The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Read online

  “No, I’m going home. She can come with me if she chooses, but I’m not staying in his house.” And with that he marched from the room, only barely glancing at her again.

  When he was gone Jill turned back to Robbie with angry eyes. “What did you get me into? He’s so cold.”

  Robbie laughed, a nervous sound. “He should be, he’s–er, listen, he won’t hurt you. Doc’s a nice guy. He’s going to head out to his place and you’ll go with him, so let’s get your stuff.”

  Jill took his arm as he passed close to her. “I’m not going to be left high and dry on this thing am I, Robbie? At the end of the week, I’ll have the money?”

  He smiled like a rogue and winked at her. “’Course you will, Jill. Would I let you down?”

  She drew her lips tight as she followed him out of the mansion and then into the night. The interior light in his car flickered bright when he opened the door. She watched him reach inside for her bags and set them one by one on the curb. The sudden feeling that she was being abandoned sent a wave of apprehension flooding her senses.

  A noise down the drive raised Jill’s attention and she squinted into the blackness. She knew it was probably just Doc, the man she’d be spending the week with, and she wondered again why she’d ever agreed to this.

  “Is she coming with me or not?” he called out, and it suddenly occurred to her that he’d not even acknowledged her yet. Irritation won over her feelings of abandonment and apprehension. Drawing on the spark of anger she mustered the courage to pick up her bags, even snatching the last one from Robbie’s hand before heading toward the voice.

  “She’s coming and she has a name,” Jill spat, as she reached his Jeep.

  Doc watched the skinny blonde throw her bags into the Jeep through the open back flap, then jump into the passenger seat with a huff. He stood a moment outside the driver’s side door and considered his predicament. He didn’t need this distraction. His work was too important and her good looks were enough to distract any man, especially one who was used to living in near seclusion.

  Pulling himself from his thoughts, he wrenched the door open to get inside. He sat a moment, chewing on his thoughts yet again, then started the Jeep with a deep sigh.

  They drove a few miles before he spoke. “I forgot.”

  Jill cut her eyes to him and frowned. “What?”

  Grunting then clearing his throat, Doc looked over to her.. “Your name. I know you have a name, but I don’t particularly care for your companion and to be honest I wasn’t paying close enough attention to you when he introduced us.”

  That was a lie. Paying attention to her was the real reason he hadn’t caught her name. He’d been drawn to her immediately. He savored the scent of her, the essence of something he couldn’t quite pin down. It reminded him of a warm spring day when the barest hint of budding flowers pervades the air. She was all golden beauty. the curly blonde locks framing her lovely face.

  “Jill Prescott. And I thought I was supposed to be your companion.” she cut him a wry smile and he marveled at the swiftness at which her mood shifted.

  “Doc Massey,” he said as he reached his hand over the steering wheel to take hers.

  His hand was so cold the touch of his fingers to hers bit her skin. Still there was a charge to that simple contact. Her insides quivered in response and she found it hard to release him. She realized he read her hesitation when he glanced over at her with a knowing look. Clearly his given name couldn’t be Doc. She wanted to press him, but was so unnerved by the experience of that simple touch, instead she just pulled her hand away and examined his shadowy features in the darkness.

  “You can relax,” he told her. “We’ve got a drive ahead of us. Probably at least an hour, maybe an hour and a quarter.”

  She tried to do as he advised, but her mind was whirling round and round with worry about her situation. She kept telling herself she had no choice but to do this. She’d be hard pressed to stay in school without scholarships and those were long gone now. She had no alternative but to finish school.

  Her mother–if she were inclined to help, which Jill knew she wasn’t–was already strapped trying to raise two younger children. Jill couldn’t go home and she needed a degree to make something of herself. At her current rate, working part-time while taking classes. she’d still have at least two years to finish. With the money Robbie promised her, she’d be able to double her class load and get that diploma. And a new life.

