Shifting Heroes Read online

  Shifting Heroes

  Book 2.5 of the Shifting Blood Series

  By Francheska Fifield

  Copyright © 2019 Francheska Fifield

  Cover design by M.B.Martin

  Editor Corey Brooks

  Contents

  Chapter One3

  Chapter Two10

  Chapter Three18

  Chapter Four25

  Chapter Five35

  Chapter Six42

  Chapter Seven51

  Chapter Eight61

  Chapter Nine75

  Chapter Ten82

  Chapter Eleven90

  Chapter Twelve99

  Chapter Thirteen110

  Chapter Fourteen120

  Chapter Fifteen130

  Chapter One

  We watch Beth run off and my heart sinks. She is rabid and the vampire council has very strict rules about that. Once you have taken the life of someone they don’t bother saving you. They just make you go away. Damage between supernatural's is one thing, so we might be able to play off the werewolf death if we don’t let them smell how she is now human. But the human mage…mage not being the key word.

  Samigina seems to think we can save her but I am not so sure. I am not sure the councils will let us. They have seen firsthand the destruction the demons can wreak…now Beth is free of them but this might be worse. They were controlled in their damage, she won’t be.

  "I can take control of this body and use my power to camouflage the smell of human. Their councils will bury them. We say the spell itself killed them. I can make it look like that. The host has already agreed to let me use him until his sister is safe."

  So I will be dealing with a demon again. This is getting old.

  "You are Brian yes? The one the other host…Beth loves."

  "Yes."

  He nods and stands.

  "I will start work on the bodies. You clean up the site. Leave no traces of a vampire attack."

  Beth's Gram stays in the shade but makes some calls. She is likely mobilizing to capture her granddaughter. She made a promise. I know very little about her except her name is Charlotte, she is a wise investor, she is proud of her granddaughter, and she is true to her word. Once given she keeps it.

  "My seethe is in an uproar because I am not home. It being sunrise and all. Wait until they see me."

  Her smile reminds me of Beth when she has something sarcastic to say. They are very alike in temperament. Shocking since this one should have been raised in the times of ladies and gentlemen. Still change with the times or get left behind I guess.

  "Are you going back?"

  She nods.

  "I need to mobilize the research and capture teams. I will put you in charge of the capture team. They are used to bringing in things alive…not with her…special powers though."

  "Do you think we can trust the demon?"

  She shrugs and smiles.

  "Do we have a choice? He could have left for home but didn’t. I think we have little choice here. We don’t have to let him back in her. We can capture her and I will fix her."

  That makes me feel…well, not better because nothing is doing that, but more at ease. I like backup and contingency plans. I am not trusting by nature, but then I find most informants are not. Less so when they keep secrets themselves.

  "I have your number I will call you when we have all the equipment ready. I will send a cleanup crew as well. Focus on keeping track of that demon and making sure he doesn’t step out of line."

  I nod. Both eyes and every piece of information I found in the Fae library will be put to use in that aspect. We are getting Beth back.

  Brisa comes to stand next to me and nods to Jason.

  "I don’t like it. Beth had enough power to fight to stay in the body. Jason is human, but with a weaker immune system. He can't do what she did. He can't survive only partially tethered to his own body."

  I sigh. If Brisa says it, it is likely true. She knows the difference between weak and strong. She has been both in her lifetime. Strength being newer to her. Still, learning how to see signs of strength when you are weak is key to survival. I trust her instincts.

  "Can you ask to speak to Jason and talk to him? Maybe get him to only let the demon out to do this and if we need him capturing Beth?"

  She shakes her head.

  "He wouldn't listen even if the demon allowed him to come forward. He feels like it's his fault. His demon told him that the possession was needed. He didn’t tell his sister until she was possessed."

  "Do you think the demon plans to keep his body?"

  She squints and I wonder if she can see something the rest of us cannot.

  "I don’t know."

  That is comforting. A problem for another day…or at least a few hours.

  "We can't do much about it now. I am barely able to stand. Beth's Gram is going home to deal with that fall out and get a hunting team together. Jason is already letting it take control, we have two bodies, and you need time to recoup. After we all rejuvenate we can revisit the issue. Keep an eye on Jason for now and when he is done with the bodies and Charlotte comes back with the clean-up team bring him to mine and Beth's place. I am draining our fridge and taking a nap."

  Before she can reply I am walking off. I parked my bike a little ways away. Hopefully it is still there. Hopefully I don’t crash on the way home. Hopefully we won’t find Beth too late. I don’t deal with maybes; I deal with surety…now I know how my clients feel. I hate it.

  "Fuck this whole situation."

  I got on my bike, wish I had a helmet for the first time ever, and drive home to my waiting fridge, shower, and bed.

  When I wake it is to a splitting headache. That happens so rarely it is extra amazing. By amazing I mean really fucking horrible.

  "Damn someone needs to invent vampire aspirin."

  Even after draining the fridge of all the blood we keep in there and eating all the leftover food in the fridge I feel horrible. I soaked in the tub before using the shower to really scrub down. Then I slept…according to the bedside clock, about eleven hours. It is dark again. I am still sore and exhausted.

