Blood Shift (The Charming Shifter Mysteries Book 3) Read online

  “I’m listening,” Hung said, his eyes boring into hers.

  “There’s a chain of Chinese restaurants called Chop Chop Sue’s. We’ve eaten there before on our road trips. The chow mien is fantastic, remember?”

  “Yeah, so? I don’t see the connection.” Hung frowned. “Enlighten me.”

  “Where’s your computer?”

  “It’s over there, underneath the sofa.”

  “Get it.” Chia got to her feet.

  After Hung had placed the laptop on the counter, her fingers flew over the keyboard. When the Google search displayed, she pointed at the screen triumphantly. “Look. All the places you pointed to are towns where Chop Chop Sue’s is located. Their flagship store is right here, in the place you said you had to wait for the longest.” She stabbed the city near Charming.

  “So?”

  “Don’t you see? Each place he led you to…” She tapped the map excitedly. “Each place has a Chop Chop Sue location.”

  Hung rubbed his jaw. “I don’t know, babe. It’s a long shot.”

  “Not for an eagle. It’s a quick flap, flap of the wings and boom—he’s there.”

  “Chia,” Hung said, looking at her like she’d lost a few marbles.

  She grabbed his hand. “Come on. Let’s go. I have a strong intuition about this.”

  “I don’t know. I’d hate to go on another wild goose chase.”

  “Do you have a better idea? What else do you have to do tonight?” She batted her eyelashes at him.

  “Well, aside from seducing you, then fighting with you, nothing—other than getting a little shut-eye.”

  “Exactly. The closest Chop Chop is about fifty miles to the east in Mawnuck county. We can get there before they close if we hurry.”

  “All right, woman, if you have such a strong feeling about this.”

  “I do. Call it a hunch, but I think we’re about to get lucky. Maybe Chop Chop is affiliated with Red, and the eagle will be there.”

  They hustled out of Hung’s cabin, heading toward his truck.

  “I bought some new tire chains. I’ve got to get them out of the shed. I’ll be right back.” Hung took off around the side of the cabin. When he returned, he opened the cargo bin and placed the canvas duffel bag holding his chains on top of a shovel, a chainsaw, a bolt cutter, and some other tools. “You ready?”

  She nodded. “Let’s go.” A flicker of hope ignited in her chest. Have we possibly found a clue at last?

  Chapter 15

  “Can’t we work things out?” Chia asked as Hung’s truck rumbled down the road, sputtering and coughing. “It’s obvious to everyone we still care for one another.”

  The headlight beams flashed on a sign reading, Welcome to Dirty Creek, Alaska. Population 1,349, gateway to Mawnuck county.

  “Damn truck needs a tune-up,” Hung muttered. He shifted the gears, and they ground into position. “That shifter job was supposed to pay for repairs.”

  “Hung,” Chia said, placing her hand on his arm.

  His head jerked around, and he stared at it like it was a snake, but she didn’t pull away.

  “Look,” he said, training his eyes back on the road. “I’m as confused as you are. Can’t we table the ‘let’s work it out’ drama until we’ve dealt with the whole Red debacle?”

  She sighed, removing her hand. “You’re right.”

  As a lungful of breath left his lips, Hung’s shoulders fell like he’d been holding them tight.

  “But there’s got to be more to the story…you have a real bone to pick about addiction and vampires. And I’m still not convinced what I’m doing is is the cause of your beef.”

  He inhaled deeply and opened his mouth, like a windstorm of words was about to fly free.

  Chia did a quick about face. “Okay, okay, okay…it’s dropped.”

  He afforded her a soft smile and a side-eyed glance. “Thank you.” Turning off the remote, barely paved road, onto the paved highway heading out of town, he said, “So what do you think we’ll find at Chop Chop Sue’s other than a great meal?”

  “I don’t really know. I’m hoping the eagle shifter. I only know I got a strong feeling back at the cabin when I put those pieces of the puzzle together. And you know what they say in law enforcement—always trust your gut and follow your hunches.”

  He chuckled. “Since when are you in law enforcement?”

