by C. J. Pinard
“Sure,” he replied. “Be right back. Order whatever you’d like,” Jonathan said to Sheena.
She smiled and watched him walk off.
Sheena had no idea who Adam Swift was. She knew nothing of the BSI then, as it was still in its early stages. She knew of the Immortals and the sylphs, but still had no clue Jonathan was one.
Jonathan and Adam entered the men’s room. Adam peeked under the stall doors to make sure they were alone, then turned to Jonathan. “Pardon my candor, but what are you doing with that woman?”
Jonathan looked confused. “What do you mean?”
Adam took his derby off his head and wiped his sweaty brow with a handkerchief he had pulled from his jacket pocket. “You know that little minx you’re having dinner with is a shifter, right?”
“Shifter? What’s that?” Jonathan feigned ignorance.
Adam stared at him for a minute, then said, “You can cut the crap. Bianchi told me what you people are.”
“Oh,” Jonathan said sheepishly. “Well he wasn’t supposed to.”
Adam smiled. “Trust me, it’s not a big deal, and I most certainly haven’t reported you people to the BSI. As far as I’m concerned, as long as you keep that trash off the streets, you’re all fine by me.”
“Good. We appreciate it. Why did Bianchi tell you anyway?” Jonathan asked, genuinely curious now.
Adam laughed. “I wouldn’t stop hounding him to help me figure out how I knew your friend, Thomas. It was bugging the living shit outta me.”
“Ah, well I guess you figured it out then,” Jonathan said, shaking his head.
“Yeah, but whatever. Back to your shifter, you need to stay away from her.”
Jonathan laughed this time. “She’s not a shifter! She’s a dancer I picked up in a gentlemen’s club last week. She’s harmless.”
Adam fixed him with a serious stare. “I can assure you she is most definitely a shapeshifter. A panther, to be precise.”
“How do you know this?”
“I’ve been following her around for a couple of weeks. Why do you think I’m in here by myself? I saw her come here with you, I just didn’t recognize you in the dark parking lot,” Adam replied.
Jonathan ran his hand through his hair and blew out a breath.
“Tell me something, Mr. Murphy, has she asked you to do anything strange? Do you feel anything for her?”
Jonathan turned his head. “Well, she did ask me to rough up her boss a couple of days ago, and I said I would. But the next day when she was out, I decided that was a very stupid idea and wondered why I’d even agreed to it. Figured I was just pussy-whooped. No pun intended.” He laughed.
Adam shook his head.
“And admittedly, I have fallen for her pretty quickly. Which isn’t my style,” Jonathan added thoughtfully.
Adam let out a small, humorless laugh. “Want to know why?”
Jonathan just stared at him and nodded.
“Well, I am pretty sure female shifters – and that one in particular – have the power to hypnotize people.”
CHAPTER 18
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
“One room, please,” Joshua said as he slapped down a fifty dollar bill to the clerk working at the fleabag motel he and Smith found themselves in.
The bored teen, barely taking his eyes off his tiny television, reached up behind him and grabbed a brass key off a hook and dropped it down on the counter.
“Thanks,” said Joshua. Then, eyeing the fifty dollar bill, added, “Keep the change.”
They headed to the second floor and opened the door to the small room, which boasted two full-sized beds.
“We hang out here, and at dusk tomorrow, we are going to get us some cash and more guns, then we are out of here.”
“More guns?” Smith asked.
Joshua pulled a 9 millimeter pistol out from his waistband. “I always keep this under the seat of the Towncar while I’m driving.”
Smith eyed the gun, then went back to pacing on the ugly, dirty carpet. “Why do you think Pascal is pissed at us?” he asked.
Joshua said, “He knows I slept with Angel, and I’m pretty sure Bryan told him.”
Smith’s eyes got big. “I don’t think Bryan would do that. We made a pact we’d never tell anyone about what we saw that night when we accidentally walked in on you guys.”
Joshua shook his head. “Yeah, well Pascal can be very persuasive. He gets what he wants. And it almost always involves violence.”
