by Gray Holborn
“Trust me, you’re still clumsy. Me having supe-amplified balance doesn’t change that.”
“And your sense of smell. Your hearing. You never talked about the supe stuff before, but now it makes sense. You are rarely in panther form, but you always experience some of the added benefits.”
“Yup, which means I’ve always been able to hear you singing in the shower. Seriously, who sings commercial jingles instead of real songs? And not even the good commercial jingles, but the ones that make you cringe with their bad rhymes and puns.” She threw me a wink, threaded her arm through mine, and dragged me towards the door. “Come on, today I get to join you in your misery. Part of it anyway, since Soren won’t let me come on the super secret stakeouts sniffing for Raifus.”
“Such alliteration. Professor Sadjwick would be happy to know you aren’t letting your extended vacation negate all your hard work in the English Department.”
She rolled her eyes as we met the boys in the clearing. My eyes landed on Soren, who seemed more tense than usual. He turned slightly towards me. “So, today I want you to work with Ellie. It’s one thing for you to learn how to fight, it’s another for you to learn how to fight and defend yourself against someone with an energy ability. And, since Jax doesn’t seem to affect you,” his lips twerked up, his eyes mocking Jax, “Ellie is the best option we have today.” He didn’t give a reason for not participating, but now that I knew he also had superior hearing, he probably heard Ellie explaining his shift to me. I should probably be more aware of how close he was next time I wanted to complain about him.
Or not. I was only partially kidding when I said his ego could use some deflating.
“Got it, fighting Bagheera today.” I winked at Ellie as she grinned at her old nickname.
“More like trying to fight Bagheera today.” She hopped slightly from foot to foot, her arms in front of her like a boxer. “Beware though, Bagheera has some good moves.”
Soren looked up towards the sky, in what was likely his version of an eye roll. “Ellie stop turning this into a joke. You need a refresher just as much as Black does. You’ve grown soft these last few years and need to re-train yourself to be vigilant.”
Soren was always talking about the importance of vigilance. Sometimes I liked to close my eyes and pretend that I was being trained by Mad-Eye Moody. Of course, I’d never admit that to him, but I was sure El would get a kick out of it.
When I looked away from Soren with a small smirk on my face, I turned back towards El and Jax. Where my vertically-challenged, blond best friend stood moments before, was a giant black panther looking at me through familiar blue eyes. I went to take a step back and fell on my butt.
“Oh shit,” I muttered, pulse hammering. “El, I know it’s just you, but the prospect of fighting a jungle beast was way less terrifying in theory.”
The panther lifted its top lips and made a strangled sound—it was an expression I’ve never seen on an animal before and if I had to guess, I’d say she was laughing at me.
“Okay, Black. Let’s say you’re facing a body-shifter who can shift into something predatory like a panther. What does your instinct tell you to do?” Soren paced beside us, calm and collected while I was sweating bullets.
“Honestly? Run,” I answered.
“Right. That’ll work if you see the energy aura long before the shifter sees you, but hopefully you’ve come to terms with the fact that you’re not faster than a panther, Desi-girl.” Jax was grinning ear-to-ear. “Not to mention that will just heighten the predatory instinct for the animal to chase its prey.”
“Well I obviously can’t fight an animal with her size and strength so what am I supposed to do? Throw some catnip at her and hope I can distract her long enough to get away? Carry a laser pointer at all times?” I was joking, but also kind of not. Cats were smart, but I’d yet to meet one who didn’t succumb to the entertainment of a dancing red light.
“Think about the last thing Jax said.” Soren’s tone was even, in full coach mode.
“He mentioned her instincts.” I took a casual step away from El. I knew she’d never hurt me and I was never afraid of her in this form before, but something about knowing I’d be fighting her in a moment had my nerves on edge.
“Yes. Shifters, when in their shifted form, tend to fight and think more through their instincts. El’s still there, but her senses are heightened and she’ll fight using the panther’s instincts. In human form, she’ll be more likely to think about her strategy, and yours.” Soren paused and looked at me, and I tried to ignore the little flip in my stomach when my eyes met his gray ones. “So, what do you think you should do?”
