Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1)

by Margo Bond Collins

  “That’s Annie’s hand,” Bernie said, her voice strangled.

  The baby was crying. Gemma felt like she was on the verge of crying.

  A loud banging at the door made them all jump. Immediately, Gemma smelled Huck and Bradley outside. They shouldn’t see this.

  Adam caught her eye and shook his head slightly. “They need to know,” he said grimly, although he looked sick himself. “They need to see what is happening. They need to know that Annie is not all right.”

  With trembling hands, Gemma opened the door. Huck rushed right in, still scattered. This was not a good idea, Gemma thought. She almost wished she could take back the past twenty seconds and protect him from this.

  But that would be dishonest. And out of everyone, Huck and Bradley needed to know.

  “What’s wrong?” Huck asked. “I heard a scream.” His eyes settled on the Tupperware box on top of the bed and he froze, as if he instinctively knew what was inside it. “What is that?” he asked, his voice strained. “What’s in the box?”

  “Huck, I…” Gemma said, hoping to soften the blow. She reached out to comfort him, to give him any sort of condolences. He brushed off her hand and strode over to the bed. From the door, Bradley watched him with wide eyes. He could sense it too.

  Huck picked up the box, and it took a full three seconds for him to process what he was seeing. He stifled a cry. As if in a daze, he opened the top of the lid and Annie’s scent seeped out, confirming their worst fears. Rather than roar or transform and tear apart the room, he shakily pulled out Annie’s hand and held it. Tears fell down his face as he looked up to Gemma for help.

  “She’s...she’s...” he stuttered.

  “She’s alive, Huck,” Gemma said gently. “She has to be.” She came over and wrapped up the young man in a fierce hug.

  “We have to find her,” he said, his voice strangled.

  Bradley watched them with tears overflowing.

  Gemma held Huck’s face in her hands. “We will find her,” she promised. She wrapped him in another hug, holding him as he cried.

  They remained like that for hours it seemed. Finally, Gemma had to pull back even though she didn’t want to. “I’m going to make a phone call,” she declared hoarsely. “I’m going to make this right.”

  She got up and strode to the bathroom where she sat on the closed toilet. She dialed a number and waited.

  ***

  Jon’s phone rang unexpectedly. He checked the caller ID and felt the gravity of what that phone call could mean.

  “Hold on,” he told Eva, who was now wolfing down on her third burger.

  After transforming, her apparent lack of appetite was replaced with a voracious hunger, but she was much more willing to listen to him. Despite the fact that her clothes were torn up a bit from her transformation, they had been loose enough to give her body room for the change. So they went to another restaurant to feed her. The waiter had been bewildered by her bedraggled appearance, but neither of them addressed it. She seemed like she was so fragile, Jon was afraid to bring up anything bad to her.

  Eva nodded in between mouthfuls.

  “Gemma,” he said, answering the call.

  “Jon?” she asked. She sounded upset, but Jon couldn’t pick up why. “Jon, have you gotten any sort of leads from that girl in the hospital?”

  “No,” Jon said. He glanced at Eva. “She remembers going to meet her brother. And that’s it.”

  Gemma let out a soft cry at his answer.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, alarmed.

  “We just got sent a...warning,” she explained. “Annie’s hand sent to us in a box.” Her voice broke at that statement.

  It took a few moments for him to process it. “Holy shit,” he breathed. “How is Huck taking it?”

  “Bad. Very bad.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “I-I don’t know what to do anymore,” she admitted. “We called the front desk downstairs and asked where the package came from, and no one at the hotel knows.”

  Jon looked up and met Eva’s eyes. Her head was cocked as she was listening in on the conversation with her enhanced hearing. “We’re out of the hospital,” he said.

  “Already?” Gemma asked, the surprise coloring her voice. “I would have expected her to be in there longer.”

  “She’s already transformed too.”

  Eva downcast her eyes at that, and for a moment, Jon wanted to reach out to hold her and assure her that everything would be all right. It was a different world, but it was possible to be happy in it. Even if he wasn’t too happy himself.

