Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (20 page)

He waved the gun at me. “Bah… I’m talking about your spirit totem.” He cocked his head as though reading the shock on my face. “You don’t know, do you? Interesting.”

Damn it! I hoped he’d tell me so I could tap into that elusive power of whatever animal that was. I didn’t have a poker face and it made me lose the gamble.

“So why don’t you tell me?” I shrugged as I took a step closer.

“No. I think I’ll whisper it to you as Ms. Moor kills you and I absorb it.”

How was such a thing even possible? Jacqui was an arms’ length from Amar when the evil shifter turned to look behind him.

I sputtered, “I-Is this something all shifters can do? Absorb another’s power?”

He raised his gun toward me, and my throat dried. “Only a few. Mine is from my sea cucumber being able to liquefy and reform its body, and Ms. Moor honed my ability so that I can.”

I had to keep him distracted. “How are you able to detect another shifter’s animal? No one else I’ve met has been able to that.”

“Ms. Moor can taste it.”

What the hell? “She’s a shifter too?”

“Not exactly. But she can taste it in the blood, though she wasn’t sure about yours until I confirmed it.” He smiled and chills raced through me. “As a cheetah shifter, I have a phenomenal sense of smell… I could catch you blindfolded.”

I huffed. Just what was Ms. Moor?

“Enough of this chatter, it’s time to go.” He lunged.

Jacqueline shrieked, and his attention—and the gun—turned in her direction.

I dove forward. My instincts and the self-defense classes my mom and I had attended, took over. A pop sounded as my shoulder crashed into his stomach. The gun. He landed with a grunt on his back, but still gripped the gun. It was only my momentum and his surprise that allowed me to knock him down. Jacqui dove for his arm and the gun.

“No!” I screamed.

She clasped both hands on his forearm, forcing the gun to the side. He backhanded her. I elbowed him in the throat and he choked, but he released the gun. It skittered across the floor.

“Bitch!” He grabbed a handful of my hair and smacked my head against the concrete floor.

I blinked back stars. My vision doubled. I heard Jacqui’s light steps scamper away and I assumed she was going for the gun. But his booted heavy steps told me he’d raced after her. He had the speed of the cheetah.

She’d never reach the gun in time.

My head pounded like a jackhammer as I rolled to my side to sit up and help Jacqui fight the evil shifter. But Amar, still unconscious, blocked my path. My best friend and the cucumber guy wrestled along the warehouse office floor. He jerked her by her hair and she elbowed him in the throat. Dread and fear for my friend made my skin cold and a pain radiated from the center of my chest. I didn’t even know where the gun was among their tangled arms and legs.

After I struggled to my feet, I thrust out my octopus power, imagining extending my will to knock him off of Jacqui. It was like trying to move a cement wall without touching it. My head felt cleaved in two from focusing my power. Sweat trickled down my back as I tried again. Nothing. And my vision remained blurry.

His hand locked around Jacqui’s throat, causing a chill to race through me. I had to do something and now. She lay on the warehouse floor beneath him. His weight pinned her down, one hand on her throat and his other holding down one of her free arms. Dashing over, I kicked the arm that was holding off Jacqui’s air. She was clawing at his hand, but he didn’t stop. I kicked as hard as I could, but he grasped my foot and sent me sailing onto my butt. Pain vibrated up my back. Gritting my teeth, I used my other foot and smacked him in the face.

Then a pop sounded.

The gun.

A stricken look passed across his face, then agony. The tranquilizer was quick and he was already fighting to keep his eyes open.

I squared my shoulders and rose. Clenching my fists.

Then the evil shifter made a weird face and his eyes fluttered.

What the hell?

“Get him off me!” She grunted.

My smile broke through. When I reached down, his muscles were slack and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Using all my strength, I heaved him over.

“Let’s go.” She stood and dusted off her cutoff shorts. “I don’t know how long that drug will keep him under. But I don’t want to be here when the creep wakes up.”

Both of us were panting and searching the room for a trap, the adrenaline from fighting coursing through us.

“Beth,” she tugged on my sleeve, “We’ve got to go.”

“Not without him.” I pointed to the evil dude.

“O-okay.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Amar is still unconscious and both of us wouldn’t be able to drag him out and you want to bring crazy weirdo with us too?”

“He said he knew my totem animal.”

“And you think he’ll just tell you?” She crossed her arms. “There are other ways of finding out, without putting your life and ours in danger. This guy is trash. I say don’t turn yourself into a dumpster by bringing him with us.

