Autumn's Blood: The Spirit Shifters, Book One

by Marissa Farrar

  “Yes, please come,” the boy pleaded.

  “I’m sorry. My friend is in here somewhere. I have to find her.”

  Blake pulled the other gun from his waistband and handed it to the woman. “You know how to use this?”

  She nodded, her eyes wide. “Then take it. If anyone from the unit tries to stop you from leaving, shoot them.”

  “Okay, I will.” Her voice came out weak from emotion. “And thank you.”

  “Thank us when we see you on the other side.”

  She nodded, and with the man leading the way, the boy between them, they took off down the tunnel. Blake pushed the door shut behind them and something beeped, indicating the door had locked back into position.

  “You ready for this?” he asked Autumn.

  “As I’ll ever be.”

  Together, they headed to the elevator. They stepped inside and Blake hit the button. His fingers found hers, holding hands as they waited for the elevator to rise and take them to their fates.

  WITH EVERYONE’S ATTENTION focused on the craziness happening above their heads, Chogan and Enyeto had managed to slip inside the building, unnoticed. They ran around the metal detector, Chogan knowing he’d set off the alarms with the weapon he carried. Enyeto had no such weapon, his own special talent hidden.

  Ahead of them, one of the sets of doors of a bank of elevators slid open. Blake and Autumn stepped out.

  “Chogan!” said Blake, as he stepped out of the car and into the lobby. Chogan noticed the weapon held loosely at his side. “Is everything going to plan?”

  “Everyone is focused on the roof. They did a great job. Where are the captive shifters?”

  “They’re already out. I sent them back the way I came in.”

  Chogan nodded approvingly. “Good job.”

  “Now we need to find Dumas.”

  The early hour meant the majority of the building’s workers hadn’t yet come in, however this was a twenty-four hour business and the facility was never going to be deserted.

  From the corridor to their right, a man in a suit approached. “Hey, can I help you guys?” He did a double take on both Autumn and Blake, and recognition spread across his features. “Wait. You’re … “

  He started to back off, walking backward.

  “I don’t think so,” said Chogan, not planning on allowing this guy to go and raise the alarm. He turned to Blake. “Go, we’ve got this. Find your friend and kill that asshole.”

  Within seconds, Enyeto crouched, a growl tearing through his body. His body began to swell and grow, doubling, tripling, quadrupling in size. From the tips of his fingers sprouted curved claws, a thick black fur covering what were now dinner-plate sized paws.

  The huge black bear stood on its hind legs and roared, fragments of now destroyed clothes falling from its body. Chogan caught Autumn staring in a mixture of horror and awe as Blake pulled her backward into the elevator—the same expression he’d seen on her face when she’d first watched Blake and himself shift.

  “Go,” he told them again. “Go.”

  The elevator doors slid shut, taking Blake and Autumn with it. The sound of feet came running down the corridor. More security headed toward them, guns drawn.

  They must have been spotted on security cameras, Chogan realized.

  The men slid to a halt, shocked into non-action at the sight of the massive black bear now standing on its hind legs in the foyer.

  “What the fuck?” One of the men gasped.

  A couple of shots exploded in the confines of the building. One hit Enyeto in the shoulder, blood spraying out onto the floor. The bear let out another roar and ran at a huge, lumbering lollop toward the group of workers. They screamed in terror, a strange sound coming from so many big, strong men’s mouths. A different security guy got off another shot, but the bullet went wide, hitting the glass separating an office from the corridor. Glass imploded inward, the woman behind screaming in fright.

  Enyeto barely fit through the corridor, his big, bustling back end filling the space. Chogan followed, walking backward with his gun out held, literally covering Enyeto’s ass. With the sound of the gunshot and breaking glass, the couple of guards who had left their post to go outside now came running.

  “Hey, you there! Halt or I’ll shoot!”

