In the Dark (49 page)

“Specter,
wait!” he yelled out in Kent’s voice. “Stop,
please! I need to talk with you!”

We might as well
have been watching a movie for all the good it did. They kept going,
following their script. And from the way Sebastian kept taking steps
backwards, it didn’t look good.

“Fuck!”
I hissed. Sebastian was definitely moving back. He looked like he
wanted to get around to Specter’s other side, but he had to
keep his sword up to defend himself. He hadn’t gotten a shot of
his own in for a few strokes now.

Kent-Alec
shrugged. “He’s too good. We managed to shock him, but he
won’t be distracted during a fight.”

“Fuck!”
I said again. I had to do something . . . I thought of pulling
Josephine out from under foot, but the fight had moved away from her
and Sebastian needed help way worse.

I could see two
swords lying on the floor, pretty close to me. One looked heavy, I
didn’t think I could even lift it. The other one, though,
seemed light and thin. I could probably swing it around just fine . .
.

Yeah, swing it
around. Not
use
it. I’d get myself killed.

But if I didn’t
do something, Sebastian would get
him
self killed. Specter was
backing him into a corner, he couldn’t possibly swing a sword
from there. His face had become that mask of rage again, and I could
tell he knew he was being herded.

“Can you
fight him?” I asked Alec-Kent.

He shook Kent’s
blond head. “I don’t have half the training Sebastian
does, and look at him.”

That settles
it.

Before he could
say anything else, before I could think too hard and scare myself out
of it, I let go of his arm and ran for that slender sword. I couldn’t
fight Specter either, but if I could hold that sword and rush in real
fast while Specter was blocking or swinging, he wouldn’t be
able to turn around before I stabbed him through the heart.

Right?

“Ian,
Christ, don’t!” Kent’s voice yelled after me. But I
had already crouched to grab the sword. I got it and stayed hunkered,
watching the fight. Trying to pick up the rhythm of the blows, trying
to see where I could dart in and –

Stab him to
death.

That should have
horrified me. But right now, I flexed my fingers on my sword and
remembered to take into consideration how long it would take me to
run across the floor.

“Ian,
stop!” Kent shouted.

From where I
crouched, I could see Amanda hiding, her eyes enormous, staring at
me. I tried not to think about her, because Sebastian was in serious
trouble.

As that thought
ran across my mind, his sword flew out of his hands and I knew I had
to move now or not at all. I ran, sword raised, and screamed.

“
Bastard!”

I pelted across
the room, watching everything happen in slow-motion. Specter raised
his sword to stab it down into Sebastian. Sebastian glared up at him,
his face utterly hateful. And then, as I got close enough to bring my
sword down, I watched Specter whirl. Changing his strike from
Sebastian to me. His handsome face grinned with complete joy.

I couldn’t
see or hear or think of anything beyond my sword – and him. My
hands suddenly felt like something had crashed into them.

I hit him?

It felt that
way. I could feel the sword in my hands, and they stung like they’d
hit something really hard.

I hit him!

But he seemed
very unconcerned that I had. In fact, he pulled his own sword back
for a second blow. I glanced down, expecting a sword in my hands,
thinking that maybe he had just enough left to take me with him.

There was no
sword. A few seconds late, my numb hands sent that information to my
brain. He’d knocked it away from me so hard that my hands had
lost all feeling. I looked back up into Specter’s awful, joyful
face, just as the tip of the sword pressed into my chest.

I gasped as it
sank in, metal sliding past skin. It didn’t hurt.

All I could
think was, yes, I had gotten myself killed. I lost.

The tip of the
blade tapped my sternum. I felt it hit the bone, a gentle thunk.
Waited for it to keep pushing, crack the bone, force into my heart.
It stopped against my sternum and didn’t move.

I waited for the
end, clenched, thinking –

Stupid.

The blade pulled
back out again.

I blinked.

Specter’s
eyes and mouth had opened wide. He was purely, openly stunned. My
face must have looked just like his. He still had his own sword
raised above his head, not touching me at all. The blade that had cut
my chest protruded out of his, reaching between us for only a second.

And then he
crumpled.

