by J. C. Diem
Kala instantly smirked at the reminder. “I almost forgot about that. It’s going to be fun watching you crash and burn.” The cake she’d made me for my eighteenth birthday had been an abomination that I wished I could wipe from my memory forever. I could vividly remember the horrible taste of the charred lump that I’d choked down.
Catching that thought, Reece hid his smile. “I’ll have to search the internet for a recipe,” he said.
Flynn tapped his forehead. “Don’t worry, I have the list of ingredients that you’ll need stored up here.”
“Do you have a photographic memory?” I asked.
“Nope. I just really like chocolate cake.”
“It’s always been your favorite,” Mark said with a nostalgic smile.
They all shared a grin, leaving me feeling like an outsider. No matter how much time I spent with the team, I’d always be the newcomer.
We stopped at a grocery store after lunch to buy the ingredients that Reece would need. Flynn did indeed have a good memory. I was pretty sure the list was complete when we left the store. Even if he’d forgotten something, Margaret would no doubt have it in stock.
She appeared in the kitchen door when we trooped in through the backdoor rather than through the front. She took in the bags that Reece was carrying and raised her eyebrows.
“Would it be possible for me to borrow your kitchen tomorrow?” he asked. “It’s Mark’s birthday and I’d like to bake him a cake.”
“I can make that for you, dear,” she said, totally won over by his politeness, or possibly by his hotness. She might be old enough to be his mother, but I’d seen her checking him out a few times.
“Reece promised Mark that he’d make it,” Kala said charmingly. “All by himself,” she added for good measure so our hostess wouldn’t be tempted to assist him.
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t set anything on fire,” I reassured her when she wrung her hands in worry. She seemed to trust me more than the others when it came to cooking and nodded. She had good judgment. I’d been taking care of myself every time my father was sent on a mission ever since I’d turned thirteen. I’d never yet set the kitchen on fire and I had a pretty good track record when it came to baking.
“Would you like coffee?” she asked.
“We’d love some,” Mark responded.
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure I could drink more coffee just yet. Apparently, neither could Kala. “Why don’t we take a walk?” she suggested and linked her arm through mine.
“Stay out of trouble,” our boss ordered.
“Yes, Dad,” she replied in a long-suffering tone. It made me smile, but it also brought a stab of pain as I was reminded of the rift that had grown between myself and my father.
I waited until we were outside and out of hearing before I spoke. “Do you really think of Mark as your father?”
She cut a glance at me and shrugged. “Sometimes.” She was silent while she put more thought into it. “I can’t remember my parents at all and I have no idea if I have any siblings. Mark and the guys are my family as far as I’m concerned.”
“Have you ever tried to find your parents?”
“Mark tried to find out who our parents were and what happened to them,” she said. “He couldn’t find any records of missing children who matched any of our descriptions.”
It sucked having a vampire for a mother, but at least I knew who both of my parents were. It must have been awful not knowing what had become of their families. If the organization that had snatched them was anything like I suspected, their families would be dead.
The PIA wasn’t the only agency that knew about supernatural creatures. A rival organization had performed experiments on Reece, Kala and Flynn when they were toddlers. They’d injected them with various viruses that had turned them all into shifters. Their intention had been to keep the trio prisoner. They were going to document the changes that happened to them as they grew older.
Mark had saved them from that fate and had become their guardian. Knowing him, he’d probably kept records of his own while he’d been raising the kids. It made sense not to waste the opportunity to learn more about our species.
“If someone could wave a magic wand and change your life, would you choose to be just a normal person?” I asked.
This time, her silence lasted longer before she answered me. “I’ve never known what it’s like to be normal,” she said at last. “Mark raised us with the knowledge that we were different. He prepared us for what would happen when we turned fifteen.”
“How did he know that you’d shift then?”
“He read it in the archives. Any children conceived by shifters become shifters as well. Their first transformation always happens on the first full moon after their fifteenth birthday. No one knows why. Mark’s theory is that we turn then because we’ve passed through puberty, but haven’t quite reached adulthood yet. In cases of people who are turned, like you, it’s more painful. The transformation becomes more traumatic the older they are when they’re turned.”
In that case, I was glad I’d only just turned eighteen when Reece had marked me, because it hurt like hell when I transformed. I wished I’d had someone to guide me through the process. I hadn’t had any warning that I was going to turn into a monster. One day I’d been a normal teenager, and the next I was hunting wild animals down and eating their intestines.
“I don’t think I’d have changed anything,” Kala said introspectively. “Instead of going to college and getting a degree that I’d probably never even use, I’m out there fighting the bad guys and saving the humans from being eaten.”
“By creatures like us,” I said and we shared a rueful look.
₪₪₪
Chapter Nineteen
Hearing a car approaching us from behind, we ambled over to give it room. We both turned when it sped up. Kala realized that the driver was going to run us over a split second before I did. She dived at me, pushing me out of the way. I heard a crunch and she shouted in pain when the car clipped her. We tumbled to the grass in a tangle of limbs.
Landing on top, I rolled Kala onto her back, fearing the worst. Her golden eyes blazed in fury and pain, but she was alive. Her cargo pants were torn at the knee and blood was soaking into the fabric. “How badly are you hurt?” I asked.
