by J. C. Diem
“Why doesn’t our compound show up?” I queried.
“Sensors are installed on the roofs of all of our compounds. They mask us from any signals that are pointed in our direction. That includes photos taken from satellites.”
“Couldn’t someone fly over in a plane or helicopter with a camera and take shots?”
“If they did, I’d be notified of it immediately. The same sensors can detect when someone has encroached on our airspace.”
“It sometimes sickens me how smart you are,” Kala said with an admiring smile.
“What’s her name?” Reece asked. He was staring at the photo with a puzzled expression. I had the sense that he knew her from somewhere. I shivered at the prospect that she must have been close enough for him to have seen her.
“Her name is Nina. Her maiden name was Wilson,” Mark said. His tone was tense enough for Flynn to glance at him in concern.
Nina was shorter than me by a couple of inches. She had a thin build, dark brown hair and light brown eyes. Undeniably pretty, she didn’t look like she was capable of smiling. While her expression was intense, she didn’t seem crazy, but this photo was older than I was. Maybe she’d cracked under the strain of losing her psycho husband and failing to kill Mark.
I didn’t blame Mark for taking his revenge against Garrison Carter. He’d been a firefighter and he should have been one of the good guys. Instead, he’d been a psychopathic werewolf who’d enjoyed torturing his victims before eating them. Mark had been an agent even back then, but for the CIA rather than for our agency. When Mark had begun to investigate the mangled bodies that kept turning up, Garrison had targeted his family.
His efforts to divert Mark had backfired. Instead of giving up after his wife and daughter had been slaughtered, our boss had redoubled his efforts. He’d narrowed down the list of suspects and had confronted Carter. They’d fought and Mark had shot him. The wound had barely slowed Garrison down. Several more shots to the head had ended their battle.
Nina and her pack had waited for the next full moon and had attacked Mark while in werewolf form. He’d killed a couple of them and had received a nasty scar on his stomach, courtesy of Nina, but he’d survived.
It now seemed that the pack hadn’t forgotten about him. They’d done their best to draw his attention back to West Virginia. Even when he’d suspected who he would be up against, Mark hadn’t turned his back on his duty. This mission could only end in bloodshed and death, but he wouldn’t be alone. We would fight with him, which meant we’d shortly be in a war against our own kind.
“How are we going to do this? Kala asked. “Are we going to do a door to door search until we find them?”
“I’d rather they didn’t discover that we’re here just yet,” Mark replied. “I’ll use satellite images that have been recorded during the past few months to try to narrow down the search. This could take a while,” he warned us.
“That’s our cue to vacate the coms room,” Flynn said and headed for the stairs. Mark preferred to conduct his searches without interruption. He was far more tech savvy than anyone else on the team and there wasn’t much we could do to help him.
“It might be a good idea to stay away from the outdoor range,” Mark called as we reached the ground floor. “Their hearing will be as exceptional as yours.”
“He knows how good our hearing is, yet he still feels the need to yell,” Kala said and shook her head in mock annoyance.
The guys headed to the boxing ring to spar, but I didn’t feel like getting my butt kicked today. “Do you want to practice in the indoor range?” I asked Kala. I’d prefer to practice my sniper skills, but Mark had just denied us use of the outdoor range.
“It beats sitting around watching daytime soaps,” she agreed.
The indoor range was halfway down the long corridor. None of the doors were marked and I didn’t yet know what was behind all of them. I wasn’t quite brave enough to investigate them without permission.
I was familiar with a few of the rooms. The room at the far end of the hall housed a laundry. Another one contained a large conference area. Mark only used it when he wanted to hold a private meeting with one or more of us.
There were actually two indoor ranges. One was used for guns and the other for practicing with the larger weapons like flame throwers. We had an impressive arsenal to choose from and weapons for every type of monster.
Kala pressed her palm to the scanner and entered the gun range first. She preferred to wear her gun strapped to her right thigh, unless we were going incognito. I had a custom made holster that I wore beneath my left arm for quick and easy access.
Spare ammunition was stored in cabinets that ran the length of one wall. We grabbed a handful of magazines then each chose a target. Lining up the magazines neatly, I picked the most distant target and squeezed off a shot, hitting the dead center. I had no trouble holding my hands steady now. My eyesight was also far better now that I’d become a shifter.
Kala’s first shot was slightly off, but she corrected her aim and hit the center of her target as well. She sent me a quick, pleased grin then settled down to concentrate.
I’d been five years old the first time I’d ever held a handgun. I remember my father crouching beside me, showing me how to hold the weapon. It had only been a twenty-two, but it had been too heavy for me. He’d had to help me pull the trigger until I’d eventually gained the strength to pull it myself.
Even back then, I’d had a natural aptitude for target shooting. Now I wondered if it had been natural at all. Maybe it was just a byproduct of being infected with vampirism. I tried to tell myself that it didn’t matter. My skills had drawn Mark to me and they made me a valuable asset to the team.
After a couple of hours of blasting our targets apart, we took a coffee break. The guys had finished their sparring match and were nowhere in sight. Kala plonked herself down on one of the couches and turned on the TV.
