by J. G. Massie
The big man slumped his shoulders, his sleepy eyes rolling downward. “As far as I know, I am the last werewolf in the world,” he rumbled. “It has been many years since I’ve heard from, or seen, any of my kind.”
“Oh, Mandla, I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching up to rest my hand on his broad shoulder. I almost asked him what happened, but the last thing I wanted to do was bring back any bad memories.
He looked down at me with those big, soft, teddy bear eyes and managed a reasonably honest smile. “Don’t be. What’s done is done. Besides, at least I still have a purpose. Until now, serving the madam...” Still smiling, he shook his head. “Serving Lindsey...has been an honor and a privilege. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
“But she warned me more than once that this day was coming, the day when her life would take on a whole new meaning. She told me that when the Keepers rose from the ashes, she would willingly release me from her service if that was what I wished.” He slipped an arm around my waist, and the gentle half hug was enough to easily lift me off the ground. “Of course I told her to stick it! I’ve chosen my path, so neither one of you is going to get rid of me that easy. I now serve you as faithfully as I ever served her.”
“Lucky me!” I grunted, my compressed lungs burning for air. In a less than subtle effort, I managed to squirm my way free from Mandla’s death grip. Another minute of the big man’s love and I was done for.
Huffing and puffing like I just ran a marathon, I decided to head down below to see how my naval navigators were doing. Maybe we could make a living sailing the high seas as pirates. Hey, it was something to consider after I saved the world. Hobbies are important...
With a desperate flinch, I barely managed to duck as a flash of steel zipped just over the top of my head. Man, Lindsey sure knew how to hide in plain sight when she wanted to. Seriously, was everyone on this boat trying to kill me? “Feel like a little sparring?” she asked, that gleam in her eye telling me she was in a mood to play hard.
“I think you did that in the wrong order,” I grunted, fingers probing the top of my head. I was sure she probably nipped off more than a few hairs. “I’m supposed to agree to sparring with you, then you try to take my head off.” She shrugged away my reasoning, obviously not concerned with such minor details. “And no, I’m not really feeling it today.”
“Are you sure?” She gave her blade a twirl, as if that little flourish would somehow change my mind. “Isaac is driving the boat, so we have a little free time to sharpen up.”
“Nope, I’m good.” Stepping around and past her, I finally found a spot where I could be alone. It wasn’t that my blade skills couldn’t use a little sharpening, they just weren’t the weakest part of my game right now. Not by a long shot.
Hunched over on a stool, I glared into the palm of my hand. It was hard trying to achieve something, while at the same time actively trying not to focus on it. It just felt strange and counterintuitive, a cryptic method with no rhyme or reason. When it felt like I was pushing too hard, I backed off. And when it seemed like I was just staring at my own hand, which was the case most of the time, I turned it up a notch. But no matter what I did, that magical happy medium was nowhere to be found.
Come on, come on... I know you’re in there. Oh, why does everything have to be so hard for me?
Growing impatient, I started pushing hard, much harder than before. I knew I wasn’t supposed to, but nothing else seemed to be working. So why not? I glared into my palm and visualized a flicker of flame dancing about. I had tried this several times already, but by this time I was actually getting angry. Fire, yes, a little fire would do nicely. Like Turner pointed out, it was angry and impulsive...just like me. I could see it in my mind, roaring, consuming enough oxygen to drain the whole area of air in a single rush.
Flames. Flames, damn you! I demand it!
My mind flared, swirling with a dangerous combination of anger, frustration, and fiery thoughts. I would have taken anything at that moment, a spark, a flicker of light, anything. But what I got was much more than I bargained for.
An explosion of pain shot down my arm as it suddenly burst into flames.
The pain was so great that I couldn’t even scream. Unable to think, consumed by agony, I flailed my arm around like a torch in a blind panic. Trails of ash and coiled black smoke traced the air, the scent of my own burnt flesh adding to the nightmare that was too horrible to be real. Cutting through the shock, pushing past the white-hot pain for just a fleeting moment, I managed to unleash a scream fit to shatter crystal.
