The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

  “Oh,” she leaned forward. “So, there’s no way to get her in sooner?”

  “No, I’m sorry that’s not how we do things. I promise this is in the best interest of your daughter.” He smiled sitting back in his chair.

  “Okay, I’m sure you’re right. I’m just so worried about her in that public school. It’s just not suited for someone of her caliber.” She rose from her chair. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hall. I will get the necessary materials from Jeanie. I don’t want to take up any more of your time.” She reached her hand out to shake his.

  He rose and walked around the desk. He shook her hand. “The pleasure is all mine. I’m sure your daughter will truly love it here.” He smiled and opened the door for her. “Jeanie, if you could get Mrs. Robinson here, the rest of the enrollment paperwork, that would be great.”

  “Sure thing, Mr. Hall” She reached down into her desk sorting through the files.

  Caroline turned, “Thank you. Mr. Hall.”

  “My pleasure, Mrs. Robinson.” He turned back to his office and shut the door behind him.

  “Oh, I’m so glad your daughter will be attending. You will be a happy addition to our campus here.” She pulled out the paperwork. “I will give you all of this now, but you can fill it out and return it to me at your leisure. You have a few months until the next semester starts.” Jeanie held out the papers.

  “Thank you, Jeanie. You have been a wealth of knowledge. I can’t wait for my daughter to attend.” She smiled, took the paperwork, and went out the door. Her spine was still tingling being so close to Mr. Hall. She wondered how the others hadn’t noticed. She was curious how Jeanie was able to work that closely with a demon and have no idea. How did he pass right by the board without being detected? She had more questions than answers after her meeting. She rushed to her car and passed the others by the road. She had so much to tell them but wanted to do so in the safety of her own home. She was reeling after being on the campus. She could understand why the students may not have noticed. They may not have sharpened their skills to be able to detect demons, but she certainly had. Mr. Hall was a demon.

  She pulled into the driveway and parked. She hurried into the house. Setting the paperwork and her purse on the counter, she turned as the others walked through the door.

  “So, we have a lot to discuss our school, here.”

  Chapter 9

  “Mr. Hall has been busy. He took over the school two years ago. Is it possible this has been going on for the last two years, and we didn’t know about it?” Caroline asked.

  “I’m learning anything is possible at this point.” Erik took a seat at the kitchen table.

  Jessie sat next to him, “So, what do we need to know about Mr. Hall?”

  “Well, Mr. Hall has been recruiting students from all over and letting them into the school without a formal process. He’s somehow gotten around the board. They usually make sure the school is running according to Shikari rules. The school has no discipline problems with students because any student who misbehaves is brought to Mr. Hall. They are miraculously wonderful students after the visit, including his daughter. We should probably spend time looking into his family and any other known contacts. Also, I have yet to figure out how he is operating at a school full of other Shikari, and no one is noticing they are demons. What could they possibly have that stops the familiar warning we typically have around demons? I noticed it, but Jeanie, his assistant isn’t possessed, didn’t. She’s working alongside him every day. She thinks he’s the savior of the school. Did you hear anything outside the school?” She turned to face Erik.

  “Nothing substantial, there are quite a few students who are possessed. I only get what they are thinking at the time, so it’s not always what I want to hear.” Erik explained.

  “So, basically he’s having any misbehaving students possessed by demons? That seems backward. Aren’t they supposed to get possessed first, then act like demons? Instead, they act like demons, become possessed, then act like angels. Anyone else catching the irony here?” Sloane shook her head.

  “So, what’s next?” Jessie asked.

  “We need to let Bryant and Magnus know what’s going on here. We will need to do some research about what the demons could have access to that would make a school full of Shikari unaware of them,” Erik said.

  “I want to talk with a few board members. See how this went unnoticed. See if they are demons as well,” Caroline said.

  “Where do you keep your books? I can start the research. You know it’d be nice if they’d uploaded everything online in a database, rather than having to search through books to find the information we need.” Sloane sighed.

  “Yeah, that’d be great. So, the demons could hack into the database and find out everything they need to know.” Sarcasm was thick in Jessie’s tone.

  “They are already getting the information, so it’s not as secure as we think it is. People are fallible, just like computers. We are the ones who are supposed to know better though.” Sloane glanced to Erik.

  “My study is down the hall. It has some books, but most are stored at the main hub. My house isn’t big enough to have an entire library housed here. I should have what we need though.”

  “Jess, you want to come help me while Erik makes the calls?”

  “Yeah, sounds good.” She glanced back to Erik. “Do you need me for anything?”

  “Nah, I’ll meet you guys there when I talk to Bryant and see what’s going on in Denver.”

  “Oh yeah, you think Mike is there, yet?”

  “I’m sure he is. I’ll fill you in on what’s going on as soon as I know, okay?”

  “Okay, come on Jess.” Sloane turned on her heel and went down the hall.

  Jessie followed behind Sloane toward Caroline’s study. When Sloane reached the door, she opened it and walked directly to the bookshelves. “So, where should we start?”

  Jessie walked and scanned the titles. Sloane pulled one from the shelf. “I don’t remember learning anything about blocking our awareness of demons, but there seems to be a potion for everything.”

