Switching Hour

by Robyn Peterman

  Fabio's ears perked up and they both watched me carefully.

  "Oh my hell," I sputtered. "I don't even know what love means. I don't want anyone to ask me that question again today. I have some honey badgers to destroy."

  "Go change unless you can sprint in those boots," Mac instructed as he eyed my four inch heels.

  "Honey, I could run a marathon in these boots. Plus, the heel alone could put an eye out."

  He grinned despite himself and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "You are definitely my girl."

  "Whatever you say." I used his own ambiguous phrase on him as I headed for the door. "Let's go pop some badgers."

  ***

  Apparently the honey badgers met at their lair at eleven every night so we had a few hours to kill. Mac insisted we do something fun before we ruined my outfit and I agreed. Fabio was bizarrely quiet, but he rarely spoke when we weren't alone.

  Two people and a cat on a motorcycle was a challenge, but we made it work. Mac drove fast and I squealed with joy as the crisp night air hit my face. Fabio, on the other hand, just dug his claws into Mac's back and hissed the entire ride into town.

  Main Street was deserted, but Mac was hell bent on taking me somewhere fun.

  "Mac, if this is your idea of fun we're going to have some problems," I said as I dismounted the Harley and slid Fabio into my purse.

  "Hush," he said as took my hand in his.

  We entered the empty hardware store and made our way to the back. I was certain I heard music, but where in the hell was it coming from?

  "Are you having fun yet?” he asked with a smirk.

  "Um… am I supposed to be?"

  "I have fun simply staring at you," he said as he ran his thumb along my jaw.

  Fabio pretended to puke in my purse.

  "Well, you're weird," I said as I tried to bite back my grin of delight.

  "You got that right," he replied with a chuckle.

  Mac opened a rusted-out door and gently pushed me through.

  No freakin' way.

  There was a back room to the hardware store and it housed a huge bar—with a jukebox and a buttload of happy, dancing Shifters.

  I turned and squeezed Mac's hand with a giggle. "You guys really are weird."

  "Again. You are correct," he said as he pulled me into the party.

  "Zelda," Simon yelled as he two-stepped up a storm with a pretty skunk girl. "So happy you're here!"

  I spotted Wanda, Kurt, Chuck, DeeDee, Bob and Roger and a bunch of other Shifters whose names I couldn't remember. Most sported costumes further convincing me it really was Halloween. Little Bo and several other small cuties were next to a metal tub filled with water and apples. They were bobbing and shrieking with laughter.

  Depression suddenly rolled through me at the thought of leaving them, but I needed to think about it later. First I had to live through the night.

  "Dance with me," Mac said as he pulled me out on the floor. The sea of Shifters parted for us and DeeDee violently banged the jukebox with her head. The fast song was immediately replaced with a slow sexy beat. Very sneaky.

  Mac nodded his approval to DeeDee, who bowed her head to him, as did the rest of the crowd.

  "So I hear you're the king," I said as he pulled me into his arms and began to move to the music.

  "I heard that too," Mac answered as his lips grazed my ear.

  I shuddered and leaned in closer. What was it about him? Was the mating bullcrap true?

  "You wanna be my queen?" he whispered in my ear.

  Happy chills ran down my spine and straight to my girly bits. Time to get down to business.

  "Which end do you squeeze the toothpaste from?" I asked as I copped a feel of his fine ass.

  "Is this a trick question?" he inquired as he returned the favor to the delight of the crowd.

  "No, I'm serious."

  "The bottom," he said as he pressed his very happy camper into my stomach.

  I bit my lip to keep from licking him. "You passed that one. Toilet seat. Up or down?"

  "We'll have two. Mine and yours."

  I was sure our dance moves were getting slightly pornographic, but my brain was getting addled with lust. As far as I was concerned we were the only two people in the bar.

  "Nice answer, Wolf Boy. Do you have brothers and sisters?"

  "One brother. Jacob. You healed him the other day. And thank you, by the way."

  “You're welcome." The sense of pride I felt was absurd, but I refused to process that nugget. "Mom and dad?"

  "They passed years ago. They were wonderful."

  I had nothing to add to that one. My mother had no discernable maternal instincts and my father who apparently loved me to bits was still a complete no show.

  "You're lucky," I murmured, a little less horny and a little more sad.

  "Your Aunt Hildy was a wonderful person. She was like a mother to Jacob and me. I think you're right about her death. We haven't been able to avenge her because her magic is gone. It's all we can do to survive at the moment."

  I didn't want to hear that. It made me feel guilty… and it made me angry that I never even knew I had an awesome aunt. I stopped dancing and stepped back. "Why on earth are we at a bar dancing if everyone's life is on the line?"

  Did they all have a death wish?

  "Because, beautiful girl, if you don't know if there will be a tomorrow—you have to live to the fullest today."

