Chapter 26
Chapter
Twenty-Six
S he Who Hisses didn’t want an audience any more than I did. Ignoring the shouts from the various werewolf factions behind us, I followed her as she sauntered down the side street away from the Umbra building. Finally she veered into a doorway and angled her head up at me. ‘Yes,’ I nodded. ‘This will do.’
She Who Hisses sniffed.
I licked my lips. ‘It will only hurt for a few seconds,’ I promised. I reached down and plucked a small clump of fur from her back, taking care to stray nowhere near her old wound. ‘Thank you,’ I whispered. ‘If you could stay close until I’m finished, I’d appreciate it.’
She tilted her head as if thinking about it then turned round, curled up in the corner and wrapped her tail about herself. Within seconds she was asleep.
I drew a deep breath and opened my mouth to swallow the fur. There had only been one occasion in my past when I’d used the fur from a feral cat to affect my transformation and it hadn’t been a pleasant experience, but I’d been young and foolish then and I hadn’t asked the cat for permission. I’d learned that lesson and never repeated my error. With luck, this time would be different; after all, She Who Hisses had come to me voluntarily. Even so, I crossed my fingers; Nick needed me and I couldn’t spend the next six hours violently throwing up.
I dropped the fur into my mouth and swallowed. For one long moment nothing happened but then the goosebumps started – and hot damn they were intense. My whole body vibrated, buzzing as the magical electricity zipped through my bones and along my veins.
I sneezed three times in quick succession and grimaced at the burning sensation in the back of my eyeballs. A series of spasms ran through my muscles until finally my whole body started to levitate before tumbling and spinning in mid-air.
Relax, Kit , I told myself. Just relax . Although that would have been easier if it didn’t feel like I’d been zapped in the heart with a bolt of lightning.
I collapsed and my new black-furred body landed next to She Who Hisses. She opened one slitted eye then closed it again.
I allowed myself a few moments of recovery. Finally I raised myself up to my paws, stretched and limbered up for what was to come. As I arched my back and pushed my front legs forward, I heard footsteps behind me. I hastily completed my cat yoga and turned to blink at the incomer.
‘Hi, Puss.’
Thane’s deep Scottish brogue had a different quality to my feline ears, but it was unmistakably him. His bright red hair appeared as an odd shade of grey, although his green eyes were more vivid than usual.
She Who Hisses opened her eyes again and hissed at him, even though he’d been the one who let her escape from my house. I didn’t want her to run off so I padded away; fortunately Thane got the message and moved with me.
We stopped at the corner, leaving enough distance between us and the ring of potent wolfsbane so that it didn’t affect Thane. He crouched down so that his face was close to mine and lifted his hand. If he tried to stroke me, I’d bite his damned fingers off.
He smiled and lowered his hand. ‘Just kidding,’ he said. ‘Unless you want me to rub your belly?’
I stared at him. I’d hunt him down at the next full moon and try that when he was in wolf form if he got any closer. He smiled again, although it was a half-hearted effort. He was worried. Then again, so was I.
He got down to business. ‘I’ve looped around the building. There’s an open window on the second floor on the other side. If you approach it from the opposite rooftop, I think you can make the jump.’
I purred to show that I appreciated the information; it would save me considerable time.
We took off. When we rounded the block onto a busier street where some werewolves had been posted to keep watch on the rear of the Umbra building, I noted that Thane was garnering some strange glances. Maybe they hadn’t seen a cat hang out with a werewolf before, which was a shame. Their lives would have been far richer if they spent more time around felines.
A few of the wolves called greetings and questions, but at least they were no longer jeering at him. He acknowledged them with brief waves and nods but he didn’t pause. Neither did I; we were on a mission.
The building Thane had mentioned was down a narrow street only two metres away from the Umbra one, although it was considerably taller. As soon as we turned down the street and were forced to walk next to the long line of wolfsbane, Thane started to cough and his eyes reddened, so we picked up speed until we reached the door. Now I understood why he had chosen to accompany me; it was a large heavy wooden structure that required a full-sized person to open and close it.
He reached out, turned the door knob and let me enter first. We seemed to be inside an office building; there was a businesslike atmosphere about the place, and several of the interior doors had name placards attached to them.
Voices drifted towards us. ‘There must be a hundred wolves out there. Maybe more.’
‘We should hand out business cards. From the look of things, they’re going to need legal advice fairly soon.’ Lawyers, probably independent practitioners who offered their services to a range of preternatural beings.
