“Thanks for doing the cleaning,” I told her. “So, tonight we eat, drink and sleep. Tomorrow morning, we plan our next steps and see what we can learn?”
“Sounds good to me. My brain is numb, and I really needed food. I should know better than to burn up magic without enough fuel in me, but I did. Now I’m feeling it.”
We had both learned early that using magic was no different than using muscle. It burned calories and needed fuel as well as focus.
“Then eat up. I bought chocolate almond ice cream for dessert.”
Sid leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Best brother ever.”
The next morning, I made a scramble of leftover fries, eggs, bacon, and cheese. We sat at the table in the kitchen and inhaled coffee until our brains were sufficiently lubricated. I refilled our mugs and leaned back. “Okay, so we’ve got until tomorrow at sunset. I’m sure it’s a trap, so we’ll need to figure out how we’re going to play it.”
“We need to make sure Stumpy doesn’t show up. Maybe we can get a few of Benny’s people to be around? They wouldn’t stand out. Not like cops would, anyway,” Sid said.
“What if it was shifters that took them?”
“And what if it were witches? I’ve been thinking about this and the one piece that makes absolutely no sense is the absence of the SPD. What if it were someone in the SPD that took them and is trying to start a war?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time they tried this if you believe Grandpa Boudreau’s stories.”
“Or what Grandma Fortin said about the witches, either.”
“So, what are we? The cause or the curse?” I asked.
“The cause of the curse, maybe?” Sid said.
“Ha ha, not funny. But I think you might be right with that. I think we should call Grandpa B. See what intel he might have.”
“You think he’d tell us anything he knows? You know how pissed he is that we went to a mundane college instead of the paranormal academy.”
“Yeah, I know he was pissed, but he was pretty generous at Christmas. He told us to look him up after finals to talk about what we wanted to do after graduation. I think he was hoping we’d go to PPA after college.” I told her.
“I’ll be honest, Sin. I thought about it. Even if I don’t ever serve in the SPD, I will at least understand what people are talking about at family gatherings, right?”
I laughed a bit. “Sometimes it’s a challenge to translate what they’re talking about. Let’s see what Grandpa says and what happens tomorrow.”
“Sure. You call him. He likes you better. You don’t have boobs,” Sid said and got to her feet, collecting our plates. “More coffee?”
I snorted into my coffee, choking a bit at Sid’s comment. “I know, he has some misogynistic tendencies. Just take a deep breath and smile pretty?” I knew I deserved the swat with the dishtowel she gave me, but it was so worth it. “More coffee, please,” I asked, nicely, as I pulled my cell out of my pocket. “Want me to call him on speaker?”
“Sure, don’t tell him I’m listening, though. I’ll just be quiet.”
The phone rang three times and James Sinclair Boudreau, also known as Grandpa B, answered with a “Sin, mah boy, where the hell are ya? You and your sister somewhere safe?”
“Yes, Grandpa, we’re safe. Up at your cabin, actually.”
“Good. Benny called and told me you’d been by. I wasn’t sure if you were still there.”
“Yeah, we’re both here. Our house is a crime scene,” I told him.
He hesitated before a heavy sigh filled the space. “I heard about that, son. I’ve been doing some checking. Got a couple of my men going over the place and seeing what information they can get from BPD. Unofficially, of course, but I’m not going to let my son and daughter-in-law’s disappearance go unsolved.”
“Did you hear about the note on the door?” I asked.
Sid fidgeted, then left the room to get more coffee.
“I heard. You’re not thinking of going, are you?”
“Of course, Grandpa. But not alone. Could we get some of your friends to be in the park and not look like they were on a stakeout or something? I’m also going to ask Benny to send a couple of shifters to back us up.”
“Make sure he sends the smart ones. Not that idiot, Joey.”
Sid snorted laughter from the kitchen, then turned on the water to muffle the noise.
“What was that noise, Sin?” Grandpa asked.
“Just Sid in the kitchen. She’s washing up after breakfast,” I told him.
