by Jasmine Walt
“Seriously?”
“Of course. I’m a man of my word.”
Their footfalls approached the door where Cecil and Chia stood. She shoved him into the ladies’ room across the hallway.
Cecil’s eyebrows shot up, not doubt thinking they were going to do it in there. “I still don’t think this is the time or place, but…”
“What do you think I am?” She gave him a cock-blocking stare, making him shake his head at her.
“You confuse the hell out of me, lil’ Summer. Do you want me, or don’t you?” His eyes appeared deeply wounded and perplexed.
“Welcome to my world. I confuse myself, all the time.” She giggled and glanced in the mirror, stopping when she saw her reflection. “Whoa! Look at the ghosts.”
“Yeah? So? They do that all the time with you.”
“You’re kidding.”
They appeared to be interwoven, like the shimmering, resplendent, high-backed, lacy ruff of a queen. They hadn’t accepted the newcomer ghost, however, and it sailed left and right searching for a spot to land. Finally, it coiled itself along her head like a crown.
“Nope. I always thought you were royalty. Apparently, they do, too.”
Suspicious, Chia narrowed her eyes and studied her appearance with a critical eye. “Not my choice of costume, to tell the truth.”
“Whatever.” Cecil shrugged. “It does look a little old-fashioned but it makes you look regal.” He cracked the door and peered into the hall. “They’re gone.”
When they heard the men talking from the next office over, Chia whispered, “Follow me.” She and Cecil tiptoed to her office. She carefully slid open the drawer where she’d shoved her long overdue secret project. She intended to call in a big favor. Flipping through the pages, she signed everywhere indicated, folded the papers and slid them into a large manila envelope. Her mind kept veering south, into the psychedelic vamp communion zone, as she watched paper morph into dead trees, and felt certain she walked on the bones of miners from days past. “Here.” She shoved the envelope into Cecil’s hands.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” he hissed.
“Take it to Socyone’s office. Put it inside her top desk drawer. She’ll know what to do with it.”
“What if she’s shifted? She won’t be coming to work anytime soon.”
“That’s a chance we’ll have to take. Shoo. Go.” She waved her hands at him, mesmerized with the stream of colorful light emanating from her skin.
“What are you going to do?” Cecil appeared nervous, studying her intently.
“I’m making it up as I go.”
“I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Look. You’ll be back in two minutes. What harm can I get into in two minutes?” She smiled sweetly at him.
“Whatever,” he said dubiously. He poked his head out the doorway and crept from the room.
Feeling like a badass, Chia inserted the clip, fingered her Glock and slunk from the office space. Her hallucinations increased as she proceeded. Sounds roared in her ears, like she stood inside a turbo engine room. “Maybe I’m The One, just like Neo.” She started to giggle, then caught herself, clapping her hand in front of her mouth.
“Who’s there?” Red Mountainbear called out.
“Crap,” Chia whispered.
“Here. Take her gun and deal with it, whatever it is.”
Wondering if she might be able to pull off a Neo-Matrix stunt like run up the side of a wall, she sprinted toward the end of the hall. She easily bolted up the wall, flipped in a slow motion arc in the air and landed directly in front of Dick. Whoa, how cool?
“Fuck!” he yelled. He cocked the trigger of her gun and prepared to shoot.
Okay, and now the bullets move through the air so slowly I can catch them with my fingertips.
Dick got off a wild, scared shot.
It zinged past her shoulder, scaring the bejeezus out of her. Dag nab it! Guess that scene truly was a special effect. She bounced up the wall and leapt back and forth, like a petrified spider monkey.
Cecil came racing around the corner. Seeing her zipping toward him like a pinball pinging between the walls, Dick huffing and puffing behind her shooting wildly, he grabbed his hair with his hands. “Aw, Jesus, lil’ Summer, what the hell?”
“I think I was wrong about The Matrix. Not everything was true, especially the slow motion bullets. Run!”
Cecil turned and hotfooted it, his long legs carrying him down the hall.
They bolted outside into the freezing air.
“This way, dawg-man!” Chia led him around the back to a small, rickety staircase.
