“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said, already growing bored with me apparently, as she floated back toward the wall.
But I refused to let her off that easily.“You were spying on us for weeks. You told Dash when he could get a clear shot at Luna to make the switch. I’m guessing you also told him where he could hide her. Or was it just a coincidence that she ended up at the bottom of Kelley’s well?”
“My well. My house!” Virginia corrected. “And what does it matter? Somehow you fools still managed to win in the end, so who cares about what part I had in things?”
“I care,” I said, jabbing my thumb toward my chest. “Especially since you’re spooking the babies.”
“Oh, boo hoo.” Virginia laughed uproariously at her own joke.
I reached into my pocket and took out my cell phone.
“What are you doing?” Virginia asked, fright creeping into her voice.
“Calling the exterminator,” I said with a deliciously wicked grin.
Drake answered after the second ring.“Yellow.”
“Hi, Drake. Are you with Mr. Fluffikins?” I asked breathlessly.
“Yup.”
“I need a favor.” I quickly explained our problem.
“Yeah, we can help with that,” Drake said before hanging up.
About five minutes later, Drake, Mr. Fluffikins, and an old man with a long white beard popped into my living room.
I screamed and stretched out my arms to form a protective barricade for Luna and the kittens.“Dash is right behind you!” I yelled in warning.
Drake stared at me, his brow scrunched with confusion.“What? Oh, that’s not Dash. This is—”
Virginia let out a terrible wail, drowning out Drake’s words.
I glanced over just in time to see the Dash doppelg?nger swish a massive scythe and suck Virginia’s disembodied spirit into the blade.
“What just happened?” I asked, equal parts thrilled and terrified.
Drake waggled his eyebrows.“You had a soul to reap, so I brought my reaper friend.”
The old guy in the suit bowed, then went to check out the contents of my fridge.
“Thank you,” I called after him.
He simply lifted a hand in acknowledgment and returned to foraging about my refrigerator.
“He doesn’t talk much,” Drake said with a shrug.
“C’mon, you two. I want you to meet the kittens,” I said, grabbing Drake’s hand and pulling him after me.
Mr. Fluffikins followed us to the far corner of my bedroom where Luna had arranged a pile of blankets and old clothes to create a nest for her and the kittens.
Merlin joined us, too, having returned from whatever he was doing outside. He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask.
“They’re so tiny,” Drake crooned as he settled himself cross-legged on the floor.
“You should have seen them a few hours ago,” I said, every bit the proud aunt. “I swear, they’ve at least doubled in size since then.”
We all sat and waited for the kittens to finish their meal.
The little boy was the first to pull away from Luna. He wiggled his paws against the floor and scooted away from his mother’s belly. Being that the kittens were still incredibly young—still less than a day old at this point—they never strayed far from Luna.
Right now, however, the little tike was moving determinedly across the room. I’d never seen any of the babies venture so far from their mother. But, I’ll be darned, that white kitten kept going until he bumped into Drake’s foot, then he stopped and mewled.
Drake laughed and scooped the baby into his hands.
“Whoa,” he said, after lifting the baby to his face. “How come it has red eyes?”
I chuckled.“Don’t be silly, Drake. They won’t open their eyes for another week at least.”
He slowly turned the little boy around so I could see his face. Sure enough, his eyes had popped open and were now glowing a bright and angry red.
“Well, this isn’t good,” Fluffikins said.
30
For the next week, Drake and Mr. Fluffikins visited every day. They said they just wanted to see how we were getting on after the big showdown with Dash, but it was quite obvious that they were actually observing the little white kitty with red eyes.
None of his sisters had opened their eyes yet, and they still mostly scooted and paddled to move from place to place. Our boy, however, was now able to run, scamper, and pounce. His favorite activity was playing with the laser pointers I’d picked up at the local pet store. Strangely, he was able to catch the dot each and every time we played, frying the battery on the laser pointer and effectively running our game.
Then there was that one time he sneezed and summoned a tiny tornado right in the house!
When he started biting Luna during nursing time so that her milk mixed with blood, Merlin and I knew we had to do something fast.
That day when the Beech Grove crew showed up for their visit, we left Drake with Luna and the babies while Merlin and I pulled Mr. Fluffikins outside for an important discussion.
“What’s wrong with my son?” Merlin asked.
“He’s a vampire,” Fluffikins stated plainly.
“He’s a witch,” Merlin countered, kicking up his back feet in anger. He could no longer summon lightning—or anything else for that matter—but he still retained some of his magical mannerisms.
“Actually, I think he’s both,” I offered in quick order. Both cats turned to me. “I think something happened with Drake the first day they met. They bonded.”
“And now Drake is his familiar?” Merlin asked, aghast.
“I’m not sure which is witch,” I said, chuckling at my pun.
The cats, however, didn’t even crack half a smile between them.
“That day when you came to take Drake,” Merlin said, dancing on his front paws. “You said that vampires don’t drink blood anymore. That it’s an outdated practice. Then why is my boy doing it?”
Mr. Fluffikins cleared his throat before saying,“Human vampires don’t.”
“What about cat vampires?”
Mr. Fluffikins shook his head and sighed.“I don’t know. There’s never been one before.”
We all drew quiet at this revelation.
“Will he be okay?” I asked at last.
The black cat nodded.“He’s very strong and developing at an accelerated rate. Surely, you have noticed that.”
Merlin and I both nodded, too.
“As hard as this is to hear, you need to let him go. Let him leave with Drake. They need to be together.”
Merlin’s eyes searched the horizon. “But how will I know he’s okay?” he squeaked.
Fluffikins reached forward and set a paw on top of Merlin’s “You have my word. I’ll treat them both as if they are my own.”
My cat turned to me.“Luna won’t like this.”
“I know,” I said with a sad smile. “I don’t like it either. But I understand.”
“Me, too. But let me talk to her alone,” he said, and then without waiting ran back through the cat flap.
A few moments later, Drake came out to join us in the front yard.
“I heard you broke up with Kelley,” I said conversationally, because it felt like a lighter topic than the whole vampire thing. She’d called me a few days back and cried her eyes out as we both dug into cartons of ice cream and streamed a sappy chick flick together on Netflix.
“It was the right thing to do,” he said. “Please promise me you’ll find a good guy for her, someone who deserves her.”
“Of course, I will!” I practically shouted. So much had changed in the last week, but Kelley was still one of my best friends. That would never change.
“I’m moving,” Drake added softly. “Not Beech Grove, but somewhere new.”
“There was an opening for town vampire,” Mr. Fluffikins explained. “I vouched for him.”
“Well, congratulations. I’m sure you and your kitten will love it there.” I was too consumed with sadness over the departing kitten to offer him a smile now.
Drake looked to Fluffikins, confusion evident in his expression.