Kent stood
behind him, lips curled in a snarl, sword in hand and bloody to the
hilt. Sebastian knelt to one side, still empty handed. Kent let the
tip of his own blade droop and watched Specter fall. Specter hit the
floor, sprawling, his sword clattering. He didn’t move. Kent
rushed for me and threw his arms around me.

I burst into
tears.

S
ebastian
did not waste time in shock. He pulled himself to his feet, ignoring
gashes and cuts, and rushed to Josephine’s side. For all that
the fight had seemed to take hours, he knew it had only lasted
minutes. He dropped to the floor, wrist in his teeth, and gave
Josephine the wound he opened. Somewhere in the background, Ian
sobbed. He could hear Amanda whimpering, if he listened closely. He
did, long enough to assure himself she lived. And then his attention
focused entirely on Josephine.

She did not
drink.

Her shirt was
stained red where it should have been white, a patch that covered her
entire side. How much had she lost? How much did she need?

Has it been
too long?

Sebastian
refused to think that. Instead he stroked Josephine’s hair,
said her name, and let himself bleed and bleed for her.

Ian’s
boots thumped to the side of the room where her child huddled. He
listened to the two girls wrap their arms around one another, Ian
murmuring to Amanda. Still he bled.

His voice grew
strained and doubt began to creep in when finally, Josephine
swallowed. Only a weak movement. For a moment, he wondered if he had
imagined it. But another came, a tiny flash of her throat, and after
several seconds, another.

His heart
leaped.

“Yes,
please Josephine, drink, drink . . .” He pushed her hair away
from her face, whispering to her, watching her throat flash as she
swallowed. Gradually, she closed her mouth over his wrist and sucked.
Her eyes fluttered, then opened, and she looked up at him.

He had fed her
so much already, his own hunger roared to be satisfied. It was
insignificant, unimportant compared to what Josephine needed.

Red drops
appeared across her face. It alarmed him –

– until he
felt the wetness on his own face. His tears, falling on her.

Some shadowy
part of his mind knew that tears could be joyful . . . he shook his
head, unsure, unable to stop them in any case. Josephine closed her
eyes against the red drops landing on her face and sighed.

“Dammit,
Alec, take that face off!” Ian’s voice said.

Sebastian looked
up.

Kent stood
before him.

Sebastian froze.

Before he could
do more than that, Kent’s features blurred – for a
moment, Sebastian thought his tears had interfered with his vision.
As he watched, Kent’s features became Alec’s.

He raised an
eyebrow. The second shape-shifter.

He turned a
glance on Ian, requesting an explanation. Her face was buried in her
sister’s hair. She didn’t see him.

He turned to
Alec. His sword lay close by. He could reach it easily if the
shape-shifter moved.

“What is
this?” His tone made Josephine jump. He placed a reassuring
hand on her shoulder, watching the shape-shifter.

Alec jumped as
well. He turned to Sebastian with his sword hanging limp from his
hand. “I killed him.” He sounded shocked.

Sebastian didn’t
move. “The pack will have your blood for it. They are loyal to
him.”

Alec stared at
him, stricken, then smiled. His features blurred again, as if he had
been thrust underwater, and Shroud stood where Alec had been. The
change happened nearly instantly. Sebastian had wondered how long the
transformation might take; if he would know it if he saw it happening
or have time to act. He decided he would need practice.

“He who
bests the leader becomes the leader himself,” Shroud reminded
Sebastian, as if he needed rules quoted at him. “This solves a
great deal –”

“You did
not call challenge.”

Shroud looked at
Sebastian as if he had been slapped. “He would have killed
her.” He waved a hand at the pile of dust Specter had become.
“What should I have done, waited until he had finished you
both?”

“No. I am
only telling you the rules. He who bests the leader becomes the
leader himself, and the penalty for attacking without calling
challenge is death.”

Shroud continued
to stare at him. “There’s no reason for them to know what
happened.”

“I have
sworn oaths,” Sebastian reminded him. “I no longer care
for the pack and its doings, but those oaths bind me to them.”

Shroud had no
answer to that.

