Ghostbound (Portland Ivy Book 1)

by J. E. Cluney

  “Let’s go,” Gene gave a curt nod to his three pack members and they disappeared into the tree line.

  “Are you going to hang back?” Alex flicked his eyes to me after a few moments.

  “Of course not,” I scoffed. As if I’d sit this out.

  “Yeah, me neither,” Alex chuckled.

  We moved off after the others, my mind focused on the woman and children. Werewolves could be hot-headed at times, and I didn’t want anything going wrong.

  I drifted through the cabin walls and quickly sidestepped as Percy threw Derek onto the floor before the ugly green couch. He pinned him down with an animalistic snarl. Gene and Scott had knocked the two other shifters unconscious already, although from the shifters’ bloody faces and clawed up clothing, they’d fought back enough to get their asses handed to them with a quick beating. They now lay sprawled just before the kitchen entrance.

  “You filthy shifter!” Percy snarled as he landed a heavy punch to Derek’s startled face.

  I flinched as I heard his nose crack from the brutal hit.

  “Enough!” Alex flitted across the room and pulled Percy off of the shifter with ease. Someone must have invited him in once they were inside.

  “Stay out of this!” Percy roared as he spun on Alex, his eyes flashing yellow with his inner wolf.

  Alex easily dodged the clawed hand Percy lashed out.

  “You need someone not so close to this to question him!” Alex yelled over the snarling as Scott stepped forward. “We need information, that’s not so easy to do when he’s dead!”

  The room fell quiet with only the heavy, angered breathing of Percy and the wheezing from Derek as he clutched his bloody, broken nose.

  I slipped outside only to become visible and step through the open door. Maybe my presence would help calm the situation.

  “We told you to stay back,” Percy growled softly as he averted his bright wolf eyes from me.

  “I know,” I shrugged. Seeing him so enraged, with the rage and fury inside him, it was a side of him that kinda scared me. But he wanted to hide it from me, and I felt a little bad having seen it without him knowing. Hell, I’d seen a whole other side of Alex too, and that had killed me.

  “Derek, you’ve caused quite some grief for his pack,” Alex flicked his head towards Gene, who stood tall but silent behind the two knocked out shifters. His fiery eyes gave away his anger, but unlike Percy, he was able to keep it in check.

  “Where’s Eva?” I asked quietly.

  “Basement,” Scott murmured as his eyes stayed focused on Derek.

  “Now, I won’t kill you if you give us some information,” Alex knelt down before the shifter, his mouth curving into a sly smile, revealing his elongated fangs.

  “I don’t know what you want,” Derek growled through the blood that dripped down his face and onto his ratty leather jacket and singlet.

  “Cut the shit mate, we know you’ve been using Renae’s son to blackmail her into giving you wolves to sell for the fights. So unless you help me, you’re a dead man,” Alex chuckled.

  Derek’s eyes widened as he flicked his eyes around the room at all of us.

  “Tell me, where can we find a vampire named Deon?” Alex cocked his head.

  “I…I don’t know,” Derek swallowed as his eyes bounced from one werewolf to the next.

  I found it amusing how he was more scared of them than he was of Alex, who could rip his throat out with ease before he even knew what was happening.

  “Don’t lie,” Percy spat as he crossed his arms. The rage that rolled off the three weres’ was painfully obvious and I shifted my weight as I attempted to ignore the sensation.

  “I don’t, I swear, but I… I know where he’ll be,” Derek focused back on the vampire before him.

  “Where would that be?” Alex glanced at Percy, as if to prove his point that he was the better one to get the information required from the shifter.

  “He’s coming here tonight, in the next hour or so, he wants to hunt down Percy, the wolf that got away. He was coming here to go over plans, get me to organize things with Renae for tomorrow night, He didn’t want this whole thing to be blown,” Derek gave a short, sharp laugh, but his face dropped when Percy growled. “I swear, that’s all I know.”

  “Well, Percy will be here waiting for him,” Alex chuckled as he stood up and sighed.

