Charles (Darkness #8)

by K. F. Breene

  Once the spell was formed, he spread it out in front of the cabin, just beyond his SUV. That done, he moved to the other sides of the cabin, laying out similar spells. Unlike Sasha and Paulie, he wasn’t good enough to do it all at once, but this would work, too.

  A solid sweat stood out on his brow from the effort by the time he had finished. He returned to his initial position and laid a simpler spell for any magic that crossed the threshold. The principle would be the same as the other—alerting, not attacking.

  Finally, he fell into the bed next to Ann. “I hate doing that stuff. It takes so much energy.”

  “But we’ll know if they try to sneak up on us?”

  “Hopefully. Then we can decide what to do. I didn’t want to try an attack spell because I’d probably do something wrong.”

  “And it would probably only get one person. If there was anyone else, they’d know what they were up against.” Ann curled up next to his side. “I’m cold. Can I have some body heat without having to give anything for it?”

  Charles lifted his arm so she could scoot closer. She put a hand across his middle and a leg over his as her head found the hollow between his neck and his shoulder. She sighed in contentment as his arm came around her, squeezing her closer.

  “I won’t let anything happen to you, Ann. No matter what happens, I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  Her arm tightened for a moment before sliding up his chest and hooking around his neck.

  He hoped to hell he could make good on his word.

  * * *

  As the evening rolled through, sapping out all the light from the day, Charles and Ann found themselves stalking through the trees near the top of the mountain. They’d taken the SUV up the main road for a while before stashing it, then continuing on foot.

  Ann had wanted to change into her animal form to make the journey easier, but Charles had talked her out of it. There was something about this whole situation that meant the least amount of shifter attributes she used, the better.

  “God it smells good up here.” Ann took a huge breath. Her eyes glazed over for a moment as a dopey smile plastered her face.

  Charles’ brow furrowed as he tried to smell what she did. All he got was pine, the soft scent of mulch, and Ann’s comforting and erotic smell. Nothing else, and certainly nothing that would make his eyes glaze over.

  “Where’s it coming from?” he asked, surveying what lay in front of them.

  They were about a hundred yards from the fence that enclosed the large facility according to the map. And though the trees weren’t especially dense, there were a lot of them between where they were and their goal. Visibility was minimal.

  “That way.” Ann pointed in front of her before she wiped drool from the side of her mouth.

  “Catnip for shifters in the air?” Charles asked in thought as he scanned the ground. A smallish paw print etched the dirt lightly. It could’ve been a dog. It could’ve been a shifter.

  “Sounds unlikely.”

  “Yes. It does. Yet, every time you take a deep breath, you get all… hazy-eyed.” Charles stalked closer silently, monitoring the ground for traps or pitfalls. His magic coated the ground in front of him, sensing for magic or anything out of the ordinary.

  Fifty yards along, he finally caught a glimpse of what they were after. He pulled out his phone as Ann bumped into him. She stumbled beside him and sat down roughly, staring with a confused expression.

  Warning bled into Charles. “What’s wrong?” He rested a hand on her shoulder.

  She barely acknowledged his touch. “I don’t know. I’m just… light-headed. That smell.”

  “Stay put, then, okay? I’m going to go a bit closer. If something happens, run back to the cabin and call for backup. Don’t try to help.”

  “Don’t think I could help. I don’t know what’s happening to me, Charles.” Her voice had become a plea for help. “I feel… really good. But… like I’m not in my body. Maybe it’s an airborne drug or something. Like a gas that’s aimed to affect shifters.”

  “Probably.” Charles brushed her hair back from her face, feeling his chest pinch at the sight of her glassy stare, almost devoid of the sharp intelligence he was used to seeing in her eyes. “Okay, just stay put. I’m going to get a few pictures.”

  “’Kay.”

