by C C Solomon
“You have gotten much more powerful, Amina. Oh, yes. I want you back.” He was grinning and his eyes had become wide and crazed.
I felt like throwing up. “I would sooner die.”
“And so, your brother will too.”
Shit. I wasn’t in a position of power here. David was too far gone to value his own life and I had no idea who else he was with. If I killed him, then they could kill Charles in return. “Fine! I’ll go back with you. Release my brother and the prisoners from Pittsburg.”
Don’t do that, Amina. You can get your brother back. We can find the others. Kill this man.
David laughed and the sound stabbed at my stomach. “You are the most powerful being I have ever encountered and I can imagine you have untapped gifts still to come, but that is far from a fair trade. You for your brother. That’s all I’m willing to do.”
This was a chance to try to help the others in the most peaceful way. I had to get David to agree. Even if it was a long shot. “No, for everyone. I’m surrounded by soldiers. You aren’t getting out of here alive.”
He tilted his head and frowned. “I’m not worried.”
Why wasn’t he? How did he find us? Had he been in hiding near the hospital and followed us here? Was he not alone? Were the other soldiers and Erik, several stores down at the supermarket, also fighting off these enhanced humans? Were they dead?
The worry made me dizzy. More importantly, without knowing the safety of my brother, I had no real power to bargain with this asshole. “I need to see my brother before I go with you. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
If you go back with him, you’ll never get out. Just hold out.
“How do you know?” I whispered back to the Phillip voice in my head.
“He’s with an associate in the back,” David replied, eyeing me curiously.
“Take me to him,” I demanded, ignoring Phillip’s pleading voice in my head.
David smiled again and pointed to the aisle in front of me. I slowly walked down the row of cards and magazines; he followed closely behind me. I would see my brother and say goodbye, but Charles would find me. It would be okay.
I felt magic enter the pharmacy before I saw anyone and prayed it was one of the good guys. Hopefully, David hadn’t picked up on it. I didn’t believe that the blood potion gave regular humans the ability to sense magic.
Suddenly Erik appeared in front of me, his eyes otherworldly and orange. “Down!” he growled and I ducked without question as he took a swipe at David with very inhuman hands. His large jackal paws, bigger than my head, held thick claws that were maybe three or four inches long. He missed David’s face but connected with his chest.
David cried out and jumped back, putting pressure on the deep gashes as blood poured out between his fingers. With his free hand he pulled out a gun from behind his back and pointed it at Erik.
The werejackal looked unfazed. He would survive a gunshot as long as it wasn’t to the head or heart with a silver bullet. That part of the myth was true. Weres were very allergic to silver.
Erik stepped around me as if daring David to shoot. And shoot he did. He missed Erik’s head and hit a wall behind us. David shot again, this time clipping Erik in the shoulder. Erik stumbled back only slightly but kept moving. David shot another time and, again, Erik took the bullet, in this thigh this time, as if it were nothing. However, by this time, Erik was close enough to David to knock the gun from his hand. Erik backhanded David, who only slid back on his feet. A hit like that from Erik would have landed any normal human on their behind and even knocked them out. David cursed and charged Erik, wrapping his arms around his waist and knocking the werejackal to the ground.
David’s arm moved in a blur behind his back and a butcher knife appeared in his hand. He brought it down on Erik, who threw out his arm. The knife stabbed through Erik’s arm and David began to push down the knife, the exposed tip coming closer to Erik’s chest.
I threw out my hands. “Stop, David!” I yelled. Pain pricked my body, forcing me to hunch over.
He looked up right before his body lifted off of Erik into the air. His body flew backwards into a front cashier counter and crumbled to the floor. Had I just moved him like I did Lisa?
Seizing the moment, Erik jumped up and raced to David, practically flying. He bent over David and reared back his clawed hands, ready to cut the man to shreds.
“Don’t! He has Charles,” I shouted, standing straight. I was suddenly feeling nauseous. A cold sweat drenched my forehead and neck.
