“Don’t you have an app for translations?” Heathcliff glared at my phone.
“Of course not… no wait, I do!” I scrolled through my phone until I found the app I’d downloaded. It was supposed to be able to translate any language, old or new, based on an image.
“Meow?” Grimalkin leaped down from the shelf and landed on the back of my chair, her neck craning over my shoulder as if she was straining to see the screen.
The app dinged. It had sourced a translation. The writing was Greek – Ancient Greek. That didn’t surprise me at all. The translation read, “My name is Nobody.” It gave me a phonetic pronunciation, as well. I sighed.
“If it’s another clue about the shop, it’s just as cryptic as all the others. My name is Nobody – what even is that about? Although, the Greek does sound pretty.To ónomá mou eínai Kanénas.I wonder if—”
“Meeeeooorw!”
Grimalkin leapt off my knee and rolled on the rug, kicking her feet in the air. I thought she wanted her belly rubbed, but when I reached down, she howled and swiped at my hand before darting away beneath my chair, howling at the top of her lungs.
“What’s got her goat?” Heathcliff muttered.
“Here, kitty, kitty.” I tipped my head between my legs, trying to see under the chair.
“Belittle me again, honey, and I’ll claw out those pretty eyes of yours,” a sultry voice simpered from behind my chair.
I whirled around. Where only a moment ago, a black and white cat had been hiding, a tall and beautiful woman with sleek dark hair now leaned against the velvet. A set of perfectly manicured red nails raked along the fabric while her other hand perched on her lithe, verynakedhip.
For naked she was, from head to red-painted toes. Her hair fell in sleek waves almost to her waist. She ran her tongue along blood-red lips, her lips turning up into a self-satisfied smirk, like a cat who’d got the creamandthe furry ball toy.
“It’s about time you got me out of that infernal fur coat,” the woman said. “It’s so wretchedly hot, and you two don’t spend nearly enough time adoring me. Do pick your jaws off the floor and let me have a seat – I havesomuch to tell you.”
Chapter Seventeen
“Who… who are you?” I whispered. How had this woman appeared so suddenly, so silently, and sonakedly?She’d snuck into the room with all the stealth of a… of a…
…of acat.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” the woman purred, sashaying around the room like she was on stage at a burlesque club. She draped herself over the edge of the table – looking every bit the Renaissance woman posing for a piece of provocative art.
“I believe you need to put some clothes on.” Heathcliff shrugged off his jacket and tossed it across the room. He stared at some spot on the Science Fiction bookshelf. “It’s bloody freezing in here.”
The woman grabbed the coat out of the air and swung it over her elegant shoulders. “Yes, it is. It would appear this human form is more susceptible to drafts. So much pasty skin. My name is Critheïs, but you know me by another name.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t know you.” I stared at her long legs and perfectly-shaped calves.
“Of course you do, dear. I was wrapped around your ankles only a few minutes ago.”
“I think I’d remember that. The only one wrapped around my ankles was…”No. It can’t be. Can it?“You’reGrimalkin?”
In reply, the woman flipped her hair over her shoulder, swiped my wine glass from the desk, and lifted it to her lips.
“Quoth!” Heathcliff boomed. “Get your bird arse in hereright now.”
A few moments later, wings flapped down the stairs as Quoth soared into the room.
Sorry. I’ve been trying a new impasto technique. It creates a deep texture that’s almost tactile—
He did a double take when he saw the woman. She raised her red talons and gave him a wave that looked more like an extension of claws. “Hello, birdie.”
Quoth flopped onto the floor. Feathers flew as his body twisted and contorted. A moment later, Quoth knelt on all fours in his human form, a curtain of dark hair falling over his face, the sinuous muscles of his back tensed, as if he might need to take flight at any moment.
“What… what is she?” he gasped, staring up at the woman in a mixture of awe and dread.
“Mmmmmmm,” the woman purred, her eyes sweeping along Quoth’s body. “So lithe, so fragile, so delicious. If not for the fact that you are a meal for me, I would have you on this table right now.”
