Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1)

by A. R. Cooper

  I raced across people’s graves as I weaved through a cemetery filled with headstones. Behind me, the shifter cursed, but I didn’t stop. My legs burned.

  After an intersection, there was a park and I gave the children and dogs playing a wide berth. No reason to allow any of them to be taken hostage, or worse.

  A few feet later, I spotted the edge of the marina. Over my shoulder, the shifter had fallen back. He wasn’t as fast as he proclaimed or at least he wasn’t for the distance we’d run. When I reached the water’s edge, I skidded to a stop for a brief second. This wasn’t the place my dad’s boat had been. Across the water stood a bridge that shut off the water from the rest of the ocean. We had been at a marina that was crammed with boats, but this was wide open to the ocean.

  Footsteps pounded behind me. The shifter.

  Seeing a police station down the block, I sprinted toward it and dashed inside. Police officers and people dressed in everything from bathing suits to shorts, to three-piece suits turned and stared my way. I kept checking over my shoulder expecting the shifter to march through the doors. My body shaking.

  But after several breaths, my mind rationalized that he would have followed me in by now. I collapsed into an empty chair.

  A mature policewoman came over to me and patted my shoulder. “Are you okay dear?”

  “Y-yes,” I said between gasps. “I…just went for a… jog and got lost.”

  Her white hair was trimmed short and tucked behind her ears. Even though her skin was shallow and loose, her brown eyes were full of sympathy and brightness. “Would you like some water?”

  I shook my head, grateful that the evil dude hadn’t followed me inside.

  After a few moments, when I could breathe without taking gasping breaths, I thanked her. “Um… I’m trying to find Wharf’s Bar?”

  “Oh dear, you are a few miles from there.” She leaned back as if not believing I came all that way. “If you didn’t corkscrew around while you were lost.”

  Shrugging, I said, “I am terrible at directions.”

  “Here. Let me get you some water, then I’ll drive you back. Okay?” Without waiting for my reply, she marched to the water cooler in the corner and filled a paper cup.

  My hands trembled as I took the cup from her, but I mumbled a thank you. The water was cold and felt refreshing. Maybe I was more exhausted than I thought.

  “Come with me.” She took out a set of keys that looked like they were to every lock in the city. “Gerald, I’ll be back in a few minutes. Got to take this girl back home.”

  I followed her out of the police station and outside to a police car.

  Seeing my face, she laughed. “You can ride up front with me.”

  Part of me was still nervous about the shifter guy, and I glanced around as I fastened my seatbelt.

  “Are you okay?”

  “W-what?” I shook my head. “No, I’m fine. Just trying to memorize where everything is in case I get lost again.” Or a crazy murderous shifter comes after me.

  “Where are you from?” She started the car and we jimmied out of the parking lot. “Can’t quite place your accent, except to know you aren’t from around here.”

  “Texas.” I figured it was best not to give my hometown, and my state being as big as some countries was easy to use that as an answer. Who knows what Ms. Moor or even that shifter would do to her. The less this kind woman knew about me, the better.

  “I’ve got a cousin moved there after the last hurricane. Up near the panhandle.” She turned a corner. “Can’t say I blame him. All of us heave a collective sigh whenever hurricane season is over. Other than that and crime, this place would be paradise.”

  Nodding, I bit my lip as we drove. Several more lights later, I recognized the saloon with the fish over it. “We’re getting close.”

  “Yup. Once you’ve been here awhile, you’ll get to know the landmarks. They can help you find your way.” We past the saloon and took a left. “How long are you staying?”

  “Not long. Just visiting … my dad. He and my mom split when I was young.” I picked at the lint on my shorts. “Figured it was time to spend a few weeks getting to know him.”

  “Who’s your dad?” She pulled up to Wharf’s Bar and put the car in park. “I may know him.”

  “Thank you for the ride. I’m sure I won’t get lost again.” I put my hand on the door handle to leave when her hand snapped on my forearm.

  “Don’t get out yet!”

