Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (11 page)

Cops! Crap on a stick. This was so not good. What would they do when they saw Amar? I bit my lip; maybe he could camouflage his wings again? But for how long? Jacqui and I didn't go but ten minutes knocking on doors and then inside Coby’s house.

Two police officers, facing away from me, huddled next to our passenger window. My mouth dried.

So that I didn’t startle them—never a good idea to startle someone with a gun even if it looked like both were in the holster still—I shuffled my feet on the dirt road kicking up pebbles.

One of the officers turned and looked at me, then whispered something to his partner. Both men stood and waited for me to come closer. I dragged my feet closer as my heart climbed into my throat as if escape was possible.

“Everything okay?” I asked, glad my voice didn’t catch.

“This your car?” One of the officer’s frowned at me.

And my heartbeat raced in response. Next to them, I peered inside looking for Amar while trying to be nonchalant about it. The backseat was empty. Did he hide in the trunk? Neither officer said anything about Amar. Had he slipped away? Used mind tricks that I didn’t know about? Where was he?

“My friend’s. She’s… visiting Coby right now. Should I go grab her?” I didn’t know what to do with my hands, so I shoved them behind me so they wouldn’t see them shaking. I was going to wring Jacqui’s neck for not coming out to the car with me.

“You got ID on you?” The other cop rested his hand against the car. Both tanned men looked like they could chase me for miles if I ran.

“Uh… no. I-I left at Coby’s.” I gestured vaguely to the house. It was a lie, but I didn’t want them to know who I was or note it for Ms. Moor and whoever else she had working with her to know about us being here. “Want me to go get it?”

He looked behind me, his sunglasses obscuring his eyes. “That your friend?”

I turned and spotted Jacqui strolling our way, and she had Coby with her. Wonderful. Things were only going to get worse.

“Hi, officers.” She sounded like finding two cops at her car was as natural as finding the sun shining in the morning.

“This your vehicle?” The one leaning against the car shifted forward.

“Yes. Is there a problem?” She placed a hand on her hip, not even glancing my way.

“No. This is a small island and we didn’t recognize the car or license plate.” He pulled out a small black notebook. God, was he going to write us a ticket? “We wanted to make sure it was legit. Mind telling us why you are here?”

I knew his question sounded friendly enough, but his pen scribbling down her license plate wasn’t. And where was Amar?

“Sure. We’re looking for Jack Bender.” She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and closed the distance between her and the officer. It looked innocent like she was squeezing by them to get to the car and her insurance papers. “Have you guys heard of him? Our friend Coby hasn’t.”

“You mean Johnathan Bender? The mechanic?”

Excitement coursed through me, and I stepped forward. My psychic octopus limb or whatever it was called must have reached out ahead of me because the officer stumbled back a step then swiveled his head in my direction. I was still a yard away from him so he knew I couldn’t have touched him. Jacqueline was opening the passenger door.

“Hell!” He rubbed his side. “Did you feel that? It was like something pushed into me all of the sudden.”

“Nope, but I did see you lose your balance.” The officer patted the other one’s back. “You okay?”

“You said you knew Bender?” I couldn’t stop myself. If Johnathan was my dad, maybe Jack was a nickname or something. Or another relative. My mom was all I had. My grandparents on both sides were dead. According to my mom, I had no other relatives.

“Is his shop around here?” I brushed a fly away, hoping to curb my too enthusiastic previous question about my dad. No sense making the officers more curious about us. “Our car’s making a funny noise sometimes, so it would be great if a mechanic would take a look at it.”

“He doesn’t have a shop.” The officer, still surprised by my power and dusting off his slacks, responded.

“The engine’s making a rumbling shrilling noise.” What else could I say? I didn’t own a car.

“Bender doesn’t have a shop, per say. He usually comes to his clients’ homes.” The officer standing nearest to me scratched his chin, looking from me to Jacqui and back again. “He’s got a boathouse off the dock to the west, on the other side of the island.”

