A Creature of Instinct, a Car Full of Problems

The convertible hummed along the highway while Rome's cat plotted murder from the backseat.

The growl was constant. Low and continuous, like Freya had discovered a personal vendetta and decided to make it everyone else's problem. He'd heard her hiss at the neighbor's dog before. He'd heard her yowl when he accidentally stepped on her tail. This was different. This was focused. Every vibration of that angry rumble was aimed directly at the back of Amelia's white-haired head.

Some mindless pop song played on the radio. All synth and auto-tune and lyrics about summer love. The kind of music that belonged in a shopping mall, not a car containing a supernatural college instructor and her newly acquired demon-student.

Rome stared out the window. Watched the city slide past. Glass towers giving way to residential neighborhoods giving way to commercial strips. Everything looked the same as it had yesterday morning when he'd woken up to his alarm and gone to work and lived a life that made sense.

Twenty-four hours ago, my biggest problem was whether I could afford both groceries and rent.

Now my biggest problem is that I'm apparently a walking weapon of mass destruction.

Amelia drove with one hand on the wheel, the other resting casually on the gearshift. Her sunglasses caught the afternoon light. She looked like she was on her way to brunch, not babysitting a potential apocalypse.

The growling continued.

Rome glanced back. Freya's green eyes glowed in the shadows of her carrier. If looks could kill, Amelia would've been a smoking crater.

Amelia reached over and turned down the music. The silence that followed made Freya's growling even more pronounced.

"She seems protective," Amelia said. Her voice carried that same amused lilt, like everything in the world was vaguely entertaining. "Where did you buy her?"

Rome didn't want to answer. This was personal. One of the few good things he'd managed not to screw up in seventeen years of temporary homes and bad luck.

Ignoring Amelia seemed like a bad survival strategy though.

"I didn't buy her."

He looked back at the carrier. Freya had stopped growling for a moment, probably wondering why he'd stopped talking.

"I found her. About a year ago."

He'd been finishing up a job. Some foundation work for a new apartment complex on the east side. Long day. Overtime that he needed because rent was coming due and he was short. He'd walked home instead of taking the bus to save the fare.

The alley had been dark. Narrow. The kind of shortcut you took when you were tired and stupid and didn't want to walk an extra three blocks.

He heard the whimpering first.

Then he saw them. The dog was huge. Some kind of pit bull mix. It had the kitten cornered against a dumpster. The kitten was tiny. Black fur matted with blood. One of her back legs bent at an angle that made his stomach turn.

"There was a dog," Rome said. "Had her cornered. She couldn't have been more than a few weeks old."

The dog had lunged right as he'd come around the corner. He didn't think. Just reacted. Grabbed the nearest thing he could find, which happened to be a broken piece of rebar someone had tossed in the trash. He'd yelled. Made himself big. The dog had looked at him, calculated whether he was worth the trouble, and decided he wasn't.

"I scared it off. Picked her up. She was bleeding pretty bad."

He'd wrapped her in his work jacket. Held her against his chest while she trembled and mewed in pain. Found an emergency vet clinic six blocks away that was still open.

"The vet said her leg was broken in two places. Internal bleeding. Maybe a punctured lung. They said she probably wouldn't make it through the night."

The bill had been two hundred and seventy-three dollars. He'd had three hundred and twelve in his account. Rent was four-fifty.

He'd paid it anyway.

"Spent the next two weeks eating ramen and working doubles to make up the difference. She pulled through though."

Rome looked back at the carrier again. Freya had pressed her face against the grated door. She chirped. That soft, questioning sound she made when she wanted attention.

"I didn't buy her. I found her. Or maybe she found me."

He turned back to face forward. Watched the road blur.

"Either way, we kind of saved each other."

Freya chirped again.

You're such a sucker, the voice in his head whispered. Getting sentimental over a cat.

Shut up. She's the only family I've got.

Amelia was quiet for a long moment. Rome felt her glance at him from behind those sunglasses. Then her eyes flicked to the rearview mirror. To the carrier in the backseat.

The silence stretched. He couldn't tell if she thought the story was sad or stupid or completely irrelevant to the supernatural nightmare his life had become.

Finally, she smiled. A small, intrigued curve of her lips.

"Interesting."