Erik paused. “We have him. He was in the back,” Erik replied, keeping his eyes on David. “By the way, your partner is dead. Where is the prison?”
David’s shocked eyes quickly grew cool and he looked at me. “‘Til next time,” he said in a calm voice. Then in a blur, he jumped up and raced out of the building before Erik could bring down his claws. He was as fast as a vampire but he was still human. I had not sensed him to have magic. The blood serum made humans strong but not at the level of paranormals. Or so I thought.
I didn’t have a moment to wonder anymore about that new fact because a sharp pain twisted my stomach and my knees gave way. I fell to the floor, my vision going blurry. The last thing I saw and heard was Erik’s boots quickly approaching me and Phillip calling my name.
And for the third time in several months I was passing out.
Damn it. This couldn’t be good for my health.
Chapter 13
I woke up in a bedroom I didn’t recognize. If I were to guess, I’d say it was the room of a senior citizen. The comforter was paisley, and the oak dresser across from the bed had a white doily on the top. On the pale blue walls was a mixture of colored pictures of children and old, black-and-white-and-sepia-colored photos of a couple. The room was lit by a large candle on a night stand to my left. The room smelled like dust and I prayed to the heavenly Father above that they had cleaned the bed linen before they placed me under the covers. My right arm decided to itch at that exact moment.
“Did they clean this bed?” I croaked out to the room, getting more and more agitated about my predicament as my other arm began to itch.
“Yeah, one of the soldiers is a witch. She said a cleaning spell over the house and warded it,” I heard Erik explain from my right. I turned to face him and found him sitting in an actual rocking chair next to the bed near the door.
He was slightly rocking in the chair, looking like someone’s very scary grandmother. I stifled a giggle.
Erik gave me a quizzical look before getting up and walking to the dresser, pouring water into a glass from a large plastic water jug. I scooted up in the bed and accepted the water when he returned to my bed side. I lay back on the world’s fluffiest pillows. Actually, the whole bed was heaven. Grandma had been getting some serious beauty rest.
“It just smells like dust in here. Thank you,” I said before taking a sip.
“You want me to ask her to do an air freshener spell?”
I glanced over to him. “Does that exist?”
He gave me a deadpan face. “No. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe.”
I rolled my eyes. “Where’s Charles?”
“In another room resting,” Erik answered, sitting back down. “He was knocked out but he’s okay. The witch soldier healed him but we’re keeping an eye on him just in case.”
“How about you? Your wounds?”
He shrugged. “Just scratches, I’m fine.”
“Scratches? You were shot and stabbed.”
He showed me his arm. There was no open cut, just a scar where he was stabbed earlier. If he’d let a witch heal him there wouldn’t be a scar.
“Thank you for saving me.”
“You could have handled it. You’re a bad ass, remember?” He smirked at me.
I tapped my forehead. “Ah, you’re right.” I looked around the room. “What time is it?”
Erik, who I was just now noticing looked completely exhausted, rubbed his short, brown beard. He looked down
at his watch. “Almost 1 a.m.”
The two soldiers that were with Charles and I popped into my mind. “The soldiers who were with us, are they…”
“Trisha is alive, Max didn’t make it.”
I looked down at my hands. “This is all my fault.”
Erik shook his head. “You can’t think like that. Soldiers put themselves out there to protect. It’s a risky thing but you aren’t the one who is responsible. Those assholes who ambushed them are.”
I nodded, not really convinced. It was a hard pill to swallow. It was hard to know that these people were here because of me and to save people who weren’t even from their town. Max’s death was for nothing. How could I go back to Colonel Robinson and ask him to continue to help us?
I looked over to Erik who gazed at me with a weary frown. “You’ve been sitting in that seat since we came here?” I asked.
He nodded. “Only been here an hour. It’s very comfortable, actually. The soldier who healed you just wanted to make sure we kept an eye on you because you weren’t waking up right after we healed you. I volunteered.”
I frowned. “Healed from what?”
“You passed out.” Erik leaned towards me and searched my eyes. “You don’t remember?”
“I remember hitting the floor.”
