five
It had been another long day. Sophia still wouldn’t talk to me, I wasn’t any closer to seeing the animal in my backyard, and I was on edge waiting for a detective to call me about the murder.
All I wanted was to get home and soak in a hot tub until my fingers and toes went all pruney.
I dragged myself from the car, pulling my bag over my shoulder. I was digging out my keys when a loud meow chastised me for being late the third time this week. “Okay, hold your britches, Sir, I’m coming.”
The big orange tabby shook his head as if to say it wasn’t fast enough and meowed again.
The meow turned into a hiss. I looked at the window to find him with his back bowed, staring at something behind me. I spun. A small mouth set into an angular face bit out, “Bitch!” Pain exploded through my temple. As I fell, something huge streaked across the yard taking the man with it.
I rolled over and struggled to keep my head where it belonged. It felt like I’d lost it and it was rolling away. I needed to catch it, but how could I, without eyes to see where it went? A searing pain streaked through my brain. Must still be attached, then. I made it onto my hands and knees and spread both to stop the wobbling.
Sir Purrs-a-lot growled from the window as a fight raged behind me. I paid both no mind. My hands made it onto the first step and I told myself to breathe. Hands on the second step, I moved my half-ton knee onto the first. I struggled to rebalance and fell onto my side with a grunt.
My head swam and I contemplated the pros and cons of just staying there.
Pro: I would no longer have to move and the world might stop spinning too fast. I could lay there and take a nap.
Con: my assailant and a dark mass rolled across the grass. Or maybe the grass was rolling underneath them? I couldn’t be sure, but in any case, they were still there.
I tilted my head back and stared at my front door. It was only a few feet, but it may as well have been a mile. When had I gained so much weight? I didn’t remember my bones being made of lead. I should get inside and dial 911, but the distance seemed impossible.
A grunt turned scream ended abruptly and I closed my eyes. I’d just rest here for a minute. Then I’d go inside.
Why did I need to go inside? The steps were perfectly comfortable.
A rough voice scraped over my skin, goosebumps rising in its wake. “Are you okay?”
I dragged my eyelids up but couldn’t see anything but a dark blur. My glasses must have been knocked off. I went to shake my head and winced. “I don’t think so. My head…” I thought I’d raised my hand to wave at the side of my head, but when I looked again, my fingers just twitched where they lay on the step.
“Don’t move. I’m calling for help.”
“Can’t move lead bones, anyway.”
“Cavi, I need you. A woman was struck in the head.”
I was almost asleep when his voice sent shivers over me again.
“I don’t know! Just get here! And bring Kendal.”
I winced at his tone. He was furious with whoever he was talking to.
“I’m sorry, little one. I’m not angry, just frustrated. Cavi should know I can’t answer questions about your condition. I wouldn’t have called him if I knew what to do.”
I didn’t realize I’d said that out loud. “S’okay.” Ice flowed from my head to my toes. “When’d it get so cold?”
A growl, so low and inhuman it stood every hair on end, sounded from the end of the walk. Warmth suffused my back, and despite being draped over concrete steps and my head alternating between ten thousand degrees and negative forty, I relaxed. I felt protected, even though I was dimly aware I should feel anything but. The shadowy form above me shifted, and even through my blurred vision, I could tell he was built like a linebacker. But his touch, when he checked my head, was impossibly gentle. A deep sigh left my body and I sank into the feeling of safety.