A Shifter's Curse, Raven Steele [the top 100 crime novels of all time .TXT] 📗

Toby sat next to me, and as Gerald began to climb in, Silas barked at him. “Gerald, sit in the back seat. We’re picking up the accountant.”

Thirty minutes later we arrived in the center of town and stopped at a building several stories high. It looked like it had been recently built and had the latest architectural style. I was guessing anyway. I had no idea what was considered the latest in architecture. On the outside, a single word read, “Trevisan.”

“Samira lives here?” I stared up and up, looking toward the top.

Luke peered at it through his window. “Yup. The whole building belongs to her.”

“Why the hell is she staying in a house with roommates if she's got this place?"

Silas glanced back at me. “That’s a great question. Why don’t you be a good little spy and find out as much as you can about her. We've already tried and came up empty."

"All I know is she's really good with numbers, and an amazing fighter.”

"And that's exactly why we use her, but I don't trust people if I don't know personal information about them. As her roommate, you're in a prime position. Do this and report to me. Anything is helpful.”

"She's coming," Luke’s voiced warned. Samira might easily hear us even though she was nearly fifty feet away.

She didn't say anything as she entered the car. Toby moved to the back so she could sit next to me. She didn’t bother looking at anyone, and no one spoke to her either. We just remained silent as we drove across town. The air felt pressurized with electric energy, probably because we all expected a fight with the vamps and were amped up. The strange sensation was giving me a headache, and I fidgeted with my hands.

“Everything will be fine,” Toby said and patted me on the shoulder. He probably thought I was nervous. I was.

Luke glanced at us in the rearview mirror, looking anything but happy. I didn’t meet his eye but stared ahead, my stomach knotting, which meant something bad was going to happen.

I wasn’t the only one nervous about tonight. Gerald was quiet as he stared out the window, and Luke’s fingers were tight on the steering wheel. Even Samira was still, not moving an inch, but then again she was dead.

Silas was the first to speak. “Let me do the talking. All of you are to stand behind me and only move when given permission."

"They will expect to fight.” Samira finally turned her head, nearly making me jump.

Silas dropped his visor down and stared at her in the mirror. "And why would they expect that?"

"They are vampires. They will want to make sure that whoever they do business with is strong and can handle themselves in a fight. It’s the only way we will gain their respect.”

He slammed the visor back to the roof. "If that is the case, I expect you will do your duty. If they want a fight, we’ll give them one."

Luke turned left onto an unmarked dirt road that weaved its way through a swampy area. Tall grasses and cattails slowly swayed as we passed, and I even thought I saw the blinking eyes of an alligator. We stopped when we reached a slow-moving river.

As we got out of the car, everyone but Silas went in a different direction to scout the area. A dock protruded into the murky waters and next to it was an old shack with a sign that read “Mike's Boat Rentals.”

The moon was bright and its silver skin reflected off the dark water. I walked to the edge and stared down at it, wishing I could be running in the forest instead of being here.

Luke appeared next to me. "You shouldn't have come.”

“Back at you.” I sighed, not wanting to fight with him. “I guess that makes us both stupid."

“Someone's coming!" Toby’s voice called from near the car.

We joined Silas and the rest of them back at the shack. I tilted my head, straining my hearing. The gentle hum of a motor sounded in the distance. It didn’t come from the road but from the river. My eyes met Samira’s. I hoped she didn't plan on sabotaging this meeting. Because if she did, I would have to stop her. I’d figure out what to do with the drugs later.

A minute later, a large airboat cut through the water. It came to a stop at the dock and twelve, mostly short, but extremely dangerous looking vampires hopped over its edge and onto the dock’s wooden planks. They were pale but still dark, in a weird way. I guess they looked exactly like what they were: Mexican vampires. It was an odd combination. But I didn’t dare laugh, knowing their strange look hid an extremely dangerous weapon.

Silas stepped away from us, leaning on his cane. His noticeable limp had returned. “Welcome.”

