Knight Shift (5 page)

The next morning before the sun was up, Penny was already dressed and heading out the door. She carefully tucked survey maps into a side pocket of her backpack and got on her dirt bike. As the sun crested the horizon, she was well on her way.

After a long ride, she found the hidden trail that the twins had shown her and headed up the mountain side. As dirt and rocks billowed behind her, an adrenalin rush made her pulse race and a smile of excitement washed across her face. When she found the location she was looking for, she parked the motorcycle and checked in with the local ranger station to provide her location. She tucked her knives into the sheaths on her thighs, hooked up her backpack, and strategically placed her rifle. After taking nature deep into her lungs, she headed into the wood. She loved facing what she knew was going to be yet another adventure.

*~*~*~*

In his room at Sam’s, Ice was doing some tracking of his own. Using his vast online resources, he searched to find everything he could about his prey. In record time he found out that her name was Penny Blanchard. He thought his luck couldn’t get any better when he read that she lived alone in a cabin out in the woods. It felt like nature was offering her up to him on a plate. With his mouth watering he snarled and said, “Be prepared to run, my little rabbit. My lips will taste your sweetness tonight.”

Just after midnight, Ice emerged from the woods outside Penny’s cabin and his excitement increased with every step. He reviewed the basic plan within his mind—he would go in and drag Penny out. To elongate his pleasure, he would bite her to thoroughly memorize her taste and then release her. After giving her a healthy head start, the hunt would begin. Only once he became bored with the hunt, would he take her down—but not quickly. As he remembered her wonderful scent and taste, he reminded himself that he was going to enjoy his catch until her last heartbeat.

Without making a sound, he stealthily entered the cabin. He quickly caught her familiar scent in the air around him, making his mouth water even more. After a quick lay of the land, he headed toward the bedroom. He was unable to contain his excitement for the night ahead.

Using the shadows, he slipped into the bedroom like an evening fog and the air around him became cold. He approached the bed and, to his dismay, found it empty. Scanning the room, he checked the bathroom. When he didn’t find her, he searched the rest of the cabin. After confirming that she wasn’t home, he cursed profusely. Not willing to give up his plans, he decided to stay and wait to see if she was just out late. She would be greeted enthusiastically as soon as she walked through the door.

While he waited, he took a moment to learn more about his prey. When he found many unopened moving boxes and piles of construction materials, it was obvious that she hadn’t lived there long and that she was attempting to remodel the old cabin. He liked what she had done so far. It was becoming a comfortable hideaway to get away from the world. He decided that once the Human was out of the way he would make this place his private retreat.

When he went back into her bedroom, he noticed the sketched mural on the wall and the chicken wire frames, loosely resembling the crude shape of trees. He was intrigued and couldn’t help wondering what she was making. He shrugged, saying “I guess it doesn’t matter. She won’t live long enough to finish the project.”

After waiting a couple hours for her to return, he decided to head out into the woods. As he left the cabin, he said, “Enjoy your reprieve while you can. I’ll be back tomorrow.”

He let out his inner hunter and disappeared into the trees.

*~*~*~*

In a tent tucked high in the woods, Penny awoke and cursed, frustrated with her inability to sleep throughout an entire night. It was a problem she had since she was young. As she stared at the top of her tent, she heard sounds outside. Welcoming a distraction, she grabbed her rifle and decided to greet her visitor.

After slipping on her shoes, she crawled out of the tent and called into the shadows of the night, “Come on out; I know you’re there.”

When she received no response, she lifted her rifle and teased, “I’m armed and dangerous. Don’t make me hunt you down.”

Again no response but, when she heard several twigs snap and a low growl, she recalled the scene in the parking lot. Her smile instantly disappeared and, within seconds, she had her weapon cocked and at the ready. She scanned the darkness around her and, when she spotted the glowing eyes of a predator reflected off the moonlight, she locked her sight. The animal stalked forward out of the dark and Penny found herself staring back at a beautiful, but very lethal, mountain lion. Although Penny was more than capable of killing, she knew she was the intruder in the animal’s space and had no desire to end its life.

After taking a moment to marvel at nature’s handiwork, she whispered, “Be gone and find yourself a better tasting prey.” She shot into the ground in front of the animal and sighed in relief when it turned and ran back into the dark.

A voice sounded beside her, saying “I hope you weren’t trying to actually hit that animal.”

Penny spun and instantly had her rifle aimed at her new target. She gave the visitor a smirk and warned, “You really shouldn’t sneak up on an armed woman.”

As Taylor’s body stepped out of the shadows and was exposed by the moonlight, he nodded and said, “I do apologize. We were tracking that animal when we noticed it heading toward a camp. Since we knew that you were coming up here tonight, we wanted to check and see if it was you.”

Tadd added, “We actually came to save you, but I see you require no protection.”

Penny still had her rifle up, so Taylor asked with his arms stretched wide, “May we enter your camp?”

Penny lowered her rifle and waved them forward, saying “Come on in, boys. I would love the company.” Pointing to the smoldering pile that earlier was a blazing campfire, she said, “You can help me rebuild the fire.”

Once the camp was lit by the light of flames, Taylor scanned the site and commented, “This is a great location for a camp.”

“Thanks. It’s one of the spots you pointed out when we went on our hike. I was planning on using this spot for my first guided tour group.” Seeing the twins empty handed, she asked, “By the way, where is your gun? You said you were hunting that cat.”

Thinking quick on his feet, Tadd lied, “We didn’t want to kill it. We were trying to track it.” In reality, they had been hunting and their weapons were their teeth, claws, and unnatural speed.

After several hours of talking and laughing, Penny yawned and said, “It’s been a blast, but I’m going to crawl into the tent.” As she stood she said, “Do you want to join me in bed?”

