Series: Shifter Ops Series by Renee Rose
Total pages in book: 32
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 30911 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 155(@200wpm)___ 124(@250wpm)___ 103(@300wpm)
“I’ll come with you,” Fiona says and sets my backpack down next to me.
“We’ll wait here. Watch over Laurie and” —Parker grimaces— “The deer.”
I pet a few more of the deer and let the scent of my call disperse a little. When it’s time to load them in the trailer, I’ll make sure they come willingly, and lull them to sleep for the trip. Fiona says I’m better than Xanax.
Parker heads back to the creche where Laurie’s sleeping and hunkers down out of the wind. I settle next to him, tucking the blanket around him. It’s cold now. The temperature’s dropped several degrees.
Sunset stains the sky.
Something howls nearby. A coyote. The deer raise their heads and startle, scurrying to the far end of the field.
“What’s that?” Parker raises his head and blinks blearily in the direction of the barn. He was asleep, I realize. Last night he stayed in the chair with his hat over his face. I thought he was sleeping then, but he couldn’t have been very comfortable.
There’s a faint noise inside the barn. Probably a mouse or something. But then, a cold, earthy scent sweeps over us.
Parker scrambles to his feet.
“What is it?” I ask. Chills are running up my arms. My animal knows something’s wrong, but I don’t know what.
“Vampires,” he says, just as two dark shapes separate from the shadows and blur towards us.
Chapter Nine
Parker
They let us see them coming. They can move so swiftly, we would’ve never known they were there if they didn’t show themselves.
It doesn’t matter. As soon as I realized we were being hunted, the hunt was over.
Sadistic leeches. They’re like cats. They like to play with their food.
Now my head’s splitting, and my rear feels bruised. They used some sort of knock out drug on us. I sit up and bang my head on the cage bars overhead. A whimper escapes my mouth–my animal is freaking out. I put a hand up automatically, grabbing the bar, and the metal burns my hand.
“Shit!”
“Parker?” comes Allison’s quavering voice.
“Over here,” I groan.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes? Other than being knocked out and waking up in a silver cage.” Silver means whoever grabbed us was planning to cage shifters. I peer into the gloom. Dust motes float on the air, and the space smells of hay. We’re in the long, low barn. Allison sits in another cage, her skirt fluttering as she shifts to face me. “Where’s Laurie?”
“He’s here. With me.” She leans back, and I see Laurie’s stretched out form. His head’s in her lap, and his legs are so long, they stick through the bars. Luckily, the bars are wide enough, his bare calves don’t touch the silver.
Laurie’s still out cold, but probably not from any drug. Flying us took it out of him. And good thing. His owl would be freaked by all this.
“What’s happening?” Allison asks.
“The leeches got us.” I test another bar and singe my fingertips again.
“Why do they want us?”
“I have no idea.” My animal is cringing. We’re back in cages with the silver burning us. Next will be the lab smelling of harsh chemicals that sting our nose. And then the bright lights, the silver shackles, the scalpels….
I realize my animal is whining and clamp my mouth shut.
“Do you think Declan and Fiona–”
“Shhh,” I caution, pointing to outside the barn. “They might be listening.” The vampires might not know about Declan and Fiona, and I don’t want to alert our captors to their existence.
The barn door creaks open, and a cold wind sweeps over us. Something moves in the shadows, and I slam my back against the far side of the cage. My heart jerks in my chest, and I grit my teeth to keep from screaming.
The vampire is a lean, gaunt-cheeked man of about my height. He’s wearing a 1970s style suit of brown suede. Bell bottoms and all. “They're awake,” he says, and the barn door swings open wider. A second vampire joins the first. This one’s wearing an old-fashioned dressing gown with lace at his throat. “Excellent.” He leans down to study me. “I knew he’d send you. My plan is working perfectly.”
A horrible sound echoes around the barn, unhinging my spine. The vampire just laughed.
“Why, Charles, is that your evil laugh?” the vampire who looks like an extra for Saturday Night Fever asks.
“It is.” The vampire dressed like a Victorian dandy, Charles, sounding delighted. “Do you like it, Jenkins? I’ve been practicing.”
“Oh yes, very nice.”
What the fuck?
“What do you want with us?” Allison asks bravely. I want to squeak and tell her not to say anything, but I can’t move my jaw. Or any of my muscles.
“We’ve been hunting you since you left Tucson,” says Jenkins. “It’s about time you left King Louis’ protection.”
“King Louis?” Allison repeats. “Do you mean Mr. F? The Vampire King?”
“Yes,” the vampires hiss in unison.