Cecil stared at it doubtingly. “Not going up that.”
“Yes, you are,” Chia insisted, as the front door banged against the wall. She grabbed Cecil’s hand and yanked him along, pulling him to the top of the building.
Cecil’s teeth began to chatter when they reached the top.
“On your belly, now!”
“Wh-wh-what is th-th-this place?” he stammered, through his clacking teeth.
“I don’t know. It could be an old lookout. That’s the urban legend. Now, shhh.” They lay with their heads barely peeking over the edge.
Cecil’s teeth clattered noisily.
“I thought you didn’t get cold?” Chia whispered.
“N-n-not c-c-cold,” he insisted. “S-c-c-cared of heights. Already t-t-told you.”
Feeling compassion, she said, “Close your eyes. I’ve got you.” She ran her hand along his back, soothing him. “And no boners, buddy. This is for comfort.”
“B-b-but it feels so g-g-good,” he said, rolling over to gaze up at her with his puppy dog, glacier-blue eyes.
She stroked his side, intent on calming him.
His leg started twitching as if she’d been scratching his husky dog back, right in front of his tail. He bent the leg and pounded the roof with his foot.
“Jesus, Cecil!” She eyed his tented pants and slapped the side of his head. “Roll over. Stay! Quiet!”
Like a good dog, Cecil did as told. “Spoilsport. I know I could make you feel good and happy.”
“And I got your teeth to stop chattering, so shut up.” Her insides seemed to whine in protest, as if she were the girl dog who wanted the boy dog, badly.
Footsteps thundered from inside the building. Red Mountainbear burst outside. “Where are you, you fool?”
“Over here!” Dick whisper-yelled.
From their vantage point, Chia and Cecil watched as Red barreled toward Dick. “What did you see? Who is it?”
“It’s the bitch herself and her shifter dog friend.”
“What? Where did they go?”
“Not sure. They disappeared. She…she…my eyes must have been playing tricks on me because it looked like she ran up the wall.”
Red scoffed. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought possible. Let me see the gun.”
“I’ve got this,” Dick spluttered.
“I said, let me see the goddamned gun.”
Dick passed Chia’s Smith and Wesson into Red’s huge gloved hand.
“I love that gun,” Chia whispered. “It was grandpa’s favorite. I really want it back.”
“I’ll g-g-get you a-n-n-nother one,” Cecil said, his shivers resuming.
“Oh, no. Your fear is back?”
“It never left m-m-me. Heights t-t-terrify m-m-me. I g-g-got dis-t-t-tracted. Maybe you should t-t-touch me some m-m-more.”
She tsked. “No, dawg-man, it makes you horny.”
“I’m always h-h-horny. Even when I’m s-c-c-cared. You could help me get un-scared, you know. You’ll like it.”
“Jesus Christ. Close your eyes. I need to think.”
“You go that way,” Red said to Dick.
“I’m unarmed,” he protested.
“I’ve got your back,” Red said.
Dick skulked toward the corner. Red lifted the gun and shot him in the back. “See what I mean?” He let out a mani
acal laugh, worse than a hyena’s.
The injured man fell to the ground, a pool of blood seeping into the snow. He groaned.
Chia gasped.
Cecil yelped. “Ha-t-t-te g-g-guns worse than h-h-heights.”
“Now, you tell me. I’m learning all kinds of things about you.” Chia glared at him.
Red looked up. “There you are, you little bitch. Come on down and no one will get hurt.”
Chia pulled her gun from her holster, cocked it, and aimed. “I’ve got a better sight on you.”
“Going to make this fun are you?” Red called. “Tell you what. I’ll give you a head start. You climb on down and I’ll give you the lead. I’m going to shoot you, like I shot Dick, put the gun in his hand, and make it look like he did it. Unless you turn over the land and sea rights. We can put this matter to rest right here and now.”
“Yeah, right. I turn over rights to you and all my friends are dead anyway.”
“I’m a fair man, Ms. Petit.”
“Haven’t seen signs of it yet. You shot a man in the back, for Christ sake.” Her goddamned ghosts, no doubt afraid, whirled in front of her eyes making it impossible to see Red. She shook her head, trying to dislodge them.