“What have
you done with Shroud, that you so casually wear his face?”
Sebastian asked. “What makes you so confident that he would not
reveal any lies you tell?”

A tiny smile
twitched at Shroud’s mouth. An eerily familiar gesture. “I
always was Shroud.”

Sebastian
allowed his mouth to curl in a frown. Josephine murmured against his
wrist, her swallows less intense now. His first thought was that this
creature had to be lying. Sebastian had trained Shroud. He had first
met Alec only nights ago – but so much had happened that he did
not understand.

“Explain,”
Sebastian demanded, keeping a close eye on his sword.

The creature
sighed, as Sebastian had seen Shroud do many times before. A ripple
of unease went through him.

“I wanted
to find Kent,” Shroud said. “I knew Specter was trying to
find him, and I thought perhaps, if I could spy on them, I might find
out what they knew and beat them to Kent. To save him. So I joined
them, as Shroud. And eventually Specter did find Kent, and sent
Malison to kill him. I came too, under the pretense of winning more
territory in Europe.” His face darkened. “I didn’t
reach Kent in time. At first I thought you had killed him – but
Ian said something about another shape-shifter. I must admit, I did
not know there were more.”

“I did not
know there were any.” Sebastian eyed Shroud. He stood at ease,
an ease that only came with the truth.

He fooled us
all for how many years . . .

Not an ease
Sebastian could trust.

“Specter
said Shroud had convinced him to retract his ultimatum,”
Sebastian said. “If you are Shroud, then it was you who brought
him down on us.”

Shroud –
or Alec – tensed. But made no attempt to deny it.

Sebastian
seriously contemplated his sword, then had to sigh. “Since you
have dispatched Specter, I cannot hold your action against you.”
He gazed at the creature that wore Shroud’s face. “But
know that the only reason I do not hold it against you is because you
have met that obligation.”

The
shape-changer relaxed somewhat, but Sebastian did not look away. “It
changes nothing. The pack will return. Soon, I am certain. As Shroud,
your oaths bind you to call challenge before slaying the leader. As
Alec, your outsider status condemns you for even lifting a blade
against any of the pack. And I cannot lie for you.”

Josephine lifted
his wrist from her mouth. She moved to sit up, winced, and stayed on
the floor.

“It will
heal,” he reassured her.

She laughed.
Weakly. “I know. But it’s not very comfortable right
now.”

He left his hand
resting over hers. The pack would return, empty-handed, seeking
Specter’s next set of orders.

And they will
find this instead.

“I could
always pretend to be Specter,” Alec-who-looked-like-Shroud
offered, meekly. “Tell them to go.”

Sebastian shook
his head. “And where would you lead them after that? What
orders would you give? Unless you were prepared to continue with that
pretense, it would be found out.”

Alec fidgeted.

Sebastian
glanced over at Ian. Both she and her sister leaned against each
other, watching himself and Alec. Ian’s eyes were hard, fearful
– dark.

“We could
run,” Alec suggested.

“They
would find you,” Sebastian answered.

“They’ll
kill us!” Alec said, his voice slightly higher now.

Sebastian shook
his head. “I will not allow that.”

“And
exactly how are you going to stop them?”

Before Sebastian
could answer that he did not know, the phone rang yet again.

T
he
pack had returned.

I listened to
Sebastian give the lobby attendant permission to send them up and
hoped he knew what he was doing.

Amanda gave me a
frightened look, but didn’t say anything. I hugged her once.
“Stay here,” I said, and tried to get to my feet. Tried
and failed, due to a horrible ache that ran through my whole body.
For a second I wondered why –

Oh, yeah.
Climbing up the awning. Getting chased and tackled. And stabbed.

My back and ribs
ached, one leg felt weak and painful, everywhere felt bruised. I gave
myself a second, taking in the scene around me. Josephine hadn’t
moved off the floor, Sebastian was trained on the elevator. And Alec
– his face was his own again, but his expression made me pause.
His eyes had gone wide, his lips pulled back to expose fangs. He
looked more terrified than anyone I’d ever seen. Even Amanda
hadn’t looked that freaked out last night when she’d
started screaming.