“Work against her instincts?” I paused for a moment, squinting against the sun. “Or at least anticipate them and move accordingly.”
“Good, Desi!” Jax was bouncing on his feet like a proud parent in the stands.
Normally I’d find that sort of cheerleading patronising, but I couldn’t help beaming back at Jax. The smile on his face was so genuine.
Soren and Jax spent the next hour teaching me how to work with Ellie’s weaknesses, to anticipate her moves and push against them. It was amazing to watch the three of them spar, each moving around the other in an elaborate and graceful dance. I messed up more times than I succeeded, but El never did more than lick my ticklish arms and legs to signal a bite. And of course I could tell that she was holding back with me in comparison to when she went after Jax and Soren.
Even so, by lunchtime I was feeling more confident in my sparring. Realistically, I’d likely never stand a chance against a body-manipulator, but the exercise still improved my strategy and it was important for me to understand how different humans and supes were—and since we were being hunted by the latter, that meant I had a long way to go before I would be good for anything other than running away.
When Soren and Jax went inside to make lunch, Bagheera and I laid out near the pond, soaking in the afternoon sun. My hand absentmindedly scratched El behind the ear until I realized what I was doing and pulled it away. Our eyes met and I laughed, both of us remembering the day we met.
After a few more seconds of cooling down from the strange and intense workout, I moved back into the house, accompanied a few minutes later by a human El tugging down her shirt. I turned to her. “You know, I always wanted a pet, so it’s nice that my roommate can fill that role for me.”
She nudged me lightly before hopping off to the shower, singing an awful pop song at the top of her lungs.
I sat in silence for a moment, savoring the gooey grilled cheese. Jax added double cheese on mine—it was a work of art.
“So, back to waiting in the backyard of the elusive Raifus today?” I asked before taking another obscenely large and unflattering bite.
Soren nodded, looking over at Jax, the two of them lost in a silent conversation I couldn’t follow.
“Have you heard from Sage or Dex?” I probed, panic suddenly dispensing along my spine.
Jax shook his head. “Not since yesterday. There was a little development.” Jax paused and Soren tensed. “Sam’s totally okay though,” he added quickly.
“Why wouldn’t he be totally okay? What development? You guys didn’t mention anything last night.” I stood up. And then I sat down again, unsure of what to do. If it was bad news, it would be best to sit. But I wanted good news, so I stood back up.
Soren pushed away from his chair, his hands clenching around the wooden lip of the table until I was certain it would splinter. “I’m going to go get ready for the day.” He walked towards his bedroom, but at the last second turned back in my direction. “We’ll leave in an hour.”
“Sam walked into your room yesterday and Michael was standing there looking through your stuff,” Jax said, careful and tentative.
“What?” My ears were ringing and my hands gripped my sandwich until drops of melted cheese painted my plate like a high-calorie Jackson Pollock painting.
“As soon as Sam walked in, Mic
hael disappeared. It didn’t look like he took anything with him and he didn’t attack.” Jax’s voice was gentle, like he was trying to calm an exotic animal. Suddenly I felt like I was Bagheera and he was Mowgli.
The muscles in my body slowly released. If Michael didn’t hurt Sam then maybe he would permanently leave him alone. “What do you think he was looking for? And what do you think it means that he didn’t attack?”
“I wish I had an idea, but honestly I don’t know the answer to either of those questions.” Jax’s black eyebrows pulled together, carving an uncharacteristic line of tension between them.
✽✽✽
A few days later, Soren and I were sparring in our usual clearing, waiting for Raifus or some sign of him. Honestly, I was beginning to think this whole Raifus thing was a dead end. That, or he was part of an elaborate plan for Soren to kill and bury me in the woods where I’d never be found.
“Are you sure,” I swung a fist towards Soren, “this guy,” I blocked his returning hit, “is ever gonna,” I ducked to kick out his legs, “show up?” Soren leapt over my head, avoiding the kick altogether.
“No.”
