TAXI driver (HIATUS)

04

The ghost cats licked their lips and padded along the hood of the Pheonix with their dirty paws.

Teddy felt his anger mounting but it diminished as soon as it rose when he saw their hungry eyes watching him through the windshield.

"What are they?"

Teddy was gratefull Lola knew enough to understand that they weren't ordinary cats. It saved him time from explaining the basics.

"Ghost cats."

Lola watched one of the transparent felines scratch an X into the glass over where Teddy's face was.

"What do they want?"

"I don't know," Teddy lied.

Lola's eyes flashed but she didn't push, instead, she said something worse.

"Teddy, you do realise that I have to be at the Krasivyy Palace by tomorrow. If I'm late, even by several seconds, you have a lot of explaining to do to my family. So I suggest you clear up the misunderstanding you've gotten into with these... cats and get us to Moscow."

Funny, it was a coincidence she'd use the same threat the middle-aged woman had.

"What would happen if you didn't get there in time?" Teddy dared to ask.

Lola seethed, "I wouldn't know. It's never happened before."

"What about the taxi driver who took you last year, or the year before?"

The tabby cats were starting to get relentless as they hissed and spat on the glass barricading them from Teddy.

"He had his throat slit."

"By who?"

"My mother."

"She sounds sweet."

"Yes," Lola said stiffly, "She's an extraordinary woman."

Lola glared when a tabby slammed its paw down on her window and without thinking, unlocked the door and got out of the cab.

"Lola--!" Teddy let out a warning but she was already out.

Teddy smacked his head on the horn, emitting a loud blast of noise from the taxi and startling the little angry bastards on the hood. His poor Pheonix.

He got out and locked the taxi behind him, closing his eyes and awaiting an onslaught of claws and fangs.

Which surprisingly didn't come.

Teddy peeked open an eyelid and saw Lola sitting crossed-legged in front of his cab, stroking the purring felines that had clambered all over her.

"You frightened them with the horn," Lola said calmly as she scratched a tabby behind its ear. The other two clamoured on her for equal attention, not wanting to be left out.

Teddy winced and rubbed his eyebrow with a finger, not wanting to believe that these were the same little devils who'd shredded his lungs last month.

"Lola, what're you doing? Get off them, they're dangerous."

"They're incredible," Lola rose one to eye level and gave a small smile, "Aren't you?" She cooed.

It gave her a contented purr and pounced off her, wandering down the road with the other two in tow.

"It wants us to follow," Lola said as trailed behind them.

Something was off. Something Evil. Teddy shook his head frantically, "No, no! We're going to Moscow Lola. Moscow. Remember?"

Lola waved a hand in dismissal without looking at him, "Moscow can wait. I can't take my eyes off them, Teddy. I want to but I can't, is something wrong with me? Oh, but I don't want to let these angels out of my sight at all now. I must--"

"Lola, come back!" Teddy stumbled after her, watching her go around a corner and disappear.

When he turned the corner, he raced after Lola vanishing through a dimly lit door and grabbed her wrist.

Lola's heavy-lidded eyes snapped open and were now bright and alert, "This isn't the taxi. Where are we, Teddy?"

They looked up and were simultaneously attacked by three vicious, sharp-toothed smiles.

They were in a gloomy room, as small as a store cupboard in the back of a kitchen. A bright purple door was closed tight and blocked by the three figures in front of it. There was a single light overhead that flickered hopelessly on the brink of extinguishing.

The creatures bowed as one with unnatural feline grace. The first to rise was a male with long almond eyes outlined in kohl.

"I am Sef."

The second was slightly taller and also male, "I am Ref."

And the third was a female whose lips and nails were pained in strokes of red and orange.

"Let me guess," Lola interjected as she crossed her arms over her chest, "You're Bef?"

The female gave her a sadistic smile, "No, they call me Dalilah."

"You're the cat," Teddy's eyes flickered in recognition as he took a step back, "You're all cats."

The female -Dalilah- checked her long nails, "Yes, the cats are our first form. These bodies are our second."

"They aren't yours?" Lola asked in bewilderment.

Sef let out a sharp laugh, "No darling," his almond eyes glittered, "They were a gift."

"A considerate one from our boss," Ref remarked, running a hand over his sculpted shoulder.

"Who's your boss?" Teddy prodded, eyes assessing their loose, form-fitting attire and casual, lazy grace.

Suddenly, Dalilah slitted eyes were in front of his, "That-" She murmured, running a hand over where they'd cut him, "Is a very good question."

Sef produced a silver key from his pocket and flicked it into the air, "Our boss is very excited--" Ref caught it in mid-flight and slid it into the locked purple door behind them.

"--to meet you," Ref gave both Teddy and Lola a menacing smile, lingering on Lola's curious gaze for a moment too long before swinging the door open and gesturing for them to come inside.