  Uncomfortable with leaving her alone, but seeing no alternative, Charles snuck closer to the fence, keeping his magic wrapped firmly around him. He would be mostly masked from humans with the shadows clinging to his body, and also from uneducated shifters. Tim’s crew could pick up Charles’ kind, even deep in the shadows, but they relied more on their senses than eyes. Unsuspecting shifters probably wouldn’t.

  Hopefully wouldn’t.

  He approached the fence, snapping off pictures with his phone, though he had no service. He’d have to call the Boss from the cabin.

  The fence was a standard affair, about eight feet tall with barbed wire curled along the top. Signs every so often promised electrocution if someone touched the shiny metal. On the other side, loose dirt covered a large open area with a plethora of dog or shifter tracks. A few feet away lay a loose cluster of, what he assumed, was dog poop. He was pretty sure shifters used toilets, no matter what Jonas claimed. He caught whiffs of urine, no doubt from the same animals that patrolled, marking their territory.

  Another fifty yards away stood the side of a single-story building, dotted with windows, and a single door to the right. The structure had no embellishments of architectural design; it was a solid, concrete building dominating the natural landscape.

  As Charles snapped off pictures, a lone animal came trotting along the fence. Sleek and mostly black, it was a dog with pointed ears. Doberman.

  It came closer, its nose twitching. A low whine started in its throat that quickly turned into a growl. It stopped ten feet from him, staring in his direction and baring its teeth.

  “Shoo!” Charles whispered furiously. He sent a light, magical shock toward the animal. The dog yelped and jumped backward. The growl grew louder.

  “Oh, you have courage, do you?” Charles took its picture before sending a harder shock. The dog yelped again, and jogged back a few paces before barking.

  Damn dog.

  Charles backed away from the fence. He had what he came for, anyway.

  The dog barked again.

  “I’m leaving, for cripes-sakes!” Charles muttered, backing away quicker. He didn’t want to kill the thing, but if it didn’t bugger off and mind its own business soon, he’d probably have to.

  Maybe Sasha knew some non-fatal tricks for dealing with dogs.

  He backtracked through the trees until he reached his starting point. Ann was gone.

  “Fuck.” Heart pounding, he bent to the ground. He saw her butt print, and then a mess of disturbed dirt and mulch from when she must’ve staggered up. Her footprints led away at a diagonal toward the fence. Usually she stepped in a precise way, graceful and light on her feet, but here her prints were sloppy, as though she was half-stumbling.

  Adrenaline coursed through his body as a nervous sweat broke out on his forehead. With a tight chest and barely contained panic, he followed the trail, hating himself that he had left her behind. She’d seemed fine to sit. Hazy, but not totally gone.

  Maybe whatever was in the air had a compound effect…

  The tracks veered right before a disturbance in the dirt showed them going left again. Definitely staggering, as though she were drunk.

  He heard a soft shuffle ahead. The rustle of branches.

  Charles started to jog, and saw swinging branches and raining needles before seeing Ann’s shape falter, almost at the fence.

  “Ann! Stop!” Charles put on a burst of speed, jamming his phone into his pocket.

  Slowing, looking around confusedly, she put out her hands as though blind and feeling her way. “Charles?” she asked in a small voice.

  She staggered forward a few more feet, stopping in a cleared area in f
ront of a gate. “Charles?”

  “Hang on, Ann. I’m right here.”

  He was five feet away when she took one more step toward the gate.

  The sound of twisting metal rang out. Something snapped with a clang. Like a metallic blanket, a large net sprung up from the ground. The trap closed around Ann’s body, cinched tight at the top and connected to a hook. A cable went taut, dragging the net toward a tree a few feet away.

  With his heart in his throat, Charles whipped out his sword. The cable looped through a pulley in the tree before running back to the ground where a motorized winch turned, dragging the net into the air.

  “What’s… happening?” Forced to curl into a ball, Ann’s little hand curled around one of the metal cables of her prison.

  “Don’t worry, I’ve got it.” Charles rushed to the side, sword glowing with magic. He swung with all his might, not sure if his magic would cut through metal. The blade bounced off, jarring his shoulder, but leaving a slash mark in the cable. He threaded more fire into his weapon and swung again, using all his strength. The blade bit deeper this time, slicing.

