The Familiar (22 page)

As Cassie hands me pants and shirt to step into, she says, "And by the way, I'm pressing the send button to email the videos to a few select friends to make sure you know it can go viral fast if something happens to me or to Tom, or you just don't fulfill your side of the bargain."

"We're not making any bargains, bitch!"

When he talks to her like that, it gets my blood up, despite how calm I'd promised myself I'd stay, and I move toward him, but Cassie grabs my arm gently. "He's not worth it, remember?"

We move away for a private conversation to review one last time how we'll proceed when Robert arrives. I hear his car pull into the drive, and we glance meaningfully at each other, checking our readiness. He walks in through the unlocked back door. When he enters the living room, he takes in the situation coolly, his eyes moving from Kevin on the couch, to Cassie, and then to me.

His eyes stick on me for a long time.

"Tom. When Kevin described the man he saw on the road that night, I felt sure it had to be you. I guess I was right. However, this may not be a good time to ask how you happen to be here unchanged from the day you left."

"There are a number of changes." I reply.

We stand there a little longer, eyeing each other, then Kevin blurts out, "Jesus! Get on with it, whatever it is you're planning. I'm bored now."

Robert looks to his son, then to me again. I say, "I'll let Cassie tell you what he's been up to. Take a seat. Let's get comfortable."

Robert sits on the other end of the couch from Kevin. I take the armchair across from him, and Cassie stands behind me, leaning on the back of the chair, close enough that I can protect her if there's a physical threat we didn't expect. And close enough that I can smell her perfume mixed with the scent of anxious sweat.

I seldom take my eyes off of Kevin as Cassie relates what we discovered and then hands the phone to Robert to view the film I'd shot. When he's done, he looks at his son with disgust.

Shaking his head, he says, "How did I raise you to be such a bastard?" He turns back to me. "What do you want me to do?"

"First, it stops. The cops didn't want anything to do with it, so you were our only choice. However he's controlling them—I think it has to do with coffee at the café spiked with one of his potions—whatever it is, that stops, too. You're mayor, so look into your police force. Second, Keisha gets a nice severance bonus and amazing references." Cassie stops and waits for an answer.

"I'll grant that," Robert says as Kevin starts to protest. "You aren't a part of these negotiations, Kevin. If you want to keep any interest in the family property, you need to keep your mouth shut."

Kevin goes silent but continues glaring at me with those psycho eyes.

"Good. Third, Kevin makes his own meals and picks up after himself from now on. He shouldn't get an opportunity to follow any more women home."

"That's a given. I'd do it without you asking for it." I'm surprised by this, but Robert seems genuine.

"Finally, Tom needs documents that say he exists and isn't in his sixties. You have access to all the forms and stamps and official documentation for the city. He needs a birth certificate that says he's Tom Sanders the Third, twenty-five years old. And we need that by the end of the week."

"I can get that. Write down the birth date you want, name of parents, and full name so that I have the details."

Cassie hands him a sheet of paper. "We're ahead of you. That should be everything you need."

"That's the last of it?"

"Yeah, that's it. Unless we find out Kevin is stalking women again. Then all bets are off."

"If he does, I'll take care of him myself. I'm surprised you don't want anything more. Eunice would have had a much longer list of demands."

Cassie's eyes flash. "I am not now, nor have I ever been, or will I ever be ANYTHING like my grandmother."

Robert just nods.

Cassie stands up. "Whatever. We're going. You can drop off the birth certificate at the shop." Man, I'm proud of her.

"You'll have it by Friday. But before you go, I need your help. Tom, could you get him out of the chair and lay him down on his stomach? Keep his arms tied, though."

"You have a reason?"

"I'm high priest. A member of my coven has abused the magic the Goddess gave him in ways that would displease her. It's my responsibility to make sure he can't do it again." Robert looks suddenly very old and very tired.

I wrangle Kevin onto the floor. He's going to have an oozy, red rug burn on his left cheek. It will be a nice complement to the now yellowing bruise below his eye.

Robert waves a hand above his head and the room is suddenly dark. He kneels with one knee on Kevin's back, holding him in place. It looks painful for both of them. He sets his right palm on his son's lower spine and closes his eyes, tilting his head upward, murmuring to the Goddess. Red magic—the color of strength and also of mercy—flows out from his hand. When the light extinguishes, he reaches a hand to me and I help him to his feet, silently.

We turn to leave, but Kevin says, "Any chance of you untying me?"

I don't even look at him. I just toss a knife from a kitchen drawer into the living room. As Robert holds the back door open for Cassie, I ask, "What did you do to him?"

"I don't know how to bind his power—that's beyond me—but he won't be able to touch anything imbued with magic without being badly burned. You have nothing to worry about from him now."

"Nuts! That's what I forgot. Hang on." I go to Kevin's room and poke around. In the top of his closet I find a paper bag that appears to be empty but has bulk and heft to it. I feel inside, and I can feel the rough fabric of a pair of coveralls. Even if he can't use magic again, which I don't fully trust, I'm not leaving it here.

When I return with the bag to the back door, Cassie and Robert are standing on the stoop, having a friendly conversation. He's her employer, after all. I'm going to have to learn to accept him.

"I'm so excited!" Gillian says, as she meets us at the door into the sitting room. "I could barely sit still waiting for you."

"Yeah, it's great—I get a birth certificate that matches my face instead of my age. And that bastard Kevin won't be messing with any more women without their knowledge. So, it's a good day all 'round."

"No! I mean Maryse has a way to give you the power to transform yourself. Cassie will still be able to shift you, but the magic will work as it was meant to work. You'll be able to control your own form."

I'm overcome for a moment, silent. The Cat's got my tongue, so to speak. When I recover, I can only ask, "When?"

"We're waiting for the nurse to arrive."

"Nurse?"