  Focus on the task at hand, he reminded himself. He turned his attention back to the phone call.

  Gemma was muttering under her breath, trying to do the calculations. “I guess it makes sense. I didn’t realize how close to the full moon we were,” she admitted.

  “I’d forgotten it myself.”

  “Can I talk to her?” Gemma sounded like a little child who was afraid of the answer. “In person?”

  Jon looked at Eva again, knowing that she had heard. She gulped nervously and nodded that it was okay. “Yes,” he said. “I’ll bring her to you.”

  Gemma ended the call. Jon put the phone away as he watched Eva.

  She offered a small smile. “So I guess we’re going to see your boss?” she asked.

  “Pack leader,” Jon corrected automatically and he shook himself for doing that. That wasn’t important. He threw his napkin on the table and scooted out from the booth. “Come on,” he said, offering to help her up.

  Eva looked at his hand, as if scrutinizing the entire situation. Jon knew that it was out of character for him – hell, this entire thing was out of character for him – but she eventually took it.

  “Lead the way,” she said.

  CHAPTER 4

  Eva had been to the Paris Hotel many times before, but as she lived in Las Vegas, she had never actually stayed there. Jon led her past the lobby, where she stopped in front of a sign that pointed to the wedding chapel.

  “Is that were the attack happened?” she asked, swaying on her feet. She didn’t think being so close to the chapel would affect her or trigger her like this. She just hadn’t expected to see the scene of the crime.

  Jon took her meaning and nodded. “Gemma and Adam were meant to be married there last night. But...you know what happened.”

  Eva couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the thought of it. She had somehow ended up there, bloodied on the floor. She couldn’t remember anything of that traumatic experience, except for waking up in the hospital.

  Jon took her hand and offered her a small smile. “Come on,” he said encouragingly. Kindness seemed so out of character for him. Eva was almost perplexed as she took his hand, and his hand tightened around hers.

  What’s happening to me? she wondered. There had been some sort of spark between them when they touched. She just chalked it up to her new werewolf form. It couldn’t be anything more.

  They went up the elevator to the fifth floor where Jon stopped in front of a door. Eva’s senses went wild at all of the other wolves beyond it. She could sense their superiority just through their scent, even more than Jon’s, which she had just assumed was how all werewolves smelled. But no, there was something about it that made her want to bow with her literal tail between her legs.

  She almost chuckled hysterically at the thought.

  “Just be honest,” Jon said.

  Before Eva had a chance to ask what he meant, the door opened to reveal a woman slightly older than her with a short bob of brunette hair. Petite of frame, the woman stood a few inches taller than Eva. She was beautiful. Something about her commanded authority, and for a second, Eva’s breath was taken away.

  She also looked like she’d been crying.

  “Jon,” she said absently. She focused on Eva and opened her mouth to say something, but then must have thought better of it. “Come in,” she said, ushering them inside.

  The woman shut the d
oor behind them. “Uhm, I guess I should give introductions,” she said with a cough. “I’m Gemma. That’s my brother Mark, his wife Bernie, and their daughter Alba.” She gestured to the handsome young man sitting on a recliner, looking white as a sheet. “That’s my mate Adam.”

  Eva took note of the phrase “mate” and wondered briefly what that distinction meant.

  “And in the bathroom are Huck and Bradley,” Gemma quietly added. “Just...take it easy around them. They’ve had a hard day.”

  “About Annie?” Eva asked. She had overheard the name when Jon was on the phone earlier.

  A look of pain crossed Gemma’s face. “She’s the reason why I want to talk to you.”

  “I…” Eva felt the words stick in her throat before answering. It was still hard for her to remember and face the fact that she had been brutalized. “It’s all very fuzzy.” At Gemma’s crestfallen expression, she shook herself and heard the words come out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. “Take me to the Chapel. Maybe that will trigger a memory.”

  Or triggers something worse, she thought with an inwards shudder.

