Leila of the Concrete Jungle [Book Three]

Meow

  It was an incredibly hot day, so I was dressed for the weather with my short hair in a bun to keep it off my neck. I was crouched in the fresh-cut grass before the two hunks of stone, fiddling with a blade of grass in my hands. The shade provided by the tree overhead was only broken by the gaps in the leaves the Sun managed to get through.

  "I....I think one of them is here. So many signs point to it, but I still haven't seen 'em, so I don't know." Looking up at the tombstones with my parents' names engraved on them, I flicked the blade of grass onto the ground. "If you guys could see me now, though, I think you'd be proud. I got a cat a few months ago, don't know if I told you or not. His name is Panther- I rescued him from a shelter and he's about two years old." I chuckled while standing and placing a hand on each stone. "I'll just leave on a good note today. I'll bring real flowers next time, okay?"

  My fingers brushed over the rough, stone surface as I walked away. A slight breeze cooled my skin somewhat and rustled the leaves overhead, but I heard a branch snap and on a reflex, my gun was aimed into the tree. I heard a meow that was oddly familiar, but my eyes focused on an area that moved like heat over asphalt instead of a cat.

  "You're a bit big to be a cat, you know." I calmly stated despite my heart picking up pace. My firearm remained steadily aimed at the distorted area, and three little red lights shone on my hand before traveling up my arm and to my forehead. "It's not nice to spy on someone, especially when they're visiting family." Lowering my gun, I knew damn well the thing in the tree understood me.

  The three lights remained on me, and I carefully holstered my gun before rolling up one of my sleeves. Turning to show the thing in the tree, I nearly missed how it dropped down to the ground and cautiously walked towards me. I felt a large hand grab my arm even if I couldn't see it all that well, and the red lights turned off as the thing looked at the scar on my shoulder.

  "If you've marked me as prey, big guy, I'm not gonna go down easy." I stated, being somewhat familiar with the code of honor and conduct these things had. They hunted the dangerous and the strong, keeping the skulls of their better kills as trophies. I heard a chittering-like noise as my arm was let go.

  "Hey! Get away from there!" I heard someone shout and looked over my shoulder only to see a mother calling out to her child. Turning back, I paused when I noticed the mostly invisible creature was gone.

  "Shit."

~

  "So the skinner guy hit again today. This time it was the head of the Snake Kings and some of his guys." Tony popped off while leaning on my desk and eating a corndog.

  "Is that so?" I replied, not really looking up from my computer as I was typing out some paperwork.

  "You know, for someone that was so pissed about the Feds takin' this case, you don't seem that interested anymore."

  "I got over it." Tony gave me a look while raising his brow, but I knew that since I had encountered the killer in the graveyard the other day I was on his radar. If I was on his radar, then he'd eventually come for me, and I wouldn't have to really go out and look for him anymore. My assumptions were also now confirmed by the little encounter, and I absentmindedly rubbed my shoulder.

  I had gotten the scar there after the incident when I was 18; it was a sort of mark that showed my status among the alien's kind. And to get it, I had to kill a big son-of-a-bitch of an alien and even more to survive the ordeal. There were some nights I still woke in a cold sweat with nightmares of that weekend camping. When I'd close my eyes and see those things tearing my friends apart from the inside and out.