Another cold evening spent walking the streets, kicked out of the house while her mother entertained her new ‘friend’. Melody sighed; she hoped this one would stick around longer than the last. At least he wasn’t like the others. he’d never raised a hand to her, only thrown her out the house when he didn’t want her around. She wondered for a moment if she would be let back in tonight or if she would have to sleep in the old, abandoned church again. It would probably be the church. She doubted either her mother or her ‘friend’ would be sober enough to remember to let her in, but she could still hope, right?

Slowly, she made her way down to the river. She had always enjoyed the quiet of evening, the faint sound of water rushing beside her, the birds singing as they flew to their nests for the evening. There would be no one to bother her here at this time of night.

Or so she thought.

Shouts, wails and panicked hissing sounded from the nearby bridge. Melody stood frozen as her head snapped up to the scene above.

Two men were attempting to hoist a rather large, wriggling black sack over the edge of the bridge.

“Just grab the other end!” one of the men shouted.

“No way! You saw that thing, it’s rabid I swear, and I ain’t gunna risk getting my eyes clawed out. Rosie’d go nuts if I lost an eye, you know how she gets.”

The other looked at his companion with exasperation. “Would you rather face your wife, or the Don when you tell him you let the thing go?”

“I-”

“He don’t want it. now help me lift.”

Finally relenting, his companion grabbed a hold of the sack, hoisting it up onto the side of the bridge. Just as the bag hit the railing a clawed hand broke through the fabric, swiping.

Melody’s eyes widened in shock as the two men jumped back from the sack and it tumbled down to the river below.

The sound of a heavy splash had her springing into action. she bounded towards the river and jumped right in, swimming as best she could to reach the sack and the poor creature trapped inside. taking a deep breath, she chanced a glance under the water. The creature’s arm still frantically clawed around in panic. Melody rushed forward, taking their hand in hers; claws digging deep into her arm as she dragged them to the surface.

Reaching the riverbank, she hurried to pull away the rest of the sack and give them air. Infront of her lay a cat monster child, gasping for breath, drenched and bleeding. Their clothes were torn, black fur clung to them in clumps, fresh claw marks over their eye covered the left side of their face in blood.

Throwing themselves forward they wrapped their arms around her and sobbed uncontrollably.

Melody woke with a start. She felt sick, her head was pounding, she was far too hot. slowly she rose to her feet and surveyed her surroundings.

“Still in the cage” she sighed to herself, running a hand over her face and through her hair. So, it hadn’t all been a fever induced hallucination, at least not the bits she could remember; great. ‘Just one more thing to deal with in my life of never-ending nightmares’ she thought to herself.

She pulled the long brown coat around her and glanced into the adjacent room. A basement, simple, boring, damp, with a table and chair in one corner and two cells, one of which she was occupying. A set of stairs to her left lead up to a hatch in the roof which was currently closed. She could here voices just beyond it. two people speaking in hushed tones. they sounded familiar.

She shook her head. It hurt to think right now but she needed to get their attention; she didn’t want to stay down there forever.   

Melody moved to the door of her cell and taking the bars in both hands began to rattle them violently, screaming at the top of her lungs. More snippets of last night came flooding back and for a brief moment she became aware that it may not be the best way to get their attention. The thought was a fleeting one however, and so she persisted.

Her desperate display for attention continued for a few moments until a familiar voice shouted down to her sternly. “Hey, sissy, keep it down, you’re making a racket!”

“Liza?” Mel shouted back in confusion, her frantic rattling and screaming forgotten.

“Yes me! Now, do you mind? We are trying to have a conversation.”

Booming laughter echoed through the basement quickly followed by the sound of the hatch opening

And hurried footsteps.

Melody backed away from the cell door as a familiar face came into view.

“Would you look at that. You’re not dead! well, in the traditional sense anyway. Had us going for a bit there though. Little lady here was mighty worried about you.” Paws tussled the little ghost’s hair with a smile.

“HEY!” Liza protested, “I can’t brush this you know? How’d you do that anyway?”

“Because I wanted to? Has no one taught you anything about ghosting?”

“You mean avoiding people? I do that ALL the time.”

“No, I mean being a ghost. Theres more to it than spookin”

“Oh, then no.”

