Page 6 of A Skirl of Sorcery (The Cat Lady Chronicles #3)

Chapter

Six

I’d never been inside another assassin’s home.

If I hadn’t already known Louise I might have expected a stark interior with various weapons on display, but she’d never placed importance on the tools of her trade – beyond the plants outside.

Despite her profession, she was a warm person with a surprisingly caring nature.

She’d told me at her retirement party that the thing she was looking forward to most was the opportunity to ditch every black item of clothing she owned because she wanted colour in her life.

It was a sentiment I understood; in fact, it was part of the reason my hair was now dyed purple.

So I wasn’t surprised that Louise’s house was welcoming, with its colourful artwork, bohemian fabrics and comforting clutter.

Light beamed in through every window, illuminating corners that were free of dust balls.

I wished that my house could be this clean but alas, that was next to impossible with five cats shedding fur on a minute-by-minute basis.

A glass-fronted display contained an astonishing collection of thimbles: small thimbles; big thimbles; whimsical thimbles; magicked thimbles. There were thimbles shaped liked bears and castles and knights and, I noted approvingly, cats. ‘You do a lot of sewing these days?’ I asked.

Louise grinned. ‘Nah. I just like collecting them. Call it a bad case of nostalgia or a source of relaxation, a psychological buffer against past trauma or the enjoyable pursuit of rare items. Collecting thimbles fills a need in me that can’t easily be explained.’

I shrugged. ‘Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose. There are far worse things you could do.’

‘I could be spending my retirement talking to cats.’

I cocked my finger and thumb at her like a gun. ‘Watch it.’ She smirked.

She directed me to a small, well-appointed lounge then disappeared to make tea. In less than five minutes she was back with a tray laden with mismatched china, a steaming teapot and home-made cakes.

I eyed her baked offerings with envy. ‘I keep trying to bake but I rarely have much success.’

Louise snorted. ‘I remember your lack of skill in making poisons so I’m not surprised that you struggle with baking. The measurements need to be precise and you have to follow the recipes exactly.’

‘When was the last time you followed a recipe exactly?’ I asked.

‘I’m so good that I don’t have to,’ she replied serenely. ‘Tea?’

I allowed her to pour me a cup, picked it up with both hands and leaned back in my chair. ‘I’m here because I want to ask you about ban siths.’

She looked surprised. ‘Ban siths? Why on earth would you be interested in them?’

‘It’s a long story,’ I explained, ‘but essentially I’ve rented one of the spare flats in my house to a ban sith and I have a few concerns about her.’

‘If you have concerns then why not kick her out?’ Louise asked mildly.

‘It’s not quite that straightforward.’

Her clever eyes were watching me. ‘It rarely is.’ She folded her hands in her lap. ‘Ban siths tend to remain amongst their own kind – safety in numbers, that sort of thing. It’s unusual for one of them to leave their people.’

‘So I’ve heard.’ I licked my lips. ‘Once upon a time you warned me away from ban siths.’

‘I did.’ She paused for a beat. ‘You know what a ban sith does?’

Everyone knew, but I nodded anyway.

‘I bet that you don’t know all of it.’

I returned my full cup of tea to the tray and leaned forward. ‘Go on.’

‘Not all ban siths are created equal. Some are more sensitive and more accurate with their powers than others. And there’s more to their skill than predicting impending death.

They are in tune with death, it’s as much a part of a ban sith’s life as breathing might be to you or me.

They can sense death approaching and they can sense when it has passed. ’

I was slightly puzzled. ‘What do you mean?’

‘In my twenties, soon after I joined EEL, I was contracted to kill a druid. He was a nasty sort and deserved what was coming to him. I don’t need to go into details – you know the sort of man I’m talking about.’

Unfortunately I did.

Louise continued. ‘The contract required some complicated body removal because he couldn’t be found at the scene of his death. I had to transfer his corpse to the steps of Tweed Hall, near Crackendon Square.’

I raised an eyebrow but she waved a hand dismissively.

‘The person who’d taken out the contract wanted to send a message to the druid’s cronies that they’d be next if they didn’t stop what they were doing.

It didn’t work, and they ended up as dead as their friend.

It was a long time ago and it’s not relevant to this story.

What is important is that twelve hours after the contract had been completed, a ban sith walked over the spot where the druid had died and knew what had happened. ’

‘She knew someone had died on that spot without any physical evidence to indicate it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Was there a chance any blood had been spilled?’

Louise pulled a face. ‘Please! I was a professional, Kit, and I was good at my job. As good as you were.’

