The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

  “I’m calling Bryant to ask what he thinks. He’s reasonable if nothing else.” She pulled out her cell phone and started dialing.

  “Reasonable? That’s not what you were saying a few minutes ago when you threw my phone.” Erik shook his head.

  Sloane held up a finger to silence him. “Bryant, hey it’s Sloane. I have some information that I could use your opinion on.” She waited and then responded. “We’ve located the woman in charge as well as her right-hand man. We could go in and get them tonight and take them back for intel. Would you be okay with that?” She didn’t want to give him too many details. She just wanted his approval. “Oh, now you’re starting to sound like Erik. We can take them. It’s Mike, Erik, and me. We’ll be fine on our own.” She didn’t like the insinuations he was making about their ability to go after these two. Besides, there were only two of them, she thought it’d be easy. “Fine, here talk to Erik maybe he’ll tell you what you want to hear. I just want this over.” Sloane was frustrated, she shoved the phone at Erik and walked out of the bar.

  “Whoa, what did you say to her? She just left.” Erik listened on the phone as Bryant explained. “Oh, I could see how that would’ve made her upset. You used your position to make her see reason. Just because you can speak for the order doesn’t mean you always should.” He paused, “Yeah I know, I think it’s a bad idea too but there are other ways to tell her.” He stopped again. “Okay, we aren’t going after them tonight. I didn’t plan on it but I have to go find Sloane.” He hung up the phone.

  He looked to Mike, “He can be so incorrigible sometimes.” He ran out of the door to find where Sloane went. They needed her and if Bryant pissed her off, she’d disappear again and Erik didn’t want that. Despite their issues, he missed her. These last few days had been fun, and he didn’t want that to end. He liked having his sister back.

  He ran down the street in the direction he could see her heading “Where do you think you’re going?” he asked.

  “Away, that man frustrates me to no end. Why can’t he just see that getting those two would be in our best interest? Why does he have to be so demanding? Using his power with the order to command that I not go after the couple. He could’ve just told me it was a bad idea.” She didn’t like having her ideas foiled for any reason, ever.

  “Oh yeah?” Erik chuckled, “Would you have listened? Bryant tends to throw his power around though. Sometimes, with us, it’s necessary. I mean we tend to do what we want. Remember when he found Mike in your room and he yelled and said he’d have the whole Shikari order after him.” He smiled at her.

  She laughed, “Yeah, he chased Mike into the dining room and leapt over the table to try to get to him. Somehow Mike made it out the door.” She slowed her pace.

  “Yeah, that may be because mom kept moving objects in his path to stop him from getting to him.” He punched her lightly in the arm, “You always had a way of getting mom to fight for you, no matter what it was, even against Bryant.”

  She stopped walking and looked Erik in the eye. “She fought for both of us.” She paused. “So, since we aren’t going after the two what should we do tonight?” She was tired of deciding everything.

  “Well, let’s start by going back to the bar and figuring out what the hell we’re going to tell the others tomorrow. Let’s get wasted doing it. We can call the driver to take us home when we’re done. Maybe we’ll come across a stroke of genius under the influence of copious amounts of alcohol.” The side of his lip lifted, he wanted her to see the brilliance of his plan.

  “Just like the good ol’ days, except we’d hide in your room to drink, not a bar.” She studied him. “I guess I could use a drink or ten. I’m getting so sick of having to be responsible.” She turned to head back to the bar. He followed her. This was what he wanted, he liked to get drunk between all the fighting and craziness. It took the edge off and some days you just needed to drink to get through it. The last few days proved that to be truer than ever.

  They entered the bar and Mike was standing at the bar wiping down glasses. He watched Sloane as she walked up to the bar. Her arms were limp at her sides, relaxed. Seeing her calm made him relax.

  “What’s up with you?” Erik asked, skeptical.

  “I knew you two were coming back, here, love.” He handed Sloane and Erik a Shock Top. “Drink up.” He opened one for himself. “A toast, to surviving the craziness that is about to ensue.” They clinked glasses and drank.

