The last batch of canoers for the day were beginning to land. It’d be dark soon. He could see the first two from his cabin. The line of sight was too direct. He couldn’t risk being seen naked by kids as he snuck into the cabin. He was stuck.
He cursed as he watched another canoe dock. Sam wasn’t there with his trailer for pick up yet, so it would be a while before they left. The only thing left for him to do was change back into a bird and go see what Benu was up to when all he wanted to do was go rip out the tracking devices, put some real clothes on, and go surprise her with a visit.
Just as he changed and took flight he saw her behind the wheel of a red truck exiting the campgrounds. Now what was she up to? He lazily followed her up the river to River Hollow.
Benu turned into the small campground and parked beside an identical truck, only with a canoe in the bed. She got out with her pack she’d carried out of the woods and jumped in the passenger side of the other truck. Something told him she wasn’t going out canoeing with her girlfriends he’d yet to see.
The other red truck ambled through the curvy roads to Elk Point Landing. Ray perched in a tree far enough away to watch and not be easily seen when the truck parked. The parking lot had a few cars in it. Most likely the group that had landed just before he left would be back after dark to pick up.
Phoenix exited the driver’s side. What in the name of blue blazes hell was going on? Where was Becky Sue? Didn’t they have a date tonight? Why and how did he know Benu?
Daylight was quickly fading into dusk as Benu and Phoenix took the canoe out of the truck. That’s when he saw it. They were siblings. They had to be. They both had the same dark shiny hair, the dark eyes, the same shaped nose and mouth. How had he not seen it before? Why weren’t they camped together? Something about this whole thing seemed very fishy.
They took the canoe to the edge of the water and made another trip loading a cooler and another bag. Maybe Benu’s camp site was set up and she was actually staying with Phoenix for safety. Again they returned to the truck. This time they opened the passenger side door. After a quick look around, Phoenix reached inside. Whatever he was trying to get wasn’t being cooperative.
Ray watched Phoenix tug and pull as Benu looked on. A limp hand flopped out the door.
The body Phoenix pulled out of the truck was Becky Sue.
Chapter 17
Ray flew to the next tree to get a better look. Was she dead? He felt his pulse quicken at the thought. In the dimming light it was hard to tell. He didn’t see any blood, which was a good sign, right? In that instance, it didn’t matter. He wanted to kill them both. He wanted to change into a bear and maul them to death for whatever they’d done to his best friend. But he didn’t. He sat and watched.
Phoenix carried Becky Sue’s limp body down to the canoe. The way he laid her in it, not just dumping her directly, gave Ray a small spark of hope that maybe she wasn’t dead.
Just before the canoe slipped into the water as the last of the light faded from the sky, Phoenix cast a look over his shoulder in Ray’s direction. There was something seriously up with this character. It was almost like he could sense when Ray was nearby, especially in animal form.
There was no sense in risking being spotted when he knew where they were going. For a minute he contemplated trading the bird for a wolf, but in the end decided the bird was easier and faster and less likely to miss the cave.
On the way there, Ray debated on how to confront them. It was inevitable. There would be confrontation. But he couldn’t do it naked. He could do it as an animal, but the problem would be his normal skills he relied on would be hampered by the animal he chose therefore creating more risk. Shit. Shit. Shit. There was no way to win this. But he had to. There was no losing either. He didn’t have the time to return for his truck and get his hands on a canoe to follow them. It would take too long. Whatever he did, had to be done soon.
The cave was dark and he almost missed it. He flew in and immediately changed to a wolf where he could access the wolf’s excellent hearing for when they approached. Then he waited.
The waiting was excruciating. He paced. Sat. Paced some more. How long would it take them to get here? Had he miscalculated? Was there another place they had before here? Would he hear them if they passed without stopping even with the wolf’s keen hearing?
He was plagued with doubt as the darkness crowded in.
The first voice he heard was Benu’s. He couldn’t make out what she’d said, but there was no mistaking the sound. He poked his nose out of the cave and saw the dark shadowy outline of the canoe floating low in the water. That’s when inspiration struck.
