“No? You gotta be shitting me,” I said incredulously. “Fluffy is coming for our asses.”

“No, he’s sampling our scent.” True, it was chuffing air in and out and not snarling, but it didn’t make me feel any better or any less like a zebra about to get its neck snapped.

It took another step and another, this time toward Promise. Niko drew his sword as slowly and carefully as I’d raised my gun. The black lip wrinkled up to show teeth that weren’t pantherlike at all . . . unless a panther was crossed with a school of piranha. No way it came from the local pet store.

My finger tightened again, but as before, the cat only drew in air. Then it snapped its jaw shut and growled. Apparently, it was a signal, because someone who had to be Oshossi appeared.

About six inches taller than me, maybe more, and two or three taller than Nik. Dark skin, black hair. Kind of weird there, though. Slick like a cat’s fur. Gold eyes, bright gold. Leopard’s eyes. He also had the pointed teeth of a cannibal. They showed in a coldly satisfied smile. “I see we’ve tracked down the mother. Now where is the thief?” The cat could pick out a relative of Cherish’s from smell alone? In this city? That was one talented bad-ass kitty. Cherish was lucky Oshossi and his pet had picked Brooklyn to search first, or she’d probably be cat chow right about now.

Glass crunched under black boots as Oshossi stepped forward. He wore a long black coat, black pants and shirt, and a choker-style necklace of small off-white beads. No. Teeth. They were teeth. And you could bet your ass they were human teeth, because, hell, that’s just the way things worked in our life.

“Give me the thief.” His voice was smooth as glass. It was the voice of a boa constrictor. “Come, walk right into my open mouth. Don’t mind the fangs. Just decoration, that’s all.” Then one swallow and you were gone—your dumb ass gobbled up while you thought, Gee, what a nice guy.

This nice guy was carrying two machetes. Big, shiny, and as capable of chopping through our limbs as if they were trees. I had to make a decision: Keep the gun on the cat or on Mr. Slice-and-Dice. I kept it on the cat. No matter how fast Oshossi was, I was betting the cat was faster.

“The thief.” The gold eyes flared and the pupils dilated just like the cat’s.

“You cannot have her,” Promise said.

“No?” The pointed teeth were shown in another smile, this one feral and savage. “I think I can. I think I can skin her alive if I choose. Rip her organs free and feed them to my pets before she dies. Tear away her eyelids so she has no choice but to watch. I think I can do all those things and you can’t stop me.” The smile widened, upper and lower teeth separating widely—I’d never seen a mouth open so wide on a human-looking face. I heard the jaws pop like firecrackers. Through that mouth they came. His voice was as hypnotic as a snake’s, and that’s what boiled free. A small river of serpents.

Six feet long and as big around as a rattlesnake. They were as black as the cat, and the venom-dripping fangs were the same color. They hit the floor and slithered in our direction. “All right,” Robin said as he backed up, “that is more than a little disturbing.”

“No shit. You think?” I pulled the trigger on the cat. We had more than enough to worry about. We didn’t need Fluffy too. The first three shots hit it in the chest, blowing ragged holes the size of silver dollars in it. It didn’t faze it one damn bit. My next shot missed as it leapt literally over our heads and ended up behind us. The snakes were in front of us, the cat behind, and Oshossi . . . Oshossi turned and walked off into the night. As if we weren’t worth his time. He’d left us a few presents, and so long, suckers. The son of a bitch. It wasn’t enough to leave his pets to kill us, but he insulted us too? Saying that’s all we were worth? Like siccing a Chihuahua on the mailman. A definite lack of respect.

Then again, giant cat, a carpet of snakes . . . that did beat a Chihuahua—in deadliness, if not crankiness.

I turned, knowing Nik would protect my back, and fired at the cat again. I only clipped it as it leapt again at the same time I fired. It landed close enough to take a swipe at me, the kind of swipe that would open you like a giant can opener and spill your yummy gravy ’n’ nuggets on the floor. I dove, hit the carpet, and rolled. Not under it. I’d seen what cats do to prey that end up under them. Those hind feet would rip me from breastbone to lower abdomen. Once again . . . guts on the floor.

There are lots of ways to go. That wasn’t one I’d pick. I fired again into its side as triple rows of teeth were bared in a snarl that sounded like a hundred lions. I was suddenly sorry Niko had made me watch the Discovery Channel, because I could all too easily picture those teeth buried in my stomach. Hot breath on torn flesh, what should be inside of you would be outside instead . . . in efficient jaws. The gazelle bites the dust. I didn’t want to be the gazelle.

The bullets hit a rib bone. I heard one break and shatter the two around it. Lucky me? Not so much. I was aiming for something a lot more vital. It jumped again, and this time I dove over the receptionist’s desk, which promptly shattered under the muscular black bulk.

Shit.

I turned at the enraged hiss by my face. One of the snakes was about a foot away. The venom falling from its fangs was sizzling and burning holes in the carpet beneath it.

Shit.

There was a quicksilver slice and the snake’s head spun free of its body and landed on the floor. Its body continued to thrash, but I didn’t have time to enjoy the show. I jerked my eyes back to the cat. Promise was on its back with a dagger in her hand. The point was aimed at the thick neck as she slammed it home. The cat hissed and twisted, throwing Promise off, and then it was gone after its master. Did I mention I was in the way? I shot it again as it hit me. It sent me flying from the shoulder that connected with me, and I was on the floor again. The bullets I fired went through its throat. It narrowed eyes back at me and sneezed a mist of blood into the air, bared its teeth again, and then was gone. The night swallowed it up.

I wasn’t sorry to see it go. I was all for finishing a job, but when a Desert Eagle barely makes a dent, that is one tough pussycat. Next time I’d try for about ten rounds in its brain and see what happened.

I sat up, this time on the other side of yet another desk, with three more headless snakes’ bodies finally stilling, then disintegrating. Like the venom, it burned the carpet when it went, leaving an S-shaped scorch mark. Niko appeared and held down a hand and pulled me up. All over the room I could see similar brands. The smell of acid-singed carpet was in the air as Promise and Robin moved over to us. I assumed no one was bitten as no one was down and writhing in agony. Humiliation maybe, but not agony.

Robin wiped his sword on the carpet and slipped it back under his coat. “Cherish,” he said, looking around at the broken glass, destroyed desk, and smoking carpet with irritation. Extreme irritation, if the audible grinding of his teeth meant anything. “Promise, I fully expect your daughter to reimburse me for damages incurred, along with punitive damages for my emotional trauma and suffering. Intense trauma and suffering.” He shook his head as he focused on the desk. “I just bought that. Five hundred dollars for what is supposed to be the sturdiest one on the market, and that ccoa takes it out like a catnip mouse. Skata.”

“A ccoa?” I lowered the gun to my side, sucked in a breath still soaked in adrenaline, and cocked my head toward Niko. “You’re really lying down on Name That Monster. And by the way, you are never making me watch Discovery Channel again.”

“Educational channels are good for you. It kept you ungutted, didn’t it? And I’m aware it was a ccoa,” he said in annoyance. “Usually found in Peru. It appears that Oshossi has shipped an entire zoo from South America.”