One thing was true beyond any shadow of a doubt. Sitting here would only result in getting caught. The woman was on a direct path to where he was hiding. There was no way she’d walk past without seeing him. His mind made up, Darien planted his hands against the ground, taking a few deep breaths. With a heave, he pushed himself to a standing position and sprinted deeper into the woods, running away from the woman.
He didn’t care about the noise he made as he crashed through the trees. All thoughts of stealth and silence fled him. He heard the bark of gun behind him, but didn’t dare turn to see the shooter. There was a second bark, echoing through the trees over the sound of his mad dash, and he felt a lance of fire slice through the edge of his right leg. The pain caused his leg to buckle, and he tumbled forward, ducking his head and rounding out his body as much as possible. He tried to use his momentum to spring back up to his feet, but his leg protested the effort and Darien fell onto his chest. He rolled over, sliding across the ground away from the shooter until his back struck a tree.
The woman called out to her companion and then rushed forward after Darien. He heard her crashing through the vegetation and saw the beam of light dancing wildly. Rolling over, he tried to scramble around the tree in an attempt to hide behind it, hoping the woman might pass him by. As he straddled one of the large roots and was about to swing around to the back, he heard her stop.
“Freeze! Don’t move.”
Darien lifted his hands in the air to show that he was unarmed and willing to comply. Glancing over his shoulder, he only saw the woman’s silhouette around the halo of her flashlight. It was blinding and he had to squint to make out anything. She gestured with her gun.
“Roll over, on your back.”
When he did as she instructed, she lowered the flashlight so that it illuminated his chest. Darien blinked several times to readjust his pupils to the darkness. His assailant stood a couple of feet away and held her gun and flashlight in the way he had seen actors do in movies and on television: the flashlight held in a reverse grip with her arm across her body and her gun arm resting on that wrist. She glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the vehicles, but snapped her head back before he had a chance to move.
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“My name’s Flora, and I’m doing my job. Mister Marks has spent a lot of time and money trying to find you ever since your stunt in Texas. You should know by now that he has significant resources.”
At the mention of Gregory Marks, Darien had to suppress the urge to growl. He felt the tension creeping up his spine and tightening all of the muscles in his back and neck. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. Perhaps it was a foolish hope, but he thought Gregory might leave him alone after his entire organization was crippled in an all-out war with the Arm, a battle that Darien started. Why couldn’t they just leave him in peace?
“I take it he wants you to bring me in? So that he can convince me to join you?”
“My orders are to bring you to him, yes. If you resist, my instructions are to eliminate you. You are either our ally, or a threat.”
So the game had changed. If he went with them, he’d likely never be able to leave. It sounded as if Gregory was through with subtle attempts of manipulation and coercion. That also meant Susan could be in danger. He couldn’t let anything happen to her.
When Flora looked away, Darien forced himself to shift. After so long, it still came naturally as he dropped his skin and shifted into a cougar. He sprang off his back legs just as Flora turned back to face him. Her eyes went wide and her finger squeezed on the trigger, making the gun fire as she scrambled backwards. The bullet shot forward, tearing into the skin along the top of Darien’s shoulder, but ripping through without causing permanent damage. The pain shot up to his brain and all conscious thought left him.
Darien landed on Flora as she turned to try and run away. His weight drove her to the ground on her side and she connected with a solid impact that sent the gun tumbling from her open hand. She tried to bring her hands up to her face to keep Darien’s teeth away, but he was too quick. In a matter of seconds, it was over, his teeth sunk deep into her neck and the warmth of her blood filling his mouth. The rage cooled, and he became more aware of his surroundings.
There was no time to think about what had happened. Her partner was still in the woods. Darien held his breath and listened, ears twitching as he tried to detect any noise. Off to his left, he heard a small rustle as a critter ran underneath the cover of leaves, trying to keep from being a nocturnal meal. The trees groaned as they moved in the wind. And there was the panting breath of a man trying to stay quiet.
Now that he knew where his target was, Darien stalked away from the body, moving in a large circle to come around his next victim. His soft feet helped muffle the sound as he moved through the underbrush, a shadow in the woods. As he circled around, he kept his attention focused in the direction of Flora’s partner. Eventually, he was able to see the human. He had his back pressed against a thick tree and his chest rose and fell rapidly as he panted. His flashlight was off and he held his gun in his right hand. While Darien crept forward, the man leaned to his left, attempting to see around the trunk.
He needed to get closer. If he sprinted from this distance, he would just be a target. Even the darkness of night wouldn’t help enough if the man was a decent shot, and if Gregory sent out hunters, they would be better than decent. Darien crept forward, taking a foot at a time and easing his weight onto the ground to make sure he didn’t step on any twigs or cause a rustle. Even to his own ears, he sounded silent as he stalked his prey.
The man was so focused on what might be happening on the other side of the tree, that he never saw Darien approach. His gaze was firmly locked on Flora’s discarded light in the distance. Where it fell, the light didn’t even illuminate her corpse. Then Darien was within pouncing distance.
