Chapter 4

Burning, everything was burning. Paws gasped for air as he made his way through the smoke.

He had been too late to stop it. The don had taken drastic action to rid himself of the last of the small mob groups in the city. He didn’t care who he hurt in the process; and that included her. Where was she? She would have known this side of town was ablaze. The news had travelled fast enough for the whole city to know by now. She couldn’t have gotten this far downtown already, could she? Who voluntarily runs into a fire? Surely nothing was worth risking her life over. But then again, it would be just like her, wouldn’t it?

Shrieking echoed all around him, the sounds of the injured, the dying and the Banshees that had been drawn to the devastation. Their wails a warning for others to stay away. The sound rang in his ears, urging him to turn back, but still he fought on, wading his way through the thick smog, doing all he could to fight the strong magic the creatures’ cries forced on him. He had to find her, it was his fault, he had to fix it.

Paws turned down the small alley to her apartment complex and froze. It was too late. The fire service had long since given up on fighting the blaze. Her home was destroyed. Everything all but ash, the residents buried or long since dead. Paws fell to his knees; tears blurring his vision. He had failed her when it had mattered most.

A Banshee swept past him with a deafening cry. He reached for the wailing woman, grabbing the creature’s withered arm. It turned to him, it’s once mournful gaze switching to one of anger and hostility. Still, he persisted; He had to know.

“Please…” he begged the monster Infront of him. “I need to find her. Miss. Breeze. Is she in there? Does she live?”

“There are two by such a name.” The Banshee replied, wrenching her arm from his grasp with a look of disgust.

“Do either of them live?”

She stared into the flame and considered his question for a moment. “It is too late for one by that name” she replied in a sombre tone, returning her gaze to him. Her cracked and withered lips twisted into a sickeningly dark smile. “Though, perhaps I could be persuaded to save the other.”

Paws heart sank. Deals with Banshees rarely went well. An eye for an eye, a life for a life, the deals made were rarely in the living’s favour. He wondered what future sacrifice he would have to make; A lover? A child? His very soul? In that moment, he found nothing else mattered more to him than her safety. If there were a chance, he would sacrifice anything.

“All right. I’ll agree.” Paws answered all too quickly.

“Without terms? You should be careful what you offer my feline friend.” Mocked a familiar baritone voice. The sound carrying easily over that of the blaze surrounding them.

Paws turned to find don Caporosa. A smug look plastered across his face as he surveyed the damage his actions had wrought. The smoke and flame seemed to have no affect on him in the slightest. At any other time, Paws would have questioned it, but right now…

“I don’t care for terms, not when she-”

The don raised a hand to silence him and turned to the wailing woman. She stared at him in curiosity and awe. A strange look for a creature such as she.

“Never mind him.” The don chuckled arrogantly. “I will agree to whatever terms you deem necessary. I am more capable of fulfilling them after all. Save them.”

Paws watched as the creature dove beneath the rubble, not a single piece disturbed as it did so. Paws sighed shakily. He hated don Caporosa and everything he stood for, but right now, Paws found himself grateful. He turned back to face the don, but he had vanished into the smoke as if he were never there.

Moments passed and paws began to wonder if the whole thing had been a hallucination when suddenly the rubble of the apartment complex rumbled, the creature bursting forth with an injured, but alive Melody.

The Banshee gently placed her in the cat’s arms and left, wailing it’s sorrowful tune once more.

Paws dashed back through the smog and out into the clearer air of the upper side of the city, cradling his human close.

Paws stood in disbelief at the sight before him. He knew she had moved back to this part of town, but he had no idea she was living in a shanty. Admittedly it was well built. She had managed to make a 3-room structure out of some plastic and metal sheeting. Even managed a few windows or two and a door, but still. He should have been paying more attention, but he hadn’t liked to follow her past the alley since the fire. He had thought she took this way home as a shortcut to the new builds, not this.

Paws sighed, rubbing a paw over his face in annoyance. How many times was he going to keep failing her?

Glancing back up at the structure he could have sworn he saw movement and a set of red eyes.

Cautiously he made his way inside.

“Hello.” A sweet child’s voice sounded from behind him startling the cat and making him bristle. Paws jumped round and froze. It couldn’t be. She was dead. Wasn’t she? Paws knelt in front of the small child clad in a white nightdress. Her long black hair covered her face, the only things visible were her bright red eyes. He reached out in disbelief, brushing the hair aside to get a better look at her. Beneath the tangled locks was a skull, burned with holes in places. A constant reminder of how she died, of the home that crumbled and the fire that took her. Two red eye lights bore into him, curious, questioning, searching for any sign of a threat.

Paws smiled warmly at the spectre, lowering his usual tone to a gentle whisper. “Hello there princess… I’m Paws, I’m a detective and a friend of your sister’s.”

The young ghost perked up at this. A smile touched her teeth, her eye lights shining in the room’s candlelight. “Is she ok? She didn’t come home last night.”

He honestly didn’t know how to answer that. He had thought she was losing her mind but… “Yea, Yea she’s ok. She’s just a little sick right now so I let her stay at my place. Thought I’d come over here to find something to make her feel better.”

The spirit looked at him sceptically, gesturing around the room. “We don’t have anything… Are you really a friend of hers mister?”

Paws smile widened. Her attitude had quickly done a 180. Sweet and charming to demanding and accusatory in mere moments; This kid would make a great detective.

“Yea.” He replied, glancing around at the few meagre possessions they had. Gathering up a wash bag from what he assumed was a bed, he began packing. “I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we get all your two’s things and you can stay with me for a while?”

“Oookay. But I have to warn you mister. If you’re trying to pull something, I’ll just disappear on you at the first sign of trouble.”

Paws chuckled “fair enough.”