  “What? Why?” I glanced around. Pedestrians and bikers meandered through the street, but I didn’t see creepy shifter guy. At the corner, I spotted Amar and Jacqui. Where was Dad?

  “I can’t believe it.” The policewoman dug out her gun and clicked on her car’s two-way radio her gaze never leaving a group of people outside Wharf’s Bar. “This is car one eight-four, I’ve got a suspect who slipped away from a one-eighty-seven and a three eleven…copy.”

  Who was she talking about? I didn’t know what the police codes meant, but I knew by the tone of her voice and her insisting I stay in the car, it wasn’t for a jaywalker. Rolling down the window, I waved to Jacqui and Amar, but they didn’t notice me.

  Turning back, the policewoman listened to the radio while it crackled and garbled response came back asking her to keep the suspect in her view, but not to engage unless absolutely necessary. She frowned at me, then I followed her line of sight and noticed she was watching the group of people surrounding Amar and my best friend.

  Then I stared back at the crowd to figure out who she was watching. He was dressed in the same tattered blue jean shorts from when he cooked omelets this morning. His brown hair looked a shade lighter in the sun, and his beard was completely gone. Dad.

  “Copy that.” She clicked off the handheld radio in her hand and sat it down. “We’ll get you, this time, Jack Bender.”

  My head turned from her to my dad and back. “W-why are you after him?”

  “He was a lead suspect in a murder case in Virginia ten years ago, but fled before we could apprehend him.” She unfastened her seatbelt as if she was readying to burst out of the car.

  “H-how do you know he had anything do with it?” My dad couldn’t be guilty. Not like the shifter guy who had chased me. Mom wouldn’t marry someone like that even if they were a shifter like her.

  The woman looked me up and down. “Who did you say your dad was?”

  Did she see I had the same colored hair as my dad? “Um… Duncan. William Duncan.” Jacqueline would just have to get over me using her dad’s name in place of mine. “He just moved here a few months ago and invited me to tag along.”

  As if she didn’t believe me, her eyes narrowed. Then she nodded to my dad who stood talking with Jacqui and Amar. “That man there is a suspect in a crime. Last I saw him before transferring here last year, he was standing naked over a dead body, and covered with blood.” She shook her head. “If that doesn’t seem suspicious, I don’t know what does.”

  I couldn’t answer her.

  The radio crackling made me jump.

  “Won’t be long now, the other cop cars are a few streets away.” She gazed at me like she wasn’t sure what to do with me.

  I had to get out of here and warn him. It would do us no good if he got thrown in jail. Later I would ask him to tell me what happened with the dead body.

  “Stay put.” She unlocked her door.

  “Wait!” I almost reached to snatch her back but thought better of it. “I-I see my dad over there.” My finger pointed to a random man two blocks down. “I’ll run over there and tell him we need to leave. The fewer people on the street when you capture the suspect, the better… right?”

  “Ok. But stay with your dad. Don’t even go near that man.”

  I nodded as I scrambled out of the car. Amar turned my way and his worried face changed into a smile. But I had to make the cop think my dad wasn’t anywhere near them.

  “Dad!” I called out as I dashed across the street to the stranger. Waving
frantically, I beamed as a few people turned my way, but my fake Dad kept reading the newspaper. Feeling the cop’s eyes on me, I grasped the man’s arm as he grunted.

  “You’ve just won a free drink at Wharf’s Bar. Come with me to claim your prize.”

  “B-but I’m not thirsty.” He stopped despite my yanking on his arm. “Let go.”

  “Okay, fine. How about a coupon for a free meal?”

  The man raised his eyebrows. “Is this a trick?”

  “No, no.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder in what I hoped looked like I was flirting with him, but just being a silly teenager to the cop behind me. “Just come across the street to the bar and Wharf will give you a ticket to use anytime for a free meal.”

  He narrowed his eyes, but he started to move with me in the direction of the bar. Pretending I was shooing a fly, I gave a hand single to Jacqui when I saw them crossing the street toward us. Hopefully, she recognized it from our earlier teen years when we’d sneak her dad’s dirty magazines into her room and had to hide them when her mom knocked on the door before poking her head in and asked what we were doing.

