Kitty Raises Hell

Then there was fire.

A cloud of red flames billowed from the kitchen in cinematic glory, like it should have been a special effect in a movie. It washed through the room, pushing air and heat in front of it before dissipating. The table tipped, flew, and hit a wall. Ben and I dove for each other, crouching over and protecting each other. The Ouija board flew away, the planchette careening off another wall. Chairs launched and scattered, and Gary and Tina seemed to fly with them. Feeling cornered, I wanted to snarl. Wolf wanted to burst out and face the enemy. But there was no enemy, at least not one we could see. Not one we could face.

I wanted to say it was a gas-line explosion, that somebody had lit a match near a leaking stove. Old building like this, anything could happen. Fu

“Everybody out, get out!” Ben shouted. He grabbed my shirt and shoved me toward the front door.

“Where’s Gary? Gary!” Tina wailed.

“Tina! Come on!” It was Jules, clutching at her like Ben was clutching at me. He’d rushed in from outside.

“Gary’s hurt!” Tina called.

I saw Gary curled up by the wall, unconscious. He might have landed wrong, might have hit his head. Tina went and crouched by him, trying to pull his arm and drag him toward the door, but she didn’t have the strength. Jules helped her. The two of them pulled his arms over their shoulders.

Fear rattled me, and Wolf said to run, run. I looked back, saw flames in the kitchen, felt the heat, smelled it growing stronger, and despaired. Something in me snapped: No, this wasn’t going to happen, not my haven. This was my territory; I had to protect it. It couldn’t burn, I wouldn’t let it.

I squirmed out of Ben’s grasp and lunged for the fire extinguisher behind the bar.

“Kitty!” Ben shouted.

The walls were exposed brick. They wouldn’t burn, not right away, but the furniture and fixtures were another story. The blast had been quick, more sound than fury, but flames had taken hold, crawling toward the shelves of alcohol. I did battle, spraying foam wherever I saw fire. I wasn’t even thinking, so lost in the moment, the smells of fire, chemicals, and panic, to think about what I was doing. To think about the heat scorching my hair and roasting my skin.

Ben wrapped his arm around me and hauled me back. “We have to get out of here!”

“No!” I screamed. No explanation, no pleas about how I couldn’t lose this place. Just no. I fought him, kicking and elbowing as the chemical spray from the extinguisher bobbed and faltered. I was at the door of the kitchen now, where a dozen small fires ate away at whatever combustible material lay exposed: aprons, boxes and bags of ingredients, cooking supplies, blackened and disintegrating. Fires from hell. I couldn’t identify what fueled the flames; I just wanted to fight them.

Then Ben was standing beside me with a second extinguisher from the door of the kitchen.

I didn’t know how long we fought to save our restaurant and haven. The next thing I knew, a pair of firemen had grabbed hold of us and hauled us out of there. No arguing with them, but Ben snarled, like his wolf had come to the fore, and I bared my teeth. We were tired by then, hurt, and I at least used all my remaining strength to keep Wolf under control, no matter how wild I felt.

Outside, Ben and I huddled together.

“You okay?” he said, his voice shaky, scratching from the smoke.

I needed a moment to answer. “You keeping it together?”

“Yeah, I think. But I want to claw something.”

“Yeah.”

Paramedics started pawing at us, and I tried to push them away. Even if I was hurt, I’d heal soon enough; I’d come to appreciate that part of being a werewolf. They insisted on putting masks over our faces and feeding us oxygen, and I did feel burned. I felt hurt. But the pain, the sensations, were detached. I didn’t dare look at myself—seeing the burns would make them start hurting. So I ignored them.

I looked for the Paradox crew.

They had sprawled on the sidewalk nearby, gathered around Gary, who lay flat on the sidewalk. A bloody spot was visible above his brow. He must have hit something hard on his way down, but it seemed to be clotted, matted with hair, rather than gushing blood. I hoped that was a good sign. A couple of paramedics were working on him, without the urgency that would have meant his situation was critical. And yes, the camera crew was still filming.

Jules wandered over to us.

“How is he?” I asked.

“Alive,” Jules said. “Probably a bad concussion. They’re taking him in for X-rays.”

We all looked parboiled, skin red and sweating, streaked with soot, hair and clothing singed and smoking. We looked shell-shocked. Disaster survivors.

“Why the hell didn’t you get out of there?” Jules said.

“I couldn’t lose the place,” I said and realized I was crying. The tears carried soot and smoke from my eyes. I could feel the grit scratching at me.

“Stupid,” Ben grumbled at me. “It was stupid, Kitty. It’s just a place. We can rebuild a place.”

“And a few burns aren’t going to kill me.”

“Being a werewolf is no excuse for staying inside a burning building!” Ben said.

“What happened?” I said. “What the hell happened in there? Did anyone see anything? Did the cameras pick up anything?”

Jules shook his head. “I don’t know. It happened fast. There was a fireball from the kitchen.”

“Gas explosion,” Ben said, echoing my earlier thought.

“Maybe,” Jules said.

“But not really,” I said.

“Of course not,” Jules grumbled. “Coincidence only goes so far.”

Paramedics loaded Gary into an ambulance, while Tina and Jules left for the hospital with him. Yet another guy in a uniform poked at me, and I had to concentrate not to snarl. I was still sitting on the sidewalk, in the dark, listening to water spray and firefighters holler at each other. The oxygen mask lay in my lap. I’d dropped it.

Wolf was cowed. Far past wanting to shape-shift and run away to protect myself, I was in shock, numb, hugging myself. It had been a while since Wolf was so scared and confused that quivering seemed the best option.

“Ma’am, you need to go to the hospital.”

“No, I don’t. I’ll be fine.”

“You’ve got second-degree burns on your arms, ma’am.”

“Really?” I looked. My arms were red. Very red. Bad sunburn red. But didn’t second-degree mean blisters?

The paramedic stared at my arms, as well. He blinked a couple of times. Then he shook his head. “I could have sworn that was a lot worse a minute ago.”

“Maybe you’re just stressed,” I said. He went away, shaking his head.

The fire was almost out, and the building itself remained intact. The investigators had already had their first look and gave us their impression: There hadn’t been an explosion, so it probably wasn’t a gas leak. Just fire. I hoped all this meant we could make repairs and reopen quickly. But how was I going to explain this to Shaun?

Ben talked to the police and fire investigators about what we were doing here and proved that we owned the place, so no one would get hauled off on trespassing or vandalism charges.

“The police want to take a look at all the video footage, to see if they can figure out what happened. I have to say I’m looking forward to reading that report,” he said.

“I’m not sure how much more of this I can take,” I whined. My fury had drained away along with the rush of adrenaline. “It’s going to keep coming after us. It’s going to keep... destroying things, until...” Until it destroyed us. I didn’t want to say it.

He put his arm around me, tucked my head on his shoulder, kissed my hair. “I wish I had some suggestions. But this is way out of my league. All I really want to do right now is go run.” His body was stiff, hands clenched even as they rested against me from the tension of keeping his wolf under control. He hadn’t gotten to the numb stage, apparently.