The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Read online

  “Can you get her to eat? Drink?”

  “I will try. I may be able to provide her some nourishment by means of a potion. Time will tell.”

  Kent nodded even though his friend couldn’t see the response. Then he took a deep breath before speaking again. “And Nicky?”

  “It is well that I arrived when I did. He is nearly beside himself with worry for her. It appears the two of them are quite close. You were correct about his means of survival. We have moved to a new location, an apartment properly paid up a week in advance.”

  “They might locate you before long using my credit card. You should keep moving, get back here as soon as possible.”

  He felt his friend’s smile even through the receiver. “Devan has provided for us, along with a note giving me phone numbers by which to reach you all. She is very resourceful.”

  Devan blushed a bit. She was sitting near enough that she could hear Langston’s voice through the receiver. Kent peered at her long and hard and she read his silent.

  “I would prefer not to move Gerry until I am certain of her condition. I will check in with you periodically. This number is a prepaid telephone. You may reach us this way. Are you safe?”

  Kent hesitated. “We have a visitor. Like I said, long story, but as far as I can tell we’re safe for the moment.” He cut his eyes towards Jill as if to warn her that they’d better remain that way. “Check in with me first thing in the morning. We need to figure out where to go from here. It may be time to give up all this and check back in with the Company.”

  “No!” Devan began to argue, but a hard, narrow-eyed look from him stopped her.

  “But we can discuss that tomorrow. All of us.”

  They said their goodnights, and Kent stared steadily at Devan as he placed the receiver back onto the cradle.

  “You can’t stop now,” Jill said from her perch on the loveseat. “That’s why I came. They’re not going to give up until they find you.”

  “Me?” Devan asked, pointing a finger towards her own chest even as she seated herself beside her friend again. “What do they want with me?”

  Jill’s eyes widened and she leaned forward as if probing for a school-girl secret. “Do you know what they think you are?”

  Devan turned to Kent and cocked her head. He only twisted open his second beer and stared at her.

  “I’m a witch.”

  “You’re an uber-witch! At least that’s what they think.” Again, she inched closer, her voice lowering like she was telling a ghost story. “They’ve been looking for someone for years. A lost child–the ultimate combination of witchery and faery-magic.” She circled her hands in the air for effect.

  “Faeries!” Devan exclaimed before shooting an accusing glance at Kent. “Are you telling me there are faeries? Like little, tiny, winged creatures?”

  “Dev, there are lots of creatures you’ve yet to learn about. And no, faeries are not necessarily tiny, winged creatures. Most of them don’t look much different than you and I, but they exist in another sphere. They very rarely cross over,” he said, turning to Jill with a scolding look as if she were telling a fib, “and they don’t mix with witches.”

  Jill swatted her hand at him then continued speaking. “They thought the child was lost, and there were rumors that she was secreted back to the faery realm to protect her from the Org. But everyone knows that when a creature transfers over they lose their power, so it just never made sense. But they, the Org that is, they’ve got people that have been constantly keeping watch–like…like a radar! Yes, a giant radar and one day there was a blip.”

  “Oh, Jill, you always were a storyteller!” Devan laughed and took a sip of her wine.

  Kent was pensive, looking out towards the glass doors leading to the back of the cabin. “If she found you, so could others. You never did say how you located us, Jill.” Then with intense, deep, blue eyes, he glanced back towards them.

  “Locating her had nothing to do with magic if that’s what you’re thinking. I used what I knew about Devan from before to find her. But they’re looking and eventually they’re sure to find us.”

  “Us?”

  Her lip pouted outward and her eyes narrowed. “I’m not going back. I’m staying with Devan.”

  “And who do you belong to, Jill? You’re too young a vampire to be solitary. That makes you a liability. You can’t stay here.”

  “Kent.” There was a warning tone to Devan’s voice. She didn’t even have to further expound her thoughts. He knew that she wouldn’t let Jill leave. There would be no argument, no discussion.

  Realizing it was better to switch directions, Kent turned back to Jill. “What do they want with this witch? Why have they put so much effort into finding her?”

