”
I walked woodenly toward the door. Stopping, I looked back at her. “Aunt Chloe, I want to be the one to greet the blood van this afternoon, okay? I think I should be more involved in House activities.”
She looked confused but nodded in agreement. “If you want, dear. Van arrives at four.”
It was silly of me, but I wasn’t going to risk Aunt Chloe’s life. And anyway, no vampire zombie would be hiding in a van that we would open during the day, with the sun out. Of course, a possessed vampire wouldn’t be so concerned about burning to death in the sunlight if it thought it could jump into another body right away. A body like Aunt Chloe’s.
No, it was hardly plausible, but I would meet the van regardless. I should be more visible around the House anyway. We had new members who really didn’t know me. It would be good for everyone.
Putting my vial of blood on the desk, I changed clothes and slept until early afternoon. I woke up sneezing and heard a crash followed by a yowl. WTF?
In the far corner of my room was an orange cat, hissing, teeth bared and backed into a corner. On the floor was the vial of blood, shattered, crushed beneath my computer speaker.
“Sophie!” I bellowed, ready to kill the maid. Momentarily, Ileana and Sophie entered my room, looking very confused. The cat slashed out with its claws and snarled.
“You brought another cat into the house,” I accused. “And it wrecked my room.”
Sophie looked around for damage. “But I didn’t, miss. Not since you said I could have another pet. I swear it.” She appeared frightened, wringing her hands.
As soon as she said it, I knew it was true. Sophie was the worst liar on the planet. She wore every emotion on her face. She really had no idea about the cat.
But I was still mad. “Who let it in here, then?”
The cat sensed its chance for a quick getaway and flew past them, out the door. I wanted to chase it but Ileana said, “Let it go. It’s too late. The damage is done.”
I had to agree. The damage was done. My Slayer blood was smeared all over the hardwood, kitty paws effectively spreading it out so there was no way I could save any of it.
I dropped down on the bed, numb. “What am I going to do?”
Neither had an answer for me but I knew. I had to get more. I had to find Hunter. Throwing on my clothes, I barked, “Make sure that cat is out of the house.”
Within minutes I was rushing to the teahouse where I thought I’d find Piper. The gal behind the counter said she was there earlier, but left with a smokin’ hot guy on a motorcycle. This did
not
thrill me.
I called her cell and each time it went directly to voice mail. Dead battery or she had turned it off. Checking my watch, I discovered it was quarter to four. In my excitement, I almost forgot about meeting the blood van.
It was weird, walking back to Psi Phi House. It seemed everywhere I looked, a cat was watching me. I swore I saw the same orange cat that sabotaged my potion and numerous others. At least five of them. If Piper hadn’t told me demons possessed cats I never would have noticed them but somehow, each one had a sinister quality.
I made it home in less than ten minutes. Inside the house, several sun-friendly half-bloods were putting out cookies and orange juice in anticipation of students donating blood. I tried Piper’s cell again and almost threw my phone against the wall in frustration when voice mail picked up immediately. Time was running out, I was sure of it.