  “Yeah, I can’t recall anything either. It’s not like we would be taught anything to help demons. Our education focused on what we would need to battle and defeat demons, not how to mask demons from our presence. I’m sure it’s in one of the grimoires.”

  “Great we can start there.” Sloane pulled out a book and sat in one of the reading chairs. For not having a true library, Caroline’s study sure felt like one. There are three large reading chairs, a corner desk and three shelves filled with books. It certainly felt like a library. Sloane began skimming through the pages to see what she could find.

  “Is it weird I feel like so much information was left out when we were learning this stuff?” Sloane flipped another page, studying the description of demon essences. “For example, do you remember reading about demon essences? There’s an entire history here for the different realms and types of demon essences. I didn’t realize there were types of demons. I always thought they came from the same hell, not levels or realms as this discusses.”

  “I remember stumbling across something like that in your dad’s library. I guess I didn’t pay much attention to it. Mike is the only one of us that actually spent time learning the history of demons. We always focused on destroying and hunting. You and Erik always were focused on weapons and training. You didn’t do much reading unless it had to do with weapons.”

  “That’s true. We had similar tastes in that regard.” Sloane flipped another page.

  “I focused more on potions and spells. I focused on channeling my power. I had to learn how to control my power when it changed. I couldn’t exactly keep blowing things up when I got angry.”

  “Yeah, that was hell. I remember when you first found out. Erik’s brilliant idea was to put oven mitts over your hands.” Sloane laughed at the memory. She remembered him holding the mits out to Jessie. He seriously thought they would help.

&nb
sp; “Your mom got so mad because he duct taped them on my hands. It’s not like he duct taped my arms or anything. He just used it on the cloth part. She still freaked out on us.” She laughed at the memory.

  “I remember, she grounded him for a week. She was so worried about you.”

  “I know, she was amazing like that. She always treated me as her daughter, whenever I stayed with you guys. She always made me feel like family.” Jessie looked down to the book in her lap and cleared her throat.

  “Yeah, she was pretty great.” Sloane’s voice cracked as she spoke.

  “I’m sorry Sloane. I know it’s still hard to talk about her.” Jessie moved to sit next to Sloane, placing her hand on her knee.

  “She was pretty amazing. I can’t help but think how all our lives would be different if she hadn’t been killed. I know everyone is mad at me for leaving, but at the time I couldn’t stay. Everything reminded me of her, and I was so mad, I was mad at The Shikari and everything we stood for, mad at my father for not being able to stop it. I just had to leave everything and start over. No one seems to understand.” She huffed out a relieved breath. It felt good to talk to another girl. She missed having her best friend to talk to every day. She knew she needed to leave her old life behind, but she missed the little things. She shared everything with Amy. Now, she couldn’t even answer the phone when she called. It was the right thing to do. Amy had no place here, but it still felt awful. Having Jessie to confide in was a relief and a blessing.

  “I get why you left. My mom and I took a trip here shortly after the funeral. She needed to get away, too. They had been so close their entire lives. My mom didn’t handle her death well. At the time, she didn't know another Shikari member was involved. None of us knew how deep the betrayal went. I still don’t think we know.” Jessie patted Sloane’s leg and leaned back into the chair, resting the open book in her lap.

  “Bryant said he took care of her killer, but I’m not so sure. I think this goes a lot deeper. I know he took care of those immediately responsible, but I think there’s someone at the head of all of this calling the shots. I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of the betrayal, yet. I have a feeling there are a lot more Shikari members that have helped the demons. I know we’re trying to play catch up, but I think we need to find someone we can trust in the group of leaders to find out how deep this goes. Shaundra told me when she called the order her call was strange. She mentioned they seemed overwhelmed, and the call didn’t seem right. I think there is something bigger going on, and until we have someone in the order, checking out the leaders at headquarters, we’re not going to be able to stop this.” Sloane spoke with conviction, but she bowed her head slightly.

  “I agree, but who do we know that can help us. We don’t know who we can trust. I also wouldn’t trust everything Shaundra said.” A flicker of anxiety darkened her eyes before she looked to the floor.

  “Why?” Sloane questioned.

  “She was a traitor working with the demons.” Jessie blew out a heavy breath. “Erik and I found out after her power boost didn’t work as well as it should have in Minneapolis. We stumbled across her and Curtis plotting their next move against the Shikari. We took care of them without telling anyone. I figured Erik would have told you about them. I’m not sure what she was lying about, but I know she was working with them.”

  Sloane appraised her and cocked her head to the side before she spoke. “Seriously, she seemed so helpful. When did you guys figure that out?”

  “Right after the battle, when she offered to call in the cleaners and take care of everything. I tried to tell Mike, but he didn't see any reason to look into her. He thought it was a fluke the potion hadn’t worked like before. He said sometimes they don’t work like we expect them to, magic being fallible and all. I didn’t believe it. I’d taken a power boost made by her before, and it worked better. Then, I started thinking about why she wouldn’t want it to work. I went to find you at your dad's place.” She tilted her head to look at Sloane.

  “Yeah, I’d gone to my apartment,” Sloane nodded.