I must have given him a look like I was clueless because he pointed. “Here’s his number.” He scribbled out something, then tore it off and handed it to me. “His boat is usually anchored at the other end of the island. But give him a call and he’ll probably meet you here. Best not to get stuck in the middle of the road trying to reach him.”

“Thank you, officers.” Jacqui gushed.

“I can show you the way.” Coby beamed at Jacqui like he’d won the first prize at a kissing booth.

In the distance, Amar strode towards us. We so did not need him arousing more suspicion, even if he had to stretch again. His wings appeared gone, but I guessed he was masking them as he had before.

“No!” We couldn’t have anyone following us and the fewer people around the better. “I mean, you’re right. Thank you but the noise just started a-and comes and goes. I’m sure we can make it to the other side of the island without an escort. If we have any problems, we’ll call a tow truck.” I stuck out my hand to shake theirs. “Thank you for all your help.”

They both took turns shaking my hand. Then they gave us a smile and a wave. After they climbed into their squad car, kicking up dirt as they turned and left, I wiped a hand down my face.

“Hurry!” I told Jacqui. “Get in the car.”

“In a minute, I have to take Coby back to his house for a minute. We have plenty of time.”

“Hello? Amar!” I pointed to the street where Amar was crossing the flat ground. The police car behind us slowly veered onto the main street and I let out a sigh.

“He’s getting better at disguising his wings.” Jacqui leaned against my open door so Coby wouldn’t hear her. “Soon you two will be able to romp in the ocean together.”

“What?” My mouth watered at the thought of seeing Amar drenching wet as he held me and the waves crashed around us. His lips tasting of saltwater, lust, and—

“I know you too well, you’ve got lust stamped all over you.”

“Shut up, I do not.” But I couldn’t help my smile or the heat racing to my cheeks.

“Was there a problem?” Amar reached the open door.

The adrenaline rush coursed through me from the officers, and now him. I inhaled his scent of feathers, musk, and that almost cinnamon scent he had. “No, we handled it. Get in.”

Now if Jacqui would hurry up and drop off Coby. Why did she have to go back with him anyway? He wasn’t some lost puppy she needed to tie up.

When Amar went to the back, I closed my door and fastened my seatbelt. Excitement and anxiety were playing tug-of-war with my insides. We needed to get moving. The sooner we met my dad and he taught me all he knew about being an octopus shifter, the sooner we meet Ms. Moor on our terms. I would tell her to leave us alone or we would make her. One way or another, her reign of terror would end.

***

Finally, Jacqueline slid into the driver’s seat next to me. “Your dad’s boat is Splendora and is usually docked at the pier.”

We followed the road around the island, then parked in a hotel parking lot near the beach. I saw several boats in the distance, but one was tied to the pier. I strained to read the name and quickstepped across the parking lot.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Jacqueline sprinted up beside me and placed a hand on my arm. I slowed. “It’s not too late to go somewhere else. Maybe my dad could help you?”

I shook my head. “It’s too dangerous. Besides, my dad owes me this. He lied to my mom and didn’t even try to contact me all these years.”

Her brows pinched.

“Look, it’ll be fine,” I said. “We’ll have him train me for a couple of days, then we leave. What’s the worst that could happen?” I nudged her with my elbow. “Maybe you and Coby could cozy up?”

She sighed. “No. I made him believe we were a dream. Well, I had his memory of us wiped, then I saw the flashing cop lights.” She shrugged. “So I brought him along implanting that we were friends from the mainland. I figured having a native vouch for us might help us.” She brushed a blonde hair out of her face. “Then I could undo what I had done, so I made him believe he had fallen asleep on the couch and dreamed it all.”

“What?” My tennis shoes squeaked on the wooden planks of the covered deck. Amar stopped with us, but he must have sensed a girl-power-talk vibe because he shuffled ahead a few paces. It was late afternoon and either people were working or taking siestas, as the place was deserted. We passed under the covered deck and Amar’s black wings were hidden in the shadows but earlier he swore he’d have time to camouflage them before anyone saw. When I asked him how long, he said by the time someone took a double-take, they’d be concealed.

