Wicked Appetite (Lizzy and Diesel 1)

“How do you know it’s special?”

“It was like the book of spells. You know how the book called me into the store? Well, this cat called me into the shelter. I was driving by the shelter on my way here, and the car just turned into the parking lot all by itself. I swear I didn’t have anything to do with it. And then before I knew it, I was inside and there was the cat.”

“Waiting for you?”

“Actually, he was waiting to get . . . you know.”

Glo pantomimed throat-slashing.

“Euthanized?” I asked.

“Yep,” Glo said. “They were gonna snuff him.”

“How horrible!”

“Okay, so they weren’t really going to snuff him. I just said that so you’d keep him. I think they were going to give him a bath.”

The cat looked up at me.

“There’s something odd about his eyes,” I said. “And isn’t his tail kind of short?”

“Word at the shelter is that he was sort of a brawler. Lost one of his eyes and part of his tail somehow.”

I looked more closely. “He’s got a glass eye?”

“Yeah. Cool, right?”

“Does he have a name?” I asked Glo.

“It says on the paper I got when I adopted him that he’s Cat #7143.”

“Maybe you should keep him.”

“I’m not allowed. I rent from a guy who’s allergic to cats.”

This is how it happens, I thought. A series of unexpected events and wham, nothing will ever be the same again. Yesterday, everything was comfortable and going along as planned, and now I’ve got two scary men and a cat in my life. The cat I was pretty sure I could manage. The men had me worried.

Glo put the book of spells on my red Formica countertop and set the pizza box on my secondhand cherrywood kitchen table. She flipped the lid on the box and helped herself to a slice.

“I have a couple awesome spells for your house,” she said. “We might not have all the ingredients for the potions, but I figure we can improvise.”

?

??I don’t want to put a spell on my house. I like it the way it is.”

“Are you kidding? The vampire just walked right in.”

“He wasn’t a vampire. He was a weird guy with perfect skin and an expensive suit.”

“How can you be sure?”

I took a slice of pizza. “I don’t believe in vampires.”

“Do you believe in the Tooth Fairy? The Easter Bunny?” Glo asked.

“Yes to the Tooth Fairy. No to the Easter Bunny.”

I could deal with a fairy, but I wasn’t buying into a giant rabbit hopping around in my house while I was asleep.