Charisma

by Wendy Stone

  Mirina felt a growing hopelessness deep inside. Hood had held her since she was very young, a casualty of the street. She was used to his ways, used to him bringing new girls and the threats he made if she displeased him in any way. She had the scars to show it, having lost a nipple and a chunk out of her thigh to the madman. She moved behind him, hoping to find a way past to the door. If he noticed her now, when he was in the midst of the shark-induced bloodlust …

  “Where do you think you’re going?” he said, grabbing her arm.

  “To get you a drink, sir. I know you like to have one as you watch the sharks.”

  “You do, do you?” He held her at arm’s length, staring at the scarred beauty. He’d tattooed her himself, the lines of the shark that covered her neck and the side of her face black as night. It moved as she talked, as she struggled to breathe around the hand clamped at her throat.

  “Please,” she rasped. “M-master, I-I…”

  “Were you the one, Mirina?” he asked, staring into her pretty brown eyes with his dead black ones, “Did you call ASP?”

  “N-No,” she tried to deny him, but he shook his head without pity.

  “Hood!” Robbie came running into the room, his feet skidding to a halt as far from the pool as he could get. “ASP! What do you think we should do?”

  “Kill them,” Hood said with little worry. “You’ve got guns. Use them!”

  Robbie nodded, running from the room, a horde of Hood’s men following him. He was pulling Mirina closer when he heard the first shot. Sitting on the couch, he forced Mirina down to straddle him. His cock was hard again, pushing up from the opening of his pants.

  His eyes dipped to the pool. The water was disturbed and the chain empty, lying on the bottom of the pool. “Dammit,” he growled. “You kept me from watching. I guess I shall have to watch you instead.” He shook his head sadly, drawing her even closer, his mouth opening wide. He clinked them together ominously, letting her feel the drag of just one tooth against the side of her throat.

  “No!” she screamed, then trying to suddenly calm herself. “Hood, please,” she said. Her voice sounded calm, though her heart pounded furiously. “Please, I have always done anything you wanted, haven’t I?”

  “That you have,” he said, his hand moving from her throat to her hair and caressing the softness of it. “You’ve always been my good girl, doing for me no matter what, haven’t you?”

  She nodded, ignoring the tears streaking down her face. Knowing Hood, he would enjoy seeing the streaks. They meant he was causing her pain.

  “Aww, don’t cry, little Mirina,” he said, running his hand over the cut on her neck and lifting the smear of blood to his mouth. “If you don’t want to have me kill you, then I won’t.” He maneuvered her to her feet, holding her hand and keeping her between his thighs. “But my sharks will!” he shouted, pushing so she fell into the swiftly moving water. He stood as quickly as his bulk would allow, wanting to watch as the sharks made her into a meal.

  * * * *

  Charisma struggled to keep her head above the water that sloshed over her face with every slow wave. The chain was heavy, surrounding both her legs, making them useless in her struggle. For a moment, she thought about just giving up, letting her body sink to the bottom and ruining Hood’s fun. But then Kadian’s face flashed in her mind. She wanted to be with him too much to die like this. She thought of changing into the dragon, but wasn’t sure she could while staying above water…and she didn’t understand how the tightly wrapped chains would be affected. What if, instead of breaking, the chains cut her legs from her body?

  She could see Hood, standing at the edge of the pool. How she wished she could pull him into the water, let him feel some of what she was feeling now. Something slid against her leg and her mouth opened to scream, only to fill with salt water. She spit it out, eyes searching the water for a fin or an ugly head filled with huge teeth. Instead, she felt something on her leg again and then her feet were free of the chains. Looking down, she spotted a huge shape below her.

  Now she could let herself sink, sink and change into the dragon again. Without a fuss, she took a deep breath and went under, her body cramping as the change took place. Kadian!

  Hi baby, I didn’t mean to scare you.

  What about the sharks? Her eyes darted around the water, her dragon vision able to see easily in the depths.