“What do you mean… dream?” I asked.

“This isn’t my first rodeo.” She crossed her arms over her chest. And it reminded me of when she told me her secret and why she didn’t tell me the truth about her being a shifter. “So I created an illusion and implanted it into his mind. Then hit him over the head to knock him out.” She looked up at me. “He’ll have a headache and a wickedly lovely dream about two gorgeous girls from Texas bumping into him.”

“And what if he bumps into us for real?”

She shrugged and smirked. “Then we can tell him maybe he’s psychic.”

I laughed, but it didn’t ease the tension gnawing inside me. Still, I ran my arm through hers and dragged her along with me. “Come on. Let’s go meet my dad.”

Tied to the edge of the dock rocked a fishing boat with a small compartment below deck. I doubted more than five people could fit on the thing without sinking it. The white paint across its length peeled in a mixture of long and short strips. I rubbed my hands down my jeans. The name, Splendora, was etched across the back in faded blue paint. I’d expected all the child support my dad never paid would have him holed up in a yacht or something. This looked like a tugboat.

Cooking fish and carrots streaming out of my dad’s boat made my mouth water.

My dad could cook? Why didn’t he hang around like Jacqui’s shifter dad had? I might have even eaten more vegetables if my dad’s food tasted as good as it smelled. Well, maybe not all of vegetables I hated, but I’d have at least tried a bite. Neither mom nor I cooked much.

What would I say to him? Would he turn me away? Yell at me? Maybe this was a mistake. Nerves chewed my insides.

“Hey, it’ll be all right.” Amar stroked my arm and a pleasant tingle radiate through me.

I nodded. What should I do? Board and knock? Call out? How did one approach a boathouse? There was no doorbell on the deck. Wouldn’t jumping on the ship be equivalent to bursting through someone’s locked gate?

“Jack-Johnathan Bender?” I raised my voice, then listened. Nothing. I cupped my hands around my mouth and shouted again this time only using Johnathan Bender as the cop had told me that was his name here. If I used Jack, he might get suspicious and jump ship. And as much as I’d like to take a swim, the thought of swimming at dusk with hungry sharks out in the middle of the ocean was not appealing.

There was a rustle inside the boat, then the cabin door flew open. A man with grey hair around his face and beard stared back at me. He squinted as he looked from me to Jacqui to Amar and back again. The similarity between him and the photo was there, except the wrinkles in the corner of his eyes and greying hair.

“Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”

He spun to leave and I leaned forward with my arms over my chest. Maybe he didn’t know I was his daughter. Why would he? I only had one picture of him, and he would have had zero of me.

“Wait! I’m Bethany… Bender. I’m your daughter.”
The one you sent a puzzling message to—too late.

His eyes widened in what I thought might be recognition when I said my name, but when I said the word daughter, his face clouded over. “I think you have me confused with someone else. Go back home to your mother, I’m sure she’s worried about you.”

Amar leapt over the dock and landed with a thud on the boat. His wings stretched to their full length. I didn’t know if my dad had ever seen another shifter or much less one that was six foot three, muscled, with black wings and looked like an avenging angel. “You will listen.”

Quickly, I glanced around. Could anyone see him? No one was around, thankfully. I dashed across the open space between the dock and the deck of the boat, skidding to a stop beside Amar after ducking under one of his wings. Then he closed his eyes, tucking his wings against his body and concealing them.

Jacqui squealed as she tentatively crossed the boat; her shoe slipped on a wet patch and she landed on her ass. Without taking my eyes off my dad, I reached down and helped her up.

“My mom saved a picture of you.” I eased out my cell phone. He looked ready to bolt overboard into the water and I didn’t want him thinking I had a gun or anything. “Here.” I scrolled through the pictures and held it out to him. He glanced at it but didn’t take the phone.

“And you sent me a message the other day… about not going to school.”

“I told your mother to get rid of all of those family photos.” He took a step back and I noticed his hands were balled into fists. “You wasted your time coming here. Leave and go back to her.”

