Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy (4 page)

Chapter 6

“Talisman, it’s Dr. Luke. Can you hear me? Can you see me?”

He didn’t expect me to answer, did he? I must have been knocked unconscious when the truck clipped my rear end, and I flew to the side of the road. I felt the jagged rocks of the shoulder pressing in to my body so I must still be there. How had Dr. Luke gotten here so fast?

Oh, the pain. He started prodding every inch of my battered body to check for broken bones or major injury.

“Thank God, nothing’s broken,” he sighed as he gently lifted me in to a blanket and held me close to his chest. It wasn’t as soft as Pen’s, but it would do in a pinch. “I don’t know what I’d do if I had to tell Penelope that we lost you.”

I stared at Dr. Luke’s face, willing him to tell me what had happened and why he was out on the road at this ungodly hour more than a mile from the clinic.

“It’s a miracle I was out in the forest collecting samples of fresh Aloe Vera for my work in the lab,” he soothed as he held me tight. “Then, I heard a cat screech and knew it couldn’t be a wild animal that had been hit by that wayward delivery van. It was almost like it was trying to hit you. But that can’t be possible. The driver was probably on the blasted cell phone.”

Dr. Luke carried me the whole way home even though I probably could have walked, because after about five minutes, my head cleared and I started feeling much better. As we walked he told me some personal things that I never knew about him.

“You know, Tali, when I was young, all I ever wanted to be was a scientist and discover treatments that would help animals in need. But my dad, he was a tough man, and he wanted me to follow in his footsteps and be a veterinarian. I never got the nerve to tell him that wasn’t what I wanted.”

He paused, lost in thought before he continued. “Not that I don’t love all of you patients like my own. This just isn’t my dream. It never was.”

He walked on in silence for a few minutes before he spoke again.

“Do you think Penelope likes me?”

Now, what to do to validate this poor sap? I cuddled in closer to his neck and purred at the top of my lungs all the while stroking his chin the top of my head. Then I let out a soft meow. As if to say …
“Why, yes, dunderhead. She does.”

“I keep trying to ask her to go with me to that new 3D movie at the science museum. You know that one about the Hawaiian volcanoes?” he asked.

Yes I did, indeed. I’d been there myself about two weeks back. Excellent cinematography. Of course, I couldn’t wear any of the 3D glasses to get the full effect, but it was spectacular even without them. It was easy to slink in camouflaged between moviegoers when you’re black and quiet.

“Do you think she’d like that as a … date?”

The poor guy looked like some kind of lovesick fool with his sad brown eyes and wavy brown hair. The local ladies thought he was a looker. Nice and intelligent, too, so it was hard to understand why Penelope wasn’t getting it. Dr. Luke was the catch of the town. Of course, he wasn’t as good looking as the dark and brooding Damian Chokecherry, or, the dark and fabulous, Talisman DeLaCroix but he was Pen’s one true love, and he needed to give her a True Love’s Kiss before I ran out of lives.

I wanted to respond so badly, to tell Dr. Luke in some way that Pen had just mentioned the other day how much she’d like to see that movie. She was planning on asking Ami to go with her as a girl’s night. I meowed again but he misinterpreted.

“I know you’re in pain, Tali,” he said. “We’re almost home, and I know Penelope keeps kitty aspirin on hand to help you sleep tonight. You’ll probably be stiff and sore for a few days. I’m just so happy there isn’t any lasting damage.”

There
was
lasting damage. To my ego. I’d been hit by two vehicles in one week. It was like I was losing my touch. I gave up on trying to bolster his courage to ask Pen to the movie. He’d have to figure that one out himself. There was only so much a mute kitty could do in this situation. If I morphed in to human form around Dr. Luke I might have a chance, but that would scare the crap out of him, especially, if I showed up naked. He might get the wrong idea about me and our doctor/patient relationship.

