The Curious Case of Cat and Cupid [manxman]

Chapter Two

Thursday, February 9th

The shop was dark and silent. After closing up, I gathered my things to prepare to head home for the night. As I made my way to the door, I froze. Somewhere off to my left, I'd heard a peculiar scuffing noise. Listening intently, I waited to hear another sound, but nothing came. Brushing it off, I started walking again.

Another low scuffing noise made me freeze in my tracks. That one had happened right behind me. I couldn't turn around... If I just kept walking, nothing would happen.

I took another step forward, and the scuffle met me pace for pace. Unable to stand my own reticence and the unknown any longer, I whipped around, half hoping that I'd scare whoever lurked behind me. Instead, I met two blood-red eyes, a pale face, and stark white hair. A banshee.

A feral grin spread along her white lips. She opened her mouth, releasing an ear-splitting shriek. Palms pressed against my ears, I dropped to my knees. The sticky, wet heat of blood seeped through my fingers. My vision went black. Oh gods, was that how it ended?

"Fuck!" I gasped.

I was in my living room, sprawled on the floor with sweat sticking my shirt to my skin. I sat up, scrambling to get the shirt off and over my head. It hit the floor, landing in a pile of other clothes. I pulled my knees up to my chest and ran my hands through my hair as I took deep breaths, trying to pull myself together, trying to stop hearing that hideous scream over and over and over—fuck.

A soft meow drew my gaze up to find the cat sitting in front of me. He drew himself up, placing his front paws on my knees, and meowed at me. I rubbed his head, forcing myself to breathe as I stared at his eyes. They were just so dark and emotive. He looked... He honestly looked concerned.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair, wondering if I needed to be concerned with myself for thinking a cat was worried about me. "I bet you're hungry, aren't you, Coop?"

In the end, I'd decided to call him Coop, pronounced "Cupe." If he was connected to the cupid, then it was funny. If he was connected to the banshee, then it was still funny because of the situation. And if he wasn't connected at all, it was an adorable name.

He meowed again and hopped off my legs, heading out of the bedroom. With one more deep breath, I hauled myself up and followed him into the kitchen. Once I started moving and got into my morning routine, I would feel better. The nasty remnants of the nightmare would go away... And a little potion in my tea wouldn't hurt.

Coop was perched on the kitchen island, sitting patiently and watching as I walked around the island, heading straight for the cabinet with my mugs. I grabbed a black one and set it to the side as I removed my teakettle from the same cabinet. As I ran water into the kettle, I froze, noticing an open jar of peanut butter next to the window. That hadn't been there when I had gone to sleep, and as far as I knew, I wasn't much of a sleep-eater.

I glanced back at Coop. "You grow legs and thumbs in the middle of the night and leave the peanut butter out?"

He meowed loudly before taking a leap, landing on the counter and prancing over to the open jar. He sniffed at it before he licked at a little peanut butter on the rim. That wasn't normal. Maybe it was for a cat—I was really more of a dog person, so I wasn't sure—but the peanut butter being out was definitely strange.

Maybe Nina was right. Coop could've easily been connected to the banshee or the cupid. I would much rather handle the cupid than the banshee, but I was uneasy with the thought of anyone being in my house while I was unaware of it. I wasn't the lightest of sleepers, but I had enough magical training, experience with working alongside law enforcement, and paranoia to be able to stir at even the slightest hint that something unusual was going on around me.