  Chogan didn’t give them time to shoot, squeezing off a couple of shots himself. One guard jerked back as he was hit in the shoulder. The other had caught sight of the huge bear and started to step away, clearly making his exit.

  He knew they couldn’t take out a whole department of people, and he didn’t intend to, but they needed to create enough confusion and chaos to allow Blake time to find the man he needed to, and, if he could, Autumn’s roommate as well.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  MIA PEERED AROUND the small room she’d been locked in—some kind of storage closet, she suspected. The only light came from the shaft filtering from beneath the door. In the beam, she could just make out the man she’d been imprisoned with. He appeared to be a few years older than her, perhaps in his early thirties. Around his temples, flecks of white in his dark hair caught the small amount of light. His features seemed to be strong, though she struggled to distinguish much more. A white coat donned his body, similar to one a doctor would wear, though it had half fallen from his shoulders when he was thrown in here a little over an hour ago. An identification card was pinned to the pocket. She strained against her bonds to lean forward, trying to read the name on the card by the light from under the door.

  P… something … Paul? Peter? She thought the surname might be Harvey.

  The man worried her. He’d not regained consciousness, and she struggled to hear him breathing.

  She tugged at the cable ties securing her wrists to some metal pipes on the wall. The plastic cut into her skin, so every movement felt like someone slicing into her wrists with a couple of blades. Pain shot up her arms and made her groan against the cloth wrapped around her mouth. The gag had grazed the corners of her lips and her tongue felt fat, her mouth and throat painfully dry. Her arms had been pulled behind her body for hours now, her shoulders aching, the muscles threatening to cramp.

  She couldn’t even begin to guess how long she’d been here. Every so often, a man in military uniform came in to give her a drink of water and place a bucket beneath her to pee, an experience almost as degrading as the kidnapping itself. The first couple of times, her bladder had frozen, refusing to relieve itself, but after numerous hours had passed and she’d even managed to sleep some, she’d woken to an almost painful need. That time, when the man returned, she’d been able to go.

  At least no one had tried to touch her yet. That was her worst fear after the man who’d come to her apartment, Calvin Thorn, brought her here—wherever here might be. A cloth bag had been placed over her head, and she’d been bundled into the back of a van. She’d tried to keep track of which way they were heading, but after a couple of turns, she lost her sense of direction.

  She knew what was happening to her now had to do with the missing boy, Toby. That she’d had her funding cut right after accepting the case wasn’t a coincidence. Plus, strange men didn’t warn you off a regular teenage runaway. But what she didn’t understand—and what she couldn’t figure out, no matter how many ways she turned things over in her head—was Autumn’s connection in all this. She felt as though she was trying to put together a puzzle with half of the pieces missing.

  She hoped her friend was all right. The man she’d seen briefly on the news looked like the same one Autumn described a couple of nights ago over dinner. She’d seen how Autumn’s eyes lit up when she’d spoken of him. Her roommate was normally a pretty good judge of character. Would she really have been interested in someone who was actually a kidnapper and involved with men like Calvin Thorn?

  None of it made any sense.

  Muffled pops came from outside the room, like a distant car backfiring or firecrackers, but she knew deep down those weren’t the reasons
behind the sounds. Screams and men yelling followed, the slap of footsteps running down the corridor outside. Shadows flicked past the bottom of the door.

  Mia tried to yell against the gag, but only managed to issue a muffled groan. Straining against her bonds sent fresh pain spiking through her body and she moaned again, her body heaving in a sob.

  Somewhere in the building, an alarm went off, an undulating rise and fall of a wail.

  Something was happening, but what? Did it have to do with her—someone coming to help her perhaps? Or was that just wishful thinking? She wanting to give herself a little piece of hope, but, as she had no idea what these people wanted from her, she struggled to see who the hell would even know she was here.

  From the other side of the room, the man with the salt and pepper hair gave a groan. Mia sagged in relief. Oh, thank God, he’s not dead. For a while, she’d started to convince herself she was locked in this room with a corpse, the idea threatening to snatch the final threads of control she had over herself.