  A door opened to his right—someone was coming out of the building.

  Without a moment to lose, he slashed again. The dull clink of magical metal on cable sounded before the net fell to the ground.

  “Hey!” someone shouted.

  “Hurry, Ann!” Charles rushed to the net where Ann was struggling like someone in deep water who couldn’t swim. “C’mon baby. Let’s get you out of there.”

  He sheathed his sword to use both hands, ripping at the net where it attached to the hook. The magic helped peel away the material.

  A motor became active, shuddering the gate to life. It began to open slowly with two large men in gray uniforms waiting patiently. A dog waited with him.

  “Hurry!” Charles ripped the last of the net away, bending in to grab Ann around the waist and haul her out. He could easily kill those humans and the dog, even if the dog was actually a shifter, but then the entire facility would know that something mean and dangerous had showed up on their doorstep. He didn’t need that kind of attention. Not yet, anyway.

  Throwing Ann over his shoulder, he took off at a run, dodging through the trees toward his car. Barking sounded off behind him, the dog freed from the confines of its yard and in pursuit.

  He put on a burst of speed. As the car came into sight, he heard the rough panting of an animal gaining on them.

  He swung, dropping Ann gently to the ground before facing the attacker. The dog was there a moment later, trained to chase and jump for the jugular. Charles waited until the animal was mid-leap, teeth flashing, before grabbing the beast out of the air and punching it in the side.

  The animal bayed in pain as Charles threw it to the ground. He punched the dog’s head next, knocking it out.

  Breathing heavily, he stared down at the animal just to make sure it wouldn’t get up. When it didn’t, he bent to put his hand on its chest. A heart beat pushed back on his palm.

  It was still alive. He’d done his good deed for the night.

  He turned back toward the car and saw Ann, leaning against the hood. She shook her head and blinked a few times, the clarity coming back into her eyes.

  “What the hell is going on?” she asked, looking up at Charles with huge, fear-filled eyes.

  “They have something that confuses shifters. C’mon, let’s go back to the cabin and call the Boss. We need to get smart people in on this.”

  “I’d make a joke, but I still can’t think clearly.”

  “That’s okay.” Charles opened the passenger-side door before scooping her up into his arms. “Your jokes are terrible, anyway.”

  He put her into the seat before buckling her in and closing the door. When he had slid into the driver’s side, she said, “After what just happened, I think a car accident is the least of our worries.”

  “Which is why it’ll probably happen, just to spite me.” Charles pulled out and headed back to the cabin. “I might try to work out some attack spells. We aren’t going to be safe at that cabin. A shifter getting out of a trap raises a lot of questions. They’ll know you had help, or they’ll think it was a human who got caught. That net is a danger to humans. It would also raise questions about their facility, not to mention bring on a lawsuit. Either way, that crowd won’t be thrilled about unanswered questions…”

  “I’m not thrilled with unanswered questions.”

  Charles pulled up close to the cabin, and then walked around to help Ann out. She faltered a little, resting her hand on his arm for support, but her eyes looked much clearer.

  “What did it feel like?” Charles asked as he helped her inside and locked the door behind them. He went to the sink to get her a glass of water.

  She sat on the bed, holding her head in her hands. “At first, like I was high. I hate drugs because I hate the feeling of not being able to think straight. That was exactly what it felt like in the beginning. I could work through that at first, but then it got stronger. I got distracted really easily. I just couldn’t think, then I couldn’t control myself. It was like I was a passenger in my own body. Before I knew it, I was walking. When I realized it, and tried to come back, I just kept stumbling.” She looked up at him, the pleading back in her eyes. “It almost reminded me of when I first changed. All the hormones, and the magic, and the inner-struggles. Changing messes with your head in the beginning. So it was like that, but after a bunch of bong rips.”

