by Robin Janney
She had not raced at the first echoing gunshot. Not even when she felt Belle die.
Beast had given his word, and she felt the need to give him a chance to prove he could keep his word.
But as the day trudged on, with silence greeting her, Princess had grown more and more anxious. Her charge’s fathers arrived, and she knew they were there to help, even with Everett’s limitations. She too had tried shifting her form and had been unable to.
As night fell, she felt the weight of defeat even as men in uniform began to arrive at the ranch. Beast had not brought Angela home. He had failed.
When the humans let her out for her nightly business, Princess loped away into the dark woods. Angela’s scent crisscrossed itself in the physical woods. Had she been a normal dog, it would have driven her in circles.
But the scent she followed wasn’t physical. The blazing light of the ring of fire surrounding Angela as she slept was visible for any of her kind to see from miles away. Few humans had such a bright wall of psionic protection, even with a breach in it.
It was late when she drew near to Angela’s sleeping form, but she had to cut herself short of the actual woman. The one hunting Angela had also stopped for the night, perched close to Angela’s exhausted form. Nikki sat watching her prey sleep, not sleeping herself. Princess paced back and forth on the edge of the cluster of trees, watching the watcher. When the glittering eyes fixed on her, the dog almost backed away at the strength of hatred directed at her.
There was no demon behind those eyes, just human hatred.
“So there you are,” the predator said softly. She didn’t move from her perch, merely sat straight to regard the dog. “I was wondering if you were going to show up. I have no desire to kill another animal today, but if you get in my way dog, I will kill you.”
Princess knew the human meant her words. Behind her, she felt the approach of another. Even the human sensed something because she too tensed.
“Why did you come?” Beast asked softly, his form that of the Little Beast.
“You failed.”
Little Beast hunkered next to the dog, as if he too were afraid of the woman. “It’s not finished yet. And if you stay, you will die. None of us can shift right now, or transition between realities.”
“I cannot trust Angela’s protection to you!”
Reality tensed and something bit at her feet.
“I mean it dog,” the human said, throwing another rock. “I don’t want to kill you. Go away.”
Growling, her charge so close and yet so far, Princess tensed as if to launch herself at the one who dared hunt the woman she protected and comforted. The human pointed the gun at her and Princess hesitated.
“You have no choice,” hissed Beast. “The balance of power is not on your side.”
Princess began to back away, her eyes never straying from the woman with the gun. “I will not be far,” she said to Beast, “and if I have a chance, I will strike.” She backed off into the shadows until she was certain the human could no longer see her. The gun never wavered.
“Further!” Beast hissed, close to the dog’s side. “Just because she’s not possessed doesn’t mean there aren’t others of our kind helping her.”
In which case, Beast’s days were numbered among his kind. His stand in this moment declared his mixed allegiance. Princess backed away until she could no longer see either her mistress or the woman with the gun. She would wait until daylight when the strength of her side would be strongest.
43
S he’d been eighteen at the time of the infamous Crossroads Accident, the one which had claimed the life of young Randy Carman. The day her father had shoved her roughly into the passenger seat and put himself behind the wheel. He’d driven fast and reckless in his drunken anger. His drift through that cursed intersection was as much to scare her into silence as to tease the oncoming truck and those Carman kids had come out of nowhere!
By the time she’d found the courage to contradict her father, no one believed her. The judge had been harsh and given her ten years for vehicular homicide, even though she’d taken the lawyer’s advice and pled guilty. Harsh not only because of the death of a youth, but because of the trauma caused to the lone survivor. Precious Angela fucking Carman. The very woman she stood over now, watching as the other slept fitfully at the base of an old fallen log.
Nikki supposed she ought to think of her as Angela Moore, but she couldn’t. It pissed her off that this other woman had recovered from her childhood trauma and gone on to live a happy life. Happy enough, all things considered. Sure, she’d been bullied by many of Randy’s friends, and had tried on several occasions to kill herself – Nikki’s mother had made sure to keep her updated on the continued trauma-drama of the innocent survivor. But Angela had managed to finish school and entered college full of the same hopes and dreams Nikki had once entertained. Close enough to happily ever after.