  “So, how did you know we were coming back?” Erik asked.

  “Come on, I know you two. So, you’ve come back to do some heavy drinking and figuring out what the hell we’re going to tell everyone tomorrow.” He sat down in the seat. “So… what are we going to tell them? Cause in a few short hours we better have a damn good answer for calling them all here.”

  Sloane laughed at his nonchalance, “Yeah we better,” she said as she took another long drink.

  “You might want to grab something stronger, beer isn’t going to cut it tonight.” Erik downed the last of his beer.

  “Shots?” Mike asked.

  “Shots.” Erik nodded.

  Mike grabbed three shot glasses and the bottle of Fireball. He poured each of them a shot.

  “To our health,” Mike raised his glass.

  “To not dying in the next few days.” Sloane reached her glass up to meet Mike’s and looked him in the eye.

  Erik clinked glasses with them, “Speaking of not dying, we were just reminiscing about the time Bryant found you in Sloane’s room.”

  “Oh shit, yeah I almost didn’t get away from him.” Mike looked to Sloane and smiled. She reached over and took his hand.

  Chapter 12

  Sloane made her way down the stairs of her father’s house the next morning and went immediately to the coffee pot. Erik was slumped with his head down on the table and a cup of coffee in front of him. He raised his hand slightly to signal hello but didn’t move his head from off the table.

  “Do we have aspirin around here?” Sloane asked.

  Erik pointed, “Yeah, cupboard next to the stove, second shelf.”

  “That’s a strange place to keep it.” Sloane said as she moved to where he directed.

  “Strange to you maybe,” his voice was horse, and he still hadn’t lifted his head. “Why don’t we have darkening curtains on the windows in the kitchen? I mean does it have to be so damn bright in the same room as the coffee.”

  “Wow, you really don’t handle a hangover well.” Sloane couldn’t believe he was this bitchy after a few drinks, well a lot of drinks but still. She had a slight headache, and she didn’t even think that was from drinking. She’d accidentally hit her head on the headboard last night.

  “Yeah, bite me.” Erik didn’t want to be told anything this morning he just wanted to crawl back in bed and die.

  “Wow, people still say that? I haven’t heard anyone tell me that since high school.” She laughed at his obvious moodiness when he grunted at her remark. “Well cupcake, you need to get it together quick cause Jessie will be meeting us at the pub in a few short hours. We need to check out the campus to make sure we didn’t miss any catastrophes while we were busy drinking.”

  “At this point, you could tell me the world was ending and I wouldn’t give a shit.” Erik raised his head to rest his chin on his arm and looked at her. She cocked her head to the side. “Fine, want to hand me that aspirin you got and I’ll get right on it.”

  “Here, I think you need to go shower first. Hot water would do you some good. I’ll make you the best hangover concoction I’ve got while you shower.” She went to the refrigerator to see what she could make him so he’d get over this, and they could move on with the day. She didn’t know what his deal was; she drank as much as he did and felt fine. She’d also been drinking water throughout the night so she wouldn’t feel like shit in the morning.

  Erik descended the stairs looking refreshed and as ready as he could be. Sloane handed him a glass of what looked like so
me kind of juice.

  “Drink it, works every time.” Sloane was confident. Erik looked down into the glass, it was a dark green. He gave her a questioning look. “I promise, it will help you, just drink it.”

  “Ugh, fine. I’ll drink it.” He took a quick sip. He emerged with his eyebrows raised, nodding, “That’s not too bad.”

  “Good, now down it cause we’ve got to go.” She grabbed the keys off the hook and her bag. They needed to get to the pub before everyone arrived. Mike left a few hours earlier just in case but she wanted to get there too.

  Sloane drove them straight to the bar. She jumped out and went in. Erik watched as Sloane rushed into the backdoor. He wasn’t sure what her rush was but got out and followed.

  “What? No breakfast?” He asked.

