by Lyla Oweds
The Abernathy family, the founding members, had a vision. They wanted to maintain the secrecy of our world, while establishing a location where all groups could learn.
With the success of the university, smaller businesses popped up, ready to cater to both the normal people and ourselves. This diner, Five Points, was very obviously one of them. With my senses, it hadn’t taken long to pick out the customers.
Metal was accounted for—shifters, like myself and the fox-woman. Mediums, the fae, represented the Wood element. Gregory admitted that we were close to one of their portals. Michael had also known about this place. Which meant that the onmyoji—those of the Fire element—also made an appearance here.
Which left two. The Earth elementals—I was certain a witch or two were in that crowd. Their sort tended to blend into the background. And Water—the necromancers. But I hadn’t really been paying that much attention.
This was kind of sad. I might have liked coming here while studying.
And it appeared bikers had gathered here too—evidenced by the dozen vehicles parked outside the building. The only concerning thing was I’d missed their arrival. That was a pretty big lapse.
Gregory’s statements had affected me more than I wanted to admit.
A car filled with screaming teens drove past, edging close to the curb and kicking up dust. My throat closed, and I coughed as the dirt settled over me and the suit I’d scraped my meager savings to purchase.
“Fiddlesticks,” I muttered, brushing off my skirt as I stepped back from the road. The dust damage was only superficial, but I couldn’t go back and face Gregory while looking like… whatever it was I looked like now.
As if a herald from the heavens, the clouds parted and a ray of light illuminated the chemist across the street. It didn’t look like much, and surely not a place to open a public restroom ready for primping. But who was I to argue with divine intervention?
Chapter Five
Divine intervention had a silly way of showing itself. Take for example my current situation.
There’d been nothing out of the ordinary within the tiny drugstore washroom. It had been suitable enough to meet my needs. Cleaned of dirt and with my hair touched up, I made my way from the chemist, braced myself, and tugged at the edge of my jacket. It wasn’t like I had much to look forward to—only Gregory.
The man who’d managed to see through all my defenses. He was both insightful and attractive. This was dangerous. I was going to have to resist him.
I’d taken in a deep breath, ready to cross the road and continue my unexplained lunch meeting. That’s when I heard it.
It might have drawn my attention because I had exceptional hearing. Or I may have been just desperately searching for a distraction. In either case, the whimpering echoed against my eardrums so loudly it was as if it originated next to me.
Following that came the distinctive pitch of mocking laughter. The noise came from behind me, in the alley between the chemist and a general store.
Most of the crowd congregated across the street, overflowing from the diner and spilling into the parking lot. But there were others on this side of the road, yet no one—not even some of the other shifters—moved to intervene. Instead, as the laughter rang through the air again, they moved uncomfortably. They heard it too. It was hard to miss the nervous glances they’d thrown toward the entrance behind me. Some even going so far as to skip across the street, pretending complete ignorance.
Why would no one intervene?
Actually, it didn’t matter why. I still needed to look into it. There was no way that I ever could ignore any kind of animal abuse—if that was what this was.
After throwing a glare toward the cowards’ retreating backs, I stepped away. Ignoring the warning in the back of my mind, I entered the narrow opening.
I spotted them almost immediately—the buildings surrounding us weren’t very long. They were grouped at the end, where a concrete wall blocked any further escape.
Onmyoji. Two of them.
On the ground between them was a black lab. However, now that he was closer and I could see him, it was obvious that he was a shifter, not an actual dog. He was curled into a ball, hiding his head under his tail while his attackers taunted him. Both with snide comments and threats. All the general slurs shifters usually heard: barbs about being monsters, not-human, and the like. Each remark was punctuated with a physical blow, kicks aimed for the shifter’s side and back.
I wasn’t sure what I would be interrupting. For all I knew, this beating might have been well-deserved. Because along with the slurs were accusations of cheating and lies, which may or may not have been true. But still, didn’t excuse this kind of behavior. Besides, two against once was completely unfair.
As a police-officer-not-officially-hired-yet, I couldn’t allow this crime to continue. I had an obligation to the taxpayers.
“What are you doing?” I crossed my arms, trying to make myself as threatening as possible. After all, I could already tell that this might become a problem. I should have gone to get Gregory. Then again, what could he do? He’d admitted that I could best him in a fight.
But this was different. The onmyoji I’d dealt with in college were starry-eyed, justice-minded men. And none had ever gone against me before in a real-life combat situation. I had picked the worst possible location for a test run.
Especially since none of my combatants at college owned a shikigami. I wasn’t sure which man was contracted with it. Already, the heady sensation pulled at my senses.
But now that I’d called out, I couldn’t leave. So I forced my voice to remain steady and hoped that the justice of the law would prevail. “These aren’t even odds. Only weaklings and cowards gang up on people who can’t fight back.”
The men paused. The scent of trepidation passed through the air as their shoulders stiffened. Slowly, they turned toward me.
I had already figured they were from a local gang. That much was easily deduced from their trademarked jackets and dark jeans. However, where they were from—or even if they were greasers or socs—I couldn’t tell. It didn’t matter, it was obvious that whichever group they were with, it wasn’t a friendly one.
