Shadow eater, p.9
Shadow Eater, page 9
part #2 of Shadowlands Series
“That man that accompanied you? Reamus mentioned you’d found your friend. How did he die?”
I shook my head, released his hand, and stepped around him further into the cave. “I don’t know. The man that came with me, the man I thought was my friend was... he was something else.”
“Explain.”
“He was one of you, a Shadowlander of some kind who had taken Ryder’s form.” I told him roughly what had happened, what the stranger had said and when I was done, Daemon was silent for the longest time.
“Well, what do you make of it?”
“I think there are many who would use you for their gain, many who are fascinated by your existence. I think you must be wary, but I am curious as to why a Shade would attempt to kidnap you.”
“A Shade, like the creatures that had bound themselves to the Shadows in the Infernan mines? The ones the Infernan nobles had refused to accept existed?”
“Yes.”
I sighed and lowered myself onto the stone floor. “I wish we had a fire.”
Daemon joined me on the ground and suddenly I wasn’t cold anymore.
“Hey, you’re letting off heat again. You can control it?”
He let out a chuckle, a soft sound that, despite its lack of mirth, made heat unfurl in my belly.
“There aren’t many things I have control over any longer, but this I do. Feel free to take of my heat.”
I revelled in his warmth, my mind ticking. “It was our encounter in the cell, wasn’t it? You drew the darkness from me. It bound us, didn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Is that why you didn’t want to speak to me when I visited you in your lair? You knew what I’d offer and you didn’t want to strike a deal. You think if you abstain it will reverse itself?”
He inclined his head. “Except we may need to wait a little longer.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look at your arm.”
I held up the arm which had been covered in swirls when I left Apocalypse. Now it was clean, leaving only my wrist and hand dark with ink.
The kiss! He’d absorbed some darkness when I’d kissed him.
“Sleep, Ashling. We both have much to figure out.”
I settled down, lying on the ground, my back to Daemon, my body curled into a ball to trap the heat. I thought of Ryder, of his passion, and his drive, of how we’d truly left things, and yet he’d come after me, he’d come with Clay, and he’d died trying to find me. I allowed the tears to slip silently down my cheeks and vowed that I would make him proud. I wouldn’t let his death be for nothing. I would save our people, even if they thought me a monster, even if they didn’t understand. I would save them.
For Mother’s sake! Stop being such a sap. Ryder came after you because he felt guilty. He was doing it to assuage his own guilt and you know it.
No. That’s not true.
He probably wanted to be the hero, show Nina what a hard man he was and have her swoon all over him when he returned. He got killed because he was sloppy, and those people you want to save so badly, they’d kill you in a heartbeat and you know that too. So stop crying and get some sleep, you have a brother to find.
I wanted to argue with the voice, but what it said resonated with something deep inside me and I was too exhausted. Daemon’s body heat was like a cosy blanket wrapping me in comforting warmth and I hugged it into sleep.
***
I was on my beach—white sand and blue sea and azure skies. I could feel the sand between my toes, the salty breeze against my parted lips. This was my dream haven, but I wasn’t alone. I sensed him at my back, my dream visitor.
“Turn around.”
His voice startled me and I froze. This was new. He usually just hung out in silence and I kind of just ignored him so, yeah, this was new.
“I need to know for sure.”
I slowly turned to face him and saw him properly for the first time. Tall, lithe, dark-haired with cerulean eyes. “You!”
“Oh my, this is interesting.” He steepled his fingers beneath his chin and regarded me with blatant dissecting interest.
I glared at him. The stranger who had tricked me played with my memories, and now I discovered he had been spying on my dreams for years.
“Get out!”
He chuckled. “Seriously? Do you ever take the bait?”
“What? No! What?” I was so confused.
He widened his eyes. “You just discover that the same man that’s messed with your mind has been visiting your dreams for years and all you can say is ‘get out?’ Come on, aren’t you a little bit curious?” He held up his hand, index finger and thumb an inch apart. “Not even a little bit?”
