by N. R. Larry
Somehow, I managed to keep all of this off my face.
“And then there were the purchases you made.”
Behind me, the door creaked open. The temperature seemed to spike, and the hairs on my arm stood up. I was suddenly very aware of Gloria’s eyes on me. She tilted her head to the side, like a predator about to strike. I clasped my hands in my lap so that they wouldn’t go for the crystal hanging from my neck.
I cleared my throat. “What about them?”
She nodded at something behind me, and the door clicked closed again. This time, it felt like the door of a prison cell slamming shut. In that moment, I felt like a little girl in a woman’s world, about to be squashed because of her ignorance.
Gloria shrugged. “I simply found it interesting that such a well-to-do married woman should take interest in these particular witches.”
I tried on a bit of smugness. “I have a collection.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”
“Oh, yes. I collect all types.”
“Including shifters?” She snapped, and he trudged forward, coming to a stop once he was behind her chair.
His stare was even more intense than hers was. I had never felt so watched in my entire life. In fact, I doubt anyone had ever been as watched as I was in that moment. I tried to keep my focus on Gloria, but my gaze trailed up to him despite my best efforts to appear stoic.
His eyes cut me with their hatred.
My breath hitched.
“Are you alright, Mrs. Brentwood?” she asked in a voice that was almost sickly sweet.
It wasn’t until then that I realized I was shaking. She knew something. She was toying with me. I could feel it. I couldn’t take my eyes away from the shifter. His eyes dropped to my pendant, and he raised one bushy, yet well-arched eyebrow.
My hand automatically went to my crystal.
Gloria leaned forward and grinned. “Lovely piece of jewelry. Where did you get it?”
I stood up and balled my hands into fists at my sides. Gloria sat back, seeming both unsurprised and unimpressed. “Mrs. Wallace, I really have to be going. If you would please come to your point anytime soon.”
She stared at me for a few beats and then opened a drawer in her desk. My gaze flickered back to the shifter. He was still staring at me with the same intensity, but the hate was gone from his eyes. It was replaced by what seemed like a mix of curiosity and impatience.
He kept staring at my crystal, and then into my eyes with obvious mounting frustration.
“Do you know what this is?” Gloria asked, forcing my attention back to her.
She had pulled out a small vial with a thick, black fluid that reminded me of used motor oil. I stared at her while she placed it on her desk and crossed her arms over her chest.
“You know, that speech I gave about complacency was dead on. Sure, we’re safe, but only if we remain on our toes.” She nodded at the vial. “That’s the result of my husband staying on his toes.”
I pressed my lips together.
“You see, we’ve heard rumors of witches so powerful they can get through even our most accurate checkpoints. It’s almost impossible to catch them. They crawl out of whatever hole they’ve been hiding in, make fools of us, and then scurry right back into the gutter.” Her smile was waxen. “So, our purity scientists came up with this. It’s still in its experimental phase, sure. But it shows great promise.”
Beads of sweat were beginning to form on my brow. Behind Gloria, the shifter’s breathing became heavier.
“You see, you make someone drink it, and it disrupts something in the cerebral cortex―I’m not sure what, something scientific. Anyway, I’m told it can cancel out the most complex glamour spell.” She grinned. “It’s going to make us a lot of money.” Her head tilted to the side. Her ice blue eyes cut to me. “Shall we give it a go?”
Behind her, the shifter jerked on the chains that were still binding him. Gloria turned her head, her finger already to push the alarm button on her desk. The next few seconds were the longest seconds I had to sit through in quite some time. Fear rooted me into that chair. I thought of all the people I was about to fail. Douglass. Aubrey, oh Gaia, Aubrey would kill me if I let myself get killed. Then, despite the fear threatening to suffocate me in my own air, I reached forward and grabbed her hand before she could sound an alarm.
Her head snapped back around toward me. Her blue eyes narrowed in anger, but I also sensed a bit of fear. “What the hell are you doing?”
Before I could answer, a blaring alarm began to sound. The shifter jerked harder on his chains. This time, he gave me a pointed look. “Take it off,” he said in a voice that was so near a growl I could barely make out his words.
“What?” I asked in a panic.
“Take it off.”
Gloria stood and jerked her arm away from me. “Enough of this,” she yelped, pointing at me. She went for the alarm again. The shifter raised his arms above his head, wrapped the chains around her neck, and then pulled her against him.
“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, her face turning a shade of red that didn’t exist in nature.
I stared at the two of them like a mindless idiot. The shifter glared at me. “The crystal,” he grunted. “Take it off.”
Once again, my hand flew to it.
His head tilted to the side. Down the hall, heavy footsteps shook the walls. Gloria smiled. “I can’t wait to add the both of you, and your friends out there to my zoo.”
“Don’t be stupid,” the shifter said to me.
There was a bang against the wall. I cut my gaze left. The doorknob was starting to turn. I reached up and ripped the crystal from around my neck.
The room shivered. Power bounced off me in ripples, blowing papers this way and that. Gloria’s eyes widened.
