Page 52 of Bent Out of Shade
I gasped, pressing a hand to my heart.
Not even a whisper of wind had presaged her landing on the grass. One blink she wasn’t there, the next she sat calmly licking a front paw. A paw whose middle of the three toes sported a gold band with a blue stone set into a carved base.
The cat gargoyle twisted the gem to catch the light.
I sighed. “Nice ring.”
“Oh, this?” She preened. “Laurent gave it to me. Though I’m sure he’s given you lots of jewels.”
“Not a one,” I said.
She gave a satisfied purr, the mottled “fur” carved on her seeming to ripple. Giulia knew that Laurent and I were involved, though I was no longer on her hit list.
I hoped.
“I have a favor to ask.”
“Will I help you with skin cream?” The cat narrowed her eyes. “Do you not moisturize, bella?” Her Italian-accented English was tinged with disapproval. Tatiana would love her. “You are looking more aged than usual. And why are you sitting funny?” She arranged her limbs into a gross parody of my poor broken body.
“Stress.”
Giulia tossed her head back. “Men are very visual creatures. You should take better care, especially given how much older you are than Laurent.”
I took the hits with only a minor clenching of my jaw. “About this favor—”
Giulia dropped onto her belly, her head on her front paws and her eyes morphing from jet black to an eerily glowing gold as if lit from behind. Her lids flickered like a movie projector stuttering.
I’d seen this behavior once before when Laurent had questioned her about the whereabouts of a dybbuk. Gargoyles’ original function as inanimate objects was to ward off evil. The few who gained sentience and had wings, like Harry, fulfilled that duty by patrolling the city. Gargoyles without wings, like Giulia, found evil by seeing through the sightless. Statues, ornamental facades, any inanimate object with a face in the city became her eyes. However, I’d never seen her drop into this trance unprompted.
Giulia’s lashes flickered, but she didn’t snap out of her reverie. Her paw with the ring lay a scant couple of inches away from my hand.
I folded my sleeves over my hands to ward off the evening chill, waiting for her to become lucid again so we could speak, but the painkiller kicked in first. My shoulders relaxed, and I took a blissfully full deep breath, bending forward and back, my thoughts now as languid as my movements.
Even if I stole the ring, Giulia couldn’t prove it was me. Not steal, obviously, just borrow to get the information from the raven about McMurtry’s killer. Then I’d grab it from Nora and return it to Giulia.
I was brilliant.
I reached for her paw.
Her body shook like she was throwing off an itch, and when she resettled her head, the ring now rested under her jaw.
This was a setback but not unsurmountable. I pulled out my phone. I had to stab the home button a bunch of times before it unlocked, my eyes screwed into slits and my tongue stuffed in the corner of my mouth.
Plan, I typed, because lists were important. Cloak, hold paw, and when she moves, slip off ring. Brilliant. Phone in hand, I poked her paw, expecting cold, hard stone, but it was warm, and she purred at my touch.
Aww, she liked me. I smiled, my head close to hers. I like you too.
No borrowing ring, Miriam. That’s bad.
I flicked a whisker, chuckling when she wrinkled her nose, and stroked her back, falling deeper and deeper into the soothing motion.
Her eyes sprang open, the gold glow vanishing. “Ma che cosa? What are you doing?”
“So pretty,” I drawled.
Three wicked sharp claws extended from her paw. “Were you petting me like a house cat?”
“Pfft. No. You are a fierce feline. Hear you…” Unable to think of an appropriate action word starting with F, I held up a fist. “Fierce it.”
