Page 39 of Whiskers on Kittens

Something about the Devil’s expression softened, and he reached over and gave Easton a clap on the shoulder. “She’s done far worse than what you know. I will make sure her soul is properly rehabilitated and that she experiences the hell that she has forced others to endure before her soul comes to pay me an even closer visit. Welcome to the big leagues, boy. Kelsie, ignore everything I said about the blame game on this one. I’ll handle any illusions you require for the night. It’s just a little meddling. I’m sure my father will forgive me eventually.”

With a rather skeptical expression, Easton replied, “If you say so.”

“I do. I’ll leave the van but remove this menace from the face of the Earth. I’m sure I can figure out something you can do to help me later.”

I displayed my middle finger. “No. You’re doing this because you want to. No bargains without both of us agreeing to all terms upfront.”

“Why must you ruin my fun?”

“I value my soul and wish to keep it in my possession.”

Lucifer grinned at me. “Your soul does me the most good where it currently is, in your possession. Your body, however, could be quite useful for other affairs.”

Before I could indulge my virus and try to strangle the life out of the Lord of Lies, the bastard teleported away and took the woman with him. “I swear.”

“Lucifer intervened to protect that little girl,” Easton observed.

I nodded, eyed the van, and shook my head. “Let’s just take a walk down the street with our shit, and if it looks clear, we’ll start breaking windows and clearing houses out. According to the papers we have, every house down this street is part of this group, and the ones that have people in them are occupied by victims. You have your rag and your bag?”

“I have everything.”

“Shift for me and show me what you’ve got.”

The lycanthrope shrugged, got into the van, and closed the door. Within five minutes, the entire van shook and leaned to one side, I presumed due to the sudden manifestation of a great deal of weight. I put on a pair of gloves and opened the door to discover I had a cinnamon-coated hybrid to work with, and his eyes gleamed golden in the early evening light.

Meow, meow, meow.

From head to toe, I could lose many an hour admiring him in his hybrid form. “I bet you’re a dream in the winter when it’s cold outside.” I spied his clothes, grabbed my bag, and chucked everything inside except for his bag and his rag. I took the time to shoot Belial a text requesting someone clothe my hybrid after I finished taking advantage of him. “I’ll get somebody to bring your clothes back later. Right now, it’ll get in the way. Are those claws of yours sharp enough to cut through glass?”

“They are,” Easton growled.

As I had zero fear of the hybrid, I reached out and scratched under his chin to discover he had thick, soft fur. Excellent. “I’m going to be abusing you fiercely to gain entrance into these properties. I’m short. You are not. You can toss me through the windows you slice open.”

“How about I pick you up and lift you carefully?”

“I’m a cat, Easton. I’ll land on my feet.” Well, I usually did.

Judging from his snort, he didn’t believe me. “The van will need to be cleared of evidence.”

Rolling my eyes, I sent another text to Belial requesting he abuse his devilish powers to clean the van, and held the door open as far as it would go so the hybrid could get out. “If I end up trapped in a bargain with some devil doing this, you’re going to pay for a long time.”

Easton graced me with a grin, showing off his sharp, pointy teeth. “If you say so.”

Yep. The wolf would pay even if I didn’t owe some devil a bargain cleaning up after us. As the street lacked lighting, I headed down the street, as there were no sidewalks. Two of the houses had lights on, and I decided we would start our evening with multiple counts of kidnapping. “We’re a lot less likely to get caught if we take out the witnesses first. The rag will work nicely, but you can just toss them into the bag. If you open it up on the floor, you can just shove them in.”

“That’s harsh.”

“We don’t have time to argue with them, so use the rag, toss them into the hole, and go find someone else to catch. I want these two houses cleared out in record time—and we’ll clean out the homes of their stuff after we’ve cleared the building of people and animals, taking care with their property. We don’t know what they’ll want to keep. I’m sure Lucifer can handle that job. We just have to sneak in and take out everyone quietly.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier to clear out the other houses first?”

“I want to turn on the lights. If I turn on the lights while the residents are present, and they know our targets are out, we’re busted,” I pointed out.

“Right. You want me to just grab these people and shove them into the bag.”

“I guess you could just pull the bag over their head and force them through that way.” I shrugged, having no interest in questioning the Devil on how his magic worked. “I mean, we could knock and just announce we’re with the FBI.”

“Let’s not do that.”