  She had been dozing for what seemed like only a few moments, but awoke when she heard the Jeep crunching onto a gravel road as it slowed to a stop. A motion light exploded into her eyes and she squinted into her surroundings as she heard Doc getting out of the vehicle. She took a moment to let her eyes adjust to the light, then exited the Jeep. Standing beside the vehicle she rubbed her eyes a few moments while her mind roused from napping.

  “Where are we?” Jill’s voice was tenuous and slightly hoarse from sleep.

  When her sleepy eyes focused she could see they were parked just to the right of double glass doors leading into a long white building. The doors looked like they should open automatically, but when he stepped in front of them he had to force one of them aside before he could motion her in. “Home,” was all he said.

  Her lavender eyes widened and she dropped her head forward in disbelief. “You live in a hospital?”

  Doc shrugged and waved his hand again impatient for her to enter the building. “It’s not a hospital anymore, but it serves my purposes.”

  She started to follow him, then remembered her things and hurried back to the vehicle. She slung the bags across her shoulder before trudging inside. “Then you really are a doctor…”

  “Was.”

  Not much of an explanation, but obviously he wasn’t much for chatting. Jill didn’t care at that moment. She was fascinated more by the prospect of someone actually living in an abandoned hospital. She made her way down the hall, her mouth open just a bit, “So…” she started, but was interrupted by the sound of her own stomach grumbling.

  Doc tried and failed to keep his eyes from following her hand as it reached down to clutch at her rumbling stomach. She rubbed her fingers along the skin peeking out below her tank top and he forced himself to take a deep breath before speaking. “There is a kitchen of sorts. It’s down the hall and to the left, third door on the right. There’s not much there, but you should find something to tide you over.”

  “I’m a college student. You’d be amazed what I can whip together from almost nothing. Aren’t you hungry? What would you like?”

  Doc tilted his head quizzically. Was she really offering to prepare me something to eat, he wondered. If she knew anything about… His already cold blood turned colder.

  He murmured that he wasn’t hungry, watching her disappear around the corner. As soon as she was out of sight, he slipped into the nearest office and picked up the telephone to dial.

  “Dearmon residence.”

  “Robin Weir, please.”

  A few moments passed, then Robbie came on the line.

  “Yeah…”

  “What did you do, Robbie?”

  Robbie laughed nervously. “Whadya mean? Something wrong?”

  Shaking his head, Doc practiced calm and took a deep breath. “You didn’t send this girl with me without explaining to her,” he hesitated and closed his eyes. “Without explaining what I am? You wouldn’t do that.” He questioned Robbie, proud of himself for at least giving him the benefit of the doubt.

  It seemed he waited a full minute and received no reply, “Robbie?” The silence was response enough. Robbie had conveniently failed to give Jill Prescott the details of this arrangement. The innocent girl had no idea she’d signed on to be a companion to a vampire.

  The Present – Golden Retribution

  “Are you gonna kill him?”

  Jill asked the question. Devan chewed her lip in indecision, took a deep breath, then turned to look at Kent. His eyes were warm as he gazed
back at her, his trust in her was clear and absolute. Jill’s heart clinched with envy, recognizing the love there. He motioned with his hand and it was clear that he was leaving the decision of what to do with their captive up to Devan.

  Jill looked briefly at Langston who stood to the side, observing but taking no active role in the conversation or decision making. He acknowledged her glance with a nod of his head and she felt a tremble course through her body when she remembered the tasting of his blood only a few days ago.

  The night after feeding on Langston’s blood, the four of them: Jill, Langston, Devan and Kent faced a group of adversaries in battle. Their foes were all members of the Org, a nasty organization that dealt in the sale of magical children to vampires. Now that Devan’s identity as a very powerful faery-witch had been discovered, she was apparently on that group’s “most wanted” list. They’d managed to kill the three vamps, but Devan froze Robbie, a witch or warlock of sorts, into a block of ice.

