Lost in Shadow (A Shadow Walkers Ghost Novel) (30 page)

Rocking back and forth, she sobbed, terrible animal-like sounds wrenching out of her, a deep keening noise emanated from deep within, grief overwhelming her.

A warm breeze caressed her face, sunlight streamed in through the window, bringing the smell of a woodland forest and freshly cut grass. Emily looked around, there were honeybees flying around Colin. The room started shaking, the floor cracking open as a tree grew out of the stone, reaching up towards the high ceiling, its branches reaching out across the room, splintering furniture to pieces as the oak tree filled the room. Larger around than any tree she’d ever seen, the bark was dark chestnut with copper running through it. The leaves every shade of green imaginable, covering she and Colin, giving the impression of cradling them within as the room was filled with silver and gold light. A carpet of green grass appeared filled with all types of flowers, the scent filling the room.

The air shimmered as Terya appeared. She wore a gossamer gown of the palest blue, her silver hair sparkling and unbound, skimming the floor, bare feet walked towards and then stopped in front of Colin.

Crawling on hands and knees, Emily wrapped her arms around the goddesses’ legs, kissing her feet, weeping. “Please, bring him back to me. I can’t live without him.” she gazed up through eyelashes sprinkled with tears sparkling like diamonds.

“My child, what would you give to have your brave warrior back? Would you give your soul, your heart, the very breath in your body?”

“I don’t want to live without him. He fills the empty space in my heart I thought would never be filled. I will give whatever you ask of me to have him back.”

Terya reached down, her fingers under Emily’s chin, tilting her head up to look in her eyes.

“There must be balance. I cannot give life without taking in return. To return Colin to life, you must willingly give your own life—this is the price which must be paid.” The goddess gazed at Emily with ancient, all-knowing eyes.

Without hesitation, Emily stood, facing Terya, squaring her shoulders, “I gladly give my life for his. I understand—when I died and came back after the accident, it was so I could save Colin at this moment in time. Every moment I’ve had since the accident was a gift, I know now what it is to truly love…for that I am indebted to Colin, if this is how I repay him, I willingly offer my heart, soul, and breath. Would you tell him how much I love him?”

Casting a benevolent gaze upon Emily, Terya told her Colin would know. Content, Emily laid down next to Colin, curling up to him, running her hands through his hair, tracing the scar on his face, and gently kissed his lips for the last time. She nodded to Terya, “I’m ready.”

Wrapping her arms around Colin, burying her face in his chest, she closed her eyes.
How long would it take—will I fall asleep and not wake up, will it hurt? Why was someone banging a drum, am I dead already? Gah, I don’t want drums in the afterlife, I hate drums, and why am I so freaking hot?

Bolting upright, something wasn’t adding up. His heartbeat was strong…but how could that be? She was dead. Maybe she hadn’t moved on and was a ghost? Opening her eyes, Colin was looking at her.

He. Was. Alive!

Before he could utter a word, Emily pulled him close, kissing him. His chuckle was a deep rumble as he kissed her back. “Somebody want to tell me why there is a giant tree in our bedroom?” Colin saw the goddess.

Pulling away, Emily stood, launching herself at Terya. Might not be the smartest move but she couldn’t help it, she was filled with joy. “I don’t understand what happened, why am I alive?” she stammered.

Caressing Emily’s cheek, Terya motioned for her to sit as a branch from the tree reached down, providing a bench for the goddess. She sat facing them.

“My darling child, you died from your injuries. Colin made a bargain with Thorne to bring you back. In doing so he sacrificed his soul so you could live and in so doing, doomed himself to existing as a wraith for all eternity.”

The goddess continued. “You are full of life, full of spirit, able to love again after being so grievously hurt. More like you, those who would put others before themselves, are needed to heal this wounded world.”

Speechless, Emily turned to Colin, embracing him, a tear of joy running down her face as he held her tight, gently kissing her eyes, her cheeks, her lips as if afraid she would disappear.

Colin spoke, “I should not be here before you, I am damned.”

The goddess turned her gaze to Colin and Emily held her breath. Nodding as if satisfied by what she saw, “Brave warrior—it is true, you did die. Emily begged for my assistance, offered her life, her soul, her very breath so you might live. In committing a selfless act for true love, you each paid the price, therefore the balance is kept, the debt is settled.”

A tinkling laugh, made Colin look up. “Don’t think so hard warrior. Trust in yourself. In Emily. You each have a choice to make.”

Emily and Colin looked to the goddess. “You both are now human. You can be together, with no memory of any of this. Your memories replaced with a different life. You will be happy, have many children, grow old and die together, when the time comes. There is another path, another choice I offer—I will give you back your immortality and Emily, I will grant you immortality to be with Colin. Colin would continue fighting for the Shadow Walkers. However, immortality carries its own price. You will not be able to have children, and if one of you is killed, the other will die at the same time as you will share one heart. I grant you until midnight tonight to make your choice. Here in this room, speak your choice before the clock strikes twelve and so it will be. Think hard on your answer for there is no going back.”

With that she vanished. The flowers, grass, bees, and tree remained. Colin started to ask Emily what she wanted when she placed her hand over his mouth. “I’m exhausted. Let’s enjoy the day, not talk about this until tonight. Right now I want you to ravish me, and then breakfast. I’m starved.”