“I’ll be there tomorrow,” Grandpa said.
“Uh.no Gramps. That’s not a good idea. We have a theory…” I started.
“You have a theory. You and that sister of yours?”
“Hey, you don’t have to say it like that.” Sid yelled as she came into the dining room.
“I knew she was listening,” Gramps said, chuckling.
“Quit acting like we’re idiot toddlers, Grandpa B. You do realize we are both about to graduate summa cum laude, right?” Sid said.
“Okay, okay, both of you, relax. We’re wondering if a shifter or a witch is behind this, trying to create another war. That’s why we’re asking you and we’re going to ask Grandma Fortin to send a few of her best so we’ve covered both angles,” I said.
There was silence for a few moments, then Grandpa spoke. “That’s smart. Well, I’ll send mine and you get Alicia to send hers and hopefully, we’ll get your parents back safely tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Grandpa,” we both said, almost in unison.
“I love you two. We’ll talk after this is all settled tomorrow, got me?”
“Got it, Grandpa,” I said and disconnected the call.
“Gods, he is such a prick, but I love him anyway,” Sid said as she got the pot of coffee and refilled our mugs.
I drank some coffee while Sid cut up some fruit and set it on a plate for us.
“Want me to talk to Benny?” Sid asked around a mouthful of grapes.
“No, I’ll take Benny. You take Grandma Fortin.”
“Ugh, thanks so much for that.”
“Hey, I take the ones that like me, and you get the one that loves you best.”
Sid lifted her mug and toasted me. “Plans are made. We’ll get Mom and Dad back. We’ll get our lives back. We’ll get to go home, and I’ll go to law school and you’ll go to med school and it’ll all be good.”
Yeah, something had me thinking that a whole lot of that statement was wishful thinking.
Sid
We cleaned up the cabin, not even sure if we were going to be staying here tonight or just coming back to pack up the perishables and head home. I made sure all my clothes were back in the bag and checked that the gear we’d pulled out of the house was stored in the safe. Yes, this cabin had a safe. Grandpa had built a ten by ten foot trap door cellar room that was accessed through the floor in the linen closet. I wanted my silver dagger and it was in the bag of stuff I’d put down in the safe. I climbed down the ladder, headed over to the row of bags, and started digging through to find where I’d stuffed it in the rush to get out of the house. It was stuck inside one of my sneakers, so I pulled it out, then tucked it in the back of my jeans. As I zipped the bag shut, I saw the bag that Sin had pulled out of Dad’s car. I went to pull it closer and failed, so I just pulled it open and almost fell over.
“Sinclair Boudreau, get your ass down here,” I yelled as I stared at a bag full of weapons. Guns, swords, daggers, and what looked like a taser or two.
Sin slid down the ladder and grinned. “I see you found our backup backup.”
“What the everlovin’ fuck? Dad had these in his car?”
“Yeah, we used some of them out at the range last weekend. Didn’t think the cops needed to find them and I knew where Dad had stashed them in a hidden compartment under the back seat.”
“But the cops searched Mom and Dad’s cars.”
“The BPD searched. They did a quick look through and move
d on. It was pretty clear our parents were the victims and the cars hadn’t been used in the commission of the crime. No need for a deep dive.”
“Oh, right. The BPD searched. I forgot.” Sarcasm dripped from my words. “Anyway, why the armory? I thought the folks considered weapons the last gasp after everything else was tried?”
“We don’t know what we’re dealing with. If it’s witches, shifters, both, neither…who can tell?”
“So, a gun and a blade just in case?” I clarified.
“Yeah, silver blade, silver bullets. They’ll work against both. Shifters with silver, of course, and blades and bullets hurt witches whether silver or steel.”
“Okay. I’ve got my silver dagger already. I’ll take a Glock 9mm.” Sin handed me the gun, three clips and a box of ammo. He pulled out a 45, three clips, ammo, and a throwing ax. We both headed up the ladder and I left it to Sin to lock the door behind us while I sat on the couch and loaded up the clips. It had started to get to me. We didn’t know if our parents were alive or dead, or who had taken them and wanted us. We were loading up to go after our own kind and it, honestly, had me sick to my stomach.