Did he think he was cute? Okay, well, maybe he was in a dark, creepy kind of way, and if I wasn’t so freaked out by him, I may have had time to appreciate his appeal. But no, I didn’t find stalkers attractive, so I planted my hands on my hips. “Nope, not curious, don’t care. Get out.”
He lowered his hand, cocked his head, and narrowed his eyes. “Liar.”
I was a liar. I was desperately curious, but I wasn’t about to let him have the satisfaction, and my gut told me he was eager to chat regardless of what I said, so if I gave him enough time...
“You may not be curious, but I certainly am.” He moved toward me, circling me. “I finally get to see the woman of my dreams.”
What the hell did he mean? I had to bite my tongue not to ask.
He stopped behind me and I resisted the urge to face him.
“You know I always thought you were a dream. A strange recurring dream, but I never imagined this. I never imagined how connected it all was.” He moved around to face me, his body casting mine in shadow. “It’s stronger now you’re here on my side. I was right, so right.” He reached out to brush a tendril of my hair from my face, the contact of his fingers sending a shiver through me.
“Okay, now you sound a little crazy,” I said, ignoring the tremor in my belly.
His gaze roved over my face like a caress, and I caught a glimmer of longing in his eyes that made panic unfurl in my chest. “What do you want from me?”
He offered me a slow burn smile. “I want you to be free.” He ran the pad of his thumb across my bottom lip, eliciting a longing inside me I didn’t want or understand. I stepped back. “I know you’re confused, but if you allow them to, your instincts will guide you and, when you are ready, you can find me here. Just call to me and I will come.”
I didn’t understand this, any of it, and I’m not sure I liked this calmer version of the stalker I had come to expect, but I was wise enough to know that I knew too little to shut the door on the offer of future aid. “What do I call you?”
That slow burn smile again. “Mephisto. You can call me Mephisto.” He stepped back and dropped me a wink and just like that his crazy was back. “Brrr, it’s getting a little chilly, isn’t it?”
I blinked and he was gone, to be replaced by a gust of wind carrying icy snowflakes.
What the fuck?
***
I awoke to a chill which was the absence of Daemon. The rest stop was silent, and a quick scan showed it to be empty.
Daemon was gone.
My heart sank.
I could understand why he didn’t want to be around me. I wouldn’t want to be around someone who could control me, no matter how much they didn’t intend to. So he’d gone and I was alone.
I stood and dusted off my clothes—dark trousers and my Apocalypse T-shirt, my go-to outfit since I’d been in the Shadowlands. I’d find the keep by myself, I’d find Clay, and then we’d find Apocalypse, and maybe by that time the connection between Daemon and I would have fizzled out.
I moved toward the exit to the cave and ran smack into a solid wall of muscle. Large hands grasped my shoulders to steady me.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
I stared up into Daemon’s perfect face, my knees going weak with relief, and then I pulled away from him, annoyed at my damsel in distress moves. Damn it, I was stronger than this. I didn’t need him.
But you do, Ash. You’re smart enough to know that you do.
Clay’s voice filled my mind and warmed my heart. It had been so long since I’d heard it.
Fuck him. You don’t need him or his issues. Who the hell does he think he is, blaming you for his problems?
I ignored the second voice and focused on Clay’s. I realised Daemon was still waiting for a response.
“I thought you’d left.”
His brows snapped down. “I did. I thought I heard something.”
“What did you find?”
He frowned. “Nothing. Are you rested enough to travel?”
I nodded.
He slipped back out of the cave.
I sighed and followed.
EM
Em was pretty sure she had a couple of fractured ribs, a sprained ankle and wrist, and a concussion, but none of that matter because she was alive.
As she hobbled back to base through the desert wasteland that bordered her home, it took everything she had not to break down. Her unit was gone. Dead. Torn to shreds by something out of a nightmare.
