Shadow Bloodlines (Shadow Bloodlines #1) (14 page)

Streaks of darkness swirled around me and, every time they touched any part of my body, I winced from the stinging zapping me. I gripped Amar’s arms tighter.

Beneath my fingers, he moved as if trying to shield me from the onslaught. I couldn’t see anything. There was a whirring sound in my ears that sounded like a muffled lawnmower. Loud, but not distinct. I couldn’t tell if it was coming from the blackness or somewhere else.

Another lash landed on my leg and I swore. I should have worn jeans instead of shorts. Amar pushed me against his chest. My back was to him and his muscles tensed as if he would throw me to safety as he had my dad. Was he trying to dislodge me
from the creature? Not happening. I was here to help.

“No!” I couldn’t let him do this. It would kill him. That was the whole purpose of Ms. Moor and her playthings… to destroy us. I spun and clung to him. “You can’t get rid of me that easily. We get out of this together.”

With a grunt, he was knocked to his knees by a double slash. Instead of forcing me away, he laid me on the street and covered me with his body.

I struggled in vain to get him off me, but he wouldn’t budge.

“Stop moving and try to slow your heart rate.” His breath heated my ear. “If we’re lucky, it’ll think it’s done the job and leave.”

A whip sounded next to my ear and he lifted his arm to ensure my head was protected.

“Then you stop moving too.” Was this like a bear? Play dead and they’ll go away ’cause they either can’t see you or don’t like dead bodies. Was it a grizzly that waited unseen for you to move again and if you did, it came after you again?

“I don’t matter.”

“Like hell you don’t.” I wiggled to get an arm out from under him. The concrete street scraped my elbow. We had to get out of here, not wait until this thing was done playing with us.

The skin and muscles along Amar’s abs as I traced my hand up made me wish we weren’t in a swarming bundle of—son of a bitch that stung! A swipe to my thigh left me gasping for breath. How could we escape?

“It will keep its assault until my heart stops,” Amar whispered. I was sure his low voice was because of the pain of the stings rather than trying to be quiet for the creature not to hear us. If I was shivering from the few lashes that had gotten me, he must have dozens, if not hundreds, more.

We needed to get out of here. We both did. I didn’t know how long this thing would take before it finished us. I couldn’t let Amar die and sacrifice himself for me.

He groaned and his body trembled. “When I die,” he gasped as another sting landed, “s-stay unmoving until it l-leaves.”

I shook my head and the top of my head bumped into his chin. “No.” My voice was hoarse. “There has to be another way.”

“Even with your healing and camouflage abilities, it will keep attacking until a heartbeat stops.” He shuddered in what I thought could only be a reaction to more stings. “I don’t think it knows it has both of us. If it did, it would wrestle me from you and attack us separately. Ever since the gargoyle, I’ve been able to alter my heart rate.” He panted for a moment, catching his breath from a trio of whipping stings. “I’ve echoed mine to yours making them think there is only one.”

That made sense. But not him dying. My heart folded in on itself.

Everything has a weakness.

There had to be away to escape. Evade. Trick it somehow. Sweat trickled down my back. If we could only get free, Amar might be able to fly us to safety. Or was he too weak and his wings too damaged?

“It’s not letting up because it hears a heartbeat—ours.”

When I placed my palm against his cheek, I felt his face cringe as a whip zigged across his shoulders. “If I transform into the gargoyle, I think the granite will muffle your heartbeat enough for you to escape.” His voice hissed out of him at another strike. “D-don’t wait for me, just run a-and get to high ground.”

I had to do something. I wasn’t about to let him die in my arms.

Struggling, I stirred to gaze beyond the blackness. Something. Anything. In what direction had that blasted palm tree stood? I couldn’t even make out Amar as he held me against him, taking the brunt of the torture.

Wait! Amar had said it wanted a heartbeat to stop. Did he have one as a gargoyle? He hadn’t been dead, but maybe shifting into granite would muffle the sound of his heart. It would certainly stop the bleeding.

“Amar.” I moved my hand up to cup his cheek. This had to work. “Shift into your gargoyle form. It may trick them long enough for us to escape.”

He shuddered against my fingers. “I might not be able to change back again.”

My blood had rescued him once, but would it do it again? I bit down on my lip. Before, both my dad’s octopus arms and mine had been useless against the creatures. And I had no idea what else I could do or what my spirit shifter was. “There’s got to be another solution to you dying?!”

His laugh echoed around me. “No. But why do I get the feeling you are trying to protect me rather than the other way around?”

With a shrug, I racked my mind. I couldn’t lose Amar. My breath hitched. If…
when
we made it out of this, I was going to kiss him. Long and hard.

Gathering me underneath him, he moved onto his elbows with his face inches from mine, but still the length of our bodies from our torso down touched and I wished once again we were alone and not trapped inside a death shadow.

“After I make the change, stay until it withdraws completely. Don’t move until it’s gone. If it senses vibrations from your running, it will come after you. I’ll move onto my hands and knees before I freeze into the gargoyle statue so you can wiggle out once it’s left.”

“No! There has to be another way.” I shook my head and my hair brushed against his chest. “Something else we haven’t thought of.”

His hand stroked my cheek and I leaned into it. Then his lips found mine. The stubble on his face, from not shaving in days, tickled me and I craved more. I nibbled at his lips and then ran my tongue along their velvet folds. When he deepened his kiss, I opened my mouth and let his tongue caress mine. His hand grasped my hair as he devoured my mouth and all thought.

Reluctantly, I pulled back, gasping. This was not goodbye. I would never be the same without him. Nor could I ignore the passion of that kiss and everything it promised. And I desired it.

He loosened his hold and went to his hands and knees, still shielding me from the strikes. When his skin cooled and solidified under my fingertips, I screamed. “No, no, no!” It was too soon. He couldn’t leave me yet. There had to be something else we could do. “Amar! Stop!” I yelled as his body stiffened.