∞∞∞
Thomas and Malina spent most of the day in bed at her apartment. Their appointment with Dom was at five p.m., so they eventually got dressed and headed toward downtown in Thomas’s BMW.
The door chimed above the barred glass door as they entered Dom’s Jewels. A large, middle-aged man with a friendly face, wearing gold rings and a cheap suit greeted them. He clasped his hands together and smiled.
“Ah, Mr. O’Malley, so good to see you!” he put out a hand over the glass-cased counter.
Thomas shook his proffered hand.
“And who is this vision of beauty?” Dom asked.
“This is Malina, my fiancée. Malina, this is Dom,” Thomas said.
She dipped her head at him but kept her hands folded in front of her. “Pleased to meet you, Dom.”
“Okay, let me see this beautiful piece of jewelry,” Dom said, holding his hand out.
Malina put her dainty left hand up to the counter.
Dom whistled through his teeth. “That’s a beaut, Mr. O’Malley. Good choice.” He pulled a jewel magnifier from the pocket of his suit and examined the stone up close. “May I take it off your finger?”
Malina nodded and he pulled it gently off her finger, holding the stone up to the light to examine it further. After about a minute, he put the magnifier back in his pocket and said, “Perfect stone, indeed!”
Just then, the bell above the door chimed again and when Thomas saw who it was, he shook his head and said, “Oh, crap.”
∞∞∞
San Francisco – 1951
Jonathan stormed out of the bathroom and stalked over to his table. He stood and glared down at Sheena.
She looked up at him and smiled. “Hi, Johnny.”
He continued to glare at her, then finally said quietly through his teeth, “Get your shapeshifting ass out of this restaurant, before I rip your head off.”
To say Sheena was shocked would be an understatement. She sat motionless, staring at him.
“You deaf, little witch?” Jonathan asked.
She rose from her seat and got within six inches of his face. Agent Swift had told him not to look into her eyes so he kept his gaze fixed on the bridge of her nose.
She ran a finger down his chest. “You can call me whatever you want, Johnny, but admit it. You’ve never had better. And you never will.”
He froze as she planted a kiss on his cheek then slunk out of the restaurant.
Agent Swift came over and reached up and put a hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. “Sit, my friend.”
They both took seats at the table and Adam lit a cigarette, visibly relaxing as the nicotine hit his bloodstream. “I’m sorry, man. I know she’s a shifter, but she is pretty.”
Jonathan just stared blankly at him and nodded.
“Look, don’t feel bad. There’s no way to know they’re shifters unless you either see them shift or they tell you. I’ve been following that one around for days. She has a mate, you know.”
Jonathan, who had been gazing off at nothing in the restaurant, snapped his eyes over to Adam. “A mate? What do you mean?”
“A wolf. His name is Seth. He’s from Portland, but recently moved here to San Francisco. I’ve been tracking them for a couple of weeks. I got some super pictures of them about a week ago in the Sutro Forest – but they started getting it on after they shifted back into human form.”
Jonathan gave a disgusted look. “Damn.”
“Tell me abou
t it. I high-tailed it out of there after they started that shit.”
Jonathan just shook his head.
Adam took a long drag off his cigarette and stared at Jonathan. He blew smoke out of the side of his mouth then set it down on the ashtray. “Look, these shapshifters are crafty. You remember that escape from Alcatraz in 1937 that made the news around here?”
“Yes. I was living in L.A. at the time, but it made the front page of the L.A. Times.”
Adam grinned. “Do you know they never found ol’ Theodore Cole or Ralph Roe? Officials presumed they drowned. But the BSI has other theories.”
Jonathan had started to eat his now-cold fish dinner but the fork stopped mid-bite. “Really? Such as?”
Adam tapped an ash as he picked the cigarette back up. “The BSI wasn’t around back then, but there were groups of rogue ‘supernatural bounty hunters’ for lack of a better term. They had been well aware of the existence of shifters and vampires, and used to follow them, document them, and study them. A few were even killed by these rogues.
