Shifters' Captive:Magical Menages 1(22)

He frowned and nodded. "You've never been able to do anything like this before, right?"

"No. I was shocked. Trust me." That much was true. "Were you watching us  climb the mountain? Is that how you knew right when to send the  avalanche? How did you know you wouldn't accidentally kill me? That  wouldn't have been very brotherly of you."

"I wouldn't say watching, but I've been aware of you, which is how I  knew the panther went ahead of you so I could intercept him. I've been  practicing with my newfound powers until I have quite a bit of control  over them. Watch." He sounded so like a kid clamoring for Mommy to watch  him dive off the diving board that Sherrie nearly laughed.

Picking up the teacup, he tossed it into the air then raised his hand  with his palm open. The cup froze in mid-fall to hang suspended between  them. Janus swept his hand and the cup flew across the cave and  shattered against the rock wall.

"You see?"

When her thumping heart had stopped choking her, Sherrie flattered him.  "Very impressive! What do you have in mind to show the shifters the  extent of your power?" Besides holding their loved ones captive in  comas.

"That depends on you. If you'll join your strength with mine, I bet we could produce an earthquake.

Tell them the exact time to expect it so they know it's not a fluke.  When we've gotten their attention, we'll deliver our demands."

"I can see you've really thought this through. May I have a little time  to do the same? It's a lot to take in all at once-a shifter for a  father, a brother I never knew I had, power beyond my wildest dreams.  This has been a very long couple of days."

Cautiously, Sherrie rose from the camp chair. Was it possible she could  take her leave like a guest who'd come to call on her own volition? Was  he confident enough to let her walk away?

Janus rose too. "You don't know how to find your way back down the  mountain. Besides, I have a little test for you to perform. A loyalty  test, if you will. Come with me." He beckoned her to follow and led her  to one of the two openings in the back of the cave. He leaned to pick up  an industrial-sized battery powered lantern from the floor near the  tunnel. An image of herself bashing him over the head with a rock danced  in Sherrie's mind, but the time wasn't right to make a move.

Not yet.

Janus led her into absolute blackness which seemed to suck the light  from the lantern in his hand. It was like being wrapped in cotton, the  sound diminished and all Sherrie's senses dulled.

"I have one of your companions imprisoned here. You demonstrate to me  how you took his essence, and I'll trust you're really on my side."

"I don't know what I did," she protested. "It just sorta happened!"

"Then you're going to have to figure out how like I did. It's not easy  to keep the lines open between myself and a dozen different shifters,  but I've got it down to an art now." He laughed. "It's kind of like  having intravenous tubes from several sources all feeding me what I  need, what I've come to crave." A soul-sucking vampire. So glad I found  you, bro. Now what am I going to do to stop you?

Her pulse, which had slowed during their cozy chat over tea, was racing  again. He was taking her to John, but how was she going to set him free?  She'd have to use her wits, which appeared to have fled her at the  moment. She couldn't even think straight, she was so afraid.

Suddenly, Janus stopped and held out an arm to hold her back. Sherrie  gasped as she realized if she'd taken another few steps forward she  would've fallen into a gaping hole in the ground. The chasm yawned like  an open manhole in the street, only somewhat wider in circumference.

"He's down there. Unharmed for now. But he can't be allowed to live. He's seen my face." Janus turned toward her.         

     



 

In the harsh light of the lantern casting its eerie shadows, his average  features turned into a Halloween mask. "You've got to drain him dry."

John raised his pounding head from the ground to focus on beams of light  floating above the black pit in which he was imprisoned. Approaching  footsteps resounded in the rocky cavern and the steady murmur of a male  voice echoed off the walls-Janus. The man John knew as Evan Blake.

He'd known Blake his entire life, had gone to school with the quiet boy  and exchanged absent-minded hellos with the equally quiet adult. The  grandson of Steve and Amanda Blake, both now deceased, Evan was a teller  at the local branch where John did his banking.