  Sharks won’t mess with dragons baby, we remind them too much of dinosaurs.

  How do you know that? Did you have a conversation with a shark? She could hear him laugh in her head and smiled.

  Time to take care of Hood, he said, rubbing his front talons together.

  Before they could, a splash overhead startled the two of them.

  Mirina! Charisma thought.

  * * * *

  He stood at the edge of the pool, seeing two huge shadows deep in the water. He wondered why they were staying so deep. Must be Great Whites, he thought, they’re too big for anything else. Mirina surfaced, her eyes full of terror as she sputtered and spit the salty water out of her mouth. Another shape cut through the waves, the sleek form recognizable from a distance. It was another shark.

  Mirina saw the fin and screamed, thrashing wildly as she tried to reach the pools side before the shark could reach her. “No,” she sputtered. “Please no.”

  Just as the shark went to swim beneath her, one of the shadows at the bottom of the pool came shooting up, catching the huge shark just under its powerful jaws. The gray flesh parted under the impact. The fatally hurt shark managed to turn, trailing blood in the water as it headed back to open sea. Before it reached the gates, two huge bull sharks slammed into it, following the scent of blood. They ripped even more pieces from the slowly dying predator, their feeding frenzy directing them at the nearest target “What the fu…” Hood began to say, stopping when one of the shapes broke the surface, so fast that it rose completely from the water, cresting to land in front of Hood. Its long neck curved down and it stared Hood in the face. No denizen of the deep, but one of legend. A dragon.

  The other shape rose too, going to Mirina and helping her out of the pool, then leaving the water as well. This dragon shook for just a moment and then shrank, changing into the body of the girl Mirina had chained at the center of the pool.

  “How did you…?” Mirina couldn’t finish her sentence, stunned. She stared from Charisma to the dragon menacing Hood. It spoke.

  “Call off your men, Hood. Call them off or I’ll kill you right here, right now.”

  “I don’t fear death,” Hood smirked.

  Kadian plucked his huge bulk easily from the wooden floor, seeing the fins of several sharks who now circled the pool, waiting for more dinner. The first shark was gone, devoured by its fellows. They’d never been disappointed here and Kadian wouldn’t disappoint them now. Holding Hood over the top of the water, he slowly lowered him until just his toes touched the water. “Kick your feet if you don’t fear death,” Kadian said.

  “You won’t drop me in there. You can’t. You have to take me in so that your Council can decide upon my so-called innocence or guilt.”

  “You didn’t think we’d find the three members of the Council that you had in your pocket, did you, Hood? It’s amazing what those ASP members can do. But you have forgotten one thing. I don’t belong to them. I will drop your huge ass in there for those sharks to munch on. I have no problem watching your death after what you’ve done to so many innocent people. I’d call it justice.”

  Hood’s face grew pasty and lifting his feet to hold them up every time a shark came closer was beginning to take a toll upon his questionable stamina. “Fine, whatever. I’ll call them off,” he growled.

  “Can you get a phone that will reach his men?” Kadian asked the sobbing, soaked girl.

  Mirina nodded, pointing at the phone next to the couch. It was covered in stains; some blood, some he didn’t recognize nor wanted to know what they were. “Use it,” he growled to Hood.

  Hood
flinched when his foot touched the wood. He was breathing hard and sweating profusely. He went to the phone. Touching three numbers, he said two words to the person that answered.

  “Blow it!” he screamed and then slammed down the phone.

  Kadian looked at Charisma and then back to Hood. “You slimy bastard,” he growled.

  “That I might be, but if I’m going, I’m taking as many of you as I can.”

  Shadow, Kadian sent his thoughts in a hurry; Hood’s got the building set to blow. Get your teams out of here now!

  “Char, take the girl and swim out of here.”

  Her head was shaking before he finished speaking. “I’m not leaving without you,” she said. “I’m your mate and I will not be left without you, ever,” she growled.

  “How long do we have?” Kadian shouted in Hood’s face.

  “About thirty seconds,” the big man smirked, his tone pleased.

