Familiar!

"I'm going to remove the mark. I need you to protect us."

"He won't be very happy with you if you do that."

"I don't care." I answered Kathleen then bent in front of the woman, my voice going soft. "I am going to bind you. Will you agree to let me?"

"Yes, yes. Better you than Him. Anyone but Him." She spoke through her hands without looking at me.

"I'm not going to bind you to me. I want you to understand that. You'll be bound but it won't be to me. I will not be your Master, but you will be bound."

"Anyone. I don't care."

"Okay." I stood upright again and faced Kathleen.

GOLD! filled me as her lips met mine while my awareness suddenly expanded. I could feel everything, hear everything, see everything. And still Kathleen poured more power into me until I drew back.

"Enough. More than enough. Thank you." I kissed her lightly on the lips again, savoring the fact she'd let me kiss her. A small golden spark leapt between us as I did. "Would you shield us?"

Several of the other women made awed sounds when silver rainbows glittered around the room as her shields snapped into place.

"Ready?" I asked Liatakat before placing my palm over her arm. "This might hurt. I don't know if it will or not, so be ready for it."

She nodded and held her breath.

I ripped the mark off of her arm. I didn't erase it, I crushed it. Immediately there was a hammer blow to Kathleen's shields as the mark maker retaliated.

"Shields down!" I snapped and threw all the power Kathleen had given me outward, burning it back along the trail the attack had made like an arrow of retribution seeking a target.

I didn't call for an orb but one appeared anyway. Huge, and making an angry sounding buzz, it momentarily gave me sun spots in my eyes before it went streaking after the first energy bolt. I felt the double hit, the second much more powerful than its predecessor, sending out shockwaves I could actually feel on my skin. Kathleen blanched, obviously she'd felt it too. A moment later the space where the attack had come from went blank. There was nothing magical there any longer.

"Kiss me." I turned to Kathleen again. I wasn't going to take any chances. "Just a little one this time so I can bind her like I did Nazaa."

Kathleen hesitated for the barest flicker of time then slid her arms around my neck and closed her eyes.

I bound her. Not to me, but like Nazaa was bound; to the neighborhood itself.

"You can't go live anywhere else, this is home now." I told her then looked at Nazaa. "You'll have to let her stay here until I can find a place close enough for her. I don't know how long that will be. It might end up being permanent."

Nazaa nodded and dropped her eyes. "I understand. Lia can stay in the spare bedroom."

"Good." I reached for Kathleen's hand. Everyone in the room did that little curtsey thing as we headed for the door.

"Don't do that any more." I tossed the request over my shoulder. "It makes me very uncomfortable."

"Yes Master."

Kathleen rolled her eyes as I muttered to myself about how I could really use a dog.

There was an old man standing on the corner observing us as we headed down the sidewalk toward my house. As soon as she saw him, Kathleen drew back her lips and hissed, clutching my hand tighter.

Chapter 19

He was short and fat to the point he could almost be called ro-ly-po-ly. Very nearly wider than he was tall, he glanced at Kathleen and took a step backward in surprise before he caught himself and stopped. His eyes looked out from under bushy eyebrows the same color of gray as his hair as he turned toward me while Kathleen hissed at him again.

"Who are you?" I asked carefully, ready to call an orb if I needed one.

"Myaman is dead." The gray-haired man suddenly smiled for no reason I could think of.

"Who is, was, Myaman? And, what's it to you?"

"Nothing. Except you did the world a great favor by killing him." The statement caused him to produce another smile, if only fleeting this time. "Unfortunately it also revealed you to the world when you did it."

His smile and the statement he made about me killing Myaman made me realize just what I'd done. Then I remembered what Myaman had done to Lia and what he'd intended to do once he got his hands on her again. The thought made my blood boil.

"So?" My voice was flat and indifferent. I didn't care what I had done to Myaman. He'd deserved it. And more.

"People will be watching you now. More than you know and for more reasons than you can think of. It is best to be careful because not everyone is as stupid as Myaman was."

"Stupid?"

He nodded. "Strong, but stupid and cruel. He never believed someone would come along who was stronger or smarter than he was."

"There's always someone smarter or stronger or faster or whatever." I gave my own brand of sage advice.

"So there is. You should make certain you always remember it."