  Sloane was already behind the bar laughing. She was leaning into Mike and he had an arm wrapped around her. She looked to Erik and rolled her eyes. “We have work to do, you can go without breakfast one day.”

  “Ah no, actually I can’t. If I must work, I need fuel. I’m going down the street to get some. You guys want anything?”

  “Yeah sure, get me whatever.” Sloane turned her attention back to Mike.

  Mike looked into her eyes and said, “Actually there’s a bakery about a block down they make some amazing bear claws. Can you pick us up two and some coffee?” Mike glanced momentarily at Erik then back at Sloane.

  Erik looked between the two and said, “Great, just great,” as he went out the front door and onto the street. He knew their relationship would be a distraction. They didn’t need any distractions, but it looked like it was too late.

  He wasn’t going for the bakery as Mike asked. He wanted some eggs and bacon. He made it to a small diner and sat down for a good breakfast. Erik was pleased with the outcome of last night. They had some semblance of a plan, one that actually made sense. Sloane had been reined in and they’d decided on something more reasonable than grabbing the couple without a plan.

  He ate breakfast and picked up bear claws and two coffees. Sloane was relaxed against Mike in a booth, their hand interlaced. “So, any idea when Jess will be here?” He didn’t want to be the third wheel.

  Mike glanced at his phone, “Another hour or two, I would guess.” He went for the bag Erik set on the table in front of them. He took one bear claw out and handed it to Sloane, “You’ll love this.”

  Erik rolled his eyes, “I might go back to the school and keep tabs on our couple.” He’d rather be anywhere else right now.

  Sloane looked up at him, “You don’t want to be here when they show up?” She figured he’d want to be a part of the whole process. They had to convince these guys to help with the threat.

  “You guys don’t need me. I can watch our couple, learn their routine so we know our plan is foolproof.” Erik looked between the two and then headed for the door. “Sloane you’ll be fine here right, you don’t need the car?”

  She shook her head, “I’ll be good. I’m staying here until the others arrive and we’re in place for tonight. Keep me informed about the couple though. Our plan is dependent on them going home as usual, let me know if anything changes.” She turned her attention back to the coffee in front of her.

  Erik left the pub and went to his car. He didn’t want to spend the day in the car by himself but he didn’t know who he could get to go with him. He didn’t want to call anyone he knew cause he’d have to explain what he was doing. He thought of one person he could ask. He wasn’t sure she’d want to go back there but he drove over to her apartment, anyway. He ran up the steps and rang her doorbell. Amy answered right away.

  “What are you doing here?” She asked. She was surprised he was even here, she knew they had a lot going on and she had no way to help so she was just waiting until it was all over.

  “Sloane and Mike are at the bar together and I could use some company. I thought maybe you’d join me today. I’m just hanging out at the college making sure the professor you saw keeps up her routine before tonight.” Erik was hopeful that she’d go with him even though he was going back to the college.

  “Back to the college?” she asked her voice cracking.

  His expression turned sympathetic. “Nevermind, I’m sorry Amy. I shouldn’t have asked.” He turned toward the door. He knew this was a goodbye. She wasn’t a part of their lives. He needed to accept that. This was exactly why he didn’t tell anyone outside of the Shikari about himself. When they found out they’d leave. Everyone left eventually.

  “Wait,” Amy called. “Where at the college exactly?”

  “Outside, on the street. We’ll be in the car all day. We won’t have to be too close to campus for me to follow what she’s doing.” He hoped this news meant she would go with him.

  She considered what he’d said. “We won’t have to be all that close to where we were yesterday?” .

  His expressions turned sympathetic, “We won’t be near where we were yesterday. We can hang out, listen to music and talk.” He wanted her to go with him. Sitting in a car all day by himself sounded awful.

  “I guess I can go. I have to grab a few things.” She went to her room. Erik wandered over to check out Sloane’s room. He wanted to know something about her life now. Opening the door slowly, he laughed. Clothes were strewn over every surface. There was a chair next to her bed with various pieces of clothing draped over it. He walked deeper into the room, she had Van Gogh’s Irises hung on the wall. Her bed was made with contrasting dark and light purple bedding.

