by Roxie Spears
A folder filled with information on the Banes sat in the passenger seat of her car, though it focused on one Bane in particular. Logan seemed to be the black sheep of the family and as such, he was more interesting to research. Unlike the other Banes, Logan often went into Quafin, if only to visit this particular bar. The folder was opened, revealing a pile of photos of this very building. Multiple shots included Logan. He was greeting the hulky bouncer with an expression friendlier than Emilie had ever seen him wear, standing apart from someone with a leather jacket on, or climbing out of dark cars with tinted windows.
It interested Emilie that he didn’t drive there in the fancy sports car she’d seen him speed off in at his sister’s funeral. At first, she suspected it might have been because he didn’t want to be seen downtown, but she’d been sitting outside the building for several minutes, too afraid to park her car. There were some places one simply knew they shouldn’t enter into alone, some places one should never park their car, and this was one of them.
The bouncer had been staring at her car for some time and Emilie realized that she probably looked fairly suspicious herself. She closed the folder and started her car, driving around the block. There was an instant difference between areas, though they were separated by little more than two corporate buildings, it was enough comfort for Emilie. They weren’t the skyscrapers Emilie was used to, but she knew corporate when she saw it, right down to the grey blinds in every window. There were other cars and even a few people meandering around, dressed in suits. She assumed they worked in one of the office buildings.
With a deep breath, Emilie climbed out of her car and made her way back to the bar.
The building looked closed off, as if it were shut down for renovations. The windows were blacked out and there was no sign to indicate what it was called. If not for the loud music that thrummed from inside, the bass turned up so high that Emilie felt car vibrating with the sound when she was sitting outside, she would never have known she was in the right place. A bouncer three times her size seemed surprised by the sight of Emilie, his eyebrows raised so high that several wrinkles appeared in his bulky forehead, but he let her into the bar without a qualm. Emilie couldn’t help feeling a tiny bit flattered. Things were starting off well – for a change.
The inside of the bar was classic, albeit dingy; it was dimly lit, there was a jukebox in the corner, and three pool tables were spaced out. Several bearded men in leather jackets who looked at her as though she were a piece of meat as she walked through the small establishment, some of them at small tables, some at the bar in the back of the place, and some glancing up from the games they played. Emilie breathed a bit faster as her eyes scanned the place for the angry Bane son. She’d only just arrived, but she already wanted to leave. It didn’t take long to find Logan and for that, Emilie was grateful. The moment she saw him, she went over to him with a refreshed determination.
Logan stood out among the other patrons. He wore a fitted white shirt that highlighted the muscular body beneath and a pair of jeans. He was clean-shaven and his jawline was sharp enough to cut her. He was playing a game of pool with three older men and it was clear they were betting because there was a small wad of cash on the table. Emilie had to force herself to look away as Logan bent over the table to take a shot, his jeans accentuating everything. Warmth rushed to her cheeks.
Get a hold of yourself, she thought. You’ve got a job to do.
Nevertheless, Emilie felt her job would have been easier if Logan Bane wasn’t so damn attractive.
“Logan,” she called as she approached the table. He was one of the few men who didn’t seem to notice her arrival.
He pushed his cue forward, scratched the cue ball and missed his shot on the solid five. It was one of two solids left. Logan was in the lead – by far. His opponent had six stripes waiting to be pocketed. He swore under his breath as he stood up. Passing the cue to one of the other men, presumably the opponent in question, he made his way to Emilie. He towered over her and stood too close for comfort, intimidating as he was enticing. As she had at the Bane Mansion, Emilie could feel the heat emanating off his body.
“What is it now, Detective Hartford?” he murmured, his tone laced with annoyance. “Can’t you tell when your presence isn’t welcome?” His voice was low, and it was plain to see that he didn’t want anyone in the bar to hear their discussion. “What are you even doing here?”
“I want answers.”
“And I want you to back off,” Logan growled.
