Chapter Eight
Felipe never slept heavily. He was a cat, AKA a predator, and the first rule any killer with an instinct for self-preservation learned was always keep one eye open, lest something bigger and badder come along and decide you’d make a tasty dinner. Or an awesome fur coat, which, given the rarity of his fur, was an attempt made more often than he liked.
Thus, when the shadowy figures, stinking of fish left out in the open air too long, drifted into the cave, bypassing his makeshift bed to where Jenny slept, he went on instant alert.
What the hell are these things? Definitely not dinner. He preferred his sushi more fresh smelling. Not friend because friends usually knocked and didn’t arrive furtively under the cover of darkness. And he highly doubted they meant well. Call it instinct, or the obvious.
Careful to only move once the last one slipped past, Felipe adopted a kneeling position on the couch and peered over its back. With his enhanced eyesight, which had no issues seeing even in this murky dark, he noted a quad of creatures surrounded the bed. Of more interest, they seemed utterly oblivious to his presence, which meant they probably lacked a sense of smell. No creature with any kind of nose would have ignored the scent of cat permeating the place. He’d wager a further guess, judging by their wet appearance, that they were water based and up to no good.
Crouched on the couch, he planned his next move. Only idiots boldly rushed in. And Felipe didn’t still own at least seven of his nine lives because he lacked wits. He took careful note of their weapons. They each bore deadly black blades, long and jagged edged, not made of steel according to the lack of gleam, but still solid appearing enough. He also observed their webbed fingers ended in claws, with hooks, which he discovered as one of them drew back the sheet covering Jenny. Sweet, defenseless Jenny wearing only a thin nightgown to cover her delicate skin. She shivered in the cool air, and a spark of irritation lit within Felipe.
How dare they disturb her sleep?
How dare they look upon her at all? snarled his cat.
His small ember of ire grew as one of them braced an arm over her chest and covered her mouth with a hand.
He’s touching her. It wasn’t just the man who didn’t like that. His kitty took offense too.
Time for a midnight snack.
Before Felipe could spring into action, the creature holding Jenny yanked back his hand with a pained grunt, and Jenny uttered a scream that made even him wince. Gods, the girl, who was neither siren nor mermaid, could make herself heard. It set the dark figures around her yelling as they clapped hands to the stubby ears they bore on the sides of their heads.
Springing to her feet on the mattress, Jenny yodeled again as she kicked the one nearest to her in the face. Of course, her bare foot probably suffered more damage than the creature, or so he surmised by her cursing—a very colorful stream of words to make even the most seasoned sailor blush.
“Let go of me, you putrid sushi rejects,” she hollered, kicking out at their lashing hands. She hopped around the bed avoiding their lunges, and Felipe jolted himself from the role of observer to action hero—or should he say kitty?—to the rescue.
Thankfully, Felipe always slept in the nude—a fact Jenny failed to notice given she never once looked his way once she went to bed.With a roar, he split his skin and let his fur pop through. Fangs descended. His body mass almost tripled in size. It took only a moment to exchange his male shape for that of his hellcat, but a moment was all the enemy needed to finally notice him and turn their attention from Jenny.
Excellent. Come play with someone more your size.
Hind legs bunched and pushed, propelling him off the couch to land in front of one of the monsters from the deep.
“Meowr!” he snarled.
“Blurgh!” yelled the beast.
And with their challenge uttered, they engaged. Four to one. Great odds. Felipe lashed with his heavy paws, claws out, and left a row of gouges across the torso of one. The wound oozed sluggish black blood, but it didn’t slow the creature down.
From behind, another thought to attack, but his tail, which Felipe swore had a mind of its own, lashed the enemy much like a whip, the barb on the end catching and snagging a chunk of flesh, a sensitive part he’d wager judging by the bellow.
To his surprise, Jenny wasn’t screaming anymore like most women would do if attacked in their sleep by a bunch of monsters. On the contrary, once she found a light switch and flicked it on, bathing them all in brilliance that had them all blinking for a second, she shouted encouragement.
