“I doubt that,” Eilahn said, and I had to chuckle. She wasn’t the type to snow me with pointless reassurances or allow me to wallow in comfortable delusions. Usually that was a good thing. But there were times when I could have used some pointless reassurances and some delusion-wallowing. “If it had wanted to kill you,” she added, “it likely would have been a harder fight.”
So why the fuck hadn’t it? My arm still ached like a bitch where the damn thing had grabbed me. Had it been trying to do something else? Something Eilahn had managed to thwart? I had to fight the urge to thunk my head down onto the table. Fortunately the pinging of my phone signaling a text message distracted me from thoughts of self-injury. I read it with a growing sense of relief. “Ha! Since I’m on call Sarge is arranging for me to get another car.” It would probably be a total pile of crap, but it would be a pile of crap for which I didn’t have to pay a note or gas or insurance.
I stood and drained the last of my coffee. “I’m going to walk down to the motor pool and get my new wheels,” I told Eilahn.
“I will walk with you,” she said. “Too much is happening. I am unsettled.”
That was the first time I’d ever heard the demon admit to anything less than total confidence. There went the last of my comfortable delusions.
Chapter 5
The motor pool for the Beaulac PD was only a few blocks away. Well within walking distance. We’d barely made it past the PD building when we heard an eager shout from behind us.
“Kara! Ellen!”
We turned to see Officer Tim Daniels trotting up, wearing a grin that stretched from ear to ear. “I found her!”
I looked at him blankly. “Found who?”
“Fuzzykins!” His grin widened, if that was even possible. “Wait right here! She’s in my car.”
He took off at a jog. I felt rooted to the spot. “Okay,” I said. “You get to break his heart and tell him it’s the wrong cat.”
The demon snorted. “The fuck I will.”
I had to laugh. She was a fast learner.