by C. J. Parker
“Spit that out!” Agnes shouted.
Ionna’s throat convulsed as she swallowed. Crawling back to the far corner of her bed, she resumed her rocking. “How long?”
“Until it helps?” Tabatha glanced at Bobbie.
“Yeah.” Closing her eyes, Ionna lowered her forehead to her knees. Her shoulders shook with sobs coming from deep within. “My skin stings. My skull feels like it’s trying to stretch so my brain will fit. Knees, elbows, even my butt hurts.”
“It’s supposed to, you nit-wit. You’re gonna have an ugly rat tail like your momma’s.” Omeda laughed.
The sound was too joyful for Bobbie’s liking. “If you’re not going to help, get the hell out. I don’t have time or patience for you. A hurricane, another dead shifter, a new shifting, a woman too damned stubborn or stupid to let anyone lift her house off the ground…I’ve had more than enough for one day.” She turned her back on Omeda, shutting her out.
Ionna leapt from her bed so quickly Bobbie’s stance changed from relaxed to defense mode in an instant. The girl’s hiss raked Bobbie’s already frayed nerves. Ionna passed Bobbie in a blur, landing against Omeda with so much power she was knocked out the door and onto the ground.
Omeda tried to push Ionna away, but the girl straddled Omeda’s waist and squeezed her throat with claw-like, transforming fingers.
“Do not touch her.” Ionna’s teeth snapped within inches of Omeda’s face and saliva dribbled in bloody rivulets down her chin. “She’s my queen. Tabatha is my friend. You touch them, and I’ll kill you, bitch.”
Bobbie grasped her arm and tried to pull her away. “Ionna, let her go. It’s the shifting making you do this.”
“No.” The admission dragged begrudgingly from Agnes’ throat. “Omeda was aiming this at the back of your head.” She held up a short limb four inches in diameter then slung it away.
Bobbie fought the urge to shove the limb straight up Omeda’s backside and give her a new spine.
Tabatha knelt at Ionna’s side. “Come on, honey. Let Omeda go. She has to get out of here before the storm hits. Just like you do.”
The girl slowly released Omeda and moved away. Omeda coughed and rubbed her hand along the red ridge forming on her neck as she gained her footing again.
“You ain’t taking Ionna nowhere. She needs to be home for her first shifting.” Agnes pushed Omeda, sending her stumbling backward. “You know all the things that can go wrong. And she don’t need anyone staring at her while it happens. The shelter ain’t no place for it.”
Omeda crab-crawled away from them.
Ionna collapsed in Tabatha’s arms, energy spent. “Momma’s right. I don’t want everyone to see me go through this.” She turned pleading eyes toward Tabatha. “Don’t leave me. I need you. You’re right. The pill is helping. If it stops working, you can give me another one, can’t you?”
“Not for a while.” Tabatha patted her knee, but withdrew her hand when Ionna winced. “Your momma and I will do everything we can to help you though this. We’ll take you to Bobbie’s house.”
“No.” Agnes stomped her foot. “She needs to be home, and where are my boys?”
“Agnes,” Bobbie snapped. “In a matter of a few short hours, a hurricane is going to come barreling down on us. Your house will be underwater with the first surge. Do you want your baby changing underwater? Now, stop being a jackass and help us get her to my house.”
Ionna looked down at her trembling fingers touching Bobbie’s tattoo. “You go with everyone else. They’ll need you. Tabatha will take care of me.”
“Like hell!” Bobbie ran her gaze over the village. “I’m not leaving you, you silly girl. Now, let us get you up to the house. We’ll concentrate on getting ourselves out after you’ve shifted. I’ll find Kangee and tell him to evacuate everyone else.”
Satisfied that she wouldn’t get any more lip, Bobbie helped Tabatha lift the girl, taking one arm as Tabatha supported the other.
Agnes wrapped a threadbare blanket around her. They made their way to the center of the village but were forced to stop when Ionna doubled over, shrieked then sank to the ground. They sat with her and waited for the spasm to pass.
Rhonda ran toward them. “The storm’s stalled, but they think it will start moving again soon. They also said we’d start getting rain bands in a couple of hours.” She pointed toward the village’s edge where minutes earlier cars sat waiting to be filled. “Everyone is accounted for. All the cars are filled, so Kangee sent them on with instructions to empty out and come back for us. Snow and Lexie are with them. Kangee said to be ready in about an hour. Is she okay?”
