by Celeste Raye
“It needs to happen, and you’re going to want to be on the right side of it.”
Melinda agreed, and they started to move back to the vehicles that took them there.
“I hope you’re right about this, Dahlia. You’re putting all of our lives at risk for a beast.”
The stout woman got in one of the other vehicles, and Dahlia tried not to show her anger. She knew how most of her kind felt about shifters. She had never hated them, but Dahlia had learned to keep her distance. Now she hoped that she would get there in time to save them.
She drove to the orphanage, telling herself that everything was going to be okay. She had to believe it, or everything that she knew to be true was a lie. Everything that she had worked for would be for nothing. The one man that she’d ever loved would be gone.
Dahlia couldn’t let that happen.
Justin was outside of the orphanage, and he felt just as helpless then as he did as a child. He was terrified, and he was shaking inside. The plan was that he was going to be the first to go to the door. They knew him, and they would trust him more than any of the others.
He was supposed to tell them that he wanted to come back. He didn’t like the world and what was in it, so then they would let him in. Once their guard was down, the rest of the shifters would attack.
It wasn’t the best plan, but the numbers were so overwhelmingly on their side, it didn’t seem like they could be beat. The feeling in the air was one of hope. Justin was trembling inside, but he was trying to feed off of all of the others around him.
“Are you sure that we are doing this right?”
Conan agreed, but there was sadness. Was he worried that he was going to be killed too?
“Let’s get this done, Justin. You said you wanted this and I know that you’re going to succeed. We’re right behind you.”
Since Justin had never had a family before, it was an odd feeling to know that they were going to support him. He was so afraid of what would happen next, but he finally moved out of the woods and into the clearing around the dilapidated house. It was just as he remembered, but there was something inside of him that was still unnerved.
He knew that they would know something was up. They always had before. He had to hold it all in, no matter how hard it was to do.
Linda was the one that came to the door. She was young and vibrant, and he instantly felt a sickness in his stomach because he knew how she got that way. She didn’t deserve to be young, and even though she had saved him, it wasn’t enough. She hadn’t saved the rest.
“Justin? What are you doing here?”
Her voice was a whisper, and she shut the door around her so that no one in the house could see who it was.
“I smelled a shifter, but I wouldn’t have imagined that it was you.”
“I need to talk to you, Linda. I’ve been having some strange dreams that scared me. I left, hoping that it would go away, but it’s gotten worse. I just want to be here, with you, at home.”
Linda looked like she pitied him, but she told him that he should leave.
“If you’re found here, Justin, I won’t be able to save you…”
“Who is that at the door?”
Justin could hear Marl’s voice as plain as day. He knew what would happen if Marl saw him, but he had to stand his ground. This was the plan. He had to stick with the plan.
“Go,”
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
The door was yanked open, and Justin smiled at Marl.
“What are you doing here?”
“I want to come home.”
Justin hoped that he could fool them, though he knew that he couldn’t fool himself. His heart was pounding, and his feet wanted to run, badly.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Dahlia was dismayed by what she saw. She could sense that something was wrong when they got close. It wasn’t her magical powers that told her that, but her eyes and her nose. She could see the fire and smell the smoke. The orphanage was burning, but it was only superficial.
It was the dead bodies strewn in front of the place that really bothered her. It was more men than women, which meant that the shifters were not enough. They had numbers, which was clear by how many were dead on the ground, but it had not been enough. Dahlia had known that it was what was going to happen.
The car stopped and Dahlia moved towards the door. She could see that Justin wasn’t among the bodies on the ground. She looked for his coat, the one he’d been wearing when he left, and it wasn’t there.
That brought a sigh of relief until another shifter was thrown out of the third story window. He was dead on impact and Dahlia had to make sure that it wasn’t who she was there for. None of it mattered as long as Dahlia found Justin safe and sound.
When she looked up at the window, she gasped. It wasn’t the witch that had done it. It was Justin. She was staring at the man she loved, and he didn’t even see her. She watched him throw another shifter to their death before she moved inside the house. Something was wrong.
Dahlia knew that the witches had some kind of hold on him, but she hadn’t expected to see it like that. When she got inside the house, a magic bolt ran past her head. She turned to see a witch with a twisted face making a motion to kill her. She saw it and blocked it, sending it back towards her.
It hit the young woman in the chest and Dahlia hoped that it killed her.
She ducked from another bolt of magic and slid into the next room after rolling away. Dahlia saw Conan and asked him what happened.
“I don’t know. Everything was going alright until Justin started acting strange. He started attacking us, and now, with whatever they are doing to him, he is taking everyone out.”
“They have control of him. We’re going to have to break the spell. It’s the only way. They think he is theirs, but we have to remind him that he’s on our side.”
Conan shook his head. “That isn’t going to work. I already tried, and he sliced my shoulder.”
