20 Shades of Shifters: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Demelza Carlton

  Briony supposed that made sense, though it was still hard to think of someone who looked like her great aunt being able to throw people around like that. Maybe that was what years of practice did for you.

  “Do you think I’ll ever be able to fight like that?” Briony asked.

  “I don’t know,” George said. “Given time, and practice, and a lot of thought, you’ll certainly get better. But Sophie is something special. You know how people have different talents?”

  “Like some will be good at football, and others will play music? That kind of thing?”

  “Kind of. Mostly, that’s just a question of interest. I mean, if you work hard enough at something for long enough, you’ll generally get pretty good at it. Some people though, you just know that they are born to do something. Sophie was born to fight. She does it like you or I would walk down the street.” George grinned. “Still, if she says she sees something in you, maybe you’ve inherited the family gift. You’ve just got to work hard to develop it.”

  That was reassuring, kind of. Though Briony could think of better areas to be gifted in. And of course, that still left the minor problem in Briony’s case that she had already been attacked by both vampires and werewolves. Would she get the chance to get as good as Aunt Sophie was, or would she find herself killed long before things got that far?

  Briony shuddered at the thought.

  Chapter 9

  Dinner turned out to be a chicken casserole, which George stayed to share, even though Aunt Sophie complained good-naturedly about him eating enough for three people. Briony tasted it and found that it was one of the best things she had tasted. She said as much.

  “Sophie’s talents don’t just extend to killing things,” George said, and Aunt Sophie glared at him.

  “Well, one of us has to be able to cook properly.”

  “Oh, so you won’t be coming in for any more burgers, then?”

  “I might,” Aunt Sophie said, “though only to keep an eye on Briony once you give her a job.”

  “What?” George asked, and Briony found herself echoing it.

  “What?”

  “Well,” her great aunt said, “you did drive my car into a tree, dear. And you weren’t even being chased by anything at the time. It’s really only fair that you should pay for the repairs. Besides, it will do you good to work a little, meet new people, and maybe earn a little extra money.”

  “And do I get a say in this?” George asked.

  Aunt Sophie scooped an extra helping of casserole onto his plate. “Now, George, you know you need the extra help. Jill does her best, bless her, but she can’t be everywhere at once. Young Briony here would be a great help to you after school and at weekends, and you know it.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” George said.

  “I’m always right.”

  Just like that, it was settled. Briony would start work straight away, going back with George when he left the inn. She would work a few shifts after school, as well as helping out on weekends, when things tended to be busier in town. She noticed that at no point had anyone asked her whether she wanted the job. Still, it wasn’t like she particularly minded, the extra money might come in useful, and she did feel kind of bad about crashing her great aunt’s car.

  It would have been even better though if Briony had been able to escape the feeling that her aunt was trying to get rid of her for a few more hours each day. Had she done something wrong aside from the car? Was Aunt Sophie finding it hard to have her around? The last thing Briony wanted was to be a burden.

  She actually tried bringing up the subject with George in the car back to the diner the next day after practice, but the ex-soldier just shook his head.

  “One thing I’ve learned over the years with Sophie is that you shouldn’t try too hard when it comes to second-guessing her motives. She’ll have her reasons.”

  “I’m just worried that she doesn’t want me around,” Briony said.

  “And what gave you that idea? Sure, Sophie is grieving right now, the same way you are, I’d guess. But that doesn’t mean she wants to get rid of you.” He pulled up to the diner. “Now, let’s get you inside and get you squared away.”

  “Squared away” entailed finding Briony a black t-shirt to wear at the diner, which proved to be a little too large, taking her on a guided tour of the kitchen, the storerooms, and the various refrigerators, and introducing her to everyone else who worked there.

  Jill was friendly, in an overworked kind of way, finding time to say hello in between dashing around tables, and assuring Briony that she would get the hang of things there in no time. The kitchen provided two other inhabitants of the diner, in the form of Phil and Percy. Phil was the cook, a wiry, tattooed man in his forties with the same brand of close-cropped hair as George. Percy, his nephew, looked to be about twenty, was skinny and had dirty blond hair that desperately needed a haircut. He served as the dishwasher, busboy, and general gofer around the diner.

  Her first shift at the diner was a busy one. So was the one after that, and the one after that too. Over the next few days, things fell into a routine. Briony would go to school, where she would spend her time hanging out with Fallon, Maisy, Steve, and occasionally Claire and Tracey if Pepper’s back was turned. After school, Briony would hurry home, get changed, and rush to the diner, where she would work for a couple of hours before heading back to her great aunt. Aunt Sophie would invariably be waiting with dinner, questions about how her day had gone, and a long session of slayer training to get through.

  With her days so busy, Briony hardly had time for thoughts of anything else, and maybe that was the point. When being kept so busy, it wasn’t easy to dwell on her family, or on the dangers around Wicked, or even on the fact that Pepper still didn’t like her very much. The cheerleader had come into the diner once since Briony had started, but Jill had dealt with her order. Briony had been relieved to see that, while someone like Pepper would never condescend to pay someone like Jill any attention, she was at least polite.