“Stumpy has left three voicemails on my phone. Has he called you?”
Sin looked up from loading his clips. “Yeah, I talked to him about an hour ago. He said Benny had asked him about cleaning up the house before we went home. They sent a cleaning crew over this morning.”
“That was nice of them. I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning that up.” I hadn’t thought of it much, to be blunt. It was way down the list of things on my mind. “Did they say anything about the case?”
“No news, no leads, nothing,” Sin said.
“Figures.” I could feel the anger rising. Not having the SPD on the case was an insult and meant the best paranormal officers were being kept away. “When I talked to Grandma Fortin, she said Aunt Cosette had taken some of her best students to the house to see what they could find. They found both shifter and witch traces, but couldn’t tell if they were from us, our folks, or some strangers. With all of the BPD traffic, it muddied any clues.”
“So we still don’t know anything. I guess we just have to go to the park tonight and hope Mom and Dad are okay, and that our friends can help us take down whoever took them.” Sin snapped a clip into his gun, slid one into the chamber and flipped the safety on. “One way or another, we’ll get answers tonight.”
I did the same with my gun and clipped the holster to my belt, snapping the extra clips into belt holders. Our jackets would cover the weapons and clips. The treated leather would help hide the smell of gunpowder and silver. “Does any of this make sense to you? The children of Belle Cove Academy’s two founding families – kidnapped – and the SPD refusing to do something about it?”
Sin got to his feet and went to the window to stare out at the lake in the late spring sunshine. “No, none of it makes any sense. Why Mom and Dad? Sure, they were both cops for a while, then Dad went into teaching and Mom started her herbal business when we came along. They’re not outspoken members of the community – in fact, they do their best to stay under the radar. Don’t want to rub the whole ‘not supposed to be’ witch with a shifter thing in people’s faces. They’re not even the only shifter/witch couple out there.”
“Just the only one to have living children,” I reminded him.
“Right, I forgot that. Wasn’t there another couple up here in Syren Lake that had a baby?”
“Yeah, and it died within a month. Most of the moms miscarry, but some come to term and die within the first couple of months.”
“So, there’s something incompatible in the genetics?”
“You’re the pre-med, not me. I have no clue. Makes me wonder why we survived. Maybe something to do with us being twins,” I told him.
“Maybe. With two of us, the power could balance better? I’d love to do some genetic research on it. Someday,” Sin said. He got that lost in his thoughts look that usually ended up with ten notebooks full of ideas and three days of no contact.
“Sin, you can worry about that tomorrow, okay? Right now, we have to focus on this mess.”
A deep breath and a shake of his head had Sin refocused. “Right, you’re right. We should get going, so we can be at the park when the backup starts showing up.”
We headed out to Sin’s car, the cabin locked up tight. Together, we cast a ward around the house to protect it and alert us if trespassed.
The ride to the park was mostly quiet, with a stop for burgers and coffee that we’d eat when we got there. Within an hour, we were sitting on a bench near the pond in the center of the park. I tried to choke down my burger, knowing I’d need the fuel but not really wanting to eat. I tossed the last bits of the bun onto the grass for birds to enjoy, licked the ketchup off my fingers and wrapped them around my cup of coffee.
“What if whoever it is shows up without Mom and Dad?”
Sin kept his gaze on the comings and goings around us as he answered. “Then we grab them and make them tell us where they are.”
His leg kept bouncing, so I reached over and rested a hand on his knee. “Not alone, Sin. Never alone.”
“Never alone,” he replied and looked at me, voice dropped to a faint whisper. “Benny and friends are here. Auntie and some of hers are mixed in.”
A glance at my phone showed two minutes to sunset, so I pushed to my feet and grabbed our trash. “Let’s get in place.”
