Shadow gaze, p.25
Shadow Gaze, page 25
After that, no matter what he tried, Adam failed to find a loophole or way around this. So since his death couldn’t be self-inflicted, the best alternative he could think of was to provoke a vampire badly enough for them to attack him. A fledgling, preferably, since they didn’t have as much control as adult vampires. That was how Pru had died, after all, so there was something poetic about it. It would hurt, but he tried not to think about that and focused on his endgame.
He expected his musings to show up on Lord Benjamin’s radar at some point. Maybe Walter or some other vampire would notice the direction of his thoughts during a feeding and report it back to the vamphyr. But no one seemed interested in sifting through a grieving kid’s memories. A couple of times, vampires even intentionally requested to switch him with another servant, complaining that his blood “tasted off.”
Soon enough, Adam made up his mind to throw mental insults at whoever fed from him next. But when that person turned out to be Lord Benjamin himself, he couldn’t go through with it. At that moment, he realized he didn’t want to die, not really. He just didn’t want to suffer anymore. He wasn’t going to accomplish that by inviting more torture.
That was the last time Adam thought about taking his own life.
From then on, he decided to keep going as best as he could. Happiness didn’t have to be his purpose; he chose to simply survive.
Eventually, he did inadvertently find a purpose when he helped establish the orientation system and became the servants’ manager. It was a joyless existence, but at least he was free from any unnecessary pain. And he got to spare others some pain, too, after his system established more order in servants’ life. That had to count for something. It gave him enough reason to want to keep on living.
And yet, as he now struggled to blink his eyes open, groggy and dazed with no idea of where he was or how he ended up there, the idea of dying had once again settled firmly in his mind. He wasn’t sure what brought it on this time, since he couldn’t remember how long ago Pru even died.
What happened to him? Why was he waking up on the floor?
He was lying on a carpet, and his senses were picking up a dozen different inputs all at once. The fabric underneath him felt much too rough against his skin, and the brightness of the sun hurt his eyes. Also, since his face was practically pressed to the floor, he could smell the moisture and other unpleasant odors trapped in the fabric of the carpet, most of which he couldn’t even identify. When he groaned, even that sound brought on an intense reaction, like he was being scraped raw from the inside and out.
While he struggled to pull himself upright, he wracked his brains, trying to make sense of what happened. The last thing he could remember was... someone showing up at his door. There was more there, something vital, but it dangled just out of reach from his consciousness.
First things first. Where was he?
As he once again attempted to open his eyes and lift his head, someone gently turned him over onto his back.
“Don’t try to move just yet,” a voice cautioned.
Too loud.
The man was whispering, but his voice hurt Adam’s ears.
“Give yourself a moment to adjust. You, go tell Master he’s awake.”
That last part was probably directed at someone else in the room.
Adam’s head was too muddled, but he dimly recognized the man speaking as Sanders. He was one of the older werewolf servants at the estate, around sixty in age, though he appeared decades younger. Usually, he worked as a feeding attendant.
Was that why Adam was so woozy? Someone just fed from him and accidentally drank too much? It would explain why he passed out, but not why his senses were being assaulted.
But... there were no carpets or windows in the feeding rooms.
“W-what—” he struggled to speak, his throat dry as sandpaper. “What happened?”
“Don’t try to talk, either,” the werewolf told him. “Keep your eyes closed and breathe slowly through your mouth. It’ll help.”
While Adam did as he was told, Sanders checked his pulse. Only then did Adam notice that his heartbeat was racing much too fast, and he doubled his efforts to slow down his breathing. It took a few attempts, but then he was able to open his eyes without squinting.
Slowly, so as not to make his head hurt worse, Adam examined his surroundings. He appeared to be in Master Benjamin’s office.
Or was it Master Drake, now? Yeah, that felt more accurate.
Either way, before he could even wonder what he was doing here, the vamphyr in question suddenly walked in. Instinctively, Adam averted his gaze and tried to pull himself up again. Sanders helped him out by supporting some of his weight.
“You’re awake,” Master stated with rigid detachment.
He held his hands behind his back and kept his head high as he stared down at Adam’s pathetic form over the bridge of his nose. Everything about him, from his tone to his posture, suggested one thing, and even Adam, in his weakened state, could understand it well enough; the vamphyr was furious.
“What happened?” Adam dared to ask, though this time, he wasn’t asking about himself.
He didn’t expect Lord Drake to be the one to explain, but he hoped for some hint, at least. Instead, what he got was a spiteful response, thrown at him like an accusation.
“It’ll come to you.”
“Master,” Sanders timidly said, “shouldn’t we take him to the infirmary?”
“He’ll heal on his own. Now, go.”
“Yes, Master.”
Adam wanted to protest, to ask for an explanation once again. But then Sanders and another werewolf grabbed him from either side and proceeded to carry him out of the office.
He waited until they were a safe distance in the hallway before talking again. “Sanders, what’s going on? Where are we going?”
“How much do you remember?” the werewolf asked instead, keeping his eyes on the path he was leading them on.