  It took Devan days to recover from the fight. Her powers were nearly drained by Adriel, the most powerful vampire in the group, but she’d managed to overcome him and use her remaining magic to kill him.

  Jill watched as Devan turned back to face Robbie with cold eyes. “You’re lucky, Robbie. But in the end you may not think so. I’m not going to kill you.”

  Jill’s disappointment surprised her. Bitterness washed over her when she tasted the shame in her mouth. She averted her eyes to the floor, hoping no one else would notice the range of emotions she was experiencing. When had she become so cold, so much like them? Was the darkness, taking over again? Would she ever get away from that ugly black thing she discovered inside herself when she was turned into a vampire? She couldn’t remember now if she had really killed to save herself or whether she’d done it for revenge. She was supposed to be free now, but the claw squeezing her soul didn’t seem to want to let up.

  Now, here in this moment, she faced Robin Weir again. His presence made her remember all those years ago when he had flashed that white smile of his and convinced her that all her worries would be cleared up in just one week. Just a single week, but in those seven days her life had been changed forever.

  He wasn’t so cocky now. His body was tense and his expression somewhat stupefied. His icy confines melted away days ago when Devan’s complete exhaustion forced her to let go of the magical hold she had over him. It was then that Langston managed to contrive a cage consisting of only four puke-green colored bars. No matter which direction Robbie turned, the bars followed and refused to allow him to take more than a few steps.

  Devan closed her eyes and they all watched, recognizing the signs that she was willing her magic to life. Her spine rolled straighter and her head lifted, chin jutting forward, as if she were pulling something from deep within her to the surface.

  “Wow!” Jill couldn’t help whispering, a bright light erupted in front of them. Multicolored waves and sparkles coalesced within seconds, then a doorway materialized in the center. It grew from a small speck as if it were traveling to them through a tunnel. The passageway hung in the air in the center of the living area, bathing the room in bright golden beams.

  Devan lifted her hand in Robbie’s direction, then dropped it and as she did the green bars dissolved. Jill cast a quick glance toward Langston, wondering if he had released his hold on the bars by some unspoken signal or if Devan really was strong enough to circumvent his power. The giant grinned at her as if he knew what she was thinking. Jill winked at him in return.

  Robbie looked confused, his eyes darting back and forth between the four of them until they finally rested on Devan in askance. Jill was surprised when her friend pointed at the golden door.

  “No! Devan, don’t do this. Please don’t…”

  “You don’t deserve the magic. I should kill you for what you’ve done. You’ve built your life based on others' suffering. Part of me wonders if it makes me weak because I can’t kill you, but no, all it means is that I am nothing like you. I won’t kill you, but I can make you impotent by taking away your magic so you can’t hurt anyone else. And I can strip you of your status, something I know means a great deal to you. There...” she pointed at the golden door. “You’ll be a nobody without your magic. You’ll be nothing and you won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”

  Jill was sometimes accused of being a “true blonde” and it was moments like these when she wondered if they were right. Even knowing what she did about Devan and her magic, it took hearing Devan’s words to realize just what that doorway represented. It was the passage into the faery realm. Forcing Robbie through to the other side, Devan would be sentencing him to a life without magic. No one could pass from one world to the other without being stripped of their powers. No one, theoretically, except Devan.

  Robbie’s eyes twitched and he took a sudden step as if he might rush past the door. Devan narrowed her eyes and a blazing orb of energy appeared in the palm of her hand. His shoulders dropped in resignation and he moved forward, every so often looking up at Devan with pleading green eyes, begging for a reprieve.

  Just before he stepped through the doorway he looked back at her. She stepped toward him and just the briefest glimmer of hope lit his face. It died quickly when she raised her palm and gave him a little shove. Once he was through it, the door shrank into nothing in the blink of an eye.

  “Little one,” Langston spoke from behind Devan. “You are not weak. Over the centuries of my life, you are perhaps the strongest witch I have yet to meet. And that was not a reference to your powers.”

