Chapter 2
Two weeks into my feline imprisonment, and I’ve developed a routine.
Wake up on Finn’s pillow (optimal sleeping location), demand breakfast with imperious meows, observe the clinic operations, terrorize the occasional small dog (for dignity maintenance purposes only), and end the day allowing Finn to pet me while he watches those ridiculous baking competition shows.
This is merely tactical patience while I await the opportunity to break my curse.
I’ve been analyzing the parameters of Valefar’s spell.
“An act of genuine, selfless mortal kindness” could mean anything, and Finn performs dozens of such acts daily.
Why hasn’t the curse broken? Perhaps because they’re part of his job?
Or because they’re directed at animals, not at me specifically?
These thoughts occupy my mind as I lounge in the windowsill of the clinic reception area, observing the rain-slicked street outside. Finn is with a patient in exam room two, and his assistant Josie is fielding phone calls.
That’s when I see them—three hulking figures across the street, watching the clinic with unmistakable interest. Even in my diminished state, I can sense the demonic energy emanating from them.
Valefar’s minions. They’ve come to ensure I remain trapped.
My fur bristles as they start crossing the street toward the clinic. Even in my limited form, I know trouble when I see it. I leap down from the windowsill, racing toward exam room two.
The door is ajar, and I slip inside to find Finn gently bandaging the paw of a whimpering golden retriever. The dog gives me a pathetic look that I ignore completely.
Finn needs to leave. Now.
I yowl with all the urgency I can muster, leaping onto the exam table and deliberately knocking over a tray of instruments.
“Whoa! What’s gotten into you?” Finn looks genuinely startled, quickly steadying the nervous dog. “Sorry about that, Mrs. Hendricks. My cat is having some kind of moment.”
This is not a MOMENT, you oblivious human! This is a DEMONIC THREAT!
The bell above the clinic door jingles, and I hear Josie’s voice rise in confusion. “Um, can I help you gentlemen?”
I hiss, clawing at Finn’s arm, trying to communicate the danger.
“Ouch! Seriously, what—”
The exam room door slams open. Three men stand in the doorway—or rather, three entities wearing human disguises that don’t quite fit right. Their skin has an ashen quality, their movements too fluid, eyes gleaming with unnatural light.
“Well, well,” the tallest one says, voice grating like metal on stone. “What a charming little… veterinarian.”
Finn steps in front of his elderly client protectively. “The clinic is closing early today. You’ll need to leave.”
Run, you fool! These aren’t clients!
“We’re not here for pet care,” the second creature says, grinning to reveal teeth just slightly too sharp. “We’re here for the Duke.”
They all look directly at me, and I flatten my ears, hissing with all the demonic fury I can channel through this ridiculous form.
Finn glances between me and the intruders, confusion evident. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but you need to leave. Now.”
“The human doesn’t know,” the third one laughs, the sound like breaking glass. “How precious. Valefar will be delighted.”
They move with supernatural speed. Two grab Finn, pinning him against the wall while the third reaches for me. Mrs. Hendricks screams, clutching her dog.
“Get out of here, Mrs. Hendricks!” Finn shouts, struggling against his captors.
I do the only thing I can—I launch myself at the demon reaching for me, claws extended, teeth bared. I may be small, but I am still Morax, and I will not be taken without a fight.
My claws connect with the demon’s face, drawing black ichor that sizzles where it hits the floor. He howls, swatting me away with enough force to send me crashing into the wall.
Pain lances through my small body. One of my wings hangs at an odd angle. Through blurred vision, I see Finn’s expression shift from confusion to rage.
“Get your hands off my cat!” With unexpected strength, he twists free of one captor, grabbing a syringe from the counter and plunging it into the arm of the other. Whatever medication it contained makes the demon screech, his human disguise flickering.
The third demon lunges for me again, but Finn intercepts him, tackling him to the ground with a ferocity I wouldn’t have thought possible from the gentle vet.
“Run!” he shouts to his client, who finally flees with her dog.
You should be the one running, you idiotic human!
Instead, Finn places himself between me and the demons, arms spread protectively. “I don’t know who you are or what you want, but you’re not touching him.”
“Him?” The lead demon laughs. “You protect a Duke of Hell like a common pet?”
Finn doesn’t waver. “I don’t care if he’s the Queen of England. He’s under my care, and you’re not taking him.”
Something warm and unfamiliar blooms in my chest at his words. Even knowing what I might be, he’s still protecting me?
The demons exchange glances, momentarily thrown by this unexpected development.
