The Shikari Box Set

by Dora Blume

  “Alright, let’s do this.” Sloane clapped her hands together, smiling.

  “Sounds good to me.” Erik turned to look out the back window. “Where’s Caroline? She said she would be joining us. It’s been a while. She should have a say in this plan.” He tried to peer out of the window to see if he could see the car.

  Jess turned to look. “Yeah, she should’ve been right behind us.”

  Erik closed his eyes a moment. “I don’t hear her thoughts. She’s pretty good at blocking me out, though.” He reached for the door handle and stepped out of the car looking around for her car. Jessie got out with him. “Shit, her car’s not here.”

  “I know she said she’d leave if she had to, but you’d think she’d at least let us know.”

  “It must’ve been important for her not to come,” Jessie said.

  Erik shook his head in disbelief, “Yeah, it better have been damn important.”

  Chapter 16

  “Where’s Caroline?” Mike asked as Erik got back into the car.

  “I don’t know. The car’s gone.” Erik’s voice was concerned. “You think she’d have sent me a message before just taking off like that.”

  “It must’ve been an emergency, Erik. There’s no way she would have left us, otherwise. You know she was taking her car, in case she had to leave because of her daughter. She must’ve heard something and had to run. Come on, let’s get on with this.” Jessie said.

  “Okay, well we better get on with it. We may need to help with the emergency when we’re done here. It must be big considering both Bryant and Caroline left.” Erik shook his head.

  Jessie looked to the front. “You two ready to go?”

  “Yeah, let’s do this.” Sloane rubbed her hands together in anticipation. She looked over to Mike. “You ready?”

  “Always ready, love.” He lifted a brow at her answering smirk. She bit her bottom lip thinking about the last time they’d been together.

  “Let’s do this.” She raised a brow at Mike, running her hand up his thigh before turning to get out of the car. Mike slid out, and Sloane met him on the other side. He hooked a finger in her belt loop and pulled her against him. “You know you’re paying for that when we’re alone.” He whispered in her ear.

  She leaned against him and turned to whisper next to his ear. “Looking forward to it.” She reached one hand back to run up his thigh, stopping to cup him through his jeans. She looked over to Erik and Jessie, thankful that for the moment, they seemed to be occupied.

  Erik looked over to Mike and nodded. Mike grabbed Sloane’s hand and brought it back around to her stomach. “Babe, we have work to do.” He whispered in her ear. She pulled on her bottom lip with her teeth slowly releasing it.

  She turned around. “So, you got any guns in this car?”

  He shook his head and laughed. “Love, I told you I have everything you need.”

  “Good, because I want a big one.” She smirked.

  “Of course, you do. I would expect nothing less.” He shook his head again and walked to the trunk to get the weapons he’d stored when he’d gotten back to the car. “You can have all the big guns you want.” He dropped his hand and slapped her ass. She jumped in surprise and then cast him a devilish grin.

  Erik walked over. “You two done? Cause we have work to do.”

  “Yeah, we’re ready,” Sloane said, as she tucked a 9mm in her waistband.

  Jessie walked over to join them. “Okay, we make our way to the back. I’m going to check the windows as we did before as we go.” She looked to Mike, and he nodded.

  “You know I can just tell you where they are, right?” Erik moved to stand next to Jessie.

  “I still want to check. I like being able to see them.” She rolled her eyes at him. She headed toward the building. The others followed. She stopped when she reached the first window. She peeked through the same hole as before. Erik leaned next to her against the building and gave her a playful look.

  “There are two guys in there.” He leaned next to her ear. “One’s thinking about the sex he had with his girlfriend last night. He’s trying to conceal his erection by staying seated at the table. The other guy is thinking about the last hand they’d played. He had cowboys and thought he could have pushed harder to get more of their money, but he played it safe. They’re taking a break cause the third guy is in the bathroom. I won’t tell you what’s taking him so long. Anything else you want to know?” He smirked at her annoyed look.

  “Okay, I get it. I’ll follow your lead.” She glared defiantly into his eyes, and his smile grew wider.

