“It seems they are communicating well,” Sariel remarked.
Seymour chuckled. “Glad we found someone who speaks kitty cat.”
YES I SPEAK KITTY CAT FLUENTLY
DAY IS GRATEFUL YOU FOUND HER
SHE IS VERY HAPPY WITH YOU
Seymour’s heart thumped in a new way, and he smiled. “I’m real happy with her too.”
Day nuzzled Seymour’s hair.
Neil finished ringing up the customer, came around the counter to clear the others out, turned the open sign off, and locked the door. He let out a loud sigh of relief, whirling back around to stare at Seymour. “So, what the fuck?”
“What?” Seymour snorted. “Your wolfie beau is in the family, right? Is he out of the fuckin’ loop with all the monster mob shenanigans?”
Neil scowled. “Tell me what’s going on and why you’re with him—” He jerked his head at Sariel. “And oh, yeah! Where did you find a spirit?”
“Short version? After I got the fuck away from here, I went to my appointment, and my dad’s lawyer is apparently a robot clone or something. Mr. Heiss, who is a raging fuckin’ asshole, fuckin’ kidnapped me so he could pimp me out to those fae guys to track down lawyer guy’s head?—”
“Wait, wait, slow down!” Neil groaned noisily. “Who is your lawyer?”
“Talos.”
“Fuck. Okay, and Mr. Heiss kidnapped you?”
“Yeah! The fae guys have something he wants, probably a box of puppies he can kick around or somethin’. But he can’t get it until I do this shit for the faeries. They needed someone who could see all these spirits. Guess they knew they were all connected or integrated or whatever.”
Neil scrubbed his hands over his face. “Absolis and Vilanos plus Mr. Heiss in one damn day? You’re lucky to be alive.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Heiss in particular ain’t a real big fan of mine.” Seymour gave Sariel an appreciative smile. “Had this lil’ angel takin’ good care of me though.”
Sariel dipped his head, his face pinking up.
Neil seemed surprised, but he asked, “So, uh, what do the twins want you to do?”
“Gotta find Talos’s head. They’d given it to a witch to fix up, who turned out to be my dad, and he got murdered?—”
“Yourdad?”
“Yup.” Seymour scratched Day’s ear. “And this lil’ lady saw the whole thing. Only problem is we can’t understand a word she says. She got us to come here to talk to Izba, and well, here we are.”
“How is lawyer guy alive without a head?”
“Fuck if I know.”
“Monsters.”
“Right.” Seymour shrugged. “But I gotta get my hands on it or Mr. Heiss is gonna make some bagpipes outta my guts or somethin’.”
Neil placed his hand on Seymour’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Me?” Seymour’s stomach turned, and he swallowed down a big surge of bile. “I’m just peachy keen.”
Day gently hugged Seymour’s head, nosing at his hair and purring softly.
“Look, I’ve been in your shoes,” Neil said. “The whole monsters suddenly being real thing. It can be overwhelming and?—”
