Love Bite (Just One Bite #1) (12 page)

“That would be
me,” said a voice from just behind her. A man stepped into view wearing a
charcoal grey business suit. He had a red power tie on with a matching
handkerchief in the breast pocket, and the light from the overhead lights
gleamed on his recently polished dress shoes. She recognized him instantly. Her
stomach rolled, nervous now. She didn’t know what was wrong, but her gut told
her something was.

“And you would
be Assistant District Attorney Carson, if memory serves,” Lizbeth said flatly.

He smiled at
her, oozing charm. “Well I’m flattered that your memory is so good. I’m the one
in charge here. We’re so glad to have you join us tonight,” Carson said as he
led her to a chair in the middle of the room.

The hairs on
the back of her neck rose. Something was dangerously wrong here. She didn’t
like the way he was leading her to the only seat in the place. That told her
they believed she wasn’t trustworthy, and more than likely they intended to
kill her. She didn’t understand what could have possibly gone wrong, but she
had a horrible feeling she was going to find out too late.

“Now, Ms.
Snyder, before we give you your first assignment I have one little question for
you. How did you know about all this?” He smiled at her, and her blood ran
cold. She knew once he had an answer she would be dead. He did not intend to
let her leave alive.

“Framing me
was a mistake,” Lizbeth said. “Once I was set up I kept digging. It wasn’t hard
to figure out what was going on once I did so.” She shrugged, trying for
nonchalance. She wondered if there was any way she could talk her way out of
this, but inside she knew she didn’t have a snowball’s chance in Hell. She
started praying, asking God to either grant her a reprieve or help her death be
quick and painless. Lizbeth crossed her legs trying to convey disdain for the
whole ordeal, but inside she was saying her goodbyes to RaeLynn and Diandra.
She hoped they knew how much she loved them.

“Really?”
Carson said, disbelief shading his voice. “I think
there must have been more to it than that. Tell me who talked and I’ll make
sure they are punished- severely. And you, my dear, will be highly rewarded for
proving your loyalty. Just tell me how you found out and we can move on with
our night.”

“I told you
already- good detective work. That’s all. No one told me anything. No one would
dare. I couldn’t get anyone to go on the record back when I was still on the
force. They were scared shitless. I just managed to put the pieces together
well enough to figure it all out.” Lizbeth knew he didn’t believe her but she
wasn’t about to risk Diandra and RaeLynn’s safety by telling him about Jonah’s
records.

Carson patted
her shoulder casually,
then
squeezed with all his
might. She let out a hiss of breath, but she refused to scream no matter how
much it hurt. His fingers dug into her collar bone and the cuff of his suit
jacket brushed her neck. “Now, Ms. Snyder, we know that’s a lie, don’t we?
Someone talked. And as for being on the force- I know you’re back on it, only
now you’re working for that bastard, Alexar. You should have told me the truth.
You might have had a chance to survive this. Now Alexar won’t ever see his new
pet in one piece again. But I do think I’ll enjoy mailing him a piece of you a
week after this, just to keep him feeling guilty. I think I’ll start with your
tits- they’re nice enough.” Carson squeezed her shoulder one last time, drawing
another gasp from her. He reached into her shirt and ripped the adhesive strip
securing the wire, laughing and making tsking noises as he pulled some skin as
well. Then he stepped back and gestured to Rodriguez. “Kill this cunt. Leave
enough pieces for me to mail to her boss.” He turned to walk away but stopped
when a sound reached his ears. “What the Hell is that?”

The warehouse
grew quiet until everyone could hear the sound- a low, deep growling. Something
was very, very angry.

“
What are
you doing
?” Eamon said in Diandra’s head. She could hear shades of panic,
and a small part of her enjoyed the way she’d thrown him off with this display.
“
Just follow my lead,
” she said back to him. Then she centered herself.
A moment later the spot where she had stood now held a tiger. Its coat was the
same coppery color Diandra’s hair was, and the animal held her lavender eyes.
Beautiful, deadly, and like nothing that could ever be found in nature, it
leapt out from behind the shelving and directly towards the men.