“Uh, excuse me” Melody interjected, “but could you let me out of here please?”

Paws turned back to their conversation. “Sorry Dove, little lady’s quite the distraction… now then; you aren’t gunna try and attack me if I open the door again are you?”

Melody shook her head. “No. I think I’m alright now.”

Paws smile dropped instantly. He fumbled with the keys in his hands as he stared at her, trying to see something he desperately wished was there.

“You gotta be sure Dove. If you’re still not right and I let you out, could be chaos. Especially if you escaped and fled into the streets. That’d mean both our heads and maybe more if you go biting people.” He rubbed at the back of his neck with a sigh.

Melody considered his words. Was she ok? She didn’t want to go biting people, or hurting them at all for that matter, but she didn’t want to stay caged here forever. She had a life to get back to, a job, she couldn’t just sit around.

“I’m sure” she replied with more conviction. This seemed to be enough for Paws, and with a Cheshire cat smile, he unlocked the cage door and swung it open.

“Ladies first,” Paws insisted, gesturing towards the stairs.

Melody handed him back his jacket and carefully made her way up, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the rails.

making it through the hatch, she found the new room not much different than the last, the only difference being the unlabelled crates that covered it. She stared at them trying to discern what was in them; She knew better than to ask. That type of thing usually got you killed. Not that she thought her saviour would kill her for it, it would have been pointless for him to save her only to kill her later for such a minor offence. It did make her wonder why he had rescued her though. people rarely did anything for anyone in this city without wanting something in return. That was just how it was. so, what did he want?

The sound of Paws locking the hatch shook Melody from her thoughts.

“Don’t be going back down there unless I tell you, ok?” he said, turning to them with a harsh look. “No matter what you hear, no matter what you think you saw I don’t want you down there got it?”

“Sure?” she replied, rather confused. Paws grin widened once more as he turned to another set of stairs.

“Great. Let me show you around.”

Melody had to admit the place was verry nice. A small office took up the ground floor, two small apartments took the second with another set of stairs leading to the roof where they all currently sat, basking in the warm afternoon sun. she was still rather confused, not all of last night was adding up yet, but she was glad it had all worked out and she was grateful for the help of her mysterious hero.

“OH” Melody exclaimed, turning to her feline companion stretched out across a plaid blanket beside her. he cracked an eye open at her sudden outburst. “I didn’t catch your name. I’m Melody Breeze.” She offered out a hand for him to shake. He eyed it suspiciously for a moment before pulling himself into a sitting position and taking it, his giant hand engulfing hers, his soft black fur like satin on her skin.

“Detective Paws McScaggs, but you can call me Paws. It’s a pleasure to properly make your acquaintance miss Breeze.”

“Mel, please… Well, it was a pleasure to meet you,” Melody sighed, getting to her feet and brushing herself off. “But I really must be going. I’ll have to be heading to work soon. I’m sure my boss is already furious with me for missing the past few days. Anymore and I’ll lose my job and then where will I be?”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry sissy. Paws said we could stay here!” Liza all but screamed, excitedly jumping in place.

“What”

Paws chuckled nervously; he was sure if she could see under his fur she’d see him blushing right now. “I can’t exactly let you go back to that shanty of yours, wouldn’t be verry gentlemanly of me to deny a lady in need, especially when I’ve got a whole apartment just sitting there empty. Besides, someone should really be keeping an eye on you, someone who knows what they’re doing. Make sure you don’t lapse or somethin.”

“Laps?” she looked at him sceptically.

“Yea”

“Not to sound- I mean I verry much appreciate- Why are you being so nice to us?”

“What”

“People in this city don’t do something for nothing. You saved me, and now you’re offering us a place to stay. It all just seems too-”

Paws fought off the smirk that threatened to touch his maw. She wasn’t as clueless as he’d thought. Maybe she just panicked when it came to the people she loved. He could understand that; God knew he’d panicked enough times when it came to-  

Paws sighed. He hated to do it, but a convincing, well-placed lie would probably better suit the situation. What else could he tell her? the truth? That he’d been stalking her all this time in a misguided attempt to keep her safe? ‘No, better she never know’ he thought to himself as he put on his best poker face, smiling sheepishly at her. “To be honest, it would probably be best for both of us. If you leave and the cops find out about you, we’d both be headed for the incinerator. If you’re here, layin low, I can keep you from them better… besides me and Liza KINDA already moved all your stuff into the apartment. Not that there was a lot to move, it’s all in the bedroom if you’re looking for anything.”

