The Society Series Box Set 2

by Mason Sabre

  But they would see. They would see it whether they wanted to or not, because it was prophesied. It would happen.

  The house was a testament to that of the Humans … to what they did to the earth, to why it was them who needed to eradicated. Grand walls lined the area, creating a barrier between what was hidden inside and the world outside. Nature was taking over, claiming everything back. Vines entwined the rails of the fences. Bushes rose so high that they were impossible to climb over. Every piece of metal was covered with greenery. Crystal wanted to touch it. She wanted to close her eyes and run her hands over it, pulling the life up, feeling it … god, it was so inviting. One touch, one breath … She clenched her fist and pressed it to her mouth. This was Jason … she’d never felt like this before. Never felt such a connection to everything. He’d switched something on inside her and it scared her to death.

  “It’s locked,” he said, startling her thoughts. For a second, she could only stare at him while her brain tried to reengage with what they were doing and what he had said. There were two large gates blocking the driveway. Across the top, they were arched with spiked tips. No way over.

  “Trust the Humans to throw a lock on something they don’t want anymore,” she said. The driveway beyond the gates was lined with cobbles, well it had been once. Now it was a mishmash of cobbles and tufts of grass and weeds poking through the cracks and gaps. Crystal rattled the gate like it might make it unlocked.

  “Trust the Humans to think it actually works,” he said. “Stand back.” He grabbed the gates, one bar from each in his hands, then he lifted up his elbows, let out a deep growl and yanked. There was a loud grating sound and then the clank of metal. The couplings literally started to come apart with a lazy sort of unwinding as they gave way to his tremendous strength. He had his teeth clenched, his lips peeled back. Veins bulged in his neck and the last of the chain came apart and fell to the ground by his feet with a metal clank.

  He relaxed his hands, clenching and unclenching his fists a couple of times. “There.”

  “Now that was impressive,” she said. She had seen shifters strength so many times, but it never ceased to amaze her the way they could use it. They could push cars like someone might push a shopping cart. They could lift fallen trees with no help at all. It was magnificent. Their bodies seemed as fragile as Humans, and yet when they moved, there was this fluidness about them.

  Jason pushed the gates open and one of them gave an almighty squeal that made him wince. When it got about a quarter of the way open, it jumped on its hinge and toppled over. “Shit,” he said, grabbing for it before it landed on Crystal and knocked her back. “It’s rusted to hell. I don't think anyone has been here in a while.”

  “Nope. I’d imagine not.” When Crystal was clear, he let the gate go. It fell to its side, but didn't land on the ground.

  The one hinge was still attached and clung onto it for what seemed like dear life. Jason had to climb over where the weeds and plants had spread out under the cobbles and pushed them up, rejecting them. “Here,” he said as he held his hand out for her to take so he could help give her some balance as she climbed. She really hadn’t put on the best shoes for running around doing this shit today.

  She hesitated before taking his hand, though. Her fingers were poised above his, her skin alive as tiny tendrils of electricity reached for her, beckoned her. That was her magic reaching for him … god, her magic. It was alive inside her like she had never felt before. It hummed with life, and it tasted delicious. She licked at her lips. The magic wanted him now … it was thirsty.

  “Watch your step,” he said, taking her hesitation from her and grabbing her hand. He pulled her across the stones with the strength of someone who could have lifted her with one hand alone. His powerful grip held her still.

  “Thanks,” she said. She stepped into the yard, putting herself in front of him. He was breathing heavy. His breath tickled across the back of her neck, and as she moved away, it was like moving out of a dark room and into the light. The house … it was suddenly full. The windows held yellow glows where lights were turned on inside. The grey cloak of loneliness it had worn just seconds ago, were gone. “Wait,” she said to Jason, putting her hand up to stop him.

  He was a solid wall of muscle pressing into her, but she couldn't help it, she pressed her back into his chest and took comfort from him. Ahead of them, at the house, there was a door like a cellar door and a car parked at the side of it. Crystal grabbed Jason’s hand and he gasped.

  “What is it?” he asked, his deep voice rolling along her skin.

  “I’m not sure.”

  There were three men. One was standing at the back of the car. They had the boot open. Two other men emerged from the cellar; they had a girl between them. Her head was down, her hair swung around her face in a matted mess that hid her identity. She walked with feet that she seemed to have no control over. She was hunched over. One man had an arm around her waist, holding her up. The other man gripped her hand. When they got her close to the back of the car, the one who had been standing there, bent down to grab for her feet. With no warning at all, she screamed something at them and launched herself forward to lash out.

  The three startled men dropped her, and she twisted her body and ran. She was heading in the direction of Crystal, and Jason tightened his hand that was around Crystal’s arm now, he’d braced himself. The girl’s eyes were wide, her feet bare. She dashed across the ground and tripped where the cobbles were higher than the others.

  “Watch it …” Crystal went to say, but the words only fell short.

  The girl got back up. Blood was running down her leg from her knee. The men were behind her now, running … she was running.

  Crystal moved forward. Jason grabbed her arms, pulled her back.

