by C. J. Pinard
Joseph sat there stunned and unmoving in the police car. He watched with terror as the assailant looked around, stripped all his clothes off, threw his head back and began to change form. He hunched down on all fours and the new detective watched in absolute horror as the man’s head elongated, his limbs grew long and twisted, and he sprouted a tail. Where a man stood seconds earlier, a wolf now lurked. After its transformation, it began to tear at Richard’s clothing with his teeth.
Joseph had to shove a fist into his mouth to suppress a scream. He yanked the walkie-talkie radio off the seat in front of him and yelled, “I need backup at pier thirty-seven immediately!! I have an officer down!”
The shouting attracted the attention of the men unloading the crates from the fishing boat. They began to strip off their clothing and advance on Joseph.
Chapter 8
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
Jonathan was now pacing his apartment, scotch in hand.
“Who the hell took them and where would they have gone? We’ve got to think. We know vamps showed up at the warehouse tonight.”
“Which ones, Jonathan? Was Pascal there?” Thomas asked.
Jonathan cocked his head in thought, then took a sip of his scotch. “No. It was a tall black vampire, and a shorter blonde one, both males,” he finished.
“Darius and Joshua,” Kathryn said. “Darius is Pascal’s new second, but as far as I know, Joshua is a low-level nobody. Foot-soldier, I believe. Lilly told me about them.”
“It had to be Fae,” Thomas said, he himself now pacing. “Lilly’s strong enough to fight off humans, and Malina could have called a portal to escape. They were clearly under duress. I hope they’re not in a bad way,” he said, biting his thumbnail.
Thomas was worried about Malina. He was sick about it, if he were honest with himself. He was glad Serina was safe, but now he had Malina to fret over. What would he do if something happened to her? Once they found her safe, he vowed to himself that he was going to attempt to pursue something other than friendship with her. This crisis had taught him that he felt something for her.
A groan from the couch snatched their attention.
“Serina, sweetie. How are you feeling?” Kathryn asked, pulling Serina up into a sitting position to give her some water.
“I’m better,” Serina replied wearily. “I really just want to go home. I need a shower and some food. I also have some healing herbs and tea there I think will help me,” she croaked.
Thomas walked over to her and helped her up. “We have everything you need here, sweetie. I could offer you Malina’s bedroom and shower and we have plenty of food. I can make you whatever you’d like,” he replied. He wanted no part of letting her out of his sight.
She smiled wearily up at him. “Thank you, Tom, you have always been very kind. But I really need to get home. I would open a portal and just leave, but….”
“Don’t be silly, we’ll drive you. We need to leave anyway and figure out where Lilly and Malina are,” Jonathan said.
“What’s the plan, Jon?” Kathryn asked.
“After we drop off Serina, I am gonna need you to stay with her. Tom and I are going to visit a certain vampire’s headquarters,” he answered. He turned his attention to Thomas. “You still have your bag of goodies?” he asked.
“It’s actually still in your car, boss,” he replied.
Jonathan gulped down the last of his scotch and set the glass tumbler on the credenza a little too roughly. He picked up his keys and phone and said, “Perfect, let’s go.”
∞∞∞
Lillian had tucked the phone under her leg just in time. Pascal and Angel returned and sat on the sofa adjacent to the Immortal and the sylph. Pascal set his weapon down and stared at Malina for a long while, not saying anything. Angel just sat and stroked Pascal’s leg, not taking her eyes off of Lillian.
Pascal finally spoke. “Sylph, what’s your name?”
“Malina,” she replied.
“Well, Malina the Sylph, I’m afraid we aren’t going to be leaving your lovely home anytime soon until we get what we want. And while you can go without human food for a while, we can’t go without blood for very long, and being that we can eat you but you can’t eat us, I say that puts you at a disadvantage of epic proportions,” he finished, loosening his skinny red tie with his index finger.
Lillian cocked her head and said, “She’s already told you that she doesn’t keep Enchantment here. She’s got magic but she can’t make something appear out of thin air.”