  The man moaned again and began to move. He rolled to his side and curled up in the fetal position before getting to his knees. He stayed in that position, his head hanging down, and gave another groan which sounded strangely like a growl.

  The hairs on the back of Mia’s neck prickled. Something wasn’t right. She didn’t just hear a growl, did she? The man began to twist and writhe, his shoulders jerking back and forth.

  Oh God, they’ve put me in here with a lunatic! That’s why they hadn’t bothered to tie him up. They figured he’d kill her and save them a job.

  A horrific sound, like flesh tearing, and an awful cracking filled the small space. Mia whimpered against the gag and instinctively squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to put her hands over her ears. What’s going on? She forced her eyes open, making herself assess the situation. Though her insides had turned to water and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and try to pretend she was somewhere else, she thought doing just that would probably get her killed.

  Staring into the dim light, her brain struggled to comprehend what she was seeing. The man’s shape seemed to be changing, the texture of his skin completely different from anything she’d seen on a man before. Then he lifted his head, and his face … Oh God … his face! It no longer looked human, the jaw longer, sharp canines protruding from beneath the lower lip. Her eyes strained so wide she thought they might pop from her head. Surely this wasn’t happening? She must have passed out and was now having some kind of crazy dream. Yet, if that was true, why did her wrists still feel like someone was slicing into them with razors?

  The man continued to change, growing larger. Something whipped out from behind him. Surely not a tail?

  His clothes fell from his body in tattered shreds.

  She froze with terror, her breath trapped in her lungs. Bright amber eyes, lined in black, stared at her through the gloom, regarding her with something greater than human intelligence.

  Mia tried not to pass out in the presence of the largest mountain lion she’d ever seen.

  The animal trotted over to her.

  Oh God. Please don’t eat me, please don’t eat me. She whimpered against the gag and shuffled back as far as possible, her back meeting with the pipes. But the big cat didn’t snarl at her. Instead, it nudged her with its head, pushing her out of the way.

  Oh no, it’s going for the blood, she thought. It can smell the blood from my wrists. She wanted to fight back, but with her hands bound, there was little she could do. Heck, even if her hands weren’t tied, this creature could rip her apart in less than a minute.

  But instead of taking a chunk out of her hand, the cat started to chew on the cable ties attaching her to the pipe. This isn’t happening! Hot breath warmed her skin, whiskers tickling the sensitive inner-wrists, sharp teeth grazing. She tried not to hyperventilate, her breath escaping her body in tiny, frightened gasps, stifled against the gag.

  The cable ties suddenly popped, freeing her arms. Without allowing herself time to think yet, she yanked the gag from her mouth. Finally able to move, she had to stop herself from groaning in pleasure while she rolled her stiff shoulders and released the kink her neck had been suffering with for goodness-knows-how-long. She was so relieved she almost forgot about the giant mountain lion now sitting beside her, a low purr grumbling in its chest.

  Almost.

  “Oh shit, you’re actually real, aren’t you?”

  The purring intensified in volume. From outside the door, more shots were fired. The cat got to its feet and padded to the door. It nudged the solid wood with its head.

  “Really?” she said, still struggling to believe she was actually talking to a mountain lion. In a storage cupboard. Where there had been a man only minutes before. “Are you sure you want to go out there? Oh crap, what the hell am I talking about?”

  She got to her feet, a rash of pins and needles flooding up through her toes and calves. Flexing her feet and legs as she made her way over to the door, she reached out and tried the handle. It wiggled, but the door didn’t budge. The cat took a few steps back, and then leapt forward, barreling its shoulder against the door. The door bowed with a crash. The animal repeated the motion, again and again, while Mia stood out of the way as best she could, her knuckles pressed against her mouth. The door cracked and eventually splintered open. The big cat lifted its paws and padded through the hole, then turned back to her as if to say, “You coming?”