He hurried out of the cave and down to the water as quietly as he could on his padded feet. The canoe landed a few yards away. He took his gamble, changed into human form and charged Phoenix from behind, effectively catching him partially off guard.
The charge knocked them both into the water. Ray found his footing and stood waist deep on the slippery cold rocks as the icy water pushed at him, trying to force him down again. He threw a punch at a recovering Phoenix. He heard Benu cussing behind him. Phoenix took the blow easily and came back with one of his own. Ray blocked it and got in a shot to Phoenix’s stomach. But the icy water was taking its toll. They were both shivering.
Ray grabbed Phoenix by the jacket and pulled at him to get out of the water. He wasn’t done by a long shot. As soon as they stumbled out of the water, Benu came flying at Ray with fury, nails out, screaming and clawing. He tried to reach around and grab her. She was everywhere at once. While she had him distracted, Phoenix recuperated enough to kick him in his cold, shivering balls. Ray struggled to breathe through the pain. A hard fist connected with his jaw and he crumbled to the ground.
He only saw stars for a few seconds but in that time Phoenix had pinned him face first and Benu tied his hands. The cold was taking its toll on him as well. He was shivering and shaking.
After they had him trussed up like a Christmas goose, Phoenix half prodded half dragged him up to the cave. He struggled against him every time he got his footing. When they reached the flatter part where the rock began to protrude out, Ray made one more attempt to free himself from Phoenix, but something hard whacked him on the head making him see stars again. He stumbled the last little bit, still dazed and dizzy. Phoenix dropped him to the floor. With a flick of the wrist Phoenix lit the campfire.
If his jaws hadn’t been chattering with cold, he’d been staring open mouthed at Phoenix when he lit the fire without a match. Why hadn’t he thought to use his fire power when he was springing his little naked surprise on Phoenix and Benu? Was Phoenix a Sparker? That was impossible. Sparkers only had blue eyes. It was a genetic anomaly. Had it managed to mutate somehow over the years? Could Phoenix shape shift? It might explain some of his strange behavior and why he could spot Ray so easily when he was in animal form.
That was it. He’d shift into a bear and when Phoenix came back he’d maul him without mercy. He visualized the bear. Nothing happened. He tried again. Still nothing happened. Why wasn’t it working? Did the mental stress have anything to do with it? Was it the fact that he was still freezing?
Phoenix walked behind the curtain, grabbed a blanket and threw it unceremoniously over Ray.
“If you so much as budge from that spot I’ll kill you,” Phoenix said before he ducked back out of the cave, presumably to go help Benu with Becky Sue. He had no aversion to personally being killed if it was for the greater good, but he had to save Becky Sue first.
Ray was still pondering what in the name of blue fire was going on when Phoenix reappeared, Becky Sue slung over his shoulder. Phoenix laid Becky Sue on the cold rock floor opposite Ray on the other side of the fire. She was limp, pale, unbound, and unresponsive.
“What did you do to her?” Ray growled, struggling against his restraints.
“I haven’t done anything, yet. She’s just… sleeping.” The malevolence that crossed Phoenix’s face boiled Ray’s blood
and made him see red.
“You bastard!” In his struggling to free himself, he’d managed to knock the blanket Phoenix had so carelessly threw over him off.
“Look. I didn’t really put the blanket on you to keep you warm, because really, I could care less if you freeze to death, but please keep it covered. I don’t care to see your teeny, shriveled weenie flapping all over.”
“Fuck you.” Ray shifted and shook his cock the best he could at Phoenix, who promptly walked up and threw the blanket back over him, turned his back and went behind the curtain against the wall.
Benu had been standing in the shadows the whole time watching the exchange. When Phoenix stepped behind the curtain, she walked over to Ray and put a dainty finger under his chin, forcing him to look up at her.
“Don’t worry, Ray. I’ll fix you here soon,” she purred. What the hell was she going to fix and how? He doubted she meant she was going to set him free, not after the way she’d attacked him. After watching her break into his cabin earlier, he only had a bleaker outlook on the situation.