“First change,” Bobbie answered. “Tab and I are staying here with Ionna until she’s past it. Tell Kangee we’ll meet up with everyone at the shelter after she’s gotten over this.”
“Well, I ain’t going then.” Rhonda crossed her arms.
“Rhonda.” Bobbie didn’t need this.
“Don’t ‘Rhonda’ me.” She raised her chin defiantly. “Derek’s Devils. Together forever. Friends. Family. Remember?”
There was a desperate yearning in her expression when, as if on instinct alone, she stretched out her arm. A pull as if from an invisible hand lifted Bobbie’s wrist heavenward. Tabatha’s followed suit.
Their fingers touched and their tattoos came together as one. A thin blue streak of light encircled both her and both of Tabatha’s wrists, the dragons writhed and stretched along their arms. Their tongues lashed flames at each other with silver-and-red flashes shooting upward from mouths thrown open wide as though they were crying out to the gods.
“Together forever.” Tabatha and Rhonda’s voices blended with hers into a single stream of sound.
“Daggers of the Spirit Warriors,” Aetheria’s voice came from above. She stood at the railing of her house looking out at the gulf, Bertha at her side. Aetheria continued, “They will be there when the need arises and are not to be toyed with. The battle is near. The Noom Revo Su is rising. Your reign of queen will be a long one, but on this night, one child will be given the choice to be the leader of those of the future. You must win this battle, or she will fail in her mission.”
Bertha worked her way down the ladder to stand before Tabatha, Rhonda and Bobbie. “The Sister’s of Blood will end the curse. Their blood will mingle with those who die, but they will stand victorious.” Bertha touched each of the girls on the cheek.
The old woman closed her eyes. “Each a queen to their own kind, they will lead them into the world to face those who will not want them. Few will die to give freedom to many.”
“Yours will be the voices of reason in a world of confusion.” Troy exited the woods, Derek at his side. “Robertina, Queen of the Spirit. Rhonda, Queen of the Flame. Tabatha, Queen of the Earth.”
Kangee rushed across the common ground.
“Derek the Lord of Justice, together with Kangee, the Lord of the Wind, your strength is unbendable. Your love for each other is the secret of your strength.” Troy stood close to them staring at Rhonda, his eyes filled with so much affection, Bobbie feared he might take that one last step and draw Rhonda into his arms. “Your true mate will be the Lord of the Water and will fuel the heat of destruction for any who would harm those you protect.”
Bobbie shook her head. This was beginning to become something out of a cheap fantasy novel. “Where do you people come up with this shit?”
Ionna giggled. “You know what? Ya’ll are so funny. It’s like watching a play by that guy who lived a long time ago. Wrote all those things called sonnets, I think. Shake something or the other.” She crumbled into a laughing puddle at their feet. “Oh, Tabatha, I like these pills. They make you happy, don’t they? I like being happy, don’t you? This shifting ain’t so bad.”
She giggled again, but with a gasp that changed into a scream of pure agony. Her delicate face deformed and slid outward as dark brown hair covered what was now a muzzle. Her eyes rolled back into her head and a seizure shook her violently.
>
Derek stepped forward, his hair damp with the light rain falling. A sudden gust of wind whipped around the yard sending plywood flying like oversized Frisbees. “The Lord of Justice is taking this girl inside. It looks like the sky is about to dump all over us, and she’s not looking all that well.” He gathered Ionna into his arms and ran toward Bobbie’s house and up the stairs three at a time, kicking the door open.
Bobbie rushed up behind him, Agnes following as fast as her short legs would carry her heft.
A few minutes later Bobbie, Rhonda, Tabatha and Agnes sat around the bed witnessing the torture of Ionna’s body and spirit.
“Robertina, Queen Moran, I challenge you.” Omeda’s voice rang through the empty village like a bell tolling in the night.
Chapter Eighteen
Bobbie froze mid-step. In the middle of the common ground encased in leather from neck to ankles, Omeda stood ready for battle. Who the hell did she think she was, Xena the Warrior Princess? Chains hung from her waist and twisted around her wrists. Her brown hair stuck out in long greasy spikes and the mascara smudged around her eyes gave her the look of a dominatrix on a slow ride down an oil slick.