  “We have to help her … she’s.”

  “No.”

  The energy rolled off Jason, down his arms, along her body like a wave of heat that was consuming her, making her burn up. She had to help that girl. She tried to wriggle her way out of Jason’s vice like grip. “Let me …”

  The girl was on them. Crystal froze as the girl ran right by them as if she hadn’t seen them at all. She hit something when she reached the gate and then she was in the air, flying backward. Some invisible force had hit her. She screamed and kicked out blindly at nothing.

  Crystal was yanked away with so much force that her stomach twisted, and her head went light, making her brain float on bubbles inside her skull. She cracked down onto the ground, slamming one hand against the dirt to catch herself. “Shit,” she said, bending over, retching. A hand reached for her, a strong hand that smoothed caressingly across her back. Her hair was pulled back from her face and she vomited into the weeds.

  “Here,” Jason said, handing her a piece of rag to wipe her mouth on.

  That was just great, wasn’t it? “Thanks.”

  He had his arm across her back. He rubbed in small circles that she half wanted to ask him to stop, and half didn’t. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  She rolled and sat back, bringing her knees up, not to her chest, but close enough. She swiped at her face, wiping away the tears that had escaped when she had thrown up. Back at the house, there was nothing. No car, no girl, no lights on. “I’m okay,” she said. “I don’t know what the fuck is going on, though. Did you see?”

  “The girl?”

  Crystal nodded.

  “Only when I had hold of you.” He crouched down so that he was kneeling on one knee. “Everything is gone now.” He offered his hand out to her, but she kept hers firmly on the ground next to her.

  “No offence, but I think I’ll help myself up. I have no idea what is going on, but …” She didn’t know. Whatever it was, whatever these visions were … it was to do with Jason. He wasn’t like a normal familiar. With those, a witch could control what she saw. She could see through their eyes, not her own, but with Jason … shit. It was like she was standing right in the virtual world of things that
had, what? Happened?

  She had no doubt in her mind that once, the girl had been real, and once, she had been running away from some men … some very bad men.

  Chapter 7

  Close up, the house was dark, dreary. The windows were boarded up in a haphazard way like someone couldn't really be bothered to do it, or to do them at all. Some of them were just pieces of smashed glass that were lucky the wind hadn’t taken them out yet. The way they were positioned gave the house the impression of a face. A house that was watching … watching and waiting. Its door was the mouth ready to swallow them all up. It sent a shiver down Crystal’s spine.

  The heckles on her arms rose and stood to attention, though. There was nothing she could do about that except to ignore it and hope it would go away on its own. She couldn't be sure if it was the house, Jason, or the magic that was swimming so much around them. Maybe it was a combination of everything.

  They walked right up to the front porch and up the steps. She tried the front door. Not surprisingly, it was locked. What was surprising, was Jason. He was standing so damn close to her that she could feel him breathing, feel him standing there. She wanted to lean into that.

  “Maybe try around back?” he said, darting down the steps before she had the chance to tell him maybe it wasn’t a good idea.

  Why not just bust the door open? She thought it, but she didn't say it. If there was no entry at the back, then he’d have to use his strength to get through. Jason was gone in a heartbeat, and it left Crystal feeling open, vulnerable. She glanced around her at the hedges that separated the place from the outside world and tried to imagine how this would comfort someone at night, to think they were safe, hidden. Mostly, it just made Crystal feel the press of claustrophobia against her chest, making her want to run down the steps and get to her car. If someone got in, she was trapt … like the girl in her vision.

  “There is a door back around here,” Jason said as he came back around, pointing at where he had just been, and looking as attractive as ever. She wondered if he even realised it. Maybe he didn’t. “Next to the cellar.”

  She quashed her thoughts quickly. “Locked too?”

  “Yep, but come on.” He waved her down and then disappeared again around the side of the house, leaving her no choice but to follow him.

  The place had an odd air to it now. She couldn’t unsee the car that had been there, the men, or the girl. They were ingrained in her memory, and she hadn’t been there. She shook her head. It didn’t matter much. It shouldn’t matter, but she couldn’t shake off the images.

  “I just need to …” Jason ran a hand through his hair, making it all stick up in odd directions, making him seem more appealing. He puffed out a breath then grabbed the door handle and forced it into a twist. The mechanism inside snapped; the knob came off in his hand, but the door opened. “Twist this.… Bingo,” he said. He tossed the broken handle to the side, and with a sweep of his hand, gestured for Crystal to go in.

  “Remind me to get shifter proof locks,” she said as she stepped up onto the back porch and then past him to get to peer inside. She didn’t go right in.

  “Wouldn't make much difference,” he said, nonchalantly. He leaned around the door frame too, pressing the wood to his shoulder. When she gave him a frown, he added, “You’ve got glass windows. If a shifter wants in, they’re getting in.”

  “Maybe I can add silver?”

  He looked at her with those perfect blue eyes. Really, they were like someone had taken gems and given them to him. “If it helps you sleep at night.” He sniffed at the air. “Doesn’t smell like anyone has been here in a while.”

