Rakshasa (5 page)
Authors: Alica Knight
“I promise, it won’t happen again,” I said for the fifteen-billionth time, giving Katelyn yet another squeeze on the knee. “I promise. I promise.”
“If you do, I’m swear to God, I’m burning down your apartment. You scared me half to death!”
“You said that already,” I reminded her, keeping my voice gentle. Slowly, surely, she began to calm down.
“Jesus. I kept seeing your body in a ditch somewhere. I kept seeing you on the nightly news, a statistic. The twelfth victim of the Champawat Tiger, Elizabeth Meda.”
“I know, I know. But I’m safe now.”
Katelyn, for the first time, managed a weird smile. “Okay. Just, you know… can you avoid doing anything
weird
for the next couple of days? I’d really like that.”
I smiled widely. “I think I can manage it.” I gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll be fine tonight, okay?”
She shook her head violently. “Oh, no. Not after
that
little stunt. I was thinking of getting a hotel while my house is repaired, but no way. Nope. I’m staying here for the next week and that’s final.”
“You have work tomorrow,” I reminded her, “You can blow off uni, but not work. I know you need the money.”
Her face told me it was true. With a defeated sigh, Katelyn nodded her head.
“I know. If I skip one more shift, I’m fired.” She affixed a stare on me that told me, on no uncertain terms, that she meant business. “You call me if
anything
weird goes on, okay?”
“I will.”
“And you won’t go walking anymore?”
“I won’t.”
“Or… anything else weird?”
I smiled. “I’m Libby. I’m always doing weird things.”
She sighed. “Ain’t that the truth. God, you chowderbucket.” She gave me a relieved smile. “Get some sleep, okay?”
To sleep meant to dream and I could think of nothing I wanted more.
Epilogue
The Eclipse
I closed the door of my apartment, leaning up against it with my back, giving a low sigh to the empty room.
“What a day, huh?”
Stepping inside I kicked off my shoes. The place was trashed. Katelyn and the cops had gone over everything looking for clues. Somehow Kateyln had convinced them that I was lying dead in a ditch somewhere and they had moved with surprising speed. Between my smelly shoes, my ruined cupboard and now this, my apartment was a war zone, but tidying up could wait until tomorrow. The sun was about to come up and I felt deathly tired.
I stepped down the hallway, following the sound of the mewing kittens towards my bedroom. I remembered, then, that I had forgotten to buy food for Clintonette.
“Mince in the fridge,” I said to myself, nodding. Clintonette had just become a mother; surely I could splurge out on something a little fancy.
I stepped into the kitchen, freezing instantly. Something seemed instantly, totally wrong.
The faint sound of breathing.
“Quite the scene you made tonight,” came a voice, quiet and gravelly, unnaturally deep. I slowly turned around. Standing in the tiny living room, shrouded in gloom, was a tall creature—it shaped like a man but had the head of a tiger, covered in the same tiger-stripe markings that I’d seen on myself in the dream, the pattern running all over his body. Black and orange, with a white patch running down from his jaw, down his throat, disappearing into the overly large t-shirt he wore. His arms were folded, confidently, but with a strange aura of menace about him.
“I didn’t realise anyone was watching.” I rested a hand on the kitchen cabinet, trying to look composed. “Who are you?”
The creature chuckled, a mirthless action that I found belittling. “Eclipse,” he answered, his face splitting in a grin revealing an impressive set of sharp incisors, “Although you’re more likely to know me as the Champawat Tiger.”
“That supposed to impress me? Make me afraid?”
“It should.”
I locked gazes with him, his dark green eyes glinting in the poor light of my small apartment. “What do you want?”
“What I want with the other Rakshasa-fledglings I find.” Another chuckle, this time with a little more energy, and the Rakshasa took a step forward.
“To kill you.”
To be continued in Rakshasa: Aurora…
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Rakshasa
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