  The skin on my wound has knit together but is tight as hell and the flesh is sunken in. All that muscle loss is just that, lost. No matter how much I feed it is never fully coming back. My shoulder hurts and when I call to order more blood I find holding the phone on that side basically impossible. So the bone is not fully healed yet. Well fresh blood it is and hopefully more than one donor will come.

  I rinse my face off and go into the kitchen looking for the takeout menus. I will need regular food as well. Brisa is sleeping on the couch her lights still flickering while the demon sits on a chair staring into space. I have never wondered how eerie and freaky not blinking would be to see and now I will never have to. So glad that life altering question is answered.

  "You ordered food."

  "You heard that."

  Add super hearing to demon powers…great.

  "You invite food to your home?"

  "Beth and I both looked into them. They are in it for the money. They are trust worthy. And best of all right now, they do not ask questions."

  No nods, no blinks, just staring. Crap that is unnerving.

  "Do you want something to eat…or does Jason?"

  "The body requires food to live. It needs to be healthy when I leave so it will survive. Or so the last host told us when I was in her. I liked her. That is why I stayed behind to help."

  I don’t know how to respond to that. So I grab a menu, order enough food for a dozen people, and leave it at that.

  "It should be here in twenty minutes. You should go clean off. I will grab some of Jason's spare clothes from the closet."

  The demon follo
ws me intently paying attention to all directions I give. I leave him in the bathroom alone to grab clothing and when I return he is indeed taking a shower.

  It seems almost like he is talking to himself. Is he talking to Jason? How weird.

  "We will save the sister. Do not worry."

  Pause of silence.

  "You should come out to clean and eat. It will be more efficient."

  Another pause…

  "They do not blame you. If they do, they do not show it to me."

  One sided conversations are usually boring, but I have an idea where this one is going. So Jason is the one that doesn’t want to come out. Can the demon sense me? Is he hoping I will agree with him and prove to Jason he can come out?

  "I brought clothing to change into. Luckily Jason leaves some with us. When Beth's Gram gets here tell Jason to be ready. He will need to hear the plan. He and I are heading up the capture team she has since they don’t know about shape shifters."

  That is the best I can do right now. Because I will be pissed until Beth is home safe and sound. Instead of waiting for a response, from Jason or the demon, I flee. Time to wake Brisa up so she can eat. It has nothing to do with me not wanting to be alone with the demon or Jason while I am weak. Nothing at all.

  Chapter Two

  "My teams has done many retrievals before and have a ninety nine percent success rate for bringing them in alive."

  I don’t like that one percent, but I have to admit since they are chasing crazed vampires that is a damn good record. I stare at the computer screen. Charlotte is dealing with a bit of upheaval over her being a live vamp again so she has sent the team leader in her stead. We are having a video conference.

  She is covered in blood and holding a knife. Her family apparently needed proof she is still fit to lead and is not open to being experimented on to find out if she found the vampire fountain of youth so to speak. By the looks of it, many lessons have been taught already and by the sounds of begging I hear more are to come.

  I shiver glad I am not a part of that world. I find it completely distasteful. Logically I know no one will die from it and that it is needed to keep a hoard of vamps in line, but I know I could never do it myself. Hence being a loner dating a half vamp.

  "So we track and hunt Beth. Say we catch her alive. Then what?" Brisa asks.

  Charlotte looks around the room. Neither her team leader nor I are shocked by the question and we already know the answer. She is not sure how much to trust the others about her research. I like Brisa but I don’t trust the Fae with any knowledge this powerful.

  "Beth wrote out a type of living will. She is to go into her Grams custody. She and I split responsibility for what happens after."

  That is close enough to the truth. Charlotte smiles and nods.

  "Yes. Brian and I will care for her. We know best what her vampire side is going through."

  "Shouldn't I be there to represent the shifter half?"

  Jason has come out, but have had a feeling it is by force.

  "She didn’t ask for you in the will. She asked her Gram have custody of her body and that all decisions regarding treatment be jointly made between Charlotte and me."

  Jason looks part peeved and part dejected. Likely he feels wronged that Beth hadn't used him as an emergency contact so to speak. It is her vampire half going insane. She is too unstable for him to handle. He won’t understand losing yourself to the call of blood and violence. The guilt for his sister's possession will never leave him and that is good. He needs to learn to never make decisions without the persons say so.

  "Fine. The demon will be more useful than me. I am bringing him out so he knows how to help without killing Beth."

  His personality disappears before I can even blink. The demon takes over and instantly the power swirls, the lips thin, and his face muscles tighten. Damn he is not happy with Jason. To be fair none of us really are.

  "This one is full of self-pity. I like the other host better. She was good. Honest."

  That is a stunning endorsement. I am not sure how much Jason heard them say, but I hope he heard that.

  "Make sure he hears that. Of everyone that should pity themselves Beth is it and he's taking that from her. Just like when he sent her into possession without telling her."

