The Start of Something New

Chapter 8

They were pretty restless throughout the night, but it's not like I could've gotten any sleep to begin with. The business card was bouncing around my mind for quite some hours and by the time I could get some rest, the vet was open and I knew that if I didn't get an appointment now, I could be waiting for quite some time.

The office was empty besides one other man with his two cats. I had decided that the black and white one was Spirit and her almost identical twin was Horizon. I wasn't quite so sure about the tabby one yet. Maybe Whiskey or Roach. I think I was going to stick with Roach just to keep them on theme, but we'll see.

Spirit had gotten a little fussy so I gently placed the bottle I was using to feed them next to her. Dee wasn't lying when he said that she may be a little more difficult, but I was up to the challenge. I've heard stories of cats yelling at their owners if something wasn't done on time, so even if it was just a food schedule I'd have three yelling cats telling me that they need to eat, and that I do too.

The vet was able to get us in pretty quickly and she said that she was genuinely surprised that they were in almost near perfect health for how young they appeared. She gave me a refill for the formula and sent a couple vitamins over to the pharmacy that I needed to give to Spirit every couple of hours to help her get a little better.

I picked up the vitamins and told myself that I wasn't going to leave them alone and that I would bring them to the shop with me. I was going to keep them behind the register so I could keep a close eye on them and make sure that they could be fed when they needed to be.

It was almost lunch time for me when the little ones started complaining they were hungry so I had pulled them up onto the counter so I could easily watch over them. It was at that moment that Niyol walked in.

"If you keep showing up like this, I might think you're here for me and not to browse our plentiful selection of music." I poked at him.

He turned his head down. "I actually come here for the wonderful view." His eyes had a playful glint in them as he looked into mine. He peeked into the basket. "Who are these little ones?"

"A random visitor in the middle of the night passed them off to me and I've decided that it was time for me to adopt. Meet, Spirit, Horizon, and Roach." I pointed to each of them as I named them off. I had spotted a fabric roach in the window of a pet store and when I had tucked it behind Roach he had automatically attached himself to it. That finalized his name.

"Roach? I've heard of a lot of weird names, but that one takes the cake." He shook his head. His ponytail wobbled side to side with his movements.

"I had to keep it on theme. Spirit and Horizon were based off of Bring Me The Horizon, although their patterns remind me of the album and a horizon. Roach was just a random draw of luck. He was fussy in the car and one of Papa Roach's songs came on and he quieted down faster than I thought he would've."

"Definitely settles into his name." He looked up at me. "I have some other good news...ish. There was a news article posted about a shooting out where I was originally looking, but there is a place out in New Mexico that's not just hiring, but willing to offer room and board. The only weird part is that it's out in the middle of the woods, but I'm willing to take supernatural creatures over humans any day. They are held to laws that cannot be manipulated and well, humans have a long track of bending the rules to their will."

"You're talking about The Marishna, right? I've been there before. Most of their doorways are framed with redwood and they have a lot of brass doorknobs."

He groaned. "Seriously?"

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah. Most days you could smell the dying bacteria on the door handles."

"Wait, brass doorknobs kill bacteria?"

"Not just doorknobs, but pretty much anything containing copper will naturally kill off bacteria. Stainless steel is actually a worse metal to use in hospitals because you cannot get it completely clean. No amount of chemicals will work as well."

"Huh, you learn something new everyday." A light went off in his head. "Do you know what concerts are coming into town by chance? I keep hearing rumors that Shamans Harvest is in town, but I want to make sure."

I pulled up the list of bands and their upcoming concerts. "Shamans Harvest is performing with Nickelback and Dorothy. Hm, their tickets are looking up into 40 to 60 bucks. And that's just standing room."

Niyol groaned. "Why do they have to be so much?"

"Capitalism and inflation. Although, I think I might be able to get some tickets for free. Jonathan owes me a partial paycheck that he keeps backing off of, so I think I might blackmail a couple from him. That is, if you'd like to go with me."

He broke into an enormous grin. "I would love to. Nothing is better than revenge and free things."

"I'll let you know what I find."

"Thank you. You are a godsend." He gave the kittens little pets and left.