The road was two lane but well maintained, and that was lucky, because I was suddenly in the middle of a biker gang and I had to drive for my life.
How did this happen? One minute I’m admiring the scenery and enjoying the road, the next I’ve got werewolves, both male and female, buzzing around me like bees—large, stinging bees--on their fancy high speed Harleys.
And to make matters worse, I suddenly realized I wasn’t alone in my car. There was a small, squeaky sound, and when I looked over at the passenger’s seat, there was Shrimp holding onto a seat belt for dear life.
“Shrimp!” I cried out. “What are you doing here?”
He chirped, but that didn’t tell me much. Still, I was pretty sure I knew what the deal was. Mandy had been worried about me going out searching for Marcus and his buddies alone, so she’d put Shrimp in my car to come along and keep her apprised of how I was doing. Great. I wasn’t doing all that well right now, but I didn’t see how Shrimp was going to be able to make that any better.
“Hold tight!” I told him. “It’s going to be a bumpy ride!”
He chirped in what sounded like real and present fear, but I couldn’t pay any more attention to him. I was driving as though my life depended on it. And I think, maybe it did.
First, two motorcycles on one side started to come toward me, covering the whole side of my car. I knew I wasn't going to get out of this by being timid, so I swerved toward them, recklessly. One slipped behind while another suddenly powered forward, racing ahead of me.
Then I stepped on the gas and started to catch up to the bike ahead of me. The helmeted biker looked back and swerved again in the opposite direction, leaving me with an open forward path. I moved between the lanes, driving completely illegally, making sure I didn't leave time or room for someone to get ahead of me.
And that worked! Until we came around a bend, and I saw I was hurtling toward three more motorcycles, stopped in the center of the road, blocking it off completely. The bikers were staring me down… and I knew nobody was going to win if I went through. Suddenly, there were on all sides:
They had me surrounded and pinned down. If I didn’t stop, there was going to be a crash. And I didn’t doubt for a moment that I would be the one crushed. And so, facing reality, I did what they were forcing me to do. Then I took a deep breath and whispered a little prayer.
“Don’t let them hurt me, okay?”
Chapter 10
They were swarming around my car, leering into the windows and barking in a strange, excited way that chilled my blood.
“Well hello, beautiful.”
The strikingly auburn-haired wolf from the beach—hadn’t Rennie called him Randy?--was leaning in my window.
“Stay back!” I yelled at him, meanwhile rummaging around in my car door side pocket, desperately searching for my pepper spray. “You’d be easy to spot in a police line up, buddy. I’ll bet the Sheriff already knows your name.”
“Aw, what’d ya have to go and be mean for, huh?” He shook his head sadly. “You need cheering up. I know what’ll fix you. I’ve got an empty place right behind me on my hog. You could fill it just fine, lady. Come on. Let’s go for a ride.”
He ripped open my car door and grabbed me by the wrist, pulling me out and lifting me up over his shoulder.
“Put me down,” I squeaked, losing my balance along with my normal voice, but managing to begin beating my fists along his spine.
“Hey, girl. Don’t be that way,” he said, swinging me back so that I could stand on my own two feet.
Just then, another one of them called out, “Hey, what have we here? It looks like a fat little teddy bear. But it’s alive.”
My heart sank as I realized they had Shrimp. What had Mandy said? Something about the little animal making a quick snack for werewolves. Not on my watch!
“Let me see him,” another wolf cried out.
“Here you go. Catch!”
In another moment, Shrimp was sailing through the air between three werewolves, each shouting with laughter at the game. Only Shrimp wasn’t laughing. He was shrieking with tiny rodent terror, and I didn’t blame him.
“Hey!” I yelled.
Bullying me was one thing. To be bullying that tiny sweet little animal was a step too far. I yanked myself out of the hold Randy had on me and charged in between the wolves playing catch with little Shrimp.
“Let him go! What are you guys, animal torturers? Haven’t you ever had a pet? Don’t you have any empathy for those weaker than you? Haven’t you ever seen Stuart Little?”
I leapt for him, hardly even thinking about the danger involved. All I cared about was saving that little guy. Luck was with me…or was it pure intensity of determination? Whatever, I grabbed him out of the air and held on tightly, glaring at the men, daring them to take him away from me.
“Leave him alone! You guys are the kind who give werewolves a bad name. Why don’t you go find something your own size to torture. Bullies!”
All three of them stared at me, rather stunned. Had I actually gotten through to them? As they began to look somewhat abashed, I realized I just might have done exactly that. What a shock.
But Randy didn’t seem to see things my way at all.
“Hey guys,” he was yelling at them. “Don’t let some weak little human girl get you all embarrassed. What does she know about being super? Huh? Give me that rodent. I’ll show him what we do to vermin around here.”
He made a grab for Shrimp, but I managed to cling to him. I tucked him under my shirt. That wolf was going to have to rip my clothes off to get to little Shrimp.
“Leave him alone,” I cried at him, fury in my eyes. “You big jerk!”
His eyes narrowed and he took a step closer. “Take that back little human girl. Take that back or I’ll…”
“Hey Randy.”
