whiskey witches 02 - blood moon magick (23 page)

The fox shifted, wisps of orangey-pink smoke drifting into the air.

Paige felt a curious intrigue emanate from the animal spirit. “You know, I don’t know.”

“Blood oaths give us insight,” the fox said.

Into what?

The fox’s soul eyes blazed as she looked again at the demon door.

Huh. Did it mean the animal spirit might have a better idea on how to fix the door, to close it? She needed that. In order to keep her family, this community, possibly the world safe, she needed that damned door closed. But a blood oath?

It wasn’t as though she intended the shifters any harm in the first place. What was the risk of putting a blood oath behind her intentions?

She wasn’t going to acknowledge she’d said that. To herself. In her own mind.

“I’ve never sworn a blood oath before. What do I do?”

The fox raised her head, Karl’s following a few seconds behind. “Just swear you will do no harm and then cut your finger.”

Paige knew that real magick needed more. The spirit animal knew that as well. She swallowed and pulled out her pocket knife. She hadn’t sharpened it in—well, since she bought the thing, but she hadn’t really used it much either. So, hopefully, it would do the job.

Feeling more than a little uncomfortable and a tad stupid, she reached inside herself and called out with her mind to the All Mother.
Hey, I need your help. Just help me make sure I don’t screw this blood oath thing up, please. No hurting them. Still able to do my job.

Something pushed back slightly, like a mother pushing away a bothersome child.

Paige sighed. The All Mother was many things. Patient with idiots wasn’t one of them.

With the All Mother invited into the proceedings, Paige took in a deep breath.

The fox spirit tipped her head to the side as if curious.

Paige couldn’t tell what the animal spirit might be curious about. Had she seen the All Mother? Paige sure didn’t. All she
ever
received was a distant,
Why are you whining to me? Go do something.
Whatever. “Okay. Here it goes. I have no wish to do the shapeshifters here any harm.”

“You will not,” Karl said firmly. “This is an oath. Not a wish.”

Paige refrained from rolling her eyes. “I
will
not harm any shapeshifters here.”

Karl nodded, her dark eyes closed.

The fox penetrated Paige with its gaze.

“Unless,” Paige continued.

Karl stiffened.

“I have need or reason. If the shapeshifter is dangerous to the wellbeing of others, then I will do what I must.”

Karl opened her mouth, closed it, and narrowed her eyes.

The fox nodded serenely.

Unfolding her knife, Paige placed the blade at the base of her thumb and pressed. Cutting her hand wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked like in the movies. She knew she was putting a blade to her skin to penetrate it and draw blood. Her hand and her mind were telling her just how dumb that idea was.

Someone yelled in the front.

No time. Paige sliced her hand. Pain bit, racing up her arm, leaching her veins, coursing through her body.

It had been a simple knife slice. It could use a Band-Aid, but no more than that. She’d done worse on accident.

“You are bound,” the fox said.

“Hey, Paige,” Dexx called from the front.

Karl glared at the door.

Someone else shouted. Something scraped against the vinyl floor.

Time for ceremonies to end. A scuffle in a police precinct wasn’t news, but in a paranormals-only precinct? This was new territory.

Karl’s blinds were open on the two partially glass walls. Two burly men stood at the counter. One reached over it, swiping at Jakobs.

She scrambled to her feet and batted the man’s hands away.

“Give me a minute,” Karl grumbled, pushing past Paige. She opened the door and the sound level increased.

Through the glass, her shifter vision picked up nothing.

Through the open door, the impairment disappeared.

The burly man with the brown beard stopped still crouched on the desk. His large, red wolf rose like a smoky mist.

The dark man beside him straightened. The head of a green, leafy buffalo turned toward Paige.

Wolf Man gripped the top of the desk and launched himself over it with ease, releasing a purely human roar.

Buffalo Boy rocked his head from side-to-side as if popping his neck, his spirit animal perfectly in sync. The buffalo head shrank to the size of the man’s human head, giving the dark skin a neon green glow. Then, he slipped shape.

Paige went for her gun, but her arm froze. She jerked it, trying to force it to move where she directed it.

A gentle ping ricocheted in her mind with a cackling laugh, her words coming back to haunt her.
Just help me make sure I don’t screw this blood oath thing up, please.

Damned All Mother and her frelling sense of fucking humor.

She flipped the bird mentally to the goddess who ignored her, and moved to intercept Buffalo Boy.

Wolf Man advanced in long, ground eating strides, his human face morphing into that of a wolf.

Wind rose, picking up papers and tossing them about.

Shit. That was her. Paige’s soul had called to the wind without her in control. What the fuck? She scrambled to call it back, to release her hold of the element.

The wind laughed and tugged at the deep red center of her soul.

Deep red.
Her
soul. Not the door.

It fed off her emotions? When had that changed?

The floor rumbled. Desks shook. A telephone fell to the floor and shattered.

Earth answered the call of her heart before Paige even understood what she was emoting.

Blessed Mother! The moon. It had to be the call of the super moon along with the already increased power of her gifts. Shit. She needed to get herself under control.

The other police officers scrambled back, their chairs sliding and crashing into desks or onto floors. Their spirit animals rose from them, morphing into their physical bodies.

Karl stood in front of Paige and held up her pink-blazing hands, shoots of mauve zinging outward.

Wolf Man’s wolf spirit repelled the calm she offered, his soul diving into a deep, molten red.

Someone pulled the hammer back on a weapon behind Paige.

The sound was like a switch on her emotions. Calm settled over her.

The wind stopped. The earth stilled.

Dexx stepped in front of her and sighted down his .357 Smith and Wessen revolver.

“That’s one of the missing shifters!” Karl charged Wolf Man. She hit him with two fuchsia palms in the middle of his red, flaring chest and shoved.

Wolf Man stumbled backward.

