Avenging Autumn

by Marissa Farrar

  Between the trees, he caught sight of a flicker of light, and the shape of a couple of feet.

  Blake exhaled a sigh of relief, and stopped, bent at the waist, his hands on his thighs. Movement signaled Lakota circling around his body. His father’s face was lined with worry, and Lakota glanced in his direction. Blake wondered if his father sensed him standing there. He must be worried, and Blake had no idea how long he’d been gone.

  He needed to walk over and lie back down, but though he wanted to be in the real world again, part of him hesitated.

  When he opened his eyes, he’d be back in a paralyzed body.

  Chapter Nine

  TENSION INSIDE THE soldier’s truck stacked high as Autumn drove north.

  “I think you’re making a mistake,” growled Chogan from the back seat.

  “Yeah, you may have mentioned that already,” she snapped back.

  “You can’t trust these guys.”

  “I don’t care. I only want Vivian dead. If they’re willing to help, who am I to question it?”

  She heard Chogan suck air in through his teeth, and she knew he was biting his tongue.

  “How much farther?” she asked, directing the question at Todd Newby.

  The soldier leaned forward. “A couple of hours. No more.”

  Autumn glanced over at where Daisy sat in the passenger seat. “You’ll help, won’t you, Daisy, if these other shifters start misbehaving?”

  The girl gave a brief smile and turned back to stare out of the window. Autumn wished Daisy could talk. She could do with hearing the other girl’s opinion. A pang of longing went through her, not just for Blake, but for Mia as well.

  Autumn sat back as she drove, lost in thought as the road and time passed by.

  Mia was a shifter now, and Autumn felt as though she had lost her friend to another. She was being selfish, but she missed her best friend. Everyone she’d taken for granted to offer her advice had been removed from her life in some way or another. She still had Blake, but he wasn’t here with her now. Mia was with another and in a different form, and her father would never be able to offer her advice again—not that he’d been so great at it when he’d been alive. Even though she was surrounded by people, she’d never felt so alone. Self pity swelled inside her, but she tampered it down. She needed to stay focused on one thing, and that was making sure Vivian Winters was dead and unable to hurt anyone ever again. Once she knew Vivian was in the ground, she’d go back to Blake and figure out how they would spend their lives together. The idea of living with someone in a wheelchair was daunting, but she would never say so to Blake. He was a strong, proud man, and if he saw even a moment of doubt in her face, it would break him. Not that she had doubts—she loved him and wanted to spend the rest of her life with him—but she just wondered what their futures held.

  Todd Newby leaned forward. “You need to take the next exit. The property is about three or four miles down the road.”

  “Maybe we should find somewhere to pull over,” said Chogan, “and do the rest on foot?”

  “Okay, but we don’t want to be too far away from the vehicles in case we need to get out of there quickly.” She turned to Todd. “How far out does Vivian have people patrolling the property?”

  “Oh, not far, a mile at most—probably not even that. Things might have changed now she knows I’ve not returned when I should have, and so she might have more people on the watch now.”

  “I’m sure she will have. And I hate to break this to you, Todd, but you weren’t ever meant to come back unless it was with us. That’s the whole reason she had you deliver my father’s hand.” Autumn felt cold inside, as if her heart had turned to stone. She’d never known hatred like this before. It was as if the emotion had changed her into someone else.

  “It’s this exit,” Todd said, nodding to the small sign up ahead.

  Autumn signaled and took the turn off. They exited onto a much smaller, dirt road, the gravel crunching beneath the wheels.

  “We’re armed,” said Chogan. “We have the other shifters, too. Don’t worry, we’ll take down Vivian.”

  “I don’t want a whole heap of people getting hurt as well,” she said. “Let’s try and do this as peacefully as possible. If she has soldiers there who start shooting, then shoot back, but don’t be the one to fire first. I think Vivian will want to come face to face with me. I don’t want men killed unnecessarily.”

  “I won’t let you face Vivian alone,” Chogan said, his strong, noble face resolute.