  That was one of the strange things about Briony’s new job. People didn’t look at you, except when they wanted something. Even people she knew from school would hardly say anything while Briony was working. It was the closest thing to invisibility Briony had ever come across, though it did at least mean that she could wander around the tables, picking up fragments of conversation and speculating silently on the people who showed up in the diner.

  A lot of them seemed to be regulars, which probably said something about the quality of the food. Others were tourists, passing through on their way to better-known spots around Salem. There were many who would come in with slightly worried looks about the décor, but they would generally leave vowing to return on their way back. Phil and George could certainly cook.

  From gossiping with Jill and Percy, Briony learned that Phil had been in the army with George, under his command. Briony guessed that he must have liked it, if he were willing to come and work for him afterwards. Jill, she learned, was an only parent, doing her best to look after her young daughter Sarah while trying to earn enough to get by. Percy mostly seemed to be there because he didn’t have anything better to do, and Phil, as his uncle, felt that he needed something to keep him out of trouble. Briony couldn’t help thinking about what Aunt Sophie had to think about her at that point.

  Things went well at the diner. Briony even found that she liked the busy times there, when bigger crowds started to come in and everyone would have to work together to get food out onto the tables. Briony quickly got the hang of all the small jobs that needed doing around the place, and of dealing with customers of all stripes.

  Though there were some odd ones.

  It was on her first Saturday there that a trio of college students came in, choosing a table near the window. There were two guys and a girl, all older than Briony, and all a little wild-looking. The girl in particular had frizzy brown hair, big, dark eyes, and the kind of casually clashing clothes that you only got when you
threw things on at random. Of the young men, one was wearing a plaid shirt open over a white t-shirt and jeans, and spent most of his time taking his lead from the other, who was a little better dressed, his polo shirt and slacks giving him an almost preppy look.

  “Are you ready to order?” Briony asked, summoning up her nicest smile.

  “We’ll have three burgers, raw,” the girl said.

  Briony nodded and rushed off to give their order to Phil, though she amended “raw” to “rare”, deciding that she couldn’t have heard it properly. After all, who would eat raw hamburger? When the meals were ready, Briony took them out. The diner was starting to fill up again. A few regulars were dotted around the place now, and Briony could already guess what they would order. As she put the plates down, she was already calculating how best to get through them.

  “Enjoy your meal.”

  There was one new face, in the form of a guy about the age of the three Briony was currently serving. He was very handsome, with dark-hair flowing down to shoulders obviously broadened by plenty of working out, a strong jaw, and vivid hazel eyes that seemed to brood under all that hair. He instantly moved to the top of Briony’s to-serve list.

  “Hey! This is cooked!”

  Briony was torn from her thoughts by that, from the girl at the current table.

  “I’m sorry?” she said.

  “You should be, you stupid little-”

  “Carol,” one of the guys tried. “It’s no big deal.”

  “No big deal? I asked for mine raw, and this idiot can’t even get that right. I should-”

  “Here,” the young man said, “have mine. It’s still nice and pink.”

  That mollified the girl a little, and Briony flashed a smile in the hopes of defusing things further.

  “I’ll go and bring you another burger, if you like. I’m sorry, I didn’t think that you’d want it quite that raw.”

  “That’s what we said wasn’t-”

  “Carol.” This time the college guy held up a hand. “It’s an easy mistake to make. Another burger would be great, thanks.”

  Briony went off to get it, fetching drinks too, on the house to make up for the problem. That got no more than a grunt from the girl there, though the two guys nodded. Job done, Briony went off to serve the others there. The good-looking college guy was definitely next. He smiled as Briony approached.

  “Some people don’t know how to control their tempers, do they?”

  He ordered a salad. Briony went to give Phil the order, and he took it before jerking his head towards one of the kitchen’s garbage bags.

  “You couldn’t take that outside, could you? I haven’t had the chance, and Percy doesn’t seem to be around today. I tell you, I worry about that boy sometimes.”

  Briony wanted to point out that she wasn’t exactly taking things easy herself, but that wasn’t the kind of thing you said to people you worked with, and anyways, she had just started. So she took out the trash, hauling it around to the dumpsters behind the diner. It at least meant that she had a minute away from the rush.

  “Now look what we have here.”

  Briony turned, and found herself facing the girl who had complained about her burger. Carol, was it? She must have followed her outside. But why would she?

  “Stupid little girl. Can’t even get simple things right.”

  “Look,” Briony said, raising her hands, “I’m really sorry about that.”

  “You will be,” Carol growled, and it was a growl. Carol’s eyes narrowed, and she fell to the ground. In a second, she had changed, leaving a wolf where she had been standing. A wolf with shimmering fur that then leapt straight at Briony.