“You were poisoned.”
“What? How was I poisoned?”
“Did that guy touch you, at all?”
I shook my head and looked up at the ceiling; mentally searching my mind. David kissed my neck. “Yes. How do we know it was poison? What kind?”
Erik sighed and rubbed his weary eyes. “We don’t know. They’ll test you and your brother, tomorrow back in the town. Assuming any traces of the poison are left.”
“He didn’t want my brother,” I began, replaying the encounter again in my mind. “He just wanted me.”
“Well, he’s not going to have you,” Erik growled with steely eyes. The look was both scary and comforting. “You’re safe here. We’ve got wards up and soldiers keeping an eye out. We’re leaving at first dawn.”
I smiled at him. “How’d you get so comforting?”
Erik sat back and chuckled. Maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe he wasn’t a grumpy bear. “How should I answer that question? I was raised by two parents who loved me? I served in the military back in New Zealand and was in some areas of this world so horrible I had to comfort my soldiers to keep them going.”
I nodded slowly. “So, I forgot to ask. How did you know we were in danger back at the pharmacy? We weren’t gone that long.”
“I felt it. Something just felt wrong.”
“Well, that’s amazing. Great intuition. I gotta keep you around,” I replied before taking another sip of water.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” he replied.
I looked up and met Erik’s eyes but I couldn’t read them. They seemed different than before. Maybe it was the candlelight but they seemed softer and there was a hint of something flickering behind the honey color of his eyes. Flirtation?
Something changed in me. My stomach was now doing the familiar flip-flops again, confusing me even more. There was a man who I had been dreaming of for almost a month and then there was this man who I’d only known for slightly over a week. But he was here in person and I’d seen him every day. He had grown on me. Yep, I was in confusion city.
I gulped down the rest of my water and wondered what to say next. Maybe I was imagining this all. I was exhausted, it was late. I was still in recovery. I was just confused. “Lisa is lucky to have you as a protector,” I said, putting the empty glass of water down on the side table.
“She’s doesn’t need me now,” he replied, stifling a yawn.
“You should go rest. Is there a place for you to sleep?”
He shook his head. “No, the rocking chair is fine. Keeps me alert. I doubt David would come around again, but you never know.”
“You don’t have to be my guard.”
He looked over to me with a curious glint in his now human eyes. “Does me being here make you uncomfortable?”
I shook my head quickly, suddenly nervous. “No. I just feel bad that you’re sleeping in a chair. I mean, you could share the bed. It’s large enough.” My eyes were carefully neutral so as not to portray the invitation as anything more than platonic. Not that I didn’t find him attractive. He was a beautiful man but we’d never spoken in a flirtatious manner before. I wasn’t sure him telling me I smelled of roses counted.
He eyed the bed, it was queen sized, so large enough but not so large I wouldn’t know he was there. He looked back at me. “Are you sure?”
I shrugged. “It’s just us sleeping for a couple of hours.”
His face didn’t betray anything as he rose and walked over to the other side of the bed. I scooted down on the bed, resting my head on the pillow, as I stared up at the ceiling. I bit my lip as I felt the mattress lower as he lay on the bed beside me. Was I really going to be able to sleep next to him?
“So, you’re from New Zealand?” I asked in a steady voice, lying flat on the bed.
“Yes,” he replied.
“And you’re a werejackal. I thought those were only in Africa or parts of Asia. How’d you get to become one?”
He chuckled. “I don’t know if the were part is tied to the original location of the animal. But my father was Afrikaner, from South Africa. I’m guessing that’s the origin, if you believe that.”
“Is your mom from New Zealand originally?” I glanced over to him. He was lying on his back as well, an arm behind his head. He looked up at the ceiling with a slight smile. Perhaps I was prying but the nervous energy in my stomach wouldn’t let me sleep. He was a man. A handsome man. Lying next to me. In a bed. I was sixteen again, dreaming of Kyle Jefferson, my high school crush.
