Night Shift (Kate Daniels #6.5)(54)

“You’re all mine.” He grabbed and hoisted me onto him. “Mine, mine, mine.”

I laughed and sprawled on top of him.



JIM was a cat. And like all cats, he liked soft places, sleeping, and lying around. We hadn’t left the bedroom. We napped, we cuddled, we had sex again and it was glorious. And now we just lay together enjoying each other’s company. We were both starving but going downstairs was just too much effort. Outside the sun slowly set. The world was growing dark.

“About the barbecue,” I said. “Should I bring something?”

“No, they’ve got it under control.” He was playing with my hair. “I called and told them you would be coming for sure. You’ll have to cut them some slack. They’ve never dealt with anyone like you.”

“Anyone like me? Indonesian?” They probably didn’t expect him to bring home someone like me. What if they didn’t like me?

“No,” he said. “Vegetarian.”

I stared at him for moment.

“It’s a barbecue,” he said. “We’re werecats. Everything is either meat or has meat in it. I explained to them about stuff not touching. They bought a new grill for you, but they can’t figure out what to grill on it . . .”

I snorted and laughed.

He grinned back at me. My handsome, smart Jim.

“Just a fair warning: you might end up having corn seasoned in three different ways . . .”

I giggled.

“They’re excited,” he told me. “You’ll have to answer questions. If it gets too much, tell me and I will snarl and make an ass of myself.”

“Diversion tactics!”

“That’s right. Anything for my beautiful girl.”

He said I was beautiful. I smiled.

“I called in a request to the Pack,” Jim said. “Let’s see if they can dig up anything on that law firm.”

The doorbell rang. Who could that be? I slid off the bed and glanced out of the window. My mother, my aunt, Komang, and her daughter stood on my doorstep. Oh no.

“My family is here,” I hissed. “Do not make noise.”

He laughed at me.

“Jim! I’ll strangle you.”

“Okay, okay.”

I ran into the bathroom to clean up, threw on fresh clothes, and ran down the stairs.

Oh no, the stupid steak again. I dashed into the kitchen, grabbed the cutting board with the steak, and whirled around. Where to put it? Not the cabinet, Mom would find it. Not in the fridge either, it would contaminate all my groceries . . .

I jerked the wooden cover off the oversize bread basket, stuck the cutting board and the steak in there, pulled it closed, and raced for the door.

My mother raised her hands. “Again?”

“I was sleeping.”

“I thought you were chasing after that stray cat you adopted.” She walked inside and the other three women followed her.

“You got a cat?” my aunt asked.

“It’s a stray,” my mother said. “She adopted him.”

I sighed, shut the door, and followed them into the kitchen. We sat at the table.

“About that boyfriend . . .” my mother said.

“There is no boyfriend,” I said. “It’s someone from the Pack. He was helping me and he was just being funny. He’s a practical joker.”

Komang opened her mouth. Aulia made big eyes at her and Komang closed her lips and sat back.

“Anyway, I found out about jenglots.” I explained about the cursing and the property. “This magic user is very dangerous and powerful. It’s one thing to summon a mythological horror like a hag. But this person also summoned a living killer car. People believe in old hag syndrome, but most of us would instantly dismiss a killer car as complete nonsense. He or she doesn’t require a mythological basis for their summonings. So if someone was afraid of ghosts, this person would conjure a murderous ghost for them even though ghosts do not exist.”

“So this person will try to kill grandmother again?” Aulia asked.

“I believe so,” I said. “But he or she will come after the comic book guys, the courier shop owner, or me first. This person is clearly targeting everyone in the building and I’ve made them very angry. They must’ve sacrificed something personal and now that sacrifice is wasted because of me. They may want to get me out of the way.”

My mother frowned. “What is so special about that property?”

“I don’t know. I’m checking into it. It is likely that . . .”

Jim walked into the kitchen. He was wearing a white towel around his hips and nothing else. His skin glistened with dampness—he had obviously just taken a shower.

I stared at him in horror.

He nodded to my aunt, my mother, and the two other women. “Ladies.”

Then he walked to my silverware drawer, got a fork, took a plate out of my cabinet, walked to the breadbox, speared the steak with his fork, put it on the plate, turned around and walked out.

This did not just happen. It did not happen.

Aulia looked at me with eyes as big as dessert plates and mouthed, “Wow.”

All four of them stared at me.

I had to say something. I opened my mouth. “As I was saying, I think the next two targets would be the comic book store guys and the courier shop owner. Their curses are likely already in place. Then me, because I made this person really angry. So Eyang Ida is safe for the time being.”