A smile tugged at the corners of Bobbie’s lips. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me.”
Bobbie burst in laughter as she glanced behind her and motioned Tabatha and Rhonda forward.
“Come here. You’ve got to see this.” Bobbie stepped aside letting them look past her.
Silence stretched far too long. Rhonda made a rude noise, slapping her hand over her mouth, trying to control her laughter.
Tabatha shook her head. “What in God’s creation is she supposed to be? She looks like a shaved raccoon.” They stood in the doorway laughing.
Omeda’s face twisted with rage. “I challenged you, Robertina. You have to fight me or step down as queen. Then Kangee will see it is me he should have picked. It’s me who should be queen.”
“Oh, shut up, Omeda.” Bobbie tried to be serious, but the whole thing seemed so comical. “You want a fight? Fine. No rules. Fight as dirty as you please. Isn’t that your way?” She walked down the steps, one step at a time. “You’ve always sabotaged the efforts of anyone who didn’t bow to your whims.” She ran a quick gaze over the surrounding area. “What no backups? No one to attack from the rear when you lose?” Even as a child Omeda was a coward, doing things in secret or as part of a group.
Omeda snorted. “I don’t need anyone to help me, Bitch. You underestimate me.”
Aetheria strode out onto the landing of her tree house and stared down at Omeda and Bobbie. “Omeda, you are no longer under my protection. You are…”
“Dead meat.” Twenty feet separated Bobbie from Omeda. Close enough to see the sweat beading on her upper lip. Close enough to smell the strong sulfur scent of fear. “You challenged me, Omeda, you have the right to first strike.” Bobbie smiled. “At least, you can try.”
A flash of light erupted between her and Omeda, its heat so intense it stung Bobbie’s skin. “Banished!” the old woman shouted. “Omeda you are no more. We know not your name, nor do we recognize you. Leave!”
The heat of magic rushed over her skin and warned Bobbie of Omeda’s shift. The sight of the wolverine staring back at her left her mind reeling.
A claw-extended paw raked the air, hitting Bobbie on the jaw. Her ears buzzed and stardust flickered in front of her eyes. The copper taste of blood seeped into her mouth. “You’ve been keeping secrets, Omeda. How did you hide your true animal from us all these years?”
Bobbie’s panther screeched and broke free. Bones popped, skin tightened and black hair covered every inch of Bobbie’s body.
Omeda fought her way out of the leather jumper, tearing at it with her teeth until it fell away. Her slim body had compacted into a stocky, muscular mass of brown hair with dull yellow stripes along her sides. Omeda hissed and leapt toward her intended victim.
Every cat instinct rushed to Bobbie’s brain. Her human side knew it was Omeda, but the panther saw a mortal enemy. Bobbie circled the wolverine while trying to run a battle plan through her brain. She had been ready for a simple romp with a weasel not this wire-haired, black-eyed, skunk bear. Her heart raced at a frantic pace and fear-fed adrenaline heated her blood.
Bobbie watched the way the wolverine moved. Her eyes shifted one way or the other predicting each sway or turn. The wolverine looked to her right and Bobbie prepared for the sudden jerk in that direction. Bobbie raked her paw over Omeda’s face, drawing blood.
Omeda pounced on Bobbie’s back, biting and digging claws into her neck and front legs. Pain shot through her body momentarily stunning her.
Bobbie rolled, knocking the bitch to the ground, trailing her claws down the animal’s back and sinking her feline teeth into its nape. Shaking her head, Bobbie flung Omeda from side to side like a dust mop. Satisfied that the wolverine had stopped fighting, Bobbie dropped her to the ground in a heap.
Bobbie stepped away from the body and shifted back to her human form. She inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, trying to lessen the stinging in her lungs. “Get up.”
Omeda turned her face away, drawing deep greedy breaths. She looked up, bared her teeth and growled from deep within her chest.
“I said get up.” Bobbie fought to calm the rage nearly choking her.
Aetheria came to Bobbie’s side. “If you do not end this now, if you let her go, you can never be sure she will not return for you again and again.”
