“I’m so confused right now. How’d she change back?” Rose was looking back and forth between Asher and me.
Whatever I was feeling against Asher disappeared with her words. I didn’t change myself back. I’d been trying constantly since I had the strength to do it and failing.
“I thought it would help us find out if my cat was indeed a person.” Asher leaned in, resting his forearms on his knees.
“Which we can all see she is,” he added, and my vision started to spin. Oh God, I didn’t feel good.
“Shit, she’s going to faint.” Phillip jumped up and managed to catch me as my eyes closed and my body slid toward the floor.
Chapter Three
Asher
Snow White was not a cat, but a human…a woman. A beautiful woman.
As she lay on my couch, her body adjusting to my magic having changed her back into her human form, my gaze roamed over her face.
Beautiful tanned skin, straight black hair, and full pink lips.
I wasn’t in shock that my cat turned out to be a person. Truthfully, I was more curious than anything.
Phillip and his sister talked to me about their Hero Society while Echo slept on the couch. I’d heard all about them from the news—hell, everyone in Seahill and the world was talking about them lately. I just hadn’t connected the dots until now.
“How did you change her?” Phillip asked. I was surprised he waited to ask the question that was obviously eating him up on the inside.
“It’s wild magic, unlike yours that comes as a gift of the gods. Wild magic comes from the energy of all things in this world. The living, the dead, the in between,” I answered them and waited for the inquisition to start.
“You know about how we got out powers?” Rose asked in shock. Her features were cute, but I could see the fiery spirit underneath the adorable exterior.
“Our magic has lived side by side for a very long time. Energy has always kept the world going, and certain families were blessed with the powers to wield. My family is one of them, but usually we stay away from your kind. In our history there hasn’t been much good happen from befriending one of you guys.” I shrugged and then gave them a smile to help lift the frowns from their face.
“But I was never good at following the rules, hence why I left and am living in Seahill, above my bar,” I added and hoped it made them feel better.
“I’m not sure if I should be offended or not by your use of you guys. We aren’t much different from you,” Rose snapped, her hands wringing themselves.
“I didn’t mean to offend. Trust me, I’ve heard it all before. Witch. Devil worshiper. You get me.”
Phillip’s eyes moved from my face to Echo’s.
“So, what’s your deal with her?” I was curious as to what they wanted with her, feeling slightly protective of her being. She’d been knocking on death’s door when I rescued her from the street. Someone had done something to her and it could have been these guys.
“We wanted to talk to her and see if she would like to join our team. Bad futures are coming, and she is a player in the game,” Phillip answered me and looked at me speculatively. Interesting. Lots of curiosity was flying around in the room.
“I haven’t seen you besides being with her.” He tilted his head, wondering how I haven’t shown up on his radar with powers.
“Might be my magic throwing off your magic.” That was my best guess.
Echo made a whimper, then shot up into a sitting position without the thought to keep herself covered.
I approved. Echo was sexy as hell. When her gaze clashed with mine, she realized what she forgot and jerked up the blanket.
“Okay. I need clothes, and answers. Then I’m walking out that door,” she demanded, and I found myself smiling at her harsh voice. I didn’t know the woman before, but I knew the cat version, and I bet their personalities were a lot alike. Snow White was kind of a bitch. Testy, and defiant. But at night she would still snuggle in close and showed infinite gratitude in her beautiful brown eyes when I’d helped her survive the first week I’d found her. Sour on the outside, sweet on the inside.
“I can help with the answers, and Asher here can get you the clothes.” Phillip spoke to her calmly, and then looked at me expectantly. Right, I was to get the clothes.
My apartment wasn’t very big—just a standard one-bedroom apartment with a balcony over the bar. So, when Phillip started the whole spiel he’d prepared, I heard every word.
I managed to grab Echo a thick, long-sleeved shirt, and some sweatpants and boots. The clouds have been dusting the ground with snow lately, so hopefully these would keep her warm.
“I’m already part of a team. I’m a detective for the city of Seahill. And as soon as I get out of here, I’m going to track down the people who took me and bring them to justice,” she said sternly as I rounded the corner.
“Just gotta find their island first.” Her low mutter was heard by everyone in the room, even though I didn’t think she meant it to be. Rose and Phillip looked at each other like they both had the same epiphany.
“You were on an island?” Rose asked in a rushed tone.
“Yeah. I escaped before they could kill me and hid on a boat that brought me back to the city.” She snatched the clothes out of my hand as soon as she saw me with them and stomped off to my bedroom to change.
“Emanuel had her. They probably did some experiments on her.” Rose was rambling on, and I hadn’t a clue what they were talking about.
“I’ve got to start opening up the bar soon. Lemons aren’t going to cut themselves,” I told the two sitting who were having a conversation without me involved.
“Right, we’ll get out of your hair. Give Echo this. Thanks for today, man.” Phillip looked a little frazzled as he ushered his sister out of the apartment.