  She scoffed. “Since I became town manager to this community of shifters and humans, none of which play by the rules, it seems.”

  “And yet you keep making them—rules, that is.” He grinned at her.

  They traveled the rest of the way in camaraderie.

  When they arrived at the Chinese restaurant, Hung paused at an intersection, staring at the well-lit building. “I don’t suppose you know what this shifter looks like in human form, do you? I never caught a sighting.”

  Chia shook her head. “No. I don’t. I only know this—before Cecil and I were caught and dragged to Red’s office, a shadow flattened us. We were literally bowled over, brought to our bellies. When we managed to catch our breath, an ugly looking man escorted us to MBD—if you can call being dragged by our feet through the snow, handcuffed, and thrown in the back of someone’s truck an escort service. He was covered with hair.”

  Hung’s jaw clenched like he was about to explode. He bit out his next words. “I’m so glad you weren’t harmed.” He took a deep breath, releasing it slowly. “Okay,” he said, stretching the word out. “So we’re looking for a guy we know nothing about except he’s hairy and ugly. That could be anyone,” he said, using his hand to indicate the mountain men and rough trade individuals traversing the sidewalk.

  “Yeah,” Chia said, her mood darkening. “And I didn’t get a good look at his face before being dragged away. His back was as hairy as his front, though.”

  Hung thrummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Doesn’t sound like an eagle shifter. Doesn’t that sound more bear-like to you?”

  “Yeah, maybe. I don’t know.” Her face brightened. “Wait! He mumbled something about the eagle giving good intel.”

  “So, we’re back to square one. We have no idea what the eagle shifter looks like.” Hung slapped the steering wheel.

  She gritted her teeth. “What do you suggest we do?”

  “I don’t know. Let’s do a stake-out and see if a better idea comes to us.”

  “Sounds good,” she said.

  Hung pulled the truck up to a darkened part of the street where they could still view the restaurant and turned the engine off. “Mind if I leave the window open? We won’t be able to see if the windows get all steamy.”

  “Now what would make the windows all steamy?” she said, a sly smile forming.

  “And we won’t be seeing a thing if we do that,” he said. “Nice try, though.” He rolled down the window.

  As they waited, they kept up an easy banter, artfully avoiding the topic that sent them both to the quarrel zone. An hour ticked by with no sign of anything out of the ordinary.

  Chia yawned.

  “Why don’t you close your eyes for a bit? I can keep watch,” Hung said. “Here…put my coat over your lap.” He shrugged free of his puffy jacket.

  “Won’t you be cold?” she asked, her eyelids heavy.

  “Nah. Shifter energy, remember?”

  “Uh huh. And you said a while ago you were bushed. What happened to that?” Her eyelids drooped.

  “I’m used to doing intel on little, if any, sleep. Go ahead…close your eyes. I’ll wake you if I see anything out of the ordinary. If not, we’ll head home, back to square one.”

  “Are you sure?” she said, beginning to drift.

  “Yes, sweetheart, I’m sure.” He took her hand in his and gave it a squeeze.

  It was such simple contact to be holding his hand. But the warmth flowing from palm to palm felt like care and comfort. She held on to him, falling into the dream zone.

  Stirred by the acrid, foul smell she now associa
ted with shadow shifters, she dreamed of waking up in a strange hospital bed in an even stranger room. The ceiling was lined with tubes, crisscrossing in every direction. The walls were made of brick, reminiscent of Red’s new factory. A wide strip of duct tape covered her mouth. Her legs were bolted to a metal bed. Metal bars held her arms at an odd angle, a foot or so above the bed. She tried to wriggle or squirm. She couldn’t move.

  “Get her calm, will you Dick?”

  She strained her eyes to the side, in the direction of the voice.

  Red sat in an armchair in the corner, smoking a cigar. He flipped through a copy of Lemming News. A glass of what appeared to be scotch or bourbon sat by his side on a round, polished table.

  “Yes, boss,” Dick chanted. He walked to her side, his movements jerky. Inclining his head to the side, he peered at her, his face inches from hers.

  Her lip pulled back in a sneer.

