Slow Burn (21 page)

He backed up, held his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. I
didn’t know.”

Again, she sighed. “It’s okay. I’m still so very new at all
this power. For the shows, it took some training but mostly because magic and
music blend so well together, and the experience created by you guys amplifies
my voice and magic for the listener. I don’t use magic for everyday bullshit
like dressing or moving objects.” She remembered not being able to conjure
clothes while in bed with Derrick. “I just don’t do that. As far as I know, my
magic captures and breaks things apart.”

“I never thought about that.” Corey scratched his head, slid
his hands in his pockets, and slumped back against the wall. “Without knowing
what sort of security they’ll have, we can’t turn the crowd against them.”

“No.” she blinked. “When we came to trade my brother for me,
she had security in place, behind them, another contingent plan. If I don’t do
this…” Worry filled her voice. “We could still all die. She told me this
chamber was filled with poison. So if I try anything, it will immediately fill
the air with toxin. Even if we manage to get through that steel door or knock
out the window with my voice, we’ll be dead in five minutes. And knowing her
reputation, I don’t think she’s bluffing.”

“Shit.” Jacob knocked his head against the wall.

Sonja slid onto the floor. “Yeah. This sacrifice will
probably not only be a media nightmare, but a personal hell for all of us.”

Dez stretched out, set a hand on her thigh. Wild energy
swirled around him, but he touched her gently. “We do what we have to.
Something may still work in our favor.”

Corey cleared his throat and dropped to a sitting position.
“So, how do we do this?”

Her shoulders sank and she slumped against the wall. She
wanted to believe Dez, believe in hope and light, but right now things looked
grim. “I have no idea.”

An hour passed before anyone said anything or even looked up
from the ground. Raj and Dez were silent but Sonja heard their chants to the
goddesses that watched over them.

She swore she heard Corey doing the same thing even though
he didn’t entirely hold the beliefs Dez and Raj did toward the goddess.

Sonja swallowed the lump in her throat. She needed to pray
to her deities, but that currently offered no miracles or immediate action. She
hadn’t truly atoned for killing innocent victims in self-defense. She’d never
taken the time.

She had enough blood on her hands already. The fact that
someone else wanted her drenched in the blood of shifters made the weight in
her throat sink to her stomach like lead.

If they created a ruckus now, the guards would investigate.
Carmela’s guards might not be playing with a full deck but the facts were thus:
they had guns and bullets. Even if they managed to overpower them and rush out,
then what? If the poison didn’t knock them out, they’d be on the run and her
life would cease to be her own.

Who was she kidding? She’d already given up that choice by
jumping headfirst into a lifestyle that was her dream.

When she and Rob were younger, their mother used to sing
sweet songs to them at bedtime and the soft sound of her voice soothed the
craziness in Sonja’s head. After their mother passed away, Rob explained where
the chaos had come from.

She was a witch, born of the moon goddess and her consort.

Rob had told her that story, making her power sound
beautiful, yet terrifyingly precious. She’d been of no use to anyone until she
started singing and listening to metal.

Then she picked up the gig with Ark-KaotiK and her career
was born.

Her personal life ceased to be hers the moment someone
figured out that she controlled the crowd. She hated how feminine and weak she
felt now. She couldn’t scream out her anger at the world and make the walls
come down.

Not without the poison in the chamber getting to her and the
band first.

Only a faint hint of light poked through the window above.
Gray clouds moved quickly overhead, blanketing the sky.

Sonja gritted her teeth. This had to stop. She needed to
find a way to channel the pent-up aggression into something constructive while
finding a way to save the shifters who would inevitably riot against each other
once the deaths started occurring. Of course, the band would have to ditch the
stage and split quickly, but without knowing anything about the venue, Sonja
feared they’d all be trampled, clawed, and bitten to death, torn apart like
food once the few shifters marched on the place.

Corey raised his head, blinked, and set his hand on Sonja’s
shoulder. “Did she say what songs we had to play…specifically?”

“No.” Sonja shook her head. “She didn’t.”

“Then what if we play a modified set list.”