“Cole and Roe were imprisoned at Alcatraz because they had prior escape attempts at other prisons. They were both bank robbers, not too bright to begin with, but when these rogues did some background research, they found their roots traced back to shapeshifter communities. They believed as shifters, they can detect other shifters and quickly became friends while incarcerated.”
Jonathan said, “Wow.”
“Yes,” Agent Swift said. He turned around and signaled the waitress for a drink. “We have no proof, of course, but we truly believe that both inmates shifted into some sort of sea mammal, perhaps a dolphin, seal, or sea lion, and simply swam away. Their bodies were never discovered.”
Jonathan stared at him. “Well. That sure is a hard pill to swallow.”
Adam laughed. “Tell me about it. But every other inmate who attempted escape drowned – their bodies were found.”
“Okay, but where are they now then, if they escaped?” Jonathan asked.
“Who knows? Those bastards are immortal. They could be anywhere.”
Jonathan shook his head. They were both quiet for a few minutes. Then Jonathan asked, “So, you talk to Anthony Bianchi lately?”
CHAPTER 19
∞∞∞
Portland, Oregon – Present Day
When Joshua and Smith failed to return from their supposed liquor check of the stockroom, the bartender informed Mike that the two had left a while ago. He and Pascal spent the night calling both Smith’s and Joshua’s cell phones but they never answered. They also drove around the city for a while looking for the Towncar, but had no luck. Once dawn started to break, they had to give up the search and go home.
By dusk the next day, after everyone was up and fed, Pascal found Bryan sitting in his room watching TV. “Get your arse up and follow me.”
Bryan obeyed, and as they passed Mike’s room, he too was ordered to follow and they both trailed Pascal to his home office, where he turned on the laptop.
As soon as it was completely booted up, Pascal looked at Bryan and pointed at the computer. “Find Joshua’s cell phone GPS signal. It should work, I pay the cellular provider extra for that shit,” Pascal ordered.
“Yes, sir.”
Bryan found the program, and after a few keystrokes, a map popped up with a red blinking dot and Bryan pointed at it. “It says they’re on 149th Avenue downtown.”
“Let’s go,” Pascal said, pulling the car keys out of his pocket and throwing them to Mike. “You drive.”
“Yes, boss,” Mike replied.
“And you,” he said to Bryan, “unplug that thing and bring it with you.”
Pascal told Angel he was leaving, then he and the other two went out to the garage and piled into his Mercedes.
∞∞∞
As soon as dusk hit, Joshua and Smith checked out of their motel and drove a few blocks and parked the Towncar on the street.
“What’s this place?” Smith asked, pointing to Dom’s Jewels.
“It says ‘Jewels’ but trust me, it’s a pawn shop. I’m gonna buy a few guns in here, then we’re gonna skip town.”
Smith shrugged and said, “Okay. Let’s go.”
They exited the car, looked both ways, and crossed the street. As they entered Dom’s, the bell above the door chimed and Joshua stopped dead in his tracks and swore.
Malina let out an audible gasp when she saw the two vampires.
“What are you doing in here, Joshua?” Thomas asked.
∞∞∞
Bryan pulled out his smartphone and turned on the Wi-Fi hotspot feature to keep an active Internet connection for the laptop as they drove. The blinking dot on the map held steady as they drew closer to its destination.
Once they reached 149th, they slowed down until they spotted the Towncar.
“There’s the car, sir,” Mike said, pointing to it.
“Indeed,” Pascal replied, looking up and down the street. “Well, there aren’t a lot of places on this street they could be in except that liquor store, that jewelry store, or that check-cashing place. We’ll split up. Mike, you take the liquor store, Bryan, you check the check-cashing place, and I’ll take the jeweler’s. Meet back in here in five minutes,” Pascal ordered.
“Yes, sir,” the other two answered.
