Chapter 7

Orion scowled. His mission to inspect Adeline's apartment turned out to be a disaster. Getting the door unlocked, easy enough, but once inside, he'd been confronted by her two cats. They currently had him penned in the bathroom, which was where he called Ambrose from.

"Hey, did you find something?" his friend asked.

"No, because I'm stuck in the bathroom."

"Why would you try and climb through that tiny window?" Ambrose exclaimed.

"I didn't. I came through the front door, only her cats lost their shit."

"And?"

"And they chased me into the bathroom and won't let me out."

Ambrose laughed. Really long and hard, leading Orion to tightly snap, "Not funny. How am I supposed to check her apartment for clues, not to mention get out, before she gets home?"

"I don't get it. You're usually so good with pussies," Ambrose taunted.

"Have you seen the size of them? I mean I smelled them last night, but I don't remember seeing the beasts."

"You were kind of busy. Since when you are afraid of a ten-to-fifteen-pound cat?"

"Try cougar sized."

"Er, what?" Ambrose huffed in surprise.

"You'll see when you get here. Hurry."

"Hurry how? You took the SUV."

"So, run. It's not that far."

"I am not sprinting and getting all sweaty."

"It's kind of urgent," Orion muttered through gritted teeth.

"Not really. You're in the bathroom, meaning you're safe for the moment."

Safe, yes. However, being trapped irked. "What am I supposed to do while I wait?"

"Piss on something. You love marking your territory."

He did; however, Orion usually did that outside. "Move your ass," he grumbled before hanging up. He planted his hands on his hips and glared at the bathroom door. When he'd first walked in after picking the lock—which really could have used a more intricate mechanism and a protection spell—he'd been confronted by two small kitties with hackles raised, emitting low growls. He'd paid them no mind as he stepped past until he heard their growls deepen. A glance over his shoulder showed the normal-sized pussies had expanded to jungle-cat-sized.

Now, he could have shifted and taken them on, but he hesitated for a few reasons. One, it would draw attention. Two, a fight would have damaged Adeline's apartment, and three, these were her pets. He doubted she'd take kindly to him harming them.

He had to wonder how much the spell cost to have her felines able to expand their girth to act as guard dogs. Probably a lot more than a real dog would cost.

I'll never live this down. In Ambrose's defense, if the roles were reversed, Orion would be merciless with his teasing as well.

It took forever for Ambrose to make the walk from the sandwich shop, and Orion only knew he'd arrived because he heard him exclaim, "Nice kitties. Look what I brought."

Orion dared to open the door for a peek and saw Ambrose unwrapping some butcher paper to reveal fat fish. A pair, meaning each cat grabbed one and slunk off, their massive bodies shrinking as they strode. There was something ironic about seeing them go from having a snack-sized fish in their mouth to one almost as big as them when they returned to their original size.

"You can come out now," Ambrose announced. "I have saved you from the vicious kitties."

"Fuck off," Orion muttered. "I didn't want to hurt them."

"I should hope not, since they were just doing their job. While I noticed them this morning during the wererat altercation, I never suspected they were hallowed."

"You mean magicked," Orion corrected.

Ambrose shook his head. "Take a proper sniff. No magic. They appear to be god-blessed, just like us."

"Why would a human have divinely altered cats?"

The query led to Ambrose shrugging. "I imagine for the same reason the entire alley behind her shop has a cryptid repellent. A strong hex. Very unpleasant. Even I felt it." While Orion and Ambrose could shift, their gift wasn't naturally born but one given to them by the Goddess Hekate. Some called them scions. God-blessed was another word. Even the term disciples applied, depending on the god.

"We should get the search done before the beasts finish their bribe and come after us again," Orion noted, keeping his eye on the cats. They appeared normal as they munched, nothing like the snarling creatures that tried to attack.

"It shouldn't take long. This place is tiny," Ambrose remarked.

Indeed, they usually stayed in larger hotel rooms. Glancing around, Orion almost shuddered. He couldn't imagine living in what amounted to not more than a cave. Little daylight came through the window. The ceilings were barely seven feet. Might as well live in a prison.

They searched the place thoroughly, opening every cupboard and drawer, flipping cushions off the couch to see it held a bed—the scent of her rising from the sheets. Delectable. Orion couldn't help but inhale and noticed Ambrose doing the same.

They looked under furniture, tapped for hidden panels, even checked the water tank on the toilet and found nothing. A thorough sniff of the place also didn't reveal anything. No hints of magic, blood, or decay. Just a hint of mildew because of the basement aspect, fishy feline, and Adeline.

"There's nothing here," Orion declared with surprise.

Ambrose held up his spell-detecting bag, and it remained dark. "It's spell-free."

"No magic. No meat. No riches. Makes you wonder why that wererat would have targeted her place." The behavior was out of character. "We should have tried questioning it for longer," Orion grumbled.

"Pretty sure we would have never deciphered its grunts and snarks."

"No, but we could have taken him to a witch and had her do a memory spell on it. We might have seen why it targeted her place."

"You think it was intentional?" Ambrose asked.

"Yeah, but struggling to find a reason why. Unless it's about revenge. Maybe an ex-boyfriend or someone she pissed off. I mean those sandwich prices are a bit nuts."

"When I spoke to her—"

"When did you talk to her?" Orion blurted out.

"She kind of caught me in the alley when I tested for magic. We had a short chat, and while she didn't say anything, I'm getting the strong feeling this wasn't the first time this has happened."

"No, shit," Orion huffed. "I mean she confronted it and me, with a taser and a bat." He knew firsthand she could wield them proficiently. "The bigger question remains, though, why her?"

"I don't know, but I will wager that it is wrapped into the reason why our goddess sent us to watch over her."

"Speaking of watch, at least one of us should get back to her shop before it closes." Orion felt a nagging sense of unease. The babysitting job had gone from boring to intriguing and not just because of the wererat and blessed kitties. There was something about Adeline…

"We'll both go. I think her place is well guarded enough." Ambrose glanced at the cats who rested in the window, fish gone, eyes closed, tails tucked around their bodies.

"Is she guarded? They didn't do shit against the wererat."

"Maybe because they knew she could handle it?" Ambrose suggested.

"Maybe." Orion glanced at the two pussies as they headed out the door, and one cocked open a single eye that glowed green for a second, giving a clue.

Could it be the Earth goddess that blessed them? She usually stuck to plants, but as a deity of extreme power, giving some cats the ability to bulk up wouldn't be a stretch. But why would the Earth Mother be providing Adeline protection?

And why did Hekate do the same?

What made Adeline special?

Time to do some digging to find out.