by Renee George
“I wish Chav had told me.” I felt my eyes welling. I missed her so damned bad it physically hurt. This was exactly the kind of time I needed her the most. I wanted to call her. Hear her voice. Have her tell me to I wasn’t losing my mind. I also wanted to give her the bitching of a lifetime. BFFs did NOT keep these kinds of secrets from each other!
“She wanted to, Sunny. We talked about it, and I’d tried hard to convince her to cut ties with you.”
His words hurt. “I can’t believe you—”
He quickly added, “Before I knew you. Before I knew you had secrets of your own. Chavvie didn’t want to keep this from you. But when you grow up like we do, it’s not easy. And keeping our secrets is more than just about us. There are therian communities across America that would be affected if our existence got out.”
I guess I could see his point. It actually made me feel better about Chav not telling me. It still hurt a little, but I understood now that it wasn’t just her secret she’d have been revealing. Looking back on it, I remember several times where I knew she’d wanted to tell me something. Something important.
God, it had to be a monster of a burden to grow up with a covert life.
I knew from babysitting experience when I was younger that kids aren’t the greatest secret keepers. How did the shifters manage to keep their young from spilling the beans? “You went to regular school? How did you never tell anyone? If I was a kid with that kind of ability, I’d want to tell everyone.”
“I was home-schooled until I was a teenager.” He shrugged his massive shoulders and stirred the grits. “When I was old enough to understand the differences between myself and the humans, my parents let me attend high school.”
“I was home-schooled.”
“Yeah?” He smiled for a second. Fleeting, but nice.
“My parents were New-Agers. They were all about the learning experience being a natural process, not some restricted, dictated indoctrination. Their words.” Sometimes, I wondered how I would have fared among other teenagers. Would I have been popular or picked on? Babel didn’t look like the kind of guy who is easily bullied. “I bet you had a wild time in high school.” He definitely looked like a coach’s wet dream. Probably all the girls had wanted him and all the boys had wanted to be him.
He scooped the grits into two bowls, added a dash more salt, a pat of butter, and finished with a generous amount of heavy whipping cream. “It was different.”
“Different, huh?” Steam wafted from the bowl he handed me. “Mmm, smells good enough to eat.” And after the first bite, I decided grits might replace donuts as my favorite fruit. Warm, buttery, creamy, and artery hardening. Everything I loved in a food.
“Yeah, I didn’t really fit in. Sort of an awkward teen.” He grinned, shoveling a spoonful of the grits into his mouth. “I didn’t come into my own until college. Now that was a wild time.”
And not all that long ago, I reminded myself. “What does it feel like?”
“Normal. For me anyhow. How do your visions feel to you?”
“I see your point.” I wondered if he’d get weirded out if I asked him to shift for me?
Before I could figure out how to ask, Babel set his empty bowl in the sink. “I’m going to jump in the shower, then I’ll take you back into town.”
“Hoo-kay.” Our eyes met as he turned to me, his face shining with humor as he rubbed a hand down his stomach. Visions of slippery suds sliding down his chiseled, muscular chest, lathering against the lovely soft hair covering his pecks and leading to a happy trail that made me very happy played in my mind. I didn’t think I could resist joining him if I stayed in the house. “I’ll get dressed and wait for you outside.”
He bristled, but didn’t try to stop me.
The morning air was brisk and chilling against my skin. I’d put my jeans and shirt back on from the previous day. I hadn’t been rolling around in the mud with them, so they weren’t dirty, but I’d wished I had a fresh change. I leaned against the porch rail and closed my eyes. It was so peaceful. I couldn’t understand how anyone would want to leave. There were so many reason why hooking up with Babel was a bad idea, but in my heart, I knew his relationship with Sheila wasn’t our only stumbling block. He wanted to leave. We’d find Chav. He’d go. I’d die a little. It would take more than pastries and ice cream to recover from losing him. It was easier not to have him in the first place.
Doomed from the start—it was the tag line for any relationship that might happen between us. We were just too…Wrong.