  “We don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Gemma said, although Eva could hear the hope in her voice.

  She shook her head. “No, I need to go. I need to see it for myself.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Jon said.

  Eva looked at him, bewildered by his eagerness, but then saw something in his face that gave her pause. It was concern. She had never expected to see that emotion on his face, and suddenly, she felt the urge to...what?

  Luckily, Gemma saved her. “We’ll be fine,” she said, putting an arm about Eva’s shoulders. “I’ll keep an eye on her, Jon.”

  Jon looked torn, but Eva smiled. “I’ll be right back,” she said. Deep down, Eva knew that having him there was going to be a distraction. The two women left the room and headed back down to the lobby.

  Two security guards stood at the hallway that led to the Chapel, and Eva stopped, looking at them curiously. Gemma just kept walking, giving the guards a terse nod. “At ease, fellas,” she said.

  Immediately, the guards relaxed. At Eva’s questioning stare, Gemma smiled. “They’re werewolves like us,” she explained. “They’re making sure that no one comes near the Chapel. Can you imagine how bad it would be if this got out?”

  They stopped at the entrance, where yellow police tape blocked the door. Eva thought it looked legitimate enough for people to accept as the norm.

  “It was awful,” Gemma explained. “I knew there was always a risk, getting married during these dark times, but...” She sighed and began to peel away the tape to give them an opening through the door. “Adam and I had wanted to tie the knot before...”

  “Before...?” Eva asked. Then she saw Gemma’s proud smile. “Oh, congratulations. I didn’t even know. I couldn’t tell.”

  “I can sure tell and it’s only four months into it. Can you bend down and get that piece?” Gemma asked pointing to the lower left corner. Eva obeyed. “We were just finishing up our vows when they attacked. The lights went out, and they dropped tear gas all over the place. It was pandemonium. I thought...” Her voice broke. “I thought the worst was going to happen. It did in part.”

  Eva felt for the woman, even though she’d only just met her. Gemma seemed like a good person. Wherever Annie was, Eva hoped she was safe. There were so many people that were looking for her, and she got the feeling that some people would go crazy if she died. She stopped the terrible thought as soon as it formed.

  And yet, here I am going to the place where I nearly died, Eva thought with a shudder.

  Finally the door was cleared of the tape. “Are we allowed to go back here?” Eva asked. “Aren’t we tampering with a police investigation?”

  Gemma shrugged. “I’ve already talked it out with the police and the hotel staff last night. That’s one of the good things about being a pack leader,” she added with a nervous chuckle. “Some of them are werewolves, like us. They helped us cover it up. According to the reports, just the wedding was sabotaged. No mention of Annie’s kidnapping. It gives us the freedom to find her on our own terms and to keep the truth about us from getting out. Oh, you might want to be careful. Our guys have been decontaminating the place since last night, but there still might be some remnants of the tear gas.”

  She pushed open the door, and Eva was greeted by the dark interior. Many of the pews were smashed, and the columns were missing chunks of plaster. Some of the tear gas canisters were still on the ground. No one had come by to clean it up. Probably because no one knew the extent of the damage inside.

  “Adam and I were at the altar,” Gemma said, pointing to it. “We had always wanted to have a small wedding, so this was perfect. Would have been,” she corrected, giving herself a shake. “Just as I was about to say my vows, they attacked. When it was over, Annie was gone, and you were here dying on the floor, in a wedding dress.”

  Eva stepped out in the center of the chapel where Gemma had indicated her appearance. Her legs were shaking at the very thought. So it had happened here?

  “They had to have...beat me up somewhere else,” Eva said. “For no one to have seen me before that.” Her throat felt dry as she said it.

  Gemma nodded solemnly.

  What little pieces Eva had were starting to fall into place. She looked up at the vaulted ceiling, and suddenly something flickered in the back of her mind. She blinked furiously. A vague memory surfaced. She held her breath as she waited for it to come to her. “It...it’s fuzzy, but I remember a voice,” she said.