I switched on the coffee machine and sensed Zeus sitting outside the kitchen door. I let him in and he trotted inside, happy to see me. I scratched his ears, sending him into doggie heaven while I waited for the coffee to brew.
Reece and Flynn appeared at the top of the stairs. They’d showered and had changed into fresh clothes. Reece wore jeans, but had foregone a shirt. A dreamy smile stole across my face as I watched him descend the stairs. The muscles of his back, abdomen and chest rippled and he moved with an almost animal grace.
Not even Flynn’s sardonic grin as he followed in Reece’s wake could sour my enjoyment of the moment. Reece sent me what I could only describe as a smoldering look as he took a seat on the couch.
Making coffee for everyone, I piled the mugs onto a tray and carried it into the living room. The shrill ringing of a cell phone came from the coms room as I put the tray on the coffee table. We looked up to see Mark take his phone out of an inner pocket of his jacket. He had an endless supply of dark suits, white business shirts and ties in a variety of colors. He was a federal agent from his neatly trimmed hair to his shiny black shoes.
“This is Agent Steel.” He listened intently then swiveled his chair around and looked down at us. His expression was hard to read, but he seemed almost relieved. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll send someone to look into it.” He put his phone away and motioned for us to stay put.
I handed him the mug that I’d planned to carry up to him when he reached the living room. He took it with a grateful smile then took a seat. I sank down onto the couch beside Reece.
“What was that about?” Reece asked and slid his arm over my shoulder to pull me in closer. After months of trying to avoid each other, it felt both strange and wonderful to be so close to him now.
“One of my contacts saw something strange in a police report. She thought it might be of interest to us.”
“Are we going to be working on two missions at the same time?” Flynn asked and took a swig of coffee.
“Possibly. I’d like someone to investigate further to make s
ure it’s our kind of job first,” Mark responded. “Three campers have filed a report about a friend who went missing last night. One of the men said he caught a glimpse of someone hanging around their tent a few minutes before he disappeared.”
“Don’t tell me,” Kala said and held her hand up to stop him from continuing his report. “It was bigfoot, right?”
“It can’t be,” Reece replied before Mark could. “He died a few years ago.”
“Are you saying Bigfoot was real?” I asked incredulously.
Mark smiled slightly at my amazement. “His name was Cecil. He was one of the last few weregorillas in the US. Unlike some of his kin, he was smart enough not to attack humans. He did have a bad habit of allowing himself to be photographed when he was younger.”
I shook my head at my dismal lack of knowledge of the paranormal world.
“If it wasn’t Bigfoot, then who took the camper?” Kala asked. “Maybe he just wandered away and got lost.” She and Flynn hated reading through the archives. I wasn’t surprised that she didn’t know about the death of Cecil the were-gorilla.
Picking up on that thought, Reece flicked me a small smile. He was becoming aware that I had a strange sense of humor that I rarely shared with anyone. Internalizing my emotions was a habit I’d formed due to being on my own a lot of the time.
“A Park Ranger was called in to search the area,” Mark said. “He didn’t find any signs of the missing man. My contact called me because the person who was seen near their tent was described as a woman with long blond hair.”
Flynn frowned at that. He wasn’t convinced that the case was something we should be looking into. “It could just be a guy with long hair.”
“This isn’t the first time a person has gone missing from the area,” Mark replied. “My contact heard of several similar cases a decade ago. She did some research and discovered dozens of instances like this all across the US. In every case where a person has gone missing in a remote location and a blond woman was seen nearby, the missing person was never found.”
“Do you have any idea who or what is responsible?” I asked.
“It could be a couple of things,” Mark replied. Sensing his tension, Zeus heaved himself to his feet and ambled over to lean against his knee. Mark absently stroked the Rottweiler’s head.
“I hope it isn’t what I think you’re thinking,” Reece said uneasily.
A thought floated to the surface of his mind. It was too prominent for me to ignore. “A succubus? Really?” I was pretty sure a succubus was a creature that sucked a person’s life force out of them.
“I’m afraid that would be my first guess,” Mark confirmed. “If it is a succubus, she’ll have taken the camper to her lair. Reece, since you’re familiar with their species, I want you to question the campers and to examine the campsite.”
“I assume Lexi will be accompanying me?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.
Mark sighed and nodded, knowing it was useless to argue with an alpha when it came to his mate. “Take the SUV. The campsite is in Kentucky, about a five hour drive from here. There’s a town with several hotels another hour to the north. I suggest you leave now. I’ll book you into a hotel for a few days and send you the information. You’ll only have a week at the most to find him before she drains his life completely. Call me if you run into any problems or if you encounter any other shifters.”
While I felt bad for the kidnapped camper, I was secretly excited that Reece and I would get to spend some time alone.
“You won’t move against Nina Carter or her pack before we return,” Reece said. Again, it wasn’t a question.
“Not with just the three of us,” Mark agreed. “It may take me a while to find her anyway. She’s been trying to lure me back here, but she’s not going to make it easy for us to just walk in and take her out.” He had some advice for us as we stood. “I suggest you switch the plates on the SUV. Pretend to be a young couple on holiday rather than federal agents. The campers will be more open if they aren’t aware of who you are.”