All of them… the photos? What was he talking about? My mom only had one photo of my dad, since they had only dated for a few months and he’d run as soon as she told him she was pregnant. She tore up all the pictures she had of him except the first one she took and kept. How could we have other photos as a family? “I’m not going anywhere until you answer a few questions.” I shoved the phone back in the pocket of my shorts. Disappointment seized me that he didn’t attempt to hug me and barely acknowledged me. I held my arms over my stomach.

“Does your mother know you’re here?” He ran a hand through his greying hair and must have read something on my face. “No? I guessed not. Call her and speak with her. No doubt she’ll be on the first plane here to drag you back home. And make you clean the attic and move a pile of bricks from one side of the garage to the other. Or clean all the baseboards in the house.” His blue-green eyes twinkled and he scratched his bearded cheek.

My skin grew clammy. How did he know how my mom punished me? Doubt about the story my mom had told me about him leaving us when she was pregnant niggled in my gut like worms. “H-how do you know that? Mom said you split before I was born. How the hell would you know her punishments?” I took a step closer. “Did she speak with you?”

He held up his hands. “Last thing I need is you getting into trouble because of me. That’s why I left in the first place.” He spun to the door and called out over his shoulder, “And if you know what’s best for you, then you and your friends will leave now and never try to find me again.”

The anger and hopelessness tore from me and one of my phantom limbs smacked into his shoulder. I gasped and the words burned my throat. “Mom’s dead.”

His shoulders sagged as he faced the cabin’s door. “How?”

“Blood Spirits.” I took a breath. “The ones who came to my school the same day you sent me a text.”

He slapped his hand against the door. “I told her to be careful, but she thought she was too cunning for them.”

How, she was just human? I shook my head. Maybe he was trying to placate me into believing that he cared about my mother – yet he’d left her defenseless and his daughter clueless. It was
his
fault it had gotten this bad. If he had told my mom, she would have told me.

Wouldn’t she?

If I had known I was a shifter and what to watch out for. Ms. Moor and her goons would have never happened.

“Listen. I can’t do anything for you. I’m sorry for your loss, but you’ve got a handle on your ability, I felt it.” He ran a shaky hand through his graying hair. “You don’t need me. Best thing is to get as far away from me—and the Blood Spirits—as possible.”

“I don’t have anyone else.” My voice rose. “Tapping into my talent is a fluke, I know nothing. I’m not asking you to be my dad or anything.” Like he ever was. “Just train me so I can survive.” And learn how to fight so I can avenge Mom.

Disbelief, confusion, and anger about my dad and the brush off he was giving me whipped through me like I was on a turbo-charged merry-go-round. “We need to talk.” I gestured toward the cabin’s door. “And your dinner smells like its burning.”

He cringed, then nodded.

We followed him inside the small room. A thin mattress lay on its side against one of the walls. My dad rushed to the stove and flipped off the burner, then tossed the food into the sink and ran water over the burned fish and pan. “Not hungry now anyway.”

Jacqui, Amar, and I squeezed into the room between a tiny white refrigerator and what looked to be a small toilet that was partially hidden by a waist-high wooden door.

“Have a seat.” My dad gestured to a square table and a cushioned bench that jutted out from the opposite wall.

The table looked only big enough to rest one person’s elbows on. I sat on the end of the bench and Jacqui plopped down next to me. Amar stayed by the door. Why did he keep his distance?

“Want to sit?” I moved to scoot closer to Jacqui and only managed to offer him an inch of space.

“No, thank you. I’m fine here.” His wings were visible again.

“Why don’t you put those away?” My dad pointed with a spatula toward Amar, then switched the water off and dropped the utensil in with the steaming pan and fish.

“I can’t. Not for long periods of time.” Amar frowned. “I forsook one of my shifter abilities to be encased in stone as a gargoyle until I was needed. Your daughter’s blood freed me.”

My dad paled at his news.

Amar crossed his arms over his chest. His Homer Simpson T-shirt from the convenience store just made his muscles that more pronounced underneath.

