The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Read online

  “I know what they are, Devan. I know what they represent. What I want to know is what they did to you.” His voice softened with each word.

  She shook her head, her eyes beginning to well with tears. “You don’t understand. Just get out. Leave me alone.”

  “Devan,” Kent began as he approached her. “I’ll leave, but I do understand. I may be the only one in this group who does.”

  He turned to go and Devan watched him with half-closed eyes. Then suddenly she gasped and reached out to him. “Don’t!” she cried. “Don’t you dare, Kent. If you do I’ll turn you in. I swear to you, I will give every one of your names to the authorities and they will hunt you down. Better to kill me now than to leave me here.”

  She’d caught on to his double entendre. Upon exiting her room he’d intended to pack up and leave her there. Seeing the desperation on her face made him change his mind. He didn’t know why she wanted to see this deed done, but it was obvious the vendetta was keeping her going. Langston’s words from earlier that evening echoed in his mind. She has a purpose among us.

  “Your threat holds no weight, Devan. The authorities would never find us–but I won’t leave you. Just get some sleep. We head out early in the morning.”

  “Promise me,” she begged him. “Promise me now.”

  A promise from a man she believed to be a killer should not have been meaningful, but he could see that to Devan it was. Did she sense enough about him that she could see any promise he made he would keep?

  “Why are you here, Kent?”

  He started to walk away. “That doesn’t matter, Devan. I promise you I won’t leave, but dammit, I’m in charge here and you have to follow my orders.”

  “I would do anything for this chance, Kent. For this I would dance with the devil.”

  Kent’s laughter was cold and he turned back to her. “Devan, you could be dancing with the devil right now and you’d never even know it.”

  Despite the pitch darkness of the night, her steps were sure and true. The ground was uneven and rocky, but each foot was planted securely in front of the other. A lake came into view, its surface a choppy glow. Her eyes slowly cast upward, examining the velvet-black sky but finding no source for the reflecting lights shimmering off the body of water. The color of the lake seemed to vacillate from blue to green and back again, the hues lifting into an ethereal fog. She reached a hand out towards the mist, her fingers twisting towards it, reaching at the wrist as if guided by the string from a puppeteer.

  The warmth building in her stomach seemed familiar, its steadily growing intensity causing the muscles of her abdomen to clench tight. Her lungs inhaled the moist air and her breasts were forced forward by her expanding rib cage. “Where are you?” she whispered. “I can feel you. I know you’re there –”

  A sound approached her, a hissing that was coming off the far end of the lake and advancing towards her. She stepped back and raised both her arms towards the resonance, her palms flat towards it and her head turned to the side as if to ward off some danger. The hiss seemed to come to life, but instead of running into her, the waves wrapped around her body, reaching towards her toes and lifting upwards, riding along her veins until it rippled through her head. She felt a tickle across her brow and neck as a wind lifted the tendrils of her hair. Each touch of those strands seemed to emit a spark of feeling, an energy that was cold and hot at the same time.

  Devan leapt from her bed, suddenly awakened by the tickle of movement against her neck. She slapped at her skin, thinking some insect or bug had crawled onto her. After flicking the light switch, she swept the covers away and lifted her pillow but found nothing there. An anxious search of the sheets confirmed there were no intruders to her bed, and she bit her lower lip in consternation as she considered the dream from which she’d just stirred.

  She never dreamt anymore. As a college student, she remembered complaining to her best friend Jill that she must not have any imagination because dreams were nowhere to be found in her empty mind.

  This time she brought her hand up gently to the spot where she’d felt the offending prickle against her skin and rubbed lightly, her fingers feeling ice cold against the warm spot. Something must have bitten her, she decided.

  “That would be your luck, Devan. Finally the chance you’ve waited for and you’ll die of a spider bite.” But even with her attempt to humor herself, she almost felt tears stinging behind her eyes. The bed no longer seemed inviting so she grabbed an extra blanket from the closet in her hotel room and curled up into a chair, desperate to gain a little more rest.