When their eyes bulged out and they gave her a smile like they could already see her naked, she clarified her suggestion with her cheeks red. “Sorry. I didn’t mean it the way it came out. I just wanted to offer a warm, dry place to sleep…nothing more.”

Although the twins thought another slumber party was a great idea, they were out in the woods because they needed to feed. They weren’t completely sure if they could control their Changeling nature well enough to lie touching their favorite Human. Since neither wanted to risk her being injured or killed, Taylor replied, “Although the idea of staying with you sounds great, ugly over there and I need to head back to our own camp.”

Penny was actually touched that he made an adult decision instead of trying to take advantage. She nodded and said, “Then I’ll see you again soon. I bid you two a good night.”

Several hours later when the twins walked into their home after a successful hunt, they found Ice in the kitchen fixing something to eat. Based on the look of their clothes, Ice asked, “Good hunting?”

“Just out playing with some mountain lions.”

Ice said calmly, “I thought maybe you would have been playing with Penny.”

Taylor replied, “Why would you think that?”

Ice shrugged his shoulders. “No reason. You just spend a lot of time with that Human. Are you going to see her again today?”

The twins were suspicious of Ice asking questions about the woman that they knew he would like to make disappear. Taylor lied and said, “No, she said that she would be out of town for a few days visiting friends.”

Tadd added, “You don’t have to worry so much about her. She’s different than any Human I’ve ever been around and we’ll be careful to keep our secret.”

Ice grunted and said, “You two don’t have the best track record. Remember the last Human pet you tried to keep? I had quite a mess to take care of.”

“That was completely different.”

Ice stood and his calm demeanor instantly changed, making the room cold. He warned, “Get rid of her before you become attached. If you don’t break it off now, it’ll make it harder on you when you end up losing control.”

As Ice walked away, the twins stared silently at each other, knowing they were attached and were already planning when they would spend time with Penny again.

*~*~*~*

Late the next day, Ice periodically checked Penny’s cabin while standing in the deep shadows of the woods. When he saw her lights flip on, he knew she was finally home. Recalling his promise, he whispered into the night, “As you requested, my dear Penny, You can start counting down the minutes until we’ll be seeing each other again.”

Once the woods were filled with the sounds of the late night, Ice quietly entered his prey’s home. As before, the hunter within came forward and he sniffed the air. Her scent was much stronger than before and he knew she was in the house. This time as he approached her bedroom, his exceptional senses allowed him to hear the deep breathing that told him she was in a deep sleep.

Like a cool breeze, he silently appeared in the bedroom and found his target lying in her bed. He took a moment to examine his prey. Her covers had been kicked off and she was hugging a body pillow so tightly as if it was a life preserver. His mind quickly shifted from the pillow to the silk and lace that draped his target’s curves. Given its design, his head instantly snapped to the spot next to her, expecting to find the man she had worn it for. Someone had invaded his territory and he instantly adjusted his plan to kill him first to get him out of his way. But when he found her bed empty, he wondered if her visitor had already left the cabin. He took in a deep breath and found no other scent in the room other than Penny’s, informing him that no man had been in this room recently.

As Penny squirmed in her sleep, he watched the material of her nightgown gently flow around her. He couldn’t imagine a Human man standing her up and not indulging in what she had to offer. The mystery of her missing date would never be solved because he knew he would be the last man to enter this home while she was alive. He squatted beside the bed and let his instincts take over.

As he leaned toward her to strike, she stirred. For some reason beyond his comprehension, his body instantly retreated to the shadows and he silently watched as she sat up. She turned to her bedside clock and, seeing it click to two o’clock, she grumbled and said, “Right on time, as always.” She knocked the clock back with obvious frustration.

She tossed the pillow she had been hugging to the side and Ice watched intently as she got up and stretched in front of him. He couldn’t help taking a quick visual trip up and down her body, improving of her choice of night wear. He was momentarily mesmerized by the moon backlit silhouette highlighting very sexy curves and a thin layer of sweat that made her body glisten.

He knew he needed to strike, but he was curious about why she was awake and why she was alone and dressed for a night of romance. When she was directly in front of him, she stopped, turned in his direction, and squinted into the dark. Her unexpected actions made him pause. He once again went against his instincts and pressed himself flat against the wall. Although she stared right at him with her twinkling eyes, he knew that she couldn’t see him. His gift of invisibility had never failed him.

Penny scanned the shadow intensely and whispered, “Is someone there?”

Ice held his breath as her hand reached in his direction and she swiped it back and forth across the air.

“
Can she possibly sense my presence?
” he wondered. It would be a feat no Human or Changeling had been able to do.

Seeing and hearing nothing, she chuckled and said to herself, “Not only can’t I manage to sleep through the night, now my mind is going nuts as well.” She continued her path to the bathroom. After several minutes, she returned. Ice expected her to go back to bed, but instead she headed toward the door. As she once again passed his location, she turned to look directly at where he was standing. She squinted into the darkness, shook her head in disgust at herself, and headed out of the room.

Ice yelled at himself again for not taking the opportunity to grab her. Knowing he had all night, he decided to follow her into the other room to see what she was going to do next and test her ability to sense his presence. Since she was still in her slinky nightgown, he planned on enjoying the view.

From a shadowed corner of the living room, he watched as Penny pulled out a box of cereal from the cabinet and a bag of marshmallows, tossing them onto the counter. After she dropped a stick of butter into a pan on the stove, Ice questioned to himself, “
She got up to bake?
” Since she was doing it in her nightgown, he couldn’t help smiling. He liked watching the bottom edge of the lace rise as she bent over or reached for something high on a shelf.