Adam was starting to grow more lucid, so he recalled a little more this time.
“Devon,” he replied uncertainly. “I think he came to see me.”
“Makes sense. Master must have asked him to get you.”
“But I can’t remember why.”
“What do you remember about Shiloh?”
The name was like a jolt to Adam’s system, bringing back the shocking news Devon had come to deliver. If he wasn’t being held up by two werewolves, he might have tripped and fallen over.
“She ran away,” Adam whispered in shock.
“Exactly.”
There was a heavy pause as he considered the dangerous implications of her escape—tighter restrictions on the staff members, and Master Drake becoming even more unstable than usual. Basically, all-around chaos, and that was without considering how her friends were going to react.
More importantly, though, Adam’s main concern was whether she had made it to safety or was lying in a ditch somewhere.
“Did anyone find her?” he asked, not sure what he wanted the answer to be.
Sanders shook his head. “She’s alive, but her trail went cold. Master was furious. No one was allowed in his room for days.”
Adam’s head snapped around, his eyes widening. “What do you mean days? How long has it been?”
“Just a week.”
What?! A whole week? “Where was I?”
“That’s the thing, man,” Sanders sighed sadly. “He had to put you under hypnosis to see it through.”
“See what through?”
There was a tense silence during which Adam’s thoughts went haywire. He recalled walking to Master’s office, but everything after that was a blur. He did remember bits of a conversation with the vamphyr that happened before then.
And that was when he finally looked up and realized with dread the direction they were headed in.
His world suddenly hurtled forward and shifted on its axis, like it was approaching a precipice and would crumble down at any second.
“Sanders, where are we going?” he asked, though he feared he already knew the answer.
“You were resisting him too much,” Sanders said remorsefully as he pushed Adam down the dimly lit stone hallways leading to the underground levels. “It was faster and easier when you were asleep.”
“So he’s throwing me in the dungeons until it’s done?”
“It already is.”
“The hell it is,” Adam spit out with disgust. “I’m a werewolf!”
He was getting dangerously close to the edge of that metaphorical precipice, but he didn’t crumble yet. His mind was clearing up, but his body had yet to catch up. He tried his best to break free, but he was in no state to take on anyone, much less two seasoned werewolves. There was no way he’d be able to fight his way out.
“Either way,” Sanders went on, “this isn’t part of the process. You’re a werewolf now, but you have a sentence to carry out.”
This left Adam incredulous. “I’m being punished?! Are you kidding me?”
For a brief second, he forgot the fact that he was a fucking supernatural now and inadvertently stopped fighting back. The two men took advantage of the moment and shoved him into one of the dungeon cells, locking the thick metal doors behind him.
“What the hell?” he screamed out, banging on the door for emphasis. “I didn’t break any rules!”
The latch opened for a moment, and Sanders’ face appeared on the other side. “It doesn’t matter. She escaped on your watch.”
“But I didn’t—wait, Sanders!”
But the other werewolf had already closed the latch, and their footsteps retreated up the stairs. Adam screamed and banged the door as loud as he could, his fear rapidly rising from a low hum to full-on panic.
Then, all of a sudden, he froze as the realization hit him once again.
He was a werewolf.
Forcing aside his opinions on that for a second, the implications were monumental. His punishment would be different from the one he would have received as a human.
For the first time, he was truly going to experience torture at the hands of a vamphyr.
That was when he finally understood why the old thought born after Pru’s death was in his mind again when he woke up all groggy.
And just like that, he was suddenly calm. He knew what he had to do.
CHAPTER THREE
Silver
4 weeks after escape
“You see how the blood splatter here is different from the first picture?” Remi pointed at the tablet in his hand as he spoke. “If you know how to tell patterns apart, you can identify what the attacker used on the victim. Or, at least, you can rule out the impossible options. It also helps if you look at injuries and bruising patterns on the victim’s body. We’re almost out of time now, but tomorrow, I’ll show you what defensive wounds look like.”
“What does any of this have to do with sentry duty or border patrol?” Silver wondered, slightly irritated.
“Hey, I am a literal goldmine of information here. Don’t waste such an awesome learning opportunity. You never know when some of this stuff might come in handy.”
His tone was lighthearted, but Silver should probably take the advice seriously.
Levi didn’t allow Wi-Fi at the sanctuary, but Remi sometimes asked the rescue squad to download some information whenever they left on a mission. Now that the team was back, Remi had a fresh new batch of data to teach Silver with while the other three werewolves on patrol either guarded the perimeter or trained next to her and Remi.
The latter was apparently a former detective, which was why the werewolves were in charge of security under his leadership. They took daily shifts in groups of four split into two pairs. One pair would patrol the side of the sanctuary that bordered the open desert while the other stood on guard a bit closer to the village. That was usually the group Silver trained with.
Occasionally, like today, Levi, Chief Quinn and some members of the rescue squad would cover a shift, to give the werewolves a break. In that case, Silver would sit with Remi in his hut while he taught her a few things using his tablet.