"Who are you?" I asked again because Kathleen wasn't giving any answers and this conversation wasn't going anywhere.

"Harris Glanrod." He pointed a thick thumb at his chest, then a finger toward Kathleen. "I'm also her grandfather."

"Your grandfather?" I nearly yelped the words as I turned to look at Kathleen. "You never said you have a grandfather."

"Technically, it's great-grandfather." The old man looked at Kathleen. "How is your

mother?"

Kathleen hissed at him again. He just crossed his arms and waited. After another few minutes went by he uncrossed his arms and looked at me again.

"Never try to out-stubborn a cat unless you're prepared to wait all day and half the night. I can, but I'd rather not today."

"What do you want?" Kathleen's voice snapped.

He ran his eyes up and down her figure. "Nothing. I didn't even know you were here, I just came to see the Mage who killed Myaman. You're looking good though Kitten."

"I am not your Kitten." The words were low and threatening and distinctly different from whenever she denied being a Kitty. This wasn't a denial, it was a warning. "Old man."

He threw back his head and laughed. Kathleen glared at him. I could feel the static building in the air as she ramped her ferocity up a notch. I didn't have to look at her to know her eyes were totally gold, the electricity in the air told me that.

"Ah, ah, ah. Bad Kitty." The man, Harris, stiffened and pointed a finger at her to tell her to stop whatever she was preparing to do.

Instantly Kathleen's shield sprang up around both of us. With no walls to contain them, the silver rainbows arced outward to disappear into the distance. As the shield appeared Harris paused and dropped his finger.

"Okay, that's new." He looked at me and then back to Kathleen. "It's not yours, the signature is only from her and she's not nearly strong enough to generate a shield like that. Or that quickly."

Kathleen hissed at him again. He switched back to looking at me.

"Where did it come from?"

"What do you want?" I echoed Kathleen's original question and ignored his.

"Like I said, nothing." He shifted slightly and his stance relaxed. "Just a friendly visit, even if impolitely unannounced. I mean you no harm."

"Liar." Kathleen hissed at him yet again.

Another laugh. "So I am. But not today."

The back of my neck suddenly crawled. A quick glance behind showed me Mr. Espinoza standing at the end of his driveway looking at us.

"Daniel?" He called a question at us. "Everything all right?"

Harris looked another question at me over the interloper. I ignored that too. He sighed.

"Look, I really did come by just to meet you. I don't want anything and I'm not here to challenge you. My word on it."

He bobbed a tiny bow at me. Or maybe to both Kathleen and I together. I was getting the impression that all the genuflection everyone was suddenly doing meant something important, only I didn't know what because no one was telling me anything. That's what it felt like anyway.

"Thief!" Kathleen hissed at him once more. "You tried to steal my soul."

Harris looked at her and finally sighed while he nodded his head. "I did. I'm sorry. I told you I was sorry at the time. I didn't mean to do it. You know I didn't mean it."

"Liar!"

"I really am sorry." He apologized again and then looked at me. "She and her mother were living next door to us and I'd just lost my wife. I was grieving and didn't know what I'd tried to do until it was too late. I dismissed the binding before it was finished but apparently she's still angry with me over it. She and her mother vanished overnight and I haven't seen them in more than fifteen years."

I could see he actually was sorry he'd done it. And I could understand now why Kathleen was so against being bound by anyone; he'd tried to force her into what she considered slavery. What made it so bad was he was her great-grandfather. Someone who, presumably until that point, she'd trusted and loved. It had been a major betrayal. One which someone with Kathleen's fiercely independent personality would not forgive easily, if at all.

The fact that it'd been so long ago also meant he'd tried to bind Kathleen when she was only five or six years old. Something like that could cause a major lifelong emotional scar, all things considered. It was no wonder she fought so hard against everything. But, in my opinion, it was the past and should stay in the past. It had no bearing on today.

"Kathleen, please?" I made a vague gesture around the two of us, silently indicating I'd like her to drop her shield. For a moment the static rose then suddenly it was gone along with her shield.

"Thank you," I told her before turning to Harris and asking for the second time. "What do you want?"

He shrugged. "Nothing."

"Then why are you here?"

