“What are you doing?” he breathed out through puckered cheeks. “Not that I mind,” he mumbled under his breath.
Melinda shot him a look that said undress already.
“Okay, okay. Your wish is my command,” he replied.
Melinda stopped undressing at her underclothes and stood at the edge of the quarry, her toes dangling precariously over the edge of the granite. She glanced over the edge unable to see the bottom, as steam and fog rolled lazily across the surface.
A nervous pit expanded in her chest. What the heck am I doing? her brain begged to know. Standing half-naked next to a perfect stranger... yeah, that’s not the stupidest thing you’ve ever done.
Melinda didn’t know why she felt so comfortable and daring around Riley. She just had a gut instinct that she could trust him. She wondered how many naive women had said that same thing right before a serial killer took them and snuffed out their lives.
Riley stepped up along side her, just a few inches away.
She was unable to stop her gaze from freezing on his nearly naked body. He wore just a pair of form fitting knit boxers. A sudden urge to reach out and touch the tanned skin of his muscular chest nearly broke her balance, sending her plummeting over the granite cliff.
She sucked in a deep pocket of air and ordered him to take hold of her hand.
“Um, why?” he asked, with slight trepidation. “You’re not going to do what I think you’re going to do, are you?” he backed away a few steps.
“Are you afraid of heights?”
“No, but, you can hardly see the water. How do you know what’s down there?”
“I could jump anywhere in this quarry with my eyes closed. Do you trust me?” she asked him again.
Melinda had no idea where this newfound bravery was coming from, but she refused to question it. Adrenaline surged through her body and she didn’t want it to stop. It felt a bit like she had been asleep for a very long time and had just awakened and remembered she had a life to live.
Riley rejoined her, standing so close that their bodies were practically touching.
“Take my hand,” she whispered nervously.
He did so.
Melinda jumped, taking Riley with her. She didn’t even know if he screamed on the way down. All she could hear was the rush of the air flying by and the waterfall crashing onto the water’s surface below.
She felt the cool water bite at her sun-warmed skin as she hit the surface. She plunged underneath, fully submerged, moments later kicking upward, her head popping out of the water.
Riley’s hand was no longer in her own.
“Riley,” she called out. He didn’t answer and she couldn’t see him.
Her heart raced, blood pumping through veins that had been sedentary for years, washing a wave of excitement through her limbs.
Her heartbeat sped up even more as she waited for Riley to surface out of the water. She started to fear he had been injured when she couldn’t find him. It was difficult to see; the fog was thicker than she had expected.
Suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and spun around.
Riley’s cool lips pressed against hers.
The sting of the cold water against her skin and the rushing of blood through her veins was nothing to the electrifying sensation the touch of his lips shot through her body.
Riley pulled away, his breath wavering.
“That was such an amazing rush… I’ve never done anything like it before.”
Melinda could only smile and laugh in reply, almost smiling herself into tears. She had missed so much during her four years of guilt and fear ridden captivity.
I’m not going to skip over my life anymore, she decided, swimming backwards, towards the staircase-like granite shore.
Riley stayed just inches in front of her, his gaze never leaving hers.
Melinda slid the straps of her bra over her shoulders and released the clasp. It floated away with the churning whirlpools created by the falling water. She didn’t want any question as to what she wanted.
Riley got her message loud and clear.
“Your wish is my command,” he whispered seductively.
She slowed when she felt granite beneath her feet and let him join her. Even standing on the granite the water still reached her chest. She stepped back until she felt a cool granite wall against her back.
Riley grabbed the top of the granite wall, drawing his body closer to hers.
“I’ve never met anyone like you,” he said, leaning in, his lips pressing against hers.
“I bet you say that to all the girls,” she replied in a feverish exhale.
“There haven’t been that many,” he returned. “But they were just that. Girls. It’s odd, but I feel like I’ve known you for a long time. Like we were meant to meet. Sorry,” he said with a chuckle. “Even to me that sounded like a lame pick up line.”
Melinda recalled feeling the same way when she’d run into him the evening before. Like destiny had knocked on her door.
“Well, since we’re being lame and cliché, you should know I don’t normally do this sort of thing.”
“And not to meet or beat your cliché, but I usually do date, first,” he said, adding, “If you want to stop, Melinda, we can. The truth is... from the moment I ran into you last night, I haven’t stopped thinking about you. I don’t know how to explain it, but when I looked into your eyes they begged me to love you. To protect you. To please you in every way possible and I’ve had an urge to do just that ever since. And that’s not going to change if you want to stop.” He looked directly into her eyes to be sure there was no doubt.
She glanced down into the water and smirked.
“I didn’t say it would be easy to stop,” he added in a wicked tone.
The heat pooling around her center begged her not to stop. And she didn’t want to stop. She didn’t want to be afraid anymore. She wanted to live in the moment. She wanted to end her years of deprivation.
Riley was a stranger and yet she looked into his eyes and had no doubts.