  “Renae was meant to pick out fighters, but apparently the wolves we’ve been turning over have been useless,” Derek smirked as he spat a mouthful of blood on the floor before Percy.

  “Once this vamp shows, you’re dead,” Percy growled.

  “He said I’d be unharmed,” Derek flicked his head at Alex.

  “Oh, no, on the contrary, I said ‘I’ wouldn’t kill you,” Alex gave him a sly smile as he stepped away from the shifter. “I never said anything about them.”

  Derek’s face turned white as he stared at the weres’ in horror.

  “The penalty for such a crime against the pack is death,” Gene stated as he crossed his arms.

  “I had no choice!” Derek burst out.

  “You always have a choice,” I muttered.

  “Please, you were in it for the money,” Alex scoffed. “I’ve dealt with you and your men before, it’s all you care about.”

  Derek shot Alex a pleading look but it went unnoticed as Alex turned to me with a pleased look.

  “Don’t kill him yet, I’m sure Heather would enjoy questioning him,” Gene stated as Percy moved forward.

  Percy smirked at the statement. “Heather will definitely enjoy that.”

  I pursed my lips at the suggestive tone. Heather was definitely someone I wanted to stay out of the bad books with.

  “Best you tie him up and gag him or something, don’t want him alerting our wanted vamp,” Alex said.

  “Go check on Eva and the children, we’ve got what we came here for, they should head off before the vamp shows, no need to have children here,” Gene said.

  “You’re not going to help us with him?” Alex mused.

  “Scott and Eva can take them back, Percy and I will stay with you,” Gene answered.

  Scott nodded and disappeared through the basement door as Percy and Gene used Gene’s belt to restrain the shifter. They gagged him with a dirty cloth from the kitchen, which I couldn’t help but smirk at. He deserved no less.

  Scott returned within a few moments with Eva, who held a quiet, sleepy Christian.

  “Pat here is Derek’s half sister. She owed him money and he roped her into this under threats of murder if she didn’t co-operate,” Eva explained quietly as Pat followed after her with the other three children in tow.

  I stared at the three other children as they crowded around Pat, their frightened eyes jumping from the two knocked out shifters to all the other adults, including the tied up Derek.

  “And the children?” Gene asked.

  “Same story, different packs. Seems Derek and these two shifters have been making their way around a few packs and using young she-wolves,” Eva sighed as she smiled reassuringly at Christian. He looked over at me with a tired expression before yawning and nuzzling into Eva’s chest.

  “Bastards,” Percy hissed as his eyes flashed momentarily.

  “These kids are much older,” Alex murmured as he smiled reassuringly at the kids. It didn’t help, they could sense what he was and cowered behind Pat.

  “The shifters came back for them when they were older. These guys weren’t part of the initial plan. You know what coyote shifters are like, knocking someone up then bailing. They later on realized the money potential in their many children. Began rounding them up, Derek was the one who came up with the plan apparently; at least, Pat thinks so. Renae was his first targeted female, a planned one. But he gathered his buddies and they started going back for their children,” Eva spoke in hushed tones as Pat murmured reassuringly to the children.

  So they were all coyotes. That confirmed my suspicions on their shifter form. I’d h
eard coyotes weren’t regarded well due to their lone tendencies and self-centeredness.

  But this? This was beyond wrong. Stealing children away to blackmail their mothers into basically murdering pack members through the fights?

  It made my blood boil and I clenched my jaw.

  “Jesus Christ,” Gene shook his head in shock.

  “Get them all out to the car, Eva can take them back to Heather, we’ll track down the packs they’re from and return them to their moms,” Gene instructed. “I want you to stay with us Scott, we may need your brawn after all.”

  “And her?” Scott indicated at Pat. “Can we trust her with Eva?” Scott clenched his jaw.

  Gene gave Pat a quizzical look as she held the young girl to her side while the two boys hovered behind her, clinging to the back of her shirt for comfort.

