The Yule Cat by Eldritch Black

Author:Eldritch Black [Black, Eldritch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eldritch Black

Thunderation! The Yule Cat let out a low hiss as he followed the girl’s footprints to where they vanished in a scuffle of boot and shoe prints. He could still smell her scent; her new coat, the fake almond from whatever vile mixture she cleaned her hair with, and most of all her fear. But there were so many other scents in the air as well…

Humans had massed in this place and recently, and the stench of their perfume and aftershave made his nose wrinkle and his whiskers ache. And then he caught the girl’s scent again but before he could pursue it, the church door opened and a priest appeared on the steps. The man looked like a plump crow with a carrot-colored wig perched over a craggy face.

The Yule Cat licked his lips. A quick snack would give him a valuable shot of energy, and he needed it badly. He loped toward the priest but stopped as he noticed the shoes poking out from below the man’s cassock. New shoes.

“What...” the priest’s words faded like a melted snowflake.

“What am I?” The Yule Cat asked. “Hunting is what I am. Hunting a girl that will make a most delicious soup once I find her. And I will find her. Believe me. Now get out of my sight!” He growled, and the priest scuttled back through the church door and slammed it behind him.

The Yule Cat prowled away from the footprints, which were distracting him. He slinked up and down the avenues of graves, checking behind each stone, and then, as he turned and headed back to the soft lights spilling from the church, he spotted movement.

It was the girl, running up a distant, narrow icy slope. Heading for... the train yard.

The Yule Cat faltered and his proud tail dipped a little. The sight of the old yard caused his heart to race, and he yowled as he recalled his captivity inside that accursed carriage. “Fear makes for empty stomachs,” he muttered. “I shall conquer mine and claim my feast before midnight.”

He crept through the graveyard, his step slow. He was in no rush. He knew where she was, and there’d be no escaping him this time. He vaulted the crumbling wall and padded down a snowy slope, over a frozen river, and up the next slope.

With a single pounce, he sailed through the air and landed upon the roof of an old rusting carriage. He glanced around, searching for the girl. Dozens of trains filled the yard, including the blacker than black train he’d arrived in, but there was no sign of the girl... Except... yes, there! Movement as someone flitted past a gap between two trains.

The Yule Cat leaned down low, the snow on the roof of the train soft upon his chin as he tensed his limbs and grinned.

This was going to be fun...

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