Page 55 of Hex You

Feline.

Could that feline be the large Goode familiar the goddess had commanded she target? Eagerly, Nure-Onna entered the creek. Cloaked by darkness, she swam powerfully along the surface, her forked tongue following the scent of her prey.

“Hurry, you fool!”

Nure-Onna had been so focused on the scent trail of the feline that she hadn’t noticed the ocean spray that drifted down from above. Startled, she looked up to see the diaphanous form of Amphitrite hovering in the night sky, stars showing through her body like crystalized sea salt.

“I come!” hissed Nure-Onna.

“Well, be quick about it! The cat is a swift huntress. She will strike soon and then be off!”

“Yesssss, I hear and obey,” said Nure-Onna.

“The cat is there, under the willows by the bank ahead. You need not kill her. Actually, I command you do not kill her. Simply wound her. I prefer she make her way back to the witches. Hunter Goode shall begin to understand thatsheis being hunted. Move swiftly, demon! That is, if you want to see your infant again.”

Nure-Onna did not waste time replying. The weeping trees were just ahead. Their branches, like long, slender fingers, stroked the surface of the creek. Before she reached them, Nure-Onna left the creek. Silently, she glided over the soft, spring grass, drawn by the sharp scent of the feline. On her belly the enormous serpent passed under the trailing boughs and stopped to allow her limited vision to become accustomed to the shadows under the tree’s canopy.

There, crouched at the base of the trunk, was a large black-tan-and-white feline who had the long ear tufts the goddess had described. The cat was staring up into the branches of the tree, tail twitching with concentration.

Slowly, Nure-Onna slithered forward. Within touching distance of the cat she raised herself and held her hands before her like claws. She had planned on biting the creature, paralyzing it and draining it of blood just before it died, but the goddess had commanded it live—so instead Nure-Onna would use her purposefully filthy claws to rake the feline. The creature could live, but only just.

Suddenly, the cat whirled around. Her yellow eyes went huge and round, and her spine arched as she yowled dangerously at Nure-Onna.

The serpent was not used to prey that fought back, and she hesitated before striking the cat.

“What are you doing, you brainless snake? Attack her!”

The cat’s gaze went skyward—and her yellow eyes slitted as she hissed at the goddess.

Amphitrite’s words worked like a goad on Nure-Onna. While the cat was still looking up, she lunged at it, raking her pointed fingernails along her shoulder.

Above them, the goddess laughed and clapped as salt water made the air heavy. The cat screamed in pain, but then she surprised Nure-Onna again. Instead of streaking off into the night, the feline launched herself at Nure-Onna. She was all claws and outrage as she clung to the snake’s torso, ripping and tearing at her soft underside.

Nure-Onna shrieked and bared her poisonous fangs, preparing to bite the creature.

“Do not kill her!”

The goddess’s command made Nure-Onna falter, which allowed the cat to leap away and disappear into the darkness. Sobbing quietly, Nure-Onna touched the scratches that crisscrossed her pale stomach. Precious blood trickled down her skin and she caught it with her hand, lapping it from her palm.

“I shall leave you now. You did well tonight. Next time leave your denearlier. I want that redhead, or the boy, or the brown girl called Emily killed. Sooner rather than later. I grow impatient.”

“Yesssss, goddess,” she said softly, still licking blood from her hands. But Amphitrite had already gone, leaving Nure-Onna to return to the soothing waters of the creek and make her way slowly back to the World of Darkness.

TWENTY-THREE

Mercy flopped down on the couch beside Khenti. “I’m so glad it’s Friday. Today sucked majorly. Everyone except the cheerleaders were so weird. I mean, serious staring and whispering.”

Hunter joined them from the kitchen with two big bowls of popcorn. She gave one to Mercy, and then Hunter took the second bowl and sat cross-legged with it in her lap in the recliner that was Jax’s favorite. She glanced around before asking, “Hey, Khenti, where did you say Xena went?”

“She said something about doing some night-bird hunting. I reminded her to change into her cat form before she left,” said Khenti around a mouthful of popcorn. “She promised she would not be gone long.” He put his arm around Mercy and added, “I am sorry your day was difficult. The death of a coach must have been a terrible shock to the school, as well as to the town,” said Khenti as Mercy snuggled into him.

“Yeah, but it’s not like Hunter and I killed her.”

Khenti frowned. “Of course you did not kill her. Your village must know that.”

“Our town isn’t thinking clearly,” said Hunter after swallowinga mouthful of popcorn. “I overheard enough of the gossip to know some of them actually blame us.”

“It’s Kirk.” Mercy snarled his name. “That jerk is spreading so much shit about us, the local farmers should hire him to fertilize their fields.”