A call had brought Kyro back. He was midway to the store when his phone rang and guards asked him about the screaming in his apartment. Although the walls were made to pass only a little sound, the noise was disturbing the neighbors below. They couldn't help but think that something wrong was happening over there.
Kyro didn't waste a moment to return. How could there be screaming in his apartment? Iris was still a human, and she was alone in the place, so why would she make so much noise? Something had to have happened.
The neighbors and the guards were standing by his door, their expressions full of worry. Just as he came, there was a muted thump from the apartment, like something heavy falling to the ground.
Without anyone needing to say anything, Kyro took out his key and entered his place. For a fraction of a second, he froze upon seeing a man lying prone in his living room, but then he caught sight of Iris. Her snout was touched with crimson, same as her paws. The wet fur stuck to her skin, revealing the little sharp claws with which she was tearing at the prone man.
Both the victim and the perpetrator looked up at him at the same time. Iris calmed instantly, retracting her claws and sitting down on the man's back. Her expression was full of savage satisfaction. It was clear that she expected him to clean up the mess after she had done her share.
But the anger within Kyro rose not because of that. He actually recognized the man on the floor. When their gazes met, the guy swiftly looked away, but one look was more than enough. He was a familiar lackey, one named Gregor.
Back in college, Gregor had always moved around Jane, acting like the universe spun around her. It was somewhat disturbing, but Jane didn't mind him, so Kyro also had to tolerate him. Afterwards, he didn't know what had happened to either of them.
From someone, he'd heard that after Jane left the country, Gregor was beyond devastated, but that was all he knew. Who he worked for now was up in the air.
'Yet he dared to enter my apartment.' Kyro didn't know how Gregor had done it, and at the moment, he didn't care. He had pretended to be nice to this dimwit for Jane's sake, but she wasn't here anymore.
With a step forward, he pulled Grefor up by the collar. "What do you think you're doing here?" he hissed out, not caring one bit that there were people behind him. If they wanted a show, they were welcome to it.
Gregor just looked at him, gulping his saliva, unable to come up with anything. His eyes ran in every direction, all to avoid Kyro's gaze. Then, he pushed at him. This was a pathetic attempt to escape, and Kyro didn't even blink at it.
"You think you can just come into my house and do what you want?"
The man shook his head, then tried to free himself again. When it proved futile, he raised his resentful gaze up. "Let go of me," he demanded in a shaky voice.
"Sure."
Kyro released his grip. When Gregor staggered, not having expected to have to support himself just yet, Kyro sent a punch his way. It landed on his cheek and his nose, breaking it with a satisfying crunch.
The man fell backwards, and Kyro watched him with disgust. What in the world did this idiot want from him? And how the hell had he entered the apartment? It should have been impossible with his capabilities
'Why can't I have at least half an hour of peace?'
Iris had just recalled something traumatic, and the moment he left her sights, someone got into the apartment and went after her. It was lucky that she managed to fight them back this time, but she had to have been terrified to change. 'And I wasn't there to protect her.'
Disappointment and fury raged through him, and his fingers twitched with the need to punch the guy again, but it would only bring him more trouble. He had to control himself. Yes, he had to think about what needed to be done now. The piece of shit on his floor couldn't be allowed to escape scot-free.
"Have you called the police?" Kyro asked, turning back to the observers.
The guards looked over at him with surprise. "He's not a friend?"
"Friend?" Kyro wished he could get rid of this idiot as well.
No longer bothering with them, he took out his phone and called the police himself. There was a patrol car nearby, so they came in a few minutes. While Kyro was updating the officers about what had happened, he felt a tug at his trouser leg.
Looking down, he saw Iris looking at him with her black soulful eyes. He bent down to pick her up, but she evaded his hands and ran away a few steps. Surprised, he watched her point her head a few times toward the small corridor and her room.
'Is she asking me to come? Could there be another person hiding there?'
"Give me a moment," he told the officers and strode after Iris into her room.
There, she didn't need to point for him to know what she wanted him to see. Lucy lay against the far wall, unmoving. His position seemed wrong, twisted somehow, and there was blood on his fur.
Kyro ran to him, forgetting all about perpetrators and how they could have managed to enter his place. In his sight, there was only Lucy, lying like he was dead in a corner. But it couldn't be true. Lucy had been with him for over eight years. He couldn't just die like this.
Falling on his knees, Kyro touched the familiar black coat. Patches of it were soaked with blood, staining his hands. He looked at them, not able to grasp what was happening. Lucy couldn't be dead. He just couldn't.
As his fingers returned to the cat's head, one eye opened. Lucy seemed to try to meow, but it got stuck somewhere in his throat, resulting in a painful wheeze. The whole body shuddered.
"Lucy..."
Kyro wanted to grab him and hold him in his arms so that nothing could touch him ever again, but it was impossible. He didn't dare to move the fragile body even a centimeter. What if he made the situation worse?
But just watching was too painful. Lucy tried to raise his head but failed. It barely moved, just lolled a bit.
"Shh, don't move. You're going to be fine," Kyro promised, meeting the dark blue eyes that looked at him with a peacefulness he couldn't fathom. It was as if they knew he couldn't do anything, but didn't blame him for it.
Which made it all the worse.
With numb fingers, Kyro took out his phone again and called the pet clinic he frequented. In a voice that seemed not his own—calm and detached—he explained the situation and asked for someone to come over. They didn't want to at first, saying he should come with the cat, but once he promised to reimburse them three times the amount, they agreed to have the vet who had an off day to rush over.
It was something good, a knowledgeable person would soon be around, but Kyro couldn't help feeling like it was all pointless. Once he lowered his phone and saw Lucy's bedraggled form again, he knew that no person could do anything about it anymore. The calling of the vet was just for his own conscience.
"I'm sorry, old friend," he murmured, caressing the limp head as that single dark blue eye watched him with understanding and acceptance.