“Well, we’ll have to.” Jacob tapped the ground. “They’re
making us play without our stage crew or sound check.”

Sonja nodded. “Indeed. Thing is…” She ran a hand through her
hair, instantly missing the way Derrick did the same thing for her. “It’s the
combined flow of music and vocals that really put the crowd under my spell.
Without the trancelike aura of your guitars, I’ll have to try harder to force a
shift in mindset from rough and rowdy to something less than destructive. It’ll
be tough.”

“What if we turn up the guitars an’ slow down the songs?”

Sonja rubbed her forearms. “Make them more like doom metal?
That could help if we play our longer slower songs. But when’s the last time we
did a lengthy set like that?”

The band looked at each other, then back at her. “It’s been
awhile.”

“Hell, we don’t even know where the fuck we’re playing so
ambiance isn’t something we can count on creating without difficulty.”

“Yeah, but how fast is she expecting results? I mean, even
you can’t just send a kill signal from your voice. Can you?” Corey tilted his
head slightly.

She looked at each of them, met their gazes with a hard
stare. “Yes, I can.”

A collective gasp filled the silence. Sonja continued. “But
she’s trying to pin this entire event on us. My power isn’t commonly known.”
She peered at the window, silently praying for a solution.

Jacob grinned. “Aye. And I smell puma on ya. No doubt the
bitch outside these doors had a field day with that one.”

Sonja frowned. She was clinging to Derrick’s feline scent
now, using it as a means of comfort, letting it distract her from the pain in
the back of her head. “Indeed. She asked how I could betray my kind.”

“Tis’ not a betrayal if it’s love.”

It was that obvious, hmm? She met Jacob’s eyes, saw the
truth in them. “You all know?”

Jacob smiled. “Aye. We’re good, long as he makes you happy.”

She took Jacob’s hand and smiled softly. Even in the face of
death and doom, her band managed to comfort her, giving her a modicum of peace
before all the crap hit the fan. She’d cherish that for as long as she lived,
provided they made it out of this mess without a high death toll. “True. But
still, what the hell are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, lass. We know this isn’t the first time this
has happened to you, but if we’re lucky it’ll be the last.”

She gasped. “You know about the kidnappings?”

Jacob nodded. “Aye. It’s not hard to wonder where some of
the song ideas come from when you been playin’ music as long as we have. And
you’re not a party girl, so the hangovers wouldn’t apply either. Your brother
approached us and told us things like this may happen.”

“Damn him.” She narrowed her eyes. “We get out of this shit,
I’m going to kick his ass.”

Jacob held up a hand. “Now don’t be too harsh on the lad.
He’s trying to let you have a life without being overbearing, no matter how
much he may fail at it. I’d do the same for my little sister.”

She sighed. He had a point, but still. It was her business
to deal with, not her brother’s. “Still.”

“I’m hoping we can rely on your puma.”

She did, too. So help her goddess, she didn’t want to play
wait-and-be-rescued, that never worked in her favor. But Derrick gave her hope
for a future. Derrick would come through for her. It burned her that she had to
rely on someone else but he was her balance and her mate.

In the short period of time they’d known each other, he’d
wormed his way into her heart.

And in him she’d have to put her faith.

* * *

Derrick, Max, and Rob looked at the three heavily armed
guards that remained just after Carmela dragged Sonja out. Derrick’s blood
boiled.

His skin twitched. The puma wanted violence, could feel the
menace in the air, while waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Max’s puma
and Derrick’s beast often worked in tandem when they were both in the spook game
but Derrick had to wonder if things had changed since he’d left.

Guess he’d have to rely on Max’s cues to figure this one
out.

No doubt about it, violence would ensue. But he had to keep
a cool head. The drugs were still affecting Max. Rob’s humanity made these
drugs, meant for shifters, even more dangerous to him. Granted, Rob possessed
similar powers to Sonja, but Derrick had no clue if those powers helped with
physical ailments and toxins.

Guns lifted, trained on Max and Derrick’s chest. “You two
are the most dangerous, boss lady said. So you go first.”

Derrick lifted his head. “Sure. But one last request?”

