by Jane Cousins
“What was she like? Kristiah? Joining an established team of sea-faring treasure hunters couldn’t have been easy for an archaeologist.”
Matias chuffed a soft laugh, grateful for the small delay, considering where the topic of conversation had been headed. “It took a good long while for Kristiah to find her sea legs. For my taste she was a little too driven. And edgy. She always seemed to be watching us. Constantly studying and taking our measure. Too ready to criticise and too good to pitch in and help when it was needed. And man, would she chuck an epic fit if we hit a delay. But I suppose where I saw single minded ambition, Nico saw passion and strength of will.”
“They were together?”
“It made sense I suppose. She was four years older, but at twenty-two, Nico was mature for his age. Given proximity they just seemed to drift together...” Matias absently drummed his fingers on the table. “I think they were talking about marriage, at least I know Nico was.”
“You didn’t approve?” Quinn looked pointedly at his tapping fingers.
Matias shrugged. “I just got this feeling that once we found the Maria Rosa that Kristiah wouldn’t stick around for long. And Nico... well, back then, was all about the hunt, the sea. I wondered if he had mistaken love for mere convenience.”
“I suppose that was possible.”
“And I’m worried that because she disappeared so mysteriously that it only solidified her position in Nico’s heart. That he continues to mourn what was essentially a mirage he made up.”
“Sounds like you’ve really thought about this.”
Matias ran fingers though his almost dried curls. “I had some spare time last night so spent an hour or two looking up the practise of psychiatry. I learned a lot. And have a new appreciation for you and your work.”
Quinn let the flattery slide off, the closer they got to talking about the events of that day, the more agitated, the more often Matias tried to shy away. Hmm, he wasn’t anywhere near ready. Might not be for months... years.
In an ideal world she would have taken the time to tease the information from him gently, carefully. But they didn’t have the luxury of time here. She hadn’t mentioned it to Matias, but Jodie had disappeared for a brief second around four in the morning. Taking Elijah with her. He was fine. They both were. Though Jodie’s condition remained unchanged. Unfortunately, the episode had been too brief for Elijah to provide them with any new intel.
“I’d like to try something.” She leaned across the table slowly, reaching out for him. Her bare hand hovering a few inches above Matias’s hand.
“You don’t want to do that. Remember what happened last time you touched me?”
“Don’t worry, my internal shields are up and my intention is to only have a shallow dip into your memories. But I need you to think about that day. Not just what happened. But what you smelt. What the air tasted like. How the boat moved. How your clothes felt against your skin. Just breathe in... and out. Remember how the waves sounded hitting the side of the boat. Breathe. Everything will be fine.” Quinn closed her eyes and slowly, lowered her hand down over his.
Her eyes snapping open instantly as a muscular male arm whipped around her from behind, a hand landing over her mouth. Effectively muzzling her. Imprisoning her in place. Oh Goddess. Where was she? Quinn’s eyes widened as she noted the rolling deck beneath her feet. The ocean off to her left, as far as the eye could see. And the approaching storm, a bruise in the sky, yellow and angry, approaching fast.
“Who are you? How did you get on board?”
Matias? She recognised his voice. Quinn struggled to turn but his arm was locked tight around her. The warmth of his bare chest searing through the thin cotton of her top.
“Talk.” He growled the instruction directly into her ear, before carefully lifting his hand away from her mouth but retaining a tight hold around her upper chest.
Quinn’s mind had taken a momentary break. This did not happen. What ever this was. Which only left her mouth in charge. “Don’t you ever wear any clothes?”
Chapter Thirteen
Quinn used a simple defensive technique to lift back Matias’s finger. When he flinched she ducked under his arm and swivelled to face him. Gripping him by the bare upper arms she gave him a small shake. Even as her mind kicked into gear and she recognised the changes that time had wrought on him.