  * * * *

  Callie was the last one out of the warehouse. She raced toward the van, zigzagging as bullets sprayed around her ankles. She was fast, faster than a human, her abilities as Were carried over to her human shape.

  One bullet skimmed across the cement like a skipping stone, clipping her ankle. Callie stumbled, barely recovering as Shadow leapt from behind the SUV, his arms reaching for her. He grabbed her quickly, turning and racing back to cover. “You’re hurt,” he growled, his hands going to her boots and zipping her out of them.

  “It’s just a nick,” she argued. “I had to make sure everyone got out.”

  “Marcus,” he shouted.

  “All accounted for, Shadow. We’ve got two wounded. They are on their way back to the house.”

  “What about Kadian and Charisma?”

  Marcus voice expressed how he felt about what he had to say. “I don’t know.”

  “Shadow,” Callie said urgently.

  He didn’t answer, just stared at Marcus.

  “Shadow, we have to go in after them.”

  He still didn’t answer, his silencing unnerving her.

  “Brian! You can’t just let them die this way!”

  A loud clanging rang through the air and Shadow and Callie watched in horror as the warehouse doors began to close, sealing even as the men inside were trying to get out. One man jammed his weapon between the two, holding it open so that a few more could escape. As the doors began to bend the metal gun, another shape appeared.

  Drake held apart the doors, growling at the man who’d been willing to give up his life so others could get out. “Run, now! He’s going to blow this place up.”

  Robbie ran, shouting for a few others still at their posts to get the hell out. Then there was a silence broken only by Lelia Storm’s screams to Drake to get out of there.

  The explosion ripped through the warehouse with an ear-splitting roar. Fire spurted from the center of the building, outlining Drake as he tried to find cover, sending him flying against another building. ASP members ducked, Brian throwing his body over Callie’s as the debris began to fall around them.

  Gunner let go of Lelia reluctantly, knowing that what she’d find probably wouldn’t be good news about Drake. The witch kicked him hard in the shins once and then ran for where she could see Drake’s silver arm under a fallen wall. It had come down on top of him.

  “Drake!” she cried, shifting debris quickly. A moan from under the pile gave her hope and she watched in almost disbelief as Drake sat up, brushing the rest of the rocks and wood off. He pressed his hand to his head and barely got his arms down in time to catch Lelia as she launched herself at him.

  “Dammit, Drake!” she snarled, yanking his head down and kissing him.

  Drake’s eyes grew wide for an instant, fluttering closed as his arms wrapped around the pretty witch’s waist. He moaned again, but for an entirely different reason. When she pulled away from him, her cheeks were pink and she was breathing as heavily as he was. “Change,” she growled.

  “Huh?” he asked, confused.

  “Change back to human, get rid of the tin man.”

  “Oh, uh, okay,” he said softly, the silver fading from his skin. When it was gone, she leaned back as far as his arms would allow and then slapped him as hard as she could. “You ever put me through that again and that’s going to seem like a love tap,” she snarled, pushing away from him and standing up.

  Drake’s hand went to his jaw, wiggling it carefully. “Lee,” he began, his mouth closing as she glared at him. Then she turned and stalked away.

  Kit walked up, amusement in her eyes. “How are you?”

  “I got a dent in my head and I think Lee just broke my jaw,” he mumbled. Then a smile crossed his handsome face. “She loves me,” he said in wonder.

  “God, you men are slow!” Kit laughed. “Here.” She extended her hand to help him up. “Go get her. Don’t report back in until you two get this out of your systems.”

  “That could be a while, boss.”

  “This could take a while to clean up,” Kit sighed, staring at the mess around them, including the huge hole where the warehouse used to stand. “Go,” she said, “before I change my mind.”

  “I’m gone, sir,” he said, flashing her a snappy salute and then turning to run after the feisty witch.

  Mage’s hand touched her shoulder and she turned to stare at the tall empath. “Anyone left alive inside?” she asked, though she held little hope of that.

