by Dean Murray
I'd known that there was something familiar about her, but I hadn't been able place it until then. She reminded me of the blonde from my dreams. It wasn't her face, although there was some resemblance there too. It was the way she held herself. Not all of the time, but half of her motions, the more reserved, shy ones were a perfect match for the girl from my dreams.
It had been weeks since I'd thought about the girl who had been haunting my dreams for years now. She'd been there as long as I could remember, but lately the dreams had changed, becoming more believable, more vivid. Recent events had been so overwhelming that I hadn't had a chance to dwell on anything but survival, but now that I'd been forcefully reminded of her, I felt a torrent of emotion.
Longing, loss, desire. It was all there with a strength that was nearly overpowering. That by itself would have given me pause, but there was something else there. It was less than a shadow of a fragment of a memory, but it was important. My mind picked at the sliver of experience, but it was slow reconstituting into something usable.
There had been a conversation, and after that a fight that I hadn't been sure I would survive. The conversation was too nebulous to remember, while the fight was vivid enough that I could almost remember the sequence of attacks and counters. Even so, I was positive that the conversation had been more important.
It had been important because of a…kiss? That couldn't be right, I'd never kissed anyone, never really felt the urge, at least not enough to risk it. Kaleb would have used any attachment on my part to anyone, in or out of the pack, as ruthlessly as he attacked any other perceived weaknesses.
Any recollection of a kiss had to be just an idle fantasy played out on the stage of some dream, but it didn't feel immaterial, it felt real, it felt important. I could almost feel her lips on mine, feel her trembling against me as she started breaking down the barriers of self-control that I'd spent a lifetime forging, barriers that kept my beast in check, barriers that were the only thing keeping her safe.
The kiss had been magical, life-changing even, but I'd been wrong, the kiss wasn't what was important. The kiss wasn't the reason that my subconscious had been picking at the memory for weeks now in an effort to bring it up to where I would remember. The kiss was only important because it had been with her, with…
Brindi's hands on mine shattered my entire train of thought into ten thousand pieces. It was gone, all of the feelings, the memory that I'd spent so long trying to reconstruct without even realizing it, the identity of the mystery girl who I'd kissed, it all went spinning away and even as I tried to grab ahold of something, the pieces all evaporated like hoarfrost before a desert sun.
Maybe I would have been able to retain enough to put some of the memory back together if not for the shock of realizing that I'd allowed myself to become so distracted that I hadn't seen Brindi reach out to touch me. No matter what else was going on inside of my mind, I shouldn't have allowed that to happen.
Her touching me was dangerous for her in ways that she didn't know enough to understand, but it was more than that. Letting someone I didn't know get that close to me wasn't the kind of thing that I could allow, not if I wanted to survive long enough to see the Coun'hij fall.
I moved my hands out from underneath Brindi's hands and then I slid a little to the side so that our shoulders weren't touching.
"I'm sorry, you're really quite attractive, but that isn't a good idea."
She pouted. Even her pout was a study in beauty. "I already told you that I'm not afraid of a challenge. Tell your bodyguard to keep those other girls away; they'll never even have to know."
I shook my head. "You need to leave. Go find your friend and the two of you can try again with someone else."
"I don't want someone else, I want you. Besides, my drink hasn't arrived. You wouldn't have your bodyguard throw me out before I'd had a chance to finish my drink, would you?"
I opened my mouth to tell her to leave, but something about her stopped me. It wasn't that she was gorgeous and I was suddenly feeling inexplicably lonely. It was that in that instant I realized that her curious mixture of brash self-confidence and shyness was less calculated than I'd originally thought.
It was an act, but it was the confidence that was a show. She was scared. Maybe that was too strong of a word. The club was too full of noise and bodies to get a very good read on her, but the less assertive part of her personality, the shy, withdrawn part, was the real Brindi.
"You're scared."
She gasped. Even that was perfectly understated. She was either a master actor or she really hadn't expected me to cue into that.
"How did you know that?"
"I'm…unusually observant. You could say it's a gift."
She wasn't satisfied with that explanation, but she obviously knew it was as much as she was going to get out of me.
"Okay, yeah, I'm scared. My ex-boyfriend is here tonight too. I didn't expect to see him here and I'm worried that he'll follow me home. After we broke up I moved to a new apartment so he couldn't hurt me."
My nostrils flared slightly as I tested the air. It was harder here with so many distractions, and I wished for a second that I could just shift to wolf form, but I could smell the lie rolling off of her. Her heartbeat spiked despite the fact that her face had stayed relatively composed.
"Let's try again, Brindi. This time lead with the truth or I'll have Jerome throw you out of my booth regardless of whether your drink has arrived."
Her eyes hardened and I could see her trying to figure out what she could get away with.
"Fine, the truth is I owe some people a lot of money. I came here tonight hoping for a ticket out of all of that."
"What about your friend, the redhead?"
"She's one of the people I owe money to. She's here to keep tabs on me and make sure I leave with the kind of guy they aimed me at."
"What's the end game?"