  “She can go too, you should just manage to fit them in the car. Heather and I will decide what to do with her when we return, but if she was here under duress, then we can’t punish her for her brother’s crimes,” Gene murmured. “And if she tries anything, Eva has strong werewolf lines, she can handle one shifter,” Gene said carefully, reminding Pat that werewolves easily out-powered them.

  Something I’d recently learned. Werewolves were stronger than most ordinary shifters. It was strange, considering they were just a kind of shifter really. But something about their bloodlines made them stronger. Werewolves and vampires were supposedly some of the most ancient lines of super, even older than witches despite the lore.

  “Thank you,” Pat relaxed as she stroked the young girl’s hair. “I won’t try anything, I promise.”

  “Pat, who are these people?” the young girl murmured.

  “They’ve come to help us, and they’re going to help you guys get back to your parents,” Pat murmured as she knelt down.

  “I can see my mom again?” the eldest boy whispered, his eyes lighting up at the thought.

  “Yes, you all can, I know it’s been a while,” Pat smiled as the young girl grinned and threw her arms around her neck.

  “What will happen to him?” Pat cleared her throat as she stood back up and stared over at the gagged and uncertain Derek.

  “He’ll be punished accordingly,” Gene said carefully. He would most likely be executed as per pack law. The other men, other ‘fathers’, would be dealt with accordingly by the packs of their children. At least, that’s what I figured would happen. ‘Wolves were hotheaded and sometimes unpredictable, but they had laws and rules set in place to keep everything in order. And they followed them, loyal to the end. Most of the time at least.

  “Good, he’s no brother of mine,” Pat held her head high and stared hard at the shifter. “He’s a monster.”

  “You better head off now then,” Gene said and Scott nodded.

  He gave Eva a quick kiss and murmured for her to be safe. Eva smiled and stroked his bushy brown beard tenderly before turning to the small group. She led the way and Pat urged the children to follow after her.

  “Thank you!” the little girl called out as she headed out the door, and I smiled as I caught her waving.

  But we weren’t done yet. The sight of these children, soon to be reunited with their own mothers and packs once more, it brought up the image of Millie, alone in the park, waiting.

  I would help her too. I had to.

  8

  We waited silently with Derek and his two companions gagged and bound on the floor of the living room. Percy and Alex had also dragged in the other two shifters that had been patrolling before they’d been jumped.

  Gene and Scott had brought small syringes of liquid silver, a deadly thing against shifters and werewolves. But in a very small dose it was only mildly painful and blocked both shifters and ‘wolves from shifting.

  Something I was glad they’d thought of.

  I shifted uneasily as I looked around at my four fellow comrades. The five bound and gagged men made me nervous, but I trusted Percy and Alex to have secured them well. And three of them were still out cold, thankfully. Just Derek and one of the patrolling shifters sat upright with a scowl.

  “You should’ve gone with Eva,” Percy sighed as he folded his arms. His worried gaze brought a tender smile to my face.

  “I’ll be fine, trust me,” I gave him my most promising smile and felt Alex stiffen on my left. I ignored his behavior as I considered sitting on the couch. I quickly decided against it when upon closer inspection I saw numerous dark and unappealing stains.

  I would happily stand.

  We all stood on guard, awaiting the arrival of our sought after vampire.

  “It’s been half an hour, Scott, you go keep an eye out, he’ll be here soon,” Gene instructed.

  Scott nodded and pushed off the wall, making sure to cast a dark eye at Derek as he passed.

  “You trust this shit to have been telling the truth? Vampire might not be alone,” Percy said as he flicked his head at Derek.

  “That’s why we’re still here,” Alex said.

  “I’ve called Lachlan to bring some of the boys out with the trucks so we can handle these guys,” Gene added.

  “I doubt they’ll get here before Deon,” I said as I played with the hem of my shirt.

  It was just another typical night in my life these days.

  What I wouldn’t do to go back to a normal mortal life, even just for a day. Where my biggest worry was if I’d had my morning coffee to wake me up.

  Hell, sleeping would be wonderful. Dreams.

  I’d loved dreaming, finding myself in a world of wonder and magic some nights, other nights living out some epic fantasy.

