“Laban, one of the Elders, took offence when I told him to go to hell. He’s a rude and demanding fellow. He deserved it.”
She stared at him as confusion enveloped her. “Who are the Elders?”
“A group of magical beings. Most of them are ancient witches. Laban thought I was cute and wanted me to suck him off. I refused. In retaliation, he took away most of my powers and turned me into a pussycat.”
“Forever?”
“No. He doesn’t have that much power. My sentence is one hundred years. Seventy of those have already passed. The other Elders couldn’t revoke my sentence, but they did make sure I only work for good witches.” He paused for a moment and then swished his tail. “Just because I’m bisexual doesn’t mean I want every man and woman I see. Obviously, he didn’t understand that.”
“If I could, I’d cast a spell to free you. I can’t do that, can I?” she asked. It would be wonderful if she could.
“No, but it’s nice of you to think of it. Back to your other question. I don’t know if you’ll ever meet Concetta. She’s a private sort. Maybe one day she’ll reveal herself to you. My job is to help you as much as I can.”
“Can you teach me spells?” She was in fierce need of a teacher.
“No. I’m a warrior, not a witch, remember?” he reminded her and raised a brow sardonically.
Yeah, a sarcastic one, she thought to herself. “What good are you to me then?” His sarcasm was rubbing off on her.
“My job is to do whatever Concetta wants me to do. Right now she wants me to babysit you and guide you when I can. You’re not the first witch I’ve been around, you know.”
“Why are you so testy? It’s not my fault you smarted off and got turned into a cat.” She watched him plop down on the edge of the bed with his front legs and head hanging over the side of the mattress. He looked so dejected. She felt sorry for him.
“The neighbor’s cat is in heat, and her scent is driving me crazy. This is part of my punishment from that asshole. I’m a picky lover, you see. As a cat, I’m forced to bang any cat in heat.”
“That’s awful. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do for you?”
His head sprang up, and he raced to the window. “You can open the window for me. Lunn turned off the window alarm this morning when Gaven cut a stinky one. I watched him open the window and then close it when the room smelled better. He didn’t reset the code.” Volker looked out the window. “I can see her.” He arched his back and kneaded the window seal.
Katarina walked to the window, and sure enough a black cat with white paws was looking up at Volker. He twitched his tail, and she relented. Within a second, she had the window open. Volker was lucky that there was no screen to remove. That would have taken several minutes to take off.
Before he left, he turned to her. “Leave it open so I can get back in.” With that said, he leapt for the closest branch on the tree outside her room. With graceful movements, he jumped from branch to branch. One final leap had him on the ground and approaching his happy prey. She grinned and went back to folding her clothes.
A bird flew past her window, and she watched as it flew to the highest branch she could see. Speaking of higher, she looked at the ceiling and wondered what was up there. Lunn had told her not to go to the third floor because the only things up there were manly stuff, and he didn’t want her to get hurt. Hurt how? She twisted her lips to the side as she wondered what kind of manly stuff was up there.
The sound of the doorbell drew her from her wonderings. Going downstairs, she looked through the peephole and saw a woman with red lips and big sunglasses. She wondered if the woman was a friend of Lunn’s, or maybe a work associate of his. Moving to the security panel, she put in the code he had given her. Opening the door, Katarina watched in horror as the woman pushed her way inside. Who was this bitch?
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