“Never thought my daughter would hook up with a hawk/wolf shifter and a raccoon/chameleon shifter.”

“How do you know that?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Octopi are extremely intelligent.” He gave a short bow. “Plus my bird totem is used to picking out the best surrogate for its young. It’s also how I survive, picking up who is a shifter or Blood Spirit.” With a nod, he turned back to Amar. “How long were you encased in stone?”

“Over four thousand years old, and today is the fourth day of my resurrection.”

“That should be enough time.” My dad ran his hands down his jeans and leaned back against the sink. His foot bumped the table, making a rattling sound until I shifted my arms and it stilled. “A day for each millennium… so you should be able to shift completely back into your human form now.”

Was he like super old or something? I mean I knew Amar was thousands of years older than me, but maybe shifters were immortal… unless Ms. Moor and her creatures got us. The air in the cabin felt stale and I fought the urge to dash outside. Suddenly, the idea of telling my dad off wasn’t as exciting as it had been with Amar listening. I just wanted to learn how to survive, then he could go on with his life and me, mine.

Amar shook his head. “I can’t. I’ve only been able to use camouflage since yesterday.”

“My spirit shifter is a pin-tailed whydah,” my dad answered. “So maybe a blood ritual would help?”

What the hell was a blood ritual? My stomach churned at the thought and the scent of burnt fish and oil wasn’t helping. Did I even want to know what this ceremony was about? And what the heck was a whydah?

The boat rocked and a plastic cup tumbled from the counter. My dad picked it up and tossed it in the sink. Probably good to have non-glass dishes on a boat otherwise, the jostling would cause things to break all the time. Still, the gentle rhythmic waves soothed me. But I’d feel a lot better if we weren’t squeezed inside a cabin with someone I didn’t really know.

“Is that some mythical creature, your spirit animal?” Like a unicorn or something? I wanted to ask. Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if my spirit shifter animal, which still had yet to make itself known, was a dragon! Then I could fry those Blood Spirit creatures and get back to my life… or as much as I could without mom.

“No, it’s a type of small bird… similar to a finch.” My dad turned and rummaged through a drawer.

“Amar told me his animal is a hawk.” I leaned forward with my arms on the table and it wobbled underneath my elbows. “How’s a tiny bird going to help?”

“We have traces of magic in our blood.” Amar glanced over at me. “That’s why we’re able to shift long ago into our actual animals and why your blood woke me from my stone slumber.”

“Oh.” I leaned back and crossed my arms over my chest. “What else can our blood do?”

“Heal and aid.” My dad drew out a knife from the drawer that looked to be pure silver and wickedly sharp.

It suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t know this man. He could kill us. Well, maybe not all of us, but if he slayed Amar, he might come after me and Jacqueline next. The air constricted in my lungs and I gasped. I would use what I learned in my mom’s self-defense class and tell Jacqui to get out. But my dad was between me and Amar. How would she squeeze around us? I didn’t think I was strong enough to force my dad out of the way. But maybe I could distract him long enough for her to escape.

Amar tensed at the knife but didn’t move. Using the knife, my dad sliced open his own palm, grimacing.

As blood trickled from the wound, he squeezed his hand into a fist and handed the blade to Amar. “Blood I freely give. Blood of my ancestors and octopi with the ability to heal and regrow limbs, I summon your powers to aid this hawk.” Then he gestured for Amar to turn around with his other hand. As he opened his bleeding hand over Amar’s wings, droplets of my dad’s blood splattered on his and made them shimmer into a dark purple.

Jacqui leaned around me to see better.

“And like the hawk is nurtured from small birds it devours, so too do I add the swiftness and wings of my whydah to aid him.” My dad handed Amar the silver knife.

At his words, Amar’s wings shivered, then Amar licked the blood from the blade and his knees buckled.

Before I knew it, I was beside him holding onto his arm. His eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he jerked like he was having a seizure.

“Amar!” I glared at my dad. “What did you do?” Oh my God! I knew it. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted him. This man wasn’t my father. He was a coward, a liar, and a killer.