“It was nice meeting you,” Rose called out as he all but pushed her out the door and closed it behind him. I looked down at the card he’d left on the coffee table. It simply said, Phillip Griffin, with a local number printed underneath. Ah, so I’d met the infamous Mr. Griffin, king of the city.
“I’ll bring your stuff back after I’ve gotten home,” Echo said, strolling out of the bedroom and looked around, her face slightly contorted in confusion from the lack of our guests.
“They left?” she asked, and I nodded, reaching for the card to give her while she snatched quickly.
“Here’s his number. I think they know more about the people who took you. Might wanna give them a call.” Our time together was coming to an end, and I could feel she was anxious to hunt for her kidnappers. She looked around, and then her sight settled on my face. There wasn’t anything here for her to grab; I’d found her with nothing but her fur, and even that was gone now.
“Thanks for saving me, and for changing me back. However you did it.” Her chin lifted, and she stood taller. This woman was a complex creature.
“You’re welcome, Snow.” I winked at her and watched the fire in her eyes burn brighter.
“Right. Well, I’ll bring back your stuff, and if you ever need a good detective, I owe you a favor for saving me.” She walked over and held her hand out for a shake. I looked down at her hand and back up to her face. I was the troublemaker of the coven, and I had a feeling my story with this woman was only beginning. My fingers wrapped around hers in a gentle shake before gripping tighter and pulling her body closer to mine.
My lips pressed against hers, and that’s when it happened: the little shock that reverberated down my body then came back up to tingle against her mouth.
Her energy fed mine and held me captive. Even in the few seconds our lips were touching, I knew this was something different.
Something wild and untamed.
Chapter Four
Echo
“Great.” I rubbed the charred plant between my fingers. Having figured out which island I had been captive on, I got on a boat and made my way there, only to find the building destroyed. I’d heard all about
what supposedly went down here a week ago—Hero Society had stopped a man that was a danger to humankind. The building got blasted in the process. Griffin Enterprises would be starting to create a replica in another week, because the fort was part of Seahill’s history.
I stood from my crouched position and looked around at the rubble. Nothing. I had no clue as to what they wanted from me, and the only word I had to go on was the Hero Society’s, who could be lying to everyone.
Some people were happy to have them running about in the streets, cleaning up the mess that we at the Seahill P.D. were already working on, and some were not, scared of what they didn’t understand. They were afraid of the freaks with powers, who could break into banks and steal, or do worse.
Tension between the two sides of people were growing. As of right now, things were stable, manageable. I truly hoped it stayed that way, not just because my city would turn to chaos, but for my own protection. I was a freak, just like some of the people were screaming in the streets about.
I sighed and walked back to the boat, knowing there wasn’t anything else I was going to get here. I’d have to talk to the Hero Society soon, and find out what they knew about my captors.
The ride back to the mainland was easy. With the weather being colder and no winds, the waves were almost non-existent. I wasn’t much of a water girl anyways, always preferring the forest to the sea.
I tied the boat into its designated spot at the marina, making a mental note to message Ryan, the owner, that it was back, safe and sound. I was the detective on the case that had found Ryan’s daughter after she’d gotten lost in the woods three years ago. He said if I ever needed anything, he owed me. I never took people up on their offers for favors. It was my job, and I wanted to help people. But this time I needed a boat, so I called it in.
My boots crunched on the gravel as I walked back to my Camaro. Time to head home, eat something, and run over the files Chief Dillon gave me this morning.
Light fluffs of snow started to fall as I drove back to my apartment, making people extra cautious on the road. It was nice that people were being careful, but the decreasing speeds made what should have been a fifteen-minute ride a thirty-minute ride home.
I smiled slightly to myself when I saw that the parking spot next to the little garden was free. A neighbor and I competed for the spot on a regular basis, both of us wanting that extra foot of space for our car.
“You snooze, you lose, Kevin.” I grinned as I pulled in and parked in the coveted spot.
Just as I was walking into my building I saw Kevin’s car pull into the lot and stop in front of my car in his shiny red Lexus. My smile grew even bigger as I walked inside the lobby and up the stairs to my home. I always chose the stairs over elevator. Better exercise, and I would be the first to admit I had control issues. Elevators were beyond my control—they could break, and there wouldn’t be jack I could do about it.
Once inside my apartment I tossed my keys on the little table by the door and took off my black boots. My apartment wasn’t anything special: a one-bedroom, one-bath, with a shower tub combo and the basics. A television, couch—no dining table because I either ate at the bar or on the couch. My bedroom had a king-sized bed because sometimes my animals liked to take shape and spread out, so I made sure I had a bed big enough for the majority of them. I had one picture in my whole house, and that was one of my parents and me when I was ten. We’d gone on a trip to the zoo, and it was one of my favorite memories of us together. Other than that, the only personal touch to my apartment was my big book shelf that was filled with books about animals. Ever since I could change, I started soaking up as much information as I could about all the animals of the earth. I knew their strengths, their weaknesses, and how I could work with being an animal.