  He smelled like a shiny new toy, recently unwrapped, now off-gassing whatever toxic products had been used to manufacture him.

  He stared hard at her, like a thought might form in his idiot's brain, or some sort of distant recognition might take place. “She seems calm enough. She’s not moving.”

  That’s because I can’t move, you moron.

  He stood straight, his forehead furrowed, his lips pursed as if some internal struggle might knock something free. Then, after a quick shake of his head, he used his thumb and forefinger to flick a clear plastic tube attached to a see-through bag, feeding a thick, watery substance into her hand.

  Her eyes grew wide. She tried in vain to shake her head, to protest…anything…but a metal clamp appeared out of nowhere and wrapped snugly around her forehead, pinning her in place. With her arms jacked high, she eyed the end of the tube jabbed into her vein. A silver needle, taped flat to her skin, fed the liquid into her bloodstream.

  Her other arm showed a dark red liquid—her blood—being drained from her via similar plastic tubing. It slowly dripped into glass vials placed in a row along a small stainless-steel table next to her.

  “How are we doing?” Red asked, not looking up.

  “We almost have enough. We don’t want to kill her, right, boss?” Dick stared at her, his hands on his hips, his eyes vacant.

  “Not yet anyway.” Red idly flipped the newspaper, his eyes scanning the page before him.

  Chia tried to scream.

  Her ghosts whirled in front of her face like they were trying to tell her something. She blew them out of the way so she could see.

  Wake up. She couldn’t pinch herself, slap herself, or move. The ghosts darted and dashed in front of her. She huffed and puffed at them, blowing madly.

  Inside, panic grew like stormy ocean waves, battering her insides. Wake up, wake up, wake up.

  Finally, she exploded into consciousness to a gruesome sight: Hung, outside the vehicle, covered in blood, fighting off the eagle shifter.

  The restaurant sat shrouded in darkness. No one strolled the streets.

  The ghosts circled around him.

  She screamed.

  The driver’s door lay open in a mangled mess of metal and shattered plastic.

  The eagle beat at Hung’s face with its nine-foot wingspan. Its claws held tight to Hung’s neck, no doubt trying to pierce the jugular vein.

  Chia leaped from the truck. She grabbed a shovel from the cargo bin and began swinging at the eagle, trying to avoid clocking Hung in the head.

  Hung fell backward, landing on his ass, his hands clenching one of the eagle’s wings.

  “This thing—it’s no ordinary shifter,” he gasped. “It’s infused with some kind of magic.” He threw his arm in front of his face as the eagle lost its grip on his neck and clawed at his cheeks.

  It let out an otherworldly shriek, long and loud.

  “Its…superhuman,” he managed to say. “Do something. Get help!”

  “No!” she cried. “I won’t leave you!” She kept swinging at the bird.

  “You’re going to kill me,” Hung yelled. He lunged to his feet and staggered back against the driver’s door.

  “Not if I’m careful. Duck!”

  Hung yanked his head out of the way.

  The eagle slammed into the truck with the force of a wrecking ball, mutilating the door.

  Drawing on her high school softball pitching, Chia swung, and the shovel blade clanged against the eagle’s skull.

  It collapsed, stunned or dead, on the asphalt.

  Hung toppled to the ground, panting.

  “Get in the truck. We’ve got to get you to the hospital.”

  “No…Chia…” He groaned, but he could manage no more words.

  “Come on. Up, up, up. I’ve got you,” she said, helping him to his feet.

  Blood oozed from his neck in slow spurts. His t-shirt hung wet, plastered to his skin by a large blossom of blood at the abdomen.

  Chia threw off her coat, peeled off her shirt, and ripped it in two. She stuffed half in the wound in his belly. The other half she pressed at his neck. Somehow, she managed to get her coat back on.

  “I liked it better…without the coat,” he wheezed through a bloody grin.

  As she maneuvered him to the pickup, out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of the eagle. Its wings twitched.

  It lifted its head, righted itself, and took off in wobbly flight.

  She trotted around the front of the pickup. “Shit,” she muttered, sliding behind the steering wheel.

  “Fucker’s unreal,” Hung mumbled.

