Tarot Tells All

CHAPTER 9

Kayla looked around at the boxes that were scattered about the bedroom, she had no idea where anything was. She should have marked the boxes, but it was too late as she played treasure hunt for the rest of her camera gear.

Kayla was leaving that night to meet Dave in Denver for her first show, but if she couldn't find the hard case to her lap top, she wasn't going anywhere. Her eyes looked into another box, she knew it was packed because she had left it at the manor when she bought the mini computer a few years ago. Everything that was at the Manor was moved here, it just had to be here! A thin black note case was held in front of her eyes, she grinned ear to ear as she grabbed the hard case from the air.

"Where was it?" She looked up just as her Reaper love bent down and kissed her.

"Still in the truck, with a few other things." Mark chuckled as he lay on the floor next to her and picked up her hands into his, "I don't like this idea of you working for WWE."

"It's just a job, Mark." Kay leaned over him and kissed his lips again, "It's no big deal."

"Extremists are a big deal, Kay. They don't have…the same mentality as the rest of the WWE roster."

"Dave will be there…" Kay starred at Mark, there was something else that was bothering him about this trip.

She knew him, knew his mannerisms, the way he moved, the way his eyes flickered with light when he was happy. Right now his eyes were dark, he was thinking, she knew it meant that, he was thinking something dark. He was definitely acting funny, no, not funny…a little off kilter.

Kayla began to run her hand threw his thick long dark hair, "Is something bothering you?"

"No, why?" He looked up at her as she leaned back for a kiss.

"I don't know…I'm getting this feeling that you really don't want me to go."

"Of course I don't, Kay. I would rather spend every waking moment making love to you instead of playing with Kane while you're gone. Mind you, he can come up with some very interesting sports…"

"I don't want to know!" Kay grinned as she got up from the floor and began to make a mental check list of her equipment.

Mark raised himself from the floor as well and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you? The Undertaker can make another come back…"

Kayla turned around and kissed her love, "No, Kane is still unstable, I don't think he can handle being around people yet. He needs you now more than I do. And besides, if there is trouble, I'm pretty sure that you'll come running to my aid."

"You're pretty sure about that?" He grinned.

"You have before, what would stop you now?"

"Absolutely nothing…" He leaned towards her and kissed her once more.

"Thought so." Kay grinned back, and then turned back around to the bags she had left on the bed, "I think I have everything…"

"Forgot something…" Mark pulled out the little 'Undertaker' teddy bear from thin air and dangled it in front of Kay's eyes.

She smiled as she grabbed the bear from him, "Don't tell anyone that I sleep with this."

"Your dark secret is safe with me…" He chuckled as he watched her stuff the little bear into her night bag.

"Alright, I think I'm ready…" Kay took one more look around, Mark starred at her familiar.

Reaper was sitting on his place at the Headboard, a look of sadness in his eyes.

"What about Reaper?" Mark asked, "Are you leaving him here?"

"Yeah, I'll feel better if he's here and I don't have to go chasing him every time he sees something shiny. Last time I worked for WWE, he chased Mickey James around because he wanted her gold hoop earrings. They were still attached to her ears at the time."

"He's your bird." Mark extended his hand to the raven, which then hopped onto it and enjoyed the rub the Deadman was giving him.

Kay walked over and gave the animal one last kiss before giving one to Mark, "I hope the four of you can play nicely while I'm gone?"

"Four?" Mark looked at her puzzled.

"Yeah, you, Kane, Reaper, and Cerebus. Please don't leave Kane alone with her, last time I found him throwing her off the roof, to see if a dead cat will land on her feet like a living one."

"Well, I don't think the fall would hurt her…" Mark chuckled, "…being dead and all."

"It's still disrespectful, you should respect the dead." Kay rubbed the cat as Cerebus laid on the black sheets of the bed.

"Dead?" Mark thought for a moment, "You know, that word has such a different meaning in this house…"

"You're right, the only thing living here is me and Reaper." Kay gave him a second last kiss before she gathered up her traveling belongings, "Ok, I have to go, Dave's waiting for me right now."

"Be good." Mark gave her one more kiss before she cast the spell that would take her to Denver.

Mark stood still as the last of the magical light faded and Kay with her bags were gone from the room, he slowly turned his gaze at the cat that looked back at him with a concerned look.

"Just you and me again, miss Kitty." Mark began to smile as the cat hissed at him.

Cerebus wasn't fast enough, Mark caught her by the scruff of her neck as she made a saving jump away from his hand.

"Oh no, I know you have a lot more to tell me, and you are going to before Kay gets back."

Mark moved back to the bed and laid down with the cat in hand, what the cat gave him the night before was just a small taste of things that would come from the evil lands of the Abyss. Mark had drained most of his powers attempting to open the cat's mind, dealing with this kind of dead had that back fall.

There are ghost cats, and there are hell cats. Cerebus was a hell cat, named so because she had ventured into hell at the moment of her death because of the demons, but her determination to reach her trapped mistress made the cat climb out of the tortures of hell and attempt to save her.

Hell cats, regardless of their loyalties become bonded to the Abyss, their bodies and abilities changed as they ascended back into the world of the living. That is what made it hard for Mark to reach into the animal's mind to search for what the demons were planning. The powers of hell were powerful, the cat's tie to the Abyss made things hard for the Reaper

The cat would have to overhear the two demons talking for all those years, at some point, they must have felt confident enough to talk freely around the animal. Mark had gotten some things the other night from the cat, things that did not sit well with him. He would make Cerebus tell him more whether she liked it or not. From what he gathered the night before, Kayla's life depended on it.

To be continued.