“That’s it?” I asked the same question everyday and always received the same answer. Didn’t mean I was going to stop being frustrated or stop asking. I clutched my knees, panting. I appreciated the view in our clearing and, if I was being honest, the drive everyday with Soren, but I was starting to get frustrated by this Raifus dude. “You don’t know if he’ll ever show up? Should we move on to a different source? We can’t just wait here forever.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Black. Jax is waiting to hear back from a few leads, but—” Soren’s eyes grew wide when his head snapped in my direction.
“What?”
A second later, something pulled me back several feet by the hair. When I looked up, I was staring at the feeder girl from the night Kevin’s band played. The fact that she was grabbing me by my ponytail made things worse.
Girls pulling hair just fed into all the awful cliches, especially when she was supposedly a badass supe. Not to mention, it hurt like a bitch and I’d be royally pissed if she damaged my roots.
She wasn’t concerned with me though, her eyes taunting Soren as he stared at my throat.
And at the cold press of metal against my sensitive skin, I understood why.
I was so not okay with being bait, and this girl was about my size. Which meant I stood a chance. Maybe. Not to mention, she had the audacity to act like I wasn’t a threat. At the same moment that I gripped the hand that held a knife against my neck, I elbowed her in the lady parts. Hard. She didn’t have any junk down there, but Hollywood liked to pretend that kind of move only hurt guys. It didn’t.
When she gasped in surprise, her hands loosened their grip around the handle and I was able to wrestle the knife from her. After a quick kick to her knees and a throat punch (I’ve always wanted to orchestrate a throat punch), I turned back to Soren with a huge smile on my face. While I expected him to look pleased that I defended myself from an actual baddie, his gaze hardened as he ran towards me.
About a second before he reached me, I was on my ass, trying to breathe oxygen back into my lungs.
I saw him tackle another huge supe. When my brain caught up to my surprise, I realized it was the blond guy who the female feeder was fawning over at Inferno. While the girl didn’t look like she could handle herself in a fight, this guy definitely did. He had at least fifty pounds on Soren and I watched as the two met each other blow for blow.
His girlfriend rebounded from the attack way more quickly than I did, her hands clasping around my neck and pulling me towards her. She was wearing a deep-cut black leather dress that left little to the imagination and made it clear she probably wasn’t expecting a fight today. That, or she was the most woefully unprepared shopper I knew.
My hands gripped hers as I momentarily forgot my training. Like absolutely all of it. It was hard to remember how to kick someone’s ass when you were struggling to breathe. Her eyes squinted at me in concentration; a look that soon turned to frustration and confusion. That was a look I was used to with feeders, or at least all two I had encountered up close. I smiled tightly at the girl, probably making her think I was deranged. Good. That gave me an edge.
“What’s wrong with you? What have you done to my ability you little bitch?” She shoved me back to the ground, focusing harder.
Ugh, did she really have to call me the b-word? I hated when girls didn’t support girls. It was so not part of my life philosophy.
But not one to ignore a good opportunity, I kicked to my feet and punched her in the nose, pleased with the cracking sound it made on contact. Blood poured down her face, but somehow that only made her look more intimidating and motivated than I’d seen her look so far. She stood and squared off with her fists raised. I avoided the first punch, and blocked the second, landing my own hit on the edge of her shoulder far from where I’d aimed it.
The momentum from my thrust and her unexpected pivot had her behind me, allowing her the time and position to nail me in the kidneys. Pain erupted through my back and I found myself once again with my hands and face digging into the floor of the clearing. For the first time, I realized that Soren was really taking it easy on me when he landed hits during our sparring sessions—a thought that left me both grateful and annoyed.
When I leaned back up to try and kick her feet out from under her, a giant white animal leapt over me and landed on Gothic Barbie. A moment later, the pure white fur was covered with splatters of blood. At the same time that my eyes reached the feeder girl and realized she was now missing a throat, a deep and agonized moan echoed around me.