And all the while Angela had been living her life, Nikki had been trapped in a concrete cell serving what should have been her father’s sentence. She’d missed out on college, lost her boyfriend, and her own mother turned against her. All because of this infernal woman.
Well, Nikki didn’t miss boys anymore. No man’s cock could do for her what a woman could, and whatever God there was knew she’d tried. She would miss Maggie. But it wasn’t enough to replace the burning desire to make this woman sleeping on the mossy ground pay for the life she’d lost; this desire outweighed every other emotion, every other loyalty. And – it was time.
With a swift kick to Angela’s side, Nikki said harshly, “Wake up!”
The sleeping woman rolled away from the kick, arms curling around her stomach. Moaning as she struggled to her feet, the shorter woman brushed at her body frantically before looking towards the one who had awakened her. She made a move as if to attack, but Nikki brandished the 9mm with a mocking smile and the other backed down.
“Who are you?” Angela asked, pulling her denim shirt closed.
“Start walking,” Nikki ordered the other woman, gesturing with her gun. It didn’t matter where they went, just so long as she had the chance to torment the other woman.
She did so, walking in the direction the gun had waved. She stumbled occasionally, and Nikki thought she heard tears in the other woman’s voice when she asked, “Anywhere in particular?”
“Nope. Just walk. And shut up.”
Nikki watched Angela struggle to remain silent as they walked, enjoying the other’s struggle. The girl she remembered from long ago always had something to say. She never knew how to be quiet. Nikki remembered how often in church Randy had turned to silence his younger sister. It hadn’t been their parents, it had been Randy. The boy had not appeared in her dreams again, Nikki thought ruefully. Other creatures had, some friends for this mission, but not the boy.
The other woman’s silence lasted longer than she thought possible, but Nikki didn’t care. They’d passed the property boundary before night had fallen making this a federal case of kidnapping. The bigger the crime, the better at this point. The more Mable Flynn would be embarrassed and ashamed.
“You look familiar,” Angela said when she finally broke her silence, one hand low on her stomach and the other brushing hair from her face as she walked. Small twigs were stuck in the other’s hair. “I thought so when you stopped and offered help the day I had the flat tire. Do…do I know you from somewhere?”
Nikki heard the beating of helicopter blades and knew her time was limited. Perhaps they’d both die today. Would her mother even shed a tear for her death? Or would Mable Flynn mourn the loss of precious Angela Carman more?
“Oh, so your memory wasn’t completely obliterated by the accident?” Nikki sneered as they came into a clearing. Sunlight was trying to shine through the canopy of trees. “All of a sudden you remember me?” Nikki cursed as the other woman stopped dead in her tracks and turned to look at her.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember you. You just look famil
iar.” The woman shrugged nonchalantly, but her blue eyes betrayed her fear. “There’s a lot I don’t remember. I have so many blank spaces in my life. Should I remember you?”
“Yes, bitch, you should. Because you didn’t, I did ten years in jail instead of my lazy ass drunken father.” Nikki’s hand tightened on the gun she held, and she allowed it to shake. She was hoping the slight woman would grow confident enough to try to take her down with her vaunted black belt. Despite the sting of her failure almost five years ago, it had been a pleasure to watch the video of Angela failing to fight off her male kidnappers.
“Nikki Flynn?” Those eyes blinked in confusion. “You look nothing like you did when you were younger.”
“None of us do.” Nikki sneered. Perhaps she should terminate the other woman now, forget any other revenge and make a clean end of it, no matter what the city woman had requested. No amount of revenge was worth this aggravation. But still, the more she humiliated the shorter woman, the more Mable Flynn would be embarrassed. “You sure as hell sprouted up. Grew up to live happily ever after, too.”