Melody continued to stare at him sceptically for a few more moments before sighing I defeat.

“Alright… Thank you. I really should be getting to work though.” And just like that his Cheshire cat smile was back; warm, reassuring, fearless. Melody could feel her cheeks heating up, blushing slightly as she smiled back.

“No problem Dove. Here.” he said, throwing her the keys to her new apartment.

Melody left Paws and Liza to enjoy the last of the sun’s rays. She could still hear them laughing as she entered her new home. Maybe his motives were selfish ones, or maybe he was simply just a kind man in a city filled to the brim with criminals and cutthroats; either way, for the first time in a long time, she felt things were finally looking up.  

*

“Are you sure you’ll be ok, here, on your own?” Melody asked her sister as she lingered in the doorway of Paw’s office. Liza and Paws sat at his desk their attention pulled away from a rather intense game of go fish. A game the detective was rather disappointed to find had no real fish involved. Melody wondered how he had never heard of the game before, but that was a question for another time; right now, she had to get to work.

“Yea? What’s he gunna do? Kill me again?” Liza replied sarcastically. “Got any threes?” she asked, returning to the game.

Paws huffed in annoyance, handing over two more of his cards. “I could you know.” He joked.

“Not helping, alley cat. Also, no you can’t. At this point you can’t even bore me to death. It’s your turn.”

“I don’t know whether to be flattered or insulted by that statement.” He laughed tussling the little ghost’s hair, much to her annoyance.

“This is going to be a regular thing with you, isn’t it?” she asked in frustration.

“Absolutely.”

“Well, if you’re sure. Have fun you two.” Melody finished closing the door behind her and making her way down the street.

Liza watched her pass the window and out of sight before turning once more to her furry companion giving him the most serious look he’d seen on her yet.

“So” she began in a serious and dark tone that had Paws fighting the urge to jump back in his seat. “You’re not really my sister’s friend, are you?”

“Damn kid, you could make one hell of a detective one day you know that?”

“Just answer the question.”

“No, well, sort of. It’s complicated. You really wouldn’t want me to go into it, trust me… You’re not gunna say anything to her, are you?”

“No. we’ve got a Proper roof over our heads and she’s safer than she’s been in a long time. Just don’t try anything and I’ll keep my mouth shut. For a price.”

Paws brows shot up in surprise. This kid.

“Alright kid, name your terms.”

“Tell me enough, JUST enough for me to know you’re not a threat to her… AND if you ever upset her, you have to throw yourself off a bridge. Also walk her home, I don’t like it when she does it alone. It’s not safe.”

“I was gunna do that last one anyway, but deal.”

*

“You are damn lucky Evelyn has gone AWOL and the Don has one hell of an obsession with ya, or you’d be out on your ass! Now go get ready for the show.”

Melody ran from the back office and into the changing room, slamming the door behind her. She took a moment to calm herself, taking deep breaths as she sank back against the door.

She’d been right, he was furious, and he’d made sure everyone knew it. He’d laid into her for a good twenty minutes, the door wide open making sure everyone could see and hear his tirade. Nothing she said had mattered, he’d just called her a stupid little girl who should know her place.

Melody dragged herself to her feet and made her way towards the wardrobe. She’d need to start now if she was going to find a dress good enough to cover the remaining marks on her skin and impress the audience tonight. With a sigh she pulled open the wardrobe doors. A heavy weight fell on her, and she went tumbling to the ground. An overwhelming hunger began to take over; a need she’d never felt before. The smell overpowering her senses, pulling her forward. It clouded her mind and for a moment she could think of nothing else. Realization hit as she stared at the thing that had landed on her, that had caused the sudden rush of desire. she scrambled back in shock, backing up to the far wall. Fighting back the urge to vomit she let out a blood chilling scream.   

*

Paws got the call a half hour later. He dashed from the office, leaving Liza sat in bewilderment at his sudden departure.

He’d done it again. He’d done it again, and just like the many times before, he hoped he wasn’t too late.