“Amelia?” Jordan turned back to Cameron. “No, I haven’t seen her.”
Cameron jumped off of Jordan’s bed and hastened over to join them, a cute lopsided grin adorning his face. “Yeah, I think I saw her in the lounge earlier.”
“I…I already checked there,” Shanna stated. “I…we found something. Me and Jade. On the third floor.”
“Something?” Cameron looked concerned. “You’re bleeding.”
Shanna glanced distractedly down at her red hands. “No, it’s…it’s not me. It’s from this room we found. It was hidden by a glamour. It’s…do you think we should get Valor for this? Maybe she could talk to the scholars or something…”
“Whoa, whoa, slow down,” Jordan ordered. “Let’s just see this room before we cause a big uproar.”
“But…there’s blood up there. Someone could be hurt.” A sense of urgency suddenly bubbled up within her. She hadn’t really given much thought to the blood, but…what if someone was hurt? What if someone were on the brink of death? They couldn’t afford to waste much more time.
“Well,” Cameron spoke up. “How about-”
“I’ll get Valor,” Jordan interrupted him. “I know exactly where she’d be at this time of night.” He ran from the room quickly, leaving Cameron and Shanna alone for the first time since they’d gotten back from the mission.
Shanna was shocked to find herself in such circumstances so suddenly. She was a little intimidated by it, in fact. There was a lot of pressure to uphold the relationship as it was, and expand it to the next level. She wasn’t sure if she was really ready to know the answer to the questions she’d been running through her head all evening. Cameron, was, after all, only her second boyfriend. She was an amateur at this sort of thing, an amateur at friendship period. Before coming to the mansion, her life had been her work hunting demons. Now it was so…complicated. Shanna tried to shake off her discomfort and smiled shyly, breaking a slightly uncomfortable silence. “I swear I’m not usually a drama queen.”
Cameron chuckled. “I know. Now, come here.”
With a wide smile, Shanna entered the arms he stretched out for her. She felt odd at first, but quickly learned to melt into the embrace, the heat of his body, the security it offered. They hadn’t even had a chance to sit down and really talk about what they each wanted from this. Maybe the kiss he’d given her so suddenly meant that he was already at another level and would be unwilling to accommodate her inadequacies. Or maybe she was just overthinking things.
When was the last time someone hugged me like this? she suddenly wondered. Her parents? No - Kelly. Kelly had been the only person to show her such affection since her parents died. Not even her aunt, her reluctant guardian, could bring herself to embrace her niece. But Kelly had. Kelly had done a lot of things for her, things she didn’t really think of as special at the time, but were.
Cameron’s hand brushed up into Shanna’s hair then, tracing along her neck and the mostly-healed wound that resided there, causing her to shrink back unintentionally. “Hmmm? What’s wrong?”
Shanna shook her head as she pulled away, a hand at the scar, the scar that represented her deception. And before she knew it, Damien’s darkly handsome face was in her mind’s eye. She tried to shake it away, but it held fast. She found it was very hard to rid herself of thoughts of him, of the night they met at a lowly bar, of the tour he’d given her of The Crimson Rope’s mansion…His face spread before her eyes, his delicious lips, his dangerous eyes and dark hair. She forced the vision aside, since she couldn’t rid herself of it completely, and smiled at Cameron. “Nothing. I just…scraped myself during the fight is all.” She looked around quickly for a change of subject, her eyes falling to the bed and a book that lay open there. “So, what were you guys doing before I rudely interrupted?”
“Talking about you,” Cameron said. “Just like we said.” He walked over to the bed and closed the book. “Why?” He looked up at her quickly, giving her a shock. His eyes were no longer the brown wells that she found herself falling into whenever they locked gazes. His eyes were suddenly cold, alien. They were teal. Solid teal. No irises separated the pupils from the whites. It was all blue-green and horrible. Shanna felt herself stiffen, her heart giving an involuntary tremor. She had been completely unprepared for this.
