Be Polite to the Nice Pussycat: Kind of surprised by Grizzard allowing Kemnebi in big-cat form to come and work the scene, Jane takes a nap in her SUV while awaiting his arrival. Rick drives up with Kemnebi already in leopard form, but he will not permit anyone to put the collar on him that the sheriff insisted upon. After he is done looking over the scene, Kem-cat answers questions for Rick, and then agrees to show Rick and Jane the older trail the werewolves took. Grizzard says that PsyLED called him about Rick. After tramping around in the woods in the drenching rain for hours, the trio ends up back at the vehicles. When Kemnebi resumes human form, he tells Jane and Rick that the grindylow is behaving differently than usual, resting a lot, may perhaps be sick—a proposition that seems to please Kemnebi, grieving the loss of Safia. When he says that the grindy never rests when humans are in danger, Jane realizes that the reason it didn’t get to Rick sooner when the werewolves had him was that Kemnebi caged the grindy in his room at the hotel. When Jane says this, Kemnebi’s hands change into clawed paws, and Jane’s do the same, with Beast taking control and latching on to Kemnebi’s neck.
Is This a Proposal or Something? Kemnebi submits to Jane/Beast, and Beast relinquishes control to Jane. Though surprised that Beast can do a partial shift, Jane is very pleased when she sees her hands and mouth are back to her human form. Jane tells Rick to let Kemnebi know that if he tries to kill Rick, she will kill him, because he belongs to Beast. When she arrives back at the hotel, Jane is shaky, soaked, and laughing uncontrollably until she eats more.
After warming up and calming down, Jane heads over to Molly’s house, not sure of the reception she will receive. Molly’s husband, Evan, resents Jane for placing his children and his wife in danger with the vamp-witches in New Orleans. When Jane arrives, Angelina rushes out the door to meet her, but Evan bars her way. Jane hands Evan the scarf she took from Evangelina, and tells him that if what he smells is important, they all need to talk. Evan replies that he smells Evangelina and blood-magic. Jane shares the information about the spells Evangelina has been casting, and the fact that she stole the blood diamond from Jane and has been using it. Evan faults Jane for not destroying the diamond, but she asks how was she supposed to do so, and when Evan says he doesn’t want her there, Jane starts to go, telling him that he can figure out what to do on his own. Evan calls her back, admitting her has seen the changes in Evangelina too, realizing that they can’t be real. When Jane and Evan try to talk to Molly about her sister, she refuses to listen and keeps repeating the same phrase over and over again, and makes mention of vampires having taken Evangelina’s family, something Jane and Evan had never heard before. Evan tries to break the spell on Molly, but is unable to, saying he will have to look into how to do so. Angie has a bad dream, which she says was about a green frog eating a deer, and Evan says she has been having those a lot lately. Jane leaves.
And If the Fangheads Kill Them? Jane goes to the café owned by Molly and her sisters, and find Amelia and Regan, the two humans in the bunch, working. Jane warns the two women to watch out for the werewolves who may be attempting to turn witches, and they respond by pulling out a shotgun and two handguns, all loaded with silver. Jane opts to not tell Regan and Amelia about the situation with the rest of the sisters for now. When leaving, Jane gets a call from Rick, asking her to join him at a local restaurant. When she arrives, Jane scents werewolves but can tell they left a while ago. Local law enforcement, whose chief of police is not particularly fond of Jane, joins her and Rick at their table, and Rick tells them they have permission to watch the security footage. Jane recognizes Fire Truck, one of the werewolves she tangled with in New Orleans, and the second one is the other she left for the cops. The chief worries about Rick’s status after having been tortured by the werewolves, but Jane assures him that the Mercy Blade took care of the werewolf taint. Jane tells the police chief to call her if his officers spot the werewolves, and she will call the vamps to come and take care of them. Jane goes back to the hotel and finds a spot on the map that hasn’t been searched yet. Grabbing her go-bag, Jane heads to an area down the mountain from Molly’s to shift. Beast surprises Jane by opening the door of the SUV with her paws, to put away Jane’s blanket and necklace and to get to the meat Jane forgot to leave outside. Beast finds the scent of the wolves, and the site of a recent deer kill. The Beast scents Molly and Angelina.