A door banging echoed through the warehouse.

At the same time, Jacqueline and I jumped.

“What the fuck was that?” She snatched my arm.

Nerves bounced beneath my skin. We had to leave. Now. My insides churned, and I eased the door open and peeked out. I didn’t see anything but the other office doors and wire-mesh flooring connecting them. The main warehouse door was diagonal from us. I could just make out the top edge of the doorway. So I crouched down in order to get a better view of the entryway below me.

My heart slammed against my chest. Ms. Moor and her shadow goons were chatting. They had found us.

I backed away slowly, then shut the door quietly, bolting it. But I doubted a locked door would keep them out. At least not for long. The urge to flee zinged through me, making my movements jittery.

“What is it?”

“Quiet. Ms. Moor and her squad are here.” I tiptoed on shaky legs towards Amar and leaned over him. There was no way we could bring him with us and I wasn’t about to leave him here for them if I could help it. “Amar, now would be a really good time for you to wake up.”

The office across from us had a large window; we could escape out of there if Amar was able to fly. “Please wake up. We need to get out of here.”

Sure we could make a two-foot drop, but then what? They’d be on us within seconds. When Amar didn’t move, I straightened my back. I wouldn’t let them take him. Maybe if I could stop them, somehow, or delay them long enough for him to wake and escape with Jacqui.

“I’ll stay and fight.” I gestured to the office across the hall. “There’s a window next door; use that to get away and I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”

“And leave my best friend? Never.” Her chin jutted out.

If she was captured because of me or her stubbornness, I would never forgive myself. “Please,” tears clouded my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I don’t want to lose you. Leave and find a way to get my dad. Maybe the two of you can rescue me and Amar.”

“I-I’m not going anywhere.”

Without waiting, I grasped her shoulders and squeezed. “Listen to me. You must escape. Get my dad… maybe you can track us. I’ll try to find a way to leave clues or something.” When she shook her head, I cursed. “Damn it, Jacqui! I mean it. Leave. Now.” I pushed her toward the window.

Not looking back, I flung the door open and charged forward. At the end of the aisle, a dude in black with bulging muscles sneered. My phantom arms shoved a guy and he tumbled over the wire railing.

“Looks like we got ourselves a shifter who can put up a fight now.” Ms. Moor beamed up at me from the first floor through the wired rack. “Probably because she’s protecting her friends. Get her!”

She’d come prepared. Twelve men, who looked like they were part of a bodybuilder-turned-biker gang, raced up the stairs. But I had the advantage of leverage and a vastly wider space than the narrow steel stairwell. And the thought of them hurting Jacqui or Amar made my invisible octopus arms tingle. I forced the feeling forward, tripping the men on the stairs.

Some of the goons vanished into smoke, others crashed into each other and rolled down to the bottom. The phantom men rematerialized and kept coming. Sweat trickled down my back as I unleashed my gift again, knocking them backward. But when they weren’t in their physical human form, my octopus arms went through them.

My legs shook. There were too many. I couldn’t trust my abilities to work just because I wanted them to. Bile rose in my throat. It was just a matter of time before they captured me.

My exit down the wire stairs was blocked. And any hope to dash back to the office to Amar was cut off, as Tattoo guy and Hooknose tossed up a grabble catch, which latched onto the top of the railing, and then they started to climb the rope. I didn’t have time with the others racing up the stairs, to doing anything about Hook. Soon I’d be surrounded, and I didn’t think I was talented enough to stop them from both directions.

I might never see Dad again. Or Jacqueline. I hoped she’d got away. And what if Amar was still unconscious? They’d have me
and
him. I told myself not to go down without a fight.

There was only one thing left to do, and I hoped it wasn’t the biggest mistake of my life. My first encounter with this monsters let me know what I was up against. This time, I would battle against them until I couldn’t move.

I closed my eyes and thought of my mother and the knowledge of her as a fox shifter while I did a dive-bomb jump.

With their boots slapped the wire railing on either side of me, I opened my eyes and leapt over the ledge.

The concrete ground smacked into my right side, with my shoulder and obliques taking the brunt of the force, and I gasped. My jump hadn’t worked. I scrambled to my feet, wrapping my arms around my injury… it felt as if ribs were broken. Each breath caused hot pokers to stab me inside. My ankle was turned funny and when I took a step, thorns shot up my leg. Still, I had to move.

I had to try.

