Page 31 (2/2)

I quickly left the kitchen and angled toward the stairs Behind us, the fridge clicked off, dosing the space in liquid, gooey silence As Iclock reached my ears My breath ca around Running at a madman with a sword or spell? I was in But this slow, deliberatein wait? Good gracious, no It was a heart racer

The empty staircase beckoned, closed in by walls If so down spells, this would be a bad situation forhe’d be inthat, in his current state, he’d be more likely to put himself in harm’s way in a futile attee situation in which he found hihter, ready A few roan Just the house shifting

Breath now co in fast pants, I increased my pace lest I suffer cardiac arrest Nearly to the top, and the roar of a Harley thundered past the house and up the street I paused, wondering if someone would pop out under the cover of the noise I would’ve

All was still

I was starting to suspect he wasn’t home

I stepped onto the top step and paused Four doors awaitedopen One of the closed doors was narrower than the others, denoting a hall closet or soh one of the open doors, I suspected this place was a two-bedroo the bathroom, I walked slowly toward the other open room I needed to keep my calm and not blast his face with fire Given that my split-second reactions were always incredibly violent, which had kept oal of coainst the wood, pushing the door open slowly It swung on well-oiled hinges A bed caainst the wall, its top bare The nightstand next to the bed had a bare top as well This was a guest room, and clearly not lived in

The last door awaitedatinto the snake pit and he did not approve

"Shoo," I h to worry about without his va ly moved to the side

The deep breath I took didn’t stilluns blazing, ready to take the OK Corral I was not a subtle person

I wrapped ers around the doorknob and held my breath as I turned it The latch clicked and I froze No sound issued froainst so

That sound would be heard

I threw the door open the rest of the way and jumped into the rooh a hex Soh the air A wall of fire roared in front of me I hadn’tacross the back of soht forscreeched and darted away, its tail on fire I cut out all the flarip, just in tihteen

I stalked forward and swept aze across the room The ruht, but it was currently ehtstands He was single and often slept alone Somewhat neat, but not anal about it

My boots creaked as I sank down ontoto see whatever had darted under the bed

As if hearing my unspoken question, Darius said, "It was a cat"

I pulled in a breath "That thing ju at me was a cat?"

"Yes You firebombed a kitty"

"Crap What kind of a ot on my hands and knees "Are you sure? I don’t want soht was a cat to dart out at my face"