  “I figured.” A smile curved the edge of her mouth. “I ended up talking to Erik about my concerns. He insisted we talk to her right away. We found her and Curtis at the shop planning their next move. He heard her thoughts about making the potion weaker. He shot them both. We cleaned up so no one would know about them. We wanted to find out how deep this went, considering they were helping us defeat them while also helping the demons. I’m still not sure how we were successful when traitors knew about it.” Jessie furrowed her brow.

  “So, they’re willing to help, but not enough to hurt an entire group of us. It’s got to be hard to betray your family, the group you’ve sworn loyalty to since birth. I can’t fathom how so many are working with demons. We’ve been raised to fight demons. I just don’t get how anyone of us could help them under any circumstances. There has to be something we’re missing,” Sloane said.

  “Yeah, but what? I don’t get it, either.” Jessie asked.

  “Let’s keep reading; maybe we’ll get some insight by learning more about the history.”

  “It’d be nice if Mike and Erik were here, right now. Maybe they could shed some insight into this. Mike knows more about the history than any of us.” Jessie settled back into her chair and sighed.

  “I wouldn’t mind Mike being here, right now.” Sloane crooked her mouth into a sly smile.

  “Yeah, but that’s for very different reasons.” Jess winked at Sloane.

  “True,” Sloane stared off into space.

  “Then, you wouldn’t get any work done.” Jessie raised a brow.

  “Whatever, we’d still get work done.” Sloane focused back on the page in front of her.

  “Sure, you would.” Jess rolled her eyes. She looked to Sloane, then focused back on her reading.

  Sloane flipped the book closed after skimming through the pages. “There’s quite the history of demons and spells here, but nothing on being able to hide their presence from us.”

  “Yeah, I’m not sure Shikari would necessarily have that information. We’ve only collected information based on what we’ve been able to learn over the centuries. What if Shikari didn’t know they could mask themselves from us? What if this is new information?”

  “That makes sense. If none of us have heard of this before, it could be that it hasn’t been written, yet. We should ask Bryant and Magnus. See if they’ve ever heard of that before.”

  “Wasn’t that what Erik was doing?” Jess asked.

  “That’s what he is supposed to be doing. I wonder what’s taking him so long. He said he’d meet us here when he was done.” Sloane ran her hand through her hair and set the book on the table next to her. “I’ll call Mike and ask what’s going on in Denver. Have him ask Bryant and Magnus while he’s there. Can you go find out what’s taking Erik so long?” Sloane grabbed her phone out of her pocket to call.

  “On it.” Jess rose and headed out of the room to find Erik.

  Sloane dialed Mike, “Hey, babe. How’s it going in Denver?”

  “Not great, we have two students missing here, too.” His voice was serious.

  “Oh, that’s not good. So, you won’t be back anytime soon.”

  “No, love. I won’t be back until we figure out what’s going on.”

  “Awe, are you sure you can’t come back sooner?”

  “Babe, you know how much I’d like to have my way with you, right now. But, I can’t.”

  “Okay, fine. So, we found out some info on the school. The headmaster is possessed, but not everyone there is, we’re trying to figure out how it would be possible for a demon to mask their possession from us, especially from an entire school. Only some of the students have been possessed, as far as we can tell. You got any ideas?” Sloane paused.

  “I can’t think of anything.”

  “Okay, can you ask Bryant and Magnus? Check into how that might be possible. We may have you check out some of the board me
mbers located in Denver. Since you won’t be coming back here.” She blew out a heavy breath.

  “Miss me that much, aye?” She could almost hear the sly smile over the phone.

  “Yes,” she breathed.

  “Love, you know this is important. I need to track down the missing kids here.” He paused. “These disappearances have to be connected. I will keep you informed on what’s happening.”

  “I know this is important.” She huffed. “I’ll see you, soon. Let me know what you find out from Magnus and Bryant. I miss you, Mike.”

  “Miss you too, love.” Sloane sighed and hit the end button. She stared at the phone in her lap. She wanted to join Mike in Denver but knew they had to do their job. Sloane left the study to find the others.

  Jess was sitting on the couch tucked under Erik’s arm. “Hey,” Sloane sat in the chair adjacent the couch. “I called Mike. There have been two other missing Shikari students taken since the last girl was found by her father. It looks like they will be stuck in Denver for a while. We should be keeping an eye on Mr. Hall to see if he has anything to do with the missing students.” Sloane rubbed the leather stitching of the chair as she spoke.

  “Yeah, I agree we should be watching Mr. Hall,” Jessie said as she stroked the hair on Erik’s arm absentmindedly.

  “I don’t know. Mr. Hall has an entire school of students he could have possessed. Why would he worry about students in Denver? He has a whole school of them right here.” Erik said.

  “That’s a good question. Why were these specific students targeted?” Sloane inquired, moving her hand to her chin, stroking it thinking.

  “The only reason I can think of for why students would be targeted is to cripple the next generation of Shikari. If they possess the next generation, they can’t hunt them.” Erik said.

  “That’s true, but there could be another reason. Do you remember reading what power the first missing girl had? Maybe they are targeting these students for their special abilities.” Sloane suggested.