Page 23 of Kentucky Nights
“I don’t know. Seeing your skull rolling around brings me more joy than it should.”
Lorcan manages to roll his head back and away from the stall. His mouth parts on a gasp, inhaling more dust. He sneezes, the force causing him to roll down to Romeo’s stall.
“Oh my god, it reeks over here. What do you feed him?” He gags. “And where is my damn body!” he cries, but the body in question rams into a beam.
I grin, knowing damn well I wouldn’t laugh at all if it weren’t for Lorcan.
Tossing the bale of hay over my shoulder, it lands with a loud thump in the bed of the old truck I have parked in the barn. My plan was to fill the feeders out in the pasture for the cattle, but with the rain steady, I’ll have to fill the row barn instead, where most of them will be huddled anyway.
A few creaks and groans have me turn to see Lorcan twisting his head back on. He cracks his neck left and right, then shakes his body.
“Okay, that’s better. That was rude. You could have helped me.”
I shrug a shoulder. “Seems like you had it under control, Lorcan. Who was I to interrupt your process?”
He holds a hand to his chest, offended. “I’ll remember that when I have to take you to Purgatory.”
I toss another bale of hay into the truck. “What’s that?”
Lorcan knocks his head into the beam a few times, groaning. “You really don’t know much, do you?”
“Only what you tell me.” I grunt, throwing two more bales down from the loft. “Other than that, I don’t care, Lorcan.”
Lorcan takes a seat on a bench, then screams at the top of his lungs when one of the barn kittens scurries across his legs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him move so fast.
“What is thatbeast?” He hides behind me on the loft, leaving the little kitten down on the main level.
The grey kitten sits down, peering up at us with big blue eyes.“Meow.”
“So vicious. You should be afraid. He probably smells your bones and needs a good chew.”
“Feed me,”the kitten says into my mind.
“Go to your mom. She’ll feed you,”I reply. “You aren’t ready for big kitty food yet.”
“That’s terrible. Why would you keep such a creature here when you know that all I am is bones?”
“That’s exactly why I keep him here, Lorcan.” I school my features, doing my best to seem serious.
The kitten hisses at us before running away and slipping under an unused stall.
He shakes his bony finger at me. “This is why I’m taking your ass to Purgatory if you ever die. And before you ask”—he places his hand over my mouth to silence me— “Purgatory is the place all paranormals go. Consider it the next town over from Hell.”
“Sounds like a vacation,” I say, my tongue dry and my attitude uncaring.
“It isn’t so bad. I really like it there.”
“So go back and let me do my job.” I grip the twine again, launching it through the air.
Lorcan dodges to the left to miss the rectangle charging at him. “I know when someone is trying to get rid of me. We need to talk, Kentucky. And it can’t wait.”
“Yes, it can.” I throw another bale through the air, and to my surprise, Lorcan freezes it mid-air and gently places it down with the rest.
“Surprise. I’m not a complete wreck. You don’t know much about the paranormal life. I have respected your choice to remain a loner, to not give you the knowledge that you need for survival, but since you never cared about survival before, I gave you space.” He snaps his fingers, and I’m forced to sit down.
I can’t move.
“Yeah, don’t even try to use your little vampire speed. You don’t have shit on me, bucko.” Lorcan dramatically flaps his black robe just when Romeo lets out a large neigh. “Hush. I’m not going to hurt him or anything. I don’t have a mean bone in my body.” He smiles, raises his brows, and waits for me to laugh. “Get it? Because all I have are bones that make up my body. Get it, Kentucky? Get it?”