  * * *

  “With as much money as we have right now, we ought to be able to fly there,” Nicky complained as the group loaded into the big red truck.

  Kent glared at him. “How do you plan to get your weapons on a plane?”

  That apparently didn’t matter to the man because he just shrugged and got into the vehicle. Devan jumped in last, squeezing onto the edge of the seat and closing the door. She was tired from her restless evening, so she immediately leaned her head against the window to sleep.

  “Rough night, Devan?” Kent asked, and she immediately knew that he was mocking her.

  She ignored the question. “Where are we heading anyway?”

  The occupants of the truck immediately became quiet, and she wondered what she had said to make them all silent. No one answered her question—not even Kent—so she assumed she wasn’t supposed to ask about their destination.

  “A secret, then?” she muttered and leaned her head against the window again. “I don’t mind secrets.”

  “Good, ‘cause we’re a secret, just in case no one’s laid things out for you,” Nicky told her. His words were filled with what sounded like sinister overtones.

  “She knows the drill, Nicky. Leave her be. Trust me when I say she has just as much an investment in this as the rest of us,” Kent spoke up in her defense.

  “You question my motives?” she asked.

  “Oh, no,” Nicky drawled, taunting her. “I question your loyalties. It was obviously easy for you to turn on your own. How can we know you won’t turn on us?”

  “Nicky!” Kent turned to the other man. “Leave her alone.”

  Devan looked at him. “I can take care of myself, Kent.”

  Nicky laughed. He was generally the most obnoxiously outspoken of the group. The third man, Langston, never said much. The harsh expression he wore on his face was enough to keep anyone away from him. Besides his ugly look, he was tall and very, very large. She noticed that even Nicky sat as far as he could from the man.

  “Quit trying to protect her, man,” Nicky told Kent. “I’m just trying to get to know her. She’s a pretty little thing, you know.”

  “No. Don’t even think about it.”

  Nicky looked closely at his leader in the rearview mirror. “You claiming her?”

  Kent took his time answering. Nicky tended to put the moves on any attractive female, and Kent wasn’t about to see him do that with Devan. Nicky and Langston weren’t the only ones involved in this endeavor, and some of his team could be called a pretty nefarious lot. His answer now would make the rounds. To say that he was claiming this girl would cause his team to question him. To say that he wasn’t would mean Devan was free game. Neither option was acceptable.

  He didn’t have to answer. Someone else did.

  “She is under my protection. Leave her be, Nicky,” Langston informed them.

  Devan looked back at the man and was afraid that her expression might register the horror she felt. What the hell does being under his protection even mean? she asked herself.

  It was obvious by the look on Kent’s face that she was to keep her mouth closed. She did just that, not denying or affirming the announcement. She dropped her head back against the seat and tried to sleep again. None of them said another word for the next several hours.

  They arrived at the Fair Lane Hotel in Dallas around five o’clock that afternoon. The men all shuffled
out of the truck and began removing bags and briefcases. Kent sent the truck away with the valet. Then they all took turns entering the building through the revolving door.

  Devan stood in the lobby with Nicky and Langston while Kent got the keys to their rooms. Langston didn’t leave her side, impressing the seriousness of his protection upon the rest of the crew. She didn’t want to imagine what the huge man wanted to do with her.

  “Here guys,” Kent said as he approached them. “Nicky, you get your own room until Gerry gets here. Langston, Devan, you guys are with me.”

  Devan realized he had just further affirmed the fact that she was Langston’s by placing them in the same room together. “Are we all on the same floor?” she asked.

  “Yes,” Kent told her, though he wasn’t looking at her but at something in the distance. “We’re right next door to each other. Nicky, photo.”

  Devan looked to where he had pointed and spotted a table with several plaster castes of some sort of sea snail. She was still trying to decide why Kent would want such a photo when she realized a couple was standing next to the table. Perhaps they were the ones Kent was interested in.