The woods were set off just a little way from the house, and a patch of wild flowers caught my eye. Judah appeared next to the plant, as if he’d been sitting there the entire time. He dug at the ground around it, making me curious. I wandered over to get a closer look, the dew from the grass wetting my shoes. The leaves were the color of cabbage with purplish tints, longs stems, and the flower came to a point at the top with what looked like an unopened blue and muted-red bud.
I touched it.
It was dark. The moon was high, and even through the thick shrub of treetops, I could tell it was full.
Howling in the distance and men shouting. I jumped behind a nearby tree. I knew I was in a vision, but it didn’t stop my heart from trying to beat out of my chest.
Four men with rifles and gear traipsed lightly over the crisp brush near me. It was too dark under the trees to see their faces.
“We’ve got a live one, boys,” I heard one of the men say.
“Finally one of these things is giving us a run for our money. Clever bugger,” another added.
“Where do you get these creatures, John?”
“Trade secret.” I could hear the smile in his voice.
“Hush now, boys,” the man in front said. “We’ve got more tracking to do.”
Who were they hunting?
I knew they couldn’t see me, but I crouched down behind the tree as they passed by. Everything felt so real and surreal all at the same time. My hand tangled in a plant. I looked down—the same kind of wildflower.
In the next instant, I was in a different place in the woods. An animal jumped over a nearby log and cocked its ear. It was a coyote, and I recognized his red fur and sharp eyes. “Judah?”
He pawed at the earth with sharp toenails. He didn’t look over. He didn’t hear me.
A gunshot echoed through the woods. I heard them laughing. They were closing in, whoever they were. Judah’s head cocked sideways, and he sniffed the air.
“Hey, boy,” I heard a man’s voice sing out. Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
“Run,” I told him. “Run.”
Another blast resounded. Judah’s body dropped to the ground next to me, the side of his head bloody from the clean kill shot.
“Judah!” I screamed, choking on a sob as the bile rose in the back of my throat.
I heard my name repeatedly. I glanced toward the voice. It was Babel. He leaned over me, shaking my shoulders. The sun was out. It was daytime again. It was the present again.
I threw up.
“Babel.” I could feel the wet tears streaming my cheeks as he held me.
“I heard you shout Jude’s name. What did you see, Sunny?”
“They killed him,” I said, the sob catching in my throat making my words harsh and raw. “Oh, God, they killed him.”
It had been a full moon the night Judah died. He’d been trapped in animal form, with animal thoughts and instincts. The killers had been human. They had to be, otherwise, they’d have been in were-form as well, and I didn’t know many four-legged creatures who could accurately shoot a rifle.
I couldn’t get Judah’s lifeless body out of my head. I was so angry over what had happened, and for the first time in my life I wanted to physically hurt someone, to render them limb by limb. Those hunters hadn’t been trailing Judah on accident. Judah had been murdered, and from the way they talked, he hadn’t been the first.
Chapte
r 10
“Why do I have to talk to Sheriff Taylor? He doesn’t even like me,” I whined. I felt like a kid being sent to the principal’s office.
Babel shook his head, driving straight to the municipal building. “You have to tell him what you know.”
“Can I at least go home and change clothes first?” It was really about the clothes. I knew this. I was angry and grieving, and my useless vision had shown me just enough to be horrifying, but not enough to be helpful.
“No.”
I rounded on Babel. “First, I resent the fact that you think I don’t have any say so in this. Second, I’m not saying a fucking word to anyone until I have my own clothes on and no longer look like a rapper-wannabe.” I’d puked down my jeans and shirt, so I was back in Babel’s oversized clothes. A large t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants that kept falling down my ass.
“Tough.” He’d been like a man on a mission since I’d revealed the vision of Judah’s death. I didn’t blame him. As angry as I was, he had to be in a rage. I was such a shit right now, but I didn’t know how to cope with my gift or what it had revealed.
