Sandy Morrison and the Pack of Pussies

Chapter 15

Vanessa sat up when her cell phone started to ring, and she flicked a tiny bubble of solid air at the TV’s power switch to shut it off.

Flicking open the phone, she said, “This is Vanessa.”

“The cops in New Orleans found an abandoned cop car,” a woman said, though she didn’t bother to identify herself. “Looks like dogs got the officer, so the tape is being buried. But they did note a pair of women coming out of the place, one of them a redhead wielding a baseball bat and casting lighting.”

“Sandy?”

“The other girl matches Trisha Cooper, who went missing the same day that Sandy did. The cops were kind enough to offer some screen captures, and while the video quality is a bit grainy, I think you can tell what’s going on. I’m emailing them to your phone.”

“All right. Thanks, Mother.”

“Wait, I’m not done yet. The important thing to note is, Sandy was surrounded by cats. There’s at least five, though there may be others. They were guarding her from the dogs.”

Vanessa debated coming clean that she already knew the cats would protect her. But after a moment to think things through, she said, “That’s very interesting. Do you think they’re protecting her from us, or from other cats?”

“It could be both, but it isn’t hard to guess why they’ve settled on this location. There’s a warlock living in the area, Donald Merryweather. That suggests Sandy’s felines friends are trying to take her to an independent trainer.”

“Uh...”

“Yes?”

Vanessa sighed, looking over at Todd. “I hate to bring this up, being that I see Sandy as my niece. But there is the matter of her...her genitals.”

There was a long pause before the woman on the other end of the line said, “It’s a bit more complicated than that. The bar was burned to the ground, and yet none of us were able to use the fire as a divining method, even though we’ve been actively searching for Sandy. Which suggests that Sandy’s control over fire reaches far beyond a witch’s ability.”

“What am I to do if she is a warlock?”

Another long pause followed. “We still have to bring her in for an assessment. Her powers are becoming dangerous enough to risk exposure, and Donald is too much of a wild cannon to provide her with proper training.”

“What am I to do about the cats?” Vanessa asked.

“If they try to prevent you from bringing in Sandy, you’ll have to eliminate them.”

“I...I understand.”

“I’m sending the pictures and Donald’s present residence right after I hang up.” The line clicked.

Vanessa set down the phone. “Sandy is in New Orleans. I...I’ll have to go after her now.”

“Now? But it’s the middle of the night?” Todd scowled. “I thought you didn’t want to bring her in.”

“I don’t. But she needs a proper trainer, and the coven doesn’t believe the candidate selected by the cats is stable enough for the job.”

Vanessa got up from the bed and went to her bag to pick it up. “If I start now, I can make it to Donald before Sandy does. Then maybe we can work out some kind of peaceful transfer.”

“You think the cats will go for that?” Todd asked. He sounded as skeptical as he looked.

“They might, if you were there.” Vanessa gestured around the room. “This isn’t where you belong anyway. You belong with your daughter.”