“As you wish, milady.” Colin spent the next several hours gladly fulfilling her request.

The missing person flyers filled the tube stations all over the UK. It was only part of the story; the fringe elements of society were also quickly becoming less apparent. In every city, the politicians took credit for cleaning up the streets, getting people off government run social assistance; when in reality they had been drained by the Day Walkers or taken to the farms, enslaved.

In Inverness, an old ruined abbey was sold to the highest bidder. All of the historic landmarks were going to be on the market, sold to the highest bidders if the economy didn’t turn around soon.

The abbey was perfect. It had outbuildings, plenty of land around it and was remote enough to discourage visitors. These old sites usually had underground buildings and passages as well, ideal for the farming activities.

Dayne was inspecting this newest addition. The site was large enough to farm the humans for energy and have a separate area for an orphanage.

His new right-hand man, well demon actually, was named Solien. Vicious to the core, he hated humanity, his parents had been killed by humans thousands of years ago, he’d never forgotten or forgiven. He was a sadistic, brutal jailer, perfect to oversee the farms.

“How are we doing? I want the farms up and running soon. I’m all for killing every human on the planet but we must think strategically. Work discreetly, take the dregs of society, then the small towns no one will miss, then I’ll throw in a few plagues to cover our larger takes. Soon enough, my friend, there won’t be a free human left in the world.”

Dayne had to be discreet. If Thorne got wind of what they were doing, he’d call every creature he’d allied with over the millennia to fight them. Stealth was better. Keep it quiet, then when his brother found out, it would be too late to do anything. His precious humans would be gone, the Day Walkers stronger than his pathetic Shadow Walkers, and they could eliminate them one by one, at their leisure, until Dayne ruled them all.

The abbey had held witch hunts in its heyday and had a large number of underground holding cells. These had been cleaned out and were currently full of humans. The humans tasted better if you didn’t scare them first, the fear tainted the energy, gave it a sour taste. Better to take them from the cell to another building, then take a little, send them back or fully drain them and remove the corpse. The old cemetery was being put to good use, they’d dug a large mass grave and simply threw the discarded human shells in the pit, covering them with lime. Once the hole was full, they’d dig another, dust to dust and all that rot.

A few towns around the abbey were deserted. To officials, rumor of the Black Plague making a comeback was the reason. In reality, most of them had been sent to the farms or drained immediately.

Dayne didn’t need any of the humans’ energy; he simply wanted the more powerful army and didn’t care if he destroyed all of humanity to get it. A few weeks ago, he visited an abandoned industrial site in Glasgow; it was perfect for large-scale urban farming. They had room for thousands. The site came with ten corporate apartments; these were perfect for some of the men to live on the grounds.

The orphanages took more planning. Dayne thought in hundreds of years instead of five or ten; he knew it would take time to defeat Thorne, cost him many armies. The prisons were ripe for the picking. He was pleased the worldwide financial system was in such ruin, prisons were all going private. He had good lawyers, mainly demons in human guise, they were the best at law, buy the prisons anonymously and then Dayne had entire armies at his disposal to convert to Day Walkers. Easy enough to turn the inspectors as well so no one wondered why the prisoners were disappearing, the cells replaced with human cattle. It was the perfect cover. He was acquiring his first prison next month, couldn’t wait to see the results. He could have huge farms and armies in production in one fell swoop. He was brilliant, patiently waiting to take Thorne down once and for all.

The orphanages were an experiment, if it worked great, if not, the humans could be drained, either way, win, win in his book. As the children grew, slaves from childhood, created to provide energy sources, he pondered the food issue. He did have to feed the disgusting humans. Maybe he’d acquire a few fast food establishments as Rawlins suggested, the cheaper the food to feed them, the better for his bottom line. Funny, as humans cut corners to feed farm animals as cheaply as possible, now the people were “cows” feeding his armies, fed and housed as cheaply as possible.

“Milord, I’ve brought over three of the goblins to guard the orphanage and a group of demons to guard the food. I’ve told them they cannot eat any healthy children. Sick ones, or those dying, may be eaten at any time.” Solien smiled.

“Excellent work.” Dayne was thoughtful. Keeping a secret this big from Thorne would be tricky but so worthwhile. His dear brother, trying to save the humans, while Dayne was destroying them at a much faster rate than they could ever be saved. Delicious.

“I had a rather interesting call from Rawlins. He visited the farm in Inverness, said a couple of the goblins you placed there have been eating the stock, the healthy ones. Rawlins killed the two responsible, he’s back in our realm healing, took quite a few rather nasty wounds. We did discuss this—no eating the healthy stock whenever the fancy strikes, at this point we need them to get up and running. Give them a healthy one once a week, that ought to satisfy and keep them from depleting our reserves.”

“I’ll take care of it, milord.”

Colin went to his study and pressing on a rosette next to the fireplace, the wall swung open, the lights coming on. Nice not to have to keep torches lit anymore, electricity was a fantastic invention.

The stairs led down to a vault where most of the castle treasure was stored. Hamish had never found it, couldn’t waste it, neither had Abigail found the secret rooms. The treasure was still there waiting when he came back, finally took back Ravensmore. There was gold and silver, all worth a fortune to today’s collectors. Many jewels, tucked away in chests…he was looking for something particular. Something the first Baroness of Ravensmore had owned.