“I won’t ever do anything you don’t want me to,” he whispered, a slight tremble in his voice. “I want you to know you can trust me, Melinda.”
She wrapped her arms around Riley’s neck, pulling his lips to hers, giving him her answer.
The world disappeared, seeming to roll away with the fogs lifting off the steaming granite. The only thing in existence was she and Riley, now lost to the world, blanketed by heavenly puffs of white.
FOUR
Charlie sat behind the wheel of the jeep, driving, while Michael chatted on the phone with Mack, filling her in on their shapeshifter theory. William sat like a stone in the back seat, focused on the task ahead. He was also using his enhanced hearing and sight to track any movement, as they wound their way through narrow roads of the National Park.
“Hey, ask Mack if she happened to see Melinda while she was out and about today?” Charlie told Michael. He nodded and relayed the question.
“No. Okay. We haven’t seen her since this morning and she left her phone at home. Emily went looking for her, but she just called and said she didn’t find her. We’re getting a bit worried. K, thanks, Mack. See you in a few,” Michael said, hanging up.
“She seen her?” asked Charlie.
“Nope.”
“So help me God if something’s happened to her…”
William inched forward and touched his shoulder. “Focus on the task at hand, Charlie. Control your emotions.”
Charlie nodded. William was right. He could not afford to lose control. But of all the days for Melinda to run off...
“Here’s the turn,” Michael pointed out.
Charlie pulled the jeep off the road and parked.
“Mack said she’d meet us just over the hill.”
“How is she planning to explain our arrival at a crime scene?” asked William.
“It’s Mack, she’ll think up something,” said Michael.
Just then, an exh
aust backfired as a hefty cargo van pulled up alongside them. The man behind the wheel waved, smiled and kept driving up the road.
“Police vehicle?” asked Michael.
“I smell human food,” William noted.
“Mack,” the brothers said simultaneously.
Sure enough, as they approached the hill, they saw the driver get out and prop open a door, proceeding to set up a few tables. They heard Mack shout “Lunch” and watched as everyone at the crime scene eagerly made their way to the truck. As they gathered, Mack gave a short speech.
“I just want to thank all of you for your hard work today. I know this hasn’t been an easy one. So let’s all take a much needed break, have some food, some coffee, and then we’ll get back at it, okay?”
Mack walked to the other side of the van where Charlie, Michael and William waited just in the woods, out of sight.
“Keep hidden as much as possible,” she advised. “You’ve safely got twenty, maybe thirty minutes. My guys get antsy to get back to work pretty quickly,” she added proudly.
Charlie tossed her a half-hearted salute and they headed toward the crime scene. They kept to the edges of the wood line until out of sight of Mack’s team.
They saw the body, a bloody sheet wrapped over it.
William suddenly gagged, a low hiss echoing in his throat, his fangs dropping.
Horrified by his reaction he spun around, trying to hide it. But the brothers had already seen. “Too much blood,” he admitted, forcing his fangs to retract.
“Maybe there’s more than one monster in the house that cannot handle his poison, after all,” Charlie mumbled sardonically.
“I’ll go do a perimeter sweep and check the out-skirting areas,” William retorted flatly.
“We’ll meet you back at the jeep,” Michael said as the vampire sped off in a daze, leaving behind a whirlwind of dried leaves and forest debris.
“Does William seem a little off his game lately?” asked Michael.
“Have any of us been on our game lately?” Charlie countered.
Michael could not argue the sentiment and supposed the vampire was allowed to have a bad day now and then, too.
Charlie and Michael proceeded to creep around the crime scene, looking for anything the werewolf, and possible shapeshifter, might have left behind.
“Why don’t I just do a death reading?” suggested Michael.
“I don’t know, it’s going to be a vicious thing to watch, and chances are you won’t see anything more than we already know.”
“Believe me! I don’t like the idea either, but what if I can see something helpful? I think it’s worth trying. We’re running out of options. And time.”
“Okay,” agreed Charlie. “But if it gets too intense, stop.”
Michael sat next to the body and reached out his arm. He flexed his hand, preparing himself.
Charlie didn’t like it. Michael’s ability could come in handy, but what a terrible magical inheritance. A witness to death. Sometimes he thought he understood how magic worked and sometimes he felt like he didn’t understand anything. His parents had always told him that magic worked in mysterious ways, and would provide the gifts it saw fit for the times ahead. And that those gifts could grow and change with time and need.
Charlie himself had never been bestowed any extra magical gifts. He assumed this was due to the extra passenger he already carried, that somehow the wolf negated a need, or perhaps didn’t allow the space for anything extra.
Michael touched the body.
Charlie tensed, watching his brother’s eyes rolling behind closed lids.
The reading ended abruptly when Michael pulled his hand away from the body.
“Too much?” asked Charlie.
“No. Too little,” Michael answered, confused.
“What do you mean?”
“This guy didn’t die at the hands of a wolf. He died after being in a coma for a year. Just slipped away, peacefully.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No. It doesn’t.” Michael got up and paced for a minute. “I think this was a set up, Charlie.”
