The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

  “I don’t even want to think about what could be more pressing than this.” Erik shook his head, he was starting to get a headache.

  “Well if it helps, Mike left this list of people in the area and he’s calling some girl who apparently can stop time or something. That should help right?” Amy was trying to give them some good news.

  Sloane’s eyes were wide. “Jessie? Mike’s calling Jessie right now? Has he lost it? She’ll do more damage than good. Last I checked she’d accidentally blown up a car when she tried to use her power.” Sloane moved to sit on the stool to study Mike’s list.

  “Oh, don’t worry about Jess. She’s gotten the hang of her power, trust me. No one knew when we were younger that her ability to stop time would turn into her ability to blow shit up. She’s definitely someone you want on your team.” Erik twitched his head slightly to the side when he spoke and reached for the bottle again. Sloane studied him carefully after the way he’d said that. She narrowed her eyes at him, Erik knew Jess well, she thought.

  Mike returned to the front, “Jessie’s on her way here. She won’t be here till tomorrow so we might as well plan a meeting for then. I told her to come here as soon as she got to town. So, do we have a plan yet? What did Bryant say?”

  Sloane let the sarcasm flow, “Bryant said the order has more pressing issues right now so they aren’t going to help, apparently it’s up to us to handle this situation.” Sloane looked up at Mike, his jaw hung open at her words.

  “What? Really? Can he do that?” Mike hadn’t heard of the order not sending in help when it was needed. “There must be some crazy shit happening if the order is too busy to send people to help us.” Mike shook his head and stared down at the bar then he looked up. He turned his head to the side and took a deep breath. “Well I guess it’s up to us. There’s the list of people in the area, let’s start making calls.” He pointed to the list that Sloane had sitting in front of her. “I’ll call these five here, Sloane you take the next set and so on, come on guys let’s do this.” He looked at the list one last time then handed it over to Erik.

  “Ah, kinda hard to make any calls when Sloane just obliterated my phone against the wall over there.” Erik looked at scattered pieces of plastic and glass that was once his phone.

  Amy pulled out hers and handed it to him, “Here use mine.”

  Mike headed to the back office. Sloane looked to Erik and Amy, “I’m going to join Mike.” She walked back to the room. Mike entered his office and reached his hand back to shut the door. Sloane caught it before it hit her face. “Hey!”

  “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you were behind me.” Mike turned face her as she stepped the rest of the way into the room and closed the door behind her.

  “We need to talk,” she said looking into Mike’s dark hazel eyes.

  “Oh yeah, what about?” he smirked.

  “Us,” she stepped closer, the soft scent of sandalwood and musk enveloped her. She took another step closer, standing only inches from him. She didn’t know if he still felt the same about her. It’d been years since they parted. He knew she’d stayed here, but he never went looking for her.

  “What us? You left without a word.” He stared intensely down into her blue eyes.

  “I know I left and didn’t come find you after. I should have but I couldn’t. I was hoping you had a teeny tiny bit of feelings left for me, even after.” She looked up through her lashes and reached her hand up to his neck and stroked the hairs on the back of his head.

  His eyes smoldered at her touch, “I don’t know Sloane, that was a long time ago. You left without so much as a word. It was so easy for you to just leave, I’m not sure I want to be with someone who can leave everyone she loves so easily.” He closed his eyes and stepped away from her.

  Sloane looked to the floor and sighed, “I’m sorry I hurt you. I couldn’t stay, I never want to be the reason you suffer. You were the last person I ever wanted to hurt.” She looked from the floor back into his eyes.

  He stepped further back and leaned against the desk. He brushed his hands up through his black curls. He shook his head and looked back at her. He studied her, he had deep lines marring his forehead as he looked at her. He shook his head and closed the distance between them. “What the hell,” he said. He reached his arm out and wrapped it around the small of her back. He pulled her into him and crushed his lips to hers. She reached her hands and wound them around his neck stroking the hair on the back of his head. He pulled her flush to his body and continued to ravage her mouth with his lips, nipping as he went. Moving his way down, He kissed a scorching trail down her neck and jawline.