  “Like I said, she’s supposed to be the ultimate! Some believe the vampire that possesses her will instantly become a master vampire. Do you realize it takes five centuries for a vampire to become a master? There are only a handful of those in existence now! Then some think she can exchange her magic with others or even that she can combine her own powers with others. And then there’s the craziest story–the one that everyone knows can’t be true.”

  “Okay? And that is?” Kent pressed, annoyance evident in his tone. He’d much prefer the girl to just provide facts instead of weaving things like a folk story.

  “That the uber-witch has the power to cross the realms. That she can traverse back and forth to both this side and the faery side without effect. And possibly…possibly that she can bridge the two worlds and allow others to cross over too!”

  Kent rolled his eyes. “That’s impossible. Everyone knows the two sides can’t exist together. Any creature that goes from one side to the other has their power stripped during the transition–it’s essential to maintain order, balance. Neither world can afford to have an increase or a decrease in the proportion of magic.”

  Jill shrugged. “This is just the stuff I heard. I don’t know if any of its true, but they believe it and they’re determined to find her. Adriel thinks Devan’s the one.”

  The one. Kent remembered his brother’s words that day in Dallas. The one they were looking for. It didn’t matter if Devan was or wasn’t the “uber-witch.” If Adriel believed she was, then he would stop at nothing to locate her. His aspirations knew no bounds, and if this witch, whoever she was, could possibly make him a master vampire, then he would find her and he would try to possess her. This made Kent’s quest to terminate Adriel all the more personal and all the more urgent.

  “This is all crazy.” Devan shook her head even as she pulled her long curls across her shoulder and began braiding them. “My mother wasn’t a witch. And besides, if I were the uber-witch, don’t you think my father would have known that? I mean, he is the Org, and if Adriel’s wanted this witch for this long I can’t believe I would have passed under their noses.”

  “Your father isn’t the Org. We’re not really sure who runs the Org, but we never believed it was solely Eden Stowe.”

  Jill nodded in agreement, “Yeah, yeah. Plus he and Adriel don’t get along. You know what they say, too many chiefs. Your father doesn’t really seem to like vampires—or witches for that matter.”

  Devan stopped her task and dropped the heavy braid across her breast. “You mean you’ve seen my father? Does he know who you are?”

  Jill cocked her head in a disbelieving glare. “Now in all the time we were friends, do you ever once remember your father looking at me? I mean actually looking at me? Hell, he wouldn’t know me from Eve.”

  Devan chewed her lip in thought.

  “Then you know where the coven’s underground is? You’ve been there?” Kent probed, leaning forward as he did so.

  “Yes, I’ve been there.” She shuddered, turning back to Devan.

  They began to chatter with one another again in low tones. Girl-talk, the talk of two friends who hadn’t seen each other in a very long time. Kent closed his mind to it as he realized what had suddenly fallen into his
lap. This girl knew where The Org’s secret lair was and could lead them there. Wasn’t it ironic? They’d been looking for the underground for years, and when Kent and the others had searched the Dearmon residence, they’d found no sign of how to locate the Org’s center of operations.

  Now, indirectly through Devan, he’d found a way to get there–and yet Devan was the reason he hesitated. She was in danger. If what Jill said was true, then she was in more danger than any of them could have imagined.

  “It’s late,” Kent remarked, standing and taking another swig of his beer. He frowned and carried it back into the kitchen. As he poured the remains down the drain, he looked towards the women. “Devan and I should probably get some sleep. Have you fed for the evening?” The disgust in his tone was exaggerated.

  “Yes. I’m not leaving.”

  Kent wouldn’t have let her leave now if she’d wanted to. “That’s an interior bathroom. It should work for your needs.” He pointed towards the little half-bath just off the kitchen.

  Jill nodded, smiling to Devan.

  “Dark–I get it. You’ll need darkness come daylight. How did this happen to you, Jill?”