“The chains,” he grunted. “They keep me from changing.”
I eyed the wrist irons binding him, and sure enough, I felt a binding magic pulsing in them. He caught my eye and his jaw clenched. There was another bang against the door.
“Get in here, you idiots,” Gloria shrieked. She eyed me. “Don’t do it, girl. You still have a chance here.”
It was a good thing there wasn’t enough time to think because if there had been, I might have had time to realize how stupid I was being. I focused all my energy on that pulse in the shifter’s wrist irons and stripped them bare of any magic.
His chains began to rattle. Gloria struggled in his grasp, but she didn’t break free—he let her go. His skin began to ripple. His neck jerked right and then left. I stared at him with my mouth hanging wide open.
His eyes turned yellow.
The door burst open. Gloria screamed something I couldn’t hear. The room began to rattle. Trophies danced along the bookshelves and crashed to the floor. More than one set of arms grabbed me. I didn’t struggle. I was too dumbstruck by him.
He let out an inhuman growl. His body bent backward at his waist. The wet echo of bones snapping made me wince. I blinked several times as someone brought me to my knees and placed what felt like a gun to my head.
Gloria screamed until the alarms blotted out all sound.
The shifter’s skin began to thicken, and darken. He jerked forward this time until he was on his hands and knees. His yellow eyes stared into mine. Magic pumped through my veins until it made me dizzy. My muscles tightened, trying to keep it all inside.
Blackness began to creep in from the edges of my vision. I’ve never witnessed such unnatural movements. His legs bent in ways they shouldn’t have been able to bend in. His spine seemed to lengthen. Then he became a blur of movement, moving so fast I couldn’t make anything out.
The purity officers froze, lowering their guns. Even Gloria seemed to be frozen in fear. A jolt of uncontrolled power rushed out through my eyes. A bolt hit the ceiling, draping us in darkness.
Seconds later, there was the low growl of a wild animal.
; The lights flickered on long enough for me to set my gaze on an impossibly large, black panther.
When the room went dark again, there was only the sound of screams.
* * *
There was a low buzz in the distance. The first thing I became aware of was the pain. Every muscle in my body seemed to burn like I was being dipped in acid. It even hurt to open my eyes.
And when I did, I had no idea where I was, only that it smelled like the world’s oldest road kill stew. I tried to lift my head, only to be hit by a bout of dizziness. When I lowered myself back down, I cracked it on something hard, and let out a small groan.
“Not a great idea,” a gruff voice said from a distance.
I held my breath and strained my ears. There was a low thud, then something between a grunt and a laugh. “From what I’ve seen today, though, I doubt you spend much time in the company of good ideas.”
I turned my head in the direction of his voice, and pain punched through my temples. Footsteps clomped toward me. “No really, you shouldn’t move.”
My breath started to come in panicked bursts. “Wh—” My voice cracked, and I tried to swallow, but it was like trying to force a cactus down my throat. I licked my dry lips.
“Don’t worry about where you are,” he said.
Something brushed against my right side. I tensed up. With the way I felt, I didn’t know how I was going to fight, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to go out on my back.
“Relax.”
The next thing I knew, there was a hand propping my head up. And heat. The most intense heat I’ve ever felt, pressed against me. Then something wet touched my lips. I gulped down the water, so thirsty, that I ignored the metallic taste.
“There you go.” He lowered my head back to what I now recognized as concrete and trudged away from me. He was back within seconds, propping my head up again and letting me drink from a canteen.
When he lowered me back down, I wiped my mouth and blinked against the darkness. “Where am I?” I managed to get out, propping myself up on my elbows.
“All you need to know is that you’re safe,” he said, sounding so far away that I could barely make out his words.
I frowned into the darkness. “Definitely not all I need to know.”
There was a spark, then a burst of color. In the distance, I made out a figure carrying a torch, which he mounted in one corner of the room, and then strolled to the other side of the room, where he lit another torch, drowning the large space in dancing, yellow light.
He turned and started back to me.
I narrowed my eyes. “You,” I said, backing away from him.
He knelt a few feet away from me and stared, a neutral expression on his face. “Me,” he said simply.
I darted my gaze around. We seemed to be in some abandoned warehouse. There were old iron beams and bits of machinery scattered all over the place. My eyes rested back on him. He was dressed only in a pair of ripped, cloth shorts, and he was dotted in blood.
I still had the distinct feeling that I knew him. That was impossible, though.
“What is this?” I asked, a bite in my tone.
He shrugged. “Well, you’re my new owner, aren’t you?”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You know…” His head tilted to the side. “I’ve never seen a witch knock herself out with her own magic before.” The hint of a smile played at his full lips. “What the fuck was that anyway?”
I not only jumped to the defensive, I mounted it and rode it straight at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. The last thing I remember was you turning into that… into that…”
“Cat,” he finished, settling himself on the floor and draping an arm around his knee.
I blinked and then shook my head. “No, it wasn’t.” I held my trembling arms out in front of me. “It was…”
“Big cat.” He mimicked my movement with his own arms. “I turn into a big, big cat.”