“You know what happened. I know you do. All of you Banes seem to know something that we don’t.”
“Yeah; how to mind our own business,” Logan snapped. He glanced around the room before lowering his voice, a warning in his tone. “Get out. You don’t belong here.”
“It wasn’t an animal, Logan. I know it wasn’t.”
Logan rolled his eyes. “What makes you so sure?”
By this point, there were several curious eyes on them, and Emilie didn’t know why she did it, but she raised her voice loud enough for everyone to hear her. “How did your sister pull off that kind of damage without any help, huh? She weighed one hundred and ten pounds!”
Logan gritted his teeth so hard that the muscle in his cheek twitched and, impossibly, his jaw grew even sharper than before. In the dim lighting of the bar, he looked menacing and formidable. Though, Emilie realized, he was formidable. His biceps were bigger than her thighs. Roughly, he grabbed hold of Emilie’s upper arm and dragged her past the pool table where he had been playing, leading her toward a door that she hadn’t seen before. He shoved her out and closed the door behind them.
Emilie stumbled when Logan finally released her, almost tripping over her own feet. They were standing in an alleyway. It was dark for the time of day, grimy, and there was a silver trash can not unlike the one where they’d discovered Krystal’s baby. Emilie was sure if she continued down the alley, she’d come across her car. She thought she could see the office block through the narrow entrance, along with the only source of light.
“You just can’t leave well enough alone, can you?” Logan yelled at her. “What is it? Do you have some kind of death wish? You’re meddling in things that have nothing to do with you.”
With each word, Logan moved closer to her, but Emilie refused to back away. She stood firmly, glaring up at the Bane son.
“I’m doing my job! What you’re doing is obstructing an investigation. I want to know what happened to Krystal Bane. And I want the truth.”
“I’ve told you before, but since you’re incapable of listening the first time around, I’ll repeat it nice and slowly for you.” He did, emphasizing each word as if she were mentally challenged; “My family’s business has nothing to do with you.”
“Why did you sign for the John Doe?” Emilie asked, ignoring his tone, though it infuriated her to no end. In fact, Logan infuriated her to no end.
Logan furrowed his brow. Quite suddenly, he looked confused. “What?”
“The John Doe,” Emilie repeated. “Someone signed for him and took the body. I know it was your family, so don’t bother lying to me.”
For once, Logan didn’t seem to have a comeback at the ready. He tilted his head and looked at Emilie curiously as if he were trying to figure something out.
“Well? What good does the body do you?” Emilie asked, growing impatient.
After a long moment, Logan finally answered. “We didn’t take the body. That wasn’t us. Sorry to burst your bubble.”
Emilie took a step back from Logan. She was ready to call him a liar, the accusation dancing on the tip of her tongue, but there was something about his expression that stopped her. The lines of confusion between his thick brows were genuine. “Wait. You didn’t?”
Logan shook his head. “That’s what I said.”
“Well, if it wasn’t you, then who did?”
Suddenly, interrupting their discussion, a blinding light flew down the alleyway and hit the side of Logan�
�s body with such force that he was knocked sideways slightly. Emilie jumped backward, letting out a cry of surprise. Her cry turned into a scream as she took Logan in. He was on fire!
Red, hot flames engulfed the shirt he wore, spreading. As quickly as he could, Logan ripped his shirt off his body, throwing it onto the ground and stomping out the flames. Emilie watched on in horror until the light was put out. The shirt was no longer white; it was smoking, tinged with black where holes had formed, caused by the inexplicable flames.
If he knew the answer to Emilie’s question, Logan didn’t get the chance to give it. The moment the shirt stopped burning, both he and Emilie turned to face the source of the light and standing at the end of the alleyway were two men. Their faces were in shadow, but Emilie had little interest in what they looked like. She was more preoccupied with their hands, blinking in shock. She could barely comprehend what it was that she was seeing.
As blinding, red, and hot as the flame that had hit Logan, both of the men’s hands were on fire.
