Shadow Of Death

The small fine hairs on his arms rose and Jason had the sensation that he was being watched. He turned his head and narrowed his gaze toward a large tree in the distance. For a moment, he wondered if the apparition of the form he’d just seen was a figment of his imagination or maybe even a ghost.

Jason’s train of thought was disrupted when he suddenly heard something clicking behind him. He spun around thinking a Skitter had somehow survived the cemetery clean up and followed them here.

“Gotcha,” Guy said with a laugh. “You should’ve seen the look on your face. I’m surprised your pants are still dry.”

Jason gave Guy a small smile but didn’t rise to the bait.

Guy stopped laughing, noticing that Jason didn’t look that great. “Are you going to be okay tonight? You’d think a ring that makes you invincible would keep you from being sick.”

“I’m not sick… I just haven’t been sleeping well,” Jason grouched, shoving the hand with the ring deeper into the pocket of his jeans. Maybe it was time to tell someone and Guy wasn’t such a bad choice since he practiced in magic. “It used to be that I had to concentrate to know what Tiara was feeling… now that the ring is back in service I’m getting more than I ever bargained for. Strange thing is… the ring is starting to feel kind of haunted.”

“What do you mean?” Guy asked seriously.

Jason shook his head having no way to explain it, “Nothing, it’s probably just jet-lag… going from human to superman in the equivalent of zero seconds is actually very tiring.”

“I wonder what’s taking Zachary and Tiara so long,” Guy said sitting down on the steps while Jason leaned against one of the posts surrounding the front porch.

“Yeah, I wonder,” Jason wanted to roll his eyes at the question but he silently thanked Guy for getting away from the subject of the ring. He nodded toward the tree, “I think I saw Nighthawk a few minutes ago… out there watching the cabin.”

Guy frowned in the direction Jason indicated. He’d wondered what the Indian was up to. Carley had caught him a few times looking for a spell that would make Nighthawk seeable and told him to leave it alone. She seemed serious, so he’d dropped the idea. He was glad they had moved all their spell books and scrolls to the cabin. It was a great way to kill time and also drowned out the… noise.

“He’s not exactly friendly is he?” Jason asked.

Guy shrugged, “He doesn’t have to be, his loyalty is to Tiara.”

Nighthawk moved past them and into the cabin. His trek on the spirit road took him to Tiara’s bedroom… a place he’d been several times but never stayed long. He was suddenly there in the room, silently watching Tiara and Zachary as they finished getting dressed.

Zachary walked up behind Tiara as she pulled on a pair of panties and slid his arm around her. “The worst part of the whole day is when you decide to get dressed,” he teased kissing her bare shoulder.

Tiara giggled and reached for the skirt before Zachary talked her into laying out of work tonight.

‘We will see Craven alone tonight,’ Nighthawk told her.

Tiara jumped and placed a hand over her heart. “Don’t scare me like that.”

“Like what?” Zachary asked in confusion.

“Not you… Nighthawk,” Tiara said with a soft smile but quickly started wrapping the skirt around her. It was bad enough she hadn't even started on the top half.

“Who, that illusive, invisible Indian who has no sociability skills or personality and likes to walk into people’s bedrooms while they’re having a private moment?” Zachary demanded as the temperature in the room rose by several degrees.

Tiara repressed the urge to giggle again as she lied, “He’s not like that and you know it.”

“I don’t know it,” Zachary growled. “For all I know, he’s watching us right now and listening to every word I’m saying about him. All this watching you from some invisible vantage point is more than a little creepy.”

Nighthawk suddenly appeared not an inch away from Zachary making the blonde man jump back in surprise. Tiara didn’t bother to hide it this time and started laughing softly as she tied on her top.

“You had that one coming,” Tiara managed after calming down a little bit.

Zachary grabbed his jacket and slid it over his shoulders. “Yeah, yeah… so where are we going tonight Tonto?”

“We are not going,” Nighthawk said in an emotionless voice. “Tiara and I are going to meet Craven alone.”

“Why alone?” Tiara asked as she slid on her shoes.

“He wishes to teach you something new,” Nighthawk answered and grasped Tiara’s arm.

Tiara’s eyes widened and all that was left of her was the echoing sound of a gasp as she disappeared.

As soon as they vanished, Zachary stormed out of the bedroom and headed toward the front door … not so calmly slamming it behind him.

“Let’s go,” Zachary thundered seeing Guy and Jason waiting.

“What about Tiara?” Guy asked looking back toward the cabin.

“She’s gone,” Jason answered and followed Zachary to the car.

Zachary glared at him, “That damn invisible, stalking, voyeur Indian took her for some special training with Craven and didn’t tell me where they were going. So I need you to turn that damn ring on and find out where the hell she is.”

Jason looked over at Guy, “I’m sitting in the back with you.”

Chapter 4

Mrs. Tully walked through the front door of Moon Dance and immediately approached Envy, who was sitting in a booth near the bar. She frowned noting Trevor and Devon standing at different ends of that same bar.

“Now,” she said getting straight down to business, “how about telling me what happened?”

“I’m fine,” Envy insisted waving her hand dismissively, “I think I just got too excited or something.”

“I see,” Mrs. Tully raised an eyebrow. “I take it you faint a lot then?”

Envy frowned at her deciding not to even answer. The truth was… she’d never fainted before.

Mrs. Tully pointed to the side door, “Upstairs now.”

Trevor rushed forward to open the door for them. He even kept it open, letting Devon go in before him then growled when Devon tried to close it behind him. Jerking the door out of Devon’s grip he passed him on the stairs with a smirk and again opened the door for Envy when she reached her room.

He looked around the bedroom then back at Devon, “You wanted to grow up to be a teenager… didn’t you.”

Devon’s lips hinted at a smile as they faced off. He and Envy had made love only a couple hours ago right here in this room and their scent was still strong… strong enough for Trevor to get the message.

Chad rolled his eyes at the two knuckleheads and focused his attention on Envy.

“Tell me how you were feeling just before you fainted dear,” Mrs. Tully asked once she had Envy sitting on her bed.

Envy sighed, “I just felt a little lightheaded… it was a fuzzy feeling but nothing too serious.”

Mrs. Tully frowned, “I’ll be the judge of that.” She immediately turned to the men clustered just inside the door. “Out… out, out, out.”