I wanted to take the bastards down as much as Babel. But in talking to the police, I’d have to tell them how I knew what I knew. They wouldn’t believe me. Hell, Babel didn’t believe me when I first told him. It took some convincing, even when it was obvious he wanted to believe. They might be supernaturals, but it was like asking them to believe in aliens. It would be a big-ass waste of time. “But, I don’t want to talk to the sheriff,” I repeated for the umpteenth time. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand what he didn’t understand about that. “He’s going to think I’m making shit up.”
“We’ll make him believe.”
Great, we were a “we” now—a real, live Fred and Ginger, Bonny and Clyde, the Captain and Tennille. “Lovely.” I sighed.
We—now he had me thinking “we” also—slid to a parallel halt in front of the sheriff’s office. I stayed in the truck, hoping that in Babel’s concentrated efforts for justice, he’d forget about me.
No such luck. He pulled the passenger door open and practically yanked me out of the vehicle. “Let’s go,” he said.
As if I had a choice. If he or anyone laughed at the way I was dressed, the fur would fly. Pun intended.
“Nice to see you again, Ms. Haddock,” Sheriff Taylor said amiably, as we walked into the station. “Glad to see you looking well.”
“Is that a dig?”
“Not at all.” His eyes, dark, nearly black, held concern even as his mouth quirked in a friendly smile. I noticed once again the darker circles under his eyes.
“What animal are you?” I blurted without thinking.
The office went dead silent, the sheriff, the three deputies, and Babel all staring at me as if I was an alien. It wasn’t like I’d asked them to take me to their leader. Maybe it was insulting to ask or something. “I’m not trying to be impolite. I’m just curious.”
I heard one of the deputies mumble the cliché, “Curiosity killed the cat.” I glanced at him and saw the open hostility animating his face. His badge showed the name Thompson. Ruth’s last name was Thompson, and…wait…could this be one of her two oldest boys? Either Tyler or Taylor.
Whichever he was, the pictures I’d seen of Tyler’s wedding didn’t seem to fit the Deputy Thompson in the room. He was a big guy, tall, soft-looking but not fat, short blond hair and brown eyes. He scowled his contempt. Thompson reminded me of Enos from Dukes of Hazzard, minus the jovial personality.
Great. I had a fan.
“You’re a cat?” I asked the sheriff, trying to lighten the mood.
“Uh, no,” the sheriff said with more indignation than I thought necessary. “And I’m not an animal.”
Mood lightening was a bust. “Oh, for shit sake. You guys are really sensitive. What kind of therianthrope are you?” They all kept ogling me like I’d just asked them to strip to their undies. “What?”
“Sunny,” Babel said. His voice held a warning note.
The sheriff held up his hand. “Raccoon.”
It was a good thing I hadn’t taken a drink of anything in that moment, because this was a total spew moment. As it were, I managed to stop at a snort.
Sheriff Taylor narrowed his eyes. I’d heard raccoons were vicious—better watch my step. “Sorry.” I couldn’t hide my smile, but then I remembered why I was there in the first place and my smile faded.
“Sid,” Babel interjected and redirected, “Sunny has information about Judah’s disappearance. It might lead us to Chavvie.”
More call for gaping stares.
The sheriff, whose first name was Sid, cleared his throat. “Both of you. My office.”
He didn’t wait for us to respond as he turned on his shiny black heel and headed to a small room at the back of the station.
After a few minutes of explanation about me being psychic, seeing Judah’s ghost, and the revealing vision, Sheriff Taylor raised his brow. “You know how crazy this sounds?”
I slapped my palms flat on my thighs, which made my shoulder throb. “About as crazy as a town full of people who can shapeshift into animals, I’d suspect.”
“Sunny,” Babel warned again.
“No.” Damn it, I was tired and getting fed up with the whole business. “I told you he wouldn’t believe me. I could have been back at my apartment, soaking in the tub right now.”