“I’ll live.” She didn’t try to get up and I wondered if she’d sustained any other injuries that I couldn’t see.
The car had come to a stop and the driver looked out the window to check on the damage that he’d caused. A sour stink came off him that was part sweat and something that I couldn’t quite define. Maybe it was malevolence.
His happy grin revealed stained and broken teeth. Limp and unwashed, his shoulder length hair was a dirty shade of light brown. His rusty pickup truck was devoid of a license plate on the back. Pulling his head back inside, he put his foot down on the gas and my rage flared. He’d tried to kill us and now he was just going to drive away. I wasn’t about to let that happen and I scrambled to my feet.
“Go get that guy,” Kala hissed and I began to run.
I had a disconcerting moment of double vision as Reece realized something was wrong and reached out to connect with me. That truck just tried to run us down, I said to him with my focus on the truck. Kala’s hurt. She might need medical attention.
We’re on our way, he thought back at me.
If the pickup truck had been new rather than ancient, the driver might have gotten away. Since it wasn’t, I caught up to it easily. Wrenching the door open, I dragged the guy out. The truck kept going for a few yards then stalled.
Not much taller than me, he had a slim, malnourished build. Cursing in fright and anger, his putrid breath washed over me as I drew my hand back to punch him. I saw the knife in his hand as it sliced towards my stomach.
Only my uncanny reflexes allowed me to step back in time. If I’d still been human, my intestines would have spilled out onto my feet. I grabbed his arm in mid-swing before he co
uld take another stab at me. I’d been warned that I was much stronger than a normal teen now, but I was used to sparring with my fellow shifters. This was the first time I’d gone hand to hand with a human and I wrenched his arm a little too hard.
With a wet, tearing sound, it came loose from his shoulder. We both stared down at the limb that was now in my hands. For a moment, my attacker was too shocked to react as blood spurted from his stump. It splashed on me, coating my face and clothes in thick, red liquid. Regaining his voice, he shrieked and backed away.
His screams of terror and agony startled birds from their nests. Kala limped over to survey my work. I was glad to see her already up and moving around. Maybe she wasn’t hurt as badly as I’d feared.
The driver would die quickly from blood loss, but I wasn’t sure I could stand to listen to him screaming for that long. “Hold this for a second,” I said and handed her the arm. Drawing my pistol, I put a bullet between his eyes. It was a relief when his shrill scream cut off as my shot rang out.
Mark, Reece and Flynn arrived moments later. Reece had watched the exchange through my eyes. Our bond had led him straight to us. We gathered in a loose circle around the body. Mark grimaced at the sight of Kala holding the arm.
“Don’t look at me,” she said and handed the limb back to me. “This one was all Lexi’s.”
I took it and then didn’t know what to do with it.
Mark took a photo of the corpse with his cell phone. “Let’s put him in the back of his truck,” he decided. “I’ve already called the Cleanup Crew, but it will take them an hour to get here.” He knew us well enough to guess that the man would be dead before they arrived to back us up. He’d planned ahead.
“We can’t leave the truck on the side of the road,” Reece said. “We’ll have to move it before anyone reports it to the cops.”
Trying to avoid the blood splatters, Reece and Flynn picked up the body while Mark unfolded a piece of tarpaulin he found in the back of the truck. They wrapped the corpse inside and I tucked his arm in as well. The knife that he’d tried to eviscerate me with was still clutched in his fist. That saved me from having to search for it.
Mark gestured for me to follow him as he climbed into the dead man’s truck. The others gave me sympathetic glances. I figured I was about to receive a stern lecture. They drove off in the SUV and we followed.
“So,” Mark ventured. “Was it fun?”
Surprised by his question, I was lost for a second before I grasped his meaning. “Pulling his arm off?” He nodded and I put some thought into it. It had happened so fast that I hadn’t really felt anything, except for a sense of satisfaction. I’d been strongly linked to Reece at the time. It had been hard to tell if the emotion came from him or from me. “Not really. I didn’t mean to rip his arm off. It just sort of happened.”
“You don’t seem upset about it,” he observed.
“Should I be?” I asked curiously. “He was planning to murder us. He’s just as bad as Officer Mallory, but at least this guy didn’t try to rape me first.”
His eyes left the road long enough to glance at me. “I was advised by my police contact in New Orleans that the detective had gone missing. I take it you were responsible for his disappearance?”
“Reece did the honors,” I admitted. “I’d have killed him myself, but he beat me to it.” I’d been meaning to tell Mark about the dead cop so the families of the girls he’d murdered could be notified. “Why are so many people evil?” I asked tiredly.
“I wish I knew,” he replied. “Sometimes, it’s hard to remember that most people are inherently good. We see so much malice in our line of work that it would be easy to begin thinking of humans as monsters.”
He went quiet and I waited for him to give me a dressing down. He didn’t and the silence started to get to me. “Aren’t you going to lecture me?”
His expression was mildly surprised. “Lecture you about what? Stopping an attempted murderer from getting away? While I’m not thrilled with your methods of killing him, I’d be far more upset if you’d allowed yourself to come to any harm.”
