I reeled backward. Nathanial's face was peaceful and clearly dazed. I glanced down at his wrist, which now sported four small holes. My tongue tasted blood. I pressed my hand to my mouth. Sharp fangs pressed into my palm. They weren't remotely like the canines I sprouted in my cat form.
"What have you done to me?” I whispered. Nathanial blinked, but his eyes didn't focus. “What have you done to me!"
I darted out of the room, barely noticing that the steep stairwell led up to a narrow alley instead of the building interior I expected. I ran outside blindly, not caring where I went or who was on the street around me. I'd forgotten my coat and shoes. Snow crunched under my feet, but the cold didn't affect me. Perhaps adrenaline made me oblivious. I didn't pause to consider it.
A scent on the wind caught my attention. Dearly familiar and thick with Firth, it was close, but I lost it. I ran down the next street and stumbled over the scent again. A moment later, I saw Bobby standing in the shadows of an alley. He hadn't seen me yet, but more surprisingly, he hadn't picked up my scent. I ran for him, scarcely missing a taxi that sped by, the driver yelling a string of obscenities.
Bobby's eyes grew wide as he recognized me. He rushed forward, and we collided near the mouth of the alley. I collapsed into his arms. Tears that had been carefully in check poured from my eyes.
"Kita, Kitten, what happened? Are you all right?” He cradled me against his chest, pulling me deeper into the shadows. “Did a hunter find you?"
I kept crying. Slowly a deep rumbling drifted from his chest. I had been away from Firth so long, it took a moment for me to realize he was purring in his human form. I knew he was trying to comfort me, but I pushed away and sat down in the snow. Wrapping my arms around my legs, I cried into my knees.
"You must be freezing.” He wrapped his coat around me, his fingers lingering on my shoulders. “Talk to me, little kitten."
"I'm not cold. I don't feel it at all. I don't think I'm alive."
His fingers worked at my neck and shoulders, looking for knots of tension. It was an old and familiar gesture, but I shrugged him off. He stood beside me for a long time before finally sitting down.
"I don't know what's got you thinking like this, but you're alive. For one thing, dead cats don't cry. Want to talk about it?"
What could I say? That a stranger had turned me into something I couldn't understand? I looked over at him, and he sucked in a breath. “Your eyes are bleeding."
Scrubbing my cheeks with my hands, I found my tears were, in fact, tinted with blood. “I'm a monster! Look at my teeth."
"There's nothing wrong with your teeth. What's going on, Kita? How did you change your scent? You don't even smell like Firth. Yesterday you did."
"Yesterday? Was that yesterday?” Everything that had happened since I ran away from him spilled from my mouth in a barely coherent jumble. My tears found fresh fuel in the retelling. He watched their blood-tinged trickle suspiciously, but didn't interrupt me. “And now I'm a monster, and I can't shift forms, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to again, and I'm scared, really, really scared, Bobby."
He tried to wrap his arms around me, but I curled tighter in on myself.
"Then let's get out of here. We'll hide out until the gate opens, and I can take you home. No hunters, and no trial. Just you going back to the clan, where you belong."
"I can't go back to Firth! I was a constant embarrassment to my father before. What will he do if he finds out I can't shift?"
"You would rather stay in the human world? What if this ... this condition ... is only temporary, and you'll be able to shift—” Bobby fell silent. He tensed, and I followed his gaze to the end of the alleyway. The shadows stirred then parted, as Nathanial strolled toward us.
"He smells like you,” Bobby said. “What you used to smell like. That's him, isn't it?” Bobby took a step forward.
I leapt up and grabbed his wrist. “Don't. Whatever he is, he isn't human."
An awful sound leaked from Bobby's throat as energy danced over his skin. Things were going to get worse if he shifted.
"Run,” he whispered at me, taking another step forward. He would make sure Nathanial didn't follow me, or at least try to, but I didn't want him hurt. I squeezed his wrist harder, my nails biting into his skin, but he didn't pay any attention.
Nathanial tossed a bag, not to me, but at Bobby. “Kita, you left your coat and shoes. I thought you might need them.” Perhaps he expected Bobby to try and catch the tote, but animals don't catch, they dodge. Bobby was charging before the bag landed.
I hesitated, glancing at the mouth of the alley. The need to hide my kind's existence from humans was firmly ingrained in me. I'd forgotten while drugged, and I'd extended my claws against the hunter, but I was thinking clearly now, and even a secluded street was not a safe place to fight. At the same time, I couldn't let Bobby tackle my battle alone.
I raced forward to join the fight.
