Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (6 page)

Within seconds, the two men Amar had cut materialized again in the same spot.

“Holy shit!” Jacqui shouted.

I kicked one of the men racing toward her in the gut, but another yanked her back by her hair. She shrieked. This was all my fault. I should never have come back.

Blood splattered on the ceramic tile as one of the men ripped off a piece of Amar’s wing. He wrestled against them but was soon pinned.

No! I struggled against two men as they each grabbed one of my arms.

“Now you watch your friends die,” one seethed as he bent and picked up Amar’s knife. He held it to Jacqui’s throat.

I trembled. Not from only from terror, but rage. Something uncoiled inside of me. Around me. Like the sensation of ghost limbs, like I had felt when my finger had grown back. But deeper, from my gut, and it spread out from me. My vision narrowed. An invisible force threw the man threatening my best friend backward. Was this from Amar? A power he had that was defending me and Jacqui? The obsidian knife clattered across the wooden floor. Again, energy tingled like pins and needles through my body, like when an arm falls asleep.

At the same time, an invisible force yanked the two men holding Amar and smacked them into the kitchen countertop. They vanished in a puff of smoke but didn’t reappear. My two assailants knocked into each other in midair. Another goon’s legs swept from underneath him.

“What was that?” I asked Amar. Maybe he had magic or something. A protection that he had tossed over me, and flowed through me to toss those guys around, making it seem like I was doing it all.

He shook his head. “That was you.”

“Me? I don’t have powers.” If I had abilities, then why hadn’t they saved me when Ms. Moor and her goons had thrown me from the rooftop? Or maybe that had something to do with the drug they gave me or that others were in danger, rather than just me. I wasn’t even sure if I could do it again.

Well, I did grow a pinkie back. I shivered. Never wanted to have to do that again, it was just weird.

The men, instead of vaporizing, lay unconscious around us. Ms. Moor bolted out the door, probably to round up more goons.

“It is the eight arms of the octopus. Your mind has the ability to fight as if you did have them.” He cocked his head. “Has something similar ever happened to you before when you were frightened or angry?”

“No! I mean…” Once, I’d stayed up late and watched a poltergeist movie, then complained to my mom that my stuffed animals danced around my room. Mom said it was a dream, but until she locked them in my toy box, I wouldn’t sleep. Another time, Mary Anne, who had picked on Ryan, tripped in the hall right in front of me almost like her legs hit something solid besides just air. But that wasn’t because of me, was it? Had my focusing on the animals and wishing Mary Anne to fall caused my phantom limbs to do my bidding, regardless of the outcome?

“Let’s get out of here.” I stomped toward the garage door and shards of glass from one of the shattered windows crushed under my heel. No use changing now, those smoke goons could show up any second.

Jacqui snatched her purse. “Then you can tell me what the hell is going on.” She waved me forward.

I couldn’t agree with her more.

We ran to her BMW. Amar climbed in the backseat and sat facing a side window to make room for his wings. One of them stuck out between Jacqueline and me, and it took every inch of my restraint to stop myself from patting it.

“Let’s get out of here.” I tightened my seatbelt while I glanced around.

“What about clothes?” Jacqui revved up her car, then reversed out of the driveway.

“There’s no time. We have to leave now before they come back.”

We tore down the road. She drove through two red lights until I placed my hand over her white-knuckled one locked on the steering wheel. My cell battery was dead, so I plugged it into Jacqui’s charger so I could contact my mom. The shakiness wouldn’t leave me.

“How long will we need to stay away?” She forced a smile, but it didn’t last. “You stink, Beth. And you ruined my dress.”

“I think we’re okay, for now.” That was Jacqui, making fashion more important than a horrible situation.

“For now? What the fuck, Beth? Tell me what is going on.” Her pupils were dilated when she glanced over her shoulder toward me.

“These chariots race faster than any I have ever seen.” Amar’s voice sounded with excitement.

I tried to shift and see his face, but one of his feathers tickled my nose and I fought back a sneeze.

“We need to see about your wing.” I moved further in my seat. I didn’t know what to do about it except maybe wrap it. Maybe Biology would have been beneficial if I had been more interested; which I would have been if they had talked about how to help animals, rather than cutting them up.

“The bleeding’s stopped. It will be fine.” Amar gave a sideways smile. “I am used to fighting these creatures, you are not.”