  There was a blinding light in her mind’s eye, blocking out her real vision for a moment. She closed her eyes, concentrating. The voice came to her, a woman’s voice that held authority. “Leave her. She’s as good as dead.” A wicked laugh. “The perfect warning for our dear little Gemma and Annie.”

  “What did it say?”

  Eva relayed the message to her while Gemma paled. “At least I think that’s what it said,” she added at the end. It was all still fuzzy.

  “At least we know that you were planned as a message,” Gemma mused. “Could you describe the voice to me?”

  “It was a woman. About our age, I think,” Eva floundered for words. A hundred different descriptions came to mind. She threw up her hands. “Not enough to really figure out who it was.”

  Gemma’s eyes glinted. “Could you pick it out if you heard it?”

  Eva thought about it for a moment. “Probably,” she said at length.

  Gemma crossed her arms. “The Council of Wolves is meeting again tomorrow. There will be delegates from packs all over the US there to discuss certain political matters. If I brought you, do you think you could point them out if you heard it?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Perfect!” Gemma said. She hugged Eva. Stunned, Eva hugged back. “That might be all we need.”

  “Do you think someone that will be there is behind all this?” Eva asked with a note of fear.

  Gemma sighed. “A few months ago, Bradley, the kid upstairs that you didn’t see, was on the run from werewolves in his own pack. They were looking to challenge him because he was too young when his parents died and he assumed the role of pack leader. It was before he even Turned.”

  “Wait, he was born a werewolf?” Eva asked for clarification.

  Gemma nodded. “Mark and I were too. Annie rescued him and came to us for help. Long story short,” Gemma said, “we broke a few pack laws to keep him alive and as a leader. And a few of the traditionalists are not happy with our interference.”

  Eva exhaled and put her hands on her hips. “So, let me guess, all of the wolves are here to decide if Annie’s actions were justified?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why Vegas?”

  Gemma shrugged. “It’s where meetings were always held. The Great Wolf has always remained here.” She sighed. “I don’t really know other than that, except it’s always a fun time when we come here. U
sually.” She frowned and cast her eyes down. “I’m afraid if we don’t find Annie soon...”

  “We’ll find her,” Eva said, hoping she wasn’t faking the bravado, but she had to believe that something good was going to happen.

  Gemma offered a weak smile. “I hope you’re right.”

  Eva helped Gemma put the police tape back on the outside of the door as they left the chapel.

  “You handled that a lot better than I thought you would have,” Gemma said appreciatively. She nodded to the door. “Seeing where that happened.”

  “Me too,” Eva admitted.

  “Thank you. I know that was hard.”

  “If it helps save Annie, then I’ll do anything. I think that’s how I’m not...falling on the ground and crying. It’s giving me something to concentrate on.”

  They started making their way back to the room. “Has Jon been treating you all right?” Gemma asked. “He can be a bit of an asshole.”

  Eva looked at her shocked and then chuckled. “A bit. Sometimes, he’s not so bad.”

  “We all kind of grew up together, but he takes his job as a bodyguard very seriously,” Gemma said. “I think he feels like he owes my parents something.”

  “Why?” Eva’s heart fluttered at the thought, but she fought to beat it back down. Why was she getting excited talking about Jon?

  “Jon was a runaway when he was Turned,” Gemma explained. “I don’t know exactly what happened, and I won’t ask. But I do know that there was no one there to help him with his first transformation, and there was no one to teach him how to be a werewolf.”

  Eva remembered Jon helping her through her transformation, remembering how he held her against his chest as she cried. It made sense now, why he was so gruff with her transformation and why he was so tender when she couldn’t stop crying. He’d been through the same thing, but without someone to guide him.

  Her heart went out to him.

  “He found my parents when he was sixteen. They took him in and gave him a home. And that was where he learned how to be a werewolf. I think my parents’ deaths shook him as much as they did me.” Gemma sighed. “So he’s been a bit of a stoic ever since I’ve known him. But he really is a nice guy.”