  “Now, was that so hard?”

  “Whatever, let’s just go.” She huffed out a breath and walked along the side of the building. Erik took a few hurried strides to catch up to her. He reached out to grab her wrist.

  “Jess you need to let me lead. Your power isn’t going to work in here.” His look was stern.

  “Fine,” She swept her hand in front of her, palm up. “Go ahead.”

  He shook his head, “Always so stubborn.” He glided past her to the back door. He stopped and waited. “You ready?” He looked into Jessie’s eyes.

  “Yes,” she said.

  He placed his hand on the door and opened it, knowing no one was on the other side. He took a step in, and the others followed. Jess stood at the ready next to him. He took a few steps toward the first door. He listened. No one was in the room. He took another few steps to the next door. He stopped., There were two men on the other side. He nodded to Jess, then Mike and Sloane. He mouthed, one, two, three, then he swung the door open. Mike went for the one on the right. He had his back to the door and was pouring himself coffee. He set the carafe down as Mike hit him in the back of the head with his gun.

  The second guy whipped toward the door with stunning speed. He reached for the gun in his belt. Sloane pulled the trigger, hitting the arm reaching for his gun. She took a step toward him and rounded a kick to his face. He stumbled a moment but got his grip on the gun.

  “For peat’s sake.” She rounded again kicking him square in the jaw. He stumbled sideways but raised his gun level with Sloane.

  “Fucking bitch.” He spat. Mike moved silently behind him and hit him in the back of the head with his gun. This time he fell unconscious, making a loud thud when his head ricocheted off the table as he fell.

  “Thanks, babe,” Sloane said. She stepped over the guy to take Mike’s hand.

  “Two down, ten to go.” Erik turned, and another guy stopped dead in the hallway looking from the group to the two guys on the floor.

  “Holy Shit, Hunters!” He yelled. He reached for his waistband, his focus on Erik. Jessie came from the side and landed a jab to his jaw. He shook his head, and Erik stepped forward, pointing his gun at the man.

  “Move your hand up, slowly.” The guy stopped mid-motion.

  “Or what?” The guy glared at Erik’s gun.

  “Or I’ll shoot you in the head,” Erik said.

  “Oh? You don’t care that I’m in one of your own. You would shoot your own man?”

  “Absolutely.” Erik didn’t flinch. Jessie moved around him and ripped the chain from his neck. Once he was free, she raised her hands to freeze him.

  “Ah, much better. I like it when they don’t talk.” Jessie rubbed her hands together. “I noticed that they are all wearing the amulets Sloane mentioned. That means it’s not the building that’s protected, it’s the individuals. So, if we can get the amulets off their neck. I can freeze them, and we can dispossess them. If they’re Shikari, they can help us.” Jessie cracked her knuckles looking at the frozen man.

  “Okay, well we got a girl and three men sprinting down the hall. Back in the room, we’ve got a better advantage if they don’t know where we are. Jess, Sloane you go one room down, across the hall. Jessie be ready to freeze when we get the stones off their neck.” He stepped back into the room with the two unconscious men. He could hear them running. He stood on the side of the door frame, an
d Mike took a position on the other. They had weapons and planned to shoot them. One had the gun aimed down the hall, but Erik knew from his thoughts that he’d never actually shot a gun before. “Ready?” he whispered. Mike nodded.

  They reached the doorway and stopped, looking at the two men on the ground. The woman hurried into the room not noticing them in the doorway. The woman dropped down next to one of the men. “Scott, baby are you okay?” She shook him.

  The men looked around the room, guns up. Neither turned toward the door. They turned back, looking down the hallway. Mike and Erik moved quickly, grabbing the men from behind. They yanked the chains off. “Now!” Erik called. Jessie stepped out and froze them.

  The woman turned, “Wha…” Sloane stepped in the room and hit the woman in the back of her head. She slumped over the man who she’d been shaking. Sloane ripped the chain from her neck, tucking the amulets in her pocket.

  “Did anyone else hear him?” Jessie asked.