The truth was, Lillian (and all Immortals) had no idea how Enchantment was made. Many through the years had tried to figure it out, some had even gone to the same lengths as shifters and vampires by kidnapping and torturing sylphs for the information, but were never successful. The ingredients were a well-guarded secret and Lillian knew it had to stay that way. She rather liked her immortality, and she knew it was her job to keep Malina and humans safe from the dead, soulless trash that sat in front of her.
“She can call a portal out of thin air,” Angel commented. “Tell me, love, how do you do that?”
“I actually do not know, vampire. I was born this way and have always known how,” she replied.
Pascal got up and knelt in front of Malina and grabbed her wrist with his cold hands. His fangs were out and his blue eyes suddenly turned solid black. He put her wrist up to his mouth but did not bite. He spoke awkwardly through his fangs, “Listen, Malina, I do not have all day, here. You will make me some of that Enchantment right this instant, or I shall be having myself a little taste.” His mouth twisted into a mischievous grin. He ran his nose up the length of her wrist and savored her.
A shudder ran through her body and she suddenly felt nauseous. She was in a serious bind. She knew she could easily make Enchantment right now. She had all the makings right there in the room. She could give him a small vial and maybe he would take his partner and leave. Or maybe she would give him some and he’d take it, then drain them both. She sat contemplating her problem, not taking her eyes off of Pascal’s fangs, which were inches from her wrist.
As if reading her mind, Lillian spoke. “Let’s say she were to make you some Enchantment. What then? How do we know you won’t attempt to kill us anyway?”
Pascal retracted his fangs and his eyes went back to normal. He stood up and smoothed out his black pants. “You have my word, cop. I know you are fairly young, but believe me when I say, my word is my word. I may be dead but where I come from, you give your word, you keep it,” he finished, his British accent sounding more pronounced, if that was even possible.
“Excuse me if I still don’t believe you, bloodsucker. You did just threaten to drain me and my friend here.” She jerked her head toward Malina.
“Seriously, Red, you’re getting on my nerves already. Just tell Tink to give us the Enchantment. I’m running out of patience,” Angel said, her finger twitching over the trigger of the gun.
Lillian thought Angel looked completely inhuman and plastic. Some vampires actually looked and behaved somewhat human. Pascal had the stereotypical vampire clothing and hair but he still portrayed human expressions and mannerisms. Angel seemed like some type of fake android robot. She thought if they ever made a Vampire Barbie, they would model it after Angel. She smirked a bit at the thought.
“Are you laughing at me now?” Angel said, even more defensive. Her finger still hovering over the trigger on the ridiculously huge gun she had strapped around her.
Lillian’s features went back to serious, and she narrowed her eyes at Angel. “Absolutely not, fanger. I don’t think there’s anything funny about this predicament we all find ourselves in. But pardon me if I still don’t buy it if Dracula over there promises not to kill us after he gets what he needs. Didn’t you just mention how hungry you are? Perhaps that alone will be the cause of our demise,” she finished with her wrists crossed and her lavender eyes fixed on Angel’s dead ones.
Without war
ning, Pascal reached over and grabbed Angel by her hair, pulling her head back, exposing her neck. His eyes turned black again and his fangs descended. He then sank them into Angel’s neck and she let out a moan, but he never took his eyes off of Lillian. After about thirty seconds, he pulled off and licked at the two puncture wounds on Angel’s neck. She smiled as Malina and Lillian watched the wounds close rapidly before their eyes.
“Your turn,” he then said to his mate.
Keeping the gun pointed at the sylph, it was her turn for her eyes to transform to black. She injected her fangs into Pascal’s neck and drank deeply for roughly the same amount of time. She repeated the wound-licking protocol and wiped her mouth with her finger.
“Ahh. Yummy,” she purred. “Problem solved, we’re not hungry anymore,”
“Um, ew,” Lillian said, suppressing a gag.
Malina was making a disgusted face, but was secretly happy they didn’t manage to drip any blood on to her white sofa.
