Page 10 of Last Note
“Melody!” The raw, primal roar jerks my body upright.
Frantic, I twist around, searching for her, but I only find my bedroom, the furniture a silent witness to me losing my mind. The door crashes open, the handle embedding itself in the opposite wall when Lucien and Moël storm inside, weapons drawn, searching for the threat.It was a dream.Grinding my teeth, I hang on tightly to the nightmare in hopes I’ll remember it all. It slides through my fingers, disappearing like a mist in the recesses of my mind.
“Étienne?” Moël comes tentatively closer, his gaze searching my face.
That’s when I hear the feral growl coming from my chest and see the shredded sheets I have twisted between my outstretched claws. For the first time, Lucien doesn’t have an assholish remark, even while he watches me warily, still crouched to attack at the door.
“Find me the damn cat.”
8
“You two realize we look like idiots, right?” Lucien growls from his crouch on the roof.
“You can always go down and leave us to deal with it, brother,” Moël says distractedly while he is leaning over the gutters, searching the yard.
“Why do I have a feeling the damn thing is toying with us?” Pushing the words through clenched teeth, I scan the area.
Two days we’ve been perched on the roof like the gargoyles on Notre Dame, waiting on the fucking creature to show itself. After that nightmare, caused by blood loss or insanity I haven’t decided which yet, the cat is nowhere to be found. We can smell its scent all around the house, including our bedrooms, but we haven’t seen it. It’s hard to miss the more-significant-than-your-average house cat, even with its black fur and glowing-yellow eyes that are way too intelligent to belong to an animal. Now that I’ve had time to think about it, I can’t believe we didn’t pay closer attention before. Instead, it took Moel to wisen us up after we got tired of him saying it out loud so much.
“All I’m saying is, we have a damn assassin caged inside that can actually talk.” Glaring at us, Lucien doesn’t move to leave. “Instead of interrogating him, we are squatting on the roof like roosters every night.”
“I can’t say it doesn’t suit you.” Moël chuckles, amusement dancing in his blue eyes when he looks at Lucien.
“He just wants to go to that cursed club to find human females.” I should’ve kept my mouth shut, a fact I realize only a moment after the words are past my lips.
“Oh, really?” Perking up, Lucien clears his throat. “Quel est ton nom?” He deepens his voice, mimicking me. “What is your name?” Clutching his chest dramatically, he bats his eyelashes like a female. “Melody…” he breathes.
“What are we? Fledglings?” Glaring at him, a muscle ticks in my jaw. “I will throat punch you if you repeat her name.”
“Maybe I will go to the club and see if I can find her,” he challenges, a smug look on his face.
“Leave him alone, Lucien.” Moël spits from the corner he’s been occupying every night. “Something is going on, and I have a feeling the girl is connected.”
After the dream I had that brought them both running to my bedroom, I told them everything. The vision—if that's what it was—the music that I’ve been hearing, and the few suicidal attempts that made me almost walk out in the sun.. I expected them to lock me away and chain me up like we have the assassin chained. To my surprise, they watched me solemnly, listening to every word with rapt attention. Moël admitted he has been having trouble staying indoors instead of chasing after the cat. Lucien just clamped his mouth shut, his eyes troubled.
Although I can tell that something has been going on with him, as well.
“I’m wondering if it’s better that we had to flee the court.” Slumping on the roof tiles, all the mocking is gone from my middle brother. “Maybe whoever killed father did something to us that we are not aware of.” When I raise an eyebrow in question, he scowls at me. “Look at us Étienne!” he snarls, sweeping his arm around the area where we are crouching. “Does this look like someone you’ll want to lead you? We are hunting a fucking cat. A cat!”
“Not an ordinary one if that’s any indication,” Moël mumbles, and my gaze unlatches itself from Lucien’s scowling face to see where he is pointing.
The light from the house casts a golden glow over the manicured lawn surrounding it. As we watch, the cat prowls warily from the tree line of the forest, separating our home from the rest of the town. It stops with one front paw raised, the head moving left and right as if it can sense us watching it. The tail straightens, sticking up in the air, and its entire body stiffens. The yellow eyes flash, catching the light when it surveys the yard. So, the damn thing was not hiding inside the house like I thought. We haven’t seen it because it wasn’t here.
All three of us stand as still as statues, only our eyes tracking the cat that, after a moment hesitation, continues towards the house. My eyes widen when one moment is is standing at the wall under the window, and the next it is gone, a bright light encompassing its body.
“Magic!” snarling the word under my breath like a curse, I mesh my lips together.
“You were saying, Lucien?” Moël turns to our middle brother that is staring daggers at the spot where the cat disappeared.
“This doesn’t make any sense.” Lucien sounds like it’s painful for him to utter the words. “I haven’t heard that anyone can use a cat to spy on our kind. It should be impossible.”
“Yet, here we are.” My mind is spinning with implications. “Why do I think this has nothing to do with home?”
“What makes you say that?” Moël turns to face me.
“Just a hunch.” Shrugging a shoulder, my nonchalance doesn’t fool my youngest brother. “Also, something the assassin said before the fight.” I allow him the courtesy of sharing my thoughts without being sure I’m right.
“Which is?” Lucien, ever the impatient one, waves a hand to spur me on.
