Page 38 of The Mating Frenzy
Kieran glowered at Stan, who took another stepback.
Maybe reason would help. She spoke in her softest voice. “Kieran, this is Stan. He’s just a guy. Mom’sboyfriend.”
Kieran growled deep in his throat. “This is no friend and no boy, Ellamine.”
Ella mine? When did she become his? The endearment warmed her, but suddenly there was no time to question, or act, because everything went tohell.
Kieran leapt,leaptover the dining room table as if it were a hurdle, landing neatly on both feet, right in front of Ella. Stan laughed and snatched up a fork, holding it to her mother’s throat. The tines pressed against Nellie’s flesh, denting it. Her motherscreamed.
“Please, Stan, please don’t hurt me again,” Nelliewailed.
Again? Ella saw red. She started forward, but Kieran blocked her. “I shall handle this, Ellamine.”
“She’s not yours. When I am done with her, she will belong to the master,” Stan grated out in a gutturalvoice.
“Fork you,” Kieransnarled.
Fork you?She felt as if she were in a bad comedy act, except her mother was bleeding from the sharp tines sinking into herthroat.
“Put the blade away, jaguar, or I’ll kill her,” Stanthreatened.
Eyes focused on Stan, Kieran sheathed the blade. Ella blinked hard. The scabbard had appeared out of nowhere on his right hip, and thenvanished.
Stan removed the fork, mumbled something, pinched Nellie’s throat where it bled, then pushed her hard. Her mother tumbled to the ground, whimpering, holding a hand to herneck.
“You shall pay dearly for injuring the one assigned to protect Ella.” Kieran seemed to grow taller before her eyes, his posture alert and coiled, like a cat ready tospring.
Seizing the chance, Ella raced over to her mother. She grabbed a clean linen napkin, holding it to her mother’swound.
“Ella, I am sorry. I failed you,” her mother whispered. “I was blinded to Stan. I didn’t know what hewas.”
“It’s okay, shhh. Lie still,” she toldher.
Stan threw the nearest object—a twice-baked potato—at Kieran, who ducked. The potato crashed into the china cabinet, smearing butter and cheese and sour cream over the glass. “Fuck you,” Stanscreamed.
Kieran grabbed a fork, raced forward and stabbed Stan in the stomach. The man stared down at the fork. Then he pulled itout.
“It takes more than silver to kill me, guardian,” Stan grated out. “And this is nothing more than silver plate. Nellie always waspoor.”
The fork fell on the carpet. A Cheshire cat smile touched Kieran’sface.
“I know. But it will force your true nature out, you bastard,” he toldStan.
With a loud howl, Stanchanged.
If she hadn’t stared at him, she’d have missed it. Thought the entire episode a living, writhing nightmare from the bowels of a twisted imagination. Malevolent energy radiated from the creature, a faint inky black aura radiating from itsbody.
Ella didn’t know why, or how, she could suddenly see it. Her terrified gaze whipped over to Kieran, who courageously faced the thing. Crimson and pure, snowy white ringed Kieran’s body. She glanced at her mother, who emitted a sickly yellowish-graycolor.
Her own hands were pulsing with white light, the edges sharp, likecrystals.
She looked at the creature again. What she saw made her crab-crawl backwards on the floor, dragging her mother with her. Instinct urged her to get far, faraway.
Covered with snowy white fur, the thing that had been Stan stood at least seven feet tall, his head nearly banging against her mother’s kitchen ceiling. Black twists of horns sprouted from the side of its head. Eyes glowing blood red, it stared at her, the mouth somehow on the side of its head, as if someone had twisted its headaround.
Kieran picked up a sharp steak knife and made a “come and get me” gesture. The creature hissed and swept a paw over the dinner table, sending her mother’s $17 prime rib crashing to the floor in a greasymess.
“Tornakt, you shall not harm Ella,” Kieran shouted. “You will have to get past mefirst!”