“You want my family history, I see. Yes, my mother was a New Zealander or a Kiwi, as we call locals. She was white and Maori. You? Since this is family history time.”
I smiled. “I’m just a local. I grew up in Tampa. My father is originally from Trinidad. He was East and West Indian. My mother was Creole.”
Silence hung in the air. I wasn’t sure what else to talk about. His Pre-world life? What had he been doing for the past nine years? Or maybe I should have just drifted off to sleep. I closed my eyes.
“You still smell of roses,” he said in a low voice.
My eyes popped open. Nope, wouldn’t be sleeping yet.
“Thanks,” I whispered, unsure how to respond. I wasn’t creeped out and, in a way, it was flattering. I was just overjoyed that my natural scent was pleasant. It somehow reaffirmed something positive in me.
I felt his hand reach out and touch my hair, stroking a few clumps of tight curls between his fingers. That would only make my hair frizzy but I didn’t care. I fought the urge to tense. He wasn’t going to hurt me or take advantage of me, but the nerves didn’t die quickly. “You’re going to give me a big head if you keep saying how good I smell,” I joked with a nervous giggle that was very unlike me. Erik had never, in the short time we’d known each other, devoted this much attention to me. Then again, we were never alone together.
“Do you want me to stop touching you?” he asked in a low voice that did something to my stomach. “I should have asked first.”
I thought for a moment. “No, I don’t mind,” I admitted. I closed my eyes again and allowed myself to relax as he ran his fingers in my hair. Moments later, I felt a light breath on my neck. I opened my eyes again. “Did you just sniff me?”
Erik sighed before responding. “I couldn’t help myself. I apologize. It’s just that this close to you, I’m able to smell more than roses. You smell like cocoa or vanilla. Maybe both.”
“Well, as long as you don’t eat me, it’s okay.” I wasn’t going to tell him but it was kind of a turn on. Of course, him being someone I sort of knew and being uber attractive made it slightly flirty. If he were a stranger on the street, I’d have kneed him in the groin fo
r sniffing me.
He chuckled and I felt him scoot closer to me. “Tell me to stop if I’m too close. I don’t think I’m able to judge boundaries right now.”
“You’re fine,” I whispered back through my heart pounding away in my ears. Any moment, I was sure it would burst out of me. I put a hand to my chest as if to keep it in.
I couldn’t help but wonder how we’d gotten here. One moment he was the grumpy tough guy I found on the side of the road and the next he was lying next to me stroking my hair. I wanted to be near him, there was no doubt in my mind. Yet, I wasn’t sure if I was mistaking the stress of the past couple of weeks with me really being into him. I also didn’t want to misconstrue his miscalculation of appropriate personal space with meaning he was interested in me beyond anything platonic.
He was a were, they didn’t do things or think the same way I did. Granted he’d only been a were for nine years, but nine years was enough to change your behavior. It'd certainly changed mine. Magic and the use of spells was becoming almost second nature to me. Therefore, my scent could simply be a relaxing agent that helped him fall asleep and I was in my head thinking he was flirting.
I turned my head slowly to look at him for some clarity. He lowered his eyes from my hair to mine and we didn’t speak. He was lying on his side now, his hand still playing in my hair. I smiled slightly, still unsure of what I wanted to say or do. Maybe I needed to just go to sleep and get my starved hormones in check. Of course, I was thinking this at the same time I was looking at his lips and when I looked up at him again, I could now identify the something in Erik’s eyes I couldn’t place before. Desire.
He grinned at me before leaning in slowly. “Tell me to stop,” he whispered.
I didn’t and soon his lips found mine.
His lips were softer than I expected from someone so hard. It had been a while since I’d been kissed, I was not counting David, and a need arose in me that I didn’t know existed. I deepened our kiss and felt the warmth from him spread over me and tighten my stomach in desire.
I turned my body towards him and he moved his hand from my hair to my lower back, pressing me closer. I grabbed his face, trying to fight my sudden sense of urgency to have him, feeling his scruffy beard under my fingers and against my face. I might have some friction burn in the morning but right now it was worth it.
