The Magical Christmas Cat

She did not want to give up her soul. All beings died, but the soul was eternal, and she feared for what would happen if hers was taken.



"Sister, no," Freya said softly.



Her own sister, older by two years and the beauty of the family, was the one who had drugged and bound Freya. It was Maeva who offered Freya's soul to the evil spirit. Since the rest of the family had died in the fire last winter, it had been just the two of them. They were close, especially so since the deaths of the others. It had been Maeva who'd saved Freya from the fire.



Freya had a horrible thought, one that rivaled her fear for her soul. "Did you kill them? Did you start the fire that killed our parents and our brothers?"



Maeva smiled, and her long blond hair whipped in the wind. She seemed not to feel the cold that tortured Freya.



"All for a good cause."



Ruby stirred but did not entirely awaken. This was different from the other dreams. A sister? Such a betrayal seemed worse even than the betrayal of a lover or a friend. She was vaguely aware that her house was purring again, but she didn't care much.



Why didn't she care?



Amalie watched from her new home inside the demon, as the monster panther took the heart of Henry, the man who had pretended to love her, the man who had trapped her soul in this dark place. She was not alone, she knew. There were others. Women, girls, souls trapped as hers was trapped. There were seven others, she sensed. Seven who had been betrayed by those they trusted most only to be trapped inside this blackness for a very long time.



Through the demon's eyes, Amalie saw the door to her bedroom burst open. Four men, all of them armed with swords and hatchets, tried to surround the big cat. The cat moved so fast. Two of the men fell almost instantly, their throats ripped apart by deadly and unnatural claws. The two others did not flee, as sane men would've, but continued to fight. One of them managed to thrust his sword through the panther's heart.



The demon slowed, wounded but not yet ready to forfeit what little time it had to live. One of the men shouted, Benedict, look out! just as the demon swung again.



Benedict, a black haired young man with intense brown eyes, moved lithely to the side and avoided the attack. He used his sword again, and this time he moved close and swung mightily, taking the panther's head.



And still, Amalie watched. The two men who had survived searched the room for the piece of jade where the demon once again hid, but they could not see it. Amalie tried to shout here but she could not make a sound. The jade cat that housed the demon and eight betrayed souls hid. The cursed stone was invisible to the men who had come here to stop the demon. They had taken the head of a living being, but the demon still survived.



Too late. They had arrived too late.



Amalie's eyes met Ruby's. "You are the ninth and last.



Do not let him take you. Remember, he is vulnerable for seconds before he sucks your soul from your body, when he is solid and yet still hungry. Take him then, if you can. If not we are all doomed.



"You cannot escape this," Amalie whispered. "Fight, fight with all you have. You cannot avoid what is coming.



You cannot trust her." In the way of dreams, there was no face, but there were large blue eyes and large warm tears.



"Save us, Ruby. Save us all."



Ruby came awake slowly, not with a start as she usually did after one of the horrible dreams. It was morning, she could tell by the way the light was coming through her window. The pieces of the dream fell together as she woke, claiming consciousness slowly.



Watch out, Benedict!



You cannot trust her.



Her?



Ruby rolled over to see that Marielle sat in a chair beside the bed. The younger woman smiled brightly, and the pieces of this twisted puzzle came together in a heart-crushing burst of reality. The one person she could depend on; the one person she truly trusted.



Marielle. Could she slip past Marielle without revealing what she knew? If she could get to Zane, would he help her? Could she be helped?



Ruby attempted to swing her legs out of the bed, but could not. Her ankles were very loosely bound, and the length of fabric that was wrapped around them was attached to the bedpost.



"They've been talking to you, haven't they,"



Marielle said.



Ruby tried to play dumb. "Who? What?"



Pretty coed Marielle just smiled. "The eight women who have fed II Gatto Nero. The eight souls you will soon join. You must be a touch clairvoyant; otherwise, they would not have been able to reach you. I'm clairvoyant myself, though the talent was dormant until II Gatto Nero awakened my abilities and spoke to me." Marielle bit her lower lip. "I have had my own special dreams, dreams that led me to this special place and time."



Ruby sat up awkwardly. She could continue to play dumb, but judging by the dreams and the expression on Marielle's face, arguing would be a waste of time. "He' s going to kill you too, you know," she said. "First me, then you."