Evan was a half-shifter without the ability to tap his animal side, if  he even had one. He lived with the pack in Browning, but only on the  periphery of the group. John had occasionally thought it must be lonely  for Evan, being an outsider. Once or twice over the years, he'd made an  effort to invite the guy to a poker party or on a fishing trip, but  Blake had never accepted his offers. Now it appeared Evan had latent  powers none of them had ever guessed he possessed, and the pack was  going to pay for real or imagined slights.

John held his breath and listened as a feminine voice answered Blake. It  was Sherrie. The echoes made it difficult to hear the words, but it  sounded like she was telling him she couldn't do something he wanted her  to do. John's pulse pounded in his ears and the urgent need to protect  Sherrie superseded all other thoughts. He was frantic and frustrated by  his inability to do anything to help her as the argument escalated.

"I don't believe you." Blake's voice suddenly came from above and light  shone down into John's eyes, blinding him after the hours in darkness.  "I think you do know how to tap him, and if you're really sincere about  teaming with me, you need to prove it." Without warning, something-a  body-blocked the light and fell into the pit. Sherrie tumbled toward  John in a crazy, impossible slow motion. Blake must be controlling her  fall with his powers. She floated like an oversized feather, arms and  legs knocking against the narrow, rocky walls. John barely had time to  put his arms up to catch her before she landed on him heavily, knocking  them both to the ground.

Far above, Blake leaned over the opening to the shaft and called down,  "I'll give you a few hours to think about it. It's not a hard choice.  I'm offering you everything. All you have to do is accept my offer and  give me a token of good faith."

John gripped Sherrie's body tightly as the light disappeared and their  captor's footsteps retreated. He breathed in the scent of her hair, felt  her warmth in his arms and her weight pinning him to the ground.

"Are you all right?"

"No. Are you?"

John sat up, releasing her so she could catch her breath. He heard her  turn toward him although he couldn't see her shape in the total darkness  even with his keen vision.

"Did he hurt you?" Her fingers touched his face, felt it as a blind  person would, then her hands trailed down his neck and over his chest  and arms.

"I'm okay, although my fall was considerably harder than yours." John  touched the wound on his head where it had smashed against the rocks.  The blood flow had stopped, and a scab was forming. He took Sherrie's  hand and held it. "What does he want from you?"

"He claims I'm his long-lost half-sister and that we share the same  shifter father-someone from your town apparently-and that together we  have the power to control the shifters and make ourselves rich. I guess  his happily-ever-after includes us living in a castle on a hill like an  incestuous fairytale couple." John smiled, glad to hear Sherrie hadn't  lost her snide sense of humor.

"To prove my loyalty I'm supposed to take your power and share it with  him. I told him I don't know how, but he doesn't believe me seeing as we  blasted a hole through rock to get out of the ravine." Suddenly she let  go of his hand and plunged against his body, wrapping her arms around  him and pressing her face into his chest. "I'm scared. He plans to kill  you one way or another because you've seen his face. Who is this guy? Do  you know him?"

John quickly told her what he knew about Evan, which wasn't much. "The  guy's an enigma. I never would've guessed he was filled with so much  bottled-up rage. He just seemed like a nice, quiet guy."

"That's what they always say about serial killers."

He stroked her hair and kissed the top of her head, grateful they were  together even under the circumstances. "You tried to come after me.  That's how he caught you."         

     



 

"Well, it seemed pretty stupid to climb all the way to the top of the  mountain and not meet the man we'd come to see. Now I know more than I  did before. For example, it's not easy for him to keep control over each  of the shifters he's draining. From the way he talks he's more  interested in making shifters suffer than he is in getting rich, but he  has plans for that too. Some half-assed plan about making an earthquake  to demonstrate his ability, then demanding money on threat of a worse  tragedy. Guy's clearly been watching too many comic book movies without  noticing the bad guy always gets beaten." John rubbed his hand up and  down her back. She shifted on his lap and, despite everything, his cock  hardened. The erotic connection between them was irresistible. "Maybe we  should give the man what he wants."