  “Got it,” Nicky said, grabbing the cart containing their bags. He headed off toward the elevators for the north tower of the hotel while the others waited for Kent to finish the check-in paperwork.

  Kent passed the forms to the hostess and then grabbed his things, moving quickly towards the elevators. Langston touched the small of her back lightly, leading her on, and she wondered how such a huge man could be so gentle that his touch was soft as a feather.

  “Why did you tell them–” she began, but Kent raised his hand to stop her.

  “Langston is the only one, besides me, you can trust. There are several others working for me, but they’re doing this for money, no other reason. If they believe you’re with him, then they’ll leave you alone.”

  “And what are you and Langston doing this for?”

  Langston looked down at her, studying her closely with intense, hard eyes. Then to her amazement, the giant smiled.

  “She is full of fire, Kent. You will have a difficult time reining her in.”

  Kent chuckled, though with very little emotion. “I don’t want to rein her in. She’s here to help us do a job. That’s it. And it is none of your business, Devan, why we are doing this. You’re just along for the ride, nothing else.”

  They reached their floor before she could object to that. Nicky was already in his room. He waved before closing the door as Kent opened the other.

  “You stay here,” Kent told her. “We’ll be back in a while.”

  Devan was appalled when the two of them left her there. But she smiled as she looked at the card in her hand. Nicky had no idea that she’d switched her room key for his. With a nod, she flicked her hair away from her brow and headed to the other room.

  Her entrance obviously caught Nicky and Kent unaware. Nicky reached behind his back, probably for a weapon, and Kent raised his arms and crouched low in a sort of defensive posture. Langston, however, seemed to have anticipated her arrival and reached a hand up towards the other two. She just smiled and approached them, tossing the key card onto the table.

  Nicky shook his head and tossed her the card from his pocket.

  “I couldn’t figure out why that damned card wouldn’t work,” he muttered and turned away. “Damn doorman had to let me in.”

  As she got closer, she realized they were all staring at a computer. On the screen was an image of the couple downstairs in the lobby. “Who are they?” she asked.

  Kent looked over his shoulder at her. “We don’t know. We’re not interested in them.”

  She was about to ask what he meant when she saw Nicky zoom in to the image several times. That was when she realized that what they were really looking for was the name badge clipped to the man’s jacket. It read:

  National Association for Family Establishment

  Silver Patron

  Mel Shroeder

  “We’ll be crashing the party, won’t we?” she asked, and Kent just nodded as Nicky smiled patronizingly at her.

  “All right, that’s good. Take care of it, Nicky,” Kent nodded then waved his hand at Nicky. “Several blocks from here are some restaurants and such. Go have a bite, but be back in time to get a good night’s sleep. The session starts at nine in the morning. Call if you need me. I’ll probably be in the room.”

  Then he motioned to Devan that they were leaving. Langston stepped ahead of her and turned the latch, holding the door open for her. Once inside their own room, Kent shook his head and sighed loudly. Langston had an expression that could only be referred to as a grin. Devan just headed for the bathroom.

  “How did you get Nicky’s key, Dev?” Kent called to her.

  Her smile was radiant as she peeked her head around the wall of the bathroom to glance at him. “I switched my key for Nicky’s while he was taking the photograph. You didn’t think I had any tricks, did you?”

  Kent looked to his friend, who was shaking his head in denial even as he struggled to stifle a laugh. “I swear to you, I did not see her do it.”

  The glare Kent shot towards Langston clearly said he didn’t believe him.

  “Devan, we’re not playing games here. If I tell you to stay put, then you stay put. I need you to listen to me.”

  “And I need you to include me. You were wrong about one thing, Kent. I am not just along for this ride. Let me do something.”

  He shook his head again. “Go on and take your shower.”

  When they were alone, Langston looked to Kent and smiled. “She is very lovely. Her spirit matches yours as well. You are both full of passion, though you both keep it carefully restrained. My people would call her Fire Starter because not only does she burn with that passion, she creates it in others.” He paused a moment. “The Company would not like this if they knew you were taking her on this mission.”