Her hesitation had cost her unit their lives. If she hadn’t been worrying about how human the Shadowlander female had seemed, if she hadn’t been busy finding humanity in those beastly eyes, then maybe they would have tranquillised it and moved on before the other monster arrived. They’d want to see the visual from her vest camera, thank goodness there was no audio.
She didn’t even want to think about how the female had halted the huge male from tearing out her insides. No, it was just a coincidence that it had called out just as the red beast had decided Em wasn’t worth the effort.
A sharp pain shot up her side.
Damn ribs.
The sun was high, it was always high, and the heat was as unbearable as ever. The Shadowlands were a reprieve, even if they were crawling with horrors. She could see the fences up ahead through a shimmering haze.
A light flashed at her.
A signal.
They’d spotted her. She sagged in relief as a small vehicle came charging across the dunes.
She was safe.
She was home.
Hello, Haven.
***
“How many were there?” Captain Valance asked.
Pop squeezed her hand lightly, but Em knew better than to look at him when being addressed by her superior officer. Instead, she sat up on the bed, stifling a hiss of pain. “One to start with, a female I think, and then we were ambushed by something else. I’ve never seen anything like it. It was... well, you can see for yourself.”
Valance’s nostrils flared as if inhaling the antiseptic scent of the medical room, and then he nodded curtly. “Yes, we’ve checked your surveillance camera, it certainly is something new. My condolences on your unit, Parker, but this beast spared you for a reason. Could be your gender, maybe pheromones, who knows.”
Maybe it was because the other female asked it to. Em squashed the thought, humanising the creature’s actions was dangerous ground.
Pop squeezed her hand again, and this time she shot him a quick look. His eyes were fixed on Valance, and his lips pressed tightly together—a sure sign that he was holding back a torrent of words.
Pop’s mouth had gotten him in trouble too many times, and if it wasn’t for his expertise in genetics, physics, and chemical science, Em was certain that Valance would have had him executed years ago.
Pop’s mouth parted, his battle of wills lost. Em squeezed his hand and addressed Valance before her Pop could speak.
“So, what now?”
Valance’s square jaw ticked, his attention was on Pop.
“Sir?”
He cleared his throat and dropped his gaze back to Em. “We’ve sent out a tracker team.”
How could they track the beast? “I didn’t tag it.”
Captain Valance’s thin lips curved in a smile that could only be described as cruel. He was a handsome man in that older action-man-square-jawed kind of way, and he’d saved them all, taken them in, and trained them. They owed him their lives, but still there was something about him that she didn’t trust. “Looks like Jameson was able to tag the female before the shit hit the fan. We have coordinates, and we’ve already sent in a stealth tracker unit to scope out the location. Once we have data we’ll be sending out an attack team.”
She stared at Valance, not sure she’d heard right, but Pop’s sharp inhalation told her she’d heard fine, and this time she was too slow to stop Pop from making his views known.
“You can’t, it’s too soon, we’ve discussed this. You promised that you’d wait until my team had run some tests!”
“I promised nothing, Richard, and you’d be wise to watch your tone. Your services are not as crucial they once were.” He scraped Pop with a derisive look. “Get back on your feet, Parker. We’ll be needing you.” He turned on his heel and strode from the room.
Em watched Valance leave, the door to the infirmary swishing closed behind him.
“You need to leave,” Pop said. “You can’t stay here any longer.” He was squeezing her hand so tight it was painful. She snatched it out of his grasp.
“What the heck, Pop? I can’t just leave.”
Pop leaned in. “He’s going to recruit you for the team. You’re one of the best operatives he has. I should never have let him take you, train you. You were just a child. I should have kept you to the sciences.”
“Yeah, and that would have been pointless. You know I suck at the academics.” She was born to be a soldier, and yeah, Valance’s army was a little unorthodox, but it worked. The units were well trained, starting as children, and graduating as teens. At twenty-three, Em had been at this for long enough to know how it worked. If they were putting together an attack team, it could only mean that their pocket was unravelling faster than she realised.
