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

  Chia lunged toward him. “You can’t do this! I run this town, not you! Besides that, kidnapping, which you just did to Cecil and me, is still, very much a criminal activity.”

  “Kidnapping?” He scoffed. “I believe it’s called trespassing, Ms. Petit. If I ever see you on my property—all the property I own surrounding your town—I’m afraid I’ll have to arrest you.”

  “You can’t do this!” Chia spluttered again. “This is my town. Mine!”

  “Like I said before…not for long. Dick, please show the trespassers out. We’re done here.”

  With that, all the humans in the room resumed their shadowy visage, plunging the space into darkness.

  Chia and Cecil were shoved from the office and hustled down the hallway. At the door, boots met their backsides, kicking them into the light.

  Chia landed in a heap in the snow.

  Picking herself up from the snowbank, she looked at Cecil.

  “What do we do now?” he said, wild-eyed with lines of worry on his face.

  “I don’t know. But we’d best do it fast, whatever it is. Let’s go.” Grabbing Cecil’s hand, she propelled them forward, hoping the hike back to town wasn’t nearly as long as it looked.

  Chapter 6

  Sharp knife-edges of fear pricked at Chia’s mind as they stumbled, limped and lurched through the snow. Her mind had been so full of fright, she hadn’t tracked the time it had taken to find her Jeep. Once they found it, she and Cecil wordlessly clambered inside.

  “Now what?” Cecil’s face looked as pale as the snowbanks outside the window.

  “Beats me.” She turned it on and headed into town, without knowing why. “But we have a huge ass problem on our hands.”

  “Not me. You do.” Cecil let his head fall on the headrest. Before long, his breathing came slow and deep.

  She braked her Jeep to a screeching stop outside of Gusty Joe’s Bar and Grill. “You know what we’re dealing with, right? There’s a madman at the wheel.”

  “Who?” Lifting his shaggy head from the headrest, Cecil opened his eyes and blinked, clearly confused. “You?”

  She slugged him. “No, dummy! Red Mountainbear!”

  “Oh, right.”

  She shook his shoulder. “Where’d you go? Why are you in such a fog?”

  “Besides the fact that in the last ten hours we’ve been attacked by bears, kidnapped, terrorized by I don’t know what, and had to walk six miles to get back to town?” One of his eyebrows lifted high. “Sure you don’t want to join me for a stiff drink or two?”

  Chia’s mouth watered. “Tempting, but no. I’ve got shit to deal with back at the house.”

  “All right, then.” Cecil swung his long legs from the vehicle and stepped free. He pivoted to face her, tapping the hood with his palm. “It’s been…it’s…” He bashed his forehead against the hood. “Aw, hell, I have no idea what it’s been. All I know is a couple of shots of tequila, followed by sinking between the legs of a willing woman and I’ll be back to good.”

  Chia grimaced. “Okay, then. Take care of yourself.”

  Twenty minutes later, Chia gunned her Jeep along the icy dirt road toward her home.

  Driving proved difficult. Anger churned in her belly like a furnace. And, to further provoke her, her ghosts had decided to plaster themselves to the windshield. To see, she had the wipers on full bore. This only made the frigid ectoplasm creatures get pushed about, side to side, like see-through dishrags. They made excited, chittering, humming noises, like warped static, as they flip-flopped across the glass.

  “You probably think this is a game, you annoying little pests,” Chia muttered. “And I know, I know, all I have to do is face my past actions, and I’ll be free of you. Poof. Well—not happening.”

  She lived a few miles out of town, in the homestead her grandparents had built, tended, and left to her when they departed this earth. She loved her home.

  Her parents had been uptight, judgmental scientists, wanting nothing to do with her grandparents’ “foolish and primitive beliefs in the supernatural.” They’d moved Chia to New York as a young teen, to pursue a life of academia and scientific discovery. Chia had been so miserable, wandering the concrete jungle with a sad, sorrowful face, they’d sent her back to Charming, Alaska to live with her grandparents. There she’d lived, in Charming bliss, until their respective deaths.