Apparently my flaming arm wasn’t enough to grab anyone’s attention, but my blood-curdling scream certainly did the trick. The boat stalled, and everyone down below came rushing up and toward me. Being the first to arrive, Turner tackled me like a linebacker and pinned me down with his knees on my shoulders. Thrashing about, all I knew was pain, and I would do anything to make it stop.
The agony was so great, I thought I just might lose my mind. “Cut it off!” I shrieked. It was a blind, senseless plea brought on by pure desperation. I knew what it was like to get burned, burned badly in fact. But this was altogether different, a magical agony that knew no bounds. Illogical as it was, I really wanted someone to cut my arm off. As bad as that sounded, there was simply no way the pain could be worse than this.
“Stand back!” Turner ordered as he struggled to hold me down. I wasn’t really trying to fight back against him. My endless thrashing was just a primal instinct. As his hands shifted over to pin down one shoulder, I felt an icy rush shimmer up my arm. I blinked through my tears and saw his eyes flare with light, an icy blue that made him look like some kind of snow demon.
The pain wasn’t really gone, just different now. It went from an endless searing burn to a numbing ache like holding a snowball in your bare hands for too long. His eyes flared a second time, the ice blue changing to a flash of dark forest green. I didn’t want to look, but I could actually hear the flesh of my arm sewing itself back together. It was a gruesome crackling sound, much like someone walking across gravel.
The pain finally began to subside. Left behind was a lingering dull ache which was a massive relief compared to what it felt like just moments ago. My lungs expanded sharply with a rush of crisp air. Impossible to believe I had been holding my breath this entire time, but that was what it seemed like. Lying there, I could feel my pulse pounding in my temples as my heart rate started to slow. “Traumatized” wasn’t even the word.
Turner rolled off me, but when I tried to sit up, a wave of dizziness stopped me far short of that goal. That’s when I noticed Isaac kneeling down beside me. “I’m here for you,” was all he said. I knew he must be bursting with a thousand questions, but knew better than to ask any of them. What I needed now was support. When I was ready to talk about how the hell I managed to burn myself up, he would be ready to listen. In the meantime...
“Leave us,” Turner grunted, his unfeeling stare fixed on me like a vulture. Now that the immediate danger had been avoided, he no longer had to hide his frustration. Frustration? No, he was downright pissed! “I said leave us,” he repeated. Although his voice was softer the second time, the words carried a lot more weight. It was clear he wasn’t going to ask again.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Isaac said, taking my hand in his before rocking back to sit down. “Not until I know what the hell just hap—”
“Isaac, it’s okay,” I said, raising the back of his hand up to my cheek. I kissed it softly before reluctantly letting it go. “This time Turner is right, he and I need a minute alone.” His expression unreadable, he hesitated a moment before rising. He left without protest.
“What the hell was that?” Despite his quick accusation, Turner gently helped me back to my feet.
I gasped. “How is this my fault?”
“Well, it didn’t just happen on its own,” he pressed. “What were you trying to do? You could have killed yourself. In fact, if I hadn’t heard your screams, you would have d
ied for sure.”
“I didn’t do it on purpose, you idiot!” I yanked my hand away from his and began nervously smoothing the front of my shirt. “Still...” I muttered under my breath, knowing I would have to swallow my pride on this one. “I know I owe you my life. Thank you for saving me.” Oh, man, that hurt! “I was just trying to practice when—” My shoulders shook with an uncontrollable shiver. “I just can’t understand why I can’t make it work the way you can.”
“From now on you will practice only under my supervision! Is that understood?” I lowered my eyes and bobbed my head. What could I say? Even I wasn’t stubborn enough to deny such clear common sense. I didn’t dare try this alone again. “Good.” He softened his tone. “And as far as why you can’t seem to tame the energy...” He shook his head, planting his hands on his hips. “I’m afraid we might be dealing with some sort of mental block.”