“Why do you say that?”
“The man was in the hospital when he died. I couldn’t see anyone else around. No family or friends. But I recognized his face.”
“Who was he?”
“A John Doe. Remember that tourist who fell off a cliff last summer? Was here alone and Mack couldn’t track down his identity, and no missing persons reports were ever filed.”
“This is him?”
“Yeah. He never woke up from the coma. Which means someone did this to him after he died.”
“It’s a message. For me,” whispered Charlie. “The wolf wanted me to know he was here.”
“I’d wager you’re right.”
Charlie didn’t know what to make of it.
“What if it wasn’t just a message, but a distraction?” asked Charlie.
“That’s a disturbing thought.”
“Yeah. And probably wrong. But...” Charlie trailed off, a terrible feeling nagging at his insides.
“I’ll go talk to Mack,” offered Michael. “You find William.”
“Okay. Meet you at the jeep in a few.”
Charlie found William already waiting by the jeep.
“Anything?” he asked.
“Yeah we did, how about you?”
“Nothing of any value. A few wolf hairs, but we already know a wolf was here.”
“A wolf might have been here, but the body was dead before it was brought here.” Charlie went on, explaining what Michael had seen.
“Interesting. A message telling you that he, the wolf, is on the Isle, but possibly also a distraction, bringing us here. And away from what?”
“Melinda?” This was Charlie’s only concern.
William’s face turned stoic, getting that deep in thought look.
“I do not think so,” he said after a moment.
“Can you be sure?”
The vampire hesitated in answering. He wanted to be correct, but he didn’t know if he could trust his instincts today. He felt off. And if he wasn’t so afraid to leave Charlie on his own, he’d be scouring the Isle searching for Melinda to be sure she was safe.
Michael appeared.
“Told Mack. No idea how she’s going to handle this one. But now that she knows what happened she can sort all that out. Did you find anything William?”
“No. And Charlie filled me in on your findings.”
“We were just discussing possible motives,” added Charlie.
“If it was a distraction, and not just a message, you mean?” said Michael.
“Yes. My thoughts were Melinda.”
“You think it’s keeping us out here and away from her?” asked Michael.
Charlie puffed out his cheeks. “William doesn’t think so and I guess... I guess I don’t think that either. It wouldn’t make any sense. How would the wolf even know she wasn’t with us?”
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s it either, but it would be awfully nice to figure out where the hell she is.”
“Let’s just keep moving. We’ve got one more stop to make.”
Charlie hopped behind the wheel, eager to get to their next destination: the old tree with the tunnel entrance underneath. The tunnel where most likely, their mother’s body still lay.
The sun slipped behind a cloud and the forest suddenly appeared much darker than it should. The old tree grew close to a riverbank, and as they drove closer, fog started to roll across the road. Charlie stopped and parked.
“Do you hear anything nearby, William?” Michael asked.
William closed his eyes and allowed his ears to listen for any abnormal sounds.
Birds, river, fish jumping in the river, bugs and insects buzzing, and… footsteps.
“There is someone close,” he warned, trying to better tune into the sound. “Humming. A woman. A hiker walking through.”
“Let’s go then,” s
aid Charlie. Michael and William followed.
They approached the area apprehensively.
“It’s too bad I couldn’t see or hear how Mom and Dad opened the tunnel,” Michael confided to Charlie and William.
“Can’t deny that would be helpful,” agreed Charlie. “But we’ll manage.”
They came over the crest of a hill and stopped, gazing at the ravine below. Right next to the river was the old tree. It stood no taller than the surrounding trees, but was easily twice as wide and had many roots that shot out of the ground, winding around the base.
“I remember coming here,” Charlie muttered. “I was so little. I think the last time we came here I couldn’t have been older than…”
“Eight,” William answered for him. “You were but eight years old. Michael was five, and Meghan was but a toddler of three.” He looked at them, then. “I have many fond memories of this place.”
“It’s a shame they’ve been ruined now by bad memories,” said Charlie.
“Yes, well. Shall we?” William sauntered down, standing in front of the tree. Charlie and Michael came up alongside him.
“How will we get in?” Michael asked in a pained voice.
“Just like your mother and father,” answered William. “One spell at a time. One attempt at a time. Until something finally works.”
They spent the next few minutes meandering around the area, looking for any obvious magical clues. Things that a non-magical person would mistake for an ancient symbol, or artwork, or some supernatural sign that meant something to the Howard's, but again, they were striking out.
There was to be no easy way to get inside.
In fact, there was nothing remotely magical or supernatural surrounding the tree at all.
Michael took out his crystal, hoping against hope that it would at least point them in the right direction, to find something. He let the crystal spin in his hand, but it never stopped and never lit up. He frustratingly threw the crystal to the ground.
William dashed and picked it up, gently placing it back in his hand. “Don’t worry, Michael. If this is truly the way to the Isle’s power source, it will take more than a crystal to open this door.”
Witches of The Demon Isle Box Set, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 Page 14