  When she pulled up to her home, she stepped from the SUV and sighed. “Hello, beautiful Haunted Bear Glacier,” she said to the distant static flow of ice cleaving a valley between the mountains. She could barely make it out in the waning light. The creek next to her property burbled and tinkled. It relentlessly pushed its way through the ice from behind the coppery “bear redirect fence” her grandfather had made.

  Turning to the wraiths on her windshield, she held out her palm. “Stay.”

  They peeled themselves free and zipped into formation, circling a few inches over her head. She sighed, tromping toward the house.

  Inside the beautiful hewn timber foyer, she hung her coat on the coat rack her grandfather had built. She glanced about appreciatively at the sturdy, solid wood, hand-carved furniture, covered with blankets and fabric in Tlingit designs her grandmother had procured. She strode down the hall toward the bathroom to rinse off blood, and dab ointments and healing creams on her wounds. Then, after arming herself with herbal tea spiked with tequila, potato chips, and Hershey's Kisses, she settled into her office to pour through legal books, files, and perform endless Google searches.

  “Somebody must know something about shadow shifters,” she muttered.

  An hour later, with nothing to show for her time but a stomachache from cheap chocolate, tequila-infused tea, and greasy fried potato slices, she leaned back in her chair and groaned.

  “You rang?” D’Raynged peered around the corner, looking the same as he’d looked a couple hundred years ago when he’d been turned. He’d shown her a likeness of himself, painted by one of his lovers.

  A staunch abolitionist in the mid-1700’s he carried himself like a man on fire with a mission—free the slaves. Standing at six feet four, with blond hair and chiseled good looks, he turned heads—until they found out he sucked blood, often draining his victims dry.

  “Oh, hey, D. What’s going on?” Chia wearily ran a hand through her rainbow locks.

  “I should ask the same of you. You look awful.” He stepped into her room, folding his arms and leaning against the door jamb.

  “Thanks.” Her lips pressed flat. “I’m in a mess of trouble. Remember I told you Red Mountainbear is a shadow shifter?”

  “I do recall,” he said in his smooth Southern-charmed voice.

  “Well—get this—he’s buying property around Charming, and he wants to move all his shadow shifter friends in. He’s claiming protection via the ordinance I fought to put in place.”

  D’Raynged chuckled. “You do get yourself into rather large messes.” His eyelids lowered. “I can help ease your mind, you know.” His tongue darted across his lips.

  She looked at him, blinking, and swallowed. “No. I have to stay away from our blood offering.”

  “Why’s that? You know how good it makes us both feel.” He stepped toward her desk like a languid cat.

  “Honestly, I have no idea what effect it has on you. But Hung left me over my so-called addiction.” She let out a sigh.

  “Oh, you can’t be serious,” D’Raynged said, his face lined with disapproval.

  “I can, and I am. It’s no more blood for me.”

  “Suit yourself.” D’Raynged turned and strode toward the door.

  “Wait!”

  “What?” he said, looking over his shoulder with one elegant eyebrow arched.

  “You’re giving up that easily? You say ‘come on,’ I say ‘no way,’ and that’s it? End of discussion?”

  His face bunched, looking at her like she was the strangest thing on the planet. He shook his head and sauntered out the door.

  “If you
need me, you know where to find me,” he said, lifting his hand over his head.

  After he had left, her office felt empty. She stared at the screen of her laptop, seeing nothing. Her gaze shifted to look out the window at the stars sprinkled across the sky.

  The seed D’Raynged had planted started to grow like a Jimson weed, strangling her reason. She forced herself to do another Google search. Shifter ordinances, she typed. The top three listings were Enhanced states; Mind altering realities — are they fact or fiction? And Shift your Mind and Ease your Frustration.

  “Goddamn it, D’Raynged. Do you have mind control over the Internet, too?” She slammed the lid closed. Filled with dread, her stomach quaked and churned. “I need something like a cracker to keep nausea at bay.” She stormed into the kitchen, muttering, “I will not share blood with D. I will not share blood with D.”