About two feet away, a light came into focus and I blinked to make sense of it, then another. The shadow oozed along the ground, pulling away from us like the oil in a seventies lava lamp pooling in the bottom. But Amar hadn’t shifted all the way to a gargoyle yet; I still felt the warmth of his breath against my face. He’d said higher ground, but the edges of the bubbling pitch were still too close. It was as if we were in a wall of darkness that had begun to break away, revealing the streetlights and tops of the homes that might as well have been on the other side of the world.

The pitch still surrounded us, but had eased back and gaps now appeared in its dome-like shape that covered us, revealing pieces of the buildings and landscape around us.

We’d never make it that far before it sensed us and attacked.

My heart rate thumped against my chest as panic squeezed my throat.

Then the Spirits of Blood drifted closer as if something had shoved them away a bit but now they were coming back. The sight of the whip-like tentacles creeping forward had me screaming again, and the shadows receded.

Was it me that had made them pull away? “Amar.” My voice was scratchy from screaming. “Wait. Something’s happening to it. Don’t shift yet.”

I turned my mouth from him and screamed as loud and as long as I could. The shadow creature reared backward, undulating over itself to get away. It was about two feet from us now and the yards and edges of the homes were visible.

Over me, Amar maneuvered until he stood beside me. I searched for a place to run. I yanked on his hand and we dashed across the street. The blob was higher behind us, even though the homes on that side were closer. A short path opened between its encirclement of us.

Hopefully, we’d break through the opening before it closed again.

A mini pickup truck sat empty on the side of the street to our left. We would have to get over the blob at the lowest point, then race next to it and reach the vehicle. Maybe we could make it there, but we’d have to get over two feet of shadow first.

“Can you fly?” I pointed to the truck. “Just that far?”

He shook his head. “No, not even if I didn’t carry you. My wings are too damaged.”

“We have to try; maybe we can jump while I scream?”

Grasping my hand, he helped me to my feet. I squatted, preparing for the jump. My knees bent as far as I could manage without falling over. “Ready?”

With a nod, we leapt toward the truck. Maybe I could jump as I had seen my dad do earlier from the rooftops. I shrieked as we soared through the air. Because of his injuries, Amar only got us inches from the ground. And my jump wasn’t nearly as impressive as my dad’s had been. My tennis shoes brushed over the shadow monster as we past. It snatched a hold of my leg and I kicked violently to get away.

Then, Amar was ripped from my grasp as one of his wings faltered. I yelled and the creature recoiled. Its tendril snapped away from me and the momentum forced me forward until I hit until my head crashed into the back windshield of the pickup truck.

***

Blood trickled down my cheek and I kept wiping it away. Where was I? Amar! I scrambled to my feet and searched the dark rolling pitch for him. His shape was being thrown around in the mass of shadow and whips again.

“Nooo!” I screamed so loud it felt as if my voice had become a banshee’s.

The creature shrieked back in a howl and jerked away from Amar. I leapt off the truck, giving short bellows as I ran toward him. Unprepared for the sudden burst of speed, my feet found concrete and I skidded against his back. “Sorry.”

“Why did y- how did you do that?” He rose and fell back down on a knee. With my hand under his arm, he rose and limped toward the truck. “Why did you come back for me? You were safe.”

“This way. Hurry!” My dad was waving us down the street. It was quicker to get back into the pickup truck, but I had no idea how long this thing would try to get us or if it adapted and would get us in the truck or not. Amar leaned on me as we shuffled after my dad who was headed back for his boat.

“Quickly. It’s coming after us.” My dad grasped Amar under his other arm and we moved a bit faster.

I spun around, shrieking again at the shadows that shirked back, but as soon as I finished, they dragged themselves faster toward us.

Without waiting, I screamed again then grasped Amar under his arm and together my dad and I hustled him across the wooden deck. People were flipping on lights. Crap, we had to get out of here quickly and lure the creatures away. Maybe if we made it to the boat, the things would leave.

Behind us, at the edge of the dock, the shadow lurched and boards popped up one by one as it pursued us.

“Jacqui!” My dad shouted and she emerged from the boat’s cabin. “Help us. Quickly.”

She scrambled over the boat’s side and met us on the deck. “What happened?” Then as if seeing the boards splinter behind us, gasped. “What the hell is that?”

“Trust me,” Amar said and winced as he climbed over the side of the boat. “You don’t want to know, or have it touch you.”

After Amar was on the boat, Jacqueline leapt back on and I followed with another powerful leap that left me wobbling and trying not to skid across the boat and fall into the ocean. My dad untied the boat from the dock.

“What are you doing?” I shouted.

“It can’t cross water.” He pushed the boat with his hands farther into the water, then jumped the distance. He landed in the water instead of the boat, his fingers scrambling for purchase.

Amar and I each grabbed an arm and hauled him onto the boat. We sat, all gasping for breath. The last board on the deck splintered and then there was silence.

“Is it gone?” I asked. The deck was empty of blackness except the night. Lights lit up its path, but I saw no undulating movement except the waves lapping at the broken slats of wood.

“No. Waiting. The Spirits of Blood can’t cross open water or any water more than an inch deep. It interferes with their senses and there are too many heartbeats in the ocean for it to find us.” My dad’s dark brows knitted as he stood. “Let’s get you both inside so we can see about your cuts.”

“So we’re safe from that thing?” Jacqui stared out over the waves. “How do you escape from a shadow blob?”

“We are safe from the Spirits of Blood for now… but there are worse things that can hunt us.” He held open the cabin’s door and gestured us inside. Remnants like pitch clung to his clothes. I was sure I was covered in the sticky substance too, just as Amar was.