  Her friend could see the weariness in Devan’s eyes, and although she was near to bubbling over with the need to tell her story, instead she stood and set her glass down on the coffee table. Jill reached a hand towards Devan and helped her to stand. “Maybe we can talk tomorrow night. I’ll tell ya’ all about it–quite a story–and I’m quite a storyteller, you know.”

  The green-lit alarm clock beside the bed read 3:24, and yet Devan wasn’t any closer to sleep than she had been when she’d looked at it twenty minutes before. Lying on her belly with her chin resting on the pillow, thoughts and feelings were all awhirl inside her. She wasn’t sure her mind would ever piece together all that had happened, all that had been discovered, and all that still remained cloaked in mystery.

  Funny, she thought, how one’s perceptions change. The things in her life that had once seemed so terrible now seemed utterly trivial. The hurt feelings of a missed birthday when she was nine. Her frantic efforts to gain Robbie’s attention and admiration in her teens. The panic of going away to the university. The sick feeling when she’d thought Robbie and Jill had cheated together. The calamitous discovery that her father and Robbie were involved in a business to sell children. The steadily rising tide seemed to have no peak.

  Frustrated and utterly spent, she rolled over to her back and brought the pillow with her, holding it across her face and wishing she could will herself to sleep. She always got a tingly feeling in her feet when she was agitated. To alleviate the distracting prickles, she tried taking turns rubbing one foot and then the other back and forth against the mattress. No good. She groaned into the pillow.

  Hey there.

  Devan sat upright, leaning forward and tucking the pillow against her waist.

  Roon! Where’ve you been?

  I’m here. I’ve been around.

  No you haven’t. I haven’t heard much of anything from you. She pouted, scrunching up her face. Except for when you helped me scry, I haven’t heard a thing out of you.

  You scried by yourself, Devvie. And you know how to call for me.

  Devan might not be able to see him, but their bond was intimate enough that she could recognize each change in tone, each inflection of his voice and what it meant. You’re unhappy with me. Why?

  I’m not unhappy, Devvie. I just…I just don’t know that you need me so much anymore.

  Pffttt. What’s really wrong with you?

  Tiny insect wings fluttered against her cheek and she felt gooseflesh rise along her arms. She sucked in a breath and closed her eyes, feeling, knowing he was close to her.

  Don’t you ever think about seeing me, Devvie? Don’t you ever want to?

  Keeping her eyes closed, she shook her head. I can’t see you, Roon. I don’t know what you’re asking. What do you want me to say?

  I want you to see me. I want you to want to see me.

  I do want to see you. But how?

  Just like when you scried for Nicky. Just do it. Just think it. Concentrate on my voice, on me. Find me.

  A cold chill swept across her entire body. She shivered, rubbed her arms. Lids still closed tightly, she thought about Roon’s voice, focused on it, and squeezed her eyes closed even tighter until she began to see tiny lights, squiggles, and flashes. The searing energy she often felt when she truly centered on her magic began to bubble within her, and she pulled in a breath such that it made her spine roll up straighter.

  Devvie!

  And there he was. Not an apparition, not a ghost, but a person. A man. He was sitting just as she was, cross-legged on the bed, across from her. His reddish-blond hair was shorter on the sides, but it feathered down in little spikes across his forehead. His eyebrows were so blond they almost disappeared above his piercing blue eyes. There was a dusting of freckles across his nose and sharply angled cheekbones.

  "Hello, Devvie. It’s me,” he said.

  She couldn’t help the tears that stung her eyes and her lower lip that found its way, trembling, into her mouth between her teeth. Oh, it’s you! You’re here!

  Roon smiled widely, a twinkle in his eyes. “Told ya’ you could do it. You never have believed in yourself.”

  Can I touch you too?

  His smile turned into a boisterous laugh. “You brought me here. You’ll just have to try it and find out.”

  Then she realized he was actually speaking. His voice was coming from him instead of being just a tone in her head. Tentatively, as if any sudden movements might make him disappear, she reached out a hand towards his face. Her fingers started at his pale eyebrows, tracing each of them, before feeling her way down his cheek to his jawline. “You know, you’re so young. I thought you’d be older.”