Marielle shook her head. "No, he loves me. He's going to give me everything I've ever wanted, and we are going to live together forever. No one will be able to stop us." Her eyes were bright but unfocused, feverish and distant. Reasoning wasn't going to work.



"Besides, I've already worked so hard and done so much to come to this point. Why would I give it all up now?"



Ruby didn't think her heart could sink any more.



"What have you done?"



"Well, your aunt had to go, so you could be in this house. It's built on a very special bit of land, which allows II Gatto Nero to come alive. Fortunately, Mildred wasn't in the best of health, and all I had to do was hurry things along with a few carefully measured drugs administered slowly and diligently"



"You poisoned her."



"With the same drug I put in your soup," Marielle confessed without regret. "That was actually easier than breaking into the house down the street to drop off your anonymous gift." She grinned. "Breaking into a house to leave something beneath a Christmas tree is just as hard as breaking in to steal. It will all be worth it when he comes to life again: We're going to have everything, including an army of servants who will do anything we ask of them." The pretty girl was downright giddy at the prospects.



"The demon who has been speaking to you in your dreams is a monster," Ruby whispered angrily.



Marielle's eyes hardened. "Then so am I."



Too late, again too late! Twice before since the founding of the Brotherhood they had come close to stopping the taking of a soul, but both times they had arrived too late. In each case the sacrifice had taken place, and the Brotherhood had lost members to II Colletore. They had once managed to kill the demon's solid form, but only after he had taken his chosen soul.



On one other occasion they had arrived in time to save a child—an orphaned Welsh boy who was ultimately taken in by Zane's own ancestors—but in saving the boy they had allowed the demon to escape to wipe out an entire village in the hours he had to feed.



This was why Zane had fought so hard to avoid getting personally involved with the woman across the street. He should be concentrating only on killing the demon, and yet he was distracted, thinking only of saving Ruby—a task that was likely impossible. He hadn't fought involvement as hard as he should've.



When he'd kissed Ruby, he had not been fighting at all. In truth, he had barely been thinking.



Three other men had gathered in Zane's living room. Those in charge still believed that the collection would take place north of London, where the Order had gathered. Would four men be enough to stop the demon? During the night these warriors had parked on a nearby street and walked through backyards and climbed over fences to reach Zane's back door secretly.



They couldn't know who might be watching.



Marielle had been in Ruby's house all night. Was she the one, the servant of II Colletore? Likely. It had been foolish of him to think one of her neighbors had been the one. That was too simple, too damn easy.



Still, one or more of them could be with the Order, so they had to be careful.



Though he was itching to rush across the street now, they would wait until nightfall before making their move. Zane did not like it. He was so tempted to rush across the street, break down the door to the little yellow house, and kill the girl who held Ruby hostage.



But the research was indisputable. If he saved Ruby now, the jade cat would disappear. It would reappear in another house on another vortex, somewhere in the world where another servant to the demon would be waiting. Another vulnerable woman would die, and the demon would take its form—forever, this time.



The other men in his living room were, like him, members of the Brotherhood through family connections. Their fathers, their grandfathers, their great-grandfathers and in some cases ancestors much farther back, had dedicated their lives to researching and planning for this night. If they succeeded, there would be no more need for a Brotherhood, thank the heavens. If they failed . . . well, they could not fail.



The latest research suggested that there would be a moment— just a moment—after the cat took form that he would be vulnerable. He would not be easy to kill, but he would not yet be indestructible. One of Zane's own ancestors had killed the body of the living demon, some two hundred and eighty-seven years ago. It could be done.



This was the time they had all waited for, if their records were correct. II Colletore was about to take his last soul, the soul that would give him eternal and terrifying life. Would the opportunity to kill the demon come before or after he had taken Ruby's soul?



Why did it have to be Ruby?



"We have always been told that the timing has to be precise," Zane said to his companions as he once again parted the curtains and peeked out the window.



Ruby's yellow house looked as it always did, offering no outward hint that a true darkness lurked within it.



"If we can stop II Colletore from taking the ninth soul, and if we can keep him from transporting to another vortex until it's too late, then it will be over. His chance for immortality will pass until another two hundred and eighty seven years have gone by."