A familiar voice. I looked up in surprise, and there was Marcus. He’d driven up in his VW bus and I hadn’t even noticed.
“Randy, this is the woman I was telling you I was expecting to show up sooner or later. You were supposed to watch for her.” He nodded at me. “Glad you made it.”
I took a deep breath, not sure if I was actually in the clear or if this was going to be out of the frying pan, into the fire.
“Hello, Marcus,” I said, trying not to look as shaken as I felt. “I was looking for you when these werewolves forced me off the road.”
“No kidding?” He raised an eyebrow, looking at each male in turn, his eyes cool. “What’s the deal, Randy?”
Randy shuffled his feet and looked annoyed. “I didn’t realize this was the chick you were waiting for,” he muttered. “But we were just playing around. Sorry, Miss. Hope you’re not too shook up by our high jinks.”
“Hey, no problem,” I said, throwing around a bit of sarcasm but not trying to make things worse. “It’s been real, guys. Now if you don’t mind, I’d like to have some private time with Marcus.”
The whistles and catcalls came tumbling out of their mouths as though it all came natural to them and they just couldn’t help themselves, but they started to back away. I turned and looked at Marcus. He gave me a lopsided grin.
I took a deep breath and did a few seconds of recovery time, realizing how much I’d changed over the months since I’d come to Moonhaven. I’d always tried to defend myself and to act a level tougher than I really was, but this was the first time it had come this easily. As I thought over the few moments that had just passed, I realized how much more confidence I’d had of success, how much more convincing I’d seemed to be to the men I’d just been dealing with.
And it didn’t hurt to know that if push came to shove, I had a few spells in my repertoire that would have saved the day for me. If I used them right. So maybe I was making progress after all. In some ways at least.
I squared my shoulders and pulled Shrimp out from under my shirt, tucking him into the left pocket of my denim jacket.
“You okay?” I whispered to him.
> He nodded, but rolled his eyes. I smiled reassuringly and turned back to Marcus.
“Is there some place where we can talk?” I asked him through gritted teeth.
“Sure. My bus ought to serve that function quite admirably.”
I craned my neck to look into the thing before I climbed in. “You sure there’s no one else in there?” I asked, and I really wanted to know. If I was going to share secrets with Marcus, I definitely didn’t want someone listening in who could carry tales to others.
Now what gave me the idea I’d be sharing secrets with this man? I wasn’t sure, but I had a strong feeling it was going to turn out that way.
I sat on a bench seat and he sat on one across from me. We both leaned on the scarred, jerry-rigged table between us.
“So the werewolves are letting you stay on their land?” I asked him.
“Oh yeah. They’re letting us use that old abandoned roadhouse style bar you can see there through the trees.” He gestured toward it. “Randy and I know each other from some past campaigns.”
“Campaigns? What does that mean?”
“Uh, adventures.” He grinned and leaned back, seemingly at ease with the whole situation. “Hunting trips, exploring trips, expeditions to help out old friends in trouble. Stuff like that.”
He was a lot more comfortable than I was. There was something weird about this whole operation and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I decided the direct approach was probably my best plan. Otherwise we might end up dancing around each other all day. So I told him straight out.
“You do know the sheriff is looking for you, don’t you?”
He looked annoyed. “Cops are always looking for me. But I haven’t heard from this set as yet.”
“I guess hiding out on werewolf land where they can’t come without special permits works for you, huh?”
He frowned. I was a bit afraid he’d decided he didn’t like me very much after all. His problem, not mine.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I’m not planning to rush back and tell them where you are. But I would like some answers.”
“And you shall have them. What do you want to know first?”
“Did you have anything to do with the murder on the cabin cruiser near the pier at Moonhaven Beach yesterday?”
He stared at me and I swear he gave a good impression of a guy who didn’t have a clue what I was talking about. Maybe he was for real.
“Cabin cruiser? I don’t know anything about it. Who died? How was the victim killed?”
“I really don’t know much about it either, but I do know you’re on the Sheriff’s suspect list.”
He swore softly, shaking his head. I tried to see guilt in his eyes, tried to see nervousness in his hands, tried very hard to see something that would give me a reason to suspect him. But there was nothing. I could see that he was annoyed at being a suspect, but other than that—nothing.
And heck, I was annoyed at being a suspect too.
“Okay, let that go,” I said briskly. “On to the next topic. Why are you here?”
He gazed at me steadily. “I’m here to find a way to get your memories back.”
Did I really have to explain to him that his words rang hollow?
“And why do you care about my memories?”
He laughed. “Oh I’m not just doing this for altruistic reasons, believe me. I’ve got some things missing as well. What happened to you and the others is a huge blot on this area, though. It’s been bothering me for a long time. I want to correct that blot and give us all the freedom to move on.”
I shrugged. “Great. What’s stopping you?”
His eyes were cool as he studied my face. “Lots of things. How do you think you got into this state of confusion? It wasn’t easy and it won’t be easy to set it to rights. I’m planning to do just that, but I’m going to need your help.”
I searched his eyes. Nothing there told me a thing. “Do you know what happened? The crash? What happened to my memory?”