  That shut me the hell up. Did these people have it right and I'd always had it wrong? Goddess, becoming mature and rational was taking a huge toll on me. It sucked wads.

  "Mac, I…"

  The rest of my unformed thoughts were drowned out by terrified screaming and the sounds of flesh tearing. Mac's body tensed and his shift started automatically. In fact, most of my new friends and neighbors were going into their shift.

  We had company. I wasn't going to have to find the honey badgers because they had found me… and they were led by Blondie. Son of a bitch, I should have killed her when I had the chance. Well, no time like the present.

  The fighting around me escalated and it was brutal. My magic roared through my body. I quickly scanned the room for Bo and his buddies. They had shifted and were cornered by three honey badgers with death on their agenda.

  Not today.

  I popped the bastards and encased the kids in an impenetrable bubble. It would be a pull on my power, but it was the best I could do. Those fuckers weren't going to kill children. Holy hell they were ugly—rubbery skin and frighteningly large teeth.

  "Stay with your back against the wall," Mac's voice bellowed in my head. "You'll be able to see what's coming at you."

  I scanned the crowd for him and spotted him in a showdown with eight badgers. He was vicious and magnificent.

  I quickly followed his advice.

  Blondie pointed me out to a particularly big, ugly badger. I was certain he was their leader and he was gunning for me.

  "That's her. That's the witch," she screamed as her face contorted into something ugly and scary. "Kill her. She dies like her aunt."

  Wait. Blondie'd had something to do with my aunt's death? Why?

  I was concerned about the badger, but first things first.

  “Beauty is as beauty does.

  The Goddess shall judge us all.

  But those who thrive on blood and death,

  Shall be the first to take the fall.”

  Blondie morphed into a hideous creature with fangs and warts before she exploded and disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. It halted the badger only briefly. His eyes widened in horror and the roar that left his slimy mouth made my eyes cross.

  And then everything slowed.

  The badger had magic and he was using it. It was uncomfortably familiar. It was witch magic. How in the hell did he possess witch magic?

  And then I saw it. It was something I would never be able to erase—not even with a lifetime of therapy. Not even with magic. It would be my nightmare
for eternity. The scene played through my head like a horror movie and it was all I could do not to throw up.

  The badger was proud. He wanted to show me his kill—show me my aunt's death, before he added me to his list.

  It was in Hildy's kitchen where it started. Blondie and several badgers cornered her. She tried to bargain for her life, but they laughed. I watched in horror as she tried to pull up her magic but they doused her in a blue solution that rendered her impotent. After a beating that left her bloody and weak, they threw her to the floor. Two badgers held her down as Blondie stuck a huge glowing syringe in her heart.

  My aunt's weeping constricted my own heart and it was difficult to breathe. They had found a tool to drain her magic from her body and they did it with sadistic pleasure. Hildy's beautiful body writhed in pain. She chanted to the Goddess for mercy—for death, but it fell on deaf ears.

  Bile rose in my throat as the badger projected the gruesome scene. His beady eyes smiled at me and his teeth gnashed.

  After Blondie injected my aunt's magic into the badger, they tore her apart and ate her. Sickened didn't even begin to describe what I felt. They were barbarians and they would die by my hand. Blondie's death had been kind, but that was not a mistake I would make twice.

  With a quick glance around the room, I spotted Chuck and Mac tearing the heads from the attacking honey badgers. Simon, Kurt, Wanda, Bob, Roger and DeeDee weren't faring as well, but they were alive. Some of the others weren't. The pretty skunk girl Simon had been dancing with lay dead in a bloody heap on the floor.

  Thankfully the children were still safe in the bubble, but honey badgers clawed at it violently. I wasn't at full power while the bubble held, but my fury displaced my slightly lessened magical capacity.

  It was time for some badgers to die.

  Reaching down deep into myself, I prayed to the Goddess for guidance. We were supposed to be healers and stewards of the earth. I wasn't bloodthirsty or violent—but it rose in me now. In a very short period of time I'd become attached to these people and watching them die was simply not an option.

  I could stop this. I could maybe even end this. I could choose to believe in myself. And I would.

  "Zelda, on your left," Mac shouted as he bound across the room to me.

  An acid-like burst of pain shot through my leg as a badger bit down and locked on. How did I miss him? I fought to throw him off, but he was too strong.

  Panicked, I pulled for magic, but holding the bubble surrounding Bo and his friends was more of a drain than I thought.

  Fuck. Me or the kids? No choice. I would not let children die on my watch.

  Mac's eyes were wild and his roar made the hair on my neck stand up as he tore the badger on my leg to shreds. I watched in horrific satisfaction. He was deadly and magnificent.

  For the first time in my life someone had my back. For real had my back.

  He licked my leg and the wound began to mend together.