  Devan only glanced up at him, her face hard as she seemed to be considering her actions. Relief instantly washed over her when Kent placed a hand on her shoulder in passing before he moved toward one of the couches in the room.

  “Well…” Jill began, plopping down on the floor cross-legged. She could see the concern still etched on her friend’s face and she hoped a distraction would help. “Maybe you should tell ‘em about our phone call.”

  Kent tensed a bit as he looked to the giant expectantly. An unspoken message passed between them and he nodded in understanding. “Nicky?”

  “Man, you and Andre have the wildest connection. Can you read each other’s minds?”

  Even if Jill’s pet name for Langston didn’t bother the big man, it caused Kent to roll his eyes in annoyance. As always Langston responded to her with the utmost patience. “We cannot read minds, Jill. We only know each other well. And yes, my friend, Nicky called.” Langston spoke as he turned back toward Kent to finish his explanation. “As you know he and Gerry are on their way here at this moment. I would expect them to arrive by late this evening, perhaps early morning.”

  “We knew that. What did he call about? Is Gerry sick again?” Kent asked.

  “They have received communication from the Company. A missive of sorts. They were demanded to report immediately.”

  Kent, Langston, Nicky and Gerry all belonged to a sort of underground policing force for witches, vampires and otherworldly creatures. It was only a few weeks ago that Devan unofficially joined their team to put an end to the trafficking of magical children by the Org. The man Devan believed to be her father was a prominent member of the Org.

  “Shit,” Kent hissed, running his hand through his hair. “I should’ve known they’d pull this. Where is he supposed to meet them?”

  Langston laughed as he moved toward the kitchen where he removed a tray of piping hot blueberry muffins from the oven. “Come, Kent. You yourself suggested you would give Nicky more credit than that. As I stated, he is on his way here. He has ignored their communication.”

  “What do you suppose they’ll want?” Devan asked.

  Until just a few days ago Devan and Jill not seen each other in years, but Jill knew her friend well enough to see the gears turning in her head. Instead of pressing her on it, Jill waited to find out Devan’s thoughts.

  “Little one, it is possible they may send them on our original mission to ensure that it is c
omplete. There is no way to know whether killing Adriel is the end of the Org. Also, they may be called upon to bring us in, Kent and I that is. Or, more likely, they might be ordered to bring you in, Devan. The Company will naturally be curious about the new faery-witch.”

  “No, we can’t do that! What would they want with her? There’s no way to know…” Jill insisted, her angst evident in the tone of her voice, but when Langston gave her a glance she immediately fell silent. When she turned her eyes back to her friend, she saw Devan had noticed the furtive look passing between her and Langston. She saw the concern and curiosity in her friend’s gold-brown eyes.

  It took a moment for Devan to break her gaze from Jill’s as if she was trying to will Jill into telling her what was going on. She finally turned to Kent. “You once told me Nicky does this for money. What would be the going rate for his services?”

  A huge smile overtook Langston’s face even as he set the steaming muffins, now on a platter, before them on the coffee table. “You have an idea, little one?”

  “I’m going to see my father… er, Eden Stowe. There’s something I need to get from him and I intend to go there immediately. I have to believe he holds or has access to all of the Org’s records. Especially documents that would lead us to the recipients of each of the children.”

  “Oh my gosh, you want to send ‘em on a rescue mission!” the young blonde exclaimed, leaning forward onto her knees in enthusiasm.

  Kent took a moment to glower at the bubbly vampire, and turned back to Devan. “What do you plan to do about the Company? We’ll have to deal with them eventually.”

  Devan shrugged. “Let them come to me. I don’t intend to bow to them, no matter who they are.”

  “You’re awfully cocky now aren’t you?” he told her. “The Company won’t come to you, but they’ll do anything in their power to have you delivered to them if they’re of a mind.”