A small piece
of herself was still inside her head, but it was a quiet voice behind the roar
of the tiger.
Kill, slice, danger, kill, eat.
That was all that went
through her mind now as she gave herself to the tiger.

A roar came
from behind her and she shifted her focus to see a lion standing there in all
his glory. He was amazing to look at, the human side of her mind reasoned. He
had a beautiful ivory coat, thick ivory colored mane, and intelligent blue eyes.
She knew in her human mind that it was Eamon, but the largest part of her
consciousness was the predator right now and he was a threat. She crouched low
and prepared to spring at him when he darted past her to the other side of the
circle of men. They were crowded together staring in awe and fear at the two
creatures that never existed in the real world, or at least not in these
colors.

Diandra
changed her stance and sprang at the men. They smelled delicious and she
reveled in the thought that soon she would drink their blood. She leapt and the
first man became nothing more than a red ruin. Lizbeth looked on in horror at
what remained of Rodriguez. Then two more men fell to Diandra’s teeth and
claws. Another man was torn to pieces by Eamon, arterial blood spraying out
like a macabre fountain to coat the lion’s ivory fur. The tigress was likewise
covered in blood and organs that should never have seen the light of day.

Soon only
Carson was left. He had carefully circled around so he stood behind Lizbeth,
using her as a human shield. The tigress and the lion crept closer when
suddenly he opened his mouth and bared a set of shining white fangs. He hissed
at them, one loud warning sound, then flew up and floated out the open window
they had used to enter.

The room was
empty now but for the lion, the tigress, Lizbeth, and a lot of dead bodies,
mostly unrecognizable. Lizbeth did the best to control her breathing, putting a
coat of ice over the fear that threatened to rise. She knew that fear meant
food, and she was more scared then she could ever believe possible. Suddenly
the tigress crouched low once more and prepared to spring. Lizbeth closed her
eyes and prayed, but Diandra leapt over her and right at Eamon, still in his
lion form.

“Dia, don’t!”
Lizbeth shouted, but the tigress made no sign that she had heard the warning.
Lizbeth was confused by the events taking place. She couldn’t understand why
Diandra would turn her attention to attacking a friend, someone who was on
their side. The red tiger lunged, determined to take a swipe at the ivory lion
but he leapt back from her. She charged him and he leapt over her. Lizbeth drew
in a breath as Diandra in her tiger form, copper-colored fur gleaming in the
dim light of the warehouse, reared up on her hind legs to open Eamon’s stomach.
The lion let out a roar as the tigress bloodied him, but the wound was shallow
and didn’t bleed very heavily.

Diandra leapt
again and again, but each time Eamon was just too quick for her. No sooner
would she twitch in anticipation of a jump than he would move to another spot.
She chased him all around the warehouse, knocking over shelving and leaving
claw marks in numerous cardboard boxes. Each box that she upset spilled one
disturbing object after another out. One box might hold pistols, the next held
a large shipment of cocaine. The box after that was full of pump-action
shotguns, and the box following that held gallon-sized bags full of marijuana.
The box after that held bags of pills in a deadly rainbow of colors.

Lizbeth was
terrified. She didn’t understand what was going on, and knew there was nothing
she could do. She was merely a human among the immortals, and as such she was
more vulnerable. Thoughts raced through her mind, ways she could help, but each
was rejected as soon as she thought of them. She knew if she attempted to
interfere that Diandra may accidentally attack her, and possibly Eamon as well.
Although it went against the grain she knew the best thing she could do was
stay quiet and try not to draw the attention of the “animals.”

Eamon had no
such qualms. One moment a beautiful ivory lion lay in a submissive position on
the warehouse floor. The next moment he stood in human form appearing just as
vulnerable as Lizbeth in comparison to the still-snarling tigress. He held his
hands out from his body, showing with his body language that he was not a
threat. He made soothing noises and held his spot on the floor, making sure she
saw that he was not making any sudden moves in her direction.

