by G. Bailey
“I suppose that’s a matter of perspective,” Jennifer muses. “The humans have given us stability. We’ve made sacrifices for that stability, yes, but the alternative is so… ugly. Untrained shifters running about, causing untold chaos… Don’t you think it’s worth counting our angels and moving on?”
“That’s no way to live,” I reply firmly.
“To each their own,” Caleb says, shrugging. “I’m sorry to disappoint you folks, but we’re perfectly content with our lot in life. I would rather see a world that isn’t overrun by magic users.”
“I… see,” I say slowly, starting to get to my feet. “Well then, I guess we shouldn’t take up any more of your time. Edith, should we…?”
Edith, who has been strangely silent for the whole exchange, follows my lead, but when we make for the door, Jennifer is suddenly out of her seat, extending an arm to bar us from leaving. “What’s the rush?” she croons, her eyes locking with mine. “Don’t you want to stay a while?”
“Thank you,” I say, attempting to sidestep her, “but we really should-”
“I’m sorry,” Jennifer laughs, giving me a toothy smile. “You misunderstand me. That wasn’t a request.”
“What do you…” I begin, but I stop mid-sentence, my eyes going wide as my anxiety turns to full-blown fear.
Something is very wrong here.
That’s the only coherent thought I have before the violence starts.
Chapter 14
Jennifer lunges for me, her eyes blazing with a fury I’ve never seen before, and it’s all I can do to stumble out of the way just as she swipes at me like a feral animal. “Edith!” I yell, glancing around for the witch shifter. She’s standing at the far end of the room, eyes wide and watching, but she’s not doing anything.
Why isn’t she doing anything?!
“Edith!” I shout her name again just as Jennifer leans back and expels a jet of flames from her mouth. I dart out of the way and gape at her for a moment, completely poleaxed. So she’s the dragon, I think. But that means…
Oh. Oh shit.
I whirl around, my hands flying to cover my ears as I search the room frantically for Caleb. The realisation has only just dawned on me, but I’m too late; he opens his mouth and lets out an ungodly screech; the soundwaves sending vibrations through the air that are nearly enough to knock me off my feet. He’s transformed already, covered in shimmering green scales. On some level, I’m aware of Jennifer transforming as well, the room palpably heating up from the power of the fire she’s unleashing, but it all seems so far away all of a sudden.
Caleb’s eyes are locked on me, his mouth twisted in what could maybe be a smirk, and blocking my ears might as well be useless. The sound pierces the space around me, digging into the core of my being and twisting up there like a burr, hopelessly tangled in me. I struggle against it for a moment, but it’s no use; he has me wrapped around his finger, and I can feel myself slipping away second by second. The fight drains out of me in an instant, and suddenly I find myself unable to pry my eyes away from him. In that instant, he’s the most handsome, alluring, captivating man I’ve ever seen, and although some part of me knows I’ve just fallen victim to his siren’s song, that part is trapped behind an impenetrable magical wall.
“Come here, Millie,” he commands. “Drop your arms, please.” His voice sounding like honey to my bewitched ears, and I’m helpless to fight it, my hands falling limply to my sides and my legs moving as if of their own accord. I’ve never been on the receiving end of a siren’s magic before; it’s brutal, like being trapped in a glass cage even as your body is manipulated by someone else, and I thrash against its confines like my life depends on it.
For all I’ve learned to harness my siren abilities, I never once thought to practise resisting them.
“Boots!” Hunter yells, sounding like he’s halfway through his own transformation, but a roar from Jennifer silences him, and there’s a thud, followed by the sound of shattering glass. My stomach drops -- did she knock him out the window? -- but then I hear him groan as a melee breaks out between him and the dragon. He’s hurt, I think in a panic.
My muscles are on fire, my brain on overdrive as I scramble to access my magic, to fire something back at him, but it’s like a barrier has gone up between myself and that by now familiar pool of power. It’s as inaccessible to me as Edith is.