  “I know you won’t.”

  Autumn spotted a small picnic area on the side of the road, and signaled to pull over. She lifted her eyes to the rearview mirror to make sure Angie had spotted what they were doing, and had pulled over behind them.

  She stopped the truck and climbed out, the others following suit. Chogan dragged Todd out with him, keeping the other man’s collar bunched in his fist, and the gun aimed at his guts. The other truck’s doors slammed as Angie and Marcus both got out and approached them.

  “Angie?” Autumn said. “Can you see anything about anyone here?” The supernatural had the sight of death, and was able to predict those who had death in their future by the auras she saw around them. As they’d learned, the sight wasn’t always one hundred percent accurate, and it was possible to change what Angie predicted, but knowing if they had anyone in particular they needed to worry about was useful.

  The other woman’s eyes scoured them all, and she shook her head. “Nah, we’re all good.”

  Confidence rose within Autumn. The only person dying today would be Vivian.

  One by one, shifters melted out from between the trees and came to stand around them. She noticed the wolves that were part of Tooth and Claw, and the leopard that was Ollie Pritchard standing not far behind them. Her own bird shifters, Tala and Nadie, alighted in the trees above them, their combined weight causing twigs to snap and leaves to fall like confetti. Autumn frowned. Where were Mia and Peter? She hoped they’d not gotten lost or left behind. She wouldn’t feel as strong without them by her side, and she’d worry if they didn’t show.

  But then their svelte forms wound their way out of a clump of bushes, and Autumn exhaled a sigh of relief. They stayed at each other’s sides, and made no attempt to intermingle with the shifters of Tooth and Claw, but Autumn didn’t blame them. They probably felt the same way as Chogan and thought her crazy for bringing them along.

  When everyone had gathered, Autumn spoke, keeping her voice as low as she dared considering Vivian could easily have ears around. “The house where Vivian Winters has holed up is about three miles from here. I don’t want anyone harmed unless it is absolutely necessary. I’m not expecting much opposition, but Vivian might well attempt to get her goons to grab me and take me to her. I don’t think for one moment that she’ll want me dead right away. She wants to tell me exactly what she thinks of me, but I don’t plan on letting her finish. I don’t want to hear another word from that bitch’s mouth. I just want her dead.”

  “What if someone else has the chance to take her out?” asked Marcus.

  “No, you leave her to me. I owe her this.”

  “Autumn,” said Chogan. “You need to accept that if your life is in danger, one of us will make sure you are safe, even if it means killing Vivian first.”

  “Don’t rob me of that chance,” she snapped.

  Angie stepped forward. “We have a reason to want her dead, too, Autumn. She held us captive for years, robbed Marcus of half his childhood. She drugged and tortured us. You’re not the only one to want Vivian dead. This isn’t just your fight.”

  Autumn pressed her lips together and nodded. “You’re right.”

  Angie gave a sad smile and reached out to touch Autumn’s arm. “Don’t worry. We won’t step in unless we have to. We just want Vivian dead—we don’t care who does it.”

  A part of her heart must have become rotten for her to find the death of someone else so important. The Autumn she had been this time la
st year was not the same person she was now. She’d have balked at the idea of even seeing a dead body, never mind killing someone. When she’d been studying, she’d never been one of those scientists who was eager to get their hands on anything macabre to work on. She remembered being given a dismembered toe once when she’d been working in a lab in her early years, and being asked to run bacterial swabs on it, and she’d had to hold back the nausea even then. The thought of that toe made her thoughts instantly jump to the memory of her father’s hand in the box, and her heart hardened once again. Vivian no longer seemed like a human being, another person, in her mind. She was a monster who needed to be destroyed.

  “Okay, is everyone armed?” she asked, looking around at those who were human. Angie and Marcus both lifted the weapons they’d been given. Even Daisy had a small handgun, which Wenona had shown her how to shoot before they’d left. Her gaze alighted on Chogan. “Are you coming as wolf or man?”

