Release (The Protector Book 3) (4 page)

“My name is Tikimicharnikato, of the—“

“I don’t care,” Grams said. “Now move your ass, kitty. The store closes in an hour.”

Chapter 4

The parking lot was deserted, and newspaper, empty garbage cans, and other debris scattered and rolled around on the pavement. Shades of black and gray were painted across the sky, shifting from one angry cloud formation to another. The wind blew hard, and it carried the smell of incoming rain. One of Stonewall’s famous autumn storms was on its way, and if the wind was any kind of sign, it was going to be a bad one.

I jumped out of the Jeep and gusts of air whipped across my face. A small line of crows sat perched along the top of the buildings, and a single crow on the awning below them. It squawked annoyingly as the door to The Ouija Board slammed open and the wind pinned it against the side of the building. Each time the wind calmed the door would close, but another blast would slam it back against the brick wall, causing silver bells to clang against the glass.

As I neared the entrance, the door hit the wall again and a web of cracks spread throughout the glass. The crow squawked again and the other crows jumped into the air, circling the building in a murder of annoyance. Once everyone had moved inside, I battled the wind and pulled the door shut.

“Wow, this storm isn’t going to be pretty,” I said.

The wind howled on the other side, but the door stayed closed as I let my fingers slide off the aluminum handle.

“What happened here?” Tiki asked.

The store was in shambles, as if a storm of its own had torn through the inside. Pieces of what were once crystal balls lay strewn across the floor in fragments. Board games, trinkets, and power stones were in pieces on opposite sides of the room. The cash register spilled receipts, dollar bills, and coins onto the floor as it sat upside down on the counter.

“Well, whoever did this obviously wasn’t here for money,” I said.

“I—I don’t like this guys. Maybe we sh—should go.”

“Why do you show fear now, Willy?” Tiki asked. “You are a powerful creature. One to be respected.”

“Yeah we—well, that creature is still new to me. I don’t feel very powerful right now.”

“Just relax.” I patted Willy on the back.

“Sa—says the guy with so much po—power he can hardly contain it.”

I stepped cautiously through the store, but there was too much glass to avoid the crunching beneath my feet.

“Debbie?” Rayna called out. There was no answer.

“Maybe she’s in the back?”

“I don’t know. Maybe,” Rayna said. “Debbie, it’s Rayna. Are you here?”

We moved down a hallway of unfinished walls, where electrical cables hung loosely from wooden studs. The section of the store we wanted was down the hall and through another wooden door. It was the place where real witches bought their goods.

The door hung partially open and squeaked as Rayna pushed it. The room had been torn apart just like the first, but this time a familiar scent hung in the air.

“Blood,” Rayna said.

My eyes scanned the room as I wrapped scarred fingers around my daggers.

A glass casing that separated the employees from the customers had been smashed to bits, its contents spilling out of the case. Smears of red clouded the clear shards and a puddle of blood lay on the floor.

Rayna unlatched her whip, and without a word, we spread out across the room. The steel cage in the corner that held weapons and cloaks was still intact. Some of the shelves had gone untouched while others were not only emptied, but also broken. Splinters of wood and strange claw marks scarred the shiny hardwood floor, and a puddle of cloudy liquid pooled inside a splatter of blood.

As a bang sounded behind me, I squeezed my blade and prepared to attack, but it was only Rayna. She’d dropped her whip and both hands were covering her mouth.

I rushed to get beside her and found Debbie hanging in a small room behind the glass counter. A thick rope was wrapped around her neck just above a gash that was still bleeding. She was completely naked with streaks of red running down her body and dripping off her feet. The puddle of blood that had formed beneath her rippled as each drop splashed into it.

“Oh m—m—my gods,” Willy said.

“Help me get her down.” I searched the room, finding a small stepladder wedged behind the door. I steadied it beside Debbie’s body and climbed to the top. I knew she wasn’t dead yet. If she were, she’d have turned to ash.

I waited for help but Rayna and Willy continued to stare at the body. Tiki brushed the shaggy black hair out of his eyes and stepped forward. His sandal-covered feet changed from a warm caramel to a deep red as he stepped into the blood. The liquid sloshed over his feet, but he didn’t seem bothered by it.

He wrapped his muscular arms around Debbie’s legs and lifted her up enough so that I could loosen the noose. We carefully lowered her and carried her out of the room.

“Willy, clear a space on the floor,” I demanded. Willy’s brown eyes were wide and he looked scared. He had bulked up the last few weeks and his scrawny arms now showed some definition, but with the discoloration of his skin and the look on his face, he was the same old Willy I’d come to know. “Willy, let’s go!”

Willy shook his head and ran around the other side of the counter, pushing books, boxes, and debris away. I didn’t have to tell Rayna what to do; she grabbed a handful of cloaks and garments out of a broken counter and shook them out. Slivers of glass that clung to the fabric fell to the floor and she laid them out over the space Willy had made.

We laid Debbie down, and as we did, her body changed. Magic broke around her and her frazzled gray hair straightened itself into thick, chocolate brown locks. Her wrinkled skin smoothed, but even as her true from came out, the cloudy film covering her eyes remained. Her body was spotted with black and purple bruises, and the creamy tone of her skin had turned gray. There were small claw marks and scratches across her stomach and large gashes on her breasts. I shuddered and Rayna handed me another cloak to put over her body.

“Chase, do something.” Rayna had her arms crossed awkwardly and she was biting her nails.

“I don’t know if I can—”

“You have to try.” Rayna paced back and forth alongside Debbie.

I laid my hands over Debbie’s body and closed my eyes, calling forth my water element. Cool liquid rushed from my soul, filling my veins and rolling through my arms. Debbie’s body jerked as the power left my hands and moved over her body.