I pulled on fingerless leather gloves, tugged my jacket down in the back and sat on the edge of the fountain. Sin stood beside me, fingertips tucked in the tops of the front pockets on his jeans. I’d braided my hair back out of the way and couldn’t stop playing with the end of the braid. It was my tell, like Sin’s was his jiggling leg or tapping foot. Once I realized I was doing it, I stopped – then reached out to lightly squeeze Sin’s knee.
“Anyone watching will know we’re nervous if they know anything about us. Stop jiggling and nudge me if I play with my hair, okay?”
“Yeah, good point.” He leaned into the fountain a bit more to keep from wiggling.
We shared the same hair, thick and dark brown to nearly black. His curled a bit where he kept it short, mine hung to my hips when it wasn’t braided. We shared the same hazel eye color that went from blue to green, depending on our moods or what we were wearing. Light tan skin, even in mid-winter, spoke to our Cajun/Acadian ancestry and gave us a slightly exotic look. We had both been offered modeling gigs when we were little and our parents, thank gods, turned them down.
The sun slid down past the horizon, the late spring light glowed peach into orange as we waited. And waited. And waited. Both Sin and I kept our gaze on the people roaming in and out of the park. We both saw shifter and witch friends, as well as a few family members. I felt the assurance that no matter what happened, we were covered.
An hour past nightfall and Auntie Sett came over and sat beside me. Her favorite worn leather jacket’s buckles jingled as she nudged me with her elbow. “I think y’all got stood up.” She slid her arm around my shoulders and snuggled me close. “Come on, darlin’. Let’s get you and your brother out of here.”
Sin turned and headed for the car without saying a word. I saw him stop near Benny’s truck and talk for a moment before he got into his car and started it up. I hugged my aunt. “Thank you, Auntie Sett, for coming and bringing people. If you guys hear anything…”
“Of course, darlin’. Call me if you need anything. Anything at all,” she said.
I slid into the passenger’s seat, shut the door and reached for the seat belt as Sin pulled away.
“Talk to me,” I asked.
“I don’t want to.”
“Sin…”
“Sid…”
I sighed. “Come on. We knew there was a chance this was a setup.”
“I know. I was just hoping…”
My phone rang. I saw it was Grandpa B’s number, so I answered with a “Hey, Grandpa, how’re they hangin’?”
I could hear something weird in his voice, so I hit the speaker button. “Okay, Grandpa, you’re on speaker.”
“You guys headed back to the cabin?”
“Yes, Grandpa,” Sin said. “Why?”
“Call me when you get to the cabin. Promise?”
“Yeah, Grandpa, we promise,” I said. “What’s going on? You sound…weird.”
“Just a little frustrated that your parents didn’t get returned to us tonight. Call me when you get to the cabin and don’t stop anywhere on the way. Love you two.” He disconnected the call and I was left with a bad feeling.
“What do you think that’s all about?” I asked Sin.
His hands tightened on the wheel before he answered. “I have no clue, but you’re right, he sounded off.”
We pulled up to the cabin, the wards still intact. I slipped through them to unlock the door while Sin did his walk around. He liked to check the outbuildings and property boundaries now and then like Grandpa did when he stayed here. I got the oven going and pulled out a lasagna that Maria, Benny’s wife, had sent over. With that in the oven, I prepped garlic bread and opened a bottle of wine. Sin came in through the back and I turned to hand him a glass of wine before I saw his face. Something really bad had happened.
“Tell me,” I said as he took the wine glass.
“I called Grandpa while I walked the property. Sid, the house. It’s gone.”
“What do you mean, the house is gone?”
“While we were at the park, someone burned our house down.”
I blinked at him while I processed the news, then drained my wine glass before I turned to put the garlic bread into the oven.
“They made sure we were out of the way so they could do that, didn’t they?”
“It seems that way,” Sin said. “And no, there were no bodies found in the ashes. Our folks are still out there, somewhere.”
Shifters Gone Wild: A Shifter Romance Collection Page 148