“Kick him in the balls,” she screeched. “Tear out his eyes. Rip off his arm. Stomp his toes.” Blood-thirsty requests that he did his best to accommodate, a task made easier every time Jenny spoke. With every word she uttered, the creatures grew weaker, possibly because they bled from the ears and, in some cases, the two slits that passed for a nose. Jenny’s special power at work.
Felipe had just finished slitting the throat of the last one when a commotion behind him drew his attention. He whirled to see one of the sirens standing there with a gleaming pitchfork, the tips of the tines covered in gore.
“What in Neptune’s beard is going on?” she exclaimed.
“Aunt Teles! I was attacked.”
“So I see. But it looks like it’s been taken care of by your guest.”
Since his kitty no longer seemed needed, Felipe pulled on his other shape, bones popping and fur shedding until he stood there in the flesh. Bare flesh.
From behind him, Jenny gasped, and from in front, Teles grinned. “Judging by his equipment, I’d say your cat is capable of taking care of more than just a few Undines.”
“Aunt! Mind your manners,” said a shocked Jenny.
“What? Was it something I said?” The sparkling mirth in Teles eyes let Felipe know she did it on purpose to tease Jenny.
He decided to save the more delicate sensibilities of his green-haired temptress—with the delectable potty mouth. He grabbed his jeans, which he’d draped over the couch earlier, and slipped them on, even as he tried to ignore the bits of blood and gore sticking to him from the fight.
“Are you all right?” A tentative touch had him slowly turning, but not slow enough. Jenny yanked back her hand as if burned.
“Perfectly fine. And you? You’re not harmed?”
She shook her head. “No. I woke up before they could do anything, and then you took care of them.”
“With some help. I saw you kick one in the face. How’s your foot?”
She shrugged. “A little sore. But I’ll be fine. I heal fast.”
Teles snorted. “Fast is an understatement. Now that we’ve ascertained everyone is just peachy keen, how about we go and check on the others?”
“Where are the other aunts?” Jenny asked, a frown knitting her brow.
“It seems your cave wasn’t the only thing attacked. Several quads of Undines invaded the isle. It is my regret to inform you, giant kitty, that one set unfortunately killed your boatman and sank his vessel.”
“Charon is going to be pissed,” Felipe muttered. “He’s already paying an absurd insurance premium for my trip out here.”
“Not as peeved as Thelxiope will be when she discovers they also took out the entire dock area. It took us years to build the last one to withstand the storms. She is going to have a fit when she finds out.”
Jenny winced. “Not another mini hurricane. The last one totally messed up the gardens.”
As they spoke, they made their way down the volcano, the low glow of solar lights, shaped like tiki torches, illuminating their way.
“So how many of these sea creatures in total came ashore? And what did they want?” Felipe asked as he knotted the sheet toga style, more to keep Jenny from stumbling off a cliff in distraction than out of modesty.
“Looks like there were five groups. Two sabotaged the quay. Another two went after our shanty village, while the last set—”
“Came after me,” Jenny finished. “But why?”
“That’s obvious,” Felipe replied. “They were after you.”
“Me? What for?”
“Maybe to prevent you from leaving,” Felipe mused aloud. “They did, after all, destroy our means of departure.”
“A good theory, but I think the better question to ask is who is behind the attack?” Teles remarked grimly as she marched. “Undines are basic and fairly mindless creatures. They don’t act without orders.”
“Who usually commands them?” Felipe asked.
Jenny and Teles exchanged a look, one that said they knew and really didn’t like it. “Mermaids,” they answered in unison.
And if mermaids were behind it, then not only did this involve Jenny he’d wager, but it probably had something to do with her mother.
Lucifer, you old devil, what scheme have you dropped me into now? Because he sure as fuck didn’t believe in coincidences. If the mermaids were suddenly showing an interest in Jenny at the same time Lucifer was, then something was afoot.
And it didn’t take an inner kitty’s intrigue for him to suddenly want to know what.