by J. C. Diem
“I take it she fell for your trap?” Flynn said.
“Yes. I’d equipped the werefox with a tracking device, but I learned the hard way that succubae can move a lot faster than expected. She took the shifter out of range and it took us several days to get close enough to pick up the signal again. We snuck up on the succubus and riddled her with bullets while she was occupied with feeding.”
Kala swallowed before speaking this time. “What kind of shape was the fox in?”
“She was deep in a dream state, but she was physically okay.”
It was doubtful that he could explain it, but I had to ask. “Why did she turn rogue?”
“Sadly, it was an accident. A human wandered onto her and her mate’s property during a full moon and they simply defended their territory. After consuming the body, the usual happened and their beasts wanted more. They killed half a dozen people before they were taken down. Her mate was killed, but she was captured for further study.”
I didn’t even know her, yet I felt devastated for her anyway. “Couldn’t anything have been done to help her?”
“No,” he said after a slight hesitation. “Even if there was some way for us to break her hunger for human flesh, she wouldn’t have wanted us to. Werefoxes mate for life. When they lose their mate, they don’t cope very well.”
I could see that they all knew something I didn’t and they didn’t want to tell me what it was. “Don’t coddle me,” I said almost too sharply. “Tell me what happened to her.”
“While she was relatively unscathed after being captured by the succubus, she had no hope of surviving once she was taken back into custody,” Mark said. “Without her mate, she lost the will to live. She stopped eating and drinking. It took a few weeks for her to die.”
Pining away was one occasion where it didn’t pay to be a shifter. It took far longer for us to die than it did for a human. “I can’t believe they just let her starve to death.”
The only solace the werefox would have had was when she’d been sent into a dream state by the succubus. At least she would have been able to see her mate again, even if it was only for a short time and it was only in her mind.
Flynn defended the unknown PIA scientists. “You can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be saved, Lexi. No one could have helped her. She willed herself to die because she couldn’t live without her mate.”
The quiet sobbing of the girl across the room dampened my already morose mood even further. She wasn’t pining to death, but she was still grieving. If Reece, or any of my friends went missing, I’d stop at nothing to find them. Unlike us, the girl didn’t have any way of helping her boyfriend. She had to rely on the sheriff, his deputies and Ranger Delgado to find him. She didn’t know that a team of expert trackers was also on the job.
Coy glances were exchanged between Kala and the deputy when we finished our meals and prepared to head back to our hotel. Apparently, he didn’t find her lack of table manners to be off putting.
“Guess who’s sneaking out again tonight?” Flynn said just loudly enough for us non-humans to be able to hear him. Kala flashed him a naughty smile and didn’t deny his accusation.
Mark was more aware than she realized. He gave her a pointed stare when we reached our hotel. “Get a good night’s sleep. We’re going to have a long day tomorrow and probably several more long days after that until we find our target and her victims.”
Grumbling as she entered our room, Kala headed straight for the coffee pot. Her plan to sneak out had just been foiled and she wasn’t pleased. Reece winked at me before he followed Flynn into their room. Casting a longing look at their door, I almost wished it was still just the two of us on this mission rather than the whole team. Kala was a close friend now, but I’d much rather share my room with Reece. It was obvious that we needed help, so it was churlish of me to begrudge their arrival.
“There goes the night of rocking sex I’d planned,” Kala muttered as she poured the coffee. She offered me a cup and I shook my head. “How did Mark know what I was going to do?” she asked.
“You were pretty obvious about it,” I replied as I headed to the bathroom to change.
“What do you mean I was obvious?” she demanded when I returned.
“You were flirting with the guy all throughout our meal,” I replied as I climbed into bed.
“I barely looked at him,” she said in outrage.
“It was the way you looked at him that made your plan obvious.”
Draining her coffee, she stalked over and plonked herself down on her bed. “How did I look at him?” she asked.
Pretending to be her, I sent her a sultry look and exaggeratedly batted my eyelashes. “Like that,” I said.
Doubling over, she did her best to muffle her screech of laughter. “I do not bat my eyelashes like that,” she half hissed, half laughed.
“Yeah you do,” Flynn said from the room across the hall.
“You do it every time you see a guy you want to jump,” Reece backed him up.
Wiping away tears of mirth, she brought her knees up to her chest. “Am I that transparent?”
“Yep,” three voices chorused at once. One of them was mine.
She was silent for a few moments then shrugged. “At least I get my message across. I don’t have any problems picking up the guys I’m interested in. You should take a few notes, Flynn,” she taunted. “You might actually be able to land a girl for once.”
His response was prim. “I’ve landed plenty of girls, thank you very much.”
“Name one girl you’ve actually had sexual intercourse with,” she demanded.
“A gentleman never kisses and tells.”
“Damn it,” she whispered. “I thought I finally cracked him that time.”
I spoke just as quietly. “You don’t think he’s had sex?”
“I don’t know and the curiosity is killing me.” Our eyes met and we descended into giggles.
“Go to sleep!” Mark called through the wall. His room was next door to ours.
“Yes, Mom!” Kala yelled back then headed to the bathroom to change.
