Chapter 8
CHAPTER
EIGHT
What?” Seymour scoffed, still struggling to keep Day in his arms. “Whoa, whoa, lil’ girl! Let’s slow down!”
“No!” Day hissed. “I am going to avenge Clancy and kill this man!”
Lou raised his brow, clearly confused. While he could see Day, he couldn’t understand her, so he was likely hearing a slew of very angry meowing with no idea why.
“I am going to devour him!” Day wailed.
“No, no!” Seymour tried giving her a light bop on the top of her head. “No devouring!”
Day hissed loudly.
MAYBE A TINY BIT
“Attempting to devour Mr. Morénas-Mostro is very unwise,” Sariel cautioned. “He owns the Reliquary and—”
“Yeah!” Seymour snapped. “No shit!”
“What is going on?” Neil asked, his brow pinched in worry. “Why is Day’s jaw opening up like a fucking snake?”
“Because she wants to eat Lou!” Seymour wrapped both arms around Day’s middle. “Fuck, she’s strong.” He glared at Sariel. “Lil’ help, please?”
Sariel frowned. “I do not believe she will listen to me—”
“How ’bout you try?”
Sariel took a deep breath and advanced, saying firmly, “Now, you will behave, little one, or—”
Day whirled and snapped her giant gaping mouth at Sariel. The sound of her teeth cracking together sounded like a bear trap slamming shut and had the promise of similar, if not worse, destruction.
Watching Sariel—a literal angel—flinch away was hilarious, but Seymour wasn’t laughing.
Maybe later.
“Oh, oh, oh!” Myrna squealed and waved her arms. “We can’t let Lou get eaten! Quick, someone make a mess—”
“No! No messes!” Neil argued, quickly getting in front of Lou. “Let’s talk about this, huh? Why does Day want to eat Lou?”
“She’s sayin’ Lou killed my dad!” Seymour wrangled Day against his chest and held tight. “Hey, hey, calm down. Didn’t Clancy tell you to hide in the Inro, huh?”
“Yes!” Day wiggled. “I heard all this awful noise and then it got quiet. I know Clancy had told me to stay put, but I came out to see what had happened. That’s when I saw Clancy on the floor!
And that man there—” She waved a paw at Lou.
“—was standing over his body. He laughed and then left.” Her eyes glimmered with tears.
“I… I should have gone after him… but I…” She burst into a sob and went limp in Seymour’s grasp. “I didn’t… I didn’t know what to do.”
Seymour turned Day around to gently cradle her against his shoulder. “It’s okay, lil’ girl. It’s okay.”
“I should h-have helped him!” Day whimpered. “I… I should have done something! I, I just started crying and I couldn’t st-stop!”
“It’s all right,” Seymour soothed. “I got you now.”
Lou did not seem moved in the slightest, asking flatly, “Can someone translate that?”
DAY SAW YOU STANDING OVER CLANCY’S BODY
SHE REGRETS NOT EATING YOU
SHE WOULD LIKE TO RECTIFY THAT SITUATION NOW AND EAT YOU WITH KETCHUP
“Is that really what she said?” Neil asked.
CLOSE ENOUGH
“Basically, yeah.” Seymour continued petting Day’s head. “I think she got scared, so she just hid until me and Sariel showed up. But she’s definitely sayin’ she saw Lou standing over Clancy’s, uh, body.”
“And when exactly does she claim this happened?” Lou drawled.
“Well, my dad died last Friday.”
“I was with Lou that entire day and I can promise you there was no murdering!” Myrna said sternly. “I would remember!” She glared at Flanders. “Flanders! Say something!”
“Something,” grumbled Flanders from where he still lounged on the floor.
“Flanders!”
“All right!” Flanders groaned, lifting his head. “I haven’t seen Lou murder anyone recently. How’s that?”
Day growled.
“Hey. You.” Flanders arched a brow toward Day. “Even though we can’t understand her, she can understand us, right?”
“Yes, she can!” Day huffed impatiently.
Seymour briefly considered scruffing Day, grunting as he struggled to keep a hold of her. “Yes!”
“All right.” Flanders turned his gaze toward Day. “What else do you remember?”
“What? What does it matter?” Day scoffed, finally breaking free of Seymour’s grip. She landed on the floor and then made a beeline for Lou.
Seymour groaned. “Dammit, lil’ girl! C’mere!”
Flanders was startlingly fast for a beast his size, and he cut her off. He bowed his head so they were eye to eye, and he asked again, “What else do you remember?”
Day took a step back, hissing.
Flanders narrowed his eyes.
Seymour was ready to spring into action. Not that he wanted to get mangled by a giant fiery dog monster, but he wasn’t going to let Day get hurt either.
Day’s anger broke, and she let out a frustrated huff. “I, I don’t know! There, there were a lot of them! At least four or five?” She looked up at Lou. “He… he smelled like chicken. A really spicy chicken.” Her nose wiggled. “And, and some sort of perfume.”
Izba moved the letters around on the big menu to translate what Day said.
More or less.
Flanders read it and then asked, “Can you describe the perfume?”