"I told you, I just wanted to meet you." He gestured with both hands. "You came from out of nowhere to destroy Myaman. No one knows anything about you because no one has ever heard of you. Myaman was an extremely strong Mage and then one day, poof!, he's gone. Eliminated by someone half the world away. I was curious and wanted to know who you were. I also wanted to know if you were going to claim his territory and his magic. That's all."

"Daniel?" Mr. Espinoza came up behind me. "What's going on?"

I turned to look at him, keeping an eye on Harris. "Nothing. Mr. Glenrod here is lost and asking directions."

"Oh?" Mr. Espinoza squinted and looked at Harris carefully before pointing. "Go East from here on Los Feliz until you get to the Five. South on the Five until you get to the Ninety-one. East on the Ninety-one until you get to the Fifty-seven. Go south. The exit for Angel's Stadium is well marked, you can't miss it."

Harris looked at me in confusion.

"This neighborhood is Dodger Blue."

It took him a minute to think his way through it then he smiled at Mr. Espinoza after giving the sky a quick glance. "Cardinals fan myself. I'm just visiting LA and got turned around is all."

A grump from Mr. Espinoza was all he got for a reply. The Cardinals weren't much better than the Angels in his mind.

"This way?" Harris pointed over his shoulder at nothing in particular.

I nodded.

He looked at Kathleen. "Goodbye Kitten. Give your mother my regards. Tell her I miss her."

Kathleen just spat at him again. He sighed and looked at me.

"I'll tell her."

"Thank you . . .?" He left then end of his sentence hanging.

"Daniel." I held out my hand and he grasped it briefly as I obliquely referenced his territory remark. "And this is my only neighborhood."

"Thank you Daniel. I'll let people know you're staying home rather than being interested in acquiring other property. It'll probably calm them down. The hysteria I'm hearing is deafening."

"Hearing from who?"

"Friends. And a few others not so friendly." He answered my question before adding an invitation to me. "Take care of yourself and your neighborhood. If you're ever in Saint Louis, look me up."

"I'll do that." I gave a polite but noncommital nod. "I don't travel that much though. I tend to prefer to stay home with friends and neighbors. It's quieter."

With that the stranger gave me another of his wide smiles and flicked his eyes upward again. "I can see that. Nice curtain. You should put a Dodgers emblem on it so everyone will know where your loyalties lie."

I had no response to that but it was actually good idea for camouflage; if I could figure out how to do it. With a last nod, and another bow, he turned and began walking away, disappearing between one step and the next as if he slipped behind a mirror upon which reality was only a false reflection.

"Daniel?" The question from Mr. Espinoza was startled as Harris vanished from sight.

"It's nothing to worry about. It's just another of those odd things that keep happening lately." I turned to Kathleen.

"Grandfather?"

She just snarled at me and stalked away, her back stiff and her hair floating from the static.

"Does he even know you have two other sisters?" I called after her.

She spun and snarled louder at me, raising her hands in my direction.

"Hey, I'm not going to say anything." I put up my hands, palms out in surrender. "But if you keep me in the dark all the time how am I supposed to learn stuff so I won't say something accidentally?"

"You! You are an idiot Daniel McAllister!" She screamed at me and stomped back to growl in my face. "You don't think. You don't consider anything. You just go around doing whatever you want without caring about the consequences. And we pay the price for it. Now he knows about us. He found me again! Just because you're an idiot."

"What was I supposed to do?" I gestured behind me where there were faces at Nazaa's front window watching us. "Was I supposed to just let Myaman torture Lia? And what about the others? Do I let it happen to them too? Is that what you expect me to do? Just sit back and watch people being abused and do nothing about it?"

I waved my arms around. "I'm not like that. This is my home, my neighborhood. I like how it's quiet and peaceful, but that doesn't mean I'll sit by and let people be hurt when I can stop it. I care about the people I know. I care about what happens to them."

She raised her finger at me and opened her mouth.

"You and your girl should go inside." Mr. Espinoza's words were unexpected because I'd totally forgotten he was there. "If you're going to fight, you should go home and do it in private."

"Not his girl!" Kathleen turned on him instead of me.

Mr. Espinoza shook his head and headed toward his house as Kathleen snarled at him. I nearly laughed in relief as she focused her anger on someone else other than me for a change.

"Master?" Nazaa came halfway out of her house, holding on to the door while looking ready to bolt back inside.