“After about two hours, a shape shifter needs to revert back to its natural form, if only for an instant. If it doesn’t, it loses control,” Cameron’s words came back to her from her first day at the mansion. “You know something kind of neat? A way to find out if someone’s a shape shifter? Watch the eyes…its eyes are always the first to shift. It’s usually not even aware of it. I remember the first time it happened to me, I just about choked on the water I was drinking when I looked up and saw those teal eyes. But I can play it cool now. I just need to keep in mind that anyone can be replaced.”
Anyone can be replaced, a voice whispered in her head. Play it cool now.
Shanna looked away and forced the lump from her throat, the fear from her limbs. She concentrated on the illusion that all was well. “Why? Well, I was just curious.” She almost cried at her pathetic reply. “I mean, guys…I don’t get you, you know? What I wouldn’t give to be a bug on a wall to hear what you talk about.” She looked up at him, at those teal eyes, examining her steadily. She smiled sheepishly, as if nothing were the matter. “Know what I mean? You must have thought similar things at times. Like to listen in on the girls and such?”
Cameron looked away. “Yeah. Yeah, I know what you mean.” He looked over at the bathroom. “I need to ah…”
“Sure,” Shanna mumbled, looking away as he stepped inside the lavatory.
The moment the door closed, Shanna let out a breath and walked nonchalantly over to the door of the hall. She peeked her head out, hoping to see Jordan coming back with Valor. No such luck.
Cameron. Cameron! How could Cameron be a shape-shifter? There was no way! The one guy she really felt she had a connection to ended up being a monster! The thought struck her dumb, the irony was just so unbelievable. God, and she’d just been through this! She’d just tasted this same bile piling up at the back of her throat, threatening to overwhelm her. Wait…that was it! It switched places with him during that battle. Somehow…the magick detector had been wrong. It was broken! God, she had to tell someone. She had to tell them, in case Cameron’s replacement…in case he tried to…what? Kill her? Replace her? What was it he wanted to do?
She looked back at the bathroom door, thinking of the monster that stood on the other side of it. She’d dealt with shape shifters at the club Styx, where Kelly had died. They had one natural form: a bear, a six-headed snake, whatever. And they could only be killed when piercing an eye when they were in that natural state. But otherwise, they could be whatever the hell they wanted. Whoever the hell they wanted.
Jade…God, I wish I’d never come down here. But then…then what would have become of Jordan? Had Cameron been there to pick him off? But…what if he had been a shape shifter the entire time? No…that didn’t make any sense, otherwise he would have tried to kill her before, when he’d had the opportunity, when they’d been alone together. But…maybe he was just observing for now, getting closer to the hunters, discovering weaknesses to report back to his buddies?
“Now, where were we then?” Cameron asked, stepping out of the bathroom with a smile.
Shanna returned the smile, wondering what original state he’d returned to before reverting back to this guise. What disgusting creature had he turned into to renew his vigor?
Weapons! The weapons that she’d lugged up to the third floor with Jade! If she could get him up there, she could get at them and knock him out, take him completely by surprise. Then she’d have Jade for backup as well.
“Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you the room,” Shanna said, feeling as if she were watching herself say th
is from outside her body. It felt so surreal.
“Don’t you want to wait for Valor?”
“I told Jordan it was on the third floor. They’ll find it.” She smiled reassuringly and walked out of the room, trusting Cameron would follow her out.
“So, what’s in this room exactly?” Cameron asked, matching her stride.
She did her best not to shrink from his hand as it brushed up against hers, from screaming and running from this creature. “We don’t know. The interior’s kind of under a glamour itself. But there are some interesting things going on, to say the least. You just have to see it for yourself, I guess.”
“I guess.”
Quietly, they made their way upstairs, Cameron smoothly working his hand into hers. She kept expecting those hands to slowly find their way to her throat, but they never did. They remained tender and deceptive. Just when she thought they couldn’t go any further without him hearing her heart pounding so loudly in her chest, they reached their destination and Shanna pointed out the door to him, eyeing the bags of weapons beside it triumphantly. “Yeah, Jade’s in there right now.”
“Huh.”
Shanna watched as Cameron slowly made his way over to the door and peeked inside. He looked back to make sure she was following before he ducked within.
With a look inside the room at Jade, Shanna quickly bypassed the door and retrieved a sword, unsheathing it silently, then stepped back up to the doorway again with the weapon behind her back.