  Briony scrambled for her cross, moving automatically after all the drills with her great aunt. The trouble was, a few days didn’t make her any kind of expert, and the wolf was already mid-leap. It slammed into Briony, knocking her backward so that she fell with it on top of her, its slavering jaws just inches away. Briony abandoned the attempt to get to a weapon, concentrating instead on just keeping those teeth away from her. And, as they moved steadily closer, Briony knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

  Chapter 10

  And just like that, it was easy. Carol was yanked off Briony in a rush. The sudden release of the wolf’s weight came as a shock. The handsome college guy with the dark hair and hazel eyes had just picked up the wolf by the scruff of the neck, flinging it at the far wall of the alley, where it hit with a yelp before changing back into the girl, Carol. She staggered, holding onto the wall for support, but by that time, Briony had her silver cross in her hand, the point extended. Carol took one look at it and ran.

  Briony wasn’t in the mood to run after her. Instead, she put her weapon away and let the cute guy help her to her feet.

  “Ok, so you’re not shocked by the sight of a werewolf,” Briony said.

  “Nor are you. I see from the cross that you’re a hunter too.”

  “Trainee.”

  He was obviously another member of the Preservation Society. “You must work out a lot to be able to fling a wolf around like that.”

  “A bit.”

  That wasn’t much of an answer, but Briony let it go. Besides, there was nothing wrong with modesty, even if the simple breadth of the young man’s shoulders made it clear that he didn’t have much to be modest about in that regard.

  “More than a bit. I’m Briony.” She held out her hand, and her rescuer took it.

  “I’m Kevin. Are you ok?”

  “I’ll be fine,” Briony assured him, though one thought did strike her. Had the werewolf drawn blood? Was there a chance that she was infected? She looked down hurriedly, struggling to breathe. What if she became one of them? What could she do? Aunt Sophie would be furious. Actually, Aunt Sophie would probably come after her with a silver-loaded shotgun. Briony ran her hands over herself like someone swarming with fire ants.

  “Briony.” Kevin’s hands caught her wrists, forcing her to stillness. “Calm down. I don’t see any cuts. You’re perfectly safe.”

  Briony let out a sigh that was deeper than she had intended. “Sorry, I must look really stupid.”

  “There’s nothing stupid about being scared. Particularly not if you think you might become a werewolf. There aren’t many things worse than thinking you might end up one.”

  “You sound like you know,” Briony said. “You’ve hunted a lot of them?”

  Kevin paused, and then shook his head. “Not exactly, but I know some of them. Carol there was probably ok before she was infected. You end up having to fight your temper all the time. And your hunger. It isn’t easy.”

  That sounded odd, and it took Briony a moment to realize that she hadn’t expected to hear sympathy there. After all, hunters hunted monsters. They didn’t empathize with them. Briony could just imagine how badly Aunt Sophie might react if she heard someone being so sympathetic towards the creatures. She would probably hit the roof.

  And yet… didn’t it make sense to have some sympathy for them? Briony guessed that many werewolves and vampires didn’t have the choice about becoming what they were. How would Briony like it if she were to suddenly start turning furry and having to deal with the urge to bite people? Not that Aunt Sophie would ever give her the chance.

  “Are you sure you’re ok?” Kevin asked. “Only you faded out there for a moment.”

  “Sorry, just thinking,” Briony said.

  “Somehow, I doubt it.” Kevin grinned showing his perfectly white teeth. He had to know how good-looking he was, to get away with smiling like that. “I’ve got to be going. I have things I should be doing.”

  “Chasing monsters, throwing wolves about and rescuing damsels in distress?”

  “Laundry, mostly.”

  Well, presumably even heroic rescuers had to do that kind of thing sometimes. Briony nodded towards the diner.

  “Are you sure you won’t come back inside? Whatever you want is on me. It’s the least I can do after that.”

  Kevi
n shook his head, glancing down at his watch. It was a rugged thing that looked like it had been through the wars. “No, I really do have to get going. Thanks for the offer though. I hope you’re all right.”

  With that, he left, going back down the alley and disappearing from sight. Briony thought about going after him. But what would that achieve? Besides, she had to get back to-

  “Briony! Where are you? You’re supposed to be taking out the trash, not stopping to read War and Peace!”

  Briony sighed, and headed back into the diner. Phil was waiting for her.

  “Where have you been? There are customers waiting.”

  “Sorry. Small werewolf emergency.”

  There probably weren’t many people Briony could say that to in the expectation of any sympathy. Phil the cook was one of them, thankfully.

  “Oh. Why didn’t you call out? I would have come and helped.”

  “There wasn’t time. Besides, I had help, and it’s fine now.”

  “You weren’t bitten, were you?”

  Briony shook her head, and tried not to pay attention to the way Phil’s hand was creeping towards a rack of knives. “I’m fine. Just a bit shaken up. Hardly even that.”

  The cook nodded. “That’s good. Still, it’s best to be careful. Now, can you get back out there? We have three tables waiting to be served.”

  That, Briony would ponder afterwards, was the thing about vampires and werewolves and the rest of it. They didn’t stop normal life. At least, they didn’t stop what passed for normal life in the diner. You could be as badly shaken up as you wanted about nearly having been bitten, but table four still needed more fries, and the old guy at table six still wanted to hear all the specials before settling on the burger that he always had.

  In a way, it was comforting. No matter how odd things got, there would always be one little corner of the world where the biggest problem was whether Percy had remembered to bus the last table properly, and whether the customers’ orders were coming out correctly.