"It's okay Nazaa." I turned toward her. "He was just visiting and won't be back. There's nothing to worry about."

Chapter 20

Lia was sweet, gentle, shy, and a problem. After our fight in the street yesterday Kathleen had stalked away and disappeared. She hadn't even snuck in to sleep with me overnight like she usually did. Which worked out in a way because early the next morning Lia showed up at my door. When I say early, I mean early; the sun wasn't even up when she hit the doorbell.

"Master." She had a kitchen apron tied around her waist and kept her eyes on the doormat when I opened the door to see her there.

"Lia?" I didn't know why she was ringing my doorbell. "Is there some kind of emergency you need me for?"

"No Master."

She shook her head as she squeezed past me into the house and began picking up various things lying around; a magazine on the coffee table, some papers which had slipped to the floor from my pile of as yet unpaid bills, and the cat toys scattered where Kathleen had left them. She put the bills back onto the pile, dropped the cat toys into the still unused cat bed in the corner and tossed the magazine into the trash can. Water started running in the sink and various clacking sounds told me she was stacking my dirty dishes in preparation for washing them.

"What are you doing?" I asked her as she popped open the top on the dishwashing detergent bottle.

"Working Master." Lia dribbled some of the dish soap into the water in the sink where it immediately began to foam up under the running faucet. As I watched Lia turned off the water and pulled some yellow rubber gloves from behind her apron tie, slipping them onto her hands before picking up the first dirty dish and dipping it into the suds.

"Lia, I don't need you to wash my dirty dishes."

"Yes Master." Lia kept scrubbing anyway. "Do you have any preference for dinner this evening?"

Okay, this was taking things too far. I didn't need, or want, a housemaid.

"Lia, thank you for thinking about me, but I don't need your help. Really."

She just nodded and kept scrubbing, rinsing the plate and placing it in the dish rack on the counter next to the sink before grabbing the next one from the stack.

"Lia . . ."

"Master, if you keep bothering me, I won't get this finished." Lia dismissed me and grabbed the next plate.

I didn't even gesture, I just made all of the dirty dishes disappear. With an afterthought I drained the sink too. Lia jerked her hands back as everything vanished and looked at me.

"Sit." I pointed at the table. "Now."

She scampered to perch on the edge of the chair I'd indicated. Smoothly I pulled out a second chair and sat.

"I'm flattered that you think I need you to take care of me." Lia's face brightened but only for a moment before I went on. "However, I don't need a housemaid."

At that point her face fell and her gaze landed in her lap while her fingers started twisting together.

"Lia, look at me." My voice dropped into gentler tones. "Please."

She glanced up.

"What do you expect from me? What is it you want?"

"Nothing, Master." Eyes immediately dropping back into her lap again she mumbled her response.

"Daniel. My name is Daniel. Didn't I tell you that already?"

She nodded without speaking.

"Then that is what I want you to call me. Understand?"

She nodded again. "Yes, Master."

I sighed. At the sound she looked up at me and waited.

"What did you use to do? Before you came here." I tried a different tack to try and get her to talk to me rather than just sit there.

"I was an elementary school teacher." The words were barely audible as her eyes dropped into her lap again.

"Where? Here?"

She shook her head. "Philadelphia."

"You came here all the way from Philly?"

Another nod. I almost asked why, then realized she'd been running from the mark and Myaman. Running as fast and as far as she could.

"Did you leave family behind? A husband? Kids? Parents?"

A headshake no. "I'm a Kitty. My mother pushed me out of our lair when I turned eighteen."

"Why? Did you do something wrong?"

"It's the way most Kitty families are. Once we're old enough to go off on our own we're supposed to go find our own territory."

"Oh. No one told me."

She nodded that she understood. "Nazaa is letting me stay in her territory, but that's only because you told her to."

"I see." I started to ask another question when Lia's face suddenly drained of all color and she froze in place as Kathleen jumped up onto the corner of the table to sit facing her. Gently I scratched Kathleen on the neck and shoulder making her lean into me.

"Good morning."

I got a purr in reply although Kathleen kept staring at Lia while twitching the tip of her tail.

"Mistress." Lia got up from her chair and did that tiny curtsey thing to her.

"Okay, that. What is that all about?" I pointed the fingers I'd been using to scratch Kathleen with at Lia. "What are you doing and why?"