“There you go a-g-g-gain, looking all c-c-crazy,” Cecil said.
“Shut up, dawg-man. Are you a good down climber?”
“B-b-better than climbing up-p-p.”
“Crawl across the roof to the other side. There’s a sturdy down spout. Grab hold and let yourself off the roof. Throw something to distract Red.”
“O-k-k-kay.”
Chia gave Cecil a glance. Poor guy. He’s white as one of my ghosts. He’s even sweating. “Go. I believe in you.”
He gave her a wan smile and crawled across the roof like a lizard, keeping his belly low.
“What’s going on up there?” Red said. He leaned his head back and squinted to see up the two-storied roof.
“Nothing. Just trying to get comfortable.” She waved her hand in front of her face in an attempt to move the ghosts out of the way. Peering through the ectoplasm, she took a shot at Red. It went wild.
He leapt out of the way, cursing. “I thought you were a hot shot. All those awards I heard of. Were the results all dummied?” He laughed.
A clatter and a yell sounded from the other side of the building.
Oh, Cecil, I hope you’re okay, but you were supposed to sneak down, not fall down.
Red jogged out of sight. “Well, lookie here,” he called from the other side of the building. “I’ve got a mutt man in my grasp.”
Shit! Chia belly crawled across the roof. She looked down to see Red grasping Cecil’s arms behind his back with one hand, the other holding the gun to his head. “And then she went crazy and killed her friend. Lemming News will have a field day with this story.”
“Leave Cecil alone.”
“Throw your gun on the ground. Come down with your hands up and your friend lives.”
She positioned her gun over the top of her other arm.
“I wouldn’t shoot if I were you. The odds are in my favor.”
“I’d l-l-listen to him if I were you,” Cecil said.
“Your friend’s about to wet his pants,” Red spluttered.
“Dag nab it,” Chia said. She tossed the gun over the side of the building, in Red’s direction. “Watch this, asshole,” she yelled, and she scrambled to her feet and leapt off the side of the building, Neo-style. She fell, aware of everything—her breath, her thoughts, her longing for Hung Durand, her stress and distress, and her desire to help Cecil get away. It seemed like it took a long, long time to get to the ground. Maybe I really should yield to my desires for Hung. Get my needs met. These were the last thoughts to whirl through her brain as her feet landed squarely in front of Red.
“What the fuck?” he yelled, startled. “What the hell are you?”
Her ghosts swirled in front of his eyes, finally helping, it seemed.
He batted at his face. “Goddamn it. What did you do, shoot spider webs at me?” He waved the gun frantically, pulling the trigger in the process.
Cecil yelped, shifted and yipped, racing away.
She grabbed Red’s shirt and yanked his body forward, slamming his nose onto her head. His hands flew to cover his face, gun still gripped. She ripped it from his fingers and tossed it aside.
She held his weakened stance closely to her. His breath smelled foul, like booze and old man. “You asshole! Scaring my friend like that. You can fuck with me, but never fuck with my friends.” In one swift move, she brought her knee to his groin. As he doubled over, she said, “Best move I ever learned in self-defense. What a wimp. No contest at all.” She fisted her hands together and slammed the hard ball on the back of his head.
Red crumpled to the ground.
She slung her booted foot to his head, putting her might into the kick. Staring at the fallen form, she scooped up her gun, loving the feel of the weapon in her hand. “Should I, or shouldn’t I?” Deciding she shouldn’t—rules were, after all, rules, she shoved it in her coat pocket. When she started to pull out her hand, her index finger wedged between the gun and the thick glove taking all the pocket space, keeping her knuckle too close to the trigger as her arm moved back. A wisp of wind dashed passed her thigh and the palm of Red’s hand jerked.
She stumbled back a few steps, surprised by the sharp burst of noise, then a curious thing caught her eye.
Red’s blood oozed from his palm, as black as the night. It sizzled like acid on metal, causing the snow to steam and spit.
“What the…” She crouched and shoved his coat sleeve up.