Angela sighed, her eyes flickering. “It’s not very happy at the moment, is it? I don’t remember much of that day, Nikki, I’m sorry. I know you and your father were there, but that’s all. I couldn’t tell you who was driving.”
Nikki let the gun in her hand tremble some more. It was easier to think she was in control of the trembling than to accept the emotions of this moment. “My drunkard of a father was behind the wheel, Angela. He’s the one who hit Randy. I was supposed to be the one driving, but he pushed me into the passenger side. If I’d been driving, it wouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry, but it wasn’t my fault.” That was true. She’d always been sorry.
“I don’t remember either of you getting out of the car. I just remember you were there.” The other woman made a sound of disgust. “I’m pretty sure that’s all I remembered even before I lost memories.”
“You don’t even remember your future husband being there.” Nikki sneered. “And that’s why you’re going to pay. A life for a life.” She smiled as she saw Angela starting to shift into a karate stance. She was trying to be subtle, but Nikki could see it coming. This would be fun.
The form of fighting Nikki had learned in jail was dirty, and she’d learned to be good at it. In less than a minute, Nikki had the other woman pinned, her face pressed to the ground. And all without the gun leaving her hand. Granted, the gun may have come down and struck the side of the woman’s head, but Nikki wasn’t keeping that kind of score. Tucking the gun into the waistband of her jeans behind her back, Nikki felt – so many things: powerful, aroused, god-like – as she pressed the other woman into the dirt.
“I win,” she growled into Angela’s ear, ignoring the whimpers from the other woman. She pulled the light woman over onto her back easily and straddled her. Putting her knees on Angela’s hands to pin them, Nikki ignored the kicking feet beating at the ground.
One slap of her hand across Angela’s face was enough to still the fight in the other. With one hand tightly gripping the other woman’s hair, Nikki leaned down close to her. She spoke harshly in the other’s ear. “Do you have any idea how sick I became of hearing about ‘Precious Angela Carman’? I could have lived with the town hating me, but my mother disowned me. My mother, Angela! Said she couldn’t stand the pain my accident had caused such a precious and adorable little girl.
“No, I don’t suppose it’s your fault, any of it,” Nikki said as her other hand unbuttoned the denim shirt of the other. “But the accident wasn’t my fault, and I had to pay anyway. I’ve already killed my father. The stinking bastard thought we were just going to harass you into quitting a job you no longer needed. All he cared about was getting his job back to try convincing my mother to come back to him. It’s not like you needed it anymore. Your farm was safe, and you were fucking the owner anyways. And oh yes…my mother will be horrified at your death and embarrassed when this comes out.
“Because I have no trouble going back to jail for this, Angela.” She was savoring every moment of this and it would be worth the rest of her life in prison. Angela’s fear was empowering to Nikki, as were the whimpering sounds coming from her, the tiny struggles beginning again. “I’m planning on it. Although your sweet mother-in-law doesn’t think that will happen, she trusts too much in her connections. But me, I’ve left a clear trail for the authorities to follow once they start looking deeper. Left enough to bring that uppity bitch down with me too…no one is going to look down their nose at me again.”
Nikki saw the confusion in her prey’s eyes and smiled. “Oh yes, mommy-in-law contacted me years ago. We’ve been working on this little scenario since, just waiting for an opportunity to present itself. She’s so desperate to regain control over her family, she arranged her own husband’s shooting. Not enough to kill him, just harmed him enough to pull your husband away from here. We weren’t sure whether you’d be going with him, but we were counting on his need to keep you safe to keep you here.” Nikki shifted, moved farther down Angela’s torso, continuing to pin the other woman’s arms to her side with her knees. Reaching between their bodies, she unbuttoned Angela’s jeans one handed and undid the zipper.
