Page 45 of Phoenix Falling
When he stood, finally, magnificently nude, Sun moved to a pair of crumbling steps and bent over. As he straightened, I saw a black bag in his hand. Packing his clothes inside took no more than half a minute, and then he set it on the ground in front of him. Stepping back, he raised powerful arms up to the sky as if stretching tension out of his muscles.
Muscles that suddenly began to transform.
Were it not for what sounded like a relieved groan that left his mouth as his body became something else, Sun surely would have heard my surprised yelp when I watched him change. I knew vampire legend, knew that some stories told of vampires shifting to other forms—wolves, bats. This was neither of those. Before my eyes, long feathers sprouted along his arms and spread across the rest of his skin. Sun’s hair was a rich, red copper that gleamed in the light. So did the feathers, shimmering as if they were on fire from the inside. Along the tops of the massive wings, the breast and back of his shape as it slowly transformed into a birdlike creature, the feathers were short, but grew to several feet along the outer edges, giving the wings a rugged appearance. The tail feathers, appearing last, were easily yards long. Thick talons dug into the dirt, stretching from huge claws on which the animal balanced. Much of the detail was hidden in shadow, but the bird’s neck was long, pushing high between its shoulder joints to hold up a huge head tipped by a wicked-looking beak that I could easily imagine was as sharp as a knife. The animal blinked, taking in its surroundings with a gaze that was both intelligent and intense. And as I studied it, I realized I’d seen that look before—the silver flash in Sun’s eyes, the moments when something else stared out at me that was so penetrating that I could barely hold his gaze. It had been this that I had seen, this animal staring out from his eyes.
At the realization, I faltered, falling onto my hand before my ass hit the pavement. The Archai were vampires; I was a hundred percent certain of that. Arik had bitten me more than once. And yet Sun appeared to be something else as well—a shape-shifter. And beyond all comprehension, all belief, what I was witnessing was a…aphoenixstanding in an abandoned courtyard in the middle of Nashville, Tennessee, preparing to take flight.
Good God. Who had I gotten myself involved with?
A giant shiver took over the creature, shaking it from head to toe. It reminded me of other animals—smaller, domesticated animals, which this certainly was not—shaking themselves after a bath. The ruffled feathers smoothed back into place, and its head moved from one side to another, observing its space, looking for I knew not what. Without warning, a loud cry rose into the air, shaking me with its power. Who was it calling for? Or was this simply a call of freedom, of letting its form loose to the world instead of locked up wherever it had been before? I tried not to think about that too deeply, wonder how the mechanics of shape-shifting worked in reality—there was no way for me to comprehend it. No way to get my shell-shocked brain to understand what was definitely right before my eyes.
No, this was way beyond anything I’d ever experienced, no matter how weird my entire life had been. This was…incomprehensible.
Terrifying.
And yet, also, as I watched the animal spread its wings and begin to flap them hard, preparing to take flight, I found myself awed. A mythical creature, one no human realized was actually real, was right in front of me. Like, almost close enough to touch. The phoenix grasped the black bag in its beak, crouched, then launched itself into the sky, its massive wings pushing so much air it would have knocked me on my ass if I hadn’t already been there. I watched until its gleaming feathers blended into the dark night sky, watched until my eyes screamed for me to blink, until nothing could be seen of the thing I felt simply had to be a figment of my imagination.
Except as my gaze dropped back to the ground, there, fluttering gently amid the trash and dirt, lay a golden-red feather. Slowly I made it to my feet, then through the fence. I hesitated, my fingers tingling at the thought of touching the object, but nevertheless I finally reached for it.
Sure enough, the feather was real. It felt incredibly light in my hand, but it was real.
The phoenix was real.
Sun was really a shape-shifter, not—or and?—a vampire.
This was crazy even for me.
ChapterNineteen
RAINE
Iusually didn’t see Risk two days in a row, so when my best—and only—friend walked into the coffee shop, I knew something wasn’t right.
One look at her face and I was sure of it.
Sudden adrenaline energized my muscles, a surge my exhausted body hadn’t felt in months. Passing the latte in my hand to my current customer, I gave them an absentminded smile. “Enjoy.”
Risk was lingering near the door, her face white, eyes haunted. She didn’t approach the cash register. I hurried to the back.
“Jack, can you watch the front real quick?”
Without waiting for an answer, I pulled my apron over my head and hung it on the hook by the door, then made my way around the counter. “What’s up?”
Risk was rubbing her arms up and down, her eyes as jumpy as eggs cracked into hot grease. “Nothing.”
It wasn’t even a plausible lie. “Don’t tell me nothing. Something is wrong.” And being the mama bear that she was, Risk wouldn’t want to share it.
I’d shake it out of her if I had to.
Glancing around the room, Risk frowned. “Can we go outside for a minute?”
The air was spring fresh and cool as we walked silently across the street to the tiny park. Usually I loved being outside, feeling the warmth of the sun on my aching body, but today I was too disturbed to enjoy the feeling. I focused on pushing myself forward until we reached the path through the trees.
Our usual bench was empty—well, all of the park was empty—and Risk let her body collapse onto the wrought iron, wincing when her butt hit the hard surface. “Ow.”
The natural light hitting her troubled face had me even more alarmed than I’d been inside. Her skin was white, chalky, her eyes outlined with dark circles. “Tell me what’s going on, Risk. What happened?”
Back to rubbing her arms. I’d never in my life seen Risk nervous, much less this nervous. Tension began to form a hard knot in my stomach.
