Last Breath (The Templar Book 2) by Debra Dunbar

Author:Debra Dunbar [Dunbar, Debra]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dark fantasy, demons, angels, paranormal, LARP
Published: 2016-03-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

RAVEN DROVE US the six blocks to Bethany Scarborough’s one-story house on the edge of town. The impatiens hanging in baskets from the porch roof were wilted, but it was clear Bliss had taken great care with her home. The grass was mowed in even strips. Flower beds were weeded and mulched. The only smudges on the windows were where a huge calico cat sat, pressing her nose against the glass. Raven pulled a key from her pocket and unlocked the door.

“She gave me this a few months back to check on her cat while she was away at a conference.” Raven grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, it’s an hour each way for me, but like I said, she is—was—so nice. She didn’t want to put Grace in a boarding kennel. I don’t blame her.”

Grace was the gigantic cat who greeted us with a loud squawk and circled around our legs. I bent down and picked her up, estimating the creature’s weight at nearly twenty pounds.

“Does no one feed you? Is poor kitty starving with her owner gone? Aww, sweetie.”

Raven grinned and motioned to the automatic feeder in the corner. “Bliss wasn’t one to say ‘no’ when it came to her fur baby. I swear that cat weighs more than I do.”

I stroked Grace’s soft fur, feeling the vibration of her purr against my hand. “Who’s going to take care of her with Bliss gone?”

Not me. Not with the no-pet clause in my lease. It was bad enough that I was summoning demons in my apartment. A cat would get me tossed out on the curb. But… oh how I missed having a pet. Back home there had been cats and dogs and horses galore. We’d snuck them into the house every chance we got, even the ponies. I’ll never forget Mom’s face the day she walked in on our Sheltland pony in the dining room munching the flowers in their vases.

“Bliss’s sister is coming up from Florida.” Raven smiled wistfully as she reached out a hand to scratch Grace under the chin. “I’d take her, but Rocket would eat her alive.”

“She’s twice the size of Rocket.” I’d met Raven’s Frenchie several times and marveled that such a sweet, energetic dog could harbor such a profound hatred toward everything feline.

I set the cat down on a nearby chair, feeling rather bummed that I wasn’t bringing her home with me. Lease or not, I missed having something, or someone, for company in my apartment. But I doubted Raven had brought me here to meet Bliss’s cat. As cute and obviously loved as the creature was, the calico wasn’t a familiar. It took the right animal, the right bond, and a substantial amount of time to create a familiar—so much time that many mages claimed it couldn’t be done, that any familiar had to be a pre-existing magic-imbued animal that came across the mage and chose them rather than the other way around.

“See?” Raven waved a hand around the room.

That’s when I actually looked.

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