I looked back, expecting to find Soren still fighting her boyfriend, but loverboy was pressed against a tree, his shoulder impaled by a large branch. I turned back again, trying to find Soren, when my eyes locked onto the face of the large white—now, partially red—creature. Familiar gray eyes stared into mine, but the animal was unlike any I’d ever seen. Where El’s panther was large and, well, sort of a normal panther, Soren’s was easily twice as big. His fur was an ethereal silver-white that resembled an enhanced, more dramatic version of his usual hair color.
“Soren?” My voice was strangely calm, but impossibly quiet. And, try as I might I couldn’t stop my hands from trembling—whether from the fight, the death, or the animal in front of me, I wasn’t sure. It didn’t help that El’s words about her brother’s panther form were bouncing around uncomfortably in my head. He shifted slowly towards me, a low growl reverberating from his body. The animal crouched down, it’s limbs ready to pounce, and I closed my eyes tight. No matter how much I’d practiced with El, there was no way I stood a chance against Soren when I was in this position or condition. Not that I stood a chance against him even on my best day. I was nothing more than a sitting duck. Or a zebra. Or whatever the hell panther’s ate.
A soft breeze kissed my face and I opened my eyes after the expected blow didn’t come. When I turned around, amazed to still be breathing, Soren was pacing back and forth between me and the manipulator I recognized from the club. The final boss of the evil trio.
And by recognized, I mean he was wearing another ridiculous suit. Instead of the bright purple one he wore at Inferno, this one was a chartreuse green. I was beginning to think this guy got off on looking ridiculous. The manipulator ripped the branch from his companion, and I watched in horror as the feeder stood, prepared to fight. His aura might be weaker than the obnoxiously-dressed manipulator, but I had to remember that feeders still weren’t human—they were faster, stronger, and healed more quickly.
The blond feeder was shaking with rage, his eyes following Soren’s every step. “He killed Eileene.”
“Yes, I see that Theonis,” the glorified pimp said as he took a step forward. “You are an unusual looking panther-shifter aren’t you? You don’t take on the animal’s traditional coloring like most. I wonder why?” While Theonis was fuming, t
he manipulator merely looked amused, his intense golden glow enhancing his features.
“The girl. She’s resistant to feeding, Ric. I saw Eileene try and fail, and I can’t pull anything from her now either. It doesn’t feel like a resistance buildup or a talisman.” Theonis darted his eyes between me and Ric (seriously? Such a boring name for someone who looked so completely absurd), clearly hoping his words might convince his boss to quickly finish the fight.
“Well, that’s certainly interesting isn’t it?” Ric smiled, his uneven and yellowing teeth the most remarkable part of his face. “Tell you what, panther. You let us have the girl, we’ll forgive the fact you killed Theonis’s girl. He’s only been screwing her for a year or so. It’s not a totally catastrophic loss, all things considered.”
Theonis narrowed his eyes in anger, but didn’t challenge the manipulator. Soren, however, emitted a bone-chilling growl, so low that I felt it more than I heard it.
“Too bad.” Ric smiled again. “I guess we’ll handle this the fun way then.”
Both men focussed their attention on Soren, deciding I wasn’t enough of a threat. Soren flew through the air—
And then landed into a tree.
He hit hard, so I was surprised to see him get up so quickly and lunge at Theonis. Before Soren had a chance to make contact, Theonis flew above him. Flew.
Ric was an air-manipulator.
All three men were ignoring me, so I moved my fingers carefully along the grass until they met with the cool surface of Eileene’s knife. Ric couldn’t keep this level of energy use up forever and he definitely couldn’t focus on both of us at the same time. That’s what I hoped anyway.
Slowly, I stood, and edged the three feet towards Ric. Before he knew I was there, I kicked his knees out, using the move Soren taught me a week ago, the sound of a painful pop echoing around us. The manipulator hit the ground with an agonizing scream and I lifted the knife up, ready to finish the job.
Until, all of the sudden, I couldn’t breathe. The knife dropped from my fingers and my hands reached to my neck as they reflexively and unsuccessfully tried to help the airflow. Lights danced before my eyes and my knees dropped to the ground, bringing me closer to the puke green suit. I was so not okay with this being the last thing I saw before I died.