  “No.” The door led to a kitchen. It might have been grand once. It might have been the kitchen that would have had maids running it. Crystal imagined it would have been around long ago. One of those old types with a fire in the corner and a pot bubbling away. It would have made a great kitchen for spell casting equipment. There was a breakfast bar in the middle that didn’t match the rest of the room. It had been added later, perhaps. Dust and cobwebs scattered around the place giving the room a grey hue.

  “An old house like this, why hasn’t someone come in and taken it over?” He asked her.

  “Why indeed?” It was certainly a prime location for anyone who wanted to develop it, but then … it was a prime location for Strays too who needed a place to squat. “You rent your place?” she asked, the tail end of her thought reminding her what he was.

  “Mine? Yeah, why?” He paused. “You think because I am Stray I squat? Break in and take over?”

  “I didn’t say that. I just …” she shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Odd train of thought.” He was so deliciously masculine the way he stood ready to defend himself and his kind. She’d have told him it was kind of cute if she thought he wouldn’t tear her head off, and if they weren’t looking for his sister … and if …. She didn’t know what if. “Sorry,” she muttered instead. “Let’s look around.”

  The house wasn’t much different in other rooms. It was large … the place the rich probably held dinner parties and laughed and relished in how wonderful they were. Perfect place for the misguided Humans to blow their own trumpets. Downstairs the kitchen led to a dining room, there were two lounges and another room with a table in it … a sun room. Who the hell had a sun room? “I wonder if this place is for sale,” Crystal said absently as they went room to room, checking. So far there was nothing in it that was untoward, unless one wanted to count the decor. Whoever had picked that out, had surly been blind, or cruel.

  “Probably at the price of your soul and the souls of three generations after you.” Jason was opening the doors on the hallway sideboard. When he closed them again, a puff of dust leapt up, and he waved it away.

  “Can you scent anything?” She asked as he meandered into the centre of the room. “Anyone?”

  He stuffed his hands into his pockets, his shoulders hunched as he walked around her. He screwed up his nose and took in a deep breath. “Death,” he said, simply. “Old death. The place is thick with it. And sadness …”

  “You can smell sadness?”

  “No, but I can feel it.” He took his hands out of his pockets and stretched his arms out at either side, palms up. The blue of his eyes brightened if that was possible. “Can’t you?” He clenched his fists and then opened them again, pumping his hands. Static buzzed around them like a generator coming to life. It whirled and hummed and pressed against her temples.

  “Stop,” she said, forgetting herself as she moved into his personal space and pressed herself against the front of him, her hands going to his arms. He lowered his head slowly so that his eyes came level with hers, and she swallowed, her body giving such an erotic shudder from his gaze alone. “I mean …”

  “Stop?”

  “Yes.”

  He lowered his arms, putting his hands to his sides, and a warm beacon of air moved from him, sweeping across her skin in such a luscious movement it rocked her backwards. Time was stopping … no, they were stopping, slowing, and everyone in the world was moving at their own paces. “Maybe we should check upstairs,” she said after a few seconds. “To … see … things.” She’d lost her words, lost her thoughts all to this man. Damn him. She blinked hard and moved away to where the air felt thinner and easier to breathe, but he was so captivating, so intrinsically male.

  He was gone in a flash, not giving her time to catch her breath. He moved toward the upstairs while she tried in vain to gather herself. “Looks like someone put a foot through this,” he said, seemingly unaware of the effect he was having on her. He bent down, crouching with one knee against the edge of the step. There was a hole in the middle of it. “It’s empty, though. Unless you count dead spiders and dirt. Funny, …” He pressed the wood around the hole. “The wood isn’t rotten or riddled with woodworm. There’s no reason this should have broken.”

  “Right … Maybe there was something in it?” she offered. It wasn’t unusual for places to have hiding
spots. She had one herself in her attic. There was a steel box built into the brickwork of the roof. Not where someone could find it, and if her school burnt to the ground, fingers crossed, it would survive.

  The upstairs gave way to two directions, making it into a T shape. Jason went to go right, but Crystal grabbed his arm. “Wait,” she said, letting him go again just as quickly before anything happened. He was wearing a shirt, and although she could feel the bulge of his muscles under the fabric, it created a barrier for her. One that she was more than thankful for. But she wasn’t a fool. She would not chance it. “This way,” she said. She could feel it, the direction … it was a pull in her gut, that instinct she held. There were three doors in that direction. The last one was open, and they went there first.

  It was a large room that went out farther than the house appeared it should have. Maybe there was an extension they hadn’t noticed. It was possible. She hadn’t been looking at the outside shape of the house, just a way to get inside. There were beds lining the wall. Six of them in total. They were metal, like an old hospital would have … bunks for a dormitory. “What is this?” she said, her thoughts creating a hard lump inside her stomach, because whatever it was … it looked far from humane. Two of the beds were made neatly, but the other four … god, they had straps at the top and the bottom … restraints. Sheets were strewn across two them, and the other two were just mattresses.