“What about Zeus?” I asked. I doubted the hotel would allow pets.
“We’ll take care of him while you’re gone.”
“Speak for yourself,” Kala muttered. “I’m not going to feed that fleabag.”
Zeus turned and gave her a nasty look. He could roughly glean what she was saying through me.
Flynn shuddered. “It’s really freaky when it looks like he knows what we’re saying.”
“That only happens if I translate for him,” I said. “He’ll be pretty normal while I’m away.”
Zeus knew I’d be leaving for a few days and he stared at me with sad brown eyes. Take care of the team while I’m gone, I thought to him. Bad shifters are hunting for Mark. I sent him a picture of a shaggy werewolf and reminded him of the scent we’d picked up where the body had been found. He sent me back the canine equivalent of an affirmative. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to give them any warning, but he’d be on the lookout for enemies in my absence.
₪₪₪
Chapter Thirteen
Packing my suitcase with a week’s worth of clothing, I debated whether to take my sniper rifle along then decided it couldn’t hurt. The weather had turned cooler, so I took a couple of jackets along as well. I might not feel the cold as much now, but I had to pretend to be normal. That meant wearing more layers than I actually required.
Zeus watched me forlornly as I descended the stairs. Reece was waiting at the door to the hallway. “I’ll let you know when we’ve arrived,” he said to Mark.
“Don’t stop for too many quickies along the way,” Kala smirked. Mark sent her a withering stare. “What?” she said in pretend innocence. “We all know they’re going to.”
“Been there, done that,” I said sweetly. “I prefer a bed, cars are much too confining.”
Her mouth dropped open in shock. “When did you-”
“Never mind,” Mark said, cutting her off. He knew exactly when we’d engaged in car sex and his face went slightly red in embarrassment.
Flynn’s deep laugh followed us into the corridor. It cut off when I closed the door behind me. I sensed Reece’s amusement as he opened the door to the garage. “Having sex with you in the back of that stolen car was one of the highlights of my life,” he said.
“Me, too,” I admitted. I was glad that the memory had been restored to me. I’d love to repeat the episode, but not in our work vehicle. Kala and Flynn would know what we’d been up to even if Mark’s sense of smell wasn’t strong enough for him to pick up on it.
I tensed up in anticipation as we approached the gate. Ready for the searing pain this time, I managed not to flinch and clamped down on the bond so it didn’t flow through to Reece. He didn’t seem to be affected by the holy symbols at all. His taint wasn’t as advanced as mine, probably because he’d only been bitten once and by a single vampire.
It wasn’t going to be pleasant being trapped in the SUV for six hours, but it was bearable with just the two of us. The woods went on forever and we saw little traffic during our journey.
“Are you going to ask Mark about your real background?” I asked when we were roughly halfway to our destination.
Reece sighed and reached out to take my hand. He never showed any vulnerability in front of the others, but he knew I could sense his moods and didn’t bother to hide it from me. “I don’t know why he’s hiding the truth from me, but I’d like to believe it’s for my own good.”
“EERI must have known you were already a shifter, or that you’d grow into one,” I said. “Maybe they wanted to compare the differences between a natural born shifter and manufactured ones. That could be why they took you from your family.”
“That’s as good a theory as any,” he said with a shrug.
“I’m glad Mark found you guys,” I said softly. He sent me an enquiring glance. “Garrison Carter killed Mark’s wife and daughter, leaving him all alone. It seems like some sort of cosmic justic
e that he found three kids who needed a family.”
“It’ll be cosmic justice when we wipe out Nina Carter and her entire pack,” he replied dourly. “Just because they’re werewolves doesn’t give them the right to eat humans.”
Something about that had been bothering me. “What if the whole pack isn’t behind the deaths?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not an expert, but the wounds all looked very similar to me,” I explained. “They were roughly the same size and shape, so maybe only one shifter is responsible. Maybe Nina Carter isn’t hunting Mark at all. Maybe only one wolf in her pack is doing the killing.”
His expression turned contemplative. “It’s possible. We’ll learn for sure once Mark tracks them down and we question them.”
That exhausted our conversation for a while and he concentrated on driving.
Reece had programmed the GPS to take us past the campsite where the camper had gone missing. It was almost dark when we neared the area. There were no other cars around and we pulled into the parking lot.
Winding down our windows, we couldn’t see, hear or smell anything out of the ordinary. It was tempting to investigate the area now while there was no one else around.
“We’d better wait until morning,” Reece said, picking the idea out of my head. “Night is a succubus’ preferred hunting time. It’ll be safer if we try to narrow down where her lair is during the day.”
The wolf in me wanted to disregard his warning and go after our target now. My human side knew he was right and I nodded in agreement. My stomach rumbled, reminding me that I’d only had a snack of cookies during our lengthy journey.
“Only an hour left then we can eat,” Reece said. He used the same patient tone that Mark always used when we became restless during our journeys. I grinned and he smiled back.
My eyes dropped to his mouth and the air grew thick with our mutual desire. “I think I have another activity that I’d like to perform before we eat,” I said and blushed at my boldness.