The next five days were just as frustrating as the past week had been. We didn’t pick up any hints of where the succubus’ lair was. It was nearing twilight and it was pouring with rain when we returned to the parking lot once again.
I put Mark down and he staggered back a step to get his balance. We were all soaked, bedraggled, hungry and annoyed. He did a headcount and sudden alarm flashed across his face.
Whirling around, at first I couldn’t tell what was wrong. Then I realized someone was missing. “Where’s Flynn?” I asked Kala.
Spinning around so fast that water whipped from the ends of her short hair, she didn’t bother to answer my question. Instead, she bolted back the way she’d come.
“Lexi!” Mark shouted as I started to run after her. “I need you here.” I skidded to a halt as the others took off. Reece flashed me a sympathetic glance then disappeared into the trees. I’d reacted instinctively instead of thinking about Mark’s welfare. For all I knew, the succubus could be watching us right now. She might be hiding nearby, waiting for us to become separated so she could snatch us up one by one.
Zeus looked up at me and whined. I mentally ordered him to follow the others. He’d be able to catch up to them eventually and they might need him when he did. His nose was even better than ours. He might be able to lead them to our missing friend.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Two
Mark called Flynn’s cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. He tried to get a lock on it using a tracking program on his tablet, but the search failed. “His cell phone has been switched off and I can’t switch it on remotely with this.”
His frustration matched mine and so did his fear. I wished he’d brought tracking devices along for us to wear. Even if the succubus carried Flynn out of range, we’d have been able to find it again fairly quickly.
From the look on Mark’s
face, he’d come to the same conclusion. “I didn’t realize the succubus would be tech savvy enough to realize she should switch his phone off.” He’d add this information to his files, but it couldn’t help us rescue our missing squad member.
Hearing the self-recrimination in his tone, I put my hand on his arm. “We’ll find him, Mark.”
Reece called an hour later with bad news. “We lost the trail,” he said dejectedly. “Zeus managed to follow it for a while, but he lost it a few minutes ago.”
Torn between worry for his missing agent and the safety of the rest of the team, Mark reached a decision. “Keep searching. We’re not stopping until we find Flynn. Lexi and I will load up with food and water and we’ll join you shortly.”
He’d restocked the SUV with food and water a couple of days ago. I stuffed my backpack full of both human and dog food and handed it to Mark. He grunted with effort when he took it from me. I loaded up two more backpacks with supplies then hefted them, and Mark, over my shoulders. I was thankful for my supernatural strength as I took off down the trail.
Ranger Delgado was checking his map when we reached them. Zeus loped over to me and leaned against my legs after I put Mark down. Tired and hungry, my furry friend wanted to eat and to get warm and dry. I hated to disappoint him, but we weren’t leaving anytime soon. I fed him while the others snatched a quick snack as well. I didn’t have much of an appetite for once, but forced myself to eat anyway.
“Are there any buildings or caves around here?” Mark asked the ranger. “Now that the succubus is targeting us, she’ll be sticking around for much longer than she’d planned. She’ll want to stash us somewhere under cover as she feeds.”
His map would have been ruined by now if it hadn’t been covered in protective plastic. Bruce pointed at some black dots that were scattered to the north. “There are a few caves a few miles away from here. Some of them might be large enough for her to use as a lair.”
We hadn’t searched this area before and I was hopeful that we might finally be on the right track.
“Which ones are the largest caves?” Mark asked.
Bruce pointed at half a dozen that were spread out across a wide area. “She could be in any of these. There might also be caves that haven’t even been discovered yet.”
“Are there any buildings near here?” Reece queried.
Bruce shook his head. His beard was bedraggled and stringy from the rain. His face looked smaller without it springing out in all directions. “Not that I’m aware of.”
We looked at Mark and he ran a frustrated hand through his sodden hair. “I don’t want anyone to be alone. Kala, you’ll join Lexi and me.” Reece was about to protest then thought better of questioning our boss. He liked being separated from me even less now that Flynn had been snatched.
“Take Zeus with you,” I said to Reece. I’d feel better knowing we had two even teams of three, even if one of us was a canine.
Both Reece and Zeus were reluctant to agree to my wish. I didn’t give them a choice and handed over the pack full of dog food then walked away.
“I thought you were the boss in your relationship,” Bruce joked.
“No one is the boss of Lexi,” Reece replied wryly.
Kala sent me a sly stare. “Does that mean you’re always on top?” She spoke too quietly for Mark to hear her. Bruce heard her just fine and his chuckle filtered back to us.
Beneath her humor, I knew Kala had to be panicking. Flynn had been taken from right behind her and she hadn’t heard a thing. He was now in the clutches of a monster that would suck his very essence out until there was nothing left. He would last much longer than a human, but none of us wanted him to become a snack even for a short time.
“Stay alert,” Mark told us unnecessarily. “She won’t stop until she has all of us now. They love the hunt almost as much as they enjoy feeding from their victims.”
“Is she going to snatch us up every couple of days like the other succubus did to your team eight years ago?” Kala asked.