Ms. Moor was screaming words I couldn’t make out, and pointing at me as I limped towards the exit. The warehouse dust had me sneezing. I knew they’d catch me. Surely they’d search the offices and find Amar, but I hoped at least that my best friend had got away and somehow got my dad out of trouble. Maybe she could get her shifter dad to help too.

Behind me, Ms. Moor’s companions’ chased me. I maneuvered around a group of pallets piled high with boxes and shrink-wrapped. Maybe this would throw them off a bit. I ducked down, so they wouldn’t spot me as easily. Then it was a maze of oxidized machinery and pipes.

I stumbled and grabbed ahold of a rusty forklift to keep from spiraling down onto the floor. Their footsteps echoed behind me.

Please let Jacqui have escaped.

When someone grasped me by my hair and flung me backward, I screamed. My ankle twisted further. Pain radiated up my spine, and I clenched my teeth.

“Bring her.” Ms. Moor called from the stairs. “We have the others as well.”

No, dear God, no!

Ms. Moor smirked from the top of the stairs as she leaned against the wire railing. Tattoo guy and a man with a smaller head than his muscled body glared at me as they squeezed my arms. Pain radiated from their grip and my injuries.

Each breath made me take shallower ones as fire pierced my side.

I was dragged towards the stairs and my vision darkened. My ankle’s sharp jolt at each step made me want to puke.

“You’re too slow.” Hooknose grasped me around the waist.

I screamed. He tossed me over his shoulder, and I blacked out.

***

Inside the office, I came to. I’d no idea how long I’d been out, but I guessed it was only a few minutes because Amar lay where I’d left him. If I’d been out longer, no doubt they would have transported us already. The creepy shifter dude remained in a crumpled pile against the wall. Thankfully, there was no sign of Jacqui. I licked my lips and tasted the copper taint of blood.

I wiped a hand across my mouth and it came back covered with blood and soot. There were few people I hated, but I despised everyone in this room except Amar.

Ms. Moor stood by the door while six of her sycophants formed a semicircle around me and Amar. The other six must be waiting somewhere.

She glared at me with her minions at her back. “I’ll wipe that grin off your face. Just because your friend evaded us, doesn’t mean she can escape for long. We’ll get her.”

Her stare hardened. “She’s a chameleon shifter, right? That’s how she was able to evade us on our yearly visits to your school to find your
kind
.” She ran a hand down her black suit that was trimmed in spotted fur and tapped her alligator shoes like she was impatient. Now that I knew her better, I was sure the shoes and fur were real. “You’ve been a nuisance, but I’m glad you didn’t die on that rooftop.”

What?! I doubted her
gladness
had anything to do with my being safe or alive. Anger bubbled up inside me. My mom’s disappearance, my running, all of this was because of her and her prejudice.

From the corner of my eye, Amar’s finger twitched. I forced my eyes away from him, cringing when each breath punched through my side like a smoldering lance.

Yup, definitely broken ribs. Just keep her talking and think of a way to get out of this mess.

“Mind you, if we had known your spirit totem animal at that time, we would have preserved you until we unlocked your secret.” She glanced over to sea cucumber guy. “Boyd was happy to tell us, and we’ll remedy our mistake. But know that your death would have been less painful than what we will do to extract your power.”

“What power? What’s my spirit shifter?” I doubted she’d tell me, but I needed to stall. Anything to give Amar time to come out of his tranquilizer sleep. She had tried to kill me… several times now. And how many innocents had she killed before? Just because we were different than humans? My anger twisted into rage.

She tsked at me and glanced around at the others. “Do you believe that? She doesn’t know. Her family kept all this from her to keep her safe, yet instead, they crippled her.”

Amar’s eyelids fluttered.

Anger surged through me and my octopus limbs lashed out. “You know nothing, you hateful racist!”

She was knocked backward, as were three of the men closest to me. Guess I had them surprised, for none of them transformed into their smoke-like forms. Hooknose crashed into a concrete wall and lay unconscious while black blood pooled around his head. Two others blocked the door, but Amar suddenly sprung up and dashed forward, and knocked one aside with his momentum, and the other man he kicked in the stomach, making him puff into a pillar of smoke.

Within a second, Amar was beside me and snatched my wrist as he yanked me toward the door. “Come on.”

“There’s a large window in the next office.” I held onto my left side as I raced to keep up with him across the hallway. The wire flooring rattled beneath our weight. “Can you fly?”

“Only one way to find out.”