This wasn’t her Matias. The height was right, but his frame was lacking the muscle definition and sturdiness that manhood would eventually bring. His skin a deep caramel in colour, tanned from constant days spent working outside. His face though was pale right now. His eyes wide with shock as a steady trickle of blood dripped down the side of face, from the wound on his temple.
Quinn’s first instinct was to suspect that she had suffered some type of brain fugue. Wanting to believe she’d been knocked unconscious again from touching Matias. Perhaps she was dreaming? But the flesh beneath her hands was too warm, too substantial.
Some how, some way, she was here with Matias ten years ago on the deck of the Merry Maverick. And he was staring at her with a dazed kind of horror mixed with grief and anger.
“Are you the one who... hurt my parents?”
Quinn gripped him tighter still, fighting the urge to hug him. “No... I’m your friend.”
Matias shook his entire body in denial. “I don’t know you.” Trying to throw off her hold.
The deck dipped suddenly beneath them, reminding Quinn that the storm was fast approaching. “I-” She clamped her mouth shut as a harsh guttural animalistic scream rent the air. “What was that?”
“Something’s on the boat. My parents are... gone. I have to find the others.”
For the first time Quinn noticed that Matias’s hands were bloodied and there were smears across his arms and now her white top. Oh no, when he said his parents were hurt… gone, she was pretty sure he meant they were dead.
A large wave slapped the side of the boat spraying them with salt water.
“The anchor.” Matias looked grim but determined. “It needs to come up. I have to help Baggo bring it up. The storm is coming too fast. And we need a doctor.” He wrenched himself out of Quinn’s hold. Stalking away.
Quinn followed close on his heels. Clutching for support where she could find it as the deck beneath her pitched and rolled. Matias didn’t seem to be experiencing the same problem.
“Matias.” She hissed his name frantically under her breath. Not willing to attract the attention of whatever had released that spine chilling scream a few moments ago. “Where’s Copper?”
At the mention of his sister’s name, Matias’s whole body tensed but he didn’t slow down.
“Please. Where is she?” Quinn glanced around the deserted deck for any clue. And found a stomach churning one. The grooves of the wooden deck were running red with blood. Heavens, what had happened here? Desperate, she reached out to grip Matias’s arm as he came to a halt in front of a steel door leading into the interior of the boat. “You have to tell me.” She dug her nails into his flesh.
“She’s safe. Copper’s safe.” Matias batted away her hold on him. Spinning the wheel to unlock the door.
Quinn didn’t know if it was a premonition or perhaps she’d just seen one too many horror films but suddenly she knew something terrible was going to happen if Matias opened that door. Not pausing to think, she threw herself at him, knocking him sideways at the precise moment the door swung open and something fast and deadly erupted from the interior of the boat.
Quinn barely had time to register the hot slash of pain tearing across her back before she was tumbling across the slippery deck. Smashing her shoulder hard up against the solid railing. A fresh wave of pain searing across her back, slamming through her, Quinn tamped down on it hard.
Twisting and scrambling to her feet, she clutched at the railing for support. Heavens, her mind tried to process what her eyes saw. An animal? A person? No, a hybrid of the two. The head of a jaguar, the torso of a human being. A wom
an, since there was no hiding the breasts, bared to all and sundry. Its... her arms were covered in sleek tawny black spotted fur from the elbow down to hands... no, paws, tipped with wicked sharp claws.
The creature’s legs were mostly human, but the shape wasn’t quite right. Shortened slightly, bowed, the thighs thickened with solid muscle. Quinn had a feeling the creature would be fast and never tire with legs like those.
The hybrid woman was wearing a short skirt like arrangement, tied on either side of her narrow hips. The woman’s skin was dark, not black like the spots on the fur covering her arms or face. More coffee coloured, with a splash of milk.
That was why it wasn’t until the creature threw back its head to release another of those guttural primeval screams, at the same moment the sun appeared from behind a dark threatening cloud for a split second that Quinn was able to make out a tattoo on the woman’s skin. Positioned just over where her heart would be... a tattoo of the sun, no... that wasn’t quite right. It was... the creature chose that moment to attack.