Edith…
It takes everything I have just to drag my eyes away from Caleb for a moment, glancing to the left to see what’s become of her. She’s still just standing there, watching it all unfold with Jennifer’s dragon form casting a dark shadow over her. For all her abilities, she’s seemingly useless right now, like a deer in the headlights. Could she have fallen victim to Caleb’s song, too? But that wouldn’t make sense, I realise as my eyes are forcibly brought back to the siren shifter. His commands were directed at me. And if he had control of her, why would Jennifer even need to bother with her?
That’s as far as my thoughts take me before Caleb is speaking again in that ungodly, inhuman voice. “Millie, I’m waiting.”
I shuffle forward, hating how easily he bends me to his will.
“There’s a good girl,” he croons, the sound making me shudder. “Now, I want you to go to the window.”
I do an about-face like a marionette on strings, walking stiffly to the bank of glass windows overlooking the London street; it’s far below us, multiple stories down, and I realise with a sinking feeling that my theory about Hunter wasn’t so far off. There’s no way I’ll survive that fall in human form.
“Open it,” Caleb commands. I’m trapped in my own body as my trembling arms reach out and pull the window open. “That’s right,” he says. “Now, I want you to jump.”
I feel sick. Every movement feels like climbing a mountain. “Please…” I croak.
“Don’t argue with me, Millie,” Caleb tells me. “The sooner you do as I say, the sooner this can be over.”
I slowly approach the window, a zombie in a girl’s body. The street glares up at me from below as I bring first one foot to the edge, and then the other…
And then the front door bursts open, nearly flying off its hinges from the force of the vibrations pulsing through the air. “Boots, don’t!” I recognise Landon’s voice in an instant, my heart leaping to my chest. He’s using his siren’s song on me, too, but instead of dread, the sound of his fills me with a rush of warm relief. The command stops me in my tracks.
Edith is still frozen in place, Hunter is fighting Jennifer with everything he has, and it’s down to me, Landon, and Caleb. How he got here, I have no idea, but there’s no time to wonder about that now. “Jump, damn it!” commands Caleb, and I can feel the force of his words.
“Don’t you dare, Boots! Do you hear me?” Landon sounds panicked. Within me, the two opposing commands battle each other, pulling me in different directions. I’m stuck, desperate to go to Landon, but Caleb’s song is so strong…
At that moment, a blast of pale blue magic erupts from Edith’s fingers and collides with Caleb, hitting him squarely in the chest. She’s finally gotten a hold of herself, it seems. That’s enough to break Caleb’s concentration, and I take a few staggering steps backward, nearly falling into Landon’s arms. “Where did you come from?” I ask him wonderingly, staring up into his obsidian eyes.
“Don’t worry about that,” Landon tells me soothingly, brushing a strand of hair out of my face. The relief in his voice is obvious. “I’ll always save you.”
I glance up. Edith has shapeshifted and is holding Caleb off with some kind of spell. Hunter, on the other hand…
“Hunter!” I yell, struggling to my feet. He’s in his vampire form, which has surely saved his life -- the enhanced durability is the only thing keeping him from being eviscerated as Jennifer shakes him furiously in her massive jaws, like a dog with a toy. Without thinking, I reach for my dragon magic, shifting more easily than I ever have in my life. The room seems to shrink as I grow, power rippl
ing through me as I flap my wings and hurtle across the space toward the other dragon attacking one of the men I love. My body collides with hers full-tilt, and the impact causes her to drop Hunter as I rake at her with my claws. She retaliates with a burst of fire, but I manage to bowl her over, pinning her beneath me as I tear at her neck furiously with my teeth. Jennifer lets out a roar of outrage as we grapple on the floor, all other sounds receding in the wake of my blind fury.
It’s only Landon’s voice that’s able to bring me back to the present. “Boots, come on!” he shouts from the other side of the room. “We have to go!”
I glance up from the other dragon to see Caleb unconscious on the ground. Edith, Landon, and Hunter are already at the door. I give Jennifer one last swat with my claws for good measure, and then leap off her, transforming back into my human form in the process. Together, we make a break for the exit, afraid to even look back.