Smiling at the renewed struggling of the woman beneath her, Nikki slapped her again, harder than before. God, she hoped she left bruises. And slapped her once more for good measure. “If everything has gone as planned on her end, your husband is fucking another woman right now. Either that dainty little Katie, or if she failed, mommy-in-law is reasserting her claim on him. She’s a sick woman, I’ll give you that much. Imagine how he’s going to feel once he learns what you were going through while he was getting his rocks off in another woman.”
Ignoring the tears leaking out of the other woman’s eyes, Nikki pulled Angela’s shirt up above her breasts. Those breasts, young and firm, called to Nikki, and she pulled them free from the pink bra holding them. They bounced around beautifully as Angela struggled again. This time, Nikki let her. “Nice. Struggle all you want, Angela, I like it.”
She held one breast in her hand, kneading it gently at first before digging nails in. Nikki leaned down, ran her tongue over the nipple. Smiling as it puckered for her, she look up at the woman beneath her and smiled broader at Angela’s frightened cries and tears. She did the same to the other breast, pulling this nipple hard between her teeth. Sucking hard, she moved her hand to Angela’s other breast, kneading it hard. Life was hard.
“Did he do this to you?” Nikki whispered. “Maybe he’s doing it to someone else right now. Does he tell you sweet lies? Like how you have the perfect breasts? Not too big, not too small? Of course, his hands are probably bigger than mine, so your breasts probably swim in his hands. Not like Katie’s…”
Straightening, Nikki let her hand wander south, over the heaving stomach and into Angela’s jeans. She pushed her fingers through the folds of Angela’s skin, smiling at the other woman’s renewed struggles. Her expression of pain, and cries were almost enough for Nikki to climax herself. “That’s it, struggle bitch. You can’t win against me, Angela…” She chuckled deeply in sick pleasure. Perhaps she was more like her father than she’d ever want to admit. “Now, if I remember correctly, Derek said you like to be bitten…”
P rincess howled in frustration.
They were blocked from reaching the women. Not by the ring of fire usually around Angela, for even that was gone in this moment.
This new barrier was invisible, but the air in front of them was as solid as stone.
It wasn’t just them, Beast realized. All around the small clearing, demons and angels stood. Some had their hands splayed in front of them, almost in mimicry of mimes in a box.
There was only one demon in the clearing and Falco was reveling in the evil he had wrought. Angela’s pain and Nikki’s anger were a drug to him and he stood above their struggling forms. Beast could almost see the other gaining power.
“There is only One with the power to kee
p us all back,” Princess said viciously. “Why?”
“This is a moment for humans,” said another otherworldly voice as a luminescent being approached them. She was as tall and graceful as the horse she had inhabited. “We are not the ones to save her.”
“Why?” Princess demanded even as the sound of an approaching helicopter could be heard.
“You will see.”
T he helicopter dropped Everett and Philip, along with a Montana Highway Patrolman, at the nearest clearing little over a half mile from where the women had been spotted standing in a clearing too small to land in.
The three men moved quickly over the forested terrain. The other police and search teams in the woods had already been directed in this direction, but they would be there too late. Philip only hoped they weren’t going to be too late as well.
“I don’t see why he has a gun,” the thick Patrolman said, huffing and puffing but keeping up with the other men. Philip had to admit to being slightly impressed despite the circumstances. The terrain was rough, and they were moving fast.
“Because he’s the best shot I know,” Everett replied, his voice calm and authoritative. Only long acquaintance allowed Philip to hear the undercurrent of worry. “And he knows what we’re up against out here. Now be quiet. No matter what happens, the records will say you’re the one who shot her.”
“If you say so,” the officer muttered, clearly not understanding.
Philip did his best to ignore the other men. He focused on the trees, the sounds of the forest. He could just barely hear what sounded like a scuffle. “Quiet! Both of you,” he hissed. Running forward, he topped a wooded knoll and saw them far below.
A tall woman who could only be Nikki Flynn was on top of his daughter. Angela was kicking her feet and struggling beneath the other woman. Even from here, Philip could see what was happening to his daughter. It ignited a father’s rage.
