Asprin, Robert Lynn – Catwoman – Tiger Hunt (With Lynn Abbey)

She couldn’t reenter the room. The fire wasn’t burning hot enough, not yet, so she attacked the door and the frame around it, leaving deep scratches in the wood.

“You’ll die, Eddie Lobb.” Catwoman’s hoarse whisper filled the empty apartment. “You’ll die for this. You’ll meet the spirit of every tiger, every cat, who died to satisfy your greed and lust. You’ll beg for mercy. But if won’t come, and death will be only the beginning of your punishment.”

Chapter Ten

Catwoman made her way back to her apartment. She headed directly to the training mats, without pausing to shed the costume. Ever cautious of their benefactor’s moods, the four-footed cats made themselves scarce. With glowing, green-gold eyes they watched from safe places as the two-footed cat contorted herself.

Selina intended to work out until she collapsed. Her superb condition fought against her. Her body routinely made the near-magical switch from ordinary physical metabolism to sheer will and determination. Through the dead hours when the city was almost quiet, Selina pursued exhaustion without catching it.

With her palms on the floor, her back arched, and her toes pointed toward heaven, she straightened her arms into a handstand, then flexed them until her skull bumped the floor. She repeated this act—the impoverished gymnast’s bench press—ten . . . twenty . . . fifty times before swinging her body down for an equally tortured version of a sit-up. In time, lactic acid and dehydration made every move an exercise in pain, but Selina’s mind remained sharp. The images she’d brought out of Eddie Lobb’s apartment grew more vivid and real, more horrifying with each repetition.