Lead Me Astray

Original Edition: CHAPTER 51 - ZYR

The high-spirited sprint to the store took an hour. I jogged onto the grass-studded, cracked and crumbling car park with Mys on my back as the cashier was locking the doors. I fell to my knees at the edge of the property, and Mys slid from my back and leaned over me.

"Are you okay?" my lover whispered empathetically.

Chest heaving, I inclined my head in the affirmative. The trip had been rigorous, but I was fine. Better than fine, even. The physical activity had pushed the most undisciplined parts of me to the background. The feral thoughts crept back into my head as I rose to my feet. I seemed to hear every prey in the night.

The cashier smoking a cigarette got my attention. "Y'all need some help?" she asked. She was turning the key in the double doors. I remembered her scent from the day Aurie and I had gotten supplies. It took a second to remember that had happened yesterday. It felt like lifetimes ago.

"No, we're, uh..." I headed toward her.

"Looking for your wife?" she supplied.

I stopped and cocked my head. "Have you...seen her?"

The woman with the missing tooth cast a worried glance over her shoulder before rushing to meet me by the pumps. "I don't want no trouble, okay? I seen the redhead girl hand her over to a man in a black car."

"Are you sure it was Aurie?" I described her, and my informant nodded emphatically. Mys migrated closer, realizing the woman had something important to say.

"Thought I was seeing things—sometimes I do, you know—but I seen the three of them get in his car and take off. Said something about gone to see a man about a dog in Ponch'toula," she stated.

"I'm Detective Zyr Ravani, ma'am. Can I get your name?"

"Kathleen," she said, sucking the cigarette fretfully and gazing around again.

"Kathleen, can you tell me what the man was like?" I implored.

She fondled a dime on a string around her neck as her gaze vacillated from me to Mys and again to me. "Something like you, Rougarou, but you don't scare me like he did."

I pulled back at the Cajun word for werewolf. "I promise you have nothing to worry about from me. Did he say where in Ponchatoula he was going?" I tried.

"His country house, that's all I know. Now, won't y'all wait over there off the store grounds. I don't rightly feel comfortable with you this close, being...you know."

I nodded, retreating with Mys. "Thank you for your time," I said in parting.

The Empath whispered, "What was that about?"

"She realized I wasn't human."

From an overgrown open field across from the store we watched the lights of the establishment flicker out one by one. The woman anxiously emptied rubbish into the garbage bin and made sure the doors were locked. Then she climbed into a dusty yellow Volkswagen and hightailed it.

"Humans are weird," Mys uttered.

"I think I know where Darcy is," I whispered. "As far as I know, he doesn't have a country house. He owns a luxury condo in the city, but his lawyers have a place just outside Ponchatoula. My money is on it."

I heard the tell-tale crunch of tires on concrete signaling Kittie Cad's imminent arrival. Her timing was impeccable. Mys beamed as the champagne Nissan skidded past the convenience store, which was harder to see with the lights out. Kittie braked, rolling down a window.

"Mitsuyo?" she squawked.

"Over here!" Mys called out as we ran to the car.

"Alright, what the hell is going on, Detective? What did you do?" Kittie hopped out and came at me with a high heel.