Shifting
At the sight of the men and their inexplicable hands, Emilie’s hand flew to the gun in the holster on her hip, pulling it out faster than she had ever equipped an arm in her life. She only just aimed the gun in the direction of the men at the end of the alley, barely trained her aim on him when she felt the back of Logan’s arm brush against her stomach. He moved to stand in front of her protectively, pushing her back slightly.
“That won’t work here, Emilie,” he said her name for the first time. He glanced back over his shoulder, blue eyes flashing intensely. “You should get out of here. Run.”
“I’m not going anywhere!” she yelled up at him. What was with this guy and thinking he could tell her what to do?
Logan shook his head, but he shrugged his shoulders, giving in. “Suit yourself.”
With that, Logan stepped forward, his feet moving into a fighting stance. The warning, the need to tell him not to be an idiot, faded away. All thoughts stopped. Emilie’s mouth dropped open at what happened next. Logan jumped into the air, though it looked more like he was flying than jumping, rising higher than should have been possible for any human without first taking a running leap. Emilie’s index finger hovered over the trigger, but she couldn’t bring herself to shoot – not the men in the entrance of the alley and certainly not Logan.
Something else was far more shocking than Logan’s great leap. It was something that made Emilie squeal in shock and fright. She took several steps back from the Bane son, horrified by what she was seeing. The muscles in his back shifted, rippling and twitching wildly, as if there was something inside him trying to make its way out through Logan’s spine. His joints and bones crunched loudly and the sound caused Emilie to wince. It sounded painful. She stared at his form as it grew, limbs growing longer and thicker than before. His hands and feet changed too and claws grew out of what were once his fingers and toes, scraping against the stone pathway. Logan grunted as his body’s color began to change, becoming darker and darker. Emilie thought she could see hair sprouting from his pores, but both the hair and Logan’s skin were too dark to tell. The sound of fabric tearing could be heard as Logan’s blue jeans ripped away from his body only to be lost to the sound of a deep, guttural growl. Emilie watched on in shock as Logan changed, shifting from the muscular human form she’d begun to get familiar with into a beast so massive that it ripped his clothing apart at the seams. What was left of them was lying on the floor in tatters, along with the burnt shirt. The creature standing in front of her, where Logan had been only moments earlier, was covered in fur as thick and black as the night.
Emilie had no time to linger on the animal that appeared in front of her. She whipped her head around at the familiar sound of fabric being ripped to shreds. At the entrance of the alleyway, right past the beast, the men who attacked Logan were also changing. As she watched, ribbed wings sprouted from their backs, ripping through their shoulder blades. They floated into the air, their wings flapping with a clapping leathery sound as the rest of their bodies began to change too, shifting from their human forms into something else. Much like Logan, their clothes were in tatters on the ground as reptilian bodies revealed themselves, scaly and huge. One of them had a green tinge to its skin while the other resembled fire, red and orange and lively. Both of them looked dangerous, like snakes, but much worse. They grew tails covered in spikes, whipping violently and forcefully. A bright light emitted from their open mouths and a high screech, similar to the sound of nails being dragged across a chalkboard could be heard.
It took Emilie a second to figure out that the bright light wasn’t any old light. It was the same one that hit Logan, the same one that had been coming from their hands. It was orange and hot, moving as though it were alive, and grey smoke puffed into the sky above their heads. The creatures were breathing fire!
Dragons. The thought hit Emile without her permission, but there was no time to shake it off, no time to ponder over the ridiculous notion. Nevertheless, every hair on her body stood on end.
Emilie was too scared to scream, too scared to move as her heart raced away in her chest. She could barely breathe, short gasps emitting from her mouth as she took several more steps back. She almost wished she’d taken Logan’s advice and run, but it was too late now. She didn’t want to move, didn’t want to draw attention to herself, not from any of the three animals before her. She could only watch, gripped by the cold hands of fear. The hulking creature in front of her looked back, his snout resembling that of a wolf and his ears twitching curiously. However, it was the eyes that held her attention. She knew those eyes, knew the depth of the shocking blue as it flashed. For once, there was no contempt in the way he looked at her, but of course, he had to eventually break his gaze away from the detective.