Joshua yanked the gun from his waistband and aimed it at Malina, but looked at Thomas. “Listen, Roadrunner, if I see you so much as twitch like you’re gonna make a move, I will blow your fairy’s head off,” Joshua said, sneering.
Thomas put his hands up in mock surrender.
Dom discreetly pushed the silent alarm under the counter and also put his hands up.
Joshua narrowed his eyes at Malina. “Well, what do we have here… the little bitch who destroyed Darius. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”
Smith heard a car door slam. He turned around to look out the window and spotted Pascal’s Mercedes and the three vampires exiting it.
“Uh, Joshua, we have company,” he said, nudging Joshua in the ribs.
Joshua turned around and swore when he saw who it was. He turned back around and walked quickly toward Malina and grabbed her by the arm, keeping the gun on Thomas. He looked at Malina and said, “Open one of your portal thingies right now.”
“Don’t do it, Malina, I’m begging you,” Thomas pled.
“Shut the hell up!” Joshua screamed, looking behind him, seeing Pascal walking slowly closer to the store.
“Do it now, or you and everyone in here dies!”
An ear-piercing pop rang out and a bullet whizzed past Joshua’s head and imbedded itself into the plaster in the wall behind him. He looked up and saw Dom holding a small .22 caliber handgun, and without hesitation, he shot Dom in the chest twice. He moved the gun at lightning speed and shot Thomas in the chest, who fell to the ground with a thud, unconscious.
Malina watched all of this transpire in what felt like slow motion. The large Dom fell to the ground with a thud, his eyes rolling back in his head and his gun tumbling from his hands. It landed with a loud clank on the glass case, cracking it. Then her head whipped around to see her fiancé be jerked back by the impact of the gun and falling in a crumpled heap, eyes closed, not moving.
When she finally found her breath, she screamed in horror.
Pascal heard the shriek and ran toward the store’s entrance.
Joshua put the gun to her head and whispered in her ear. “Portal now, bitch, or you’re next! Or perhaps you’d like to wait for Pascal to get here and drain you?”
Malina was beside herself, staring at Thomas on the ground, tears pouring down her face. She was sobbing and yelling for Joshua to let go of her so she could see if Thomas was still breathing; but his grip was just too tight.
But.
The last time she was kidnapped by Pascal, she vowed she would never be manipulated like that again. Her backup plan began to slowly drift through the grief in her brain – like fog clearing off a San Francisco
pier – as she knew this day would come again. She looked up at Joshua and Smith with red-rimmed eyes that flashed with lightning. Sniffling loudly, wiped her face with her hand, then threw it in the air.
A shimmering doorway appeared just as Pascal entered the store. He surveyed the scene: Two still bodies on the floor, a lot of blood, an open portal, and Joshua, Smith, and the purple sylph stepping through it.
“NO!” he cried, running toward them. He dove for the portal but it closed on him.
Malina knew that just because it’s early evening on the western seaboard of the United States doesn’t mean it’s nighttime in other parts of the world.
As the portal opened in the middle of Thar Desert in India, the morning sun was shining brightly. They all stumbled out of the portal and into the sand, falling down hard. Malina then quickly raised her arm and closed the portal, got up, and started running awkwardly through the sand.
Then the screaming started.
Joshua and Smith were both screaming uncontrollably, their skin smoking and turning red. Malina stopped running and turned around, staring at the vampires as the smoke quickly turned to fire and began to consume them both. She looked away and covered her ears with her hands. Their screams suddenly stopped and they both turned gray, crumbled, then turned to dust, mixing in with the sand and blowing away along the Great Indian Desert.
All that was left was their clothes, which were also blowing away. Malina picked up Joshua’s shirt, which was edged black with singe marks, and grabbed his gun. She lifted her hand to call her portal back. She wiped her tears and frowned as she knew she may not find Thomas alive when she returned.
∞∞∞
San Francisco – 1951
Thomas returned from Island Duty a few weeks after Jonathan’s little indiscretion with the panther. Jonathan had contemplated whether or not he was going to tell Thomas about it, and decided not to.