Now, she told herself, while he’s busy with Jade.
“Shanna?”
Shanna turned around to see Jordan closing in on her. What timing.
“Shanna?” Jordan repeated. “I couldn’t find Valor anywhere. I couldn’t find anyone.”
“You have to see this,” Shanna said, trying her best to throw off any suspicion Cameron might have as he knelt to touch the air where a body presumably resided.
Jordan frowned. “Shanna? Why are you-”
“Just be careful in here,” Shanna cut him off with a wink. “It could be dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Jordan slowed as he reached her.
“Yeah, dangerous.”
Shanna strode into the room and silently walked over to Cameron. She lifted the sword, whereupon Jade’s eyes widened in terror.
And then Shanna was on the floor at Jade’s feet.
“Shanna! What…?” Jade leaned down to look over Shanna, then glanced back over at Cameron.
Following her gaze, Shanna turned to see Cameron holding a gun in a green coiling tail that spilled out from the bottom of his pant leg, the butt of which he must have used to knock her down from behind. He posed with it threateningly as he looked down at Shanna with disdain and gestured for Jordan to enter the room slowly.
“Sorry, Shannon,” Cameron winked at her. “But I’m afraid I can not allow that to take place.”
Shanna watched with horror as the hunter reached over and gave the door to the hallway a push. It slowly swung closed with an audible creak.
Jordan and her locked gazes as he was forced to join his sister and best friend before the mocking eyes of the monster.
Cameron grinned cruelly. “However, I do so commend your efforts.”
Chapter Six
“What is this?” Jade demanded, standing up. “What’s going on? Shanna?”
Shanna looked up at Jade with a mixture of defeat and terror. “Cameron’s the shape shifter. The magick detector must have been wrong…”
“I knew I’d eventually slip,” Cameron said to Shanna. “The eyes, right? Shape-changing takes a hell of a lot out of you. You have no idea.” He paused, as if thinking. “You’re quite the actress, I have to say. Unfortunately, the curtain call’s coming, Dearie.”
“Cameron…” Jade looked at him sideways. “You’re not…” She looked at Shanna. “It couldn’t have been wrong. What…”
Shanna couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Okay, I’ll let down the magick so we can see what the hell we’re tripping over here.” Cameron muttered, suddenly melting in on himself fluidly, like he was suddenly more syrup than flesh. When he had congealed again, he was a green woman, whose body turned into that of a snake’s from her waist down. Flaps of skin adorned her neck as well, trailing down through the rest of her body, flaps that were segmented similarly to a cobra’s, framing her face and upper torso. She glanced over at the hunters, savoring the fear she saw reflected in their faces. The teal of her eyes gleamed with a sort of joyous triumph that caused Shanna to stand up and stare her enemy in the face.
“Oooh, please play hero” the Shape-shifter cooed. “I do so love a martyr.”
She watched Shanna until she stepped down, then strode to the center of the room, where she lifted her hands dramatically and bellowed “Loosen your reflective charm, let go of that iron grip you have bestowed upon this picture, Osaliaas.”
“What’s she saying?” Jade demanded, standing up beside Shanna.
“Something about Osaliaas’ iron grip,” Shanna replied, eyes glued to the green scaly figure. The figure that had…held her…kissed her… Shanna closed her eyes. How could she have believed this thing to be Cameron? It was completely different.
Shanna suddenly looked up to see Cameron’s replacement staring at her in amazement. “How did you know…?”
Shanna looked confused for a moment, then glanced back at Jade, who seemed as equally amazed. “What?”
“She was talking in gibberish, Shanna,” Jade told her in a low voice.
“No. No… I heard…”
“It matters not,” the shape-shifter continued. “Begone!”
The scene around them shimmered, as if they were suddenly immersed in an underwater chamber. But the water parted and came into focus after a moment, revealing the room for what it was.