The tallest of the vampires broke apart from the others, and I heard a gasp from Samira as if she knew him. He wore his dark hair long and tied back in a ponytail. With sharpened cheekbones and jawline, he looked every bit an aristocrat of old, as if he had just stepped out of a history novel. "My name is Mateo Sanchez. I am fourth in command of the Sangre Nocturnas coven. I have come to forge a relationship with your pack. If terms are satisfactory, you will stand to make a lot of money."

"Please, Mateo.” Silas said. “We’ve no need for formalities. We are to be friends after tonight and can speak as if we are brothers."

Samira snorted as if she knew this was the wrong approach to take, but Silas didn't react.

Mateo wrinkled his nose. "We are not friends nor will we ever be friends. We do not associate with your kind beyond business. It is beneath us."

Every muscle in Silas’ body tensed. "Business it is. Show us your product."

While Mateo explained what was to come next, I studied the group, searching for weaknesses: those who were distracted or seemed bored. Those would be the ones I’d take out first as they wouldn’t put up much of a fight. My curious eye caught the attention of one of the vampires, the only other tall one among them, next to Mateo. His complexion was lighter than the others, more moonlight white beneath dark hair. Night’s shadows seemed to cling to him, almost as if he’d left their presence, but they weren’t able to let him go as easily. He was watching me closely, not in a dangerous way, but as if there was something about me that confused him.

I quickly averted my gaze, only to meet Samira's. She motioned her head forward silently telling me to pay attention to what was about to happen.

Two of the vampires left the others and returned to the boat. A moment later they returned, dragging a man that looked like he’d been sedated. He was conscious, but barely. His eyes rolled back into his head, and occasionally he attempted to put together a string of unintelligible words.

The vampires dropped him in front of Silas. Mateo removed a syringe of clear liquid from his pocket and knelt next to the human. He looked up at Silas. "What you are about to see is a demonstration of the drug, Scorpion’s Breath. The marvelous thing about this drug is it can be injected anywhere into the body. It will react more quickly if injected directly into a vein, but not required. It can also be dried into a powder for those who like to sniff their drugs."

Mateo straightened the man's arm and rubbed the vein at the crook of his elbow. "The high lasts four to six hours."

"That's not very long.” Silas frowned.

“Not to worry. The euphoria is powerful enough that users will immediately want another hit.” He pressed the tip of the needle to the man's vein and pushed the plunger.

I swallowed the tightness in my throat, anxious to see what would happen.

Mateo stepped away from the man. “Scorpion’s Breath gives humans an incredibly powerful feeling. It places them inside of either their most pleasant dream or their worst nightmare, depending upon the state they were in before applying the drug. But in each scenario, they are the hero. Even if they experience extreme pain, in their minds, they will believe it's pleasure."

The man's eyelids opened wide, and he sucked in a great breath, his chest lifting off the ground nearly a foot. His fingers dug into the muddy earth until the knuckles on his hands were bone white.

"I'm curious,” Silas said, watching the human with an inquisitive look. “What does this drug do to supernaturals?"

Like Samira, Mateo’s expressionless face showed little emotion, but at Silas’ question, his brows drew together, and his eyes turned dark. “Scorpion’s Breath is not meant for supernaturals as the effects and addiction are ten times worse and could kill someone of our nature if used too frequently. We may not associate with other species, but we would not harm them in this way. It holds no honor. We must remember that humans are our enemy. They are on this earth only to serve those more powerful and greater than them.”

At this, Samira bristled in her own undead way.

The human jumped to his feet in a move that startled everyone except for the vampires. I took a step back as he squatted on his feet, his head twitching in every direction. His eyeballs vibrated within his large sockets, and he scratched at his arms. His mouth opened to speak, but a string of words, too fast to make sense of, spilled from his mouth. He scooped at the ground frantically, as if trying to gather them back up.

Silas bent over him. "How do you feel?"

The human blinked several times. He spoke in tongues again, a language that sounded half-Klingon and half-Spanish. His arms shot high into the sky, and his fingers waded through the air, all the while smiling ear to ear. He