  “I’ll stay human, unless it looks like you’re going to need me as a wolf. I can still use my wolf to guide us ahead.”

  “Okay, good.”

  She had her own weapons, an AR-15 rifle in her hand, which she’d taken from the trunk, and a handgun stuffed down the back of her jeans. Her grip around the weapon tightened, her knuckles white.

  “Let’s move.”

  The combined howl, roar, screech, and snarl of the animals around her echoed through the forest in a cacophony of sound. She wondered why she’d bothered keeping her voice down. Vivian was sure to know they were on their way now.

  They’d been on the road most of the day, and already it was starting to get dark. Autumn shivered as she started to move, but as she broke into a slow run to keep up with the pace of the shifters around her, she started to warm up again. She’d need to invest in some warmer clothing soon. All her winter gear was back at her apartment, a place that didn’t even feel like it belonged to her any more. She wouldn’t be able to move back there with Blake—though the elevator would allow for the wheelchair, the rest of the apartment was completely unsuitable. The doors were too narrow to even allow a wheelchair through. Blake’s apartment, however, was far better suited. She wondered if he’d want to go back there with her to live, or if he’d want to live alone. It wasn’t even a conversation they’d had yet, which felt crazy considering what they’d been through together.

  She enjoyed the run, even though parts of her body still ached from some of the rough treatment she’d endured recently. Something about running had always made her feel strong and powerful. Once she found her rhythm, and her breathing balanced with the fall of her feet, it was the one time when her head felt clear, and she moved with purpose. Of course, she didn’t normally run holding a semi-automatic rifle, but it wasn’t like she was going for a personal best.

  The others managed to keep up, too. Chogan ran with his weapon still trained on Todd Newby, the pair of them jogging easily at her side, while the supernaturals fell behind slightly. Daisy struggled the most, though Angie and Marcus kept her going. The sound of movement in the forest signaled the shifters moving as two separate packs either side of them.

  Suddenly, Chogan’s arm shot out, dragging her to a halt.

  “What is it?” she gasped.

  “My wolf just showed me something. There are civilians outside of the house, a number of them, even some women and children, and they appear to be armed.”

  “Civilians? How do you know they’re not just Vivian’s people in plain clothes?”

  “What? With children among them? No, they don’t seem like military. The expressions on their faces are of fear. My wolf can sense it from them.”

  “Shit. What the hell is going on? What’s Vivian playing at now?”

  He shook his head. “I have no idea. But we need to play this cautiously.”

  “Agreed.” She turned to their captive soldier. “Did you see any civilians here when you left?”

  He appeared bewildered. “No, none at all. Not even the owners of the house were here when we arrived.” He appeared to be telling the truth.

  The shifters had noticed the change and stopped around them. “Did you hear that?” she asked, though not expecting an answer. “There are a number of civilians including women and children around the house. I don’t want anyone hurt.”

  “What if they’re the ones who start shooting?” asked Angie.

  Autumn turned to Marcus. “Are you able to rid them of their guns?”

  “You mean pull the weapons from their grips without needing to touch them?”

  “Exactly.”

  He nodded. “Some, but not all.”

  “Okay, do what you can.” She turned to the rest of the waiting eyes—human and animal. “Everyone else, we’re looking to disarm, not kill. Got it?”

  Growls and grunts of acknowledgement were her reply.

  They were less than a mile away now, and so got moving again. This new change in tactic made Autumn nervous. What was Vivian playing at? Had she run out of military people willing to support her—perhaps most had become so disillusioned, and, because of her very public fall from favor, had pulled their support, forcing her to find civilian protection? Perhaps she’d run out of money to afford to pay her private security.

  Either way, this wasn’t how Autumn had imagined this thing going. She’d honestly believed Vivian would have wanted to come face to face with her again. Hiding behind a makeshift security team of civilians just didn’t seem like something Vivian would do.

  “We’re close,” Chogan said to her, his voice low. “Right around this bend.”