Leaping straight for Quinn’s face. Yellow eyes narrowed. Claws outstretched, the tips already decorated with someone’s blood. Her own, Quinn was shocked to realise. She tried to throw herself back out of the way but one of her knees buckled beneath her abruptly.
Matias came out of nowhere. Hitting the creature so hard it was surprising the railing didn’t splinter apart when they crashed against it.
Quinn was busy scrabbling back out of the way. Watching Matias grapple with the creature. Gasping in dread as a wicked tipped claw slashed out, tearing four deep furrows from Matias’s shoulder down to his elbow.
“Go. Go.” Matias yelled the instructions at her as he snatched up a metal boat hook. Slamming the rod against the creature’s face so hard that the metal bent.
Quinn didn’t know the boat. Didn’t know in which direction to run or whether her badly trembling legs would be capable of supporting her. More importantly, she couldn’t leave Matias here alone to fight with this creature. What she needed was a weapon. Desperately she looked around for something suitable. She had to hurry. Matias had hold of both the creature’s paws, barely able to restrain them. His muscles straining. The creature’s jaw snapping all too close to Matias’s jugular.
“Give it to me.”
The creature could talk? The vocal cords strained, the words deep and guttural but all too chillingly clear, reminding Quinn just how utterly alien this creature was.
Matias yelled in pure rage. A tortured sound full of hate, anger and desperation. The creature was winning, pressing closer, the wicked tipped claws only inches away from his heart.
No. Quinn prepared to throw herself forward, determined to separate the two. Problem was, she might make things worse. Fuck! She needed that weapon, anything sharp or solid that she could lift... something, anything. Please, please, please. Then she saw it. By the door. Thank the Goddess above.
Pushing off from the railing she’d barely taken a step when the deck pitched upwards abruptly and the entire boat swung hard to the left. Unprepared, Quinn smashed back against the railing. An explosion of fresh pain causing the breath to leave her body and white flickering lights to appear at the edges of her sight. Her shredded back was on fire.
Her instinct was to curl into a ball, her arms tucked in tight, fists clenched over her heart. And then she was tumbling over the edge of the railing, falling... No! The dark ocean waters coming up to meet her fast.
Quinn held her breath as she smashed into the waiting embrace of the ocean. Only one thought registered before unconsciousness claimed her, she’d really thought the water would be a lot colder than this.
* * *
The familiar smells registered before she was fully awake. Herbs, seaweed and pungent, verging on rotting, violets. She was in the hospital. Panic threatened to overwhelm her. Her worse fear come to life. She would not stay here. She refused to let them lock her up. Quinn lurched upwards, intending to make her escape.
“Hey.” A strong but gentle hand on the nape of her neck pressed her back down. “I’ve got you, Quinn. You’re safe now. Hold her still. I’m almost finished back here.”
“Nell?” Quinn’s eyes fluttered open, blinking rapidly to find Matias’s concerned face only a few inches away from her own.
“Sssh, you need to keep still, okay?” Concern lanced through those toffee depths.
“Where am I?” Which was a stupid question she realised, even as she said the words. She recognised the sheets and the bedside table next to Matias. She was home, in bed. “I mean, what happened?”
“That, is a very good question.” Nell came into view, standing behind Matias, stripping off latex gloves. “Sorry about the smell. I thought the violets might help but it’s just making the ointment smell even worse. You’re not in any pain, are you?”
Quinn dazedly shook her head. She felt weak. Her upper back throbbed slightly but it was a distant... removed kind of throbbing that she was fine with. “No, no pain. I’m just...” She hated to use the word but no other fit the situation as perfectly. “...disorientated.”
“I’m not surprised. Can you tell us where you went, Quinn?”
“Went?” Quinn swallowed hard. It hadn’t been a dream? Her back, that creature had sliced it up. It had all been real. Bloody Hell. She jerked away from Matias, hissing as hot, sharp pain made her back and neck muscles spasm. “Don’t touch me!”