Phoenix reappeared in dry clothes, tucking a knife half the size of a machete into a back sheath. Unless he missed his guess, the hard blow to his skull earlier had been dealt with the butt of that knife.
“You! You’re the one who did it. You killed Jed didn’t you?”
Phoenix shrugged like it was no big deal as he walked over and poked at the fire. “And Becky Sue’s precious cat. Jed had become a bigger liability than asset. He should’ve known better than to sell to an undercover cop. I wasn’t quite ready for you.”
Ray stared in shock. “How did you know I was an undercover cop?”
“I’ve known for quite a while actually. Why do you think you were sent back here to begin with? It was no accident.”
“What about Becky Sue’s cat? Why kill it?”
“I needed to send her a message. I know about-”
“Shut up, Phoenix,” Benu hissed at him. “If you say too much you’ll get us both in a bind.”
“Don’t worry sis, if he survives hypothermia tonight, I’ve got the perfect plan.”
“You and you’re plans. It better work this time.”
“It will.” He walked over to Becky Sue and lifted a glowing green orb from her neck. “It’s almost ready. By the time you get your part done it should be finished.”
“What’re you doing to Becky Sue? What’s that around her neck?” He thrashed around on the ground trying to get into a better position.
“Shh, shh, shh, shh.” Benu came over and put a finger across his lips. His first instinct was to bite it, but with him being tied up decided it was a bad idea. “She’s just… sleeping.”
Ray glared at the beautiful witch in front of him. “Sleeping as in forever, or sleeping as in you’ve drugged her and she doesn’t know what the hell you’ve done to her?”
“Neither. We’re not barbaric. We’re only extracting the Spark power from her.”
Ray let out a harsh laugh. Barbaric didn’t even begin to describe what he suspected they were capable of.
“Now,” Benu continued, “it’s time for you to do your part and we’ll leave you alone.”
“Somehow I doubt that.”
“You’re so unpragmatic. Are you warm yet? You took quite a dip in the water.” She sat there crooning over him in her sultry voice.
His blood was roiling with anger enough he’d finally stopped shivering. The blanket and fire might’ve played a small part in it too. “What does it matter to you? And how exactly are you taking Becky Sue’s Spark power? Are you killing her? Mutating her? Wait, you must be Quell.” The light bulb in his head finally went off, flickering but lit.
“It matters a great deal to me. You see, what I need you to do will require you being warm because yes, we are Quell. And unfortunately we cannot allow you to hang onto your powers. We’ve been working on this a long time and it would be a great disappointment if we didn’t succeed after all the hard work we put into this.”
“You’re not getting my Spark from me.”
“Why not?” She leaned in pressing her perfect cleavage against him. “No one knows about it but us. It’s not like you’re really losing anything since you just figured it out. And the extraction will be fun.” She leaned in close to his face and ran a hand down his chest under the blanket, stopping at his waist.
He looked over pointedly at Becky Sue’s limp form. “I doubt that.”
“Quit worrying about her. She had more options than you.”
“What do you mean?”
“The necklace works with most people, but there are exceptions.”
“Shut it, Benu. He’s just stalling.” Phoenix called harshly from his seat near Becky Sue. “Just do it and get it over with. Since he showed up here we’re going to have to move our plans forward faster.”
It was true. He was stalling, but he also wanted to know what exactly they were doing and how. Knowing could mean the only chance of survival.
Benu stood and began taking off her jacket, her shoes, and slipped her shirt off her head revealing the perfect body he’d thought she had.
“What’re you doing?” Ray asked.
“We’re going to have a little fun.” She shimmied out of her pants, kicking them to the side, leaving her only in a matching lacy pair of bra and panties. Had he not been beaten and known what kind of psychotic bitch she was he’d have been hugely turned on. But not this time. His body didn’t even flinch in response.