The lights of the shelter glowed in the distance, and we’d be home in less than five minutes. I hoped Pen had warm milk and tuna waiting. So much for my expensive bath and brush. I’d gotten a whiff of myself multiple times on the way home and appreciated Dr. Luke for not mentioning that I smelled of exhaust, dirt and fear.

Hoot. Hoot.

I glanced up and saw that Sage had flown back, concerned when I hadn’t returned home and had gone completely off the grid while I was unconscious. As he used his massive wing span to come closer, Dr. Luke heard the flapping and spotted him at about the same time that I did.

What happened?

I got hit by another car and Dr. Luke found me and helped me.

Why was he out in the woods at night? Are you sure he’s safe? He could be one of them. The only people that are in the woods at night are evil witches, intent on casting spells and perpetuating their evil deeds.

No, I’m sure. He babbled the entire way here and he would have let something slip. He was collecting wild Aloe Vera for some trial he’s doing on skin conditions at the vet clinic. Besides, he’s sweet on Penelope and wants to take her to that volcano movie showing that the science museum.

Good. I like Dr. Luke. He patched up my broken wing so I could fly again after my accident. I wouldn’t want to have to peck his bloody eyes out.

“We’re home, Tali,” Dr. Luke said as he rang the bell. “I see Sage has joined us. You have a great friend in Sage to go out at night to find you. He must have known you should have been home by now from your nightly escapades.”

Sage cocked his head to one side in acknowledgement as he perched himself on top of the wooden railing of Penelope’s front porch. I was happy to see that Old Glory had returned to its rightful place flying proud from the flagpole instead of around my hips.

Penelope peeked through the curtain on the side window and flung the door open when she recognized Dr. Luke standing on the porch.

“Dr. Collier,” she exclaimed. “I didn’t expect you to stop by tonight.”

The moment she noticed the bundle in Dr. Luke’s arms, her blue eyes widened and she gasped.

“He’s going to be fine, Penelope,” Dr. Luke assured. “He got clipped by a delivery van in the rear end when he was on his way home tonight. It knocked him for a loop, but he doesn’t have any broken bones or internal injuries. He’ll just need a painkiller and a few days of rest.”

“Oh, Tali,” she said as she took me from Dr. Luke and clutched me tight to her soft chest. That smell, the one that was unique to her, overtook my senses and I snuggled in to her neck. “I don’t know what I would do if something happened to you. Let’s go inside and I’ll get you some tuna to go with your medicine.”

And warm milk? Surely a car accident is worthy of the double reward?

She turned to go back inside, completely focused on me when she realized that Dr. Luke was still standing in the doorway.

Ask him inside. It’s the perfect time for you two to get to know each other better. Come on Pen, he can help you with my medicine and then he can ask you to the movie and maybe we can get closer to True Love’s Kiss.

“Penelope, I’ve been meaning to ask you something,” Dr. Luke said as he stepped closer, intending to step over the threshold and in to the house.

“Thanks so much, Dr. Collier … I mean, Luke. I really appreciate you walking Talisman home. It could have been much worse if you hadn’t stumbled upon him.” She flung the words over her shoulder, not even turning around to give him eye contact and promptly slammed the door right in his face. Right before he slipped from my view, I saw a look of utter defeat on his chiseled face.

Good grief. The night was about to go from bad to worse. Penelope wasn’t usually so preoccupied. Or dense. That could only mean one thing. Something or someone had distracted her to the point that she’d lost all common sense.

She’d left Sage outside on the porch so he’d have to go sleep in the barn, and I really needed him to see the book I’d been referring to. We could communicate telepathically, but it would be as good as having him right in the living room so he could see and hear everything firsthand.

“Tali,” she said as we walked toward the living room. “I tried to call Ami but she’s off the grid and isn’t responding. I found something really important in the book of love spells that fell on the floor. Can you lie in your kitty bed and rest while I look at it again?”