  She cranked on the key. The engine sputtered and whined. She cranked on it some more.

  “Give it…a minute…” Hung said, his eyes closed. “You probably flooded it. It’s…old.”

  The last word emerged in a whisper.

  “Stay with me, love. Don’t die on me.” She beat against the steering wheel in frustration. Then, she sweet talked the key. “Come on, baby. Work with me.” The engine whirred, then died. “Come on, you can do it.” This time the engine roared to life.

  With the side door banging and clanging against the frame, too mangled to shut, she sped through the streets, thankful to find a blue hospital sign, pointing the way. When she arrived at the medical facility, she screeched to a halt at the emergency room entrance. Then, she leaped from the truck and sped inside. She raced toward the counter where a nurse sat.

  “My boyfriend,” she said, breathless. “He’s dying…in the truck…bleeding out.”

  The nurse immediately alerted the emergency staff.

  They jumped to life, wheeling a gurney out the double doors. In seconds, they had him on the table, pressing against his wounds with compresses to staunch the bleeding.

  She held his limp hand as he was rushed through the corridor.

  “Sweetheart,” he whispered.

  She lowered her ear to his lips. “What, babe?”

  “We were…wrong.”

  “About what?”

  “Miss, you can’t go any further,” a nurse said to her.

  “Wait, he’s trying to tell me something.” She looked at the nurse with pleading eyes.

  “It could be his last words if we don’t get him to surgery.” The nurse glared at her.

  She nodded.

  Hung gripped her hand weakly. “I’ll be…okay.”

  “I know you will,” she said, with tear-filled eyes, feeling anything but confidence.

  “But, love?”

  “Yeah, baby?” She kissed his hand before placing it on his chest as the orderly positioned him in the doorway.

  “It’s a woman. The eagle shifter is a woman.”

  The double doors swallowed him up, to what she hoped was his welcome future and not his sorrowful end.

  Chapter 16

  Pacing back and forth in the tiny, cloistered waiting room, Chia cried into her bubblegum pink Android, “Oh, Cecil, he might die.”

  Overhead, a fluorescent light bulb sputtered and hummed, casting a bluish glow over the bleached white walls. The ro
om smelled like antiseptic and fear—the fear lingering in the atmosphere from those who waited for their loved ones.

  Her ghosts kept a low profile, for once, clinging to her ankles like fat slippers.

  “Cecil, I might lose him.” Her footfalls echoed through the room, making her feel alone.

  “Slow down, Lil’ Summer. Hung’s a strong man. He’s not going to die.” Cecil spoke in a firm, gentle tone.

  “You should have seen him. There was so much blood!” Hot tears ran down her cheeks. “He must have lost half the blood in his body. He fought something…something evil! You should have seen that shifter. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was unreal! A monster! I even smashed its head with a shovel, and it survived.”

  “You think Red did something to it?”

  “He must have. He managed to turn Dick into a robot. Who knows what he’s capable of doing?” She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror and recoiled. Wild-eyed, a crazed expression on her face, her cerulean blue down coat stained Cabernet red with dried blood—she looked like something out of a horror movie. “Are you still there?” She let out a humorless chuckle. “I look like shit.”

  “I’m sure you look like lovable shit.”

  She smiled. Then, another wave of fear seized her heart. “I don’t know what I’ll do if he dies. All we’ve done is fight lately, and it’s all my fault.” A fresh wave of tears poured from her eyes.

  A long, weighted sigh blew through the device in her hand.

  “Lil’ Summer, you need to be strong right now. He’s going to need you.”

  “He’s going to die!” Her mind whirled with horrifying thoughts of loss and regret.

  “You don’t know that. Listen to me.”

  She stopped, picturing Cecil’s concerned face. “I’m listening.”

  “Take a deep breath, okay?”

  She inhaled, then let it go. “Okay.”

  “Now another.”

  She breathed deeply. “Okay.”

  “Okay. That’s my girl. I’m with you even though I’m not.”

  “I know. I feel you. And thank you.”

  “I got your back, girl.”

  “I know. You’re the best friend a girl could ever have.” She smiled.