  "Are you trying to become the new Shifter Wanker?" I laughed. It was either laugh or cry and I was not a baby. I looked down in wonder as my leg healed completely.

  "I am keeping my mate alive so she can do her job and still have sex by the river later," his wolf said with great satisfaction.

  I giggled and rolled my eyes. "Shall we?" I asked and indicated the shit show around us.

  He nodded and rubbed his huge body against mine. "Yes. Let's."

  Together we moved to the center of the room. The sounds of battle made me ill. It had to stop.

  Fire in every color of the rainbow engulfed my upper body as I struggled to remain standing.

  Mac pressed his body to mine and I used his head for balance. Flames hissed and snapped as sparkles leapt around my head and rained over me and my wolf.

  My hair blew wildly and my breath came in short gasps. I'd never conjured up this much power in my life. I hoped to hell that I didn't blow the entire building up.

  I narrowed my eyes and focused my thoughts. I vaguely heard gasps and shrieks as a funnel of wind erupted from the floor and gathered every honey badger in the room except one. That badger would die slowly—very slowly. The ugly fucker hung helplessly in the air, trapped by magic as he watched his colony swirl inside the violent mini tornado.

  I closed my eyes and chanted as the badgers popped one by one. It was hateful, but I did it that way so they knew what was coming as they watched their own die before them.

  Their leader roared and tried to undo my spell with the magic he'd torn from my aunt's body, but I was stronger. I was also more insane, unbalanced and psychotic than he was. I had a gift he didn't. I cared. I cared for all the Shifters in the room. The ones I knew the names of and the ones I didn't. I cared for my aunt—the woman who looked just like me and hadn't deserved to die.

  And I cared for the wolf who wanted me to be his. This was all ridiculous and futile as I still planned to leave, but I couldn't decipher it at the moment. I needed to protect the ones who needed me and destroy the ones who wanted me dead.

  It sounded like popcorn, but it was over quickly. They were dead. The badgers could no longer hurt my people. I let the bubble around the children dissolve and they ran quickly to their parents. I didn't know how many Shifters were dead and how many lived. I had business to attend to and I would heal the wounded after.

  "I will kill him," Mac's voice hissed in my head as he approached the floating badger.

  "No," I shouted. "He's mine."

  Mac turned and stared as he shifted back to human form. Then he slowly stepped aside. The shocked murmurs that erupted through the crowd made me realize this was a monumental moment. The king was sharing his power—with me.

  "As you wish," he said.

  My heart thundered in my chest. I wouldn't have this moment if not for him. I'd be lying dead in the corner torn apart by badgers just like my aunt had been. He had saved me and made it possible for me to avenge Hildy. To process my feelings was impossible. I wasn't good at it and this really wasn't the right time.

  Later. I'd deal with it later. I had work to do.

  "She didn't deserve to die by your hand," I ground out as I approached the badger who wasn't quite as confident as he had been only minutes ago. "You took her magic and now I will take it back."

  I felt Mac at my shoulder as I closed the gap between myself and the horrid animal that had senselessly killed my aunt. Mac's presence calmed me and he didn't try to stop me. I realized he was really going to let me fight my own battle.

  My hair still tossed wildly around my head and I saw my skin glowing eerily. I felt beautiful and powerful and loved by the people surrounding me. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but it felt good.

  "She died like a coward," the badger spat. "She begged for her life."

  He laughed maniacally and drool fell from his lips. Mac's body tensed next to me and I knew it took all he had not to destroy the evil piece of shit.

  "Death will be too good for you, so I think I'll leave you to my Council," I informed him calmly watching as his eyes grew wide with terror.

  Mac's body relaxed beside me and an impressed chuckle from deep in his gut left his lips.

  The Witch Council was famous for torture of enemies. I wasn't clear what they did and I was quite happy to leave it that way. However, the honey badger had clearly heard about their methods.

  "But before I turn you over I need something back."

  I punched my fist into his chest. The squishy sound was sickening, but it was the fastest and most efficient to retrieve what belonged to my family. Aunt Hildy's magic came into my blood and guts covered hand quickly and with joy. It slid up my arm and flowed into my chest. It was warm and strong. It nestled and shuddered. I could feel my aunt inside me and my eyes filled with tears.

  The badger was now unconscious, but he was still alive. He hung in the air, which was where he would stay until I could call the Council to get him. We would need to discover where that syringe was and how he came to have it.

  "Oh no," W
anda cried out and my heart lodged in my throat. I turned and gasped. My voice sounded strange to my ears. She held a limp Fabio in her hands and was trying to stop the flow of blood that came from his head.

  "No, no, no," I screamed as I ran to her as I gently took my mangy, ball-licking cat from her shaking arms. "You will not die, you little shit. You have at least three more lives left."

  Salty tears rolled down my cheeks and to my lips as he lay still and lifeless in my arms.