“Valefar said nothing about the human being a fighter,” one mutters.
Taking advantage of their hesitation, Finn grabs a fire extinguisher from the wall and discharges it directly into their faces. The chemical spray seems to disrupt their concentration, their human disguises flickering more violently.
While they’re disoriented, Finn scoops me up gently, mindful of my injured wing, and backs toward the emergency exit.
“Stay away from my cat,” he warns, voice steady despite his racing heart.
The demons snarl, wiping the chemical spray from their eyes. “This isn’t over,” the leader hisses. “Valefar will hear of this.”
“Tell Valefar he can send a formal complaint in writing,” Finn retorts, pushing through the exit door.
Once outside, he doesn’t stop, running through the rain to the side entrance that leads directly to his apartment stairs. Behind us, I hear inhuman howls of frustration.
Only when we’re safely inside his apartment, door locked and warded (thanks to the protective symbols I’d managed to scratch into the doorframe days ago), does Finn set me down gently on the couch.
“What the hell was that?” he whispers, hands shaking as he examines my injured wing. “Who were those men? And why were they calling you a duke?”
Because I AM a duke, you magnificent, reckless human.
The pain in my wing is intense, but something else is happening. A warmth spreads through me, centering in my chest and radiating outward. The curse—it’s responding to something.
Finn’s selfless act of protection, putting himself in danger to save me despite the demons’ hints about my true nature—it was exactly what the curse required.
“I need to get my first aid kit,” Finn says, starting to rise. “That wing looks broken. Just stay—”
The warmth erupts into searing heat. I yowl, my body convulsing.
“What’s happening? Oh god, are you going into shock?” Finn reaches for me, panic in his eyes.
A blinding light engulfs me. I feel my body stretching, changing, bones cracking and reforming. The pain is excruciating but glorious—I’m returning to my true form!
Finn stumbles back, eyes wide with disbelief as the small cat on his couch transforms into something else entirely. The light grows so intense he has to shield his eyes.
When it finally fades, I stand before him in my true form—seven feet of obsidian-skinned demonic majesty, curved horns restored to their impressive size, leathery wings unfurled behind me. My amber eyes glow with hellfire as I flex fingers tipped with wicked claws.
“Holy SHIT!” Finn yelps, tripping over the coffee table and falling backward onto the floor.
I roll my shoulders, relishing the return of my proper form. “Not quite holy,” I rumble, my voice like distant thunder after weeks of pathetic meows. “But the sentiment is appreciated.”
Finn stares up at me, mouth opening and closing without sound. He looks ridiculous, sprawled on the floor in his rumpled scrubs, hair standing on end, eyes comically wide.
I can’t help it. After two weeks of indignities, of being cuddled and cooed at and fed from little bowls, I throw back my head and laugh—a sound that makes the windows rattle and the lights flicker.
“Your FACE!” I roar with delight. “You look like you’ve seen a—well, I suppose you have.”
“You’re… you’re…” Finn stutters, pointing a shaking finger.
“Morax,” I supply helpfully, offering a slight bow. “Duke of Hell, Commander of Thirty Legions, Master of—”
“MY CAT?!” he finally manages.
I grimace. “I was NEVER your cat. I was cursed, trapped in that ridiculous fluffy form by my rival, Valefar.”
Finn’s eyes drift downward, and his face suddenly flushes crimson. “And you’re… uh… naked.”
I glance down at my magnificent form. True, I am unclothed, my obsidian skin gleaming in the apartment’s soft lighting. Human modesty is such a strange concept.
“Does this make you uncomfortable?” I ask, genuinely curious. After all, he’s seen me naked for two weeks, albeit in feline form.
“I—you—BIG—” Finn stammers, then grabs a throw blanket from the couch and thrusts it toward me, carefully avoiding looking below my waist. “Please.”
With an amused snort, I wrap the soft fabric around my lower half. “Better?”
He takes a deep breath, still pressed against the wall. “You were my cat. For two weeks. I gave you baths. I let you sleep on my face.”
“Yes,” I confirm, folding my wings more comfortably against my back. “And you talked in your sleep. Quite a lot, actually. Something about a ‘Professor Higgins’ and ‘don’t take the spatula’?”
Finn covers his face with his hands and groans. “This can’t be happening.”
I consider him thoughtfully. Despite his current distress, this human had just faced down three lesser demons to protect me. Without any weapons or powers. Just… courage and that stubborn compassion of his.
No one has ever defended me like that before.