“So let me get this straight,” Shade says, pacing in front of the sofa. We’re back at Mollie’s place, a little banged up but no worse for wear. I’m curled up against Landon’s side, and his hand is idly running through my hair in a comforting gesture. If he hadn’t shown up, I would be a puddle on the pavement right now. “You went to visit these guys, they attacked you, and then Landon came in the nick of time?”
“That’s right,” the siren shifter says lightly.
“What made you even decide to follow us?” I ask him.
Landon shrugs, his hand coming to rest on the small of my back. “I had a bad feeling, I guess you could say. I was supposed to be out grabbing a coffee, but I figured I would at least tag along to make sure things didn’t go badly. Looks like I was right.”
“You were,” I tell him softly. “Thank you.”
He gives me a crooked smile that makes my heart skip a beat. “‘Course, Boots.” His expression hardens as he turns to Edith. “Why weren’t you helping?” he asks. “When I came in, you were just… standing there.”
The witch shifter grimaces, avoiding our eyes. “I’m sorry,” she says quietly. “I was just… stunned, I guess. Jennifer and Caleb were always my friends. They were supposed to be on the shifters’ side, not the humans.” She shakes her head disbelievingly. “The Academy must have gotten to them. It’s the only explanation.”
Silas scrutinises her from his place by the mantelpiece. “You’re saying you had no idea they’d switched sides?” he asks, his eyes narrowing.
“Of course I didn’t,” Edith snaps. “D o you think I would’ve brought you guys there otherwise?”
“I don’t know,” Silas admits, his broad shoulders hunching.
“Something about this doesn’t feel right,” Shade says, still walking back and forth restlessly. “If the humans got to them, how many more shifters around London have also been converted?”
“We can’t think like that,” Edith insists, glancing at Mollie for backup. The human woman nods.
“She’s right,” Hazel agrees. “We can’t give up just because of one near-miss.”
“Easy for you to say,” Hunter mutters. I turn to him. He’s studiously avoiding my gaze, the pain sharp in his blue eyes.
“What do you mean?” I ask him gently.
He throws his hands up. “What do you think?” he demands sharply. “Caleb had you on that ledge, Boots. You almost died, and I couldn’t do a damn thing to stop it.”
“Hey,” I tell him, “you were busy with Jennifer. No one knew he was the siren.”
Hunter just shakes his head. “It should’ve been me.”
“Don’t say that,” I tell him, my voice wavering a little. “Don’t you dare say that.”
The vampire shifter remains silent for a moment, then gets up and walks out of the room.
“I say we stay the course,” says Xander, giving Hazel’s hand a squeeze. “Tomorrow we can try another group. With more of us as backup.”
“What about the humans?” asks Silas. “We’re not exactly inconspicuous.”
“What choice do we have?” Ruby counters. “The whole city could be out to get us, for all we know.”
The conviction behind her words weighs heavy on me, makes me balk. Part of me wants to scream, and the other part wants to bury my head in my hands, because I know she’s right.
We’ve been backed into a corner without even realising it.
Chapter 15
The business with Edith’s so-called allies has left all of us on edge; that much is obvious. The others don’t even have to say anything -- we can all feel it, that awful certainty that things are coming to a head, and we’re helpless to stop it. The question remains unspoken amongst us, but I know without even needing to ask that we’re all thinking the same thing.
If we can no longer trust the other shifters in London, who can we trust?
I disentangle myself from between Shade and Silas the next morning, responding to the insistent growling of my stomach. Ruby, Xander and Hazel are gone when I enter the kitchen, but I notice a hastily scrawled note from the latter on the counter: Out to track down some more leads. Should be back later -- if not, send help. Right. Not exactly easy when I don’t know where they’ve gone, but I’m too mentally drained at this point to let the anxiety take hold of me. I’ll just have to hope they’re okay.