I let my arms fall into my lap and stared at him. My mind had gone completely blank.
“A panther, actually.” He tilted his head to the other side. “Why did you buy me?”
I blinked. “Huh?”
His eyebrows furrowed. “Today, at the auction. You—” He pointed at me. “Purchased me.” He pointed back at himself. “Why?”
The auction.
Everything came flooding back. Douglass. Katie. Zed. Where were they? Forcing myself to ignore the pain burning in my muscles, I struggled to my feet. I stumbled over my own feet and did an impromptu dance move to keep myself upright.
My head sat on my shoulders like a stone, and blackness was still trying to creep in toward the edges of my vision. Still, I managed to keep myself on my feet and staggered toward the door.
“Not a good idea,” he called from behind me.
I turned and glared over my shoulder. He stared back at me and shook his head. I faced forward again and practically fell into the tall, double doors of the warehouse. Taking a deep breath, I used the last bit of energy I had to pull them apart.
The doors opened a few inches when strong arms grabbed me from behind, cupping a hand over my mouth, the other around my waist.
“See, I said, not a good idea,” he said roughly against my ear. “I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere.”
Chapter 4
He swung me over his shoulder and shoved the doors back together with one hand. I went limp, my head bobbing up and down as he carried me back to the center of the room. He planted me on my feet and then looked me up and down. His gaze finally rested on my neck and he sighed.
“You seem like the try-several-stupid-things type.”
I glanced down and noticed that I was once again, wearing my crystal. I remembered dropping it, but I had no idea how it got back around my neck. There was that, and the fact that my skin was back to its natural brown, which meant that the glamour had worn off.
I had to laugh. The first time in five years I go to the surface and I get three of the only people I have left in the world possibly dead, and myself snatched up by a shifter.
He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you losing it?”
My eyes narrowed.
“Listen. This would probably be best if we can agree that we’ll do this the easy way.”
I clutched my crystal and backed away from him. “Your words suggest that there is a hard way.”
He half smiled. “Well, there’s always a hard way, isn’t there?” He inched closer to me. “Even so, you don’t want to be out there right now. Trust me.”
I snorted. “Trust you. A kidnapper?”
He stared at me with an unreadable expression. “Better than someone dealing in the witch trade, and apparently…” He reached out and placed a lock of my curly, black hair between his index finger and thumb. “A liar.”
I backed away from him. “I don’t deal in the witch trade.”
“Could have fooled me, what with you being there and buying witches.”
“Hey.” I pointed at him, my fear being quickly replaced with anger. “I wasn’t buying them, I was saving them.” Talking about them made me once again realize that I had no idea where they were. They could be headed to a labor camp or some sadistic asshole’s private residence by now. I shook my head. “Look, I don’t have time for this. I have to go find them.”
“Find who?”
I blinked at him. “The witches,” I almost screamed at him. “The ones you accused me of buying.”
“Oh, right.” He shook his head. “No, they’re long gone by now.” He turned and started to walk away. “You hungry?” He headed over to one of the many shelves lining the warehouse, reached into an old, chewed-through box and produced two shiny, brown packages. He strolled back over and tossed one at me.
I didn’t even try to catch it. It plopped to the floor, and I spared it a glance. He didn’t seem to notice. He sat down, ripped it open and began to stuff what looked like small hotdo
gs into his mouth.
I started to shake with anger as I glared down at him.
“Back to my questions. Who are you and why did you buy me?” He raised an eyebrow. “And how is it that a witch as powerful as you hasn’t been exterminated yet?”
I barely heard anything he said. All I could do was picture Douglass, Katie, and Zed being carted off some truck somewhere in the country, never to be found again. With that in mind, I launched at him.
And slammed into the concrete.
Stars of pain burst inside my skull. I groaned and rolled over onto my back to find myself staring up at him. He shoved the last of whatever he was eating into his mouth, brushed his hands off, and shook his head.
I gritted my teeth. “Asshole.”
“You’re right,” he muttered. “I should have sat there and let you attack me.”
I narrowed my eyes.
“You really should probably be dead by now.”
With another groan, I sat up. “I’m leaving and you can’t stop me.”
He stared down at me. I rolled over again and lifted myself to my feet. I started toward the door, only to find him blocking me once again. With a gasp, I staggered backward.
He crossed his arms. “Look, I don’t mind letting you go out there to get killed, but you owe me at least one answer first.”
I hesitated, glaring at him hard.
“Why did you buy me?” he asked again.
I sighed. “I thought I recognized you,” I finally said with a huff.
He stared at me with the same intensity he had back in Gloria’s office. It was almost impossible to meet his gaze with him staring at me like that, so I didn’t even try. I touched my fingers to my crystal and stared at my feet.
“How did you know?” I asked in a low voice.
My question was met with nothing but silence. After a while of this, I sighed and forced myself to meet his gaze again. He was still staring at me with the focus of someone trying to piece together an elaborate jigsaw puzzle.
I snapped my fingers in front of his face.
“Know what?” he finally asked.