  Grabbing her and lifting her onto the desk she let out a gasp. She wrapped her legs around his waist and clawed at his back. Rocking his hips against hers, fire erupted through her body. He continued to kiss her feverishly as his hands moved from her lower back to the front of her shirt. One hand moved to the nipple, peaked below her shirt. He ran a thumb over the peak and cupped her breast. Moving down he bit her hard nipple through the shirt and she gasped in surprise.

  Moaning, she pulled away. “We need to stop, we have phone calls to make.” She tried to calm her breathing, but it was hard when his hips were pressed up against her, pulsing.

  “They can wait, we can’t meet until tomorrow, anyway.” He captured her lips again. Running his tongue down the center of hers, teasing at the end, she fisted her hands in his shirt. She suckled and bit his lips. He toyed with her nipples, moving his hand below her shirt, skin to skin. She felt his calloused thumb rub over her over sensitive nipple. Mike captured her sharp intake of breath with his mouth, ravaging her mouth with his own.

  He moved his hand to the button of her jeans. She placed a hand to his chest pushing him away, “Seriously, we need to make the calls. Besides, we can’t do anything here, my brother’s in the next room.”

  He smiled wickedly, “Never stopped you before.” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

  She slapped his chest with her hand, leaving it to rest between his pecs, “That was different.”

  “Oh yeah, how?” he reached his hand under her shirt to her breast and teased her with his calloused thumb.

  Panting, she spoke. “Okay, I’m not sure I’ll be able to stop us again and we have work to do.” She took a deep breath and pushed him back from the desk. This time he moved willingly. She hopped off the desk. He bent to retrieve the few papers that had fallen on the floor and reached around her to place them back on the desk. His scent filled her with longing. She took a deep breath. “So, do you have the list? Who are we calling first?”

  He handed over the list. “Erik is calling this half. We will take the rest.” He picked up his office phone and began dialing. She pulled her cell out of her pocket and dialed the next number on the list. She couldn’t take her eyes from him as he sat at his desk. He stole glances up at her between calls. When they were finished, they both walked back into the bar. Mike reached out to grasp Sloane’s hand. She took it squeezed it quickly then dropped it. When they walked back to the bar, she put her hands in the pockets of her jeans. Mike looked at her quizzically but moved to step behind the bar.

  Erik looked up when Mike took his place behind the bar. Mike nodded his head and asked, “So everyone is coming?”

  “Yeah, I didn’t fill them in on the details but they agreed to come to the meeting. I just said we could use some help, which coming from me means something.” Erik cringed during each phone conversation, asking for help wasn’t something he did.

  “Yeah, I didn’t tell anyone anything other than needing help, and I know I didn’t like having to ask either but you know we need the help.” Sloane would take them all on if she thought she could win.

  “Yes, we do,” Mike interrupted, “And everyone I called is coming. Now that we got them all, what the hell are we going to tell them and How in the hell are we taking these bitches out?”

  “Where’d the Irish pub owner go? I mean, that was such an elegant way of puttin
g it.” Sloane laughed at him.

  “Yeah well, the Philly boy comes back to me sometimes. Don’t knock it, love.” He winked at her and smiled.

  Sloane smiled endearingly, “Just admiring that’s all, I wouldn’t mind the Philly side coming out more often.” She licked her lips and bit her bottom one releasing it slowly.

  Erik rolled his eyes at them, “Okay, he’s right, what are we going to tell everyone? We need them to help. If we don’t have one hell of a plan, they might not stick around.”

  Sloane put her hand on her chin and started thinking about what they could do to take out the threat. She thought about both her vision and the time Amy spent in the building. The woman was the key to it all. If they could take out the leader, they could get the upper hand. Even the demon they tortured mentioned a woman getting him to agree to possession. She knew that woman was the key, and they needed to find a way to take her out first.