Suddenly, Logan raced forward, long before Emilie had the chance to gather herself. His paws were so big and heavy that they seemed to shake the earth, almost as loud as the sound of her heart as it thudded in her ears, making her head pound. His long, sharp claws scraped along the ground as he went. If it weren’t for the vibrations of the bass coming from the bar and reverberating through the ground outside, Emilie was sure someone would have heard them. As it was, every growl, screech, and footstep was drowned out by the loud music coming from inside the building.
This time, Logan had taken a running leap. The wolf jumped onto one of the dragons, leaping high into the air with a deep grunt, stretching its claws out toward the flying beast. His paws landed on the chest of the creature, claws ripping into the scaled flesh with a sound like tearing plastic and pushing it back with so much force that the dragon fell backward with a high-pitched roar. It seemed as though Logan had the upper hand, but then a loud yelp rang through the air. The sound was like that of a wounded dog and Emilie’s heart skipped a beat. The second dragon was breathing fire in Logan’s direction, singeing the tufts of black fur with a hissing noise and causing the wolf an obvious amount of pain. Sparks flew in every direction and Logan jumped back, releasing the first dragon. Blood sprayed into the air where Logan’s claws drew back from its chest and thumped back down, tearing at the deep green flesh. It whipped its tail down through the air in retaliation and Logan yelped in pain once more as the sharp spikes collided with the front of his new body. Blood splattered onto the floor, and the detective flinched. She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She was enrapt.
Emilie’s arms were still extended, her gun trained on the beasts as they fought, and she desperately wanted to help the Bane son, but her hands shook, and the creatures were moving so erratically that she couldn’t be certain she would hit one of the dragons instead of the wolf. She barely understood what was happening – this type of thing simply didn’t happen in real life – but she didn’t want to risk hurting Logan. She couldn’t hurt Logan. Every ounce of annoyance that she had with him all but disappeared as she witnessed the fight, took in what was happening, though she didn’t really understand it. At th
at moment, her instincts were telling her that the dragon creatures were far worse than Logan Bane than any of the Banes.
That didn’t mean that Logan wasn’t strong. In fact, Emilie’s eyes widened as the wolf snapped its head back at the red dragon. The dragon roared and shrieked, and the flames died as it batted itself further away from Logan, blowing a breeze so strong that it hit Emilie where she stood. The creature’s wings flapped wildly as it tried to escape the sharp grip of Logan’s teeth. The second dragon dove forward and its teeth gripped onto the back of Logan’s neck, ripping through the skin and causing him to whimper loudly.
Emilie was horrified as the wolf’s growls grew louder and fiercer than before. It was terrifying to behold. Logan released the red dragon, baring his teeth and snapping back viciously. Emilie was reminded of an aggressive dog in the middle of its attack. With an enormous amount of strength, Logan flipped around and wrapped his mouth around the green dragon’s neck, digging his teeth into the thick flesh and shaking his madly from side to side. The red dragon blew fire against Logan once more in an attempt to get the wolf to release its companion, but this time, Logan didn’t stop. He didn’t back down even as the flames engulfed the fur on his back. Emilie could smell the burnt hair and tears pricked at her eyes. She feared that Logan might not make it through the fight. His whimpers were muffled only slightly by the creature in his mouth, but Emilie could tell that he was in severe pain.
Meanwhile, the green dragon shrieked in agony, thrashing its head and body about frantically until finally, there was nothing left. The green body went limp between Logan’s teeth. It fell quiet, and the wolf released it. As the creature fell to the ground with a heavy thud, it shrank in size. Emilie was filled with wonder, mingling with fear, as the dragon shifted back into the form of a man, naked and pale against the grimy earth.