Diandra sat
down and stared at Eamon in his human form, clearly puzzled by this change. She
made a sound like a whine low in her throat, and then turned her back,
dismissing the humans as they tried to appear as nonthreatening as possible.
She stalked back to the corpses on the floor where they lay in a red ruin.
Grabbing Rodriguez’s pant leg, she dragged him closer and proceeded to eat. She
went from man to man, or what was left of them, and did not stop until she was
full and there was very little left to identify them as humans. Then she curled
up in a ball, put her head on her paws and purred.

Diandra came
back to awareness only a couple minutes later. Her eyes flew open wide as she
took in the carnage around her. “Lizbeth!” she called out, horror in her voice.
Part of her expected to see that body she had so lovingly caressed laying in
the pile of nearly unidentifiable parts in the center of the floor. Oh God,
what had she done?

“Dia!”
Lizbeth dashed across the room and threw herself into
Diandra’s arms. Her whole body shook now that the shock of what had happened
here wore off. She had unknowingly walked into a trap, and by all rights she
should be dead right now, and these men should have walked away with no one the
wiser. Were it not for Diandra and Eamon, that’s exactly what would have
happened.

Eamon cleared
his throat. “I hate to cut in, but we’ve got to scoop RaeLynn up and get the
fuck out of here.” Sirens could be heard getting closer to the warehouse, and
the women knew they had only a minute, maybe two, before they were discovered.
There was no story even close to plausible that they could tell and stay out of
jail. Certainly no one would believe the truth!

Diandra flew
to the window without another word. She hovered outside, waiting for Eamon to
carry Lizbeth up to her. She gently lowered her to the ground and ran to the
bush where she’d laid RaeLynn. Lizbeth was at her side, watching her curiously
as she started searching the ground under the bushes for something that
couldn’t be seen. Diandra felt around until she touched the cloth she knew to
be the footed sleeper her daughter had been wearing. The moment she cradled the
baby in her arms RaeLynn dropped the glamor and was visible to the two women.
Lizbeth’s eyes flew wide. “I’ll explain later, if I can think of a way to
possibly explain any of this,” Diandra told her.

Eamon came
behind her and lifted the cooing baby gently into his arms then took to the
sky. Diandra did the same with Lizbeth and they headed back home just as the
first police car pulled up in front of the warehouse.

“What in the
Hell was all of this?” Lizbeth asked wearily as they sat sipping coffee in the
parlor a few minutes later. RaeLynn was sleeping contentedly in her playpen
beside the loveseat, her body flickering in and out of sight while she dreamed.
Lizbeth’s eyes never left the baby as she watched this phenomenon. She rubbed
her eyes and then lay back, propping her feet on the edge of the loveseat, her
head in Diandra’s lap.

Eamon
grimaced. “I am afraid I have no idea where to start. Do you want to hear about
Diandra’s shape-shifting without training, or the baby who can disappear at
will? Because personally I think they are both good stories, and neither one should
have been possible tonight.” He ran a hand down his face and sighed deeply. For
the first time since they had seen him in his human form he looked haggard and
worn.

Diandra ran
her fingers through Lizbeth’s hair as she pondered how best to answer. “I did
not know that RaeLynn could do what she did, but it explains how she went
‘missing’ last week. She merely blinked out of sight while she slept, and
reappeared the same way.” She paused to take a sip of her coffee. “As for what
I did? I didn’t know I could, and I certainly never intended to do it. I merely
closed my eyes and asked to be able to help Lizbeth.” She shrugged.

Eamon stood up
quickly, knocking his coffee onto the pale blue rug at his feet. The women
startled, and Lizbeth started to mop up the mess but one look at his face
stopped her. It was evident that he was furious, but neither of them knew why.

“You just
prayed and you became a man-eating tiger? Are you fucking kidding me?” Eamon’s
face turned red with fury and the women sat very still on the loveseat, lest
they anger him further. “I worked for centuries to get where I am now, and I’m
supposed to train you! Yet here you are, not even three months into your
change, and you tell me you mastered shifting just by praying when I spent years
working at the same task. You obviously don’t need any further help from me- if
you get confused just pray and maybe God will teach you something else. I’m so
outta here.” Eamon stormed from the parlor to the front door, slamming it hard
enough behind him to rattle the windows of the house.