“Mental block?” I mirrored his stance, hands on my hips as I flexed the fingers on my newly constructed arm. It was still hard to believe how much agony I was in just a few moments ago, and now it was good as new. “That doesn’t make any sense. I’m not resisting the power, I’m trying to draw it in.”
“You’re trying to control it,” he corrected, tapping a finger against his chin. “And the problem is that it doesn’t work that way. Easier to try and control a raging river, because that’s more or less what nature’s power is. Wild, elusive, it’s not the sort of thing that one controls. And like a raging river, you can only guide small sections at a time, a mere fraction of its total force and only if you’re lucky. Even the most powerful Keeper could never hope to do more than that.”
“But at first I couldn’t even create so much as a tiny spark,” I reasoned. “Then poof!” I threw my hands in the air. “Just like that I became a human torch. Why did it suddenly jump from one extreme to another?”
“Because you don’t respect it,” Turner bluntly pointed out. I opened my mouth to protest, but then thought better of it. Closing my big mouth, I simply took a deep breath and leaned back against the rail. Turner had been a Keeper a lot longer than I had. Better to listen to what he had to say.
“It’s true.” He nodded, taking up a spot next to me. “The power rejected you originally, then flooded you when you pressed too hard. The way I see it, it might have been a warning of sorts.”
“So how do I proceed?” I asked, a bit shaken by all this. My other skills had been attained through hard work and practice. But this whole magic thing was a totally different animal. I was downright scared of it.
“Very carefully,” Turner said, patting me on the shoulder. “And never when you’re alone. Don’t worry, together you and I will tame this beast.”
“Land!” I heard Margie shout from below deck. “I see land up ahead.” Turner and I hopped up off the rail and streaked to the front of the boat. Sure enough, we could see a tropical island emerging through the thick fog.
“Shifter island,” I whispered to myself. We finally made it.
Chapter 12
The closer we got, the more mesmerized I became from the beautiful scenery. The endless jungle was like a tropical paradise, dense with leafy palm trees as far as the eye could see. There were even patches of coconut and banana trees scattered here and there.
White and gold fish swam near the boat, nipping at small bugs and tiny bits of algae as they circled about. The water was so clear, I could see all the way down to the bottom. The sea floor was covered with rounded rocks smoothed by years of moving water, along with a speckling of colored sea shells and tiny fish with translucent bodies. No matter where I looked, everything seemed to be teeming with life and busting with beauty.
“Hey, Isaac?” He looked down at me. Those dark pools almost made me forget what I was going to ask. But I managed to shake off his spell—barely. “Why was the shifters’ island so much easier to approach than Darkeum Cove? I figured we would have to jump through flaming hoops again, anything from answering a genie’s questions to putting on a musical play.”
“Not exactly.” Isaac laughed. “Autumn pond Isle is a bit more friendly than that other place that shall not be named. The reason is simple enough. The shifters are neutral. And I mean truly and utterly neutral as far as all the other creatures of the underworld are concerned. With no natural enemies, there is really no reason to surround themselves with magical protections and such.”
As we rolled up onto the beach, I started wondering if we were the ones who might need some protection. Cats... Large cats dotted the beach, everything from cheetahs to tigers stalking about while glaring at our boat full of fresh meat. And more were coming with each passing second. No doubt they had some primal way of communicating to each other without making a sound.
Suddenly, a tiger roared, its bellowing howl echoing about like a blast of thunder.
Okay, so maybe their communication isn’t as silent as I originally thought...
After the roar even more started appearing—leopards, mountain lions, jaguars, and more. Every kind of wild cat I had ever seen, as well as some I couldn’t identify at all, had practically flooded the beach in a matter of seconds, and still they kept coming. My fear was that they would attack first and ask questions later.
But even if they had, I’m not sure I would have blamed them. Everywhere humans went, they seemed to have a knack for destroying things. Why should this time be any different? But they seemed content just to stalk the beach while keeping a close eye on us. The real question was did they see us as allies or snacks? Odds seemed about 50/50 to me...
