The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

"She'd been slashed on the neck, and there was bruising. She wasn't as cut up or eaten as our second female victim, but both did happen."

"So the violence is definitely escalating." I paused and drank some coffee. It was bitterer than usual, but maybe that was a direct result of drinking the silky smooth stuff at the cafe. "So if Cherry died three weeks ago, we might have another male body out there waiting to be discovered."

"Could be. I'm currently going through the cops' unsolved murder files, just to see if I can find anything." He reached forward, grabbed a folder, and handed it to me. "Forensic reports for Gerard James and the shoe seller. The DNA found at both scenes matches."

"What about Alana Burns? Any DNA found on her?"

"No. But Cole suspects they'll find plenty on the body of the second woman. She was bitten a lot."

I opened the folder and skipped the photos, going directly to the reports. At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything I hadn't already guessed. "So has Cole got any idea of what we might be dealing with?"

"He thinks it could be a bakeneko."

"A what?"

Kade grinned. "My reaction, too."

"So what is it?"

"Apparently, it's a cat with supernatural abilities."

"A cat? So we're not dealing with a human shifter, but an actual cat who can take human shape?"

Which certainly went a long way to explain the arrogance the woman had shown by waving to the witness. Cats had a huge sense of their own superiority.

"Makes trying to catch this bitch a whole lot harder, doesn't it? I mean, she really isn't going to be thinking like a regular person." He shook his head, then took a sip of his coffee. His expression crinkled up in much the same manner as mine had. "God, that's awful."

"Won't stop either of us from drinking it, though."

"Hell, no." He raised his cup in salute, brown eyes twinkling. "I did an Internet search, and the only thing I could come up with was a couple of Japanese legends."

"I'm guessing they didn't say how to kill this thing." Japanese myths rarely did, for some odd reason.

"No. But they did say that a bakeneko can change its shape into that of a human, and has been known to eat parts of its own mistress in order to shapeshift and take her place."

"Well, some of that criteria certainly fits."

"Yes. But why is it going after these men? Why would a cat - a real cat - want to destroy these people?"

"I don't know, but something has obviously set her off. We just have to try and find out what." I took a sip of coffee and studied the file for a moment. "I wonder if she actually belonged to any of the dead women?"

"Hard to say. She obviously knew the layout of that house pretty well - she ran straight to the open window when she was escaping us."

"Yeah, but I didn't see any cat trays or food bowls, which suggests she didn't actually belong there."

"You think she's a stray the women picked up?"

I smiled. "From what Dia said, the only thing these women pick up is men."

"So why the curiosity over who the cat belongs to?"

"I don't know. It's just a niggle."

He studied me for a moment, then said, "You know, there were food bowls in Cherry Barnes's kitchen."

"Then it might be worth chasing up with the neighbors to see if she had a black cat. Cherry Barnes had good reason to hate her fellow Trollops, so if it's her cat, maybe its seeking revenge on behalf of its dead mistress."

"Yeah, but Cherry wasn't killed by the cat, which means we have yet another murderer to deal with."