“We’ve got trouble,” I whispered as we rushed into the hallway.
Just as we reached it, the man from the outside pushed open the front door and entered. He paused, his hood lifting slightly, revealing a strong jaw, a small nose and yellow eyes.
“Who are you?” I demanded loudly.
My voice echoed down the hall.
Flicking his head forward, he replaced the hood before turning. Running down the steps, he retreated quickly. All three of us ran for the door, Dave and I slower than Archie, whose vampire speed helped him to thrust out into the street.
“Get him!” I ordered him, even though he wasn’t in my team.
Not hesitating, Archie ran after the man. The hooded figure was fast, too fast. His yellow eyes told me that he was probably a shape-shifter, not unlike Jake. However, Jake’s eyes were wolf-like. The man who now shot across the road would more than likely be a lion.
I had only seen a few in my time as an agent, but the beasts were powerful when they transformed. Because of their clearly obvious difference to humans, shifters were forbidden to shift in broad daylight. The humans could never know that paranormal creatures existed. We would be hunted and killed instantly, our numbers going into extinction.
“I don’t think we can keep up.” Dave puffed as we followed the pair. “They’re freaks of nature!”
The shifter turned suddenly, startling Archie into a stop. Screeching to a halt, I lifted my foot, whispered an earthquake spell and stamped down hard. The ground shook so violently, two car alarms set off in the distance.
“Nice one.” Taking my arm, Dave dragged me towards the others.
The shifter had fallen to his knees, allowing Archie to jump on him. Screaming as the shifter turned his head, his long canine teeth bared, I only just managed to warn Archie to release the beast.
Fur sprouted from the stranger’s body, the shifting causing his bones to crack and crunch as his human form was replaced by a lion.
Holding his hands up, Archie backed away. Dave took my arm, pulling me behind him as the beast turned to stare at me.
“Do you know Brianna? She’s been kidnapped, can you help?”
My words might have sounded desperate, but the blink of his eyes was slow, deliberate. He padded closer, his long narrow frame powerful as his mane brushed against my arm. If the human government found out that a shifter had changed in the middle of a London street, he would be executed immediately.
“Please, you have to help us find her, she’s in danger.”
A snort came from his wide nose as he went to Dave. Nudging my partner in the side, he pawed his leg.
Dave’s eyes widened as the lion yawned, an obvious show of huge teeth to threaten my friend.
“The phone,” Dave whispered as the lion nudged him with his head again.
Keeping my mouth shut, I came closer to the shifter. He wasn’t getting the phone, not on my watch. Why would he need it anyway?
My hand reached for his tail, grabbing hold of it before he had the chance to react. Pushing the magic from the ley line, into the lion, I cast a freezing spell.
Turning his head, the lion froze just as he opened his mouth to snap at me. The bastard wasn’t getting away with trying to intimidate us... and breaking the law.
“Good job, Gem,” Dave said, his legs peddling him backwards. “Make sure you-”
His sentence cut off when the lion melted, changing into the man. He was naked, but a knife appeared in his hand. Thrusting it towards me, he just missed my wrist. Before I could react, he spun and ran down the street, his speed too fast for any of us to catch. Archie tried, but the shifter outran him.
“What was that all about?” Dave asked as I grabbed his suit jacket and pulled him towards me.
He stared at me wide eyed, his arms raised as I dug out Brianna’s phone. Ignoring him, I checked it. Very low battery. However, the last person who had called her before me was someone of great interest.
“Any clues?”
Looking over my shoulder, Dave gasped when he saw the name. It was no wonder the shifter wanted to get the phone.
“I think we need to ask Helen Cambridge how she was able to call Brianna from inside prison.”
“Yeah...” I sighed. “And, why she was contacting my best friend in the first place.”
Chapter 3
“Are you supposed to be here?” Helen asked as I shuffled into her cell.
I had pulled a few strings with the on duty guard at Paranormal MI5’s holding cell. We were old buddies, both into classic 80s films. I may have brought him doughnuts and the DVD of Pretty in Pink. A romantic classic that he claimed he had never seen. That had to be rectified, of course.
“Listen closely,” I said, lowering myself onto the stool next to the desk.
The cell was padded, its walls reinforced with steel and vervain. Vampires couldn’t handle the plant that weakened them, so we had laced every wall with it. There was no way a powerful vampire would be able to escape, but Helen obviously had someone on the inside.
She sat on her bed, the plush mattress a perk of being on death-row. The government wanted the paranormal creatures who were due to die to have a good memory of them, so they gave them somewhere soft to sleep and a desk where they could eat and write their goodbye letters.
“Where’s your phone?”
Without waiting for her to reply, I got up and started to search the cell. Her desk had a handful of stationary and a steel mug. Everything was unbreakable, most of it spelled to stay whole. No weapons, no escape.
“I don’t know what you mean.” The vampire sneered, her canines showing.
Even if she tried to bite me, the magic in the cell was too strong for her to fully release her vampire nature. Her teeth might hurt my skin, but they wouldn’t