  Thankfully, he was nowhere to be found.

  Rummaging around in the refrigerator, she could not locate any crackers. The cupboards were bare. The only thing she could find was some dried-out cheese on a shelf in the back of the fridge. She pulled it out, sniffed it for mold, and, finding it smelled okay, she placed it on the cutting board. Pulling one of her razor-sharp knives from the knife block, she stared at it. It would only take a drop. And, it will be the last time. I’ll find some answers in my enhanced state and be free of it. And how will Hung find out? I can tell him I’m done with it—after I do it this once. Satisfied with her justification, she sliced the cheese into small pieces. Then, she jabbed her finger with the blade. Next, she squeezed a few droplets of blood onto a golden wedge.

  Instantly, D’Raynged appeared. “What’s this? Could it be my roommate has seen the value of my fine reasoning?” He sauntered toward the counter. “Oh, honey, come on. Stale cheese? Can’t you do better than that?” He frowned.

  “Suit yourself,” she said in the same haughty voice he’d used a few minutes ago. Leaning against the counter, she popped one of the blood-free wedges in her mouth. “Mmmm.” She chewed and swallowed, smiling coldly at him.

  He eyed her through narrow slits, staring at her blood infused offering like he could melt it with his eyes.

  Then, he shrugged, picked it up, and tossed it in his mouth. “If your blood didn’t taste so exquisite, this would be horrible repast. Besides, I have a date that could benefit greatly from this exchange.”

  “Ew, you go out and have sex on my energy?” The thought horrified her.

  “Oh, come now. Sex with me is one of the finest experiences a human can have. You should try it sometime.” He turned and started to exit.

  Staring at this muscular back, she sensed the vampire roommate energy exchange kicking in. Her limbs became languid. An extremely pleasurable electric current buzzed through her bloodstream. “Oh, my.”

  He whirled around. “Am I right?”

  “Does it feel this good?” Her body hummed like she’d just exploded in orgasm. The feeling continued in a powerful stream of sensation.

  “Better,” he said. He eyed her hungrily, stepping closer. His fangs sprang free from his gums.

  “I don’t know I…” Her eyelids lowered as she regarded him.

  Hung did break up with me. It’s not like I’m cheating or anything.

  D suddenly looked like the most attractive, potent man she’d ever seen, instead of her snarky roommate. As if a powerful magnet compelled them toward one another, she moved in his direction.

  A scream came from outside.

  “Pay it no mind, sweet thing,” D’Raynged cooed. “It’s probably something being killed by something else.” His finger brushed her cheek, sending lightning sparks through her face.

  “Don’t you have a date?” she asked, mesmerized by him.

  “It can wait.” He tipped her chin up with his finger and barely grazed her lips with his, sending powerful shivers through her, from head to toe.

  She should have been disgusted by his comment about something being killed outside the window. She should have been alarmed that he planned to have sex with her and then flounce into the arms of someone else.

  But at this moment, she couldn’t recall ever feeling more aroused in her life. It seemed like a situational opportunity of “love the one you’re with,” since she was on the outs with Hung. More like screw the one who I’ve willingly let ensorcell me. “More, D. Kiss me harder.”

  He pulled her close, pressing his huge erection into her belly, as his cool lips ground against hers.

  Another scream sounded, sending chills down her spine.

  Chia stiffened, her adrenaline overriding the sexual rush. She yanked away from D’Raynged and raced toward the front door. “I’ve got to do something!” She bolted down the front steps and out into the yard.

  D’Raynged followed close behind. “Wait! It’s nothing, I assure you. Or, we can do this in the trees if you like.”

  Stumbling through the snow in her stocking feet, her vision enhanced by her offering of blood, she headed for the stand of trees bordering her property.

  Lights of tiny fairies twinkled. They flew in erratic circles ahead of her, as if confused or frightened.

  A greenish glow lit the distance, through the branches.

  A gurgling sound erupted, followed by a low, devilish laugh.

  That laugh…I’ve heard it before…Red Mountainbear! She burst through the trees to see a large Fae—one of the horny kind—being sliced and diced by nothing more than a shadow.

