Page 4 of Changeling
Alex smiled knowingly at him and leaned over the counter. “So let me get this straight...or maybe 'straight' isn't the right word…” She smirked.
“Hey, I'mnot…I mean, I’m…well…”
“You’re notwhat?” Alex prompted, knowing Nathan well enough to understand exactly what juvenile thoughts were racing through his head. “No offence, Nate, but unless you’re full of it or this is some really bad joke, what would you call sharing a bed with a hot guy? Male bonding? Maybe in theliteralsense…” She was clearly enjoying herself.
Nathan decided to settle on a scowl and avoid giving her any additional ammunition. “So speaking of him being an incubus…he knows you know, right?”
“Of course.”
“And you found out…how, exactly?”
The briefest flicker of what Nathan took for embarrassment and maybe a little panic crossed Alex’s face before she turned away and promptly picked up a box from behind the counter. “Oops, better get this into the storage room before I trip over it.” Then she was out from behind the bar and heading for the side hallway before Nathan could protest.
He tried anyway. “Alex…”
“Story for another time, Nate!” she called back as she disappeared.
Nathan’s scowl deepened. He was going to hold her to that.
Nathanhadhopedhecould postpone any raccoon hunting until tomorrow, but Alex pushed an honest to god raccoon trap into his hands after dinner before he could try and slip off to his room.
He wasn’t all that tired, even with a few more doses of his various medications in his system, because he had spent the majority of the afternoon sleeping and, to be honest, he was kind of restless. That didn’t mean he wanted to go foraging about in the attic for some damn raccoon though.
The attic was definitely the last place Alex had thought to renovate. It was dusty, filled with boxes and other storage, and had only one overhead light which was a bare bulb activated by a string. For a brief moment, Nathan wished Walter was with him so he could have his Spirit Guide scout ahead.
The smart thing to do would be to investigate around a little, see if he could find where the raccoon nested—since the thing would more than likely be hiding—and then set up the trap near there. Nathan had some scraps of meat in a baggie to use as bait. Part of him just wanted to set up the trap and get the hell back downstairs. His biggest phobia was heights but he wasn’t too keen on tight spaces either, and the attic’s ceiling was so low, Nathan had to crouch.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” Nathan whispered under his breath.
Hunkered down low as he moved along the floorboards, which creaked in ways that made Nathan’s stomach flip for fear of falling right through the ceiling, he squinted at the meager light given off by the single bulb. There was definitely a lot more clutter off to Nathan’s left, so he headed there. It looked like some of the boxes had been arranged into a makeshift fort.
Are raccoons always this ingenious?
Nathan was almost afraid the raccoon would still be in the nest when he peered over the boxes, and he really didn’t feel like getting his face scratched off right now. First inspection showed no creature, thankfully, but Nathan was surprised by how otherwise organized the little nest was. There was a blanket, bits of leftover food and wrappers from candy bars, and a tiny treasure trove of things Nathan could definitely imagine were stolen from seals. What unsettled him the most was the bowie knife he would have been glad to take as his own. There was also a lighter, a watch, a few necklaces Nathan assumed were Alex’s, and various other sparkly metal things.
Nathan set to work getting the trap situated inside the nest. His movement unsettled some of the boxes around him, however, and he gave a great sneeze when too much dust wafted up around him. It was then that Nathan heard scuffling. He jerked his head to the right and he could have sworn he saw something furry scuttle across the floorboards back behind a fewof the more distant boxes. At least itwasonly about the size of a cat, like Alex had said, but Nathan was positive it didn’t have a tail.
“Here…kitty, kitty…” Nathan whispered again, a lump in his throat now. He was at a big disadvantage and, again, he really didn’t want to have his face scratched off any time soon by some rabid fuzz ball. “Don’t run, little fella…I’m your friend. I just wanna play, huh?” Nathan carefully finished setting the trap up and left the bag of meat open. If he could just lure the…whatever it was back to the nest, he still had a chance at capturing it.
Nathan wasn’t sure if it was better to crawl or crouch, but he figured he would be able to see over most of the boxes better if he stayed on his feet. It made his chest ache a little to be scrunched like that, but nothing he couldn’t handle.
“Come on, little guy, Alex may not care what I do with ya, but I promise we’ll just go for a little ride out to some nice patch of woods somewhere. You’ll love it.”
Nathan jerked his head to the left this time as he heard scuffling over in another corner.
“I’m not here to take your stuff or anything,” he went on, inching in that new direction. “Go ahead and check. All there.” He felt a little silly for talking like the creature could understand him, but he had always had a way of attributing anthropomorphic characteristics to things.
Suddenly, Nathan heard scuffling from behind him, back where the nest was, and there was a large snapping of the cage door. Maybe the thingcouldunderstand Nathan; it certainly seemed to have taken the bait.
Slowly, Nathan snuck his way back over to the boxes that enclosed the nest and peered over. The trap had been triggered, all right, but there was no sign of anything furry and cute inside of it. “Damn it,” Nathan cursed. This thing was good.
Too good, it turned out, because Nathan barely had time to turn around when he heard scuffling again just behind him, and then the thing was already latched onto his leg, taking a painful bite.
The Gatehouse wards went off, but only slightly, admitting a faint BOOM and disrupting Nathan’s footing. He cried out from the shock of power and the pain caused by the creature’s teeth, stumbling forward before falling flat to the wooden floor with an eruption of dust as he landed. Nathan coughed and gasped heavily, but more from the explosion of pain throughout his chest. Every one of his wounds had been impacted in the fall; he’d be lucky if he hadn’t ripped any stitches, and he definitely wouldn’t be moving easily for a while. It hurt so much that Nathan could barely shove himself over onto his back.
He took painful gasps, his hand ghosting over his shirt. Suddenly, Nathan realized that, although the creature was no longer biting him, the Gatehouse wards had not dislodged it from his leg. There was barely enough light to see by but Nathan risked a glance down his body.
Dimly, he could make out large bat-like ears, sharp little teeth formed into a growl, and round beady black eyes. It was almost entirely covered in fur, more the size of a large teddy bear than a cat, in reality, and though Nathan couldn’t be sure, the paws gripping his leg made him almost think the thing had opposable thumbs.