“Okay then, sylph. Get your arse up and get in that kitchen and make us some Enchantment,” Pascal said.
Malina shot a worried glance at Lillian, but Lillian just nodded her head. Really, she didn’t see how they had any other choice.
“Okay,” Malina said nervously, “but I’m going to need some of your blood,” she said to Pascal.
∞∞∞
San Francisco – 1947
Joseph had to think fast. He saw a wolf and what looked like a couple of dogs headed his way. He knew he had two choices: He could slide over to the driver’s seat, throw the old cruiser in reverse and get the hell out of Dodge. Or he could get out with his service revolver and hope he had enough bullets to take out some animals and rescue his partner. He decided he had to do the right thing. He’d already called for help; it was time to fight.
“Back up!” Joseph cocked the hammer on the revolver with his thumb then shot one bullet into the air. The dogs surprisingly stopped in their tracks and stood there snarling, drool and spit dribbling off their jaws and onto the pier. Even the wolf tearing at Johnson stopped and looked up. It appeared to understand his command. Crap, now what? He thought. Then he had an idea.
“All of you! Go back to what you were. If you are humans, be humans. I can’t talk to animals.”
Again in a suddenly surprising move, all the animals suddenly morphed into human men, all standing there, naked. Joseph couldn’t believe his eyes. He had to dig deep, but he somehow found the courage to maintain his composure and keep the gun trained on the suspects, even though his hand was shaking like a leaf. He walked over to Richard, who was bleeding from the neck and chest and was unconscious, but appeared to be alive. With one arm, he kept his gun up and dragged Richard by the shirt over to the car. For good measure, he fired one shot into the ground near the tallest shapeshifter, which caused them all to let out yelps. When Joseph finally got over to the car, he had to use both hands to pull Richard into the car. Just then, he heard sirens. Oh, thank you, God, he thought.
The shifters didn’t know what to do; Joseph saw them start to move. He screamed at them to get on the ground, face down, and pointed the gun at them as he waited for the additional police cars and ambulances to arrive.
The police cars pulled up with a screech, blue and red lighting up the pier like a parade. About six police officers were surrounding the shifters within seconds, all pointing guns at the naked suspects.
“O’Malley, what the hell is going on here?” one of the uniforms asked, his gun up at the ready.
“Oh, thank God… arrest these men immediately. Not only were they caught red-handed offloading the booze over there, one of them attacked Johnson. He’s in my cruiser,” Joseph finished excitedly.
“Why on Earth are they naked?” the officer asked, never taking his eyes off them.
Joseph thought for a minute but had no reasonable explanation. He just shrugged.
Another officer walked over to the random pile of clothing and started throwing pants at the four shapeshifters. “Get dressed, perverts!”
After the cuffs were applied and Johnson had been loaded into the waiting ambulance, Joseph finally re-holstered his gun and approached Detective Stewart.
“Okay, O’Malley, start at the beginning,” the detective said.
Joseph watched the ambulance and five police cars drive off with suspects in the backseat of each one. He was worried they would turn into animals and hurt the officers, but he didn’t know how he could tell anyone that without sounding crazy.
“Man, I don’t know where to start,” he let out a breath. “Johnson and I were on a stakeout, waiting for this illegal shipment of bourbon. We’d been out here a couple of hours when a fishing boat pulled up. When the guys jumped off the boat onto the pier and started unloading the goods, a truck pulled up. Johnson got out to get the plate, and then everything went haywire,” he said, running a hand across the back of his neck, slightly massaging it.
“What does that mean?” Stewart asked, not looking up from the notepad he was writing on.
O’Malley paused and chose his next words carefully. “Well, as soon as Johnson got out of the car, a wolf attacked him,” he said sheepishly, leaving out a couple of details.
The detective looked up from his notepad and simply raised an eyebrow at him.
“Look, I know it sounds crazy, and please don’t refer me to the psych for saying this, but I swear to you, man, as God as my witness, a man jumped off that pier, and in the next blink, he was a wolf, attacking Johnson. Then you guys showed up,” Joseph said.