I could lie in my kitty bed, but I’d rather get to the bottom of this. And Ami wasn’t responding to communication from Pen? Completely out of the norm for her. If I wasn’t about to give out another feline howl of pain, I’d go looking for her, but that would have to wait.

After gently setting me down in my fur-lined bed, Pen sat down on her mauve sofa and leaned over the coffee table to thumb through the pages. I’d give anything if I could speak and tell her how rude it was to close the door on Dr. Luke right when he was about to ask her on a proper date. Suggesting an activity she'd wanted to do for weeks. I wished I could cast my own love spell, but alas, I’m not a witch.

“See, Tali,” she explained as she ran her finger along the worn and yellowed parchment. “It says right here that the only way I can break the spell on Jessie, is if she shares True Love’s Kiss with Harry. I’m so upset and worried I’ve made a horrible mistake. The way they’ve been acting, I can’t see any way we can get those two close enough to kiss each other.”

She wasn’t kidding. It felt so warm and cozy in my bed, I barely lifted my head to acknowledge her. Couldn’t this wait until tomorrow? Couldn’t she see I’d been traumatized by my most recent brush with death?

She sat back in the sofa as if the mauve upholstery could envelop her fears in a velvet cocoon so she didn’t have to face what she’d done. Except this was one time she couldn’t dismiss or evade. Jessie and Harry were acting strangely and Elias was on the rampage. The time had come to set this right.

“It’s been a few months since we’ve had a pet adoption event at the center,” she mused. More to herself than to me because I’d shut my eyes to try to drown out the remaining ringing in my ears from my kitty concussion. “I’ll ask Jessie if she can supply the pie and I’ll ask Harry if he can bring Walter by to be the mascot and pose as our most recent success story. What do you think, Tali?”

That’s just it. I was so tired, thoughts were no longer possible, so I didn’t even open my eyes.

Chapter 7

“Penelope,” Sabrina Scuttleworth said as she stroked Sage’s silky feathers. I was surprised he let her, and he’d even cocked his head to one side to the enjoy the attention without saying anything under his breath. “This is the most beautiful owl I have ever seen. I can’t believe he just sits here so calmly with all these people around.”

“Yes. Sage is a gift,” Pen replied and walked over to stand beside the woman.

Pen had outdone herself for this adoption event at the Fur Motel. I knew the real reason. Jessie and Harry needed to share True Love’s Kiss in order to break the half-spell that Pen had cast. It seemed that almost everyone in town had turned out to support her and the shelter, even if they didn’t have any more room in their homes for unwanted pets. These types of events always drew a crowd in the small town for the delicious potluck fare. One or two of my friends might also find a new home tonight.

“Tell me again how he came to be here?” asked a deeper voice. One laced with malevolent intent. Torturer of animals and debaucher of women since the dawn of time.

I hadn’t noticed Damien Chokecherry skulk up behind Sabrina until the black hair stood up all over my body as he posed his loaded question. I tended to stay close to Penelope at events like this. One never knew when the riff-raff would infest a gathering. Like the plague.

“Oh, Damian,” Sabrina said. “I didn’t see you behind us.”

Wanker.

Sage disliked Damian. No, scratch that. Sage
hated
Damian. And he wasn’t alone in his feelings. No one liked Damian except his own family and maybe a bunch of other evil witches casting spells with their idols and their cauldrons simmering with roasted rat’s rump. As soon as the owl saw the man, he flew to his perch in Pen’s office, high above the heads of all the humans present. Then he turned around and deliberately gave Damian his back. Sage knew firsthand that Damian illegally poached animals, often tormenting and torturing them before he killed them.

It had been Damian that had wounded Sage’s wing with an errant arrow while trying to shoot a buzzard in the eyeball. If it hadn’t been for Dr. Luke, Sage would be earth bound. I know him so well, I don’t think he would have survived it. A bird needs to be able to spread his wings and fly to make life worth living. Especially, that particular conceited bird.