  “Ahem.” Amy stood at the door with her purse in hand. “Looking for something?”

  “No, not really.” He took one last look around the room.

  “Okay then let’s go.” She went to the door and Erik joined her. Within minutes they arrived on campus. Erik chose to park on the street a block down from where the building was located. He shut off the engine and reclined his seat back to get comfortable. He listened for the woman. When she was located, he relaxed even further.

  “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? I know you’re here for a reason. Are you going to fill me in on any of it?” She was curious, left out of the loop the other day because she couldn’t take it, now she wanted to know.

  “I suppose, a few of our friends from the area are joining us today to figure out how to deal with the problem as a whole. The woman that’s in charge and her husband are our first target, which we’ll be taking out tonight when they go home. They keep the same routine as the couple before they were possessed. There’s also something going on with the order. They aren’t providing us any assistance. We had to find everyone on our own. I’m not sure what’s going on, but Bryant said they have bigger issues.”

  Amy considered what he’d said. “So, the couple is keeping the same routine, that’s weird. Is that why we’re here, to make sure they keep on schedule for your plans tonight?”

  “That’s mostly the reason. I just didn’t want to be at the bar, I needed some space and this way I thought I could get away.” Erik cringed as he thought back to Sloane and Mike’s display.

  “I thought I was the only one falling apart after yesterday. I guess even though you were trained, it still gets to you too.” Amy blew out a relieved breath.

  “Sometimes,” he didn’t want to fill her in on the real reason. Mike and Sloane’s current hook up reminded him of how alone he felt and he wasn’t ready to see Jess yet.

  “Can you hear anything interesting going on inside?” She perked up expectantly.

  “Not really, she’s not teaching right now. She’s in her office so I can only hear what she’s thinking. I have to say, other than her ability to plan for our destruction, she’s not very interesting. Spends a lot of time thinking about how she’ll manipulate others and she’s good at it but beyond that nothing special.” Erik was bored with her. Waiting for tonight would feel like forever.

  Amy furrowed her brow in confusion. “There really isn’t anything appealing about her. How did she manage to get
in the position that she’s in? How is she getting the demons to follow her?” Amy turned facing Erik.

  “Manipulation, most demons aren’t that smart, a few are. She happens to be the exception to the rule, but she is nothing like your typical, manipulative human. They’re following her because she’s simply giving them a way to continue to kill people without being bothered by hunters. It’s not difficult, they want to continue to kill people without being interfered with, she’s giving them a way to do it so they’re following her. Demons are not remarkable. Human minds are far more interesting than anything I’ve heard from a demon. That’s also why they’re easy to pick out, their lack of creativity and spark. She’s using the intelligence and thoughts of the woman she’s possessing. I think this may be a game changer for us.” Erik relaxed back in the seat.

  “Wow, really? I figured since they’re in our mind, it’d work the same. I thought they’d have all the mental capabilities we’d have.” Amy folded her hands in her lap.

  “Before now, they weren’t smart enough to access our brain to the capacity we can. If they could access our entire brain we’d be in more trouble than we are now. They just don’t have the capability. Although, this demon is using the woman's thoughts and ideas to further her agenda. Usually the host isn’t this forthcoming.” He was thinking this could change what they know about demons and the future of the Shikari altogether.

  “Huh, I figured with what they’re pulling off now, they’d be smarter than that.” She looked out the window, thinking.

  “They’re not, at least they haven’t been, until now.” Erik’s phone rang, he looked to see Sloane on the screen.

  “Hey, what’s up?” he waited for her to fill him in. It hadn’t even been two hours since he’d left them at the bar. “Nothing new, she’s got office hours right now. So, has Jess arrived yet?” He waited, holding his breath. “Sounds good, I’ll let you know if anything changes.” He hung up.

  Amy studied Erik as he took slow breaths. “What’s going on?”