  I remembered a delicious dream when I first started working for Alex, a hot and heavy dream, which had woken me in a hot sweat and craving his touch.

  I swallowed as I banished the thought and glanced over at the lone vampire near me.

  Alex was scrolling through his phone, obviously focused on something work related. He certainly did enjoy his job.

  I sighed, caving in and pulling my phone from my back pocket and opening up Facebook. A picture of Maria and her mother popped up and I smiled softly.

  I hoped she was doing okay.

  “I’ll have to get a new phone,” Percy stated as he watched me scroll through my newsfeed.

  “You’re not missing out on much,” I said as I pocketed my phone. There was nothing exciting happening on my feed, as per the usual.

  “Phones should just be used as phones,” Gene said as he crossed his arms.

  “Well now, you know we need the Internet these days. Emily is running her home business thanks to it, and having a cell phone makes it easier,” Percy jumped in.

  “Right, well, we never used to have all this stuff,” Gene rolled his eyes and I couldn’t help but smile.

  The minutes dragged by and I surveyed the room. Talk about minimalistic and living like pigs. No photos or decorative pieces, just the couch and television and beer cans stacked in the corners.

  What a delightful place this was.

  I flinched as the cabin door opened and Scott sauntered in.

  “We’ve got a vehicle coming,” he said.

  “Well, about time,” Alex said as he glided towards the door.

  “He’s not alone,” Scott clenched his jaw.

  “How many?” Gene asked.

  “At least two others.”

  “Well, I hope you ‘wolves are good fighters, there’s four of us and three of them. And we know vamps are the higher species, no offense,” Alex tacked the last bit on with a careful smile.

  “My men know how to fight,” Gene stated as he moved across the room.

  “What should I do?” I jumped in as I looked down at the shifters on the floor. A third one was waking up.

  “Stay here and keep an eye on them,” Percy stated.

  “For once, I agree with the ‘wolf,” Alex shrugged as Percy raised an eyebrow in surprise.

  I didn’t get a chance to respond as the four men exited the cabin and
disappeared into the forest.

  “Yeah, great, I’ll just chill here with a handful of crazy shifters,” I mumbled as I turned to stare down at Derek.

  He smirked through his gag and I scoffed at him.

  As if I was going to stay here. They could use me.

  Besides, uneasiness washed over me at the thought of Percy and Alex taking on vampires. I knew they could both fight, hopefully. I hadn’t really seen them in action. Just Percy taking on this lousy shifter, and he’d whooped him. But still, a vampire was another story.

  “Screw it,” I muttered as I ditched the shifters and hurried after the others.

  I hurtled down the dirt drive, the sounds of a battle ensuing coming into earshot.

  I didn’t dare slow as panic seared through me, and I tore around the bend to see the fight before me.

  Percy and his pack members were struggling with the flitting vampires, and I finally saw the vampire we’d been so desperately searching for.

  Deon was flitting around the area before me, and I could make out the blur of Alex as he fought him.

  The sight of the murderous vampire sparked fury inside me, but also a tinge of fear.

  Percy, Scott, and Gene were struggling with the two other vampires, their golden eyes burning in the darkness as they used their wolf strength to try to fight the two vampires.

  Alex snarled and bared his fangs as Deon lurched forward, his fists a blur of speed as he moved on Alex. Alex was equally as fast, blocking his punches, and my focus moved to the ‘wolves.

  Scott had managed to wrap his arms around one of them and held him still as Percy moved in. Percy moved with deadly precision as he picked up a sturdy tree branch and rammed the end of it into the vampire’s chest.

  The shriek pierced the air as the vampire exploded into ash, and Scott coughed as he waved his arms in an attempt to fan the falling ash away from himself.

  Gene shouted out as the other vampire cursed and moved in on the older man.

  “Gene!” I gasped as the vampire was on top of him instantly, pinning the older man down on the ground.

  Gene snarled as his yellow eyes glowed, and his clawed hands slashed open the vampire’s face.