“Good evening, ladies,” Damian said as he shot Sage a glare that said he’d like to take him out with a medieval crossbow and then stomp all over his dead body. Damian expected reverence and didn’t care for dismissal.

There could only be one reason that Damian had meandered over to this area, and that was to talk to Penelope. Damian wanted her. A fact that was clear to every other male in the vicinity because Damian’s desire radiated off his body and his heat for her rose like a mist at dawn. Penelope didn’t have a clue. Whether because of her diminished powers or naiveté, I didn’t know.

Damian trained an evil eye on Pen. Not because she was the best catch in Shadowkeep either. Her kindness, intelligence and effervescent personality made her so. Damian wanted her because she was the most beautiful girl in Shadowkeep and would be a trophy on his arm. He wanted everything that he thought he couldn’t have. That no one else had ever had. Pen did a great job of fighting him off, well aware of his negative charge. But of late, she’d been weakening. All because of the siphoning off of her powers.

“Hi, Damian,” Pen said. “Sage lives here with Talisman and the other animals, because Dr. Collier was able to save his wing after he got
accidentally
shot with a hunter’s arrow. He’s been with me ever since. I don’t think he feels safe to go back out to live in the wild. It’s dangerous out there for our local creatures.”

“That’s too bad,” Damian said as he continued to glare in Sage’s direction. “He’s such a majestic animal. I can’t imagine someone wanting to shoot down an owl.”

“I can’t either,” Sabrina said. “I’m surprised I’ve never heard that story before.”

“It’s not something I like to talk about,” Pen replied. “It makes me really sad to think about it. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when Dr. Collier brought him here for recuperation before we knew if he’d recover. He kept trying to leave his perch and fly but each time, he’d fall.”

Below Penelope’s jeans-clad legs, I sat watching Damian’s face. The look in his eye was almost gleeful. Like he was enjoying the conversation about Sage struggling to fly but failing. Like he thought nothing of his deplorable behavior.

I had to break up this little tete-e-tete before Penelope did something stupid in her moment of weakness. Like agree to go out with this douche bag. I spotted Dr. Luke standing by the punch bowl and staring over at Penelope and Damian with his sad, brown eyes that followed Pen wherever she went. I trotted over, put my paws on his pant leg and scratched lightly.

“Hey, Tali,” Dr. Luke said, leaning down to give me some strokes on my head, which I appreciated and rewarded with a vibrant purr. “It’s great to see you looking so well. You had me worried there the other night. Can we agree that you’ll do a better job of looking out for cars during your nightly stroll?”

I started to head back over to where Penelope still remained in conversation with Damian. Sabrina had already left to go talk to some other friends. I hoped I wasn’t too late to stop whatever Damian was up to. When I noticed Dr. Luke hadn’t followed like I wanted him to, I stopped dead and turned toward him. He was still staring at Pen like a wounded puppy, and I couldn’t catch his gaze until I let out a loud meow. Once his head snapped down, I motioned with my head for him to follow me.

“Well, if it isn’t Dr. Lucas Collier,” Damian said in a voice that dripped with passive-aggressive rancor. “Saver and lover of injured creatures everywhere. Too bad you aren’t a real doctor.”

Dr. Luke stiffened at the insult and stared at the hand that Damian had offered to him.

The insult may have gone over Pen’s head, but Dr. Luke and I, we knew a prick when we saw one. And so did Sage. I heard him mutter to himself,

Bloody cocksucker. Get away from Penelope before I dig my talons in to your face and peck out your beady eyeballs and then your black heart. Go take a bath with a hair dryer.

I hope the good doctor wouldn’t take the insult lying down. Don’t do it, Dr. Luke. Stand tall … stand firm. Stand up for
yourself
for the love of God.

Dr. Luke shoved his hands in his pants pocket and Damian had to put his hand back down to his side, his eyes blazing at the slight.