  Please get the message.

  She whispered something to Dad and Amar. Both men glowered, but stayed underneath a convenience store’s porch while she kept walking. She’d told them because of my hand signal that something was up and to wait. When she met up with me, she stood an arms-length apart while the light flashed Don’t Walk. If the police lady was still watching, she’d think Jacqueline was pondering which way to go.

  “What’s up?” she asked loud enough for me to here. “Who’s the dude?”

  “Get my dad out of here. The cops are after him.”

  The man beside me hissed and jerked away. But when he turned away from me, Jacqui snatched his arm. She’d be able to make him forget this whole conversation.

  “Why?” She asked.

  “No time to explain right now, we just have to get my da—”

  “Stop where you are!” A policeman’s voice boomed through a bullhorn.

  Dread twisting my stomach, I looked behind me. Five cop cars blocked off the street. Their lights were flashing and all of them had officers leaning out of their cars with guns pointed at my dad.

  We were too late.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  Dad! I couldn’t lose him. Not again. “Fix his memory,” I shouted over my shoulder to Jacqueline as I ran across the street. The last thing we needed was this man telling the cops that I wasn’t his daughter as I had told the policewoman. Jacqui would make him forget he even saw me. When the police found out the truth, they’d be after all of us then. Probably even think I was harboring him.

  “Jack Bender!” the cop said. “Don’t move. We have you surrounded.”

  Dad stared at the police like he debated doing something. His brow furrowed as he looked from the police to the nearest exit, to me.

  Please don’t do anything stupid.

  He held his hands up but took a step back.

  “I said don’t move!”

  Dad frowned but obeyed. Two officers jogged around their cars as they crossed the street. The remaining cops had blocked off traffic in both directions. My dad was in big shit. People leaned out of their cars to see the commotion. The cop edged closer until he reached my dad. Then he grabbed his arms, folding them behind my dad’s back and cuffing him. Amar glanced over at me with his eyebrows raised as though he wanted to intervene. I shook my head no.

  Then the cop led him to the closest police car. After shoving him in the backseat, Dad turned and looked at me through the back window.

  “Sorry,” he mouthed.

  Great. I finally find my dad, we escape from the rolling tar glob and now he’s arrested. I had to save my father. What was I going to do now?

  Beside me, Jacqui took my hand and I squeezed it back. “Not to add to your bummer mood, but where’s Amar?”

  “H-he’s …” I scanned where I had just seen him, but saw only a couple of people sipping their coffee from paper cups, huddled in the corner. He wasn’t on the other side of the street either. Nowhere. The place he had just been, next to my dad, was empty. My stomach churned. Something was wrong. He should be here.

  “Come on, let’s look for him.” Jacqueline nudged me.

  But I’m couldn’t move. I needed to follow my father to the station. Find out why they thought he was involved in a murder. My screwed up world was crumbling. How would we escape this nightmare? Dad was going to prison and now Amar has vanished. Knots of dread tied in my gut. Amar wouldn’t leave like this. Something was wrong.

  My hand pressed against my chest, as it was hard to breathe. Dark spots danced before my vision. Had I fought to get this far only to fail and lose Amar?

  Jacqui’s hand on my shoulder made me choke out a sob. Her words were drowned out by the wailing police cars in the distance, and the honking of horns near us, as people resumed driving.

  Then I thought about Amar telling me not to give up. And at least I knew where Dad was, unlike Mom. Okay. I could do this. I took a deep breath and straightened. First, we had to find out where Amar was. Second, we’d rescue my dad somehow. Third, find my mom. I ran a hand through my hair. Easy… right.

  I pulled Jacqui along with me while a taxi raced away. At each restaurant or shop, I glanced in to see if he was inside. Three blocks away, the sun made something on the sidewalk glint. Jogging over, I gasped. It was his obsidian knife lying on the sidewalk. It was covered in greenish brown goo. My heart clenched. That evil shifter guy. Shit! He had Amar. And now, he was without a weapon. I’d seen that dude kill two people in front of me. What would he do with Amar? My only hope was that maybe he’d keep him alive and take him to Ms. Moor. Not that that was any better. I couldn’t image the alternative, I would crumble inside if Amar was…

  Please be alive.