I circled the two men, letting Bobby's full-out attack cover my actions. Nathanial glanced my way as I reached his side, but he didn't divide his attention or even seem to care I had gained a flanking position. My foot shot out, fast, but Nathanial simply wasn't in the space where the kick landed.
He had been there, the moment before. I gaped and realized none of Bobby's attacks were landing, either. Nathanial wasn't blocking or even dodging the blows, he simply wasn't there when they landed. Sweat broke over Bobby's brow, but Nathanial didn't even appear winded. What was he?
Nathanial grabbed two handfuls of Bobby's sweater and lifted him a foot in the air. Bobby was the taller and broader man, but Nathanial hurled him down the alley. Bobby rolled as he hit the ground, the shock on his face mirroring what I felt.
Nathanial moved to continue the attack, leaving me his unguarded back. I lashed out, the kick fast and clean. In less than a racing heartbeat, Nathanial whirled to face me, my foot caught effortlessly between his hands. He pushed, just pushed like it was no effort, and tipped me off my center of balance. I landed on my butt in the snow and stared at his retreating back as he stalked toward Bobby, who hadn't straightened from his tumble yet.
The bag Nathanial had tossed earlier was within reach. I grabbed it, hurling it at his back. He turned, batting the bag aside. A sneaker escaped and fell to the ground in slow motion.
Suddenly, sickly green light flashed through the air.
The putrid smell of decay met my nose, and I found myself surrounded by three purple shrouded ... things. They held up taloned, three-fingered hands, and the light returned, creating a green haze between them and me. I jumped to my feet and tried to back up, but the thin haze of light was behind me, as well. A solid barrier forming a cage.
What kind of monster was I dealing with?
I couldn't take anything else bizarre. A scream bubbled up from my throat and ricocheted off the brick walls.
"None of that, now,” said a voice near the front of the alley.
I turned.
A man in a tight, tailored suit walked toward me, his face a picture of disdain. “Have some dignity and don't draw attention to yourself,” he said, pulling a thick book out of thin air. He stood there a moment, flipping pages.
I glanced over my shoulder. Bobby was up now, his attention shifting from Nathanial to the shrouded things and then to the book-conjuring stranger. Nathanial, for his part, appeared to have forgotten the fight and looked just as baffled by the stranger's appearance.
I turned back to the stranger in the expensive suit. “Who are you?"
"I am your judge, and you...” He ran a finger down a page in the book, stopping halfway. “Ah, here, you are, Kita of the clan Nekai, Shifter of Firth. You are found guilty of attacking and wounding a human, thus turning said human into a rogue shifter who menaces his fellow humans, thus endangering and exposing the whole nonhuman community. You are also held responsible for the deaths caused by that rogue. For those crimes, your life will be forfeit.” He snapped the book shut.
My jaw fell slack, but no words emerged. No, I couldn't have ... I shook my head. Forfeit?
Bobby rushed forward. “That's not the way of our kind!"
The judge flicked his wrist, and Bobby slammed into the wall a few feet away. “This does not concern you."
Bobby's limp form slid down the wall to land in a heap.
I stifled another scream.
"Kill her,” the stranger commanded. The creatures surrounding me slid through the barrier.
"Wait! Don't I get a defense, or last request, or anything?"
"We could make a deal,” one of the creatures offered. Its voice crashed through my brain like a jackhammer.
I wasn't sure which of the three had spoken. I glanced between them. Cowls covered their faces, and I was glad for that. I had the feeling I didn't want to see what they actually looked like.
"What kind of deal?” I asked.
"No! No deals,” the judge yelled. Under his breath he added, “I hate working with demons."
"Your soul,” said the demon and then made an awful sound that might have been a laugh, “or in your case, souls. We will even grant you immortality."
I stared. Demons wanting souls, how original. I had never been sure there was such a thing as a soul, but now that I knew, I didn't want to give mine to these things. Life couldn't be worth whatever they planned.
The judge's cheeks flushed, his knuckles whitening around the book. “You will kill her. No deals with this one. I have been tracking her for months. No deals."
"One young woman that hard to find?” Nathanial emerged from the shadows “Do you have any evidence of this alleged crime she committed?"
The judge's eyes narrowed as he studied Nathanial. “What business do you have here, vampire?"
"None at all, but I have perused her mind. I personally saw no evidence she attacked a human and turned him into a rogue shifter.” Nathanial paused. “But, if her claims of innocence are unimportant to you, at least let her be of service. Surely your biggest concern is finding the rogue who is causing the problem? Let her find him. She can deliver him to you."