“It’s okay, Quinn.” Matias held up his latex covered hands for her to see. “Are you alright?”
“Yes... yes.” Quinn forced her body to relax slowly back down onto the mattress.
“You probably don’t want to move for at least another hour.” Nell commented.
“A little late with that information but thanks.” Quinn took a deliberate breath, then another. The pain receding to be replaced by heavy numbness once more. No sudden movements, got it. “I...” She looked at Matias, kneeling next to the bed. How could she tell him? Her eyes flicked down to his still bare chest, noting the recent red fading shallow slice marks over his heart. Then her gaze travelled to the aged, white claws marks on his shoulder and upper arm. “You got that saving me.”
“What?” Matias frowned.
“I was there... on the boat... that day... with you.” Quinn paused, expecting Nell to yank out her phone and call for the men in white coats to bring a strait-jacket stat, they had a new patient for the High Security Ward. Except, glancing up, all she saw on Nell’s face was shocked surprise mixed with scientific curiosity.
“No you weren’t.” Matias shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
“Quinn’s wounds do look incredibly similar to your scars. Four stripes, the same distance between the claws.” Nell peered closely at the faded marks on Matias’s shoulder and upper arm. “Those must have been deep to leave such scarring after all these years. I’m surprised you didn’t bleed out.”
Matias scowled down at his old faded wound and then back at Quinn. “Tell me. Tell me everything that happened.”
Slowly sipping a herbal healing tisane that Nell produced, Quinn told them what had occurred on the Merry Maverick. During her recounting of events, Matias paced the room, clearly unable to sit still. And Nell hovered over her, blue eyes filled with curiosity and sympathy. By the time Quinn was finished, she was able to sit up, clutching the sheet to her bare chest. Careful to keep her back straight and her arm movements to a minimum.
“That hybrid creature you described, it sounds like a match to the DNA Seb found on Jodie’s knife.” Nell mused, latching closed her emergency medical field kit.
“How many half human, half jaguar people can there be?” Quinn rubbed at her temples.
“Two at least.” Nell provided. “There’s the one whose blood we found on Jodie’s knife and now, thanks to Mac, who went back over your wrecked car, Matias, we have evidence of a second. He found blood traces along the edges of the car door that had been torn free. Seb and his fabulous lab have confirmed that a similar creature
attacked you and Nico last Friday. But the DNA wasn’t an exact match. So we have to assume at least two creatures are out there.”
“And my journey back in time ten years supports at least some of our theory, that when Jodie disappeared she travelled back in time.”
“You don’t think Jodie might have ended up on the boat as well?” Matias asked.
Nell was the one to shake her head. “No. Not with all the trace evidence Seb analysed; the sand, the mud and the primitive vegetation.”
Bloody hell, trying to wrap his head around everything was giving Matias a headache. One moment Quinn had been sitting across the table from him poolside, her hand coming down to rest on his, the next second she’d disappeared. Just winked out of existence.
He’d searched the immediate area. And then just when he’d been about to ring for help, Quinn had broken the surface of the pool. His relief quickly switching to horror as the water around her turned red.
“And when you asked me on the boat where Copper was, all I said was that she was safe?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it. What the hell did I mean by that?” He pivoted and paced back across the bedroom for the umpteenth time. He couldn’t keep still. It felt like fire ants had formed a conga line and were dancing their way up and down his spine. Bloody stay awake potion was playing merry hell with his adrenalin levels.
“We’ll figure it out.” Quinn fought the urge to stand up and give Matias a comforting hug, soothe him. Heavens, the last thing she would ever be able to do was touch Matias Yanez again. Because when she did, mayhem and madness promised to follow. Sex visions. Fainting. And now time travel.
Hey, and with all that she was still sane. Yeah, for her. Because honestly, if a client came to her with the same story, she’d be writing them off as delusional and prescribing them a sedative.