He winced and looked away and didn’t answer.
I felt a stab of frustration. “Same old story, huh? Lots of big talk and no substance.”
His eyes flashed as he turned back and his tone hardened. “I’ve got the substance, babe. You’ll see.”
Now I was angry. There were people who knew what had happened. I didn’t know if he was really one of them, but I knew that I was sick of getting the runaround.
“This is just a bunch of bull, isn’t it? You don’t know what happened and you don’t know how to fix it. What are you really here for? What do you want from me?”
I moved impatiently and he must have thought I was going to leave because he reached out and grabbed my wrist to keep me there. Then his brows rose as he studied my arm.
“You’re not wearing your bracelet.”
I saw his gaze go down straight to where the bracelet lay in the right pocket of my jacket. Did he read minds or see through cloth? Maybe both. And why did he care?
He looked back into my eyes, his own sparkling with some sort of unholy light. At least that was the way it looked to me at that moment. Maybe it was just the way the sunlight flashing in through the dirty window struck his face.
“You should wear it.”
His voice was deep and compelling. I found myself itching to dig into my pocket and get the bracelet out, but I fought the urge. Was he casting spells?
“Why?” I said roughly, trying to pull away from his clutch on my wrist.
He smiled and I felt shivers. “I think you’ll like what it can do for you.”
“More ambiguous promises,” I muttered and I would have left if I could have.
“Haley, take it easy.” He stared into my eyes. “Just how much do you know about your magic?”
I pulled away from his touch but I didn’t try to leave. This had the potential to get interesting.
“Not much. What do you know?”
“I know what you used to be capable of. I just wonder if that’s changed.”
My heart began to beat faster. This could be it. Maybe I was finally going to know. I needed this so badly.
I took a deep breath and tried to keep my voice steady. “Why would that be of interest to you?”
He stared into my eyes for a long moment, then shook his head. My heart sank. Why wouldn’t anyone tell me the truth?
“You’ve lost it, haven’t you?” he said softly. “Is it really all gone?”
“I…no, I don’t think so. I mean…”
I stopped myself. I knew very well how he was trying to manipulate me. And here I was, falling for it like a naïve beginner.
Come on, Haley, I told myself. Cut it out. This guy wants something from you and if you keep up this emotional reaction, he’s going to get it without much effort. And without giving me what I want. Take it easy. Be smart.
“Let’s start again,” I said as coolly as I was able. “You tell me what you want from me and why you’re here in my town, and I’ll consider whether I trust you enough to stick around.”
He laughed. “Haley, Haley, you really haven’t changed all that much, have you?”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“Okay.” The humor left his eyes. “I’ll tell you what I remember. I remember a cocky girl with a bit of a smart mouth who was always getting in trouble for doing things just this side of legal.”
I grimaced. I sounded like a jerk.
“But I had magic?” I asked him.
He nodded. “Oh yeah. You had magic. That’s why I recruited you.”
I blinked. “Recruited me? Into what?”
He shook his head firmly. “We’ll have plenty of time to delve into past operations later. Right now we need to focus on this one and we don’t have much time to prepare.”
“Prepare for what?” I couldn’t keep the impatience out of my voice.
His smile was guileless. “The Festival. You don’t think it’s just some harmless picnic, do you?”
“Of course not.” I
’d heard enough in the last few hours to know it was more than that.
“You do understand that it’s an ancient ritual, performed every year, that provides the magical structure underpinning this whole haven town.” He shrugged. “Whether you think that’s bad or good, it is what it is, and that is--very powerful. Done correctly, it packs a huge punch. We’re going to use your grandmother’s Festival of the Golden Moon as a stage to get the memories back.”
I was in total confusion by now. “You know Gran Ana? I didn’t realize--but how can you use her ceremony for that?”
His eyes took on a keen, calculated look. “Why not? She’s the one who took the memories. It seems only fair that she be the one who is the catalyst for bringing them back.”
What? Gran Ana took….what? How?
No, I couldn’t let him get to me. This was all for show and I was sure of it.
“Tell me this,” I said with more confidence than I actually felt. “Why did you have to sneak into town and why are you hiding out here in werewolf country? Why can’t you just present your ideas to Gran Ana and be up front about things? Why does it all have to be so secret?”
“You know the answer to that. Your grandmother is a cruel, selfish sorceress. We need to piggyback this spell on top of her magic in order to get the power to make it work. We could tell her that. We could tell her this is the way we’ve figured out that will get a few people their lives back in order, their memories back, including you. And do you think she cares? Has she done anything so far that would lead you to think she cares? Are you kidding?”
It hurt to have to admit he was right. She’d done nothing. In fact, everything she’d done had pointed in the opposite direction. There was no use trying to pretend. All things being equal, she probably didn’t want me to get my powers back, just like Marcus was saying. So maybe he was right. Maybe we had to do this without her knowing it was about to be done by using her power, her spell. She was the sorceress. No one else had her power. No one. Maybe he was right.
But something in his white-hot intensity was making me very nervous. He seemed like a grenade with the pin halfway out, waiting for the right moment to explode.
Wild and Witchy Page 8