The guard on the left, dressed in camouflage from head to
toe except for his mask with slits for his eyes, grunted.

Three large barrels stared back at them.

Rob swallowed hard enough to be heard.

“What?”

Derrick looked at Max, hoping he picked up on his queue to
play the familiar game they’d used in the past to distract guards when close
combat wasn’t the best option.

Max nodded. Signal received.

“I’d like to offer my brother a stick of gum.”

The gun pointed on Derrick lowered slightly. “Gum?”

“Yes, chewing gum. Nothing special. See?” He reached into
his jeans pocket, slowly pulled out a pack of gum, and held it up for the
gunman and his cronies to see.

“Fine. Lame as it is. You’ll all be dead in a moment.” Camo
asshole grunted again.

“Max.” Derrick pulled a strip from the pack and held it out
for him. “Gum?”

“Yeah, sure.” His eyes remained neutral.

Both men stepped away from Rob, moving closer to the armed
guards. “Would you care for a piece?” Derrick waved the gum in front of the
guard’s nose.

“No.” He brought his gun back up toward Derrick’s head.
“Make with the chewing and let’s get on with this already. I’m getting
nervous.”

“No need for nerves.” Max took the gum, unwrapped it, and
put the piece in his mouth. He began chewing. Loudly.

Derrick took another step closer to the guard in the center.
“Max, I think we should shake hands one last time. Brother to brother.”

Max smiled. “You’re right. It’s been fun, brother.”

The guards looked at Max and Derrick with obvious curiosity.

From the corner of Derrick’s eye, Rob watched with the
oddest expression on his face.

Derrick grabbed Max’s hand, shook it firmly. Then with puma
speed, he jerked his brother to his chest and pushed him back into the guard in
the center.

The two flanking him stumbled back, temporarily losing
control of their guns while they regained footing. They both took aim.

“Patty cake.” Derrick clapped one hand to Max’s then swung
hard. His fist connected to the faceplate, cracking the protective gear and
splintering glass. Bone might have crunched, too.

The guard yelled and dropped to his knees.

On second thought, bone definitely crunched. Derrick put
enough power behind that punch to make sure of it. No one abused him, his
family, or his lover.

Max did the same thing to his opponent, leaving only one
guard standing.

Before he could get his finger on the trigger, Derrick leapt
into the air and changed forms, becoming the puma as he landed on the man’s
chest, knocking him down.

The gun slid out of reach. Max darted over, picked it up,
and aimed the weapon at the guard’s head.

Derrick snarled. He bared fangs. This was what the beast
wanted. He needed to see the fear in the man’s eyes, loving every bit of it.
Reveling in it.
You took what’s mine.

The man’s eyes widened, jaw opened, and he started to shake.
“No man, not….what the fuck? No!”

Juices dripped from the puma’s jaw. It set a heavy paw on
the chest of its former captor and watched panic spread across the man’s face.

“I’d tell my furry brother here real quick where they took
his girlfriend, or not only will you get your throat ripped out, but I won’t
shoot you.”

Tears streamed down the man’s face. He shook beneath the
puma but could barely move with the weight of the giant cat atop his chest.

“I don’t know man, I don’t know! We were hired and not told
anything! I swear it!”

“Move, Derrick.”

The puma lifted its head but kept predatory eyes fixed on
the former guard.

“He’s useless. If we kill him, we’ll be no better than those
who would oppose us. You know my rule.”

Yeah, Derrick knew his brother’s rule about not killing when
unnecessary, but fuck, the beast could care less. Derrick took one swipe across
the man’s throat and dug into flesh.

The man screamed.

Derrick walked off the man’s chest and turned away only to
hear the loud crack of gun against skull.

He shifted back into human form and cracked his knuckles.

Max unloaded the chamber of the weapon and slung it over his
shoulder. “Thank God your girlfriend is wearing your trench coat.”

Derrick lifted an eyebrow.

“Remember, I bugged that coat.”

“Good. Let’s get Rob out of here and to some place safe
before we find his sister. And my lover.”

By now, Rob could stand by himself, but he moved with slow
confusion. The drugs had taken a toll on him, definitely.