“Em, please say you’re not considering it.”
Julie, one of the Haven medics interrupted them. “Hi, Em. It’s time for your shot.”
Em kept her eyes fixed on her dad as the nurse readied the syringe.
“What is that? What are you giving her?” Pop made a grab for the syringe. Julie tried to evade him but he was faster, plucking it from her fingers and holding it up to the light.
“Mr. Parker, please.”
Pop stared at the substance in the syringe, his face draining of colour. “How long?” he addressed Julie.
Julie blinked at him. “Four weeks. Mr. Parker, may I please have the syringe back?”
Em shifted uneasily. “Pop?”
He handed the syringe back to Julie and backed away.
“Pop?”
He shook his head. “I’m sorry, honey.” He backed up toward the door, turned, and stumbled out.
Julie wiped the crook of Em’s arm with antiseptic and then injected her with the serum.
Em closed her eyes and drifted.
***
Pop had always abhorred violence. He just didn’t understand that sometimes you needed to fight back to survive, and by fight back she meant kill. “The Shadowlanders are monsters, end of,” Em had argued.
“Highly developed, highly intelligent monsters,” Pop had said.
Em had snorted. “Yeah, monsters who can’t speak.”
Pop’s brows had crept together above his straight nose. He wasn’t that old, only in his late forties, but the frown lines that ran across his forehead gave him an older air. “Just because they don’t speak our language does not make them stupid. Em, I taught you better than that.”
“Fine, highly intelligent monsters who would wipe us out if they had a chance.”
Pop had sighed. “Do you really believe that, or is it something you tell yourself to justify the lives you’ve taken, the lives you’ve handed over to the butchers?”
She’s recalled her anger then. “What the hell is your problem? What do you expect us to do? Sit back and let them annihilate us?”
Pop’s sorrowful smile had given her pause. “I’m sure that if they’d wanted to wipe us out they would have made a move by now.”
She hated that a part of her thought he was right, and now, as she settled back into her quarters, his words ran round and round in her mind. Hadn’t she seen a spark of something in the female Shadowlander’s eyes, a connection between the female and the red male monster? It hadn’t been her imagination, but even if Pop was right, it was them or us. Their pocket was shrinking and they needed to find a new home. They needed to purge the Shadowlands of the monsters and restore the balance to humanities favour. Thanks to the trank and bags, they had the data and the weapons they needed. All they needed now were the soldiers.
Em rubbed the crook of her arm. Valance had promised that the serum, a cocktail of vitamins and minerals, would make her stronger, able to fight and win against the monsters that for so long had held the upper hand. She was one of twelve lucky people to get the serum. It was limited. She carefully shrugged out of her black shirt, leaving her in her grey vest and black cargo pants, kicked off her boots, and sat on her bed. The pain meds had kicked in and the pain in her ribs was nothing but a dull ache. She really wanted to wash her hair; it felt dirty and grimy and the blonde was looking brown, but that much movement could override the med’s effects.
She was alive.
Her men weren’t.
Her eyes pricked. What with running for her life, getting medical attention, and being debriefed, she’d not stopped to think about it.
Her unit was dead.
There was a knock at the door.
“Enter,” she said.
The door opened and Gina slipped in. Her huge brown eyes were clouded with concern. “Oh, thank goodness you’re okay!” She rushed forward to give Em a hug, but Em held up her hand.
“Ribs, remember?”
Gina stopped short. “Shit, sorry. Oh, babe, I was so worried. When your unit didn’t check in I almost had a heart attack. Poor Kim is inconsolable. Jameson was her life.”
Em swallowed the lump in her throat. “Yeah, Jameson was good people.” All her men had been. They’d been her hang out group, her friends, her family, and now they were gone.