The rush of cool magic danced along her skin before soaking inside her. It searched for her power, her life force, anything it could revitalize. The gash on her throat began to close and I pushed the magic harder. It flowed through my body, and I envisioned the wounds on her chest and stomach closing. But even as new skin grew and pulled itself over the gaping wounds, she didn’t move. The sickly gray tone of her skin didn’t change and her cloudy eyes held a lifeless stare. My magic cycled through her body again and again, but she was too far gone.

“It’s not working,” I said.

“Yes it is, just keep pushing.”

I shook my head but did as Rayna wanted. I pushed the magic back through her body, but it just came back to me, moving out one hand and into the other.

“She’s gone, Rayna…I’m sorry.”

“She can’t be. If she were, she’d be a pile of dust.”

“It’s a spell,” a deep voice said from behind us. I jumped to my feet, and before I saw his face, I already had both my daggers unsheathed. “A spell that keeps her body preserved in the hope someone will find her before she turns to ash. The beauty of killing Underworlders is that there’s usually no mess to clean up when you’re done. This, however, is nothing but a weak attempt to inform someone that she has met an unjust death.”

“Arian,” I said, squeezing the handle of each blade.

Arian stood in the open doorway with crossed arms and an empty expression. His olive complexion was marred by three pale scars that ran across his face, and his long black hair draped loosely across one shoulder. I’d never seen his human eyes; instead, he always showed the demon inside him, and solid black orbs stared back at me.

“I told you we’d meet again soon.” His jeans were torn and faded, and his torso was partially covered by a small, leather vest. “It looks like it’s happened even sooner than I had planned.”

“It’s never too soon to get rid of you,” I said. I waited until he took a few steps towards me and I lashed out. My blade cut through the air but Arian sidestepped it, dodging my strike. He moved in a blur and his laughter sounded behind me.

“What the hell is he doing here?” Rayna asked, her whip drawn.

“Just the mention of my name and people know who I am. What a compliment. I suppose we haven’t been formally introduced.” Arian stepped towards Rayna, extending his hand. “My name is Arian, former leader of your Hollowlights and future king of all shifters. And as any smart woman knows, even the most powerful of kings are in need of a queen.” A disturbing smile crossed his lips.

Rayna moved away and snapped her whip forward. Arian winced, pulling his hand back as blood spilled from the wound.

“Feisty. That’ll come in handy later,” he whispered.

“Why did you do this? Debbie didn’t deserve this,” Rayna said.

Since his eyes were a solid black, I couldn’t see who he was looking at, but I imagined he paused on each of our faces for a moment. Arian licked the blood from his hand and shrugged. “She had information I needed. Unfortunately, she chose to not give it up so easily. But like all my victims, and this includes you, Chase, I always get what I want.”

“I’ll die before I fall in line behind Riley.”

Arian shook his head. “Oh no, death is not necessary. You of all people know it only takes a single bite. And you won’t be falling in line behind Riley. You will be following me.”

I laughed. “Riley plans to gain control of all the Underworlders. I hate to break it to you, but that includes you.”

“You know so little of what is going on it almost saddens me.” Arian sighed. “I have no intention of falling under his rule. I will work with your father as it suits me.” He turned towards the door that led outside and started walking towards it.

“Whoa, where do you think you’re going?” I asked. My air element came alive and I bent it to my will. It churned inside me and I extended the power towards the bookshelves that lined the wall.

The bookcases rattled and drywall dust rained down as my power tore them from the wall. The shelves moved slowly across the floor, sliding in place to block the doorway.

“Ithreal is a god. If Riley succeeds, you won’t have a choice,” I said. “There will be no walking away from that.”

The room darkened as the other bookshelves blocked the windows. Arian turned and ran with unnatural speed across the room, but my element was faster. The door we’d entered through slammed shut.

“We’re doing this now?” Arian sighed. “I had planned something a little more poetic for our battle, but if you insist, I suppose this will do.”

Arian’s body cracked and jerked at awkward angles. The black that filled his eyes turned red and his shoulders dislocated, shifting behind his back. As his bones grinded together, his body morphed. Olive skin turned a dark green and his torso swelled. In a few rough movements there was a thick, scaled serpent coiled up on the floor. His black tongue hissed and his red eyes with slit pupils focused on me.

“Everyone, take a side,” I commanded. “We need to surround him.”

Tiki moved cautiously across the room. He reached down to grab a short sword that lay in the front counter’s broken glass, but his eyes never left Arian.

I readjusted my grip on the blades as the sound of bones snapping filled the room again, but this time it was behind me.

Willy dropped to the floor and his body transformed. Thick black claws shot from his fingertips, his knees snapped and re-hinged themselves, and the skin on his face began to stretch. Clear fluid burst from his body and his clothes fell to the ground in tatters. Willy screamed as layers of thick, red fur pushed through the tears in his skin and blood ran down the sides of his body. The popping of muscles was the last sound his body made before the transition was complete.

Willy’s jaws snapped and he pulled back his lip in a snarl. He crept forward and his fur changed from red to black and finally to gray. His eyes were colorless with a single black pupil in the center of each, and he fixed them on Arian.

Arian’s body slithered from left to right as he inched his way towards us. A black tongue hovered between his fangs, tasting the air.

Rayna’s whip snapped and then cut through the air. The black leather coiled around Arian’s neck and the silver clasp tore into his scales. He hissed and a black, viscous fluid trickled down his body.

Arian’s serpent mouth unhinged and his fangs extended further. He lunged toward me and a thick green fluid shot from his mouth.

I pulled an element up and a shield of ice formed in front of me. The fluid hit the barrier, but quickly melted it away, burning holes in the magic. Another stream of venom spat from his mouth and clung to both my blades. A burning sensation scorched my hands and I dropped the daggers.