She took the blanket off him, folded it in half and laid it out a little closer to the fire, patting it like he should come join her. He stared at her like she’d grown two heads. Was she out of her mind? Did she really expect him to do her bidding as she chose? Was she planning to fuck him here, tied up, in front of her brother?
“Don’t be so cold. Come join me. I promise to make it a pleasurable extraction,” she purred.
“How can I when I’m trussed up like a Christmas goose?” His arms were tingling and trying to go numb beneath him.
She shot a quick glance at Phoenix who nodded. “Turn,” she ordered.
Ray rolled to his side. A moment later his hands were free. He sat up and rubbed his wrist trying to get the circulation back. If he played it right, maybe a different kind of surprise attack would work.
Benu took his hand and pulled him toward her and led him to the blanket. He decided to play along for a minute while his aching limbs came back to life. She turned her small, ripe body into his, running tiny hands across his chest, down his thighs, and in. Her eyes were trained on his face.
“This isn’t so bad, is it?”
“You want me to fuck you here? In front of your brother?”
“Yes. He insists. It’s the only way to your powers.” She purred into his ear, hooking her leg around his knee and rubbing herself across his body.
He opened his mouth to tell her how sick he thought they were, but reminded himself that he needed to play along for another minute or two to catch them off guard.
“Well, I guess there’s worse ways to be robbed than by a beautiful woman.” He grabbed at her firm breast. She gasped. The anger boiling just below the surface prevented any rise in his cock.
He scooped her up, intending to kiss her hard and make her pay for what she’d done if he had to beat it out of her, but as soon as his lips met hers he struggled to breath. Ice filled his veins and the air seemed to be sucked out of his lungs with an icy wind. He pulled back, holding her at arm’s length, gasping for breath.
She smiled a wickedly at him “Pack quite a punch don’t I big guy.”
“What the hell?”
“It only gets better. Before it’s over your head will be spinning.” He had a feeling it was going to be spinning right off his shoulders.
He’d caught his breath but continued to fake it as he glanced at Phoenix who’d just lifted the glowing green orb from Becky Sue’s neck. He watched as Phoenix placed it in a pendant that looked like a sun. Immediately the sun b
egan to glow as he slipped it over his neck. What kind of voodoo ritual was this?
Before he could wrap his mind around what was happening, Benu was against him again. She’d ditched the rest of her lacy under things and pressed her hard nipple firm breast against him, and ran her hand over his cock, rubbing it gently trying to bring it to life.
Without thinking, he pushed her back off of him. Play time was over, he went to make a run for it but before he could take another step, Phoenix was there, his hands like a vice on his wrist. When he let go, glowing rings held his wrist with a line going straight into Phoenix’s hand. Was this how he’d been bound before, with magic? Is that what kept him from shifting into animal form or throwing fire?
He wanted to fight, but this was all new and strange to him. He needed time to observe and learn before fighting back. The only problem was he didn’t know how much time he had. Becky Sue still lay motionless on the ground even after Phoenix had lifted the necklace from her.
“It would be wise of you to do as the lady says,” Phoenix said.
Ray spit at him and was rewarded with a back hand across the face from Phoenix.
“Lay down. On your back.” Phoenix didn’t let go of the line to Ray’s tied hands. “Benu, chair.” He barked.
Benu retrieved Phoenix’s chair and set it behind him. He sat holding Ray’s line as he lay on the ground.
“Please continue, Benu.” Phoenix said in a friendly voice, like this was just run of the mill every day stuff.
Without hesitation, Benu dropped to her knees and went straight to the point. She lifted Ray’s cock in her dainty hands and began suckling it with her mouth. Ray closed his eyes and willed himself not to go hard. If Benu couldn’t get him up, she couldn’t fuck him and take his powers, for whatever they were worth right now considering he couldn’t even shape shift at the moment.
Phoenix kicked at Ray’s shoulder until he opened his eyes. He knew what he was trying to do. Ray looked over at Becky Sue, his heart constricted at her lifeless form. Rage began building deep inside him.
“I can’t get him up,” Benu said to Phoenix.
Legend Of The Sparks Page 18
