Kat and Mouse Read Online Free Page B

He could be anywhere.
    “Ms O’Lauchlan?”
    Katrina jumped, her hand snapping immediately to where her gun would normally be. She spun about, fixing the woman standing behind her with a steady look.
    “I’m sorry to startle you, Ms O’Lauchlan,” the woman apologised, her clear eyes the most unusual shade of gold. “But I have a message for you.”
    Katrina noticed a slim silver nametag pinned to the lapel of the woman’s immaculately tailored black suit. She was slipping. She should have noticed that before now. Focus. Focus . She bit back a scowl. Fair Dinkum, she was getting sick of that word.
    “Ms O’Lauchlan?” the woman—Tiamat—gave her a small, quizzical smile.
    “I’m sorry. A message?”
    From nowhere a small folded piece of paper appeared in Tiamat’s slim hands and she held it out to Katrina. “From a friend,” she said, and for a moment her eyes seemed to shimmer with a deep golden glow.
    Katrina’s already pounding heart leapt into her throat, obviously not content with staying in her chest. A friend …She took the offered note from Tiamet, mouth dry. I can’t believe it. He’s done it to me again …
    Hands steady, she unfolded the paper.
    Got to be quicker than that, Kat .
    Nothing else.
    But there didn’t need to be. She recognised the handwriting.
    Bastard .
    Lifting her stare from the note, she looked back to Tiamat…and discovered the space where the woman had just stood seconds earlier, empty.
    Katrina frowned. What the hell was going on? Just what kind of place was Los Magia?
    “The most amazing kind.”
    Abaddon’s deep voice tickled her ear and she spun about, crumpling the note in her fist.
    Nothing.
    She was still alone.
    Katrina rubbed at her face. Okay. This was getting ridiculous.
    Go back to your suite. Have another bath, study the map and maybe get something to eat. Clear your head, O’Lauchlan. You’re starting to hear things .
    She stood for a moment, feeling The Mouse’s taunting note crunch in her fist. The bath could wait, but her stomach couldn’t. She needed coffee, lots of coffee, and toast. Preferably lathered with Vegemite. She’d park herself in a booth in one of The Wicked Lynx’s many bistros and caffeinate herself as she studied the map. Then she’d hit the pavement.
    Four slices of Vegemite-smeared toast at The Feline Bistro later, Katrina felt better. More focussed. Taking a tentative sip of very hot coffee, she studied the unfolded map of Los Magia spread out on the table before her, admiring the city’s design.
    Five main streets intersected to form a pentagram, with five major casinos located in each pointed sector. The Wicked Lynx sat in the south-west sector, surrounded by various strip-clubs, night-clubs and a comedy club called Laughter Bites. Tartarus , the BDSM parlour the concierge recommended to her (a little thrill, both dark and disturbing, shot through Katrina at the memory) was located in the North-East sector, a part of the Olympus casino. In the centre of the pentagram stood a museum dedicated to the city. Outside the star, the rest of the city sprawled in which Katrina noticed the airport, schools, hospitals and other less touristy buildings. In amongst all that, there were residential areas. A normal city. Yet something didn’t seem normal about Los Magia. Not at all.
    Katrina lifted her head from the map, sipping on her coffee again. At first glance, normal people surrounded her. Normal tourists enjoying their vacation; laughing, eating, skimming tourist guides and talking amongst themselves. But a closer look, a “cop’s” look revealed something else.
    Some of the people seemed different. Some reminded her of her collage performance of A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream, almost dream-like and ethereal. She kept getting the impression of delicate wings on some of them, of fangs on others. In one both an slim woman sat between two men, one nuzzling her neck, the other whispering in her ear, an expression of absolute rapture