“Dr. Collier
is
a real doctor, Damian,” Pen said, defending him. “Just like his dad before him. He works on animals most of the time, but you can bet if I had a medical emergency, I’d want him to help me. I have complete trust and faith in his abilities. Not only is he a great vet, he’s a great man.”

Yes, I whispered, doing a mental high five.

Even if Pen’s behavior had been bizarre of late, her impassioned speech about Dr. Luke said it all. She admired him. She probably loved him but couldn’t or wouldn’t admit it to herself. We’d get there. Dr. Luke just needed help and I’m just the kitty to get it done.

After Pen’s oration about Dr. Luke, his body returned to normal posture from its former slumped state.

“No offense, Dr. Collier,” Damian said, but he didn’t tear his lurid gaze away from Penelope to acknowledge the quasi-apology or see if it had been accepted. He didn’t care.

Ouch!

Before I realized what had happened, Damian had stepped on my tail with his booted toe. That was going to leave a mark. It wasn’t the first time Damian had come after me. Like he wanted to take one of my nine lives. Penelope had turned to make sure Sage rested comfortably on his perch, but Dr. Luke saw the whole thing and leaned over to scoop me into his arms. I took that opportunity to snuggle and give him a warm meow to thank him.

The bell above the door jingled and Bianca sauntered in to the room, her long auburn hair piled atop her head in a riot of wayward curls. She surveyed the room, her head pivoting like one of those automatic sprinklers watering the grass after dark. She honed in quickly on her prey with her emerald green eyes and wiggled her ass in tight jeans as she made her way to Dr. Luke’s side.

“Hello, everyone,” she said to no one in particular. “What a great night for a get-together. I heard through the grapevine that Jessie made apple pie just for the occasion. I can’t wait to have a slice.”

I’m calling bullshit on that one. Bianca’s reedy figure had never seen a piece of pie in her life. Her idea of an afternoon snack appeared to be crack laced with Adderall. She was here to scope out the situation, put her rank moves on Dr. Luke and fill Elias with so much gossip and innuendo it would swarm his head like a flock of shitting crows.

After the greetings were exchanged, Bianca sidled up really close to Dr. Luke so that her entire side was flush with his. Any closer and she’d be blowing tiny breathy whispers in his ear. It had to stop. I shifted in Dr. Luke’s arms so that I came between him and Bianca. Then, I hissed in my loudest, scary voice, right in her shocked face. She jumped back like a rabid raccoon had tried to saw off her nose with his incisors.

“Can’t you control this cat, Penelope,” she exclaimed, spitting in my face with her angry words. “He’s rude.”

“Who’s rude?” Harry asked as he walked up to join the conversation with Jessie in tow.

“That mangy animal is rude,” Bianca said while pointing a long, red fingernail in my general direction. I just snuggled closer to Dr. Luke and purred my loudest in response.

Shrew.

Nice to know my friend, Sage, was still with me. At my back, like a Gatorade-pouring teammate after the winning touchdown run. I locked eyes with Pen. Was she thinking what I was thinking? She had to be, and now was the perfect time to put a plan in motion, because Bianca and Damian were the perfect distraction for Jessie and Harry. The oldsters weren’t even going to know what hit them. I hoped their moldy, chapped lips were still operational.

Bianca had purposely stepped between Dr. Luke and Penelope, and that put her in the perfect position for what I had in mind. Jessie’s plump hands were flying through the air as she tried to explain to Harry how hard it had been to bake five pies in one day. Harry was so intent on Damian's accounting of a recent fishing trip to Alaska, he wasn't even listening.

I gave the signal to Sage, who flew down from his perch, aiming right for Bianca’s red head. He hooked one of his long talons in one of her curls which caused her to fly forward and knock Jessie right in to Harry’s arms. Jessie gazed up at Harry, and he didn’t push her away. Their gazes locked. If she’d only bring her lips up one more centimeter before Bianca started bellyaching. Just one more millimeter …

Bingo.