“Oh.” I frowned in puzzlement. “Then why did you want me to ride with you if you’re not going to yell at me?”
“I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”
It was such a fatherly thing to say that it brought tears to my eyes. I suddenly realized how much I missed my dad. Mark might be able to accept the fact that I was a supernatural being who had the tendency to kill anyone who wished me ill, but could my father do the same?
Sensing my misery, he patted my arm. “It’ll be okay, Lexi,” he said softly. “I won’t allow you to turn into a monster.”
Pressing my lips together, I held in the bitter words that wanted to spill out. Didn’t he realize that it was too late for that? I’d just torn a man’s arm off and had finished him off by putting a bullet into his brain. I’d felt no remorse or guilt at all, but instead had felt satisfied and possibly even a little pleased. Wasn’t that the very definition of a monster?
My fellow agents were the only people who would ever be able to accept me now. To anyone else, I was a freak who should be hunted down and destroyed. A small part of me wondered how my father truly felt about me now that I was no longer fully human. If he ever came face to face with me when I was a werewolf, would he be tempted to shoot me? I prayed that we’d never have to find out.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty
Mark followed the SUV off the main road and onto one of the smaller tracks. He nudged the truck into a dense copse of trees. It would be hidden from sight until the Crew could retrieve and dispose of it.
Branches boxed me in. I had to shove the door hard to get it open. Branches scratched me as I fought my way free.
Trapped inside, Mark futilely attempted to push his door open. “A little help?” he called.
Shaking my head in pity at his feebleness, I battled through the branches and forced his door open. It seemed ironic that I was half his size, yet I was far stronger than he was. “There you go, boss,” I said as he squeezed through the narrow opening.
He nodded his thanks and followed in my wake as I forged the way through the trees. We were both covered in scratches by the time we reached the SUV. Mine faded almost instantly, but Mark’s would have to heal naturally. He’d shielded his face and most of the marks were on his hands. Our clothes were torn in a few places. Mine were stained with blood and were ruined anyway, so it wasn’t a great loss. Mark had plenty of backup suits in his wardrobe.
Flynn powered his window down. “I hope you’re not thinking of riding with us with your clothes in that condition.” He pointed at the blood that coated me. “It’ll ruin the upholstery.”
I pulled my shirt away from my chest. I was sticky and the smell wasn’t particularly pleasant. “I’ll run the rest of the way,” I told him. God forbid I should ruin the leather.
“Good idea,” Mark replied. “We’ll be right behind you.”
I took off and easily beat them back to Dawson’s Retreat. Edward was nowhere in sight and I could hear Margaret in the kitchen when I arrived. I quickly ran upstairs, locked my door and took a long shower. I rinsed as much of the blood from my clothes as I could, but they’d still have to be thrown out. Changing into a fresh white t-shirt and jeans, I met the others in the parlor.
Coffee and snacks were waiting. I bit into a slice of cake and chewed enthusiastically. It was coffee cake, one of my favorites.
“I see that ripping that guy’s arm off didn’t affect your appetite,” Reece observed with a half-smile.
“He had it coming,” Kala said in my defense. She’d changed as well and was showing no signs of being in pain. Her injuries had already healed and she was none the worse for wear.
“He certainly did,” Mark agreed. “I ran a search on him while you were in the shower. His name was Randy Tidwell and he was wanted for suspicion of murder.”
“I’m shocked and surprised,” I said and Kal
a sniggered. “It sounds like I did the world a favor by blowing his brains out.”
“Why did you shoot him?” Reece asked curiously. “He would have died from blood loss in another minute or so.”
“He was screaming like a little girl,” Kala replied for me. “It was pretty annoying. If Lexi hadn’t shot him, I would have.”
Well used to how callous we sounded, Mark wasn’t disturbed by our conversation. We didn’t have the same mindset as humans. Randy Tidwell had been a threat, not just to us, but to anyone who went for a stroll along the roadside. To our kind, I’d done the practical thing by killing him before he could kill me.
Kala raised a question that was far more difficult to answer. “Why do you seem to be a magnet for the bad guys? I’ve never met anyone who has so many people trying to kill her. It’s uncanny.”
“It’s just my bad luck, I guess,” I muttered. Maybe I was cursed. Bad things did seem to happen to me with great regularity lately.
“Now this is how a cake should taste,” Flynn said, changing the subject abruptly. “See how it isn’t the consistency of rock?” he said to Kala then shifted his attention to Reece. “I hope you’re taking notes, bro.”
“You have no faith in my abilities,” Reece said. He crossed his arms, which made his biceps bulge. I looked away before I could be caught staring like a love struck fool.
“I’ve just been left disappointed too many times,” Flynn said with a sad shake of his head and cut a glance at Kala.
Every time it was her turn to cook turned out to be a disappointment. Mainly because she didn’t cook at all. Her idea of preparing a meal was to heat up a frozen pizza.
Scowling, the object of our discussion bit into her cake. “So what if I can’t cook?” she said after she’d chewed it into a congealed wad. “I have many other far more useful talents.”
“That’s true,” he conceded. “You can torture information out of someone faster than any of us.”