With a quick tightening of the back legs, Darien propelled himself through the air the last few feet. The man turned just before Darien made impact. Claws dug into the man’s chest, pinning him against the tree. He howled in pain but managed to get his arm up before Darien could rip out his throat. Instead, the animal tore at the man’s arm, ripping through the jacket and tender skin underneath. He tried to push Darien away, but the weight was too much. Again and again, Darien struck, his head snaking forward and coming back with a mouthful of fabric and flesh. The two of them slid to the ground as the man lost all ability to stand, his limp corpse dragging against the bark. Darien stalked off, taking a few steps before shifting back to human form in midstride.
The bodies might be a problem, but even if they were, it shouldn’t be for a while. Hunting season was over, and he wasn’t even sure if this was a place where hunters would go. He’d need to ask Susan. With any luck, they’d never be found until Mother Nature took care of them in her own way. It was entirely possible since the only people he knew that used the trail were Omba, himself, and Susan.
The bigger problem was the fact that Gregory was sending people after him. And from what Flora shared, it sounded like Gregory was sending hunters, not kidnappers. Gregory was not the type of man who would give up easily. Darien had no idea what they should do. They could try running again, but if Gregory found him so easily here in the backwoods of Washington, where could they possibly go?
By now Darien was back at the cars. He still needed to get the groceries home and bring Omba back his vehicle. And then he would need to talk to Susan and figure out what they were going to do. He saw that the Shadows had left the keys for their car on the driver’s seat. At least that was one problem solved.
Chapter 4
The first thing Darien did was check on his wounds. The small tear on his shoulder only went through the top layers of skin. It was just a scratch. The cut on his leg burned. He grabbed some of the medical supplies from one of the grocery bags and dressed the wound. It still stung, but at least it was clean and bandaged. Plus, the lidocaine helped with th
e pain.
That taken care of, Darien moved all of the groceries from Omba’s truck into the car. It was a tight fit in the much smaller space, but he was able to squeeze everything in. As a bonus, he also gained a few of the supplies that the Shadows had picked up from the store. At least that food wouldn’t go to waste.
Once that was done, it was a short drive to Omba’s cabin. He parked the truck in the ruts next to the side, clear indicators of where it usually rested. From there he went inside to return the keys. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Darien eased the door open a crack, peering inside. It was well lit and a fire was going in the fireplace, but he didn’t see anything.
“Omba?”
He didn’t hear anything in response. Darien opened the door a little wider and stuck his head through, calling out a second time. Again he didn’t hear anything. Well, he knew where the keys were supposed to go, and he was sure Omba wouldn’t mind him stepping in just to return them. Darien placed the keys in the dish and closed the door.
As he took a few steps back towards the path, Darien felt that prickling sensation on the back of his neck. He paused, trying to determine why he felt like he was being watched. Darien turned to look at the lake, but saw nothing except the dark water rippling and reflecting the pale moon above on a surprisingly clear evening. The small waves caused the image to shimmer with an almost dreamlike quality, but nothing else seemed amiss. A piece of wood, what looked like a tree, floated near the shore at Omba’s private beach, but otherwise the surface was completely unmarred.
The problem with living in a world of shifters meant that it was near impossible to ever feel like you weren’t being watched. Any bird or rodent could be a potential spy. Even a fly could be a shifter, something that he might never see. Darien took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. As he took a few steps down the path, his hand came up to comb through his hair and tug on it a bit as he ran his fingers through. He couldn’t jump at every shadow, especially when it would be impossible to prevent the spying.
Nevertheless, as Darien went back to the car, he soon found the need to pick up his pace to a jog. At first it felt good to put some distance between himself and the lake. Over time, the jog took on a relief of its own as he sank into the runner’s high that Susan had so often talked about. He was almost disappointed when he came upon the car resting in the middle of the path.
The sight also made him glance towards the edge of the woods where the bodies and their equipment rested underneath the branches. He hesitated, standing in the open car door and wondering if there was anything he should do. But what could he do? Bury the bodies? Pile them into the car and take them up to the cabin? No, he needed to stick with his original plan and leave them where they were. It was the best possible option. If he was lucky, some wild scavengers would take care of the problem before it became an issue.
Darien climbed into the sedan and drove up the path to the cabin. A couple of times along the way he was concerned the smaller car wouldn’t make the trip, loaded down as it was. Darien had never in his life been more appreciative of the power a truck had than during that drive. By the time the car rounded the last jostling bend, Darien felt like the small of his back was tightened in a vice.
The headlights of his car illuminated a truck parked in front of the entrance to the cabin. Darien immediately turned off the lights, even though it was probably already too late. He eased off the gas as well, hoping to drift into the clearing. Before the car came to a stop, he turned off the engine. It was likely all moot, but he wanted to hedge things in his favor as much as possible.
Before opening the door, Darien reached up and turned off the overhead light. He didn’t want it going off and marking him as a target the moment that he moved to get out of the vehicle. Darien crept out of the car and hunched down next to it, using it for cover as he inched forward. He couldn’t hear anything from the truck or the cabin, but that didn’t mean much. The shadows on the windows showed him three silhouettes for people in the room. They appeared to be talking, but it was difficult to tell from this angle.