I couldn’t argue with that.

‘Besides,’ she went on, ‘the ban sith didn’t just know that someone had been killed, she knew who it was.’

I blinked. ‘Seriously?’

Louise nodded. ‘Seriously. And in case you still doubt me, I completed the contract with a poison-tipped umbrella that only required contact with the skin to work. No blood was spilled, not a drop.’

Hmmm. I didn’t doubt Louise’s words but nonetheless I was shocked.

I chewed on the inside of my mouth as I considered her revelation.

As a cat sith, I possessed the ability to see spirits re-enact the moments before their death.

It only worked if I effected my transformation with fur from a cat who themselves possessed that ability.

Many cats couldn’t see the dead in that way, and I’d never heard of any other creatures who could do it, but there were many different Preternaturals in Coldstream and not all their abilities were documented.

‘Can every ban sith do this?’ I asked.

‘I don’t think so. Only the more powerful ones.’

A trickle of unease dripped through my veins. ‘Do you know which particular ban sith felt that death?’

Louise nodded. ‘An older woman by the name of Agnes Johnson.’ She gazed at me. ‘You’ve gone pale, Kit.’

‘Mmm.’ I swallowed.

She was still watching my face carefully. ‘There’s more.’

‘Go on.’

‘I sought out Agnes Johnson – I was curious about her and I wanted to know the extent of her powers.’ She grimaced. ‘That was a mistake.’

As I waited to hear the words, I had a horrible feeling that I knew what she was going to say.

‘Agnes could also sense that death followed me.’ Louise’s expression was sombre. ‘Not because I was about to die, you understand, but because I had caused death. She told me that death enveloped me like a cloud.’

‘Because you were an assassin,’ I whispered.

‘Exactly so.’ She sighed. ‘Despite EEL’s views about unsanctioned kills, I made it clear what would happen if she spoke about the matter.

I didn’t want to threaten her but it was an uneasy time for me.

There were plenty of other EEL assassins who would have killed her immediately to remove the problem. ’

She was correct, but that didn’t make it right.

‘Agnes Johnson said nothing and I avoided ban siths afterwards,’ she continued. ‘Even if most of them don’t possess the skill to sense that someone is a killer, it’s wise to steer clear of them.’

I drew breath. ‘The ban sith staying in my house is Agnes Johnson’s grand-daughter.’

‘Ah.’ Louise’s mouth flattened. ‘That does put an interesting spin on matters.’

And then some. I dug my fingernails into the fleshy part of my palms. Keres’ kinship to such a powerful ban sith might mean nothing – but it might also mean everything.

Louise stood and picked up the tray. ‘I’ll make a fresh pot of tea,’ she said. ‘You’ve not touched this one.’

I’d picked the cup up but I certainly hadn’t been stupid enough to drink from it. ‘Neither have you,’ I pointed out.

She smiled. ‘This time, I won’t add poison. I should have known that you weren’t here to harm me and that you wouldn’t drink it. You’re too careful.’

I inclined my head to acknowledge her faint praise. I wasn’t offended that Louise had tried to kill me; if she’d shown up unannounced at my door, I’d probably have reacted in a similar fashion. For the most part ex-assassins were left in peace but, given our past careers, it paid to be cautious.

‘You can watch me brew the pot if you wish,’ she offered.

‘I’ll trust you,’ I said.

She laughed slightly. ‘You shouldn’t.’ Then she sobered. ‘You used to work for EEL, Kit. You were one of their best. You shouldn’t trust anyone.’

I stayed for another hour chatting about more pleasant matters, and yes, I drank a cup of tea, but I was pre-occupied by Louise’s revelations.

Maybe it wasn’t coincidence that had brought Keres to me via Mallory; maybe she was after me because of my time as a contract killer.

If she possessed the same level of skill as her grandmother, she’d know what I used to do for a living.

Was this a strange, convoluted revenge for my life choices or for Louise’s threats to her grandmother?

It seemed unlikely that Mallory would set her onto me if that were true, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility.

For that reason I headed back to Mallory’s after I left Louise’s house. My suspicions that had been triggered by the cats’ reaction to Keres were growing and I wouldn’t be able to relax until I had some answers,

I passed the door to the pub beneath Mallory’s flat and headed up the creaking staircase.

The marker on the framed map that indicated my house had been removed, suggesting that Mallory believed I had fulfilled the terms of our agreement.

Would she still believe that if I kicked Keres out less than a day after taking her in?