That was it. Not 'that's sweet' or 'you're such a good person' or any of the normal responses people gave when you told them about rescuing animals.

Just 'interesting.'

"For a creature of instinct to choose a protector so deliberately."

Rome frowned. Turned to look at her. "What?"

Creature of instinct. Not 'cat.' Not 'animal.'

Creature.

Before he could ask what the hell that meant, her phone rang.

The Bluetooth system in the car kicked in automatically. The caller ID appeared on the dashboard screen in cold white text.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

SECURE LINE

Amelia's entire demeanor shifted. The playful smile vanished. Her jaw tightened. She rolled her eyes so hard Rome thought they might actually disconnect from her skull.

With one sharp motion, she tapped her phone. The Bluetooth connection died. She held the phone to her ear instead, making it very clear that he was not supposed to hear this conversation.

"Yes?" Her tone could've frozen water.

She listened. Her fingers drummed against the steering wheel. Once. Twice. Then stopped.

"The asset is with me. He's secure."

Another pause. Longer this time.

"Why?" She laughed. "Because I fucking said so. I don't have to explain my strategic decisions to a bunch of senile fossils who still think a telegram is cutting-edge technology."

Oh.

Rome sank lower in his seat. Tried to make himself invisible. This felt like watching a bomb defusal where the defuser was also the one who planted the bomb.

She listened again. The muscle in her jaw twitched.

"No, I did not 'dispose' of him." Her voice dropped into something cold and dangerous. "Are you questioning my judgment?"

Amelia sighed. Pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. For a moment, she looked genuinely tired.

"When?" A pause. "An hour? Fine."

She hung up. Didn't say goodbye. Just ended the call and tossed the phone onto the center console.

Amelia took a breath. Let it out slowly. Then she turned to Rome.

"How do you feel about takeout?"

He blinked. "What?"

"That was the Higher Ups." She said it like she was explaining a minor inconvenience. "They're displeased that I didn't follow their recommendation to turn you into a puddle on the warehouse floor."

Jesus Christ.

"They've called an emergency council meeting."

She changed lanes without signaling. Cut off a sedan. The driver honked. She ignored it.

"So our lunch reservation is officially cancelled."

Emergency council meeting. Because she didn't kill me.

"I have to go argue with a room full of ancient, paranoid bureaucrats who are probably going to try and have both of us executed."

She said it so casually. Like she was talking about a dentist appointment.

Then she smiled. It didn't reach her eyes.

"Don't worry about it. You're my student now, which makes you my problem."

She accelerated. Turned off the main highway onto a side road Rome didn't recognize.

"And I always take care of my problems."

The convertible picked up speed. Buildings blurred past. Freya's growling intensified.

Rome sat there, frozen. His brain had officially given up trying to keep pace with reality.

This morning I woke up in a chair.

Now I'm apparently the central figure in a supernatural political crisis.

How the fuck is this my life?

Amelia glanced at him. Saw his expression. Her smile shifted. Became something warmer. Almost reassuring.

Almost.

"Relax, darling. I've been pissing off the Higher Ups since before you were born. This is just another Thursday for me."

She reached over. Patted his shoulder. The touch sent that same electric warmth through his skin that he'd felt in the warehouse.

"Besides, they're not going to execute you. You're too interesting. And I have a very strict no-refunds policy on students."

She turned the music back up. The same mindless pop song. Summer love and synthesizers.

"Worst case scenario, they try to put you in containment. Which would be boring. So I won't let that happen."

Rome looked at her. At the casual confidence. At the way she drove like the laws of physics were suggestions.

"What's the best case scenario?"

She laughed. Real and genuine.

"Best case? They yell at me for an hour, I ignore them, and we stop for Thai food on the way to your new dorm."

She accelerated through a yellow light that had definitely turned red.

"Either way, leave it to me."

Freya yowled from the backseat. A long, angry sound that perfectly captured how Rome felt about this entire situation.

Amelia's smile widened.

"See? Even your cat agrees. Everything's going to be fine."

Everything is absolutely not going to be fine.

Rome didn't say any of that though. Just slumped in his seat and watched the city blur past while his cat plotted vengeance and his teacher hummed along to terrible pop music.

Welcome to my ordinary life.