Things would be so much easier if he shifted into an insect and flew to the window. But, every shift was a risk. Even when he was a cougar, he could feel the animal starting to dictate his actions and driving him forward in his rage. That was a slope that he didn’t want to explore too heavily.
He opted to creep forward, legs bent and back hunched as he moved towards the wall of the cabin, trying to be quiet. Even to his relatively primitive human senses, it sounded loud as he made his way across the last few feet of the clearing. He pressed his back up against the wall and panted a few times, trying to slow his heart rate and get it under control. From this vantage point, he could hear voices on the other side of the wall, but it was impossible to make out any words. Their tone was calm, and easy, which was a good sign. Darien dared to move underneath the window and slide up the wall until he could peer inside.
The first thing that he saw was Susan. She stood across from the window and looked at the two women sitting at the table in front of her. Her back was against the wall and she leaned against it with her arms crossed. Her eyes flicked towards Darien but quickly refocused on the ladies in front of her. Darien knew her well enough to know she chose that position on purpose, giving him an opportunity to see without being seen. At least it looked like she wasn’t in any current danger.
From his current vantage, Darien could only see the edge of a profile on both women sitting at the table. They both were short, that much was obvious even when they were seated, and well-dressed in what looked like top-end hiking gear. The woman closer to the door had light brown hair cropped short to the top of her shoulders and wore a tactical vest with the tips of several tools sticking out. She also had a small handgun holstered at her right hip. She leaned back in the chair with her hands on the table in front of her and did not appear to say much.
In contrast, her companion appeared to be doing most of the talking. Her voice was easily heard over the other two whenever she spoke, which was most of the time. Her hair was short and spiked, not to mention several different colors. Judging by that and the glimpse of a tattoo on her wrist that was visible every time she gestured, Darien got the impression she belonged more at a rave than a cabin in the woods.
Since Susan didn’t appear to be threatened, he might as well go see what this strange pair wanted. He couldn’t tell if the animated one was armed, but the woman closer to the window seemed to be relaxed. Still, he wasn’t about to go walking in with his arms burdened with groceries. Those could wait until he assessed the situation.
He walked into the cabin without knocking. All eyes turned towards him as soon as he crossed the threshold. Darien closed the door behind him but stood just on the other side of it, waiting to see what the strangers did. The energetic, punky stranger saw him and swung around, lifting a leg over the back of her chair so that she could straddle it and face him. One of the sides of her mouth curled up into a grin that felt predatory. The other woman stood and took a few steps to cross the distance between her and Darien. She held out her hand and he shook it.
“Good evening, Darien. My name’s Callie. This here is my partner, Amber.”
As she introduced her partner, she took a step back, clearing the way for Darien to step forward. He did so, extending out a hand to Amber. She took it and squeezed hard enough that he had to resist the urge to jerk his hand back or wince. He returned the squeeze, putting as much effort as he could into it without making his arm start to shake. She raised a single eyebrow and flashed him that grin again before letting go.
“It’s so good to finally meet you. Let me just say that your pictures do not do you justice. It’s much more entertaining meeting you in the flesh.” She turned to look at Susan over her shoulder. “I can see why you stuck around with him for so long.”
Darien forced himself to smile as he took a step around the table to go stand next to Susan. As he walked, he noticed that Amber was a
rmed with a handgun as well, also holstered at her hip. Callie took her seat and leaned back, lacing her fingers together and putting them behind her head.
“Who are you, and why are you in our cabin?”
“We already introduced ourselves, weren’t you paying attention?” Amber leaned forward on the table with both elbows.
“There’s no point in wasting time or beating around the bush. As we were discussing with your companion, we’re representatives of the United States government.” She reached into one of the pockets on her vest and pulled out a small billfold, unfolding it and flashing a badge with a photo ID on the opposite side. She folded it back up and tucked it away before he had a chance to look at it closely. “As for what we’re doing here, that shouldn’t be too much of a surprise. We’re here because of you, Darien. Our organization is well informed about what you’re capable of. Don’t worry, we’re not here as a threat.”
Despite her statement, Darien’s body tensed. Everyone probably saw him jump when she said they knew about his abilities. How much did they know? Did they know about the Shadows and the Arm? Did they know that he was a Sheynan, or even what that meant? Darien forced himself to wait, hearing her out.
“Based on information that we have discovered, we believe that your life, and Susan’s, could be in danger.”
“What do you mean by danger?”
Amber stood up and slammed the palm of her hand down on the table. Even Callie twitched from the sudden violent reaction.
“The kind that’s going to make you dead. The Shadows are coming for you.”
She paused for a moment and looked around at the other three people in the room. When no one said anything, she collapsed back into the seat behind her and gestured in the air making small circles with her hand.
“Don’t look so surprised. We know about the Shadows, and the Arm, and all about the shifters. Well, not all about them. I suppose we don’t know where they are all the time, or what decides who can shift into what. Like you—your parents can’t shift at all. So why are you a shifter? That’s something that we haven’t been able to figure out yet. And trust me, we’ve looked into it.”
The Torn Soul (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 3) Page 3