"I'm supposed to insert myself into your life, take an inventory of all of the valuables back at your place and then let them inside so they can rob you, after which I'll be free and clear."
My beast wanted her gone. Subterfuge was anathema to us. Some shape shifters obviously got over their beast's native straightforwardness, but I wasn't sure I ever wanted to be one of them. The animal inside me wanted to ensure that she couldn't hurt me, but the human part of me was curious at what could take someone down such a path so quickly.
"How did you get in debt to these people?"
"My parents died in a car wreck when I was seventeen and I…"
I cut her off with an angry wave. "This is your last warning. If you lie to me again you're gone."
"Fine, it was drugs. I'm into them for thirty thousand worth of cocaine. I ran away from my last foster home when I was seventeen and I've been selling drugs ever since. I use a little, but mostly I just deal. Some stuff happened and I ended up in trouble."
"So you turned to prostitution and theft?"
Her mouth tightened. "I don't have a lot of other options, not if I want to live to see next week. They gave me a week and last night was a bust, so I've only got six more nights to make something happen."
"So where does it end, Brindi? If you make your big score and get square with the redhead and the others you'll still be broke and scrambling to make rent."
I'd only thought she looked scared before, now she really looked terrified. It was fascinating though. A lot of people got mean when they were that afraid, that or they just seized up completely. She wasn't just waiting around for death to come after her, but it was obvious that she'd compartmentalized her life to an extreme degree. She didn't want to think about what came next because she knew things were almost certainly going to get worse.
"I don't know. Maybe I could leave the club with you and then make a run for it. If I find a new city and keep a low profile then they might never find me."
I stared at her for several seconds, debating.
"What would you do if you had the option to do anything
in the world?"
She swallowed and then looked away from me. "I'd like to start over, for real. I'd like to have the kind of life most kids have. I can't go back and grow up in a normal family, but I'd like to pretend like that's where I came from. I'd like to go to college and just blow off the first year and a half trying to figure out what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I'd like to worry about boys rather than drugs, and dating instead of grand larceny."
It was true. Every single word of it, which meant that I had a difficult decision in front of me. The money back in the First National Bank of Cayman was the next best thing to limitless, but I didn't have access to all of it right now. Banks here in the U.S. had to report any big money transfers, which meant that I had to be very careful still when it came to creating a money trail.
I'd brought several million in cash and negotiable instruments with me back on the plane, but it wouldn't last forever and once it ran out I was going to have to make another trip back to the Caymans. That was dangerous because Kaleb and the rest of the Coun'hij would be watching flights out from the mainland very closely and the next time they'd be waiting for me with a lot more than just five hybrids.
I already had other plans in the works, plans that should allow me to funnel some of the money into the U.S. without getting the attention of the IRS, but they would take some time to really get up and running. Until that happened, we were vulnerable. I didn't anticipate any big expenses, but then again I hadn't anticipated Agony being caught after all of this time and I didn't have any idea how much it was going to cost to get him free, even assuming we could.
Not only that, Brindi had made her own bed. It might not be completely her fault, but she could have chosen not to deal drugs. Was it right for me to help her and risk coming up short in my efforts to save thousands of children from growing up in a world where Kaleb and his cronies were going to use them as disposable commodities in the Coun'hij's wars?
"Okay, Brindi, I'm going to help you out. You've been mostly honest with me, and I do believe that you want the life you just described. There are stipulations though."
The cautious joy that had been shining from her face despite her best efforts died away as she tried to prepare herself for disappointment, for 'strings' that would be as bad or worse than anything she was currently dealing with.
"You can stay with me and I'll get you out of the club. I need to meet with someone here; you can sit in the booth with us, but you'll stay on the far end and you'll keep your mouth shut, both in the meeting and afterwards about anything you hear or see there. Once we're out of the club I'll give you the money you need to pay off the redhead and her friends plus a little extra to salve their pride at the fact that you're about to walk out on them and deprive them of a much bigger score."
"What's the catch?"
"You're never coming back here. You'll arrange for a dead drop so that the redhead can get the money and then you'll never have any contact with anyone from your old life. I'll get you a fake ID and you'll enroll in college and make something out of yourself. No partying, no dealing, nothing illegal. You need to be squeaky clean for the rest of your life."
"That's it?"
She didn't believe it. It really was too good to be true and she'd learned a fundamental lesson that most adults twice her age still didn't understand. There's no free lunch.
I was going to have to put a catch in there or she was never going to live up to her end of things.
"No, that's not it. From time to time you're going to move money around for me. You'll have some kind of business on the side, we can work out the details later—maybe photography. The money will come in, you'll move it to one of my accounts, and you'll take a very small cut for your time and effort. If you ever try and screw me then the consequences won't be pleasant."
"Okay, I'm in."
I held up a hand. "You also must stop trying to touch me, Jerome or any of the other people with me."
That earned me an odd look, but the waitress was back with Brindi's drink and Jasmin was only a couple of steps behind her. The waitress flashed me a three-hundred-watt smile as she asked if there was anything else we needed, but I simply held up my still-full drink and waved her away with a smile.