“Sweet? Like spun candy?” Day frowned. “I am not sure.” She sniffed the air, scowling at Lou. “He doesn’t smell like it now.”
“And the chicken?”
“Spicy? I… I don’t know.” Day blinked in surprise. “Oh! And pickles! Fried pickles!”
Flanders read over the board, hummed, and then went for Seymour’s shoes, sniffing them aggressively.
Seymour jumped, trying not to fall over as he sputtered, “Uh, p-puppy got a shoe fetish?”
It was really unfair how quick Flanders was.
“No, but I have one for setting annoying humans on fire,” Flanders crooned sweetly.
“Message received.”
Flanders gave Seymour’s shoes one last good sniff and then nodded. “Lovecraft’s.”
“Seriously?” Lou scoffed.
“Why not? It makes sense, doesn’t it?” Flanders lumbered back over to the sunny spot by the door. “You’re welcome, by the way.”
“I suppose he is right,” Myrna mused. “We know Lovecraft’s can be quite the seedy little spot for the likes of degenerates like the mostri ribelli.”
Day retreated back to Seymour’s legs, and she raised her paws.
Seymour scooped her up and cuddled her against his shoulder, waving to the others. “Hey! Mind sharin’ with the rest of the class? What is it?”
“It’s a gay bar,” Lou replied. “But more importantly, it’s a front for a monster club.”
Day looked over at Sariel with a little pout, whispering, “Sorry for trying to bite you.”
“It’s all right, little one,” Sariel whispered back. “The thirst for vengeance can be difficult to quench.”
“Wait, wait.” Seymour scowled. “You’re sayin’ some guy was at this club, went to my dad’s apartment and murdered him fuckin’ days ago, I somehow brought the smell here just by walkin’ ’round his place for a few minutes, and Fido over there could still sniff that out?”
“Yes,” Flanders muttered, “but much more intelligently.”
“Asshole!”
“Flanders likes your shoes.” Lou smirked wryly. “His sense of smell is strongest with finer footwear. An odd quirk, but reliable.”
“Okay. Whatever.” Seymour cuddled Day closer. “So, what’s this monster club?”
“You should be very cautious. It is owned by Mr. Kalt.”
“Who the hell is that?”
Sariel made a face, replying quietly, “A demon.”
“Fuckin’ great.” Seymour rubbed his forehead. “Another demon. Awesome. Woo.”
“I have heard the fried pickles are quite delicious!” Myrna said cheerfully. “Maybe you can try some while you’re there!”
Seymour grimaced. “Oh, yeah! Sure! Before or after I’m fuckin’ maimed by a damn demon?”
“You’ll be fine.” Lou rolled his eyes and adjusted his coat. “Let’s go.”
“Huh?”
“I’m going with you.” Lou growled. “I don’t take kindly to being framed for murder.”
“Okay, but is that really what they’re tryin’ to do?” Seymour shook his head. “The only witness is Day, and it’s not like she’s gonna go blab it on the six o’clock news. She only saw you ’cause she happened to come out of the Inro at just the right time. I don’t think they even knew she was there.”
“He’s got a point,” Neil chimed in. “If someone was trying to frame you, you’d think they’d be a lot more public about it.”
“Unless not being public is the point,” Myrna said. “After all, they stole that Talos man’s head, yes? So, they had to know Absolis and Vilanos would investigate the theft of an item so precious to their king’s beau.”
Lou narrowed his eyes. “You think they’re trying to pit me against my brothers?”
“Quietly, but yes.” Myrna frowned. “We should probably reach out to your contacts with the police and also take a look at this apartment ourselves. I expect these villains left more direct evidence to point the finger at you.”
“Which means Absolis and Vilanos already know.”
“How do you figure that?” Seymour asked.
“Do you really think they would have sent you there without looking that place over and checking everything out first?” Lou made a face. “They’re probably waiting for you to report back and tell ’em what they want to hear.”
“Okay, but if they haven’t said anything or tried to start a fuckin’ mafia war or whatever, they gotta know it’s bullshit, right?”
“Time to find out.” Lou kissed Neil firmly. “I’ll be back.”
“What?” Neil blinked. “You’re going there without me?”
“It’s for the best,” Seymour said. “There was a real angry troll stompin’ around there. Godzilla too, but Day ate him.”
Neil’s eyes widened.
“I’ll be fine,” Lou promised.
“You’d better be.”
Seymour bumped his shoulder against Sariel’s. “So, I guess this means me and you are goin’ to the bar?”
“It appears to be our only lead.” Sariel frowned. “If there are mostri ribelli there, we will be able to spot them very quickly.”
“How do you figure?”
“They will be the ones running from me.”
Neil and Seymour exchanged phone numbers before they left the flower shop, and Neil promised he’d come running with Buffy if they needed any help at the bar.
Of course, he only said this after Lou was already gone.
Seymour had a feeling Lou would be none too happy about Neil offering to run off and play hero, but that wasn’t any of his business.
Besides, given all that had happened today, it was nice to have someone else in his corner willing to go to bat for him.