Part 85 (2/2)
”Not a sweetheart,” Dean protested remembering its final appearance.
”We all have our bad days.” Claire grabbed him by the elbow and spun him around. ”Are you all right?”
”Sure.” He felt a little light-headed and his skin p.r.i.c.kled where the hair had risen all over his body, but he still had his soul, so the rest seemed too minor to mention.
”What happened to your leg?”
”Austin.”
”Hey, I had to get his attention, didn't I?” Austin demanded as Claire turned a raised eyebrow in his direction.
”By attempting an amputation?”
Industriously was.h.i.+ng a front paw, he ignored her.
”I know a man who die from a cat scratch,” Jacques announced rematerializing halfway up the stairs. ”The scratch, it went... How do you say, septique?”
”Septic.”
”Oui. Had to cut it off and he dies.”
”Died.”
”Oui.” He smiled at Dean. ”Should we cut off your leg now or later?”
”I'm fine.”
”I'm insulted,” Austin snorted. ”My claws are clean.”
”Maybe you'd better go wash your leg,” Claire suggested, nodding toward her suite. ”Use my bathroom. There's some antibiotic cream in the medicine chest.”
At the sight of the roughly circular stain, Dean sucked in air through his teeth. About three inches in diameter, it was an ugly red-brown, darker in the center of the top curve. ”Oh, man. I'll be right back.”
”Where are you going?”
”To change. I don't get these jeans into cold water soon, I'll never get the blood out.”
”Don't look out any windows!” Claire yelled as he ran for the bas.e.m.e.nt. ”I don't believe him,” she muttered over the sound of his work boots clumping down the stairs. ”One minute he's terrified, the next, a laundry problem drives the whole experience from his mind.”
”He is right about the bloodstain and cold water,” Jacques pointed out. ”You see these?” He slapped his thighs. ”Cover with blood when I fall in the lake and now, for eternity, clean.”
Claire helped herself to a chocolate bar. ”Don't you start.”
A few moments later. Dean reentered the lobby in jeans so clean the creases were a lighter shade of blue.
”Well?”
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