Jasmin didn't look happy to see Brindi. "Who is she?"
"Someone who's been very foolish up until now, but who we're going to help get a new start. Did you find him?"
Jasmin and Brindi exchanged mutually hostile stares and then Jasmin started working her way around the booth. I slid over, meeting her halfway and putting more distance between Brindi and me. Jasmin leaned in as though to whisper, which was a nice touch when it came to maintaining the illusion that we were just humans.
"I found Shawn. Jess is keeping an eye on his booth to make sure he doesn't send anyone out for help, but it's not like we can stop him from texting. He's expecting you now; you're going to want to move quickly so you can talk to him and get back out before more of the Chicago pack can show up and box us in."
"Okay, let's go."
We all stood up to leave, and Jasmin reflexively wrapped my arm around herself to keep our cover, which in turn caused Brindi to move up to my other side as though intending on hanging off of me as well.
"The deal was no touching."
"Yeah, but if I don't at least make an effort they are never going to buy it. I might not make it out of the club if they don't think we're together now."
"Grab our drinks, that gives you a reason for not throwing yourself at me. Once we arrive at the other booth you can set the drinks down and rub up against my back or chest, but no skin-on-skin contact."
Brindi shot me a high-powered smile as she turned back for our drinks, but I could tell she wasn't any more pleased about the situation than Jasmin was. Luckily Shawn's booth wasn't far away and once we arrived she behaved herself. The fact that there was a pair of particularly massive shape shifters posted just outside of Shawn's booth probably helped. Shawn's bodyguards were as dangerous-looking as they were big.
A couple of seconds later Jasmin, Jess, Brindi and I were all inside the booth. Shawn only had one other person inside the booth with him and she practically screamed shape shifter. Even to the eyes of my human form she still bled off energy and light the way that only really powerful hybrids could. That wasn't a guarantee that she had some kind of ability, but it was a pretty good sign and I decided to keep the table between us at all times.
Now that I had an idea of just how dangerous his bodyguard was, I looked Shawn over as I slid down the bench seat until I was nearly inside of arm's reach—for a hybrid.
In human form at least, Shawn wasn't anything special at first glance. It was hard to tell for sure inside of the dim lighting of the club, but he looked like he had short blond hair and a boyish cast to his features that would have made it hard to take him seriously if you didn't know who his father was.
That impression wasn't helped by the fact that he was built like the quintessential debate geek. So far he hadn't manifested any of the legendary Ulrich bulk and muscle; he looked like he would blow away if a strong wind came through the club. He was sitting down, so it was hard to be sure, but he didn't look like he was much over five-eight.
Even his power level didn't seem to be anything special. He glowed about as much as you would expect from a hybrid, but without the extra strength of the bodyguard next to him. It was still possible that he'd manifested a power that I hadn't heard about, but it wasn't very likely.
It wasn't until I got a good look at his eyes that I knew I was in the presence of Ulrich Bishop's heir. Shawn had the eyes of someone born into power. He didn't look arrogant, but there was an assurance there that people would do what he said, and a weight that said he carried more secrets than anyone our age should have to bear.
"Thank you for agreeing to talk to me, Shawn."
Shawn held up his cellphone. "It's hard to pass up a chance to talk to someone as infamous as you are right now. Just so you know, none of us
texted, emailed, called or otherwise informed anyone else that you're here."
"I appreciate that."
Shawn's shrug implied it wasn't a big deal, but I knew his father would have been hard pressed not to turn me in if it had been Ulrich I'd approached instead of Shawn.
"So you're the one who wanted to talk, go ahead and talk."
"Agony has been captured."
"I hope you weren't expecting to surprise me with that little tidbit. That's practically ancient history at this point."
"No, I knew you'd be aware of his capture, and I suspect you understand exactly what it means to the resistance. I want to break him out, but I need help, a lot of help, preferably from a group that the Coun'hij isn't keeping too close of an eye on right now."
Shawn pursed his lips. "You're not the first one to approach me about this, Alec. It's no secret that I've got connections with people who would like to see your dad and the rest of the Coun'hij overthrown. Some people want me to convince my dad to jump into the situation with both feet, some people just want me to help arrange a meeting between likeminded parties, but so far I haven't helped any of my visitors out."
That wasn't the most promising start to the conversation, and the fact that Shawn's eyes kept sliding away from mine and drifting over to Brindi was another sign that I didn't have his full attention.
"Why is that, Shawn? The word on the street is that you talk a good game, but you're not actually doing anything. Seems like maybe it's all just a bunch of hot air."
Shawn's metaphysical roar of power was strong enough to make my hair stand on end, but I forced myself not to respond in kind. The goal was to get his attention, to really get his attention, not start an actual dominance fight.
"You don't come into my city and question my commitment to anything, Graves. There are four of you and four of us, but I recognize the two girls, they are wolves. You wouldn't stand a chance against us."
I held my hands up. "No insult was intended, Shawn, but you have to admit that it's hard to believe you're really committed to the cause when you don't seem to be making any kind of difference. Agony's capture is a huge deal; it's one of those pivot points that could change everything."