Dahlia looked at the cut and swallowed hard. “I have to try. He is never going to forgive himself for this.”
“The hell with guilt: he is killing the whole pack. I have never seen someone so strong.”
“It’s the witches. We break the bond that he has with them, and then we take them out. That’s the plan; you guys just jumped the gun.”
He looked sheepish for a minute, but then Justin was coming back down the stairs like he knew that she had arrived.
“I got this.”
Conan looked unsure, and he didn’t come out right away. Not until she was fully out and his next target.
Dahlia didn’t expect Justin to look the way he did when she finally saw him. He was in a trance, and it didn’t take much for her to realize that it was because of the witches.
She wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to get through to him. He didn’t look at her but through her. Another witch came in behind her and Dahlia tried to stop the magic bolt sent his way. She didn’t want Justin hurt.
“Stop! He isn’t himself.”
The woman was sidetracked by her words, and that cost the woman her life. Dahlia watched in horror as the young witch was torn apart. She was shaking uncontrollably, knowing that she was going to be next. There was no other way around it.
“Please, stop, Justin! This isn’t you.”
“Actually, dear, it is. Justin has always been our hammer, and he does a good job, doesn’t he?”
Dahlia looked into the eyes of the young woman and knew that the beauty and smile belied the true horror that was inside of her. Dahlia knew that she was looking at one of the Stein witches and the power was emanating off of her in a way that was palpable to Dahlia.
“Justin, please. This isn’t you.”
Justin was done with the witch that had burst through the door. She knew that if he didn’t stop soon, there was going to be no one left. It was up to her, but Dahlia was losing her nerve. She had just watched someone get torn apart. How was she supposed to get
over that?
He came towards her and charged. She didn’t want to hurt him, but she finally stopped him with magic. The Stein witch just laughed and walked away. “I have other things to attend to. It looked like Justin is taking care of things for me, like always.”
The witch walked away and left Dahlia with a sickening feeling and a beast that was going to take her out. He hadn’t shifted, he didn’t need to. Justin was being strengthened by magic.
She tried to look into his eyes, plead with him that everything was going to be okay. He just had to snap out of it, but he didn’t. He just kept on coming, and Dahlia knew that she wasn’t going to make it. There was no way.
Dahlia heard someone else coming, and she stopped them. “Leave; he isn’t himself.”
Even in the midst of it, Dahlia knew that she didn’t want anything to happen to Justin. None of this was his fault. He was forced into this. Dahlia wished that she had talked him into running away. She felt like she had lost him for good. And if that was the case, Dahlia didn’t want Justin to be killed as well. He would get himself back; she was sure of it.
The witch that she yelled at was confused. Dahlia yelled to her to find the rest of the Stein witches. That was who they were there for. She was going to deal with Justin. If she were to die today, she would rather have it be by him.
The man she loved was close and had nothing but hate in his eyes. She tried her best to ignore it, telling herself what it truly was, but it was impossible to do. She knew then that it was over and she just gave into it. It actually felt good to do so. It made her feel free.
“I am sorry this happened to you, Justin, but I know this isn’t you. I love you, and I forgive you. When this all over, I want you to forgive yourself. This wasn’t you.”
His face changed, and he stopped, just inches from her. The look in his eyes started to change as well. They started to lighten in color, and they were the eyes of the man she loved. Suddenly, he was back, and before she could think it through, she was pulling him in for a hug and then a kiss.
Justin’s body was stiff for a moment, and then it started to relax.
“I’m sorry, Dahlia…”
“Just stop. It’s not your fault. Now, help me get the last of them. They still think that they control you. Use it to your advantage.”
“What are you going to do?”
Dahlia looked around and then told him that she was going to find the kids.
“I haven’t seen any. They have to be around here somewhere.”
“Under the house.”
Dahlia shivered at the answer. The Stein orphanage was the eeriest place she had ever been. All she wanted to do was get the kids and get out of there. She’d had enough of being the hero today. Today, there were no heroes.
Epilogue
There were half the shifters that started and four fewer witches. When the group made it back to Conan’s place, no one was unscathed. Several witches were throwing shade towards Justin for him killing so many, but Dahlia wouldn’t let it happen. She yelled at everyone who said anything, but finally, Justin had to tell her to let it go.
Dahlia gave him a dirty look but Justin was more worried about what else was going on. The children had been found, all but one that he knew about. The witches were dead, all but two.
Justin didn’t know how to feel about that fact. The best and the worst of the Steins had lived to see another day. Linda wasn’t someone that he was too worried about, but her sister Marl was a different story.
“What are we going to do with the children?”
Conan was asking the question, and the witches had answers. “We will take them in until we can find homes for them.”
Justin thought it was a fair idea, but no one trusted the witches to help like they said they would. Dahlia finally stepped up and said that she would find a human facility to take them in.