Thane paid them no attention as he strode to the wide staircase in the centre of the hallway. He took the steps two at a time so I picked up speed and darted past him; it wasn’t a race but I was keen to get inside the Umbra headquarters. He seemed to get the message and moved more quickly.
He paused when we reached the second floor. ‘Here?’ he asked. ‘Or would you rather jump from a higher vantage point?’
Higher. Definitely higher. I miaowed and continued upwards.
‘I don’t talk cat,’ he grunted.
Yeah, yeah. He’d understood me.
On the next floor, Thane glanced around then opened the door to one of the offices without bothering to knock. A harassed-looking woman wearing a suit was sitting at an expansive mahogany desk that was strewn with papers. She half-rose and gaped. ‘Who are you? What are you doing in here?’
‘Don’t worry, ma’am,’ Thane said. ‘We won’t be here for long.’
‘I’m going to call security!’
He ignored her in favour of placing both hands on her desk and yanking it away from the window. ‘Hey!’ she protested. ‘Stop that!’
Thane circled her and pulled up the sash window behind her. He pursed his lips. ‘It looks quite far,’ he said to me. ‘Maybe this isn’t such a good idea.’
I jumped onto the windowsill and peered out: yes, it appeared quite a distance from this angle but I knew I could make it. I could feel the power bunching in my muscles as I calculated the trajectory. It would be fine.
‘What are you doing?’ the woman repeated in a high voice.
‘Two minutes,’ Thane told her. ‘Then we’ll be gone.’ As I eyed the leap he added in an undertone, ‘Be careful in there, Kit. I’m starting to like you. Don’t get yourself killed.’
I wasn’t planning to. I chirruped once then, because the longer I delayed the harder it would be, I jumped out of the window.
I sailed confidently across the two-metre gap and it was only when the open window was within touching distance that I realised there was a problem: the Umbra window had been propped ajar and there was only a gap of around four inches between the sash and the sill. I was about to smack into the glass and probably tumble down to the street below.
I twisted, intending to adjust my angle in mid-air, but I miscalculated. With my legs and tail flailing, I almost missed the window completely; only my front paws managed to make it and curl around the narrow windowsill, while the remainder of my body dangled. I was forced to dig my claws into the old wood and cling on for dear life. It was all rather embarrassing.
The woman in the office wasn’t any calmer now that I’d left the building. From my clumsy, precarious position, I heard her shriek at Thane, ‘What have you done? This is animal cruelty!’
Under any other circumstances, I’d have laughed but I had my paws full trying not to fall. My body writhed and I felt myself slipping. That wouldn’t do. I sucked in air and scrabbled upwards. I was a cat. I could manage this.
My progress seemed painfully slow even though it was only seconds before I hauled my furry body up through the gap beneath the window. Thane was trying to hush the woman, clearly concerned that somebody from Umbra would hear her and investigate, but I wasn’t worried. The room I’d squeezed into was empty and the door was closed, so it was unlikely anyone inside would hear the shouts over the commotion the werewolves were making outside.
I shook out my fur and sniffed. I should have managed that jump better but at least I was inside and safe – for the time being. Unfortunately, though, now I knew why the window had been left open: it was because of the vile stench of faeces and urine coming from a tin bucket in the corner. Next to the bucket, attached to the wall, were a chain and a pair of handcuffs. Somebody had been held prisoner inside this room – and judging from the silver bound into the handcuffs it had been a werewolf.
My near-fall forgotten, I skittered towards the chains and bucket, claws scratching on the old wooden floor. If Nick had been held here, where was he now?
I avoided the bucket – I already knew what was in there – and I sniffed delicately at the handcuffs and the chain, trying to separate the different scents. My stomach tightened when I registered the familiar teenage smell. Nick had been tied up here.
I took several steps backwards and then I noticed the blood. There wasn’t a lot of it but there was a distinct trail of drops and small splashes leading from the corner where I was to the closed door. There were also a few faint scuff marks that suggested he’d been dragged. Nick had been here, his blood had doubtless been harvested and he’d been hauled away. His absence meant that either he was dead or his captors had removed him to a safer place when MacTire and his unmerry band of werewolves had shown up at the door.
I prayed for the second option; the drops of blood were still wet enough to suggest it could be true.
With no reason to linger, I padded to the closed door. Its lever door handle rather than twisting knob meant I could open it without transforming back into human form. I jumped up and pushed it down with both my front paws. The door swung open and I slunk out.
At least this time there was a clear trail to follow. My nose twitched and I caught a glimpse of the next blood splash. I turned right down the hallway in soft, silent pursuit.