“Stand down, Dexx!”

“Not when he looks like that, I’m not.”

Paige blinked. She didn’t understand what was happening or how to help, but bullets didn’t seem like the right answer.

Karl’s fox turned her head slightly, her pink flame ear flicking backwards.

The shifter vision distracted her. Seeing their souls. Seeing their animals. She needed to assess the situation. She turned off her shifter vision.

The officer closest to Paige turned on her. His dark hair morphed forward to cover his entire face as he shifted into a panther.

Jakobs pulled her head backwards and cawed, her arms flung out. Wings grew along her shoulders.

Wolf Man growled low.

Paige didn’t know what to do. This wasn’t her area of expertise. What if they were acting out because they feared her? Her witch connections? What if this was her fault?

“Aaron,” Karl said, her voice calm. “You don’t want to do this.”

Buffalo Boy finally made it around the front desk and joined his friend. His human head was no longer visible. His shoulders bulked. His back bowed, but his limbs remained human. He snorted a whuffing breath.

The panther took a menacing step toward Paige.

Shit. Should she leave? Would that help them? Were they in control?

Or was the super moon overpowering their control, too?

Wolf Man straightened suddenly. His long ears twitched, turning one way, then another.

Buffalo Boy’s head swiveled.

The panther stopped, his green, cat eyes focused on Wolf Man.

Jakobs stopped, her torso a human-sized crow, her legs still human.

Wolf Man tipped his head and turned his attention to Dexx.

As one, the other partially shifted people turned toward him as well.

Paige didn’t know what to do. She raised her hands, calling on the elements. To send them at the shifters or to contain them, she didn’t know.

Nothing answered her call.

They came when she didn’t call and ignored her when she did?

The panther leapt at Dexx from behind and sank his sharp teeth into Dexx’s shoulder.

The crow flew off the desk, papers surfing the air, and stabbed her beak into Dexx’s arm, the one holding the pistol.

Wolf Man side-stepped Karl swiftly, grabbing Dexx’s other arm. He lifted Dexx and bit him just under the ribcage.

Dexx howled in pain. His revolver exploded as he reflexively shot off a round.

Karl spun, her face fully shifted into fox form, a long, red tail flicking the air behind her. She barked once.

The shifters stilled just as suddenly as everything had started.

Dexx breathed, rocking slightly in place, his green eyes wide. His Adam’s apple bobbed. Then, he swayed and fell to the floor.

P
aige rushed to Dexx’s side, kneeling beside him. “Karl, call 911.”

“Already on it,” the sheriff said behind her. “Yeah. John. We need you at the station.”

Dexx’s skin was clammy. Thick, dark blood oozed from the bite wound at his ribs. The same area that had been wounded in Louisiana.

At least, this time, he was breathing. Shallowly, but he wasn’t fighting for air.

However, he wasn’t awake.

Paige removed her jacket and her button-up shirt. The jacket wasn’t going to absorb anything, but the shirt should. She wadded it up and pressed it against Dexx’s ribs, thankful she’d worn a tank top underneath.

The panther officer knelt on the other side of Dexx, fully human once more. He glanced at her, his eyes wide in horror, and pressed his hands against Dexx’s shoulder.

She wanted to tell him to fuck off. She couldn’t afford to, though. She had to ask questions first. React later. “Are you in control of yourself?”

He nodded curtly, keeping his attention on the wound beneath his fingers.

That only left the arm.

Jakobs had shifted back to human form as well. Blood stained her lips. “Aaron bit him?”

Panther nodded.

Paige could hear Karl talking to Wolf Man—Aaron—and Buffalo Boy in the front, but they sounded calm. For now.

The door opened with a swoosh and a male voice demanded, “Where is he?”

Paige looked up and saw the doctor’s head above the desks and the front counter. “We’re over here.”

He caught sight of her and hurried around the desks. He pushed Paige out of the way, setting his black bag beside him. “How long ago did this happen?”

“Minutes.”

“And did an alpha bite him, or just betas?”

Jakobs held Dexx’s legs. “Aaron.”

John looked at her in confused alarm. “Aaron? He refuses to bite.”

“He wasn’t in control, John.” She shook her head. “You should have felt it. It was awful.”

“Must have been the moon,” Aaron said, his tone low.

“The moon,” Jakobs said harshly, “has never felt like that before.”

John raised his eyebrows, but returned his attention to Dexx. He pulled Paige’s wadded up and bloodied shirt away. “I’m going to need water.”

Jakobs stood and disappeared in the back.

Dexx’s breathing became shallower, his skin paler.

Her heartbeat quickened. She couldn’t lose him. What would she trade for his life this time? After only a
week
.

“This probably wasn’t what you were expecting when you came here today.” John looked at Paige out of the corner of his eye.

“No.” Last week he’d fallen from a second story landing onto his back on a concrete floor. He’d cracked his ribs and punctured a lung. That had all been healed by Sven when she’d given him the key to the Gate of Hell. “I thought you were safe.”

“We are. Normally.”

Jakobs came back with a coffee mug of water.

John took it and used Paige’s shirt to wipe away some of the blood around the bite wound below his ribs. “Lately, though, something has been different. I don’t know what, but I can tell you, I don’t like it.”

Why was he going so
slow
? “Shouldn’t you be patching him up to move him to your clinic or something?”

John shook his head, revealing the wound. “I need to see what the bite did first.”

“What do you mean?”

“He means,” Wolf Man, aka, Aaron said, walking up to them, his dark green eyes filled with worry and pinched with shame, “that he needs to see if the spirits will grace your friend with favor or decided to ignore him.”

Paige rose on her knees to see Dexx’s bite. How had that slipped her mind?

He could be saved and she wouldn’t have to do anything. He could be accepted by an animal spirit. He could become a shifter.