  “I don’t hear anyone else coming, but if they stay in the hall, someone will see. We have to move them.”

  Mike took a step forward. “How about we drag them into the room with the other two, so they’re out of the way and this time? When we dispossess them, we close the door.” Mike raised his voice at the end. His sarcasm was thick.

  “Oh, now you got all the bright ideas. Where was that genius two minutes ago?” Erik shook his head. Mike raised a brow at him and moved to cup his arms under the largest of the three, dragging him back toward the room. The back of the man’s heels left a black mark along the floor as he went. Erik grabbed the other while making sure to stay alert for anyone coming. He didn’t want to screw it up again. If the other guy hadn’t been so surprised, he could have easily got a shot off. Erik couldn’t let any of them get hurt.

  They got the three in the room, and Mike and Sloane went to dispossessing them. When they were finished, Erik went for the door again. The men who had been playing poker were still in the room. They hadn’t made it to the Shikari man, yet. They had taken care of five of them. There were still seven of them in the building. Erik listened for a moment to take a mental inventory of where each of them was. He had the three in the room playing poker. Two were at the front of the building packing boxes to load into their pickup. They needed to get a few things to the school here in Denver. It sounded like these demons were also taking on some of the life events of the people they possessed, just as the couple had in Minneapolis. He concentrated. He could hear two other men discussing some plan that had to do with the school. One man was arguing about which door they should enter through, and whether the girl would be there as they planned.

  Erik blew out a breath. He looked wide-eyed to Jessie, then Mike and Sloane. Jessie’s eyes narrowed. She looked in the direction of the hall. “Erik, what is it? Is someone coming?”

  “No, no one is coming here. I think I know where Caroline went though, and it’s not good.”

  He clenched his hands into fists at his sides. “We need to make this quick. Caroline is going to need our help.” Suddenly a dark flash of fabric caught his attention. He forgot he had already opened the door while he was listening. Jessie stood next to him, staring up at him in concern.

  As he listened in shock at the thoughts of the two men, he heard a subtle click and looked up just in time to see a guy standing with a revolver pointed at Jessie. He reached his arm out and pulled her towards him as the bullet left the barrel. Erik wasn’t fast enough, and the bullet went through Jessie’s arm and lodged in the wall behind her. Erik heard the click again as he went for a second shot. Before he could fire, Jessie raised her hands to freeze the guy, but nothing happened.

  Mike and Sloane both moved behind the wall. Erik saw red in an instant. He flew forward, knocking the gun out of the guy's hand and shoving him against the wall. His fingers wrapped around his throat. He pressed so hard his hand turned red.

  “You will pay for that.” Erik spat through clenched teeth. He tightened his grip and pulled him back to slam his head into the wall. He felt the shock reverberate down his arm. His eyes shut, and a stream of blood ran down his nose. Erik dropped him to the floor and whirled. Jessie was holding her hand pressed against her upper arm.

  “Are you okay?” Erik asked, fear shaking his voice.

  “Yes, I’ll be fine.” Her eyes were wide as she looked down at the blood soaking through her clothes to her fingers.

  Sloane took a step forward and yanked a stone from around his neck. “These fucking amulets. We need to stop the guys from loading these up to bring to the others. They put us at a serious disadvantage.”

  “Agreed.” Erik huffed as he looked down to the guy limp on the floor.

  Mike walked up and grabbed the guy and dragged him back into the room with the rest. “You think next time you don’t almost kill him. I thought we were only supposed to dispossess them.”

  “You’re just mad because it wasn’t you, who kicked his ass,” Erik said.

  “True, true. Okay, how about a compromise? You let me kick the next guy's ass.”

  “Deal,” Erik took a deep breath to try to steady his nerves. He clenched his hands into fists.

  “Ah, guys can we move this along. I’m kinda bleeding over here.” Jessie held her hand to her arm, but blood was dripping through her fingers and down her arm.

  Mike walked over to one of the guys on the floor and ripped a large chunk of the bottom of one of their t-shirts off. He walked to Jessie and wrapped it tightly around her wound, tying it. “There, love. That should help the bleeding until we can get you stitched up.”