A second roar echoed through the forest. As far as I knew, it was answering the first, possibly confirming that the whole island was now aware of our arrival. Or possibly just letting everyone know it was dinnertime. Again...50/50.
The back line of trees started to rattle and sway, sending shaken leaves spiraling down across the sand. Someone or something was charging in like a rampaging rhino. My brain and eyes could hardly get on the same page as the galloping black shadow appeared, then closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye. Unable to move or think, I held my breath as it leapt into the air like a bird.
It all happened so fast.
I threw my hands up at the last second, bracing for the impact that was sure to crush me. Its body shifted in mid-flight, shrinking down as blonde pigtails with red and white beads flapped like little flags. Wearing nothing but a smile, Amber landed on top of me and we both went sprawling across the deck.
*Muah...muah...muah*
The smothering of kisses, along with occasional licks thrown in due simply to primal impulse, had me laughing uncontrollably. “Am-Amber.” *Kiss...lick...kiss...kiss* “Amber, s-stop, p-please! Amber.” This naked girl was loading me up with juicy affection. It was all kinds of wrong, yet I still couldn’t stop laughing. “Am-Amber!”
Margie came running over with a blanket and slapped it over her as if she were on fire. “Have a little dignity, girl!” She glanced down at me and winked as she lifted Amber away. “Or...if you’re going to do a porn shoot right here, at least pay Tessa the going rate.”
“Oh, I missed you guys. Missed you missed you sooooo much!” Amber squealed, still hanging from Margie’s bear hug as she kicked her feet like a toddler. Strange how her animal form was so mighty and powerful, yet her human form was so tiny and frail. “Missed you, missed you, missed yooou.”
“We missed you too, Amber.” I approached her again, hands up and ready in case I needed to fend off another love assault. “So much has happened. I can’t wait to tell you everything that hap—” I couldn’t help but notice that her fellow shifters didn’t seem to share in her enthusiasm. In fact, they looked downright pissed. Oh, right. Forgot about them. Some had shifted back into their humanoid form. Despite being naked as jaybirds, it was their angry expressions that really had my attention.
“Um, is there something you want to tell us?” I asked, unable to ignore the beach full of angry glares. “Why do your friends look so pis
sed? And why does it seem like all their pissedness is directed at us?”
“Oh. Right. That...” Amber’s nervous laugh spoke volumes. “Er...no. No, they aren’t mad at...um...any of you.”
“God, you’re a worse liar than I am.” I rolled my eyes.
“Okay. Okay. Maybe they’re just a teensy weensy little bit...sort of...somewhat...moderately annoyed—”
“Amber!”
“Okay, they’re pissed.”
Okay, now we’re getting somewhere. “But why? Didn’t you tell them who we are? I mean, that’s why you came all the way back here, isn’t it?”
“Well...” Clasping her hands behind the back of her head, she began swaying from side to side in a nervous dance. “I tried to, but then something happened. And honestly, the timing couldn’t have been worse.”
I threw my hands up. “Amber, what does that even mean?”
“I don’t even know where to start,” she blurted out in a rush. “Tessa, you should have seen it. It was unbelievable, but also really scary and terrible, but mostly unbelievable!” She tapped a finger against her puckered lips in brief thought. “But pretty terrible too,” she reflected, before carrying on. “As I was trying to tell them about the coming of the Keepers, the sky suddenly went dark. Then these ghost things, wraiths I think, came flying down out of the sky! They started chasing us...”
My mind spiraled inwards as the remainder of Amber’s words fell on deaf ears. I knew where this was going. So it wasn’t just the vampires who got attacked, the shifters had as well. And what’s more, I now knew what she meant by the timing being bad.
“But no one got hurt. We’re too fast for those smoke ghost thingies. But still, they were everywhere—”
“Amber.”
She crouched down, hands hooked at the wrists with one foot off the ground like the Karate Kid. “I wasn’t scared, though. I was totally ready kick to some smoky ghost ass.”