  They reduced their pace, moving slowly and almost silently. Marcus was at her other side, Angie and Daisy right behind. As they rounded the corner, the big, old house sprawled out in a clearing. Though it was almost dark, there was enough light to see about twenty figures hunched outside of the front of the property. Chogan had been right. These people were definitely civilians. They’d formed themselves into a circle, the women and children in the middle. The guns were shakily pointed at the outside world, as if they expected this attack.

  Perhaps Vivian was using them as protection after all.

  Autumn glanced to Marcus and gave him a brief nod.

  He nodded back, and focused his attention on the people with the weapons.

  One gun flew out of the closest man’s grip, clattering to the ground. Another’s weapon began to tremble, and then screaming started, as people realized something was wrong.

  “No one gets hurt!” Autumn yelled, but even as she did so, a couple of the wolf shifters bounded forward with fearsome snarls, hurling themselves into the circle of people.

  “Back off!” Autumn shouted at the shifters.

  A couple of new people ran from the house, and instantly her thoughts went to Vivian, but neither was her. Instead, they were a man holding a video camera, and a woman holding a still camera. Both were getting shots of the attack.

  She turned to her own shifters. Sahale and Tocho, Peter and Mia, all held back uncertainly.

  “Attack them!” she demanded, meaning for them to attack the shifters, not the people. Her friends knew her well enough for her not to need to explain what she was saying. But even as the pack of big cats leapt forward, she noticed the video camera had been directed fully on her.

  She lifted the rifle, hoping to help in some way by getting off a shot or two, but the scene before her was a mass of fur and limbs, of bodies lunging to try to get away, only to be dragged back into the fray.

  “Do something!” she cried, no longer certain who she was addressing, but any attempt Mia, Peter, Tocho, and Sahale made to separate the other shifters only made things look worse. The bird shifters dived from the sky, only inciting to further the confusion. She caught sight of a child bleeding from a head wound, the mother, also bleeding, holding the child in her arms and crying.

  A couple of the people managed to get off shots, the cracks sharp in the evening gloom, but Marcus had continued to use his gift to wrench the
weapons away, leaving the people, who were now being attacked, defenseless.

  From out of the bushes strode a very naked Ollie Pritchard.

  The moment he did so, his shifters backed off, retreating to expose a group of bloodied and frightened people, though no one appeared to be dead or even seriously hurt. They were only flesh wounds.

  Ollie’s voice cried, “We are The Company of Tooth and Claw, and we are here to prove that shifters are superior to people. We will rule you with violence and fear, if we have to, but we will rule you. If you don’t submit to us, this will be your punishment.”

  Autumn suddenly realized the camera had been trained on Ollie as he’d spoken as well. Where and who was the footage going to? She stared as the camera swung around to her. Flashes blinded her as photographs were taken of her looking as though she was a part of all of this.

  What was going on?

  With a sinking feeling, she realized this had all been a set-up. Ollie and his group of shifters had been waiting for her all along, and they’d planned to come here and attack these people. By getting Autumn standing here while it was all happening, they’d made it look as though she was involved with The Company of Tooth and Claw. Even her shifters appeared to be a part of whatever Ollie had been planning, as it was impossible to tell who was doing the attacking and who was doing the defending.

  Someone strode out of the house—a huge man with massive shoulders, a shaved head and tattoos creeping up his neck from the inside of his shirt.

  Her confusion intensified, and she felt suddenly dizzy. She knew this guy from before? Wasn’t he one of the shifters who had initially been taken captive by soldiers at the compound? What was he doing in Vivian’s house?

  “Rhys?”

  A snapping and snarling came from beside her and she turned to see Chogan begin his shift.

  Chapter Ten

  THE SIGHT OF Rhys walking out of the house made Chogan forget everything else going on. The last time he’d seen the other man, Rhys had been dumping Tala mid-shift in the clearing outside of the compound while choppers had been raining gunfire down on them from overhead, and then Rhys had run to save his own sorry life.