  Sloane looked up to the others at the bar. “We need to take out the woman, she’s their leader. Do we still have the picture of her?”

  “Oh yeah, it’s in my purse.” Amy pulled out the two drawings Sloane showed them earlier. “She’s a redhead by the way.” Amy handed Mike the picture since he was the only one who hadn’t seen it.

  Mike studied the two drawings, “So this is the leader, huh? Doesn’t seem like much to me.”

  “She may not look like much but she’s teaching them how to destroy us and convincing students to be possessed.” Sloane’s tone was biting.

  “Okay, so let’s take the bitch out,” Erik said.

  “How the hell do you suggest we do that?” Sloane asked, one eyebrow raised.

  “Easy, we have to find a way to get her away from her minions, then grab her. I can listen in and know when she’s alone.” He nodded confident.

  Sloane tilted her head to the side. “Okay sparky, how do you suggest we do that?”

  “I’ll follow her, let you guys know when she’s alone. When she’s alone, I’ll call you and we can go in and grab her. Doesn’t seem that difficult.” Erik looked at the other faces in the room.

  Sloane looked down at the bar, thinking. “Well, I like the idea but I’m not sure it’ll be that easy. We need to find out where she goes besides the school. Do you think she’s still there?” Sloane thought that if they could catch her after she left, they could follow her and figure out her routine. “Okay, I’m sorry to say this but I think we have to go back to campus.” She didn’t like the idea considering how many demons were there. They could easily be discovered and then they’d be in trouble. They needed to capture this woman if they had any hope of stopping the meeting she’d seen. Erik was right he could follow her and they could grab her when she was alone. Once they got their hands on her, they could make her talk.

  “I agree,” Erik said but looked over to Amy.

  “There’s no way in hell I’m going back there.” She shook her head but looked down. She didn’t want to meet the eyes of anyone in the room. She clasped her hands tightly in her lap.

  “No worries, you don’t have to, Erik and I will go together and do recon work. Mike do you mind taking Amy home?” Sloane was all business, “We’ll follow the woman and get her schedule down. Then at the meeting tomorrow we’ll hopefully have more information to give the group. They might be more willing to help if we have a feasible plan.” Sloane walked toward the door and exited.

  Erik looked to Mike then Amy, “Well alright then.” He stood up from the stool, “Mike I’ll call you and let you know what we find out.” He headed out the door to catch Sloane.

  “Are you ready to go home?” Mike looked to Amy. “I have some things I need to take care of around here but I can drop you off quick before I get started.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever been more ready to go home in my life. After the day we had, I’m exhausted.” Amy got off the bar stool and Mike grabbed his car keys.

  “Yeah, it sure has been a crazy day so far and it’s only the beginning. How you holding up?” Mike studied Amy, her eyes were bloodshot, and she looked pale.

  “I’m fine, I’ll be even better after I sleep. It feels like this day has lasted forever.” She slumped into the seat of his car. The exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks now that they weren’t in battle mode.

  “Yeah, it does feel like it’s been a long one but we’re built for days like today, you’re not. So, where am I headed?” Mike started the car and waited for directions.

  “Oh, we live in south Minneapolis, near forty-second and cedar.” She’d forgotten he didn’t know where they lived.

  “So, has Sloane seen you since she left home? It seems like you two have a history I’m not privy to.” Amy studied him.

  “No,” he said softly, “I hadn’t seen her in years.” He looked straight ahead and raised his hand to push his hair back from his forehead.

  “Oh, you seemed like you had a history. I thought maybe she kept in touch.” Amy studied him. His jaw was tense, he pushed his lips together in a hard line.

  “No, she didn’t keep in touch.” His voice was terse.

  “Were you two dating or something, you seem like you’re closer than you let on?”

  “No, not exactly. She has always been a spitfire on her own course. Our history is complicated.” He looked over to Amy then back to the road. He lifted his hand and ran it through his hair.