  "He hears everything you or I say. I keep him close to the surface so he doesn’t float away. We haven't made a covenant so the dynamic is different. Like with the other host. He is used to a more permanent relationship. It is different."

  "No offense, but I don’t give a damn about the ins and outs of your relationship. I want him to look at what he's done and suffer the way his sister is."

  The power retracts and Jason is in charge again. He stands and comes over grabbing my shirt collar and punches. I dodge and gra his fist. I want to squeeze so hard I will crack his hand, but we need every able bodied person we can get.

  "Do what we have to, to save the world! Isn't that what you said?!"

  "Damn straight, but I don’t hide the suffering someone will experience and send them in blind!"

  "If you tell people they wouldn’t go through with it! No one would!"

  "Anyone not a coward would and your sister is not a coward! You may be related, but you are nothing alike!"

  "You would have done it willingly?!"

  "Damn straight! Anything for Beth!"

  Brisa raises a hand.

  "I chose the same when they banished Kyle. I was told I could come out more powerful but there was a much greater chance I would die. I chose it for the good of my people. It worked out, but it might not have."

  "My team and I go on missions always aware it is likely to be our last. Crazed vamps are no joke. They kill everything in sight and feel no pain. It's the job."

  He shrugs like it is no big deal. I hadn't caught his name yet. So far it is all 'call me alpha, the whole team does'. So be it. I will call him god if he can help get Beth before she kills anyone.

  "The only one here that is a coward is you Jason. My shoulder will never be the same. No matter how much blood healing I get. It will always be missing muscles. Brisa's power could take over her mind and kill her at any moment. Alpha and his team could die whenever they go on a mission. We all knew what we went into and did it willingly. It's only shifters that don’t pull their own weight. That’s why Beth has to work so hard isn’t it? Because the shifters are cowards Beth has to protect them from the rest of the world! The very people that hate her use her for their own means! Well fuck you!"

  Then I do squeeze. He drops his hands and falls to his knees. Where I promptly punch him in the face. He is down and out. His jaw will hurt, likely the hand too, but I didn’t kill him. That is all I can promise until I know if Beth will hate me for it or not.

  "Was that called for Brian?"

  I look to the screen and a smiling vampire queen.

  "Fuck yes."

  She laughs and shrugs. I have a feeling she would have said it if I didn’t.

  "Very well. I will finish up here. Alpha can report back once a day so anything you need can go through him. The rest of the team is mobilized and ready for your command Brian. Wake up that sorry excuse for a supernatural and get a move on. I want my granddaughter back."

  The screen goes black and I nod to Jason. Brisa nods and goes over to wake him. Alpha and I go outside and give the team directions. I contact some of my spy network for information and get our first stop. Time to get this circus on the road to hell and back.

  It is dark before we can fully mobilize. Jason refuses to come out and the demon has to heal him and conspire with us. It is honestly a bit afraid that Jason will never want to come out. He is worried about the bastard breaking. Well to hell with him. We can just put him in a psych ward when we get Beth back.

  "You said she was spotted up in Vermont?"

  I nod and look at the fax I received. I love my home office.

  "She decimated a dairy farm. The people weren't awake. They came out with guns and
started shooting thinking she was a wild animal after the herd. She seems to be keeping to wolf form mostly. Sadly she managed to decimate the herd before she took off while being shot at."

  "You sure it wasn’t a normal wolf?"

  "The tracks ended all of a sudden for no reason. So whatever it was learned to fly in the blink of an eye. No wolf I have ever met has flown. Not to mention only one cow was actually eaten. The rest were drained of blood and left to rot."

  "That’s enough evidence for me. Let's move to that location. Set up camp nearby and someone can interview the family."

  "I agree with that except the interview part. I had a colleague interview them as an emergency fund corporation. We compensated them for their loss so they won't lose their livelihood and took statements. It's in the folder. Next page."

  I hand it over and Alpha skims it. "Efficient. I could use someone like you on my team."

  A year ago I would have said no but now, well, now it is different. The families who had their relatives being hunted…now I know how they feel. I bet Charlotte doesn’t skimp on resources or pay. It will be something to discuss with Beth if she returns. When…when she returns. Not if. When.

  "Maybe."

  Alpha nods and reads through my info then passes it down the line. We have ten soldiers for this mission. A human cook, who also is an emergency blood supply, five vampires, three werewolves, and a Fae. I couldn’t have imagined this group working together in my wildest dreams.

  "So the human cook. Do you really use him if someone needs healing?"

  Alpha looks at me and laughs.

  "Not the way you are imagining. We don't slit the throat or anything. No we just take a blood donation and feed it to the vamp while it's still warm. Even that little bit can mean the difference between a vamp surviving or not."

  "And the cook knows this…"

  "They sign a contract and everything. Every human working for Charlotte is on a high iron diet in case we need an emergency blood transfusion. They are well treated; they have a place to stay, money, food. In exchange they donate blood. Your girl's Gram is the only one smart enough to do it this way. Ensures the group has plenty of blood stored up and fresh blood available."