  “They cut us loose, remember? Our objective was clearly written out, and now we’re on our own. Whoever I bring into this is my business.”

  Langston laughed again. “They will not like it. They may contact you.”

  “I don’t care about whether they make contact or not. That’s their decision. I don’t know what to do about her, Langston. She is only going to get herself hurt or killed or–”

  “It would bother you if something happened to her?”

  “Of course! She’s an innocent. She doesn’t realize what she’s gotten into. Did you see her eyes when she saw those bodies?”

  “Remorse does not mean weakness. She didn’t like the killing that occurred, but she believed it was deserved. She can likely handle more than you or I believe. Besides, there is the power I witnessed in her.”

  Kent’s eyes widened, and Langston could tell by the look that Kent didn’t want to broach that subject. “Thanks for speaking up about her in the truck. I wasn’t sure how to handle that. I just knew I didn’t want Nicky to make a move on her.”

  “I did not either. I do know that keeping her in the dark might be more dangerous than informing her of what we are planning. If she knows we are keeping something from her, then she will only try to find out what it is. I believe you should speak to her. I will walk down to have supper and allow you two to be alone.”

  * * *

  Devan expected the men to be gone when she got out of the shower, but Kent was there lounging on the bed and watching television. He looked up when she entered, watching as she rubbed the ends of her wet hair with a towel. She wrapped the towel around her shoulders and approached her bag.

  “If you want to take a shower, I’ll dry my hair in here. Otherwise I’ll go into the bathroom.”

  He just waved his hand at her—a brush off.

  She sighed in aggravation as she carried her dryer into the bathroom, and after she’d turned, Kent watched her walk away.

  He hated the reaction he had to her. It was a drive that pulled on him almost constantly. It was a
drive to protect, a drive to care, a drive for something he knew he should never want from her.

  “Why do I have to want her?” he asked himself, and he knew he would have appreciated having Langston there to answer him.

  He had his ideas about why she was here. She was Eden Stowe’s daughter, and she obviously must not have agreed with the principals of the family business. But she couldn’t know the true revelation of what that business was. They’d charmed her last year, and he knew she didn’t know anything about magic. Still, simple dislike for the family business was not enough to cause her to want to see them dead. It would take something much darker, much uglier to do that.

  So then what had they done to Devan Stowe?

  He had been so intent on studying the situation that he hadn’t realized Devan was standing beside him, her arms limp by her sides and a hair pick hanging loosely from her fingers. The expression on her face was enough to cause him to bolt from his chair and grab both of her arms. “What’s wrong?” he asked. Suddenly he realized he hadn’t set Langston’s protections around the room, and he felt his stomach drop in panic as he thought of their vulnerability. Perhaps someone had gotten inside.

  “What happened, Dev?” he demanded, shaking her to get her attention.

  “The hair dryer–it’s–”

  Without waiting for her to finish, he entered the bathroom and found what was left of her hair dryer. It was strewn across the floor, smashed into hundreds of little purple pieces. Kent reached down to take one but the little plastic seemed frozen like ice. He held the piece out to her and she took it, the look in her eyes expressing her complete confusion.

  “Go sit down. I want you to tell me exactly what happened.” He grabbed another particle of the destroyed hair dryer before turning towards her. She collapsed onto the edge of the bed, clutching her hand against her breast. Moisture from the oddly melting plastic dribbled between her fingers. “Tell me, Devan. Tell me step by step.”

  “I just was drying my hair and I was irritated with you. I was mad and angry with the way you’re… anyway, I cursed. I cursed several times and then it was like–like a wave traveled from the pit of my stomach to my mind and…” she said, her eyes widening as she tried to express what had happened, “…my hair began to flicker and the strands coiled up. Like they were made of crystal or ice and then energy, sparks of energy–yes, energy. It was blue like ice and it seemed to slide from my fingers and coated the hair dryer.” She held out her hand and the residue of the melted plastic lay jiggling in her trembling palm. “I was so damned scared I dropped it. It shattered.”