  He shook his head slowly, sadly. His brown eyes were filled with pain.

  “How many?”

  He held up his hands, six fingers showing. Kit smiled at him grimly and then sent him back to the truck. His empathic abilities made him feel every emotion those that had died had felt and the tall man was hurting badly. Kit made her way through the field of debris to where Shadow stood, his mate sitting on the hood of the truck while a medic wrapped her ankle.

  “She okay?” Kit asked, nodding toward Callie.

  “She will be,” Shadow answered. “You know how fast Weres heal. How many?”

  “None of ours, six of theirs.”

  “Your man, Drake, he’s okay?”

  “Yeah. He might not be when Lee gets through with him, but for now he’s five by five.”

  “That was either a really stupid or really brave thing he did. I’m putting him in for the medal of valor. I thought you should know,” Shadow clasped her on the shoulder seeing the first of the fire trucks and police cars starting to arrive.

  “I’d like to add my own report to that,” Kit said, then got out of his way. He was the boss and as the boss, he had to keep ASP out of the official reports of the press and police.

  “Kit!” Callie called before the gorgeous lioness could move away. “Any sign of Charisma or Kadian?”

  * * * *

  The black cat jumped down from the tree it’d taken refuge in, padding silently through the dark forest, its eyes watching every little nuance of the night. She raised her head, breathing in the fragrant night air before turning in time to bat at the male cat that came careening into the clearing. He charged her playfully, ducking her paws and gently knocking her to the ground to lie on top of her.

  Hi, baby, Dimitri thought, licking the side of Samantha’s face. You ready for dinner and a dip in the hot tub?

  Samantha pushed him off her, ducking his tongue. She turned, flicking her tail in his face and headed back toward the log cabin that Dimitri had driven to earlier in the day. He’d had one thing right, being a panther was a wild and addictive ride. She could grow used to this state. He came up behind her, slinking to the side and rubbing his head affectionately against her neck.

  Then with a quick bound, he was off and running, Samantha chasing after him.

  When he stopped suddenly, she almost barreled into his back, stopping mere inches away. She watched as he changed back to human, her eyes gleaming as she took in his handsome naked form. “Did you feel that?” he asked her.

  Sam forced the beast into submission, changing as well. “Feel what?”
she asked.

  The ground vibrated under them and Sam exchanged glances with Dimitri. “What was that?” she asked.

  “Some kind of explosion,” he said softly. “Not as close as you might think. Your senses are stronger than they used to be. But it was big. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a good thing.” He reached out and took her hand, walking back to the cabin naked as the day they were born. Once inside, Dimitri reached above the refrigerator and pulled down a small AM/FM radio. He plugged it in, turning it on and searching for a local station.

  As the newscaster reported the story again, Samantha’s eyes grew wide. “I know that place,” she said. “It’s only a few blocks away from Abstracts. I’ve got to go,” she said, quickly gathering her clothes.

  “I’ll take you,” Dimitri said, grabbing his jeans.

  It was almost fully dark when they pulled into the back lot of Abstracts. The entire wharf area was blocked off by police and fire trucks, their revolving lights lighting up the night sky as they fought to put out the blaze.

  “Broken gas main,” Sam heard some man say as he walked past them and out to his car. “It’d be a shame if it got away from them. All these buildings could go up.”

  “No,” she gasped, staring at the one place in this world where she felt at home. “We’ve got to do something,” she said, reaching out and grabbing Dimitri’s hand.

  A police car pulled into the lot, slowly circling the cars. A male voice ordered the evacuation of the buildings even as they reached the back doors.

  Samantha walked inside, watching as Lee and the others scurried around, turning off burners and shutting off the gas to the many stoves and cook tops in the kitchen. She shook her head as they turned off each appliance. She ran to the back room, Dimitri a step behind her, and found the main. They turned it off quickly.

  “Lee,” Samantha called to the other chef. “I turned off the main. We need to get the candles out and then get everyone out of here.”