  “It’s targeted toward shifters, I think we can agree on that. Maybe they’ve figured out your hormone mix when you first shift, and concocted something to target those areas in your brain. Or something.”

  “Did you feel it at all?”

  Charles sat next to her, his phone in his hand. She leaned against his shoulder and he put his arm around her, pulling her close, feeling her trembling against him. What had happened had really thrown her. She wasn’t used to not being in control, and apparently the walk down memory lane to a confusing and traumatizing time had put her off her game.

  “No. I didn’t smell or feel anything,” Charles answered, rubbing her arm.

  “I thought with my blood…”

  He shook his head. It was a reasonable thought, and he was thankful it hadn’t come to pass.

  “Maybe if I took your blood, it would help?” she asked in a tiny voice.

  A thrill went through him, making his heart speed up and a hard-on start. “I’ve taken a lot of your blood in the last two days. If you take some of mine, it might initiate a blood link. It would in humans, anyway. Not sure with shifters.”

  “Maybe that would be good, though? You know… just in case.”

  Charles could hear the fear in her voice. She’d almost been caught by a group of people who knew how to ensnare shifters. Who knew enough about the genetic makeup of shifters to concoct something that could ensnare them. That was not a good sign, especially as Tim already thought the facility was a lab of some sort.

  Charles blew out a breath. “We’d be tied forever, Ann. Lightly, maybe, if we stopped swapping blood after, but it would always be there. When you find a guy to settle down with and have kitties, I’ll be a silent passenger. I don’t think you want that.”

  “I’d rather that than a cage and getting experimented on.”

  “But my blood might not prevent that.”

  “It would help you find me if I got caught.”

  Charles gritted his teeth at the soft vulnerability in her voice. At the desire to throw her back right there and take her.

  What he hadn’t said was that he worried he’d be the one regretting it. He didn’t want to see her find someone else. He didn’t want to see her settling down with some loser fox, or whatever, and popping out a bunch of furry babies. He wanted her as she had been: a pain in his ass, making fun of him and playing jokes. He wanted her as she had been yesterday: more than willing to share his bed, giving and receiving explosive orgasms then being totally fine with falling
asleep by his side.

  Why couldn’t she be cool with his lifestyle? He’d give her kids if he could. He’d give her a family. He’d even live in the same place and leave his heart with her, because now he knew that there was something there besides just friendship. He cared about her more than anyone else. He had for a long time, if he was completely honest with himself.

  He just didn’t want to go all in. It wasn’t what his people did. It wasn’t the way things were.

  Charles stood up in a rush, conflicted. “You make my life hell.”

  She snorted, clasping her hands in her lap. “It’s more fun than taking up stenciling.”

  He walked to the window and looked out, half expecting to see people sneaking up on them. “I need to fortify those spells, and then I’m going to call the Boss.”

  “I need to call Tim. It would’ve been easier if Tim and Stefan were in the same place, especially since I don’t have much to tell.”

  “The Boss will sort it out. Hopefully he’ll tell us to pull out. Otherwise, we’re going to have company.”

  Chapter Seven

  Ann hit “end” and stared out the window for a moment, reflecting on the call with Tim. She’d explained what had happened, what she’d experienced, and that she’d been rescued by Charles. There wasn’t any point in trying to cover up the fact that if it hadn’t been for Charles, she’d most likely be inside that facility with everyone else.

  Admitting the truth had been made easier, of course, by Charles’ complete lack of ego regarding his role in the situation. He didn’t place any blame, point any fingers, or adopt any swagger. He acted exactly the same in this as he always had when defending Sasha. He took care of business.

  Sasha knew how lucky she was getting him as a bodyguard, but it was the first time Ann was a bit jealous.

  “It’d be better with Paulie up here, then,” Charles said into the phone as he braced his muscular arm on the window pane. He listened for a second, his tone respectfully argumentative. “She can’t function when she breathes that stuff in, though. She goes wandering off. None of the shifters would be good in this situation…”