Molly Can Kill Cow? Beast checks the perimeter of Molly’s house, ensuring that all are safe and snug inside. Satisfied, she once again follows the werewolf scent, going by Molly’s sisters’ houses, all protected by wards, smells the grindy, and Evangelina. Ending up at a big house, which Jane guesses may be the Everhart family home, Beast/Jane sees Evangelina come outside, naked, with a bowl, full of blood that smells odd, and the blood diamond. Jane guesses that the blood is spelled. Beast sneaks into the house while Evangelina is engaged in her ritual, and finds a room upstairs with a dead body in a rug, the pictures from the vamp-witches that Jane had given Evangelina to destroy, a summoning circle with a creature Jane fears is a demon, and a room with two werewolves in cages—the same two who have been on the rampage. The werewolves have cuts that haven’t healed, and Beast also smells Lincoln Shaddock. Beast sneaks away while Evangelina is now sleeping, and Jane says she needs to research demons.
Want to Play? Back at the hotel Jane calls Evan with her new information, and he gruffly tells Jane to stay out of it. Jane then does some research on demons, trying to figure out how everything ties together and what Evangelina may be trying to accomplish. While asleep, Jane has a very nice dream about Rick joining her in her bed. When she wakes up, she discovers she isn’t dreaming. Rick wants to “play,” though he can’t have intercourse because he would pass on the were-taint. After a round of fun, Jane notices the Rick’s cat tattoos are imbued with magic, and he explains how the witch Loriann was forced to use the magic (story told in “Cat Tats”) by an unbalanced vampire. Jane says that may be why he has been unable to shift, and Rick replies that he agrees, and he is worried that if he does, he will be bound into cat form. Later, Kemnebi calls and asks if Jane would like him to go along to the grindy’s lair, which Jane believes she has located. While getting ready for the hunt, Jane sees she has received three messages from Angelina but does not check them, as Evan told her to stay out of the situation. Rick arrives with Kem-cat, and he and Beast (within Jane) do not care for each other but manage to not get into another scuffle. When they arrive at the spot they are looking for, they smell rotten dead meat and old blood.
Get Your Own Damn Shoes: Two miles later the trio find themselves at a cave, inside which they discover the grindy and several babies, and the protective mother gets upset enough that they all back off. Outside, Kem-cat takes off to hunt, and Jane and Rick wait for him to return. When the big cat comes back, he is dragging a bear carcass with him, which he takes into the cave. Jane is surprised at Kem-cat offering the grindy assistance, given that he is so angry with it, but Rick replies that he believes there is some sort of metaphysical connection between the two species. When Kemnebi returns in human form, he says he had no idea the grindy was even female, let alone pregnant. When he tries to order Rick around, Jane tells Kemnebi that Rick is not his slave.
Back at the hotel, Lincoln is once again a no-show. Jane gets a call from Bruiser, who tells her she needs to go and help out at Lincoln’s home, and explains to her how her rash behavior of claiming she is Leo’s Enforcer could be a problem. Adelaide then calls, telling Jane that someone let out the chained scions, who attacked Sarah, a young human woman. Jane opens her door to leave, and Grégoire is there, with Brandon and Brian, and he has a gift from Leo—a replacement for Jane’s silver mesh collar that was destroyed by the werewolves in New Orleans—silver, which Grégoire, like Leo, is able to touch. After an uncomfortable interchange, during which Grégoire demonstrates his power, he also reminds Jane that she has not yet brought him the witch who spelled Lincoln. Jane wonders to herself why Grégoire is not MOC in New Orleans, and how she is going to get out of presenting Evangelina to him.