A Witchy Inheritance

Chapter 4

For the first time curiosity waited its way through my system. Surely the only thing in those boxes were cat toys, and treats, though I had seen my aunt put clothing on her cat I can't believe that any of that cats clothing would fit the fully grown man before me. Then he straightened up pulling a pair of board shorts out of the box and holding them up for me to see them before turning his back to me and slipping them on under the trenchcoat, being careful not to flash me as he did so. Once he had those on he turned back to me and removed my trenchcoat, revealing a very attractive and very muscular set of arms and chest. Between my panic and curiosity I almost felt queasy with all the emotions running through my system. He then tossed my jacket back inside before grabbing a T-shirt out of the box and throwing it over his head.

Once he was clothed the man who claims to be Cicero sat down on my porch steps, folded his hands with his elbows on his knees and looked up at me. Clearly trying to be as unobtrusive and as little a threat as possible.

"We have a lot to talk about you and I, and not a lot of time to do it in." Said the man before me.

So many things were running through my head that I wasn't sure what was going to pop out of my mouth next, "you can't be a cat. Cats aren’t people. Those boxes are supposed to be for the cat. why do you have clothes in those boxes?" I sputtered out making sure I still had a strong grip on my pepper spray should he decide to run at me.

He let out a heavy sigh, "I did just get dressed but if this is going to make things easier than fine. Two things to prove I'm Cicero. One, last night before you went to bed you lingered downstairs for about an hour and a half reading some very's sappy romance novel on your couch. I know it was sappy because you grabbed a Kleenex and started tearing up so I curled up behind you on your shoulder and read from there out of sheer curiosity. I assume you just thought I was a cat trying to be nice, but really I just wanted to know what the hell could've been that upsetting. Sure enough, sappy romance novel. Second there's this." He then looked over his shoulder at the neighbor’s house that wasn't connected to mine, as my porch was recessed so the neighbor connected to mine couldn't see the porch. He then stood up and stood on the steps looking at me and as I watched he doubled over letting out a gasp as if in pain.

Adrenaline shot through my system for a different reason this time. I had been reading the cheesy romance novel, a guilty pleasure of mine. I adored reading historical romances, something that no one knew about me and it wasn't like I had a window above my couch, so this man could've looked in and seen my k****e. The cat had indeed stocked from one side of the couch over to my shoulder as if trying to comfort me while I was crying, not really crying, just tearing up, from a particularly poignant scene in the story. There is no way he could have known that unless he was the cat or had cameras in my house. Which was the most absurd thing I'd heard in a very long time and I'm a bartender twice a week, to help out a friend of mine, so I’ve heard all sorts of crazy things.

My eyes were glued to the man in front of me watching in horror as he seemed to shrink down and then as I watched his arms grew shorter and hairier and in a span of what couldn't have been more than two or three minutes but felt like the blink of an eye the little black cat I inherited from my aunt poked its head out at me from underneath the T-shirt he had been wearing moments before. My mind raced to explain what I had just seen, surely this was some kind of magic trick and the crazy n***d man had jumped inside the house or under the front porch or something, even though I would've seen him move. There just couldn't possibly be a real-world reason for a fully grown man to turn into a harmless twenty pound cat. The black feline moved out from under the shirt and sat on top of it curling up his tail and looking at me before c*****g his head to the side.

I don't know what my expression must've shown him but from the way his tail twitched it seemed like feline amusement. I was rooted in place. I couldn't have moved even if he turned into a full-grown man again and charged me. I was in shock I could hear the blood rushing around my body as my heart slammed in my ears. My brain screamed that what I had just seen could not possibly happen in real life. That sort of thing didn't happen in real life. There was no such thing as werewolves or were-housecats?