  “Yuck. What is that?” Jacqueline asked coming up behind me.

  “It’s trouble. Another shifter. And I think he has Amar.” Please be alive… my pulse raced… but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be dead soon.

  “Another shifter… how do you know that?” She placed her hands on her hips.

  “I’ll tell you while we search. First, let’s see if we can find any more of this stuff, it’s what the guy is able to transform into.”

  “Ewww…what kind of animal does that?” She scrunched up her nose.

  Not seeing any globs except for where I found the knife, I cleaned the blade in the grass, wiped it off with my shirt, then stuck it in the waist of my shorts. The coolness of it against my skin had me shivering. It would do us no good if we got arrested for carrying a weapon.

  “A sea cucumber.”

  When Jacqui raised her eyebrows as if in disbelief, I let out a huff.

  “Look it up later.” Where had the guy taken Amar? They couldn’t have gone far despite the guy’s cheetah speed… Amar would have fought him. What if he had just dragged Amar somewhere to kill him? A place where cops wouldn’t see? Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed hard.

  “Is that …?” She pointed to a wooden fence next to a warehouse. “The same stuff?”

  Creeping closer, I investigated the brownish-green slime between the boards. “Yup.” I jogged around to the front of the warehouse, but it was locked, and peeking past the dirt covered windows didn’t reveal anything. Behind the warehouse was a high wire fence. It blocked off an area clogged with ramshackle forklifts, various engine parts coated in rust, and some other metal contraptions I couldn’t identify. Weeds sprouted up between the pieces, making the place look abandoned.

  “We’ll have to go over the fence.”

  “It’s gotta be seven feet tall.” She dragged her feet behind me. “How are we going to climb that?”

  “Isn’t your spirit animal a raccoon? Aren’t they expert climbers?”

  “Yes,” she snapped, “and they can rotate their hind feet and even climb down head first, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can’t make my feet do that, I d
on’t have claws, my nails would splinter, and I am afraid of heights.”

  Really? I never knew that. Maybe that’s why she never went on the high diving board with me during the summers, I thought it was just me who hated heights.

  “Come on, it’s not that high.” I put Amar’s knife between my teeth so I wouldn’t lose it or stab myself, and stood in front of the fence. “Boost me over.” I glanced around to make sure no one would see us.

  “And then what?”

  “I’ll open the gate and let you in.” My gut was telling me to hurry, and I didn’t want to delay any longer. That evil shifter could be doing anything to Amar, and I forced the lump in my throat back down. I wouldn’t let panic and fear strangle me.

  “All right.” Jacqui put her hands together and leaned against the fence. “Maybe try that jump thing you and your dad were talking about last night?”

  I nodded and placed my foot inside her palms. With a count of three, she shoved her hands up and I fought to remember how I’d accomplished the missile-like jump when Amar had not been able to fly us high enough to clear the Spirits of Blood, and I’d crashed into the back of the pickup.

  Unprepared for the momentum, I sailed up and then crashed into the top of the fence. The metal pole connecting the top of the fence horizontally between the poles rammed into my side. I gasped as shooting pain radiated through me.

  “You okay?”

  “Fine,” I grunted and hoisted myself over. The yard was full of rusted equipment that looked like pieces of forklifts and lawn mowers. I was glad Amar and the other shifter weren’t back here, or my surprise rescue would have fallen apart. I rubbed my side, then hitched my other leg over and lowered myself down. I dashed to the gate.

  Thankfully, the fence was a sliding lock rather than one with a key or combination. I wrestled with the tight rusted hinge, then opened the door and gestured Jacqui inside. “Hurry.” I didn’t want to get arrested for trespassing. Shaking my head, I followed a weed-filled path to the warehouse’s back door; we didn’t need all of us in jail.