I turned back to the front and away from his arrogance, hadn’t I just saved all our butts? I took a breath to tell her everything I knew. “Umm… remember my dad?” When she gave me a short nod, I continued, “Well, he wasn’t entirely human.”

“Like an alien or like wingboy back there? Oh shit, is
he
your dad?”

“Enough with the cursing.” I frowned. “No, Amar is
not
my dad.” Ewww… as if. Amar looked like a junior in college. He certainly did not resemble a father of a teen.

“Sorry, you know I do that when I’m nervous.” She stomped on the brakes at a yellow light, and we jerked forward.

I filled her in about Amar, shapeshifters, and the Spirits of Blood or Blood Spirits or whatever they were called. Amar corrected me often and earned an eye roll from me. I didn’t care about their names, just that they could take over anyone I knew—just like they’d tried to do with Jacqui. She seemed to take it all in stride, minus her gripping the steering wheel in a death grip and turning pale.

We whipped past pine, oak, and elm trees and scattered oil rigs. The afternoon sun elongated the shadows across the road and I wondered if the creatures could pop out of shadows like these.

“I need to call my folks, and tell them what’s happened and to stay away from home for now,” she added. “And what we should do.”

I glanced out the window to see if anyone had followed us. A lone pickup swerved into a gas station. “How can they help? These lunatics have powers.”

“Beth,” her knuckles turned white on the steering wheel, but her voice didn’t sound scared. “I-I’m a shifter too.”

“What? If this a joke, it’s not funny.”

“No, I am.” She stole a glance at me. Was she worried how I would react?

“Then what about the club?” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Why didn’t your eyes change like mine in the black light, and why didn’t you tell me before now?”

“I-I’m a chameleon shifter; so is my dad.” She put her blinker on to switch lanes and shrugged. “We have the same spirit animal, a raccoon. So now you know why I love new shiny things.”

Like her car. She had gotten a new one every year since she’d had her hardship license at fifteen. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me this?” Like yesterday! I wanted to add. Like when it might have helped, and when I’d showed her my dad’s text. Then I thought about how Jacqui always wanted to leave during the black light songs. It was either to go outside and find a cute guy she’d just seen or to the bathroom to fix her hair. It was only by chance that we were still inside when they’d flipped on the Madonna song a bit earlier than usual.

“As a chameleon, I can avoid detection. It takes a lot of energy and focus to conceal my eyes from doing what yours did at the club.” She bit her lip and took another glance at me. “When I saw your eyes reflect like that, I couldn’t believe it and I thought it was a trick of some kind.”

“You still could have told me.” I snapped the seatbelt and adjusted to move a bit away from her. We were best friends. How could she keep something like this from me? Wait, that time in middle school when she’d wanted to pretend-smoke with her mom’s cigarettes. Mr. Van had caught us, but after his lecture, when I’d glanced over at her, she was gone and the lighter and cigarette package were on the concrete next to me. I’d figured she’d seen him the same time I had and ran.

“Remember when I moved here in fifth grade?” When I nodded, she sighed. “That was because of me. I bragged to my elementary friend that I was a shifter. She laughed and didn’t believe me. Then I did my chameleon vanish trick of blending into my surroundings and she freaked the fuck out. I don’t mean she screamed or even fainted; she took a picture of me vanishing and told everyone I was a freak. We had to steal her phone and leave everything behind. Even put a virus on her parents’ computers to wipe all the photos and even memory. Then we set off the gas in our house and made it look like we were inside. Me and my dad did that—together we created mannequins to resemble us so that a few of the neighbors outside—would think they saw us all inside when we ignited the gas. We ran for a year before creating new identities and settling here.”

“So your name is not even Jacqueline?” I didn’t shy from the bite in my words. First, I’d found out I was a shifter, second that my best friend has been one and known about it for her whole life and never told me, and now third—I didn’t even know her real name!

“Yes and no.” She lowered her arms, not meeting my eyes. “My dad named me Jackie. He wanted a boy, but he got me. I never really liked the name. I wanted a fancy name. My mom suggested something close to my own name since I was young enough not to remember to use the fake one. If I called or answered to Jackie by mistake, it was easy to mark off as a nickname for Jacqueline. And I prefer my new name anyway.” She slowed the car around a curve. “And when I was going to make copies for Mr. Powell, I overheard a guy on a cellphone say they’d found a shifter. I panicked, thinking he meant me. I dashed toward the exit, but men guarded the door. So I back peddled, debating what to do when I saw the fire alarm.”