  Mia stepped over the remaining shards of wood, careful not to catch herself. She found herself in a glass corridor she didn’t recognize. A quick glance to her left and right, and she saw two men running toward her. Did she cry for help, or were these men involved in her kidnapping?

  But as one got closer, she recognized the build and blond hair, and knew that if he got any closer she’d see gold flecks in his eyes.

  Calvin Thorn.

  “Jesus!” The security guard running at Calvin’s side reached to grab his gun, but the mountain lion leapt, a tightly coiled spring of muscle, knocking him to the floor. The man’s head hit the ground with a sickening crack.

  Calvin Thorn reached for his own weapon.

  “Watch out!” Mia cried.

  With a snarl, the animal spun around, the movement fast enough to blur its golden fur. A swipe of its huge paw across Calvin’s face rendered him either unconscious or dead, Mia couldn’t be sure. He fell to the ground, gun clattering from his fingertips. Down the side of his face, five bright red lines bloomed and glistened.

  If the man wasn’t dead, he’d have some pretty fearsome scars to show for it.

  The beast turned its head toward Mia and regarded her with those magnificent amber eyes.

  She took a shaky breath. “Okay, I’ll stick with you, shall I?”

  It slowly lowered its head and then lifted it back up again. If she hadn’t have known better, she’d have thought the animal had nodded.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  THE ELEVATOR PINGED open. Autumn recognized the floor as being the same one she’d come up to the morning of her interview with General Maxim Dumas. She could hardly believe the event had taken place only a matter of days ago. Her whole life had literally flipped on its head since then.

  She glanced up at the man standing beside her and her heart swelled with emotion. It had only been a few days, too, since she’d first been introduced to Blake, and yet now she felt as though her life was in his hands, and there was no other place she wanted it to be.

  Please don’t let him get hurt.

  She wanted them all to make it out of this alive. She wanted to know what the future had in store for them; if Blake would go back to his life on the reservation, or if he’d stay in the city with her. Where she’d lived her life so far surrounding herself in work, she now envisaged a life outside of the laboratory.

  But with what was taking place here today, surely an inquiry of some kind would need to happen? After all, their names and faces had been all over the news. How could they tell an
yone the truth of what actually occurred here without coming across as lunatics? Plus, if they ended up with blood on their hands, they would probably need to forget a future and head straight to prison instead.

  At a light-footed run, they headed down the corridor, toward the office. The chaos on the other floors meant this one was now deserted of people. A couple of other doors stood open where people must have rushed out at the commotion. At the end of the hallway, a floor-to-ceiling window looked out onto an impressive view across the Chicago skyline. Autumn couldn’t be sure, but she thought she glimpsed the swoop of a giant bird’s wing block the view of the skyscrapers for the briefest of moments before vanishing again.

  Her gun was still clutched in one hand, her palm slick with sweat against the metal. Blake locked eyes with her and motioned with his weapon to tell her to stand on one side of Dumas’ closed office door while he took up position on the other side. Beneath them, somewhere in the building, came the sounds of gunshots and people’s screams.

  Autumn found herself praying for Chogan’s safety. Though she didn’t feel the same way about him as she did Blake, she couldn’t pretend she felt nothing. He was special and had gone out of his way to help her, to help them. She wanted them to all be safe together at the end of this.

  Blake mouthed at her, “One, two, three ...” He jumped in front of the door, drew back his leg, and kicked the door open.

  They both raced in, guns pointed. But other than Dumas’ gleaming mahogany desk and a couple of other items of furniture, the room was empty.

  “Damn it, where the hell is he?” Blake swore.

  From behind, an arm wrapped around Autumn’s throat and choked off the sound of her shriek. A cool circle of metal pressed hard against the side of her head as someone held her at gunpoint. Her heart rate leapt, pounding in her ears as she struggled to catch a breath. Her own weapon fell from her fingers and clattered to the floor.

  “Don’t move,” Dumas breathed against her ear.