A mystifying pattern, like light fractals, crept up his arm. As the light moved, strange symbols appeared on his forearm. Not knowing what they were, Chia dug for her phone and took a few pictures for future examination. “Sure didn’t expect that.”
Then Chia scrambled after Cecil’s trail, following the dog tracks racing through the snow. “Come on, puppy. Come here. Cecil. Here, dawg-man. Come here, puppy.” She found him huddled under the Jeep, shivering and shaking. “Come on, dawg-man, let’s pursue your plan. Mine is done. Things are going to change around here.” She opened the back seat and the husky crawled out and leapt inside. She got into the driver’s side and ignited the engine. As she headed through town, a couple of the bar-goers stumbled outside, probably to see about the gunshot a minutes ago.
“Look! It’s her! She’s responsible for this shifter mess!”
More people poured from the bar. They lunged for the Jeep, angry faces pressing into the windows, fists battering the glass.
“It’s not my fault,” she cried, stepping on the gas while trying to carefully avoid people’s toes.
In the rearview, she watched the crowd gathered in the middle of the street. Some picked up rocks and threw them at her. Others simply shook their fists in the air and shouted obscenities. Finally, they disappeared from sight, enfolded by her beloved town of Charming, Alaska.
She and Cecil headed back to her home, Cecil in the back, tongue hanging from his mouth, and her in the driver’s seat, tripping hard on vamp power, shamed and bewildered, as well as determined to set things right. And then she’d resign, if that’s what the people wanted.
18
Hung ran to the Jeep to meet her when she pulled into the driveway. She guided the SUV carefully, as she could barely make it through the menagerie. Even more shifters had arrived since she left.
“Are you all right?” Hung asked anxiously when she stepped from the driver’s seat.
“Sort of. My ego’s a bit wounded. Let’s pursue plan two. We’ve got to find a way to get the shifters to shift back.” She stared at Hung. In her enhanced state, he appeared like a god, huge, terrifying, and sexy as hell. Her panties moistened in greeting.
“You should be in bed,” he protested.
She mumbled, “Only with you.”
Hung squeezed the tops of her arms. “What?”
“I said
I’m going with you.”
“Like hell you are. Chia, you were in surgery a couple days ago. I’m putting you to bed.”
“Not on your life. I’m healed. I’m high as a kite on vampire right now, I feel like a gazillion bucks, let’s go.”
“Jesus, woman, what’s with the vampire high?” Hung glowered at her.
She waved his concerns aside. “We can march right up to the hideout. You don’t need to worry about Red and Dick. They’re incapacitated right now.”
Hung arched an eyebrow. “What did you do, exactly?”
“Red shot Dick in the back. He was still alive when I left. I kicked Red in the groin, bashed his head with my fists and I may have unintentionally shot a bullet through his shooting hand.”
Both Hung’s eyebrows rose high on his forehead. “You, who follows the rules all the time? Maybe there are other rules you’d like to break with me.” He smirked.
She swallowed back her desire, staring at him like a hungry dog. Lips parted, jaw slack, she wanted to taste him, to devour his mouth with hers, to run her hands up and down his muscular body, to kiss and suck and…. Get a grip. “Not happening. Not on your life.”
“You can kid yourself all you like, but you know you want me.”
“It shouldn’t be hard to deal with the shamans,” she said, veering the conversation in a new direction.
“You’re right about that, but they left a small army guarding the cave. We still have to go in stealth. And by ‘we,’ I mean me and the dog.”
“How do you know about the army?” She opened the back door for Cecil the husky.
He jumped out, shook his coat and licked the faces of his pack in greeting.
“I’ve got spies.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Like snowy owls?”
“What about snowy owls?”
“Never mind. Let’s go.”
“Are you going to walk all the way? It’s miles.”
“No, I’m getting my skis and Cecil’s going to pull me, right, dawg-man?”
The beautiful husky wagged his tail and woofed.
“See? I’ll be right back.” She trudged to the barn, retrieved her skis, poles, and ski boots, grabbed the halter, and trudged back out. “Where did Hung go?” She turned in a circle, looking for him.