So she was the one who had triggered the alarm. I had thought it was just a coincidence. My head hurt. Did I even know anyone? Must be nice knowing you’re a shifter before people try to kill you. And having a dad to help as well. Jealousy oozed into me.

“We need to keep moving.” Amar moved and I bit back a curse as the edge of his wing smacked me in the face.

“Scoot back,” I muttered. After he was re-situated, I added, “So what I did back there at Jacqui’s with the shadow smoky things, are they dead? Do I just need to do that again and we’ll be safe?”

“No. They are harder to kill than that. This is why they are winning this war against shifters… and have been for thousands of years. We have yet to determine how to kill them so they cannot resurrect.”

“They have to have a weakness.” I tucked my legs underneath me to get more comfortable. With Amar in the backseat and his wings filling the space, I felt like I was in a Mini Cooper rather than a plush BMW. I checked my cell again; still not enough battery to call my mom.

“Is your phone charged?” I asked her.

She tossed it to me, but it was in lockdown for some type of update.

“No weaknesses that I am aware of. We need to go to Egypt and search the records. Maybe something has been discovered since I left.”

“Not with terrorists around,” I mumbled. Jacqui was quiet and I guessed she’d let me fume for a while about her news. It stung that she hadn’t trusted me. If I hadn’t found out I was a shifter, she probably never would have told me. I needed to see about my mom.

“Terrorists?” Amar scanned the area around us as we drove. “What do you mean?”

“Just the middle east is not the best spot for Americans.” I rolled my shoulders.

Maybe the next town would have a payphone. We drove for ten minutes until we reached a mini-town crammed with buildings and lined with homeless. At a stoplight, an elderly homeless man held a sign begging for money.

“Where are we going?”

“Shopping,” She answered.

“No! We can’t. There are smoky goons after me, maybe after both us if they find out you’re a shifter too.” I bit my lip. Leave it to my best friend to think of shopping as a cure for anything. But I’d seen those guys materialize into smoke, vanish, then reappear.

“Look. We can get a change of clothes,” I said and when she frowned, I added, “or two, but we can’t waste time.”

“Right.” She slumped back in her seat.

I’d seen enough spy shows to know one thing. “We need cash, but can’t use credit cards or they might trace them. And I have to check on my mom!” I pointed to a gas station in the distance. “Cash and a bite. Then I’ll snag some clothes while we check on my mom.” But I didn’t see any payphones.

“Would you come with me to my mom’s?”

She pulled into the gas station and put the car into park. “Of course.” Her voice was slightly shaky like she was glad I wasn’t mad at her. “I think you should call her first. Maybe warn her and find out if they…”

My face must have paled because she didn’t finish her sentence. Guess she knew what these crazy things could do to people. I swallowed against the pressure building in my throat. God, I hoped my mom was okay. She was the only family I had, besides my shifter-absentee father.

I was still peeved that she’d never told me, but at least I understood.

“Here.” She handed me her wallet. “Go grab some cash while I pump the gas.”

After digging through her wallet, mine was who knew where, I asked her the pin number and how much money she had in her account, then went inside. Somehow, I would pay her back. The cash, the dress, and the nightmares that were sure to be with her forever.

The man behind the counter glared at me, but I smiled and went to the ATM machine. I drew out three hundred in twenties. I hoped it was enough. Jacqueline had tons more, but I didn’t want to carry around that much cash. I knew Ms. Moor and whoever worked with her could trace the ATM usage, but maybe if we were smart about spending, they wouldn’t know where we were headed. Hell, I didn’t even know.

In a handbasket, I gathered a couple of beers and cartoon t-shirts, two pairs of shorts, and the last pair of flip-flops they had.

Then I grabbed sodas, chips, and candy before paying for it all and rushing to the car. Jacqui finished pumping the gas. She still looked pale.

“Here.” I handed her a chocolate bar.

She thanked me, tore open the package, and took a bite.

“How about I drive for a while?” With her nod, I climbed into the driver’s seat. I tossed the bags of clothes toward Amar. “Help yourself, its XXL so I figured if you cut slits in the back for your wings, maybe it would fit.”

Jacqueline slid in the passenger seat. Not wanting to waste any more time, I merged into traffic.

On the freeway, I hit the gas and we accelerated past a slow pickup truck.