Otherwise, that was it for my home. I wasn’t there too much; work kept me busy and I liked that. I did some stuff on the side for people, too, depending on what they needed.
I opened my fridge and pulled out a frozen dinner, tossing it into the microwave before I tossed my leather jacket on the bar stool that faced the living room.
By the time I set my files on the coffee table and walked back to the microwave, my food was done. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, parked my ass on the couch and got to work.
When I opened the folder up, I saw all the info on a missing woman’s case.
Janie May. Twenty-three years old. Librarian. Blonde, curly hair that came down to her lower back. Green eyes, voluptuous figure, but seemed like a quiet type of personality.
Parents, Claudia and Joe, reported her gone last night. Her room in the apartment she shared with a fellow coworker was trashed. Not Janie’s style, so it seemed plausible that there was foul play. Someone took her, trashing the place in the process, or maybe she left, and the room was trashed after the fact. I’d seen it before. First thing in the morning, I’d talk to the parents, the roommate, coworkers—get a feel for who she was and what was happening in her life.
I’d also scent her and could use my powers to help figure out some clues that normal humans couldn’t.
An hour passed as I went through everything I could find out about Janie in the files, online, and her parents’ statements. My stomach growled, and I looked over at the untouched microwaved food. Work got the best of my mind again; I completely forgot to eat my food.
I sighed, knowing it would probably taste like shit if I heated it up again, but I stood up and went into the kitchen with it anyway.
Taking a break from the case, I turned on the TV to watch the news for a bit, just to make sure nothing was happening in our city that I needed to know about.
“He just grabbed my car with that super-strength, and now I have to have the whole front of my car repaired.” A woman, who was bundled up in a thick jacket and hat covering her blonde hair, was complaining to the reporter standing next to her.
“His statements claimed that your brakes were broken and were about to crash into a crowd of people, so he stopped a disaster from occurring,” Brent, a popular television personality, stated, and the woman gave him a distraught face.
“Tell that to my sore neck and broken car!” The woman looked into the camera and really played up the victim role to the viewers.
“Thank you for your side, ma’am. Hero Society: for the good of mankind, or a danger to the public? Give us a call and let us know your thoughts. Until next time, this is Brent Joel with Seahill News 4 on your side.”
I turned off the TV and closed my eyes for a few moments. There was a crack in my city, and hopefully we could seal it up before it completely divided everyone.
The food did taste like shit as I ate it, but I mustered on. I had a large appetite and would need to eat again soon. The animal spirits inside me needed sustenance all the time, so I ate every three hours, for fear one of them would take over and I’d maul some poor person’s family pet.
Once the food was gone, I dove my thoughts back into work.
“Where are you, Janie?” I whispered to her picture.
Chapter Five
Echo
I tried not to make any sounds as I moved about the forest. My bear paws were quiet with every touch to the ground, while my nose was high, searching the air for Janie’s scent.
All morning I’d talked to her family and friends.
She had a special power, and her power was knowledge. She could look at something once and remember everything, hence why she loved being a librarian. So much to learn, and she retained it all. Her parents loved her for who she was and accepted her the way she was. My parents would have been like that. Pop would have laughed when I got stuck as some creature, and Momma would have smacked him on the side of the head before trying to calm me down enough to change back.
I shook my head, not wanting to think about what could have been when I needed to focus on what was. I caught onto her scent when I was walking around her complex, mixed with something else that, at first, I couldn’t place, but the more
I relinquished my other senses and used my nose, I figured out was apples.
There was only one place in our area that smelled like apples: Holland’s Apples.
The old orchard had been abandoned years ago. Going on my hunch, I drove to the outskirts of Seahill to the woods, and followed my nose to the old farm. I’d changed into a grizzly bear once I was close, leaving my clothes by a large rock pile.
The closer I got to the back of the property where old man Holland’s farmhouse stood, the surer I was that Janie was there. My broad paws made creeping through the woods quietly pretty easy.
My thoughts shifted and then my body changed: muscles shortening, bones shrinking, and wings grew from my arms.
Apparently, I was better suited as an owl. It had been years since I first changed into a creature, and while I typically had control over them, all the animals that lived inside my blood had instincts that I didn’t as a human.
Taking flight, I soared in the cold-as-hell wind and found the house ahead.
“Come on, girl, we know you’ve got the gift. Now tell us about the book!” I heard a man say as I landed quietly on an old tree by a window. Even closed, I could hear what was being said inside, with my heightened senses.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Please just let me go,” a shrill, frightened voice cried. Janie!
“You won’t be saying that when the boss gets here and carves you up with his knives, will you, girl?” the man sneered, and I’d had enough. I wasn’t going to sit here and let them torture that girl.
I glided onto the ledge by a window and changed into an ant. Transformations were quick, so I was walking inside a crack between the glass and the wood in no time. Once inside on the second floor, I changed into a pit viper, slithering across the warped hardwood floors, using my infrared glands to see how many people were in the room below.
Three.
Dusk (Hero Society Book 3) Page 2