  “Oh, I see. Yeah, Sloane is one of a kind.” Amy watched the world go by out the window. She couldn’t help but think how much she didn’t know about her friend. Sloane had this whole life that she wasn’t a part of. They were so close before, but Sloane had only let her in on a little of who she was which Amy found disappointing. She’d let Sloane in entirely, she knew everything about her. Sloane even attended her family's Thanksgivings and Christmas’ every year. Amy just assumed she didn’t have a family to go to. Now that the truth was out, she wondered what distanced Sloane from her family. Amy liked Erik, he seemed like a great guy. Despite their sibling rivalry, he seemed to care for her. Amy was confused as to why Sloane would abandon her family, especially when she'd been only sixteen. Amy knew there was more to discover. Sloane was always so guarded; Amy wondered if Sloane let anyone in?

  Mike dropped Amy off at her house and left. Amy headed straight to bed after entering her apartment; she hoped she’d be able to sleep knowing that the other two were putting themselves in danger. She loved Sloane and didn’t want her to get hurt and although she’d just met Erik, she didn’t want him hurt either. She laid in her bed worried but due to her utter exhaustion she couldn’t help but pass out in just a few minutes.

  Chapter 11

  Sloane parked in the lot adjacent to the building and paused. “Can you hear them from here or should I move closer?”

  “I’m not sure, give me a minute to scope things out.” Erik closed his eyes to concentrate on hearing the thoughts in the building next door. He shuffled through all the jumbled meaningless thoughts until he found the thoughts he recognized as demons. He tried to sort through the thoughts to find the teacher. He hadn’t listened to her for long when Amy was in the classroom and kicked himself for that. Finding her once, he’d be able to find her again in any crowd. Closing his eyes and focusing, he hoped she was still in the building. So far, zilch. His power was the key to this whole thing working. He needed to keep at it for as long as it took to locate her. Just then, he heard a hint of something. There was a woman talking to another demon about the formula Sloane mentioned. She had big ideas in her head about filling the city with demons once her formula obliterated the Shikari.

  He looked over to Sloane, “Got her and boy is she something else. She’s got big plans for us, that’s for sure.”

  “I know, she wants to kill us and wreak havoc on the unsuspecting public. You know these take over the world types should get an original plan, I mean really. World domination is so, passé.” She flicked her wrist with her fingers curled slightly as if she were flicking a cigarette and rolled her eyes. />
  Erik laughed at Sloane’s take on this, “Well now that I’ve got her, I’ll be able to find her anywhere.” Erik enjoyed being in control of this particular situation.

  “Good, follow her thoughts, we need to know as much as we can before the meeting tomorrow. It’d be nice to go in with a definitive plan on how to eliminate the woman and her demon followers.” Sloane sat back and put her foot up on the dash.

  “Well, you were right about what she’s teaching. I want to know where she got that information. If it’s as you say, a Shikari member would’ve had to give ‘em it so how in the hell did that happen.” Erik clenched his hands into fists in his lap.

  “Well honestly, the world is full of people that would trade just about anything for the right price. Although we’re supposed to be honor bound, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone from the Shikari gave it up. None of us would be considered a saint by any means.” Sloane thought about how easily she’d turned her back on the whole thing. She wouldn’t be surprised if under different circumstances someone would be so pissed off at the Shikari they would gladly share their secrets, for the right price.

  “So, are you getting anything we can use?” Sloane was curious, she wished that she had that ability sometimes but was glad at least someone around her did. She liked seeing the future but Erik was more useful than she was. She huffed out a breath.

  “Well there are certainly more of them here than we think. They’ve taken over at least two hundred and fifty students in this area; it’s not just this university either. They have demons in every college in the city and a few outside of it. It’s remarkable they were able to possess so many students and no one noticed. What the hell’s going on with the order that this slipped by without anyone noticing?” Erik’s brow furrowed, he thought there was something he was missing.