Mark shook his head and almost tripped over a rock. I righted him, remembering that he couldn’t see in the dark. The moon was too weak to shed much light through the dense canopy of trees.
“I doubt it,” he said. “You’ll be far too tempting for her to resist. She won’t want any of you to get away. She’ll be stalking us right now, waiting to strike when we least suspect it.”
“What will happen to us if she bites us?” I asked.
“Her saliva will act as a paralyzing agent. We’ll fall unconscious until it wears off.”
“How long will that take?” Kala asked. Bringing up the rear, she held a hand up to shield her face from the branches as Mark released them.
“For shifters, probably a few hours. For a human, it will take several days.” His tone had turned analytical. “Succubae prefer to keep their victims in a state of dreaming rather than in true unconsciousness. While in a dream state, she can force you to eat and drink to sustain you for longer.”
“Even shifters would eventually starve to death or die from dehydration if she put us in a coma,” I concluded.
“Exactly.” He turned to check on Kala and froze. Already knowing what I’d see, I looked past him to find Kala missing. The succubus had snuck up behind us and had taken her without a sound.
Reaching for his phone, Mark called Reece. “Kala has just been taken. Lexi and I will try to follow her trail. I’ll keep you updated.”
Rushing back the way we’d come, I was careful not to move too quickly and leave Mark behind. Kala’s trail detoured from the path and I fought my way through the underbrush to a stream. I lost the trail on the other side.
Watching me casting about for the scent, Mark shook his head wearily. “She used the stream to mask her trail. There’s no telling how far up or downstream they’ve travelled.”
I started searching downstream first. After ten minutes, I figured I’d chosen the wrong direction and backtracked.
Trudging along behind me, Mark’s phone rang. I glanced back to see his trepidation as he answered it. “Give me some good news,” he said.
“I wish I could,” Reece replied bitterly. “Bruce just went missing. Zeus is following his trail right now.”
“The succubus is even craftier than I expected,” Mark said. “She used a stream to hide her tracks from us.”
“Great.” Reece sounded both frustrated and weary. “I guess I’ll be joining the others in her lair next.”
He was wrong about that. Mark was the next one to disappear. One second he was right behind me and the next he was gone. Reece! I called to him with my mind rather than using my cell phone.
Are you alright? His response was faint with distance.
Mark’s gone. There’s just you and me left now.
Picking up on my distress, he was about to reassure me when I felt alarm coming through the bond. She’s here. His thought cut off and then there was silence inside my head.
Running in the direction where I could sense him being rapidly carried away, I put on a burst of speed in an attempt to close the distance. He stopped moving and I slowed down so I wasn’t crashing wildly through the trees, giving away my position.
Spying Reece lying on the ground, my initial instinct was to rush over to him. I could sense that he was alive, but I wasn’t sure whether he was hurt or not. He was deeply unconscious and I couldn’t reach his mind.
Scanning the area, I remembered his warning that succubae liked to drop onto their victims from above. I looked up to see a dark form rushing down at me. She hadn’t bothered to disguise herself. Her skin was an unhealthy gray color and her face was hideously wrinkled. Blazing yellow eyes latched onto mine. Before I could even think about sidestepping, she was on me.
Around my height and general size, she was much stronger than she looked. She wrapped her arms around me and bore me to the ground. My hands were pinned to my sides and I couldn’t reach for my gun.
Using her legs, she pushed me over ont
o my side. Her grip tightened, crushing my air from my lungs. Long, lank gray hair fell across my face as she nuzzled the back of my neck. My skin crawled as I flashed back to being held down by the rogue wolf. I struggled as hard as I could to free myself.
Needle sharp teeth bit into my flesh and my vision went dark.
₪₪₪
Chapter Twenty-Three
I wasn’t sure how long I was trapped in the dream before I sensed someone trying to reach me. Resisting the insistent presence that was in the back of my mind, I desperately tried to hold onto the illusion of my perfect world.
Some part of me knew it was just a fantasy, but it felt as if I’d actually lived the life that my imagination had conjured. The memories might be false, but they were exquisite in their detail.
Reece and I had settled down in New Orleans. Our house was only a few blocks away from my parents. My mother was still beautiful, although she was in her early fifties now. My father had retired a couple of years ago. Still a soldier in his heart, he couldn’t leave his old life behind completely and had opened a gun shop. My mother had been a high school teacher for twenty years before she’d decided she’d had enough and had also retired. I’d been an angel compared to some of the teens that she’d done her best to educate.
Reece and I had met shortly after I’d enlisted in the army ten years ago. We’d been assigned to the same unit and we’d immediately been attracted to each other. The inevitable had happened and we’d been married one year later.
It went against army policy for a couple to be in the same unit, so he’d transferred to another team. We’d sometimes gone several months without seeing each other, which helped to keep our romance alive rather than putting a strain on our relationship.
I’d had to make some hard sacrifices when I’d become pregnant. I’d given up volunteering for overseas missions when I’d conceived our twin boys. They were four now and they were eagerly waiting for their sister to arrive. At six months along, I was currently on maternity leave from the army.