“They need to go with their own kind. They are scared, and it’s going to take years for them to forget about what they’ve seen. I think they should go back with humans.”
Everyone agreed, which was surprising. It seemed like they hadn’t agreed on anything once they got back. Dahlia was quiet, except when she had to intervene. He still had so much to tell her, to apologize. Justin’s dream had come true, even if it hadn’t ended the way that he’d imagined. He had still gone after her, and it was going to take time for him to forgive himself, if he was going to be able to.
Once the children’s welfare was taken care of, they were on to the next topic: the ones that got away.
“I say that we walk away and be thankful that we did.”
Everyone looked at Melinda, and though there wasn’t the same kind of consensus that there had been with the kids, it was pretty close.
Justin wanted to argue against giving up, but he knew that enough had been lost today. His quest to kill them was going to have to wait.
The meeting broke up as haphazardly as it had started. Every group was going in their own direction, with Justin and Dahlia left alone. He turned to her and tried to apologize. She waved him off.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have no reason to apologize to me.”
“I just feel like it would have gone better if you wouldn’t have been there. Or if I hadn’t left alone with just the family. It could have gone a lot better.”
Dahlia smiled. “Yeah, but it could have been a lot worse. You could have all died. What would have happened if no one would have been able to stop you? Your whole family would be dead, and the witches would still be running the orphanage, killing human children. This is the best we could hope for.”
He didn’t seem so sure, but she was certain enough for the both of them. “I just wish we could have gotten them. Not to mention, Sarah is still out there. I remember her from my time here. She was Marl’s favorite. What do you think she is going to do to her?”
Dahlia told him that they shouldn’t think about it.
“All we are going to do is wear ourselves out. Let’s go lay down and chalk this up to an eventful day. You saved those kids, Justin. All of them are going to be able to grow up and have a life because of you. Hold onto that for a while. We’ll worry about the rest of it later. I think it’s time that we made our way to the cabin.”
Justin thought she was joking about it, though it was starting to sound like a very good idea. He was done dealing with anything that was attached to his past. He wanted to forget about it, and the only way that it was going to happen was for him to walk away.
“I think you’re right, Dahlia. We still have the witches to worry about, and you have that potion. Maybe it’s time that we hunkered down for a while. I am sure it won’t be that bad, not if you’re with me. Thank you for sticking it out with me.”
She kissed him, and Justin forgot everything that he had just said, as well as anything that he was going to say. It didn’t make sense, the control he had over her. But then again, Dahlia realized that she had control over him as well. She had tamed the beast inside, more than once.
When he got carried away, she had to remind him of where they were.
“I don’t care, Dahlia. Let’s find somewhere quiet. I need you right now. Today could have been our final day and my only regret would be that I didn’t get to kiss and touch you more.
Dahlia smiled. “Well, come on then. We can’t have you living with regrets, now can we?”
Justin kissed her harder, taking his own breath away. He pulled her towards the darkened hallway, knowing that against the wall would be fine if he found no other way. Justin had to have her to remind himself that she was always his. Always.
Shifter’s Sacrifice
(Quest for Immortality)
BOOK II
Chapter One
Connie wasn’t too sure about going out for the night. It was Friday, but she had to work early Saturday morning. The lawyer’s office that she worked at never stopped, which meant that breaks were not something that Connie got a lot of.
She would ha
ve rather spent her time curled up in a chair with a book, but Denise, her co-worker, was insisting that she go out. Denise was newly single, and she made sure everyone in the office knew it. Denise claimed to be happy for her newly single status, but Connie could tell that she wasn’t. Her friend was already trying to get back in the swing of things, and she was pulling Connie along for the ride.
Connie had agreed because she was a people-pleaser in the end. So, when she asked her to come out, she whined a bit, but then relented. Now, she was staring at herself in the mirror, wondering if she was wearing the right thing. It felt too informal, and Connie didn’t like the way the black dress moved so high on her thigh when she walked around.
Her hair was black, and she had left it down so that it would have the halo effect around her. It made her feel like she was protected somehow, which was crazy, but it was the reason she didn’t cut it.
The doorbell rang, and Connie yelled at Denise to come in. She was finishing up her makeup, and Denise popped in and hollered at her.
“Damn, Connie. You’re looking hot.”
She smacked her on the butt and Connie gave her a look. Her attire seemed fairly modest when compared to Denise. Denise was surely out to get a man. Everything about her said so. She was petite, with delicate features that matched perfectly with her complexion. Her eyes were a stunning green, and Connie knew that it wouldn’t be long before she found a man.
Connie didn’t feel hot. She felt rather mousy compared to her friend. She was taller and had a slight frame as well, though there were no medical changes to her top half to make her the looker that Denise was.
“I don’t really know what to wear.”
“Well, for one, you could find something that isn’t black.”