"It's not a ritual. You just need some of Cassie's blood. We tried to make it complicated, but in the end, it's so simple." Cassie and I follow her into the sitting room, where the French witches have turned the coffee table into an altar again. "Of course, a purification ritual beforehand is always a good idea. We
are
witches, after all."

Cassie teases, "Hey! I haven't agreed to this yet. Maybe I don't want to share my life essence with the guy." She pauses, making a big thing out of turning her eyes up like she's thinking. "Then again, he's the only cat I've ever had who didn't make me clean a litter box, so I suppose he deserves a reward for good behavior."

I have to admit I like it when she's sassy. Plus, she's grinning almost as broadly as I am at the news.

I'm going to be a real man again. Not a puppet for anyone. Even if Cassie went evil and tried to use the shifter magic against me, I'd be able to shift myself right back. I'd be more excited if I could separate from Cat altogether, but Aurelie already explained to me it doesn't work that way. We can't be unjoined once we've been put together. It's an even bigger commitment than marriage.

"So, does this nurse know why she's going to be moving blood from me to Tom?" Cassie asks. "Because I'd think that's kind of a strange request."

"Sweetheart, healing and witchcraft are a great mix. It's Natalie who's coming. She's retired now, but she's expert at drawing blood and giving shots. Just watch her to make sure she doesn't walk out with anything extra. I know she usually returns things later, but sometimes the kleptomania fails to amuse."

Natalie arrives, and Aurelie dims the lights. Maryse says something to her in French, and she nods. "Only Natalie, Cassie, and Tom are to stay. Gillian, you and I—would you like to go for a walk? The moon is beautiful tonight."

The high priestess completes the ritual in the candlelight. I don't understand a word she says, but I feel Cat quieting inside me as the room is cleansed of upsetting influences. It leaves such a feeling of peace, and Cassie is fully relaxed now, too. She goes from slightly pretty to stunningly beautiful in the candlelight as all the small muscles in her face relax into the calm left in the ritual's wake.

"Tom, do you know your blood type?" Natalie asks after a period of time in the calm.

"It's O positive."

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"Yes, absolutely. I donated blood several times with Gillian during the war."

"Good. And Cassie, you're the same?"

"Yes. And that's a definite, too."

"Good, that means there's little risk of danger from the transfusion. However, I want someone to keep an eye on you for twenty-four hours afterward—no running out to the bars, understand? I'm only moving a few drops of blood over, but I need to know if anything unusual happens over the next day."

I nod obediently. This is a side of Natalie I haven't seen before. She's surprisingly competent. "Absolutely. No running to the bars. I'll just get falling-down drunk right here."

Cassie rolls her eyes as Natalie swabs the skin on her inner elbow with alcohol.

"Ready?" Natalie asks as she positions Cassie's arm. Cassie nods and turns her head away, then Natalie eases the needle in. She must have done a good job. Or maybe Cassie is braver than I am about needles. She doesn't react at all. Her bright-red blood flows up into the syringe and Natalie removes it, pressing a cotton ball against the bead of blood that tries to flow away.

Then, it's my turn. Natalie slides the needle into my arm after preparing it with alcohol. I wince when cooling blood mixes with my own. Not a comfortable sensation.

When it's done, Natalie cleans up and packs up. It feels ordinary. Not what I expected at all.

"Well, dumbass, are you going to say it?" Cassie blurts out.

"Don't say the words. Think them only. The signal words must be held secret. None of you must speak of this. The magic of my coven must be protected so that it is never corrupted again," the high priestess says in slow, careful English that none of us knew she understood until that minute. That's a surprise. Who knows what all that interpreting was about. Sheesh. Witches.

We murmur agreement.

"Then use your inner voice, Tom Sanders, brother of my coven."

I take a moment to mentally prepare myself for the pain, and then I think the words. Cat pushes his way out of me as I draw into him. Somehow, the pain is barely there. Maybe because, for the first time, no part of me is fighting the change. I allow myself and Cat to truly be one. I crawl out from under my shirt, and I'm happy to be walking lightly across the floor on his tiny, padded feet.

Cat finds his way to Cassie's legs and winds his way around them, purring and rubbing his head against her in thanks. He's expressing the thing I don't know how to say—my gratitude for the gift she gave me.

She reaches down and scratches behind my ears briefly. I have a feeling if she knew how that feels for me, she'd be embarrassed she did it in public.

Gillian and Aurelie come in the back door, and Maryse calls to them to join us. Cassie sits in the big armchair. I jump into her lap and think
good Tom
.

I grab a pillow to preserve what's left of my modesty, but everyone's laughing so hard that I don't think Cassie minds having a lapful of naked me.

Cat shifts to Tom, and I've got a lap full of undiluted man. My brain can't decide if it's thrilled or mortified, but my body is voting for thrilled. Gillian and Aurelie have just come in, so everybody gets to witness his little joke. I laugh with them, though. With everything I've learned since Granny died, I can't get uptight about unimportant things any more. Plus, I do have a lapful of naked Tom, so everyone has to be thinking, 'Wow! Lucky Cassie.'"

Omigod! Tom has control over his shifting, and he can leave the house! I want to kiss him with joy for what's happened, but there are way too many people hanging around. You should never kiss a naked man in front of his ex-wife and a roomful of elderly ladies.

Gillian stops laughing first and gets Tom's robe. She tosses it to him, and everyone except Natalie politely looks away as he drops his privacy pillow and leverages himself off the arm of the chair to get decent. Once he's in his robe, he excuses himself to grab his heap of clothes and get dressed again in the bathroom.

The atmosphere careens from ritual to party, but with half the guests being over sixty, it quiets down pretty fast. Gillian and Natalie take their leave after Maryse heads up the stairs on Aurelie's steadying arm. Tom and I are alone.