One of the men had dark hair, almost black, curly but tamed into the signature sweeping fashion of the day. He was approximately my height, or even shorter. Although, his arms were beefy, indicating he was a man of some strength. His eyes ran over me before he frowned, dragging at his cigarette. “What’s up, bitch?”
I took a step closer. This man, I could defeat in combat. I was certain. But—
“That’s no way to talk to a lady.” The second man chastised his partner as a slow grin replaced his scowl. He was taller than me and was thin and wiry. He had long, dirty-blond hair pulled low at his neck, and striking blue eyes similar to those that haunted my nightmares.
By appearances alone, he seemed less threatening than his counterpart. But it was him who would be the problem. I was closer now, less than three yards away, and the scent of a contract was heavy on this man.
The shikigami remained unsummoned for the time being. Which was a good thing. However, because it wasn’t here, I had no way of knowing which form it might take in our realm. If it was weaker than me, I might have a chance. But from the cocky grin on this guy’s face, and my own shrinking instincts, it was obvious I would lose in battle.
Besides the danger of that, just being near this man… His heat, the dark nature hiding behind his aura, caused my skin to prickle.
“What’s happening, babe?” The blond stepped forward, closing the distance between us. The action caused my hair to rise and my breathing to turn shallow, even though I tried to hide it.
I couldn’t let him intimidate me.
His grin turned wry, as if he knew my thoughts. “Why are you interfering in official business?”
“Official business?” My voice squeaked, indignation rising along with my fear. Who was this criminal to sound so professional? “Unless you�
�re a law professional taken on by our locale, none of your business is official.” I crossed my arms and leveled my steeliest glare at him. “Are you looking to get arrested?” I wasn’t certain it was possible for me to arrest someone. I was almost sure that Gregory, at least, had some sort of authority.
Hopefully.
However, it may have been a moot point. No one would have to get arrested today. Usually, once confronted, the misfits of society tended to flee like—
“So,” the blond drawled. He ran his blue-eyed gaze over my form. He sounded way too happy about this situation. “Are you going to arrest me?”
A flurry of movement caught my attention. The shifter I’d been defending brushed past me, scurrying out of the alley as fast as his four legs could carry him. Which, honestly, wasn’t that swift at all. But his escape didn’t seem to concern his attackers. Outside of a short glance, neither of them moved to go after him.
I’d stepped backward as the onmyoji moved closer. It was instinctual to keep as much distance as possible between us. When he took another step toward me, I found myself against the wall. My hand flattened against the rough brick, nails scratching against the tiny grooves. I focused on the sensation, trying to resist the urge to strike out, harming a civilian. After all, it’d been taught in school that we were only allow to act in self-defense. It hadn’t reached that point yet.
This was different, stopping before acting. While it was true I’d almost broken the receptionist’s nose, that was before I’d gotten a job.
Now I had to be responsible.
My breathing turned shallow as I fought to ignore the rising heat of my discomfort. The urge to hit him and flee. Even though he wasn’t much larger than me, his stature didn’t prevent him from trying to intimidate me into submission. He’d moved close enough now to where his hand rested on the wall above my shoulder. So close that I could smell the bitterness of his breath. Behind him, the dark-haired man moved into view.
Both wore grins that made the urge to kill harder to resist. No matter how deadly this man was under the surface, I still wanted to make him hurt.
“You’re in the wrong part of town to be making threats. Are you offering to take his place?” He moved his hand, finger brushing over my cheek. The he traced his fingers over the lapel of my dress-suit. He was gentle only a moment, but then his hand fisted the fabric between my breasts, tugging me to him. The way that his lips quirked caused the nausea to rise in my throat. “There are different ways to extract payment.”
This was what I’d been waiting for. He’d touched me first, now I had an excuse to retaliate. But I had to move quickly before he summoned his pet.
“Leave me alone.” I grabbed his wrist, twisting it until his grip loosened. His eyes flared in surprise—he hadn’t expected me to retaliate, so he offered no resistance. The second he released my jacket, I shoved him toward the other man. He fell back into him, and both were knocked off balance and fell to the ground.
I didn’t wait to see if they were going to get up again. Since their initial victim had fled, there was no longer a reason for me to wait around here. I had no grounds to arrest them, personally, so leaving was the best option.
Stepping from the wall, I pushed forward, trying to get out of the way before—
A sharp whistle pierced the air. And the temperature changed from cool autumn to unseasonably warm within a second. It was then my courage fled and my senses failed.
Everything locked as terror filled me.
In this man, there had been an evil just under the surface. It had been an unsettling feeling that made me want to skirt about him from the beginning. Now it had become something real, tangible, and inherently threatening.
The presence made it hard to breathe. The space around me turned menacing as a shadow seemed to press in from all sides.
A shifter’s weakness was shikigami. Shikigami were beings from the underworld who preyed on the wilder parts of our souls. Animals were naturally sensitive to otherworldly beings. It was evidenced when house pets were disturbed by house spirits. So of course nature wouldn’t allow for the things we hated most to become commonplace. Demons that were allowed on Earth as contracted to an onmyoji.