Cobwebs and dust faded to reveal a simply-furnished sitting room of bright maple chairs and end tables, and a stiff white sofa. But it was the far wall that drew everyone’s immediate interest. Their comrades lay there, bound and gagged, all mumbling fiercely, vying for their attention. They had probably been pleading for their notice since she and Jade had first entered the room. Brett looked dejected tied to a chair, a nasty bruise covering his right cheek. Amelia was unconscious on the floor, blood mingling with the red of her hair to make it hard to distinguish where one began and one ended, lying in the spot where the invisible being had resided. Lastly, Rachel kneeled gracefully in the corner, glaring at Shanna, as if this were all her doing.
“Why are you doing this?” Jade demanded. “Who are you?”
The monster smiled toothily. “I am Christabel, created by Geraldine to be the best assassin the underworld has ever seen. I have proved much this day. La Faer Noir will beg for my acceptance into their ranks with this sacrifice.” She nodded to herself, as if in congratulation on a job well done, then she turned to Shanna, like she were a partner in all of this. “Now then, let’s do the witch first, shall we?”
She strode over to where Amelia lay, prodding her awake with rough jabs to the hunter’s side with her tail. Amelia awakened, blinking rapidly, taking in the situation through a haze as Christabel roughly pulled the gag out from her mouth, and tossed it aside. “Say your prayers to whichever god you have decided has earned your esteem.”
“Wait!” Jordan shouted. “Uh…Brett’s the strongest of us. He’s the serious threat.”
“Hey!” Brett cried. “No way. I’m a weakling. Jordan’s stronger.”
“Quiet!” Christabel shouted, turning her attention back to Amelia. “I am no fool. The witch is strongest, not in brawn, but in magicks.”
“But…shouldn’t you tie up the others first?” Amelia asked with a polite smile. “Or do you plan on making this ordeal as sloppy and ill-conceived as that thing you hoped to call a glamour that you draped this room with?”
Looking taken aback, Christabel hesitated and held her gun over Shann
a, Jade and Jordan. “Yes, I should tie them up quickly so I can get on with it.”
“Maybe you should have them tie each other up. It would make things simpler, what with the gun and all.”
“They will tie them loosely,” Christabel growled. “I am not to be deceived by the likes of you.”
Amelia shrugged. “I’m just saying. You could just inspect the knots when they’re finished.”
Christabel stared at her suspiciously for what seemed like a full minute before ordering the job done as if it were her own idea.
As soon as Jordan had tied Jade, and Shanna had tied Jordan, Shanna herself was grabbed roughly by Christabel. She felt her arms forced behind her and the thick cord snake around her wrists tightly. She hoped to god Amelia had a plan somewhere in all of this. Besides biding their time, because she wasn’t sure that that was going to really help matters.
“We are about to die,” Jordan said bravely when Shanna’s hands were firmly fastened. “You could tell us how you managed all of this.”
“Oh, Dear,” Christabel laughed. “You’d like to know why? How…fun.” She turned and began to pace excitedly. “It was all quite simple really. Lupe and Rocquele lured a team of hunters to their location, knowing full well that one person was always stuck with the vehicle. Whether it was a scholar or another hunter didn’t matter much, as I would replace whoever I found to infiltrate The Agency.”
“And then?”
“And then, well, I’m doing it, aren’t I? I’m to kill you all, of course. Then I join La Faer Noir with Lupe and Rocquele. And I rid my brethren of this holy, self-righteous alliance you’ve got here, as a bonus.”
“And…and Cameron?” Shanna asked, tears pushing at her eyes.
“Oh…that,” Christabel laughed and looked over at her mockingly. “I thought the whole mission was scrapped when you caught up to the devoura goblins that were to whisk your boy toy away, but then you went and got confused, didn’t you, Doll? You can’t tell your boyfriend from a fraud and you shot him with a tranquilizer!”
Shanna paled. “You…you mean, he was actually him up until…”
“That’s right. Good thing Jade here decided to hold that infernal device over your boyfriend instead of letting you shoot me with a tranq. I would have hit the ground as I truly appear and would have been taken out then and there. But the blasted thing actually registered something on your boy! If that isn’t rich, I don’t know what is. So, I was free to go, while your boyfriend was sent upriver to whatever torture chamber you’ve got stashed away to make us confess our sins and whatnot. It was a rather amazing screw-up, wouldn’t you say?”