“Not…finished.” Omeda’s body slowly changed, first her arms and legs, then her body and face. Blood oozed out of the back of her neck and from long, deep gouges down her spine. Blood-caked mud stripped her face. She struggled to pull herself to her hands and knees but fell face first into the dust.
“Yes, we are finished. The only reason I don’t kill you now is I have some latent feelings of friendship left.” Bobbie wiped at her bloody nose. “Leave. Omeda. I don’t want to see your face again.”
Kangee drove into the yard, ran from the car and bent down next to Omeda. “This is over, woman. You are free to go. Find another clan. No one will speak of this shame you’ve brought upon yourself. But be warned, if you cause any more trouble, I will serve your head on a silver platter.” He stared her in the eyes and grasped her by her upper arms. “I do not love you, Omeda. I never have. You were always a pest, but I thought you harmless. I was a fool once, but not twice. Go. You are dead to us…to me. Clan Moran does not know you.”
Omeda crawled away whimpering like a broken soul.
Kangee let go of her and faced Bobbie, his expression fierce. “We will have the mating ceremony now.”
“Getting kinda pushy, aren’t you?” Bobbie wiped her hand across her nose coming away with bloodstained fingers. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to check on Ionna.”
Aetheria ran her fingertips over Bobbie’s cheek. “It has to be done today, tonight. The time for battle is near. Our enemies wait for darkness to fall. The winds will not stop them, the storm will be no more than a nuisance.”
“Hey! Wait a damned minute. I have a say in this. This feels like a shotgun wedding.” Frustration surged through her system like steam through boiler pipes.
She’d had enough of others telling her what to do and when. “I have a kid going through her first shift, a hurricane coming and a battle to beat all battles to fight. And you want me to…to…” She huffed and stomped up the stairs to her house, pushing her way between Rhonda and Tabatha still standing in the entryway. “Forget it. Tell the powers that be I’ll get married when I’m damned good and ready.”
Chapter Nineteen
The sight that faced Bobbie made her heart squeeze with empathy.
Ionna lay on Bobbie’s bed, tossing from side to side, her arms wrapped around her middle. A low moan sounded long and mournful.
“Bobbie,” Tabatha gently placed her fingertips on her chin, “let me stitch this up.”
Bo
bbie jerked her chin away. “I’ll be fine. Shifters heal perfectly fine on our own. How’s Ionna doing?”
Tabatha sat beside the girl and massaged her legs, then her arms and shoulders, all the while whispering encouragement. She wiped her hands on a nearby towel. “I gave her another half a pill. She’s having a hard time of it. But something isn’t right. You said she’d be a badger like Agnes.”
“Has to. Human father, shifter mother, the child will be the same animal as the mother unless there’s a stronger bloodline in the mother’s history. If father and mother are shifter, the most dominant animal will decide the child’s fate. Ionna should have shifted as an infant, though, if the father...”
Oh, hell. Half-breed father. The realization hit her like a semi truck and fully loaded trailer. They had a half-breed, a rogue, posing as human.
“Well, from what we’ve seen so far… Hell, I don’t know.” Rhonda shook her head. “She’s not a badger. She looks more like some kind of long haired otter.”
Tabatha nodded. “It’s not been a full shift yet, mostly the face and one arm, but it’s definitely not badger.” She paused as if confused. “If the father is a shifter, then why has Ionna not shifted earlier?”
“If he’s half-blood it’s a crap shoot. It can happen anytime up to the age of sixteen. If they’ve not shifted by then, they never will.” Bobbie cracked her knuckles. “Where’s Agnes?”
“She ran out the back door. She’s scared, Bobbie.” Tabatha picked up a bowl and dashed to the kitchen for fresh water.
Bobbie followed behind. “What’s on your mind, Tab?”
“The sight of Ionna’s shifting knocked the air out of Agnes’ lungs. She landed hard on her knees then pulled herself to her feet and ran.”
“We’ve possibly got a half-blood shifter posing as an Outsider.” Bobbie’s mind ran from one possibility to another with no real answers showing themselves. A set up from another clan with plans to cause so much dissention between them they could walk right in and take over? An Outsider wanting her position as leader of the shifters? She just didn’t know.