  “Thanks,” she breathed. “Okay, let’s get this over with. There’s somewhere else we need to be.” She looked meaningfully toward Erik. He nodded.

  “Yes, let’s go get the idiots playing poker. They won’t even know what hit them. Plus, no one will find them. They’ve been playing together for hours. I want to save the two in the last room on the left for last. They are in on a big plan happening at the school, and I’d like to know more about it.”

  “Okay, so poker room it is,” Sloane said. “Lead the way, bro.”

  “On it.” He started walking down the hall, muscles tense. He didn’t want any more surprises. Erik kept a hand on Jessie as they walked. He needed the reassurance that she was okay. When he heard the click and knew on instinct it was a gun, he had pulled Jessie out of the way, but far not enough. He would make it up to her later. His heart was racing as he stopped in front of the door. He leaned down to her ear. “You ready?” He gazed into her beautiful steel-blue eyes. Her muscles were tight, and she unfurled her fist to be ready to freeze. He could tell she was in pain, but he knew she would continue on no matter what. It was her fighting spirit he loved. He knew, no matter what if she could, she would keep going. It killed him now that she was in pain, but they’d done this many times before. He needed to stay focused.

  He reached a handout and slowly opened the door. Jessie raised her hands, and the men at the table froze. “Hey, it’s about time my power works.”

  Sloane and Mike walked into the room. Sloane leaned over the guy furthest from the door.

  “Ooh, he had aces. Maybe we should let them finish this hand.” She smirked.

  “Sloane just do it already. We have work to do.” Erik shook his head.

  “Fine, you are so not fun.” She plucked the cards out of his hand and threw them on the table. She said the incantation for the men, then flipped the river card. It was an ace. She smiled, “See, it would had been a great hand: full house, Aces over eights. He could have gotten a nice pot since he sucks. I’ll just have to take his pot for him.” She smiled and picked up the bills in the middle of the table and shoved them into her pocket.

  “We’re not here to steal from the demons.” Erik cocked his head at her.

  “Why not? It’s not like they’re going to miss it. These idiots probably didn’t even have the money, to begin with. Besides, we should get something for our troubles. I saw a new Glock
the other day that I would kill for.”

  “Careful, sis. Some might think you would kill for it.” He lifted his mouth in a sly smile.

  “Whatever, I like riding the world of demons. If I can steal a little of their loot in the process to buy new, pretty guns all the better.” His eyes were bright, and she tapped her pocket for emphasis.

  “You’re incorrigible,” Erik said but went back out of the room. He looked to Jessie. “We have two more packing boxes up front. Then maybe we can capture the other two making the plan and get some information out of them.”

  Sloane bounced up behind them. “Oh, this may be a promising mission, yet. Can I do the torture? I do enjoy getting information out of demons. Besides, I haven’t found the asshole who hit me, yet. Maybe, I’ll get lucky, and it will be one of them. Then, I can have some fun.” She raised her eyebrows and bit her lip, looking at Mike. He shook his head at her.

  “Ever raising hell, my love,” Mike said.

  “Oh, what? You know you love that about me.” She walked over, stopping next to his ear. “Especially in the bedroom.” She winked before following Jessie and Erik. Erik made a gagging sound as he walked. She slapped his shoulder. “Knock it off.”

  Erik stopped next to an open steel door. He looked to Jess and jerked his head toward the opening. There were two guys in there loading boxes into a truck. Jessie glanced around the door to see that the men’s backs were to them. They looked like strong carpenters with their muscled backs covered in flannel. She raised her hands and froze them in place.

  “Seriously, they’re loading the amulets but aren’t wearing any?” Jessie questioned.

  One man had the box outstretched toward the tailgate of the truck. She giggled. Erik raised a brow but then became concerned. Her face was growing pale. They continued into the room, and Mike and Sloane had already moved to dispossess the two. Sloane bent to the ground and picked up a silver chain with a sapphire stone at the end.