The existence of shikigami were just another reason to hate onmyoji. Plus, they were money-sucking parasites. For example, there was no way that street-peddler could honestly justify charging me twenty-six dollars for a ten-minute tarot session. It was highway robbery.
They were all horrible people.
A shadow passed over me, pulling me from my mental cursing of onmyoji. Even though I already knew what I’d see, I couldn’t stop myself from looking.
I probably looked pathetic to be cowering in such a way. As far as shikigami went, it was fairly unimpressive. A sort of black and white colored bird. Still, the sight of it caused my pulse to race and ice to fill my veins. But what could I do?
It wasn’t its physical appearance that was the problem. It was what lay underneath, the demon that remained dormant, waiting to break free.
“Ove,” the blond called as he pushed himself onto his side and raised his hand. The spirit stopped circling in the air and perched on his owner’s finger. “What do you think of this one?” he asked.
A second of silence passed where the spirit and master communicated silently—mind-speech being a benefit of their bond. I shifted, hoping to make a run for it while they were distracted. I wasn’t quick enough.
The second I moved, black, beady eyes trained on me. The demon jumped into the air, spreading its wings as it dove in my direction. Behind it was an almost imperceptible darkness, an evil that reached out as the bird neared me.
Running wouldn’t help. I was quick, but not compared to the speed of flight. When it struck out at me, it was the force of the shadow after it that slammed me into the brick. The stupid thing hadn’t even touch me with its physical form.
But it still burned.
My arm felt shredded. It was definitely not the tiny feet of a harmless flying creature that had raked its claws over me. Pain laced through me, starting from my arm and radiating down to my feet. I cried out despite myself. When the shadow spread, darkness covered my vision. The men and the tiny bird faded away as a cloak of blackness spread around me.
The sound of the traffic faded, as did the distant mummering of voices. All that existed was a far away moaning of a hundred thousand souls in agony. And the snide tones of the shikigami’s master as he ordered his contractor about.
His words meant nothing to me. I couldn’t process what he’d even said. This was every shifter’s worst nightmare, and the animal side of me was desperate to be safe again.
I curled into myself, and claws grabbed at me, pinpoints of pain along my arms and legs. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t move, I could barely breathe.
I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. I pressed my fists against my eyes, trying to block out the echoing shouts, the slowly creeping thoughts…
Just when I thought I’d go mad, the pressure vanished.
Chapter Six
I could breathe again, and sunlight began to warm me once more—chasing away my petrification.
“Are you all right?” A commanding voice washed over me, the sound mesmerizing despite the sharp undertones. My eyes blinked open, adjusting to the light.
During my moment of weakness, I’d pressed myself against one of the brick walls. I could feel the rough texture against my back. Tendrils of my hair had fallen from the high bun I’d worn today, covering my face. At some point, I had pulled my knees to my chest in terror.
But now, kneeling in front of me, was the prettiest boy I’d ever seen. Greasers weren’t usually my taste. However, there was something angelic and engaging about his face. His expression was genuinely concerned. And the way his dark hair fell over his soulful eyes captivated me. His sexy innocence served to shatter my previously held beliefs.
His mouth dipped. “She’s not responding.” He spoke to someone, but I couldn’t tea
r my eyes from his. Was this a strange, unknown trick of the fae?
While Gregory had bedazzled me, there was something different about this man. “Either the broad is scarred for life, or she’s brain damaged. Where’s her man? She’s got to have a crew. Think she’s from the bash across the street?”
The strange pull I had for him vanished, the feeling replaced with annoyance.
“I do not have brain damage!” I pushed his hands away, rebuffing his attempts to cover me with his filthy leather jacket. He fell back, still crouching on the ground as I moved to my feet, holding on to the wall for balance. “And I don’t need a man to escort me. I’m a grown woman. I’m perfectly able to take care of myself.”
He raised his perfect eyebrows and his lips pursed. His gaze drifted to the only exit from this place. The scent of the men who’d accosted me still lingered in the air, although they’d fled at some point. Then his attention returned to me.
“Right…” From the tone of his voice, it didn’t sound like he believed me.
“Well, I would have been fine if it hadn’t been an unfair fight.” I pushed my hair back from my eyes. “Even then, I was handling it until the shikigami got up to his underhanded tricks.”
“Her.” The man’s eyebrow lowered. “The shikigami was a female.”
“Does its sex matter?” I was finally able to hold myself up without shaking. Now that the vile beast was gone, my strength returned with each passing moment. “Thank you for your help, but I’m okay.”
The handsome stranger didn’t seem to think so. He was on his feet beside me within a breath. He shifted, making a motion to touch me, but he paused. “Baby, I ain’t skipping this scene until you’re set to rights.”
My annoyance began to burn a bit brighter.
“This is why you can’t get a woman,” a second man, who I had noticed in the background before but ignored, said to the stranger. This man was on the shorter side and had curly, golden hair.
And he was a witch. The smell of Earth was all around him. That, and nicotine.
