Page 61 of Whiskers on Kittens

Darlene cleared her throat.

“What? My siblings most certainly are feathered menaces. They menace me often, and they have feathers.”

I grinned at the Devil’s exasperated complaint. “And the kittens?”

“Our allies have rounded them up, and while there is some crying and they’re frightened, they’re being escorted to the penthouse as we speak. We’ll arrive before them, although we will do so solely due to the wonders of teleportation. You’ll have time to change, put on your fur coat, and wear your Christmas hat. A hybrid will terrify them in their current condition, Easton, so you will have to put on your wolf coat. Once they smell that you’re lycanthropes, they’ll go right to you. Then you can tend to them, make certain they’re properly fed, and spend the next few days worrying about their recovery. Your security will be tight, not that the group will be able to locate where the kittens are at. Once they’re recovered, I’ll send you off to the various amusement parks until it’s time to take them to Chicago.”

“I’m questioning why we can’t just take them to Chicago,” I muttered.

“You would all go insane from boredom after two days.”

As that was a fair enough answer, I accepted it with a nod. “Can we start dumping this shit into our bags?”

“Give it five minutes for the angelic host to clean up the mess, but yes. Within an hour, all we will be leaving here is some dust. Hopefully, our daughter will be happy with us for a change. We aren’t leaving any bloodstains for her to clean out of her new project.”

“That’s highly unlikely,” Darlene replied, laughing at the Devil and shaking her head. “And anyway, would you even be happy if she wasn’t trying to murder you at least once a day?”

“It would be nice to do something right for a change.”

“Just remind her that you helped trick her into keeping Malcolm. She always gives you a hug because she forgets herself. But as for her approving of your actions? No. You’ll be waiting all eternity for that one.”

“That’s not fair,” the Devil whined.

“You’ll get over it.”

Somehow, we cleared the entire warehouse of blood, bodies, and belongings in an hour flat. The angelic host handled the blood and bodies, and Lucifer summoned an entire congregation of devils and demons to help us toss everything into the pocket portals. With the kittens soon to be in our possession, I hoped we would find more ways to prevent the trafficking ring from rising again.

“Lucifer, will this really take care of this?”

“New York will have some minor issues well within the NYPD’s abilities to handle at a volume it won’t disrupt my plans. Chicago is set to be clear of this scourge by the end of next year. You have put the wheels in motion for that end. Detroit is likewise poised to be clean of filth. While those kittens paid some prices, they will emerge far better for the trauma. You will help see to that as will their parents. Their futures are bright. In years to come, they will view the whole thing as one strange adventure, one with a rough start but a brilliant finish.”

“I feel like we haven’t done enough,” I admitted.

Lucifer stared at me as though I’d grown a second head. “Kelsie, what else do you need to do? You have passed by numerous opportunities for great wealth through an automated forward filter to some of your favored contacts. You put aside everything you might do to come across the country chasing after the kittens. You have toed every moral line I can think of making sure you put yourself in the best position possible to recover them. Yes, you didn’t crawl around on the streets and check every dumpster and alley. You did something better. You forced an entire mafia group to clean up their ways so they can be the criminal rulership of New York City in such a way that will bring prosperity and safety to everyone involved. Fewer cops will die each year. Fewer mafia members will die as well. The crimes they commit will be of the softer nature, hurting finances more than anything else—something that hurts but can be recovered from. You are putting a literal end to the sacrifice of women and children for the pleasures of the depraved. What more could you possibly need to accomplish?”

“All I did was con some women into getting help and stole some stuff. Otherwise, I fed the hybrid and acted like I have half a clue!”

“We have reasons we couldn’t snap our fingers and make everything happen. But let me point something out: it isn’t about the difficulty of what you needed to do but your willingness to do it. You have played a careful game of balancing the interests of those kittens and pursuing justice for everyone else involved. You didn’t necessarily have to hit this warehouse at all. You could have assigned the entirety of the mafia to the streets to retrieve the kittens. That would have succeeded. But you would have left many more victims in your wake. You have made the best decisions you could for all the victims involved. And that was a choice only you could make. You hadn’t been tasked with providing salvation for them all. You decided that on your own. You pushed every boundary you could to get the assistance you needed to accomplish your goals.”

As I couldn’t quite figure out a way to communicate my problem, I turned to Darlene for help.

“Oh, sweetheart.” The succubus kissed my cheek. “Lucy, she simply doesn’t understand that what she has done is not easy. Not everyone could do it. But for her, necessary means it doesn’t matter how difficult the task is. And she doesn’t see the challenges because it’s just another part of her life. All she did was apply what was familiar and comfortable to her in a different setting. That makes it feel insignificant.”

The Devil rolled his eyes. “Easton, could you have done half of what Kelsie has done on this venture? Let’s assume that you had to work alone. How far could you have gotten?”

“I would still be in Chicago trying to get clearance to take a cruiser or borrow a vehicle because mine wouldn’t make it to New York at all.” Easton eyed me, reached out, and flicked me, careful to keep from slicing me with one of his claws. “The only thing I might have been able to do was make sense of some of the information gathered, but I never would have been bold enough to call in the forces of the heavens and the hells to work together, all for the sake of the kittens. I mean, I could probably handle room service and booking a hotel room, but I’m certainly not practiced at either of those things. And I definitely would not have eaten sufficiently.”

“I still don’t feel like I’ve done enough,” I complained.

“You will be on the road with five kittens until Christmas, taking them to amusement parks. You have to keep five miniature beings alive for that long. You cannot go to your mother and father for assistance,” Lucifer reminded me. “Think about that very carefully.”

It dawned on me I had to keep track of five children in a setting where children tended to lose their minds and all sense, common or otherwise. The blood drained from my face, and I regarded Easton with wide eyes. “What have I done?”

“A good deed. You’ll get over it. In good news, I can probably handle a few lycanthrope kittens so it’s my turn to help you for a change. Consider it training wheels for any other time you might have tiny, helpless humans running around.”

“I’m going to be the one who needs a Christmas miracle,” I whined, bowing my head. “What have I done?”

“Good deeds, and you know what they say about good deeds,” the Devil replied, patting my head. “They never go unpunished. Your punishment is to go visit amusement parks with the kittens until Christmas Eve. But think about it this way. You do get to host the Christmas dinner you’ve always wanted.”