  It shrieked and screamed, writhing in agony.

  Frozen in place, Chia stared, wide-eyed. Her stomach clenched, threatening to hurl its contents into the snow.

  Suddenly, as if someone turned off the lights, darkness engulfed her. “What happened?” She swished her hand in front of her face. Nothing. It’s like I’m blind.

  “I need more of your blood.” D’Raynged crunched through the snow in her direction.

  “I gave you plenty,” she said, squinting to see him.

  “You’ve built up a tolerance,” he said, breathing hard.

  “And you’re way out of shape. I’m barely winded. Here, take some more. I can re-open the wound.” She felt for the cut in her fingertip.

  “I don’t think it will work that way.” His disembodied voice slithered through the dark.

  “Why not?” Unable to see her hand, she picked at the cut with her fingernail, wincing, feeling warm stickiness ooze along her skin.

  “I’m pretty sure it has to be given with some sort of food. I did some research. You’re strange that way.”

  “Where are you? Where’s your mouth? Just try it.” She waved her hands in the air, searching for him.

  More screams lanced her eardrums.

  “Hurry, D!”

  “It won’t work. I told you, I researched it. You’re a one of a kind. I can’t feed on your neck or take it from your wrist in my usual manner of consumption.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. This has to work.”

  The shrieks and moans grew unbearable.

  “Afraid not.”

  She let out a grunt of exasperation and rooted around in her pants pocket. Pulling out a pack of Doublemint chewing gum, she slid one free of the wrapper. Then, she wiped her finger on the gum, hoping her blood hadn’t completely dried.

  “Here’s a stick of gum. Will this work?” She extended it in the direction of his voice.

  “Possibly,” D’Raynged said from her other side. “But I’m not a gum chewer.”

  Chia wanted to pound on him but knew it wouldn’t do a thing for the undead creature. “Where’s your fucking mouth, D? If you don’t stick this between your teeth and start chewing, I’m locking you out of your coffin again, when you least expect it.”

  A long, terrified groan pierced the air.

  Chia glanced in the direction of the fairy, only seeing darkness. “Now, asshole.” She waved it around, wanting to hit him.

  “Fine, I’ll try. Give it here.”

  She passed it to him, hoping she’d managed to
get at least a little bump of blood onto the gum stick.

  Satisfied to hear sounds of chewing, she murmured, “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome,” he said, spitting out the juicy wad.

  As the blood offering took effect, and her enhanced skills roared through her system, all the lights came back on in the tundra. She stood, stone-stiff, her eyes unable to blink, as she took in the scene directly ahead. As she stared, a cold that had nothing to do with the outside temperature spread through her veins.

  Ten or more Fae lay sprawled in the bloody snow, their limbs were torn from their bodies.

  Silence strangled the air. Then, the hoot of a distant owl shot through her ears, jolting her from her horrified stupor.

  The shadow shifter had to be brought to justice to pay for his ungodly crimes. She just didn’t know how she, or anyone for that matter, could do it. She was way, way, way, out of her league.

  Chapter 7

  The images of dead Fae, their blood streaking the snow in crimson stains, filled Chia’s dreams. Their lifeless, glassy eyes stared at her in accusation, tracking her every move.

  “You did this,” they said, in their warbled voices. “This is your fault. And you’re going to pay.”

  She gasped, riding the exclamation to consciousness. Her gaze drifted to the window, where she expected to see the Fae glaring at her with hatred. Instead, her attention drew to a Snowy owl, perched on the branch of a tree. Lit by a golden moon, it stared at her, unblinking, its white feathers nearly aglow.

  “Grandfather? Is that you? I could sure use some help.” She always wondered if his spirit rode the currents of wind surrounding his property, encased in the body of an owl. Less than a year ago, when she had to rescue ensorcelled shamans, she’d had some freaky encounters with a pure white owl and couldn’t help but wonder. Does he still watch out for me, in whatever magical universe he lives in now? Whether this was true, it always gave her comfort to see this beautiful bird.