“Now, girl,” the sheriff said. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but the whole thing just seems a little farfetched.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’m not psychic, I’m not seeing Judah’s ghost, and I didn’t get a vision depicting the most vicious crime I’ve ever heard of or seen.” I stood up. “I’m just another weirdo whack job in a town full of weird whack jobs. If you’ll excuse me.”
Babel stood up.
“No,” I said again. “You stay. Have coffee with Sid. I’ll walk home from here. I think I can find the way.” Before I stepped out the door to the office, I turned back for one last comment. “Believe me or don’t believe me, Sheriff, but be warned, these men know what you all are and they still killed Judah like he wasn’t anything but big game to be slaughtered. I got the distinct feeling it wasn’t the first time they’ve done it and it won’t be their last. You guys have been all nervous about a human living in your town, exposing your secrets? Well, you’ve got much bigger problems than little ol’ me.”
I felt vindicated, but no less easy as I walked out of the police station. Deputy Thompson stepped out behind me and grabbed my upper arm. “Let sleeping dogs lie, Ms. Haddock. No one ever benefited from having their pasts dug up.”
I flashed on an image of him punching Judah square in the nose. “Tyler or Taylor?” I asked.
His eyes narrowed. “Tyler,” he said hesitantly.
“Well, Tyler. I really like your mom. Because of that, I’m not going to mention to her or anyone else how positively discourteously you’re treating me. Now let go of my arm. I’d like to leave now.”
He released me and went back inside. I really did want to go back to the apartment, lock all the doors, and curl into the fetal position until my world went back to normal.
I’d never return to that kind of normal.
It was like when a close friend or family member dies, and your idea of normal has to change. I didn’t know if mine could ever change enough to be comfortable with knowing what I knew now.
“Sunny!” I looked toward the beckoning call. Ruth was sitting on a bench across the street, waving her petite hand at me.
“Hi,” I hollered back genially, then turned to walk up the street. I liked Ruth. A lot. Probably more than anyone else I’d met in town, and because of that, I felt kind of betrayed. I know why she didn’t tell me about what she was. I knew it was the same reason Chav hadn’t told me. Also, she’d tried to warn me several times, but still…
“Sunny!” I heard her shout again. When she caught
up to me, I stopped.
“Hey, Ruth. Did you need something? I was just going home to clean up and take a nap. It’s been a rough several days.”
I remembered the kiss between her and Judah. I winced. Ruth had been close to him. I didn’t know how to tell her he was dead.
It wasn’t my problem. No one had hired me to be the town crier. Of course, Judah picked that moment to return. I walked toward the door and nearly tripped as he popped up in front of me.
“Shit,” I mumbled.
“You say something, Sunny?” Ruth asked, gnawing her lower lip. Her tawny brown hair was pulled back into a neat ponytail and showcased her beautiful, delicate bone structure. I was still in awe that her figure was supermodel-hot even after eight kids, but the fact that she wasn’t human probably made all the difference. At least, I hoped so. No one should be that flawless and human.
“No, just wishing whatever acid trip I’m on would wear off already.”
She smiled and it lit her deep brown eyes. I couldn’t smile back.
Her smile faded a little. “I just want to apologize for everything. I couldn’t tell you, darlin’, but I really wanted to. I really want to be friends, Sunny. But I understand if you don’t.”
My heart defrosted. I felt the gush coming on. As if someone opened the floodgates to let out the overflow, I started crying. The act of which surprised Ruth and me. Her lithe arms wrapped around my shoulders.
“It’s okay, honey. Just let it out.” She patted my back in a motherly way, making it even harder to put the brakes on my tears.
“I want to go home,” I finally managed to say.
I meant the apartment this time, not California. The Golden State would have to wait on Sunny Haddock. Looking at Judah, who’d distanced himself a little when my hysteria started, I knew I couldn’t leave until I found Chavvah and his murder was solved.
“Come over later for tea or something,” I told her. She agreed to meet with me, and I was glad. I wanted more information on Judah, as I was certain his death was the reason behind Chav’s disappearance, and Ruth might be able to give me some insight.