  He snorted derisively. Then his expression softened as he looked at her for what seemed like moments. “You’re beautiful, Devvie. That’s kinda crazy, I know, since I’ve always been able to see you, but…you’re more beautiful now.”

  “What are you exactly? Are you a ghost?”

  Roon shook his head, leaning back on his hands. “Whadya think I am?”

  A shrug, then she too leaned her body back, bracing against the headboard. “I have no idea. But if I were to hazard a guess, I’d think perhaps a faery? Except Kent and Jill said faeries have a separate realm and that creatures can’t cross over or some such thing.”

  “I’m called a sheoque, but yes I’m a faery. And it’s tough to explain, but I’m not really here. I’m not really here in the true physical sense. I’m sort like a projection, but solid. You’re the only thing that keeps me with you, the only one who can see me or hear me right now. I have to be careful what I reveal, because it’s not time to tell you everything, but I…I needed to see you, Devvie. I needed you to see me so I can know.”

  “Know what, Roon?” As she asked the question, her stomach made a flip-flop, sensing a rise in emotion between them.

  Roon sat forward, bringing his hands to his lap and looking at his fingers a moment. He took a deep breath, brushed his hair back from his forehead, and leaned towards her, kneeling. Devan’s eyes widened when his lips softly touched each cheek. They were warm lips, and as they made their way easily towards her mouth, she closed her eyes in anticipation.

  The kiss felt good, tasted good. She embraced him, wanting to physically experience as much as she could. The familiarity they’d always had, their friendship of so many years, culminated in that kiss. He prodded her lips open with his tongue even as his hand reached up to take her waist and pull her close. She moved towards him, not with desperation, but instead with just a simple need to feel and to touch someone she’d always loved. Still, even as she pressed herself close to him, she knew something was missing, something wasn’t right. She searched, seeking more, a nuance that would take her breath away, but she just couldn’t seem to find it.

  When he pulled away, her eyes fluttered open
and she smiled at him shyly. His blue orbs were poignant and somehow disenchanted. He reached his hand up to caress her cheek, peering at her hard and long as if to memorize every line, every color, everything about her.

  “Roon?”

  He sighed and sat back. “I should go now, Devvie. You should let me go back.”

  “No, I want you here. What’s wrong? Why can’t you stay?” She realized there was a near panic in her voice.

  “It’s okay. I’ll still be with you, and one day…” He swallowed, emotion choking his throat. “Someday we’ll see each other face to face again, but now I know, and it’s cool. They told me you were meant to be with him and…they’re always right, but I had to know and now I do. We’re good, Devvie, but I have to go.”

  “Oh…” she breathed, comprehension seeping into her mind. “Oh–I see. I’m sorry.”

  “I said it’s cool. Relax. We’re good.”

  There were more tears in Devan’s eyes now as she struggled to find the right words to say. Finally it dawned on her that there were no right words so she managed a smile and a nod. “How does this work? How do I send you back?”

  Roon forced a laugh. “Just let go, Devvie. Just let go.”

  She followed his gaze down towards her own lap and saw that she was clutching both his hands in hers. Nervously she lifted her hands away, then realized what would happen all too late. He was gone in an instant. No haze, no smoke, no slow fade away–just gone.

  “Oh, Roon!” she cried despondently, a sharp pain in her chest.

  Damn, Devvie, if you feel that bad the least you could do is lift that shirt and let me catch a peek. It’ll make me feel sooooo much better…

  Sicko! But when she felt his laughter reverberate through her head, she laughed too. Then she plopped back against the bed pillows to try once again for sleep.

  * * *

  Kent started awake and looked over at the clock on the nightstand. 8:14. The last time he’d looked at the clock before falling asleep was at nearly four and his mind now felt fuzzy and unaware. He rolled over onto his back, folding both arms over his eyes. It was light out, which meant, unless the vampire had snuck away in the night, she would be securely tucked in the bathroom for the next twelve hours at least. As soon as Devan woke he’d need to get Langston on the telephone so they could all strategize.