Admittedly, everything he was teaching Silver was interesting. He used to work in law enforcements, until he was taken and turned into a werewolf, so this was pretty vital stuff. But for some reason, Silver grew irate if their lessons exceeded ten minutes. She wasn’t sure why, but she noticed it mostly happened whenever the werewolf was using visual aids on the tablet. Part of her thought maybe the screen was bothering her eyes, but her discomfort wasn’t physical.
Trying to shake off the feeling, Silver closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. “You’re right. Sorry. Keep going.”
Remi paused and turned to frown at her. “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? ‘Cause, if something’s bothering you, you know you can tell me.”
This made her hesitate. Perhaps her irrational aggravation was a simple case of having too much on her mind. Unloading some of that weight might be the best way to alleviate it.
“I guess I’m a bit distracted,” she admitted.
Remi switched off the tablet and put it away. When he turned his full attention toward her, Silver relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.
“What’s on your mind?” he asked kindly.
She was a little ashamed to admit it, but this was Remi she was talking to. He might be a teasing, fun-loving guy, but he never mocked or judged.
“I have my first training with Hisa after this,” she stated.
Remi waited for more, not catching on. “And?”
“And... I guess her being a vampire kind of has me on edge.”
Chief Quinn’s team had left the day after Silver was introduced to three of them, traveling across the country to plant as many false trails of her as they could. They had just come back last night, and today was the day she would meet Hisa for the first time.
“Ah,” Remi simply said. “I see.”
At his reaction, Silver slumped down on the ground, curling up as she felt a rising need to defend herself. “Look, I am grateful that the squad is going through so much trouble to help keep me safe. And I know Levi wouldn’t let anyone dangerous stay here. I get all that, I really do. It’s just... it’s a little hard to shake off, I guess.”
“It makes sense,” he said after a pause. “You came from a world where everything vampires have ever done was try to hurt you. I’d be wary, too; hell, I was when I joined. But not all supernaturals are bad.” He grimaced at his own phrasing. “Okay, I know how that sounds, but I swear it’s true in this case. And it applies to some vampires, too. Nowadays, they’re either born into it or they earn their way into being turned by proving their loyalty. No one is turned against their will anymore, but there was a time when that happened. Most of those who survived hated it and stayed in touch with their humanity by finding alternative ways to survive.”
Silver was more than a little curious about this new information. “What, like animal blood?”
“No, they still have to feed on human blood, but their methods of getting it are different.”
“How do they get it?”
“Blood bags, mostly.”
Her eyebrows rose up a fraction. “So they steal it from hospitals?”
“Sometimes but not always. There’s this guy I heard about. He works the ER night shift up in Colorado. Not only does he get direct access to blood, but he also has an excuse to sleep during the day and stay up all night. Perfect cover for a vampire.”
Huh. Pop culture got some things right, at least.
“Also,” Remi added in a whisper, leaning closer like he was sharing some highly classified secret that none of the werewolves nearby could hear, “some wild vamps find willing feeders by making the experience pleasurable for them. Of course, the humans are healed afterward, but their memory is altered to make it look like a different sort of encounter, if you know what I mean.”
Silver did know what he meant, but she didn’t find it as entertaining as he did.
“Anyway, like I said,” the werewolf continued at his normal volume, “no one has been turned against their will in a very long time. Good vamps are rare, but Hisa’s definitely one of them, I promise you that.”
Silver paused for a moment as something occurred to her. If Hisa had never wanted to be a vampire, then... “How old is she?”
Remi scoffed and half-smiled, amused and sad all at once. “Old. Like, probably older than the US has been a country—not that she’s from here originally. I’m not sure even she knows her exact age, but that’s beside the point. The point, my dear Silver,” he said, turning to her seriously, “is to keep an open mind. Give yourself a chance to really meet her, as a person.”
Silver pressed her lips together tightly when Remi gave her a pointed look, waiting for some sort of confirmation on her part. After a moment, she finally sighed and gave a reluctant nod.
To hell with being afraid, she could do what Remi was asking. New life, new person, new beliefs, and all that.
How bad could it really be?
CHAPTER FOUR
Silver
4 weeks after escape
Silver’s training session with the patrol team ended ahead of time, so she left to get a head start on her next one with Hisa. Remi’s lesson for the day had left her quite tired, so maybe getting her next session over with as quickly as possible would allow her to go to bed early.
As she made her way back to the residential section of the sanctuary, her heart was beating erratically in her chest. Hisa would surely hear it when she was close enough, but Silver was determined not to let her fear and hesitation show in any other way.
They were supposed to meet in the vampire’s home, which consisted of a cave located in the side of the mountain directly behind the other refugees’ huts. According to Remi, part of the cave naturally predated the sanctuary, and when Hisa joined, the skinwalkers had somehow enlarged it from the inside and installed a solid door. A hut wouldn’t fully keep the sunlight out, so this was the only way to offer her a space to hide away during the day.