Stewart looked speculatively at him. “Okay,” was his only response. He scribbled furiously onto his notepad, slapped it closed, and shoved it into his pocket. He lit up and cigarette and stared at Joseph “Is that it?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Joseph said.
The hospital was quiet. Joseph was sitting at Richard’s bedside, doing nothing. He was sad that Richard had no family or friends there to visit. He felt a responsibility to stay by his side. The resident doctor had told Joseph that Richard had sustained tearing injuries to his abdomen and neck. They had done emergency surgery, but he was in critical condition.
Joseph didn’t know what to think; he couldn’t believe how his first night as detective had gone. He also couldn’t get the visions of those photographs out of his mind, the ones of a man seeming to morph into a wolf in front of the camera’s eye. Then he thought of the Feds who apparently had some government agency dedicated to the abnormal things of this world. His mind wandered again, wondering if these supernatural occurrences had something to do with his son, Thomas’s disappearance. He couldn’t deny what he saw. He had seen a man literally turn into a wolf. In front of his eyes. He hadn’t imagined it; there was just no way.
When visiting hours were over, he shuffled out of the hospital and made his way to his car in the parking lot. Joseph was surprised to see a short, heavyset man in a suit leaning up against his car, smoking a cigarette. The man had shiny black hair slicked back neatly and was wearing a trench coat over his suit. Joseph walked over with his hand on his gun, approaching the man slowly.
“What do you want?” he asked the stranger.
“Mr. O’Malley? Joseph O’Malley?” the mysterious man asked.
“Yeah. Who wants to know?”
The man threw his cigarette to the ground and crushed it out with a shiny shoe, blowing smoke out of the side of his mouth. Reaching into the breast pocket of his suit, he produced a badge. “Special Agent Adam Swift with the Bureau of Supernatural Investigation,” he said.
Chapter 9
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
“What do you need my blood for, Sylph? Is this some kind of trick?” Pascal asked.
Angel took her large gun and pressed it into Malina’s ribs. “If you’re trying to pull a fast one, sweetie, remember that I’m still hungry, and you smell like dessert.” She finished by licking her lips.
“It’s no stunt, I assure you, vampire,” sh
e said. “However, you’re going to need to either remove these restraints or move them back to the front. I need the use of my hands.”
“Okay. But if I see you even attempting to call a portal and try to leave out of here, I will eat you, and it won’t be pleasant. Well, not for you anyway. Do I make myself clear?” Pascal was serious and everyone in the room could feel the weight of his words.
Malina just nodded, lightning flashing in her eyes.
“What in the bloody hell is wrong with your eyes, sylph?” Pascal asked. He had never been this close to one before.
Malina ignored him and turned to Lillian when she started to speak.
“I’ll admit, Malina, I too am curious as to what you need vampire blood for,” Lillian said, her interest piqued.
Lillian wondered if this was it. Was she finally going to learn the secret to making Enchantment? Truth be told, she truly enjoyed her job policing the Fae; she had been doing it for eighty-plus years and loved the rush of law enforcement, even if it wasn’t mainstream. She knew that even if she could get the secret to Enchantment’s ingredients, she would still continue to do what she loved. She hated the vampires and shapeshifters, and honestly, she loved having an excuse to kill one. She was beautiful, young-looking, and was damn good at her job. However, what she did didn’t like was being reliant on the sylphs for her bi-decade dose of this magical elixir to keep her immortality. She had always wanted to know the secret ingredients “just in case”… and it looked like she might be getting it now. She suppressed a smile despite herself.
Pascal fished a cuff key from his front trouser pocket and removed the handcuff from one of Malina’s hands. She immediately attempted to bring both hands out front. Angel kept the gun right at Malina’s midsection as she did. With her wrist gripped tightly in Pascal’s cold hand, he brought it around and re-cuffed it to the other hand in the front. Malina then glowered at Angel and pushed the gun away from her ribs in a move a little bolder than usual. She knew she had the upper hand at the moment.