Mollie isn’t around either, but I’m actually less worried about her, in all honesty; she’s a tough cookie -- I’ve known that since the day I first met her -- but more importantly, she’s human. As long as she takes care not to draw undue attention, she doesn’t have to worry about walking around with a target on her back the way the rest of us do. As much of a gift as our shapeshifting abilities are, they’ve become just as much a curse.
I pile my hair on top of my head in a messy bun before padding over to the refrigerator and grabbing an apple. I would have preferred junk food, but Mollie, for all her culinary ineptitude, is hell bent on keeping us healthy -- chalk it up to her maternal instincts, or something. Either way, beggars can’t be choosers, so I dig in with a vengeance as I drop into a chair beside the kitchen table. I can see Landon over on the couch, his arm draped over his eyes -- he appears to be dozing, but it’s hard to tell with the siren shifter. I still feel like I owe him for yesterday; he saved my life, the only person who possibly could have in those circumstances.
The sound of voices catches my attention just as Shade and Silas emerge from my room, looking bleary-eyed and out of sorts. “I’m telling you, you’re wrong,” the wolf shifter insists. “It’s all about avoiding concentrating. That’s how you get distracted.”
“You would say that,” Silas fires back. “When was the last time your strategy didn’t amount to ‘charge in, both guns blazing, and watch what happens’?”
“I resent that,” Shade mutters.
Silas gives him a daring grin. “You want to put that theory to the test, Ivis?”
Shade raises his eyes. “Is that a challenge, Silas? You’d better be careful -- I hear you’re still not back to a hundred percent.”
The dragon shifter’s expression hardens. “I’m close enough.”
The two guys come to a stop by the kitchen table. “We’ll get Boots to judge,” Shade says, winking at me.
“Nah, ah, ah, I’m not about to get sucked into another one of your arguments,” I laugh. “You guys can duke it out yourselves.”
“Fine,” says Silas. “We’ll take it to the roof, then.”
“You know you have the advantage in tall places,” Shade protests.
“Is that a problem? You just said I wasn’t back to full strength.”
The wolf shifter grumbles, but concedes, and the two guys make their way to the door. “We’ll be outside, settling this,” Silas announces, elbowing Shade. “We’ll see which one of us is the better fighter. You sure you don’t want to moderate, Boots?” He raises his eyebrows at me.
The idea of two gorgeous guys duking it out for my attention does sound appealing, but what happened yesterday has me spooked. I’m not even sure I can b
ring myself to go out and meet our next prospects, and that’s something we have to do. I don’t relish the idea of being forced out a window again. “You guys go ahead,” I tell them weakly. “I’m going to rest up in here. Rough day yesterday, you know.” They nod in unison, and Shade pushes the door open. “Be careful,” I call to them as they file out of the apartment.
“Always am,” Silas calls back, and with that, they’re gone. I’m left to sit in silence, damn near twiddling my thumbs as I turn over the events of the past few days in my mind. I’ve tried to tell myself I’m paranoid to be worried about Edith, but there’s no fighting it. After yesterday, I’m on high alert; I remember how she stood there watching while the chaos ensued, and while I’m willing to admit that maybe she froze, something about the whole thing rubs me the wrong way. It’s like an itch I can’t scratch, and it’s driving me crazy.
I’m just beginning to wonder if I shouldn’t catch up with Shade and Silas, at least for something to do, when the sound of muffled voices catches my attention. I raise an eyebrow -- here I was thinking Landon and I were the last people left here. The voices are coming from the room Edith has been sharing with Hunter, and I can feel my stomach drop even as I slowly get to my feet.
The vampire shifter hasn’t spoken to me at all since yesterday, but every time I’ve caught his eye, he just looks away with a melancholy expression on his face. He’s hurting, and I wish desperately that there was something I could say, but what? How can I assuage a guilt that he shouldn’t even be feeling in the first place?
Carefully, I shuffle down the hallway, doing my best to stay light on my feet. I know I shouldn’t be eavesdropping, but I can’